Posts tagged true story
“The Iceman” about a Cold-Hearted Killer
May 25th
“Cold-Hearted Killer”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Iceman is based on a true story about a man named Richard Kuklinski who worked for many years as a hit man for organized crime on the East Coast.
The movie begins in 1964 in New Jersey and we meet Richie, played by Michael Shannon, as he finally gets a girl named Deborah, played by Winona Ryder, to go out with him.
She works across the street from where he works, but right off the bat he is secretive about his personal life. When Deborah asks Richie what he does for a living, Richie tells her, “I dub cartoons.”
Actually, however, Richie makes duplicate copies of pornographic films for his mobster boss, Roy, played by Ray Liotta.
When Deborah asks about Richie’s family, he says that he has a brother who is around somewhere, but Richie doesn’t talk to him, and later we will find out why in a scene that foretells Richie’s own future.
Deborah thinks that Richie is funny, is glad that he asked her out, and tells him that she had a really good time.
Well, a year later, Richie and Deborah are married, they have a baby girl, Deborah likes the way that Richie takes care of her, but she wants them to move into a bigger apartment.
At the same time, Roy tells Richie that he is closing the pornography lab, but he gives Richie a chance to make money by working for him as a hired killer, and Richie takes it, after proving to Roy that he can do the job.
Then we skip ahead 10 years, and we see more of Richie’s work, as well as more of the men who work for Roy and how he makes sure that jobs will get done.
Richie and Deborah have two daughters now, and Richie is devoted to his family, but he tells everybody that he makes money in currency exchange.
Meanwhile, another of Roy’s workers, Josh, played by David Schwimmer, messes up, and Richie is given a job that Roy also hired another hit man to take care of at the same time.
The other hit man is Mr. Freezy, played by Chris Evans, and by a series of circumstances Richie and Mr. Freezy start working together.
The Iceman is about such a cold-hearted killer that he was called “The Iceman.”
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Pain & Gain” Redeems Itself
May 19th
“Redeems Itself”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Pain & Gain is a wacky comedy based on a true story, it was directed by Michael “Blockbuster” Bay, and it is definitely not a blockbuster in either size or scope.
And by “scope” I mean the range of operation, not the mouthwash.
The story takes place in 1995 in Miami, Florida, and it is going to result in what is called “the longest and most complicated trial in Dade County history.”
Mark Wahlberg stars as Daniel Lugo, and he is the senior fitness coordinator at a gym, but he believes he deserves better, and he doesn’t want to spend the next 40 years wearing sweatpants to work.
One customer who comes to the gym is named Victor Kershaw, played by Tony Shalhoub, he is a wealthy businessman, and Daniel comes up with the idea to kidnap Victor and rob him of all his wealth.
Daniel gets his fellow gym-rat buddy Adrian to join without any convincing at all, and then for a third partner in crime, Daniel enlists Paul, played by Dwayne Johnson, an ex-con who is also a born-again Christian.
Paul doesn’t need much convincing, either, but to seal the deal, Daniel tells him, “I watch a lot of movies, Paul, I know what I’m doing.”
Well, by this time the audience can tell that Daniel really doesn’t know what he is doing, and what was intended to be a straight-up kidnaping in which they would persuade Victor to sign over all his assets to them becomes–with all apologies to Shakespeare–a comedy of errors.
All of the following comes into play: Adrian has steroid-induced impotence, Paul is so naive that he doesn’t realize that Victor is using whatever Paul tells him about himself to bond with him, and Daniel is just, well, Daniel is just dumb.
Even though Victor is kept blindfolded the whole time while the three stumblebums try to get him to sign the necessary papers, Victor is able to identify Daniel by not exactly the oldest trick in the book, but at least as old as cologne has been around.
Also, whenever Daniel believes that he has been insulted, he flies into a rage that gets him into more trouble than he was to begin with.
Pain & Gain also has Ed Harris, which helps redeem this movie.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”