Posts tagged drama
A Most Wanted Man “Just One Fault”
Aug 5th
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
A MOST WANTED MAN is based on a John le Carre novel published in 2008, but it is most notable in that it’s the final major performance of Philip Seymour Hofman, who died in February 2014.
Hofman plays Gunther Bachmann, a German intelligence agent based in Hamburg, Germany, and the story involves Bachmann and his team in pursuit of Issa Karpov, a Russian Muslim who has entered the city illegally.
What does Karpov want? What is his story? Is he a terrorist, or is he just escaping Russian oppression and attempting to join the large Muslim community in Hamburg?
Gunther asks himself these questions, keeping in mind that Hamburg was where the 9/11 terrorists involved in the 2001 attack on the United States hatched their plan, as well as the fact that Gunther has the stain of a failed mission in Beirut, Lebanon, that haunts him.
So, when Karpov gets in touch with Annabel Richter, a civil liberties lawyer played by Rachel McAdams, Gunther questions her for information, and she tells him, “He asked me to find someone for him. A banker.”
The banker is Tommy Brue, played by Willem Dafoe, and Karpov has a letter that will identify him to Tommy and establish that Karpov has a legitimate claim to a large sum of money that Tommy’s bank is holding, upwards of 10 million Euros.
Gunther doesn’t want anyone to get to Karpov before he and his team can, and he is warned to watch his back, because the Americans are taking an interest in Karpov, as well.
Gunther is told by his authorities that he has 72 hours to handle the situation or else others will take over the case.
Gunther believes that Annabel is now in danger, and for a start, she must be saved from anything that might happen.
In addition, for some time now Gunther and his team have been tracking the Arabic head of an Islamic charity, because they believe that he has been using the charity to funnel money to terrorists, and Gunther must also deal with the problem that one of his informants has become frightened and wants out of the game, saying that he can’t do it anymore.
A MOST WANTED MAN is rich, deep, and complex, but you might find one fault in it as I did.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
A Most Wanted Man – Movie Trailer
Jul 30th
When a half-Chechen, half-Russian, brutally tortured immigrant turns up in Hamburg’s Islamic community, laying claim to his father’s ill-gotten fortune, both German and US security agencies take a close interest: as the clock ticks down and the stakes rise, the race is on to establish this most wanted man's true identity - oppressed victim or destruction-bent extremist?
Begin Again “Not Memorable”
Jul 21st
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
BEGIN AGAIN has a typical setup for a romantic comedy, but the most untraditional ending ever for a romantic comedy.
John Carney wrote and directed this film, and he directed the 2007 ONCE, which also had a theme about music, but of a different kind and in a different country, as well as having more romance in it.
Mark Ruffalo stars as Dan, an executive of a record company in New York City who is down on his luck, being separated from his wife and teenage daughter, as well as having recently lost his job at the company he started with his business partner.
Keira Knightley stars as Greta, and she isn’t doing so well, either, having recently broken up with her boyfriend, whom she wrote songs with, and now he has become a successful singer, but who cheated on her.
So, when the movie begins, Greta has been pressured into going on stage in a small club and singing one of her songs, where Dan happens to be after having too much to drink.
However, Dan is so impressed by her song and her singing that after her performance he goes up to Greta and says, “I want to make records with you.”
Unfortunately, the time couldn’t have been worse, because Greta is planning to leave New York the next day and go back home to England, because of her breakup with Dave, who is played by Adam Levine.
Well, Dan turns on all the charm he can muster and convinces Greta to stay and have a meeting with his partner in order to get his opinion about Greta’s possible future as a successful singer-songwriter in the music business.
Sure enough, the next day they meet with Dan’s business partner, but he recommends that they make a professionally produced demo before he will make any decisions that might cost him money.
Naturally, neither Dan nor Greta has the money to produce a demo in a studio, and so Dan comes up with the harebrained idea of skipping a demo and just recording an entire album of Greta’s songs on the streets of the City and thus have a finished product as leverage.
And so the rest of the movie consists of their doing just that.
BEGIN AGAIN won’t leave you with any songs running through your head.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
