The Bourne Identity

March 21st, 2009
Movies Online

First off, when I first heard that they were making a movie version of Robert Ludlum’s novel, I had mixed feelings. I had read and thoroughly enjoyed the book many years ago and knew that it had been adapted into a TV movie back in 1988, with Richard Chamberlain and Jaclyn Smith, although I have to confess that I never did get around to seeing it for fairly obvious reasons.

So why the mixed feelings? Partly because, for a variety of reasons, movies rarely if ever live up to the novels on which they are based. Maybe this is because we have our own rigidly set perceptions of what the characters look like or because we are already familiar with the plot. Sometimes studios rewrite the plots of our favourite novels and the movie adaptation ends up being so dissimilar to the book that everything that was good about it has either been lost in the editing, or changed to the story’s detriment.

In the case of The Bourne Identity, the novel is a pretty substantial affair, full of plots and sub-plots, which would be pretty hard to cram into a mere 2 hours, without making significant changes. The Bourne Identity’s script was reportedly written and re-written countless times. It took two years to shoot and, during this time, Matt Damon completed two other movies (Ocean’s Eleven and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron). With this kind of background it is almost a wonder that this film was ever completed and as a result pre-release expectations were none too high. However, against all odds, Doug Liman (Go, Swingers) has produced a slick and competent thriller.

Matt Damon stars as Jason Bourne, an amnesiac found drifting in the Mediterranean sea after being pumped full of lead and left for dead. After being rescued by a fishing boat and nursed back from to health our hero sets off from Marseille with the intention of trying to rekindle his lost memories. Along the way, much to his bemusement, he not only finds himself pursued by shadowy would-be assassins, he discovers that he has skills and instincts that suggest that he himself may also be a ruthless trained killer.

So cue some great action sequences; several impressive fight scenes and an excellent car chase through Paris and enough of the original novel’s twists and turns to keep the audience interested. Plus, throw in Franka Potente as an interesting female lead and unwilling companion, Clive Owen and Brian Cox in good supporting performances and two hours slip seamlessly by. However, although detractors will point out that The Bourne Identity is probably not the most memorable movie you will ever see (true), it is also fair to say that this is good old fashioned Saturday night at the movies entertainment and definitely worth a watch if you are looking for something undemanding. Matt Damon, excellent in The Talented Mr Ripley and Good Will Hunting as a credible action hero? Now there’s a pleasant surprise and with several sequels penned by the late author Robert Ludlum, we may not have yet seen the last of Mr Bourne.

Cast

  • Matt Damon as Jason Bourne: an amnesiac assassin out of Paris who is being pursued by his former employers. Main protagonist.
  • Franka Potente as Marie Helena Kreutz: a Bohemian German traveller helping Bourne, who in the middle forms a relationship with him.
  • Chris Cooper as Alexander Conklin: the coordinator of Treadstone and Bourne’s immediate superior.
  • Brian Cox as Ward Abbott: a CIA Deputy Director and Conklin’s immediate superior.
  • Clive Owen as The Professor: a Treadstone operative based out of Barcelona.
  • Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Nykwana Wombosi: a deposed African dictator who was Bourne’s last target prior to his amnesia.
  • Gabriel Mann as Danny Zorn: Conklin’s assistant and a key member of Operation Treadstone’s control team.
  • Julia Stiles as Nicky Parsons:a CIA field operative coordinating logistics for agents; she operates out of Paris
  • Nicky Naude as Castel: a Treadstone operative based out of Rome.
  • Russell Levy as Manheim: a Treadstone operative based out of Hamburg.

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Das Boot

March 21st, 2009
Movies Online

The Atlantic Ocean, 1941. German U-boats are struggling to maintain mastery over the sea, challenged everywhere they turn by the British Navy. Increasing numbers of German vessels are being lost and manpower is running short. The Nazi government has resorted to sending callow young seamen out on missions that are steadily growing more dangerous. Welcome to the world of Das Boot.

Beautiful camera work and poignant dialogue draw you into the world of the captain and crew. You share with them the boredom of non-combat operations, the thrill of the chase, and the terror of a depth charge laden destroyer passing overhead.

Das Boot goes to great lengths to make you forget that the crew are Nazis, instead focusing on the human aspects of the seamen. Change the language as well as a few story elements, and these men could be fighting for any country. One sees the struggle of the men to understand what it really is that they are fighting for, their anger at being forced into such a dangerous position by a government whose ideologies many of them do not share.

Regardless of whether the crew are Nazis or not, when you hear the telltale ping of a passing destroyer’s sonar, and see the abject horror splayed across the faces of these young men, you forget that they are fighting for one of the most despicable governments ever to exist, and instead empathize, feeling every bit of their terror and suspense right along with them.

From beginning to end, Das Boot is an involving film, a must see for every fan of war films.

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Tombstone

March 21st, 2009
Movies Online

This is a fun movie. Kurt Russell is dead-on as a wiley Wyatt Earp and Val Kilmer steals every scene he appears in as Doc Holliday. Bill Paxton is good as Wyatt’s brother Morgan. Is there anyone that looks better under a cowboy hat than Sam Elliot? He plays brother Virgil Earp. Not so much a true narrative as a series of vignettes featuring the above characters (with the centerpiece Shootout at the OK Corral) the film is nonetheless a very entertaining look at these characters. Powers Boothe is menacingly bad as Curly Bill, the leader of the outlaw Cowboys.

Kilmer’s Doc Holliday, in particular, is a load of fun. “I’m your Huckleberry” he taunts Johnny Ringo, and although I have no idea where this saying originated, Kilmer repeats it in this film to entertaining effect. Later on he is asked why he sticks his neck out for Sheriff Earp. “Wyatt Earp is my friend”, he replies simply. The other man scoffs “I’ve got LOTS of friends”. “I don’t” says Doc.

This is the kind of movie that perpetuates the “Legend of Wyatt Earp”, but it’s also the kind of movie that grown men still quote liberally with big smiles on their faces more than a decade after it’s initial release.

Cast

  • Kurt Russell - Wyatt Earp
  • Val Kilmer - Doc Holliday
  • Sam Elliott - Virgil Earp
  • Bill Paxton - Morgan Earp
  • Powers Boothe - Curly Bill Brocius
  • Michael Biehn - Johnny Ringo
  • Charlton Heston - Henry Hooker
  • Jason Priestley - Billy Breckinridge

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Rio Bravo

March 21st, 2009
Movies Online

Characters make the movie. Boring character can ruin a good story and interersting characters can make a dull movie fly. Rio Bravo enjoys both a good story, and good characters, with a bunch of fine performances thrown in.

John Wayne gives his usual fine western performance as the Sherif Chance, but it is the people around him that make this movie great. Walter Bermnan as Stumpy does a great job, A very young Angie Dickerson is frankly hotter than she ever was yet she also remains a strong character who stands up for herself and plays off Wayne well. Ricky Nelson is believeable as a young man with more sense than any that has come before him. All of them round the movie well.

Dean Martin as Dude however steals the show. In my opinion this is the movie that makes him a serious player. Dude is clearly the most interesting character of the lot, his own battles with Chance, Stumpy, Burdette and most of all himself makes the movie much more than other westerns. It is clearly superior to El Dorado which takes some doing, and superior to Rio Lobo which doesn’t.

Other than his early pairings with Maureen O’Hara I would recommend this picture as the best example of John Wayne in a pure western.

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High Plains Drifter

March 21st, 2009
Movies Online

Located on the coast of southern California in the days of the Western Territory, the town of Lago stood idly by when their marshall, Jim Duncan, was brutally whipped to death before their eyes. The three scoundrals that did it are soon to be released from territorial prison and revenge is certain to be on their minds. The town hires the quick gun and ruthless gaze of Clint Eastwood, stranger with no name, to protect them.

“Revenge is a dish best served cold”. And that’s what we get in High Plains Drifter. Clint plays the ruthless, cold-hearted killer with a quick draw and a sharp eye for pretty women. He intends to serve up a dose of justice, Clint Eastwood style, to this weak-kneed community lacking backbone and a conscience. And, whie he’s at it, deliver a little something to the scoundrels who killed Jim Duncan. What transpires draws the viewer into the showdown with all the high drama of Eastwood’s better-known westerns.

The movie is very entertaining and certainly makes its point. You gotta love Clint in this old western role.

Cast

  • Clint Eastwood … The Stranger
  • Verna Bloom… Sarah Belding
  • Marianna Hill … Callie Travers
  • Mitch Ryan … Dave Drake (as Mitchell Ryan)
  • Jack Ging … Morgan Allen
  • Stefan Gierasch … Mayor Jason Hobart
  • Ted Hartley … Lewis Belding
  • Billy Curtis … Mordecai
  • William O’Connell … Barber
  • Geoffrey Lewis … Stacey Bridges, Outlaw

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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

March 21st, 2009
Movies Online

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Italian: Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo) is a 1966 Italian epic spaghetti western film directed by Sergio Leone, starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach in the title roles. The screenplay was written by Age & Scarpelli, Luciano Vincenzoni and Leone, based on a story by Vincenzoni and Leone. Director of photography Tonino Delli Colli was responsible for the film’s sweeping widescreen cinematography and Ennio Morricone composed the famous film score. It is the third and final film in the Dollars trilogy following A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and For a Few Dollars More (1965). The plot centers around three gunslingers competing to find a fortune in buried Confederate gold amid the violent chaos of gunfights, hangings, Civil War battles, and prison camps.

Opening on December 15, 1966 in Italy and in the U.S. on December 23, 1967, the film grossed $6.1 million, but was criticized for its depiction of violence. Leone explains that “the killings in my films are exaggerated because I wanted to make a tongue-in-cheek satire on run-of-the-mill westerns… The west was made by violent, uncomplicated men, and it is this strength and simplicity that I try to recapture in my pictures.” To this day, Leone’s effort to reinvigorate the timeworn Western is widely acknowledged: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly has been described as European cinema’s best representative of the Western genre film, and Quentin Tarantino has called it “the best-directed film of all time.”

Release

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was not released in the U.S. until December 1967. The original, Italian version was 2 hours, 57 minutes long, but the U.S. version was 2 hours, 41 minutes, cut 16 minutes shorter. Since the scenes were deleted before the entire film was dubbed to English, that quarter-hour’s-worth of story footage rarely was shown in U.S. cinemas, nevertheless, MGM’s 1998 U.S. DVD release includes them, in the original Italian, sans English subtitles.

Given that the Italian Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo literally translates to the English: The Good, the Ugly, the Bad, reversing the last two adjectives, advertisements for the original Italian release show Tuco before Angel Eyes, and, when translated to English, erroneously label Angel Eyes as “The Ugly” and Tuco as “The Bad”.

The film was initially banned in Norway and did not have its premiere there until 15 years later, on October 8, 1982.

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Saving Private Ryan

March 21st, 2009
Movies Online

Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 American war film set during the invasion of Normandy in World War II. It was directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Rodat. The film is notable for the intensity of its opening 24 minutes, which depict the Omaha beachhead assault of June 6, 1944. Afterward, it follows Tom Hanks as Captain John H. Miller and several Rangers (Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns, Barry Pepper, Vin Diesel, Giovanni Ribisi, and Adam Goldberg) as they search for a paratrooper of the United States 101st Airborne Division.

Rodat first came up with the film’s story in 1994 when he saw a monument dedicated to eight brothers who died during the American Civil War. Inspired by the story, Rodat decided to write a similar story set in World War II. The script was submitted to producer Mark Gordon, who then handed it to Hanks. It was finally given to Spielberg, who had previously demonstrated his interest in WWII themes with films such as Schindler’s List, and decided to direct Saving Private Ryan after reading the film’s script. The film’s premise is very loosely based on the real-life case of the Niland brothers.

Saving Private Ryan was well received by audiences and garnered considerable critical acclaim, winning several awards for film, cast, and crew as well as earning significant returns at the box office. The film grossed US$480 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of the year. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominated the film for eleven Academy Awards; Spielberg won the Academy Award for Best Director for his work on the film. Saving Private Ryan was released on home video in May 1999, earning $44 million from sales.

Cast

  • Tom Hanks as Captain John H. Miller
  • Tom Sizemore as Technical Sergeant Michael Horvath
  • Edward Burns as Private First Class Richard Reiben, a BAR gunner
  • Jeremy Davies as Technician Fifth Grade Timothy E. Upham, a cartographer and interpreter
  • Barry Pepper as Private Daniel Jackson, a marksman
  • Adam Goldberg as Private Stanley Mellish, a rifleman
  • Vin Diesel as Private Adrian Caparzo, a rifleman
  • Giovanni Ribisi as Technician Fourth Grade Irwin Wade, a medic
  • Matt Damon as Private First Class James Francis Ryan, a paratrooper

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Pulp Fiction

March 21st, 2009
Movies Online

Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film by director Quentin Tarantino, who cowrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic and pop culture references. The film was nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture; Tarantino and Avary won for Best Original Screenplay. It was also awarded the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. A major commercial success, it revitalized the career of its leading man, John Travolta, who received an Academy Award nomination, as did costars Samuel L. Jackson and Uma Thurman.

The film’s title refers to the pulp magazines and hardboiled crime novels popular during the mid-20th century, known for their graphic violence and punchy dialogue. Pulp Fiction is self-referential from its opening moments, beginning with a title card that gives two dictionary definitions of “pulp”. The plot, in keeping with most of Tarantino’s other works, is presented out of chronological sequence. The picture’s self-reflexivity, unconventional structure, and extensive use of homage and pastiche have led critics to describe it as a prime example of postmodern film. Pulp Fiction is viewed as the inspiration for many later movies that adopted various elements of its style. The nature of its development, marketing, and distribution and its consequent profitability had a sweeping effect on the field of independent cinema. A cultural watershed, Pulp Fiction’s influence has been felt in several other popular media.

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GoodFellas

March 21st, 2009
Movies Online

Goodfellas is a 1990 crime drama film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is based on the non-fiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, who also co-wrote the screenplay for the film with Scorsese. The film follows the rise and fall of three gangsters, spanning three decades.

Scorsese originally intended to direct Goodfellas before The Last Temptation of Christ, but when funds materialized to make Last Temptation, he postponed what was then known as Wise Guy. The title of Pileggi’s book had already been used for a TV series and for Brian De Palma’s 1986 comedy Wise Guys, so Pileggi and Scorsese changed the name of their film to Goodfellas.

To prepare for their roles in the film, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Ray Liotta talked often with Pileggi, who shared with the actors research material that had been left over from writing the book. According to Pesci, improvisation and ad-libbing came out of rehearsals where Scorsese gave the actors freedom to do whatever they wanted. The director made transcripts of these sessions, took the lines that the actors came up with that he liked best, and put them into a revised script the cast worked from during principal photography.

Goodfellas performed well at the box office, grossing $46.8 million domestically, well above its $25 million budget; it received mostly strong positive reviews from critics. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards but only won one for Pesci in the Best Actor in a Supporting Role category. Scorsese’s film won three awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and was named best film of the year by the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and the National Society of Film Critics.

Cast

  • Ray Liotta - Henry Hill
  • Robert De Niro - Jimmy Conway
  • Joe Pesci - Tommy DeVito
  • Lorraine Bracco - Karen Hill
  • Paul Sorvino - Paul Cicero
  • Chuck Low - Morrie Kessler
  • Frank DiLeo - Tuddy Cicero
  • Frank Sivero - Frankie Carbone
  • Johnny Williams - Johnny Roastbeef
  • Mike Starr - Frenchy
  • Frank Vincent - Billy Batts William

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The Wild Bunch

March 21st, 2009
Movies Online

The Wild Bunch directed by Sam Peckinpah, is a 1969 Western film about an aging outlaw gang at the Texas-Mexico border trying to exist in the modern world of 1913. The film was controversial because of its violenc and the portrayal of the crude men trying to survive the era.

The Wild Bunch is noted for intricate, multi-angle editing, using normal and slow motion images, a revolutionary cinema technique in 1969. The writing of Walon Green, Roy N. Sickner, and Sam Peckinpah was nominated for a best-screenplay Academy Award; Jerry Fielding’s music was nominated for Best Original Score; director Peckinpah was nominated for an Outstanding Directorial Achievement award by the Directors Guild of America; and cinematographer Lucien Ballard won the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography.

In 1999, the U.S. National Film Registry selected it for preservation in the Library of Congress as culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant. The Wild Bunch was ranked 80th in the American Film Institute’s best hundred American films, and the 69th most thrilling movie. In 2008, the AFI revealed its “10 Top 10″ of the best ten films in ten genres, The Wild Bunch is the sixth-best western.

Casting

Directer Sam Peckinpah considered many actors for the Pike Bishop role; Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, James Stewart, Charlton Heston, Gregory Peck, Sterling Hayden, Richard Boone and Robert Mitchum were all considered before William Holden was cast. Marvin actually accepted the role but pulled out after he was offered a larger pay deal to star in Paint Your Wagon (1969).

Sam Peckinpah’s first two choices for the role of Deke Thornton were Richard Harris (who had co-starred in Major Dundee) and Brian Keith (who had worked with Peckinpah on The Westerner (1960) and The Deadly Companions (1961)). Harris was never formally approached, but Keith was, and turned the part down. Robert Ryan was ultimately cast in the part after Peckinpah saw him in The Dirty Dozen (1967). Other actors considered considered for the role were Arthur Kennedy, Henry Fonda, Ben Johnson (later cast as Tector Gorch) and Van Heflin.

Mario Adorf was considered for the part of Mapache; the role went to Emilio Fernandez, the Mexican film director and actor and friend of Peckinpah. Among those considered to play Dutch Engstrom were Steve McQueen, George Peppard, Jim Brown, Alex Cord, Robert Culp, Sammy Davis, Jr., Charles Bronson and Richard Jaeckel. Ernest Borgnine was cast for his performance in The Dirty Dozen.

Robert Blake was the original choice to play Angel, but he asked too much money. Peckinpah had seen Jaime Sánchez in the Broadway production of Sidney Lumet’s The Pawnbroker, was impressed and demanded he be cast as Angel. Albert Dekker, a stage actor, was cast as Harrigan, the railroad detective. He died months after filming, The Wild Bunch was his final film. Bo Hopkins played the part of Clarence “Crazy” Lee.

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