Posts tagged Sam Shepard
Fair Game – Movie Trailer
Nov 18th
Posted by Channel 1 Networks in Movie Trailers
The Bourne Identity director Doug Liman teams with screenwriters Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth to streamline Joseph Wilson’s and Valerie Plame’s books detailing the explosive outing of undercover CIA agent Plame into a tense docudrama thriller starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn. At the time her cover was blown by the George W. Bush administration, Plame (Watts) was combing Iraq for evidence of weapons of mass destruction as part of the CIA’s Counter-Proliferation Division. Her husband, American diplomat Joe Wilson was attempting to verify a claim that the Iraqis had recently purchased enriched uranium from Niger when the White House began beating the war drums before any solid evidence had been gathered. When Joe penned an editorial in The New York Times decrying the hasty call to war, a prolific Washington, D.C. journalist took the opportunity to reveal Plame’s identity as a CIA operative, an act that not only put her career in jeopardy, but also left her various contacts overseas in a precarious position. Years later, a jobless and publicly disgraced Plame wages a vicious fight to clear her name, set the record straight, and keep her family from falling apart.
“Brothers” Ending All Wrong
Dec 9th
Posted by Channel 1 Networks in Hotshots Movie Reviews
Ending All Wrong
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
BROTHERS is a remake of a 2004 Danish film, and you just might want to rent that earlier film than see this muddled mess.
Sure, this one stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, Tobey Maguire, Sam Shepard, and Mare Winningham, but there are holes in the story, unresolved issues, and problems that continue up until the very ending.
Now, these problems might be the result of the version released in theaters, perhaps because of studio pressure, and a preferred “director’s cut” is waiting in the can for its DVD release and that bane of all writers: the “alternate ending.”
Until then, we are stuck with this one.
The time is 2007, and Gyllenhaal and Maguire play brothers Tommy and Sam Cahill, who are polar opposites. Tommy was always the family screwup, whereas Sam was a star football player in high school, married his high-school sweetheart, and followed in their father’s footsteps to become a captain in the U.S. Marines.
In fact, as the movie opens, Sam is getting ready to be deployed to Afghanistan for his fourth tour of duty, and Tommy has just been released from prison.
Sam tells Tommy, “Stay out of trouble.” And Tommy replies, “All right. You be safe over there, all right?”
Before he leaves, Sam writes a letter to his wife, Grace, that he hopes won’t have to be delivered. But shortly after his arrival in Afghanistan, Sam’s helicopter is shot down by Taliban rebels, and Sam is presumed dead.
Back home, Grace takes the news of Sam’s death hard, and Tommy steps into the surprising role of comforting her and her two young daughters.
However, in spite of what the publicity would have you believe, it isn’t what you think.
Meanwhile, Sam wasn’t killed, but was captured by the Taliban and held prisoner, during which time he does something horrible.
So, when Sam is rescued and comes home, he is carrying a terrible guilt, and his arrival disrupts the new, surprising arrangement at home.
Now, if you do see this theatrical release of the film, ask yourself these questions: Does Grace read the entire contents of Sam’s letter for the audience?
Are we told everything that happened between Tommy and Grace? And does Sam reveal the whole story of his imprisonment?
BROTHERS doesn’t answer these questions, and the ending is all wrong.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
Brothers – Movie Trailer
Dec 4th
Posted by Channel 1 Networks in Movie Trailers
Jim Sheridan’s film, adapted from Susanne Bier’s 2004 movie, concerns Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire), a Marine who receives orders to ship out for yet another tour of duty in Afghanistan. But before he leaves his supportive wife, Grace (Natalie Portman), and his two elementary-school-age daughters, Sam picks up his black sheep brother, Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal), who has finished a prison stretch for robbing a bank. While overseas, Sam’s aircraft gets shot down and he’s thought dead. Back home, irresponsible Tommy gets his act together in order to be an anchor for Grace and the girls, and the two grow emotionally — though not physically — close. As the family finally begins to make peace with their grief, soldiers rescue POW Sam and he returns home. Sam’s experiences overseas have caused him such emotional turmoil, he has a difficult time adjusting to civilian life, and soon his fear and paranoia manifest themselves in the form of jealousy for his brother’s relationship with his wife. Sam Shepard and Mare Winningham co-star as the brothers’ father and stepmother.