Posts tagged woman
“The Girl Who Played with Fire” Case of Sophomore Slump?
Jul 15th
“Case of Sophomore Slump?”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE is the second in a trilogy of films based on novels that have become a phenomenon in Sweden and Europe, and Hollywood is working on its own version of the films at this moment.
However, don’t wait for the Hollywood versions when you can enjoy the Swedish films and then compare and contrast later.
Also, see the first film in the trilogy, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, first, because the story of all three is chronological, and otherwise you might be unnecessarily confused by characters and events that are explained in the previous film.
This one begins with the anti-heroine and title character Lisbeth Salander entering a man’s apartment late at night while he is asleep and looking for the files that he has on her.
He is Nils Bjurman, and he is Lisbeth’s court-appointed guardian who has to submit a monthly report on how Lisbeth is doing. She awakens Bjurman, threatens him with his own gun, and tells him to send in only positive reports about her or else she will go public with a damaging DVD she has of the two of them together.
After Lisbeth leaves, however, Bjurman calls someone named Zala and tells Zala to kill Lisbeth and return the DVD to Bjurman.
Then two people who were just about to publish an investigative article about the sex trade in Sweden are found murdered, and Lisbeth is the prime suspect, but the police can’t find her.
Neither can Mikael Blomkvist, Lisbeth’s friend and collaborator from the first film, and as he tries to get in touch with her, he discovers more information about this mysterious woman, some of it quite disturbing.
There are plenty of characters, events, and locations to keep the audience guessing about what is going to happen next, but the ending has way too much unnecessary melodrama, especially since we all know that a third installment is coming in the story.
This one also leaves a lot of unanswered questions at the end, one of which is why do filmmakers put white subtitles over a white background, making them almost impossible to read?
THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE is well worth seeing, but not as good as the first film, and I am hoping that it is just another case of sophomore slump.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Solitary Man” Scoundrel of a Man
Jul 1st
Scoundrel of a Man
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
SOLITARY MAN shows audiences that Michael Douglas just keeps getting better with age.
Douglas plays Ben Kalmen, successful owner of numerous car dealerships all over Long Island and New Jersey, and the movie begins with a title that says “About 6-1/2 Years Ago.” Ben is in his doctor’s office, where he has just taken his yearly physical, and the doctor comes in and says, “I don’t love your EKG.”
Then we cut suddenly to today, and Ben’s fortunes have changed. He doesn’t want his daughter to call him “Dad” in public, and he doesn’t want his grandson to call him “Grandpa.”
Ben is divorced, he is almost 60, and he is dating a woman for what we are told is to establish a connection with her father.
You see, Ben did something illegal that caused embarrassment to the auto industry, he paid a fine in order to keep from going to prison, and he lost all his dealerships.
Meanwhile, his girlfriend’s daughter, Allyson, is trying to get accepted at Ben’s alma mater in Boston, and when her mother comes down with the flu, she asks Ben to accompany Allyson on her college interview.
Ben not only knows the dean personally, but he has also been a large donor to the college, and his name is on the library.
However, while they are on campus, Ben gets into a fight with a student over a frisbee, and he has a run-in with the campus police.
Allyson is assigned a student, Daniel Cheston, to show her around, and Ben takes it upon himself to give Daniel advice on dating, which he also does with Allyson, but his advice to Allyson takes a surprising turn.
Ben also looks up an old college friend named Jimmy, whom he hasn’t seen in 30 years and who is played by Danny DeVito. Ben had said that he would never come back to the town, and Jimmy had said that he would never leave.
Ben had met his ex-wife, played by Susan Sarandan, on a park bench that is still there, which he remembers fondly.
However, Ben’s actions just keep getting him into more and more trouble, and eventually we learn what caused him to change and bring it all upon himself.
SOLITARY MAN is a terrific study of a scoundrel of a man.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Twilight Saga for Mature Adults
Jun 16th
Twilight Saga for Mature Adults
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO is part of a phenomenon in Sweden and Europe that is destined to become just as successful in the U.S.
The film is based on a trilogy of books written by the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson, and even though the three films made from them have broken records in Scandinavia, there is talk of Hollywood remaking at least this one and reportedly Brad Pitt has been offered the role of the lead character, Mikael Blomkvist.
I don’t see it, but then I haven’t read the novels and have only this film to go by.
Blomkvist is an investigative journalist who is tried and found guilty of libel for what he wrote in a magazine about a corrupt Swedish industrialist.
Blomkvist claims that he was set up, but before he serves his time in prison, he is approached by Henrik Vanger, the wealthy octogenarian and member of the Vanger Group, which is owned by a wealthy industrial family in their own right.
Vanger lives on a remote island in the Swedish archipelago where the rest of his family members also have homes, and he hires Blomkvist to investigate the murder of his niece, Harriet, who was 16 when she disappeared from the island back in 1966.
Although her body was never found, Vanger believes she was murdered, because she disappeared on a day when no one could get off or on the island, and every year on his birthday since then he has received framed flowers from around the world, which he believes are from Harriet’s killer who is taunting him.
Meanwhile, we meet a young punk-looking woman who is a researcher for a security company. She tells her boss, “You order the goods. I deliver them.”
She is Lisbeth Salander, the girl with the tattoo, she is a computer hacker, and she is rude, lewd, and crude personified.
When Lisbeth and Blomkvist meet and start working together, they uncover a mystery that leads to a thrilling climax, two equally gripping anticlimaxes, and a final denouement that will have you eagerly awaiting the next two films in the trilogy.
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO and its two sequels have been called “Harry Potter for grownups,” but I believe they are more likely to be a Twilight saga for mature adults.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
