Posts tagged star
“127 Hours” Don’t Try This on Your Own
Feb 2nd
“Don’t Try This on Your Own”
127 HOURS received a number of Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, and Best Actor for its star, James Franco.
Franco, of course, plays Aron Ralston, the hiker who in 2003 was hiking by himself in a remote area in Utah when his right arm got pinned underneath a boulder, which he wrote about in his book, BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE.
The most interesting part of the story, of course, is that after failing for days to be able to dislodge the boulder, Ralston amputated his arm with a small knife in order to save himself from dying.
So, if you already know the whole story, you might think, why bother seeing this movie?
Well, because of all those Academy Award nominations, of course, and the way that the story is told on screen by director Danny Boyle.
The story begins on a Saturday with Ralston arriving in the area where he is going to start hiking.
He encounters two young women who are lost, and he tells them how to find the place they are looking for, but they look at him with suspicion.
Realizing why, Ralston removes the bandanna from his face and says, “I’m only a psychopath on weekdays. Today is Saturday.”
While the three of them spend some time together, Ralston tells them that he is an engineer, but hiking in areas like this is what he really wants to do, and he considers this his second home.
The girls invite Ralston to a party the next night at the place where they are staying, they say goodbye, and then the interesting part of the story begins.
Ralston falls in a crevice, and a large boulder dislodges and traps his arm against the rock wall.
The girls are out of shouting distance at this point, and now, you might ask, how can the story be interesting for the rest of the movie?
It might not be if the rest consisted of just grimacing, struggling, frustration, more struggling, more grimacing, even more struggling, and even more grimacing, but don’t forget all those Academy Award nominations and the talents of the writers, director, and actor.
127 HOURS is worth all the awards it receives, but don’t try this on your own.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Black Swan” Ode to a Ballerina
Dec 22nd
“Ode to a Ballerina”
BLACK SWAN is a psychological thriller about the world of ballet, an art form that has been around since 1581 and is probably not everyone’s cup of tea.
However, if you admire beauty in any form, would you prefer green or pekoe, plain or cream and sugar with yours?
Directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, and Winona Ryder, it is about one ballerina’s desire to dance the lead in a bold new production of “Swan Lake” and her pursuit of perfection in order to obtain the role.
Nina Sayers is a young ballerina whose technique is flawless, and as she tells her mother on the morning of the first day of rehearsal at the beginning of a new season, “He promised to feature me more this season.”
She is talking about Thomas Leroy, the director of the company, and he wants to open the season with a production of “Swan Lake” in which the star ballerina will dance both the roles of the white Swan Queen and the Black Swan.
Thomas tells Nina that if he was only casting the White Swan, the role would be hers, but a private encounter in his office with Nina convinces him to take a chance and cast Nina as the star of the production.
Can she handle the pressure?
Can she ignore the jealousy of the other dancers?
Can she measure up to the director’s expectations?
Now, naturally there are up-and-coming dancers involved, as well as other dancers who are past their prime, including Nina’s own mother, who gave up her promising career as a ballerina in order to have Nina.
And in a nod to the mythology of “Swan Lake” itself, the audience is forced to ask is the story real or is it surreal? However, in the case of the finished production, the surrealism works. And the music is not so bad, either.
Keep in mind that there is already a great deal of Oscar buzz about this wondrous and glorious film about a wondrous and glorious art form.
BLACK SWAN is a mythical ode to a ballerina which shows that being obsessed with the pursuit of perfection can lead to tragic results, and to paraphrase the words of Keats, “That is all you know and all you need to know.”
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Love & Other Drugs” Life Changed Forever
Dec 2nd
“Life Changed Forever”
LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS is a bittersweet romantic comedy with a twist, and by “twist” I don’t mean a twist of lemon that could be applied, but rather a subplot that provides its “wink, wink, nudge, nudge” jokes.
Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway star, two excellent actors who are not only easy on the eyes, but also both of whom have already been mentioned as possibilities for Best Actor and Best Actress awards in 2011 for this movie.
The time is 1996, and Jake plays Jamie Randall, an enthusiastic salesman of practically everything, but most of his successful sales seem to be to attractive women, if you catch my drift.
In fact, his sales techniques and satisfied customers tend to get him fired, too, and so at a family dinner with his parents and millionaire brother, when they talk about their professional accomplishments, Jamie has to announce, “I am looking for other opportunities.”
Jamie finds a job, and he goes through six weeks of training to become a pharmaceutical representative for a major drug company. The job requires hard-core sales, and he has a quota he has to meet.
Now, sooner or later everyone likes Jamie, because he will do anything to make them like him.
That includes paying $1,000 to Dr. Stan Knight, played by Hank Azaria, to let Jamie shadow him one day, and if anyone asks, Jamie is an intern.
One of the patients is Maggie Murdock, who has early onset Parkinson’s Disease, and Jamie is instantly smitten.
Maggie finds out about Jamie’s deception, but she agrees to go out with him anyway, because she is just like him, not looking for any long-term relationship, except that in her case she doesn’t want to become an inevitable burden to anyone.
Then Jamie’s company comes out with a little blue pill called Viagra, and that changes everything in Jamie’s life.
Of course, Jamie’s and Maggie’s relationship has its ups and downs–wink, wink, nudge, nudge–and I don’t mean just physical.
If this enjoyable romcom has a moral, it would be “Everybody needs someone to take care of them.”
And, of course, people like Jamie and Maggie don’t believe that originally and fight it as long as they can.
LOVE & OTHER DRUGS also shows how you can meet one person and your life is changed forever.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
