Posts tagged Frank Langella
Draft Day – Movie Trailer
Apr 21st
Posted by Channel 1 Networks in Movie Trailers
On the day of the NFL Draft, general manager Sonny Weaver (Costner) has the opportunity to save football in Cleveland when he trades for the number one pick. He must quickly decide what he’s willing to sacrifice in pursuit of perfection as the lines between his personal and professional life become blurred on a life-changing day for a few hundred young men with dreams of playing in the NFL.
Draft Day “Special Insight”
Apr 16th
Posted by Channel 1 Networks in Hotshots Movie Reviews
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
DRAFT DAY stars Kevin Costner as Sonny Weaver Jr., the general manager of the Cleveland Browns professional football team, whose job is even more important every May when the NFL teams select the college football players they want to play for their teams.
There are 32 teams and seven rounds of drafting, the order of which is determined by where the teams finished overall the previous season and by what picks they have from deals with teams during trades and previous draft days.
Cleveland didn’t do well the previous season, and Sonny gets a lot of phone calls from people trying to influence him with his picks.
The hot player this year is quarterback Bo Callahan, the Heisman Trophy winner who is expected to be chosen by whoever ends up getting the first pick in the first round.
As Sonny says to one football player during his conversations, “You only get drafted once,” which shows just how important draft day is to the players who are turning professional.
Even the owner of the team, played by Frank Langella, puts pressure on Sonny, and right away we see the wheeling and dealing that goes on between teams as they negotiate among themselves for higher picks.
When Sonny talks to other team managers, we see aerial shots of that team’s stadium, and Sonny makes a deal with the Seattle Seahawks on his way to work that is going to upset some members of his staff.
Also, the movie uses fancy editing techniques during split-screen shots when two people are talking on the phone.
Well, news must travel fast in football, and by the time Sonny gets to work, people know about the deal and assume that because of it, Cleveland gets to pick Bo Callahan.
One person who isn’t happy is Brian Drew, the Browns quarterback who was injured last season, but who has worked hard to rehabilitate himself, doesn’t want a new quarterback drafted, and trashes Sonny’s office when he hears about the deal.
Now, those of you who follow football know that not all players who are picked high in the draft succeed professionally.
Others know that not all good college quarterbacks succeed, either.
DRAFT DAY shows special insight into what goes on during draft day, and it is surprisingly emotional and suspenseful right up until the end.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Wall Street – Money Never Sleeps” Money Talks, Too
Sep 30th
Posted by Channel 1 Networks in Hotshots Movie Reviews
“Money Talks, Too”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS is the sequel to the 1987 WALL STREET, also directed by Oliver Stone and starring Michael Douglas in his Academy Award-winning performance as shady financier Gordon Gekko.
In fact, this film opens in 2001, and Gekko has spent almost eight years in prison for insider trading. He is released, given back the personal belongings he had when he went in–one of which causes a laugh from today’s audience–and there is absolutely no one to greet him on the outside.
Then it is seven years later, and Gekko has written a book entitled IS GREED GOOD? which is a reference to his famous statement in the first film.
Meanwhile, we meet young Jake Moore, played by Shia LaBeouf, a hotshot investment banker on Wall Street. His girlfriend is Winnie, played by Carey Mulligan, who just happens to be the estranged daughter of Gordon Gekko, and she even refuses to watch him being interviewed on television.
Jake is given a “spot bonus” check of over $1 million by his boss for his work, but this is just before the crisis that sent stocks plummeting.
Jake’s boss is Louis Zabel, the managing partner of an investment bank and played by Frank Langella. Jake asks Louis, “Are we going under?” and is told that is the wrong question. The right question is “Who isn’t?”
So, when their firm does fail, Jake goes behind Winnie’s back to seek out Gekko for some advice and learns that the man probably responsible, Bretton James, played menacingly by Josh Brolin, has a “history” both with Jake’s boss and with Gekko himself. Both of them now have a reason to seek revenge on James, but Gekko needs some money to play with.
The story hits close to home in a lot of ways both personal and professional, and Mulligan is simply great in her role, whereas LaBeouf isn’t so bad himself. Of course, Douglas is always good, and Stone must be laughing all the way to the Academy Awards next year.
Just as “Greed is good” is a shortened version of what was really said in the first film, “Money never sleeps” is also a shortened version of what Gekko says.
WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS also brings to mind “Money talks, but all it says around me is “Goodbye.”
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”