Jun 17, 2011
Feeling like this season’s “Napoleon Dynamite” and at only 84 minutes long, you’ll immediately wonder if “Borat” is the funniest movie you’ve ever seen or just the most outrageous? The answer is both. The Borat character was invented by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen who often provokes, offends and embarrasses, all for fun, even when his victims are Jews. The movie opens with him narrating in the center of his village – some generic country that sounds like Afghanistan meets Pakistan – where he portrays a television anchor, who decides to visit America in order to make a documentary. Reminiscent of Andy Kaufman in “Taxi” Borat couples innocence with deadpan humor, as he tries to understand daily life occurrences that Americans take for granted. But it’s when Borat is in his hotel room flicking through the many cable stations, that he falls in love with Pamela Anderson from an old “Baywatch’ rerun. Destined to make her his bride, Borat travels across America to Hollywood in hopes of finding her. Of course the film is about the roadtrip along the way. Cohen’s portrayed many characters including last summer’s French race car-driver in Will Farrell’s “Talladega Nights.” But it’s his Ali G character that has so far brought him the most acclaim. Until now, anyway. Four tiaras
Jun 17, 2011
(Rated R, 110 min.) Opens Feb. 18
Welcome to the infamous “Boiler Room” of J.T. Martin, where twenty-something millionaires are made overnight. Here, in the inner sanctum of a fly-by-night brokerage firm, hyper-aggressive young stockjocks peddle to unsuspecting buyers over the phone -– and are rewarded with mansions, Ferraris and more luxury toys than they know what to do with.
The story focuses on 19-year-old college dropout Seth Davis (Giovanni Ribisi) who has just joined the inner circle of the boiler room boys. Fired up like the others, Seth wants to earn just two things in life: a million dollars and his father’s respect. His obsessions eventually lead to fatal choices and a Fed investigation on the brink of losing everything. The longer Seth stays in the boiler room, the more things begin to heat up.
Based on one of the most riveting expose and lucrative scams in American history, this movie parallels on a softer level (if possible) the recent “Fight Club” flick meets the intensity of “Glengarry Glen Ross.” Touching on similarly evoked emotions as Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street” but this time in a world of illegal stock brokering.
The story forces the viewer to reflect on mega instant wealth in the wake of cyberboom and secretaries at Microsoft with stock options worth millions. Lead actor Ribisi plunges himself into this role with the same vigor as his performance in Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan.” Also stars Nia Long, Tom Everett Scott, Nicky Katt, Ron Rifkin and Ben Affleck.
Jun 17, 2011
For starters, I can’t figure out why this movie has a title that sounds like some seductive thriller??? Anyway, Ridley Scott directs a script from “The Departed” scribe (William Monahan) about a CIA operative (Leonardo DiCaprio) with Middle East dealings. He speaks fluent Arabic and has a boss, Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe) who works from his laptop back in the states. He’s a sort of couch potato in his bathrobe. I suppose I’d do the same thing if I had his worldwide connections from an earpiece. DiCaprio’s mission is a bit confusing but he’s after some Bin Laden type guy who chants the Koran, comes with video equipment, explosives, and hides out in caves. As an American I couldn’t help but wonder if these goverment doings are really happening in real life while we’re off shopping at Target. Are CIA guys traveling underground to countries – that up until ten years ago we never heard of – like Iraq, Dubia, Syria, Afghanistan? Crowe is wisely cast – authoritative and powerful despite having a backseat role, while DiCaprio, on the other hand, is stuck in his “Titanic” boyish look. He attempts to be a grown-up but loses his spirit that only emerges – with that flirty eye-twinkle we’ve come to love him for – after he falls for some nurse in a hospital. But its British actor, Mark Strong, in his portrayal of the good/bad guy Hani, that is both commanding and off-the-charts seductive. Three tiaras
Jun 17, 2011
Bobby – This Emilio Estevez written and directed movie focuses in a trivial and whimsical way on the staff of the Hotel Roosevelt, on the night that led to the assassination of the great Robert F. Kennedy. And while we get what Estevez was going for here – the common man – the blue collar guy dreaming of the outcry for peace and justice, it doesn’t work. Because their stories leading up to the big night aren’t anything we care about. There’s the hotel manager (William H Macy) having an affair on his hairdresser wife (Sharon Stone) with his telephone operator girlfriend (Heather Graham) only to be detected by his assistant (Christian Slater) who befriends the kitchen help (Freddy Rodriguez). Lindsay Lohen plays a young bride to her groom Elijah Wood, while Martin Sheen has to juggle the emotions of his spoiled wife (Helen Hunt.) And there’s Anthony Hopkins, Harry Belafonte, Demi Moore as a drunken actress, and her real life husband Ashton Kutcher, as a hippy stoner. But in the final moments of the movie, when Kennedy is shot in the kitchen, and some of the staff is shot too, the movie finds its salvation through one of Kennedy’s famed speeches – the hopeful glue between blacks and whites. It is then that we are reminded of that fateful time in history, when America realized, the dream of what could still be after President John F Kennedy, was over. Two Tiaras
Jun 17, 2011
(rated R, 100 mins.) “Love Boat” in 2000, in a tale of Jerry (Cuba Gooding Jr.) who has just been dumped by his girlfriend (Vivica A. Fox). Jerry and pal Nick (Horatio Sanz) decide to drown their sorrows on a cruise. This sounds fine until they find out it’s a gay cruise. Just as Jerry’s ready to jump ship, he falls for Gabriella (Roselyn Sanchez) a gorgeous dance instructor. How quick Jerry forgets he has a broken heart, eh? As Jerry wants her, so does an old queen (Roger Moore, yes, really) want Jerry. Things get crazy when the Swedish tanning team are on board run by a team coach (Lin Shaye of “Something About Mary”). The movie’s multi-layered stereotypical digs manage to stay credible (and I use the term loosely) by being silly and farfetched. Instead of being original in portraying gays (perhaps drawing from say, real life), this movie falls back on the typical been-there done-that techniques. This is a bad attempt at a Farrelly brothers flicks out to sea. It would have made for a better “Titanic”, and just sunk.
