Movies
These are video movie reviews, movie trailers, and websites of the latest movies. The C1N Movie section includes Dan Culberson’s Hotshots Movie Reviews with a new review every week. We also show our C1N trailer pick of the week by Aaron Smith which is about 40 years younger than Dans taste. Show times and ticket avails are up. Look for film festivals, movie news, events, and news about the pictures here too.
“Water for Elephants” Story Construction Rip-Off
Apr 27th
“Story Construction Rip-Off”
Water for Elephants, as we are told at the beginning of the film, is about pretty much the most famous circus disaster in history, and it stars three of the most popular actors in the movies these days.
However, don’t look now, but the story construction of the film is pretty much an exact rip-off of an earlier, more successful disaster film.
Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson, and Christoph Waltz star, but before we meet them, we see Hal Holbrook show up at a circus after it has shut down for the night. He has left the nursing home where he is living and wanted to see the circus for old-time’s sake.
The manager of the circus invites him inside while the manager tries to figure out what to do with this old-timer who seems to know a lot about circuses.
The old-timer tells the manager that he was there when the circus disaster occurred in 1931 with the Benzini Bros. Circus, and he says, “I had a good life, you know. A good life.”
Then as the old man starts reminiscing and telling his story, his voice changes to that of a young man, Jacob Jankowski, and we see and hear Pattinson narrate the story.
A personal tragedy forces Jacob to change his plans to become a veterinarian, and while he is hitchhiking to Albany, he jumps onto a passing train that happens to be the Benzini Bros. Circus train.
The roustabouts take a liking to Jacob, and the next day he is taken to meet the owner and ringmaster, August, to apply for a job. August says that Jacob can have the job of carrying water to the elephants, but the joke is that this is a third-rate circus, and it doesn’t have any elephants.
However, when Jacob’s experience as a veterinarian is revealed, he becomes the veterinarian of the circus animals, which brings him into contact with Marlena, the boss’s wife and the star-attraction trick rider.
Of course, Jacob and Marlena become attracted to each other, of course August is a cruel and possessive taskmaster, and of course events are not going to turn out well for everybody, even when the circus does acquire an elephant.
Water for Elephants is okay as a love story, but it has the same story construction as the 1997 Titantic.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
Water for Elephants – Movie Trailer
Apr 27th
Based on the acclaimed bestseller, Water for Elephants presents an unexpected romance in a uniquely compelling setting. Veterinary school student Jacob meets and falls in love with Marlena, a star performer in a circus of a bygone era. They discover beauty amidst the world of the Big Top, and come together through their compassion for a special elephant. Against all odds — including the wrath of Marlena’s charismatic but dangerous husband, August — Jacob and Marlena find lifelong love.
“The Conspirator” Times of War
Apr 24th
“TIMES OF WAR”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Conspirator is a very good film about a little-known aspect of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, but it is not an exciting film.
In other words, there are no sensational car chases, no loud explosions, and no amazing special effects. Nor does it have any super heroes, it is not based on a video game, and it has no animated characters whatsoever, all ingredients that the kids today seem to be fascinated with.
What it does have is a compelling story, fine acting, and a producer and director by the name of Robert Redford.
The story is about the trial of Mary Surratt, played by Robin Wright, who owned a boarding house in Washington, DC, and who was a Southern sympathizer, a widow, and the mother of a son and a daughter.
Mary is on trial as a co-conspirator of the plot to assassinate Lincoln, because the men who planned to kill Lincoln along with the Vice-President and the Secretary of State were suspected of meeting in her boarding house to make their plans.
Her lawyer is Capt. Frederick Aiken, played by James McAvoy, who had served in in the Union army during the war. Aiken is reluctant to defend her and at one point even says, “I am eager to put the war behind me.”
Senator Johnson from Maryland tells Aiken that Mary is entitled to a defense and that Aiken should obey his oath as an attorney and do his job to defend her.
However, the prosecution had four months to prepare its case, and Aiken has only one day. Also, he knows that if she is found guilty, people will say that he was not up to the task of defending her.
Mary is also not cooperative with Aiken. Her son is more likely to have been one of the conspirators than she was, but her son is missing, and if Mary knows where he is hiding, she won’t tell anyone where he is.
So, not only is the film a courtroom drama, but it is also a period piece with the actors wearing clothing that is unfamiliar to the audience. In fact, you might not even recognize some of the actors whom you know and admire.
The Conspirator, however, is a good film that shows in times of war, the law falls silent.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
