Casino Royale Review - A Five Star Reinvention

Dark, intense, realistic, and all-out ass kickin'!!! This is the real James Bond. Daniel Craig is the most impressive Bond yet! We all grew up with Sean Connery being 007, and he always will be the most respected for the role; but Craig definately proves immediately to be the rightful heir to the throne. He brings believability to the role.

As his leading lady is the most perfect bond girl yet - Eva Green. Eva first captivated my attention as lead actress in Kingdom of Heaven. She is strikingly beautiful and charismatic on screen.

Trainspotting / A Cult Classic Film Review

[tag]Trainspotting[/tag] is a 1996 film directed by [tag]Danny Boyle[/tag] based on the novel Trainspotting by [tag]Irvine Welsh[/tag]. The movie is about a group of heroin addicts in [tag]Edinburgh[/tag] and their passage through life. It stars [tag]Ewan McGregor[/tag] (as Mark Renton), [tag]Ewen Bremner[/tag] (as Spud Murphy), [tag]Jonny Lee Miller[/tag] (as Sick Boy), [tag]Kevin McKidd[/tag] (as Tommy), [tag]Robert Carlyle[/tag] (as Begbie) and [tag]Kelly Macdonald[/tag] (as Diane). Author Irvine Welsh also has a brief appearance as drug dealer Mikey Forrester.

The title is a reference to an episode in the original book where Begbie and Renton encounter Begbie's destitute father in the disused Leith Central railway station. He asks them (in a weak attempt at a joke) if they are "trainspotting".

Its release sparked controversy in some countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia and United States, as to whether it promoted drug use or not. U.S. Senator [tag]Bob Dole[/tag] decried its moral depravity and glorification of drug use during the 1996 U.S. presidential campaign, although he admitted that he had not actually seen the film.

Boyle has stated his wish to make a sequel to Trainspotting which will take place 10 years after the original film, based on Irvine Welsh's sequel, Porno. He is reportedly waiting until the original actors themselves age visibly enough to portray the same characters, ravaged by time; Boyle joked that the natural vanity of actors would make it a long wait.

This is definitely a film that represents our age. It's a film that should be shown to your teenage kids to help ensure they won't try the crap they shouldn't. It very bleakly illustrates the whole crash and burn death that drugs like crack, meth, and heroin could only lead toward.

The acting is fabulous. The script is well made and so is the cinematography and F/X. This is an excellent film no matter who you are and what walk in life you lead.

To read more reviews and purchase the DVD, click on the image to go to Amazon. BE ADVISED: the director's cut does not contain the opening monologue that was in the American release; as shown in the poster below.

Munich / Film Review

What a damn fine film. This is the story of Israel; the Palestinians; and honor and civility. It is about fighting for a home. Both for Jews and Muslims. With exceptional acting by all actors involved; Munich gives you a sense of truly sharing in the thoughts, feelings and sacrifices made.

It helps to also illustrate to the general public of the West what has always been the initial root of all the terrorism and fighting of the Middle-East. this is a Must-Have DVD. I suggest that to truly appreciate the quality of the film and to more greatly appreciate the subject matter, you should start with the following Wikipedia article;

Munich/ Wikipedia Article

To purchase this exceptional DVD; click on image to go to Amazon

The DaVinci Code / Film Review

Combine director Ron Howard with actors Tom Hanks, Ian Mckellan, Jean Reno and the ever charming Audrey Tautou; then throw in renowned author Dan Brown; and you get one very, very good film.

Book adaption is usually a hit or miss proposition. But in this case, it was the professionals involved who created a film that is worthy of the same popularity as the book. See this at the theaters for it is definitely worth the trip.

Now Peter Travers, the Rolling Stone magazine critic absolutely hated the film. But I feel that he placed the film adaptation completely out of context. A book that is well written induces the readers imagination and perception of timing to kick in and helps the reader experience the story through their own personal interpretation. Where a film takes the interpretations of the director and actors and imposes it upon the viewer. So the question is which camp are you in; those that agree with it or those who don't. And of course, as with anything to do with religion or politics; you are always going to have each group crying out.

The film; like the book; brings many bits and pieces togehter that people in society have been thinking for generations about the Catholic Church. It makes sense of things that we have all wondered long before a book was presented. And though it is a fictional dramatization of historical hickkups - those little things in history that make you go Hmmmm - it is enough to begin the debates; and to inspire people to rethink what they have always been told ; and perhaps find new faith that will be based more on historical fact. not the bullshit of kings and their co-conspirators within the Church that love power.

We are no longer the ignorant masses. They can no longer hide the truth. We can believe in God and Jesus Christ without paying the marketing corporation in Rome. Its time to shut down the Eron of religion.

Go see this film and read the book. Read many many books. Think deeply and often. Find god and Christ in your own way. And be a good person. Look for the answers within yourself.

V for Vendetta

Written by the Wachowskis — Andy and his brother, Larry — and directed by first-timer James McTeigue, their assistant on The Matrix, the film flies on a rhythm all its own. There's nothing Neo about V, the masked avenger who uses bombs, daggers and his telegenic charisma to take down a regime that has left him a burned remnant of its ungodly experiments. Mad as hell and out to rile up the politically lethargic.

Hugo Weaving — Agent Smith in the Matrix movies — plays this terrorist grandmaster behind a fiberglass mask that makes his vocal wit and physical eloquence doubly remarkable. Never mind that the Shakespeare-quoting, rose-carrying V comes dangerously close to Phantom of the Opera kitsch. Or that his politics can be as simplistic as Billy Jack's. V has his mojo working.

The source material is the 1989 graphic novel illustrated by David Lloyd and written by Alan Moore, who wants no part of what the Wachowskis have wrought. Moore took his name off the film's credits. Moore's novel skewered the 1980s England of Margaret Thatcher. In the Wachowski update, England is a police state ruled by Chancellor Sutler (John Hurt), a fear-mongering, gay-bashing, Islam-hating dictator who strips citizens of their civil rights and religious freedoms in exchange for protection from bioweapons of mass destruction. Some see parallels here to BushWorld. Come on. The chancellor, as acted to the hilt by Hurt, can't be W – he's hyperarticulate.

Natilie Portman, from The Professional to Closer, is one of the best actresses of her generation. On her first meeting with V, who saves her from rape by police thugs, Evey is taken to a rooftop for some fireworks. Not the sexual kind. V raises his hands like a conductor and directs Evey to watch as the Old Bailey blows up and lights the night sky. It's V who set the bombs, in honor of Guy Fawkes, the Catholic vigilante who futilely tried to blow up Parliament on November 5th, 1605. V, in his Fawkes mask, is determined not to fail, vowing that next year, on November 5th, 2020, Parliament will be history.

V's politicalization of Evey is the film's core. She evades arrest from Finch (a haunted Stephen Rea), the cop on the V case, but not the hands of a hidden tormenter who jails her, shaves her hair (Portman sacrificed her own locks for the role) and pushes her hard to betray V. Here she's dynamite, especially when Evey finds a letter written by a lesbian victim of torture and begins to understand V's true mission.

The explosive V for Vendetta is powered by ideas that are not computer-generated. It's something rare in Teflon Hollywood: a movie that sticks with you.