Snow White and the Huntsman

Director: Rupert Sanders
Cast: Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth, Sam Clafin, Ian McShane
Genre: Adventure/Drama/Fantasy
Running time: 127 mins
Rating:★½

The evil Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron) will rule forever if she can take the life of Snow White (Kristen Stewart), so she dispatches the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) to track her down. But the wicked ruler never imagined that the Huntsman would train the girl to become a brave warrior, skilled in the art of war.

SNORE!! The back of DVD cover is correct, "this is no fairy tale." No shit, its an already done, highly unoriginal drag of a film. Wasn't there already a live action version of Snow White release recently. Oh yeah, Mirror Mirror which also came out in the same year as this "film" (on the verge of being a TV movie). Though less hokey as the Twilight films and Mirror Mirror, it rips off the Harry Potter visuals!  Such as the "person" within the mirror looks very similar to Voldemort (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) or the tormentors. The high contrast of muted yellows and oranges from the glaring sun, in certain scenes (to say the least), is trying to hard to be an edgy-artsy-hipster flick. Kristen Stewart's acting is a little more tolerable in this movie (almost as if she started to get some acting lessons, for once), but she still portrays Snow White in the same manner as she did Bella and Joan Jett. I rather have a root canal done than watch her act. But again she did a slightly better job this time around.

I can't believe Charlize Theron would stoop so low as to agree to play opposite of Stewart. Nevertheless, this accomplished actress performance, who was awarded an Academy Award and Golden Globe award for best actress in the movie Monster, makes up for it.  Well, the majority of the performance from the other actors make up for Stewart. Might as well as add, the annoyingly predictable romance theme too! The cinematography of the landscapes in the "fairy safe haven" forest and caves/quarries are breathtakingly beautiful and magical.

The Indian Runner

Director: Sean Penn 
Cast: David Morse, Viggo Mortensen, Valeria Golino, Patricia Arquette, Jordan Rhodes, Dennis Hopper, Sandy Dennis, Charles Bronson
Genre: Drama 1991
Running time: 127 mins. 
Rating:★★★

As deputy sheriff in a small town, Joe (David Morse) leads a pretty simple life with his loving family. However, his idyllic existence abruptly changes when his troubled brother Frank (Viggo Mortensen) arrives unannounced at Joe's door. Much to the chagrin of his wife (Valeria Golino), Joe wants to help Frank make a better life for himself. But Joe soon discovers that this is a formidable task. And as Frank continues his destructive behavior, Joe decide's he's had enough, and they square off in a final showdown that pits blood against blood.

 How can you go wrong when you have Dennis Hopper, Sandy Dennis, and Charles Bronson cast? You can't!!!! Now, the correlation between the beginning sequence of the Native American warrior running down a deer to steal its breath with the next sequence of the deputy sheriff in a high speed chase that leads to him shooting the "criminal", seems disconnected. However, it all ties together in the end, when Joe (Morse) high speed chases his brother, Frank (Mortensen) at the end. All Joe sees, in that ending sequence, is little brother in his cowboy outfit and not this murderous criminal of a man that lied in front of him. And the hardest thing for him was to let his brother and that image go. Perhaps Joe was the Native American, trying to rescue or steal the breath of his brother. And Frank was the deer, too wild to be confined.

Viggo Mortensen, through his performance, brings a dangerous, restless, trouble-seeking exterior with vulnerability and unresolved psychological issues interior. Tragedy strikes the brothers twice, once with the death of their mother (Sandy Dennis) and the suicide of their father (Charles Bronson). Beautiful chemistry between David Morse and Viggo Mortensen as brothers. The butting of heads between the two characters allow them to get to the heart of the problem. And Patricia Arquette's performance balances Mortensen's character's wildness brilliantly. Dennis Hopper's character, Cesear, is a barkeeper who seems to be an ally and mentor to Mortensen, but it unfortunately leads to his demise.

How long can you run from your problems before they catch up with you again? How much are you willing to sacrifice to restrain a part of yourself?

Imitation of Life

Director: Douglas Sirk
Cast: Lana Turner, Juanita Moore, John Gavin, Sandra Dee, Susan Kohner
Genre: Romance/Drama 1959
Running Time: 125 mins.
Rating: ★★★★


An emotion charged story about two widows and their troubled daughters. Lora's search for success causes her to neglect her daughter, while Annie's daughter rejects her culture by trying to pass for white. As the years pass, each of the four women realizes that she has been living out an emotionally fruitless existence.

A heart-wrenchingly beautiful story about the search for identity, where one's home truly lies, the dangers of rebellious lies, and the value of friendship. Wonderfully casted, exquisite costume design, and mind-blowing performances. I swore that the eighteen year old Sarah Jane character was played by Natalie Wood. It wasn't until the ending credits that it was actually played by Susan Kohner. An actress, I had no prior knowledge of, gave one of the most stellar performance in the film! The anger, vulnerability, and self-loathing elements that Kohner brings to Sarah Jane is very relatable. It was ballsy for this film to touch a bit upon racial hatred at the time it was released. In researching this film, I discovered that it was altered from original book and 1934 film version because of the civil rights milestone such as Brown vs. Board of Education and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. As well as, the fact that both Susan Kohner and Juanita Moore received Academy Award nominations for their performances.

Kiss Me Deadly

Director: Robert Aldrich
Cast: Ralph Meeker, Albert Dekker, Paul Stewart, Juano Hernandez, Wesley Addy, and Marion Carr
Genre: Mystery/ Thriller 1955
Running time: 106 mins. 
Rating:★★★★

The good manners of the 1950's are blown to smithereens. A snarling private dick, Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker), whose decisions one dark, lonely night to pick up a hitchhiking woman sends him down some terrifying byways.

Two years after The Wild One, Laslo Benedek, the progressive movement of rebellion, sex, and rock n' roll was the big taboo, this film turns up the heat on the film noir genre. The gender roles are blurred, tension, provocative, and mysterious. The dialogue is unrealistic Hollywood writing, but is still magnificant. The high contrasts, composition, and soundtrack flawlessly helps navigate the mystery of how the character, Mike Hammer got pulled into this mess. Ralph Meeker portrays Mike Hammer as the ultimate "superhero": smooth, cunning, handsome, and ladies' man. However, racial and ethnic stereotypes, in it supporting-character actors, making the film, a commentary of the 1950's.

The film uses some Alfred Hitchcock signature details like the main two characters, the man having dark hair and the woman being a blonde. Also the way the mystery unravels is also very similar to Hitchcock. The mystery and intrigue revolves around this haunting "great. whatisit," which also brings a sci-fi element to the film. It is suggested that the "whatisit" was a representation on the Cold War fear, atomic weapon paranoia about the atomic bomb that permeated American culture. Nevertheless, wrapped up the amazing 1950's special effects in the end of the film!

House of Sand and Fog

Director: Vadim Perelman
Cast: Jennifer Connelly, Ben Kingsley, Ron Eldard, Frances Fisher, Kim Dickens
Genre: Drama 2003
Running time: 126 mins.
Rating:★★★

Two strangers, Kathy and Behrani (Jennifer Connelly and Ben Kingsley) whose conflicting pursuits of the American Dream lead to a fight for their hopes at any cost. What begins as a struggle over a rundown bungalow spirals into a clash that propels everyone involved toward a shocking resolution.

Both characters are living a lie, so that the outside world won't see whats really going on behind closed doors. Kathy (Connelly) has given up on life as she lives in a home that she and her brother inherited from her late father. You soon find out that her husband has left her within the last eight months, she has been ignoring bills, and therefore, she has been evicted from her home. Yet, she tells her family none of this.

Behrani's (Kingsley) lives a life of luxury with a beautiful apartment, a loving wife, a daughter that married to a man of wealth, and a teenage son. The truth is that he and his family live in an apartment that they can't afford, he works construction, and works at a gas station. What ties the two together is a bungalow, the same house that Kathy was evicted from and the same house Behrani buys in hope to give his family a better life. Rash and violent decisions are made when the two characters butt heads, which bring the two together and away from the lies they live behind.

Headhunters (Hodejegerne)

Director: Morten Tyldum
Cast: Aksel Hennie, Synnøve Macody Lund, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Genre: Crime/Thriller 2011
Running time: 100 mins. 
Rating:★½

Roger Brown (Aksel Hennie)is a charming scoundrel and Norway's most accomplished headhunter. He lives a life of luxury well beyond his means and chooses to subsidize his expensive lifestyle through stealing highly prized art. When his beautiful wife, an art gallery owner, introduces him to a former mercenary in possession of an extremely valuable painting, he decides to risk it all in order to obtain it, and in doing so, he discovers something that makes him a hunted man himself. Based on the novel by Jo Nesbø.

A Guy Ritchie rip off. The beautiful Scandinavian people, interiors, landscape, and architecture are the only positives about this film. It is more of a comedy than a crime-thriller, even with the suspenseful soundtrack. The dialogue is dry.

Fast Food Nation

Director: Richard Linklater
Cast: Wilmer Valderrama, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Greg Kinnear, Paul Dano, Ana Claudia Talancon, Frank Ertl, Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Ashley Johnson, Kris Kristofferson, Luis Guzman, Bruce Willis 
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance 2006
Running time: 114 mins. 
Rating:★★★★

When a marketing executive (Greg Kinnear) for the Mickey's burger chain is told there's a nasty secret ingredient in his latest culinary creation, "The Big One," he heads for the ranches and slaughterhouses of Colorado to investigate, but discovers the truth is a bit to difficult to swallow.

The same director who did films like Dazed and Confused (1993) and The School of Rock (2003), gives you a "fictional" glimpse at what really goes on behind-the-scenes of the fast food industry. Wonderfully tied together side stories that all add up to the big picture: "Is this really what America is all about or rather reduced to?" The use of reds and browns along with the dark contrasts with the scenes between Greg Kinnear's character and Kris Kristofferson's character, when the truth about the meat plant is revealed, allows the audience to not only feel at home, but also to come to grips with the reality within this fictional company.

 As Kristofferson brilliantly delivers, "This isn't about good people versus bad people. It's about the machine thats taking over this country. It's like somethin' out of science fiction. The land, the cattle, human beings. This machine don't give a shit. Pennies a pound. Pennies a pound. That's all it care about. A few more pennies a pound." Now THAT'S a haunting realization that no one can not ponder or be shaken up about. How can one not gander about the lifestyle that they have come to be use to? Who can you trust?

This film makes me want to become a vegetarian with all the graphic visuals of the cows being slaughtered.

Escape from New York

Director: John Carpenter
Cast: Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence, Harry Dean Stanton, Tom Atkins
Genre: Action/ Sci-fi 1981
Running time: 99 mins. 
Rating:★★

In 1997, a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by crime, the entire island of Manhattan has been converted to a walled prison where brutal prisoners roam. But when the US president (Donald Pleasence) crash-lands insides, only one man can bring him back: a notorious outlaw and former Special Forces war hero Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell). But time is short. In 24 hours, an explosive device implanted in his neck will end Snake's mission and his life unless he succeeds!

A nostalgic "it's so bad, but it's so good" movie. The cinematography isn't the best as far as controlling the glares from the lights. The Manhattan portion of the film is too much of a theatrical set design than it is a plausible setting. The scene of Plissken's plane landing on one of the Twin Towers is super obvious that it is a model with no special effects to cover the fact. Russell's performance is a little over the top with his "I'm a rebel badass" character. Well, the majority of the performances in the movie is a bit over the top. As if, the fact that its a "Sci-fi" film, they needed to portray the characters a certain way. As far as post-apocalyptic genre goes, Blade Runner is obviously  way better than this film. Nevertheless, its a fun, action-packed movie to watch!

Desperately Seeking Susan

Director: Susan Seidelman
Cast: Rosanna Arquette, Aiden Quinn, Madonna, Mark Blum, Robert Joy, Laurie Metcalf
Genre: Comedy/Romance/Drama 1985
Running time: 104 mins. 
Rating:★★★★

If you know what to look for, you can find almost anythingin the personal ads...including the love of your life! Bored New Jersey housewife Roberta (Rosanna Arquette) fills her days by reading the personal ads and following an ongoing romance between Jim (Robert Joy) and Susan (Madonna), a mysterious drifter who appears to lead the kind of free-spirited life about which Roberta can only dream. And dream she does, until the day she actually shows up at the couple's pre-arranged rendezvous in New York City...and after a bump on the head, a bout of amnesia turns Roberta into Susan and opens the door to intrigue, laughter, and love!

One of my all time favorite films! At one time or another, one feels trapped and helpless in the current situation, which leads one to dream of a better life. At times, we envy others for having the life that we seem to want. And though its a bit of a stretch that Roberta would hit her head, get amnesia, and start leading a more free life, similar to her alter-ego, Susan. But it doesn't matter for its a delightfully hilarious film thats full of lust, danger, and adventure. Madonna, now in days, is a bit of a washout, but hear she is in her prime, back when she was cool. Organically beautiful! There is no over-the-top themes that are hitting you over the head because it thinks you're not with-it.

Wonderful cinematography, dialogue, performances, and soundtrack. And when Roberta regains her memory, she realizes that all the answers that she wanted to know and the life she wants lead is not as hard as she had thought. Even with the strange turn of events, life has a way of working itself out.

Next Stop Greenwich Villiage

Director: Paul Mazursky
Cast: Lenny Baker, Shelley Winters, Ellen Greene, Christopher Walken
Genre: Comedy/Drama 1976
Running time: 111 mins.
Rating:★★★★

A Coming-of-age story set in 1953. Aspiring to an acting career, young Larry Lapinsky (Lenny Baker) removes himself from his clingy Brooklyn mother (Shelley Winters) and escapes to bohemian, sexually liberated Greenwich Villiage. There he meets a new cast of characters, including a wildly pretentious actor (Jeff Goldblum), an oversexed poet (Christopher Walken) and a troubled girl (Lois Smith). Through it all, Larry may just make peace with his past and find a promising new future...in California!

The freedom of leaving home and the dangers of carelessness that is part of the journey that leads to adulthood. How much of what defines adulthood comes from society or parents? Or is it just enough that comes from within themselves. How much can one pretend that they know it all before they realize that they still have more to learn?

Wonderful to see an array of accomplished actors, most at the early stages of their career! Hilarious and provocative! It illustrates beautiful the struggles of growing up and finding oneself beyond one's parents.

Night Shift

Director: Ron Howard
Cast: Henry Winkler, Michael Keaton, Shelley Long
Genre: Comedy 1982
Running time: 106 mins. 
Rating:★★★

Chuck Lumley is a nice, unassuming man. His fear of life is the primary reason he took a job as a morgue attendant rather than stay in his previous high stress job on Wall Street, despite having a natural aptitude in finance and business. He is dismayed to learn that he has been reassigned to the night shift at the morgue, if only because it will take away time available to spend with his straight-laced but neurotic fiancée, Charlotte Koogle. He is even more dismayed when he meets his new night shift colleague, William Blazejowski - who calls himself Billy Blaze - a manic, non-stop talking man, who is always trying to come up with get rich quick schemes, which are mostly hair-brained ideas. After Chuck befriends his neighbor, a good-natured hooker named Belinda Keaton, he learns that Belinda's former pimp was murdered, leaving her and many of her hooker friends pimp-less and thus unprotected by the unpredictability of their johns. From this knowledge, Billy sprouts the latest germ of a scheme: that he and Chuck, in their unsupervised state, should act as pimps - or what Billy calls love brokers - for Belinda and her friends during their night shift at the morgue. Chuck eventually agrees, if only because of his affection for Belinda, but he expands on that idea into a full-fledged pseudo-legitimate business for all their collective benefit. The questions become if this business is sustainable in light of the fact of everything about it being against Chuck's general nature, and if he will be able to balance his growing feelings for Belinda against having a personal relationship with a hooker.

With a director like Ron Howard, you know the movie is going to well-thought out, brilliantly casted, and fantastic! Its the eighties, so you know Michael Keaton was still in his prime and comedically balances Henry Winkler's straight man character beautifully. Shelley Long is surprisingly un-annoying in this film. And how Keaton's character convinces Winkler's character is hysterical! 

Royal Deceit

Director: Gabriel Axel
Cast: Gabriel Byrne, Helen Mirren, Christian Bale, Tom Wilkinson, Brian Cox, Kate Beckinsale
Genre: Action/ Drama 1994
Running time: 85 mins.
Rating:★

A young prince, Amled (Christian Bale), after discovering that his father has been murdered, vows to avenge the death and regain the crown. Plotting his revenge...he cleverly bides his time...waiting and watching...and hoping for the precise moment to execute the deadly plan! A retelling of Hamlet goes back to the original Danish source material.

Its a shame that with such an all-star cast, this film is nothing more that a TV movie. In both narration, performance, cinematography, soundtrack, and script. If I want a nostalgic throwback to shows like Hercules and Xena, I would watch them instead of this crap. This film is maybe a step or two classier than a porno with all its nudity. How could you go wrong, when you have Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson, and Brian Cox signed on do this film? Seriously now! If this was a stage performance, then that would be an entirely different story, but its not, therefore its shit! However, it comes to no surprise that the only real strong and brilliant performance comes from Brian Cox.

Sweet Revenge

Director: Malcom Mowbray
Cast: Sam Neill, Helena Bonham Carter, Kristen Scott Thomas, Rupert Graves, Martin Clunes, Steve Coogan, and John Wood
Genre: Comedy 1998
Running time: 90 mins.
Rating:★★★★

Quite by chance, downcast businessman Henry Bell (Sam Neill) and quirky aristocrat Karen Knightly (Helena Bonham Carter) save each other's life just as they were both attempting to leap from London's Tower Bridge! Then, Karen quickly invents a plot of devilish retaliation against those who drove them to the edge! She will punish the man who stole Henry's job and he will destroy the life of the woman (Kristin Scott Thomas) who broke up Karen's love affair!

A wonderful throwback to Romantic-Comedies of the 1940's and '50's, especially with the confession in a church by a guy to introduce what really happened to Henry Bell, which therefore transition into the plot of the film. Its also stylistically references those cinematic eras with the way Bonham Carter's and Neill's characters first meet. The two characters, who seem totally different from one another and probably under different circumstances would never travel in the same circles of people, are thrown together in a slightly morbid, quirky, and delightfully witty situation.

A perfectly casted group of actors. A film where the unexpected is expected!

Red Lights

Director: Rodrigo Cortés
Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Cillian Murphy, Elizabeth Olsen, Toby Jones, Joely Richardson, and Robert De Niro
Genre: Drama/Mystery/Thriller 2012
Running time: 113 mins.
Rating:★★½

Veteran paranormal researchers Dr. Margaret Matheson (Sigourney Weaver) and Tom Buckley (Cillian Murphy) debunk fraudulent claims of ghost whispering, faith healing, and other psychic phenomena by detecting what Matheson calls "red lights," the subtle tricks behind every staged supernatural occurrence. But when the legendary blind psychic Simon Silver (Robert De Niro) comes out of retirement after 30 years, his once-fearless adversary Matheson warns Buckley to back off, fearing reprisal from the powerful Silver. Determined to discredit Silver, Buckley and his star student (Elizabeth Olsen) use every tool at their disposal to uncover the truth behind the charismatic, spoon-bending, mind reader. But Buckley is forced to reexamine his own core beliefs as his quest builds to a mind-blowing conclusion in this taut psychological thriller.

With an all-star cast, you would think nothing could go wrong and with a modern film noir opening credits, one would think this is going to be great. Yet with the introduction of De Niro's character, where it ends with him taking off his glasses and then putting them back on, was a bit over the top and too theatrical. Yes, his character is blind, but it isn't necessary to hit the audience over the head with it? There are more subtle ways of giving that personal character detail.

However, that little detail allows the audience to question with what is real and what is staged or a desire to debunk the claims along with the main characters. A brilliant decoy that leads to a dangerous and compelling journey.

Love the use of blue and green undertones along with the dark contrast. Great cinematic compositions from the close-ups to the panoramics. Alfred Hitchcock influenced suspense.

Private Benjamin

Director: Howard Zieff
Cast: Goldie Hawn, Eileen Brennan, Armand Assante, Robert Webber, Albert Brooks, Craig T. Nelson
Genre: Comedy/War 1980
Running time: 109 mins.
Rating:★★★

Devastated when her brand-new husband (Albert Brooks) drops dead on their wedding night, Jewish American princess Judy Benjamin (Goldie Hawn) is receptive to the pitch delivered by a duplicitous recruiter for the Women's Army Corps. Quickly adivsed by topkick Captain Lewis (Eileen Brennan) that she should not look forward to the private room, fancy clothes and sauna bath that she'd been promised, Judy is forced to go through basic training like any other "grunt". This turns out to be a realgrowth experience for the pampered Private Benjamin, who for the first time in her life has to work for her privileges. A brief misadventure with a lascivious paratroop officer (Robert Webber) nearly sours Judy on army life, but she turns out to be a darned good soldier-and a woman with a highly developed sense of self-esteem, which enables her to weather a further disappointing romantic fling with French phsycian Henri Tremont (Armand Assante).

One of the greatest comedic actress in cinematic history! Goldie Hawn has a knack for playing the snooty rich girl that transforms into a hard-working powerhouse of a woman. She has such a presence on the screen that is both comedic and captivating. Even when her character isn't speaking, Hawn brings all the emotions and thoughts of her character through her facial expressions that it's absolutely magical. 

Regardless of the fact that this movie is a comedy, it raise a lot of questions and interesting points. How much are the things we want really come from within or society? How much are we willing to sacrifice and alter to achieve those things? Are they really worth it in the long run? Lastly, what weird turn of events will present themselves to make way for who we really want to be?

Overall, an infectiously hilarious movie!