Opinion as a Movie-freak

Summary :
Twelve people have walked on the moon, but only one man - Philippe Petit - has ever, or will ever, walk in the immense void between the World Trade Center towers. Guided by his real-life mentor, Papa Rudy  and aided by an unlikely band of international recruits, Petit and his gang overcome long odds, betrayals, dissension and countless close calls to conceive and execute their mad plan.

Genre : Biography/Drama
Country : USA

Cast :
Joseph Gordon-Levitt : Philippe Petit
Ben Kingsley : Papa Rudy
Charlotte Le Bon : Annie

Director : Robert Zemeckis

Summary
Focusing on the relationship between Reggie Kray and Frances Shea, told from France's' point of view as someone who knew him best, as well as the mental health issues Ronnie Kray faced and their rise to power as the notorious gangsters of London. 

Genre : Crime/Biography
Country : UK/France

Cast :
Tom Hardy : Reggie/Ron Kray
Emily Browning : Frances Shea
David Thewlis : Leslie Payne

Director : Brian Helgeland

Summary :
In the cold war, a lawyer, James B. Donovan recruited by the CIA and involved in an intense negotiation mission to release and exchange a CIA U-2 spy-plane pilot, Francis G. Powers that was arrested alive after his plane was shot down by the Soviet Union during a mission- with a KGB intelligence officer, Rudolf Abel who was arrested for espionage in the US.

Genre : Biography/Drama
Country : USA/Germany

Cast :
Tom Hanks : James B. Donovan
Mark Rylance : Rudolf Abel
Amy Ryan : Mary Donovan

Director : Steven Spielberg

Summary :
In the winter of 1820, the New England whaling ship Essex was assaulted by something no one could believe: a whale of mammoth size and will, and an almost human sense of vengeance. The real-life maritime disaster would inspire Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. But that told only half the story. "In the Heart of the Sea" reveals the encounter's harrowing aftermath, as the ship's surviving crew is pushed to their limits and forced to do the unthinkable to stay alive.

Genre : Adventure/Biography
Country : USA/UK/Canada

Cast :
Chris Hemsworth : Owen Chase
Benjamin Walker : George Pollard
Cillian Murphy : Matthew Joy

Director : Ken Kwapis

Summary :
After spending two decades in England, Bill Bryson returns to the U.S., where he decides the best way to connect with his homeland is to hike the Appalachian Trail with one of his oldest friends.

Genre : Biography/Comedy
Country : USA

Cast :
Robert Redford : Bill Bryson
Nick Nolte : Stephen Katz
Emma Thompson : Catherine Bryson

Director : Ken Kwapis

Summary :
On the morning of May 10, 1996, climbers from two commercial expeditions start their final ascent toward the summit of Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. With little warning, a violent storm strikes the mountain, engulfing the adventurers in one of the fiercest blizzards ever encountered by man. Challenged by the harshest conditions imaginable, the teams must endure blistering winds and freezing temperatures in an epic battle to survive against nearly impossible odds.

Genre : Adventure/Biography/Drama
Country : USA/UK/Iceland

Cast :
Jason Clarke : Rob Hall
Josh Brolin : Beck Weathers
Emily Watson : Helen Wilton

Director : Michael Medaglia

Summary :
With the dissolution of her marriage and the death of her mother, Cheryl Strayed has lost all hope. After years of reckless, destructive behavior, she makes a rash decision. With absolutely no experience, driven only by sheer determination, Cheryl hikes more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, alone. Wild powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddens, strengthen, and ultimately heals her.

Genre : Biography/Drama
Country : USA

Cast :
Reese Witherspoon : Cheryl
Laura Dern : Bobbi
Thomas Sadoski : Paul

Director : Jean-Marc Vallée

Summary
In San Francisco in the 1950s, Margaret was a woman trying to make it on her own after leaving her husband with only her daughter and her paintings. She meets gregarious ladies' man and fellow painter Walter Keane in a park while she was struggling to make an impact with her drawings of children with big eyes. The two quickly become a pair with outgoing Walter selling their paintings and quiet Margaret holed up at home painting even more children with big eyes. But Walter's actually selling her paintings as his own. A clash of financial success and critical failure soon sends Margaret reeling in her life of lies. With Walter still living the high life, Margaret's going to have to try making it on her own again and re-claiming her name and her paintings.

Genre : Drama/Biography
Country : USA

Cast :
Amy Adams : Margaret Keane
Christoph Waltz : Walter Keane
Krysten Ritter : DeeAnn

Director : Tim Burton

Summary  
 The Theory of Everything is the story of the most brilliant and celebrated physicist of our time, Stephen Hawking, and Jane Wilde the arts student he fell in love with whilst studying at Cambridge in the 1960s. Little was expected from Stephen Hawking, a bright but shiftless student of cosmology, given just two years to live following the diagnosis of a fatal illness at 21 years of age. He became galvanized, however, by the love of fellow Cambridge student, Jane Wilde, and he went on to be called the successor to Einstein, as well as a husband and father to their three children. Over the course of their marriage as Stephen's body collapsed and his academic renown soared, fault lines were exposed that tested the lineaments of their relationship and dramatically altered the course of both of their lives.

Genre : Biography/Drama/Romance
Country : UK

Cast :
Eddie Redmayne : Stephen Hawking
Felicity Jones : Jane Hawking
David Thewlis : Dennis Sciama 

Director : James Marsh

Summary
Based on the real life story of legendary cryptanalyst Alan Turing, the film portrays the nail-biting race against time by Turing and his brilliant team of code-breakers at Britain's top-secret Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, during the darkest days of World War II.

Genre : Biography/Drama/War
Country : UK/USA
 
Cast :
Benedict Cumberbatch : Alan Turing
Keira Knightley  : Joan Clarke

Matthew Goode : Hugh Alexander

Director : Morten Tyldum

Summary
In the early 1940s, Allen Ginsberg is an English major at Columbia University, only to learn more than he bargained for. Dissatisfied by the orthodox attitudes of the school, Allen finds himself drawn to iconoclastic colleagues like Lucien Carr, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac. Together, this gang would explore bold new literary ideas that would challenge the sensibilities of their time as the future Beat Generation. However, for all their creativity, their very appetites and choices lead to more serious transgressions that would mark their lives forever.

Genre : Biography/Drama/Romance
Country : USA

Cast :

Daniel Radcliffe : Allen Ginsberg
Dane DeHaan : Lucien Carr
Jack Huston : Jack Kerouac

Director : John Krokidas

English Here ...

Genre : Biography/Drama/War
Country : Australia/UK
 
Cast :
Colin Firth : Eric Lomax
Jeremy Irvine : Eric Lomax
Nicole Kidman : Patti

Director :
Jonathan Teplitzky

Summary
Eric Lomax was one of thousands of Allied prisoners of war forced to work on the construction of the Thai/Burma railway during WW2. His experiences, after the secret radio he built to bring news and hope to his colleagues was discovered, left him traumatised and shut off from the world. Years later, he met Patti, a beautiful woman, on a train and fell in love. Patti was determined to rid Eric of his demons. Discovering that the young Japanese officer who haunted her husband was still alive, she faced a terrible decision. Should Eric be given a chance to confront his tormentor ?

Nederlands hier ...


Genre : Biography/Crime
Country : USA
 
Cast :
Spencer Lofranco : James
Mary-Louise Parker : Tracy
James Woods : Lt. Falton
Ving Rhames : Conrad

Director :
Trevor White

Summary
The true story of James Burns who, as a teenager goes from the suburban street gangs of Denver to a maximum-security prison cell surrounded by hardened criminals. In this unlikely setting, will James emerge with hope and a brighter future?

Genre : Biography/Comedy
Country : USA/UK

Cast :
Tom Hanks : Walt Disney
Emma Thompson : P.L. Travers
Colin Farrell : Travers Goff

Director :
John Lee Hancock

Summary
When Walt Disney's daughters begged him to make a movie of their favorite book, P.L. Traver's Mary Poppins, he made them a promise - one that he didn't realize would take 20 years to keep. In his quest to obtain the rights, Walt comes up against a curmudgeonly, uncompromising writer who has absolutely no intention of letting her beloved magical nanny get mauled by the Hollywood machine. But, as the books stop selling and money grows short, Travers reluctantly agrees to go to Los Angeles to hear Disney's plans for the adaptation.
My opinion

George Banks and all he stands for will be saved. Maybe not in life, but in imagination. Because that's what we storytellers do. We restore order with imagination. We instill hope again and again and again.

Who doesn't love Walt Disney? Every day you're confronted with it and most people have grown up with it. Almost every day I watch a Disney cartoon at home and still look with admiration, amazement and sometimes childlike joy at the magic that takes place on the screen. It's a bit forced that I spend my time on that. Especially when you have two little kids of 2 and 4 hopping around at home, begging everyday for another Mickey Mouse, Dumbo, or ask me "Dad please put on that movie with those two dogs that eat spaghetti".
The only Disney product I really hate is the movie "Mary Poppins" . And that for the following reasons. I can't stand Julie Andrews anymore, because of her contribution to "The Sound of Music". That's that Brady Bunch movie with a whole bunch of kids in it, with a lot of campfire songs. Every year I have to endure this monstrosity because it's indefinitely shown on television at the end of the year. Looking at Julie Andrews gives me now spontaneous abdominal cramps. Dick Van Dyke is reason number two. That guy is constantly walking around with an enormous smile as if he has swallowed a coat hanger. Every dentist probably begins to drool spontaneously when this walking Colgate advertising figure appears on the screen. And third, I hate musicals ( For more information about this, see "The Great Gatsby" review). "Mary Poppins" is the only Disney product that will always fail to impress me.
 
Now it appears to be that this "Savings Mr. Banks" is the story about the struggle between Walt and the author of "Mary Poppins", PL Travers, to get the film rights in order to make a movie from this famous book. To my surprise it surely wasn't bad and I can only express my praise on the performances of the protagonists.
The highlight is of course Emma Thompson, who plays an outstanding role as the haughty, transverse and unyielding Travers. If Travers really behaved like this, I'd sent her immediately straight back to London. What a nasty aunt she is. If the tape recordings at the end are authentic, you can only conclude that it was indeed such a monster of a woman. Thompson plays in a convincing way the writer who's to proud to give her favorite character away, so that it would only be used, according to her opinion, for commercial reasons.  Sometimes she's also a fragile and sad person since she carries a terrible secret from her past as we'll notice during the movie. Whether these are real facts, I don't know, but it would be a plausible explanation for her behavior.  There are some really funny moments in this film like the scene where one of the musicians slips away in a sneaky fast way the music sheet with the title "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious". Superb.
Tom Hanks shows again a natural way of interpretation. As if he actually was Walt Disney. For me, Hanks is currently one of the best actors in Hollywood. He can fully empathize with the role imposed and transform in such a way that he becomes one with the character. Whether he is a captain, a castaway or a stranger at an airport, it seems as if he has many years of experience with this matter. A unique actor with a unique gift. 
Colin Farell is also brilliant as the father of Travers. A key figure in the story who constantly tries to enchant his daughter with fairy-tales and fabricated stories. It's his way to protect her from the horrible and hostile reality of everyday. It's superb to see his mood swings. A good-hearted man who's knocked out by his alcohol addiction. And finally has a real impact on the future of his daughter.

Paul Giamatti took care of the role as personal driver of Travers. A captivating role with a sad impact. He's also the first that made a personal contact with her and ultimately was the only one who she appreciated and she could tolerate. Brilliant supporting role.
The only drawback, but at the same time I realize that it was not technically possible to achieve it in another way, was the constant interruptions by flashbacks. In this way, the past and the influence it had, got interwoven in a beautiful way with the present. The sad thing is that this slowed down the rhythm of the story. Not in an annoying way, but still annoying to me after a while.
Towards the end a few handkerchief moments appear. But that was to be expected. But nevertheless, I still enjoyed this film. A historical narrative that explains the evolution of the movie "Mary Poppins". I've seen the movie now, It didn't nerve me, but I'll still maintain the tradition I have with the original movie. I'll probably never see it again!

My rating 7/10
Links : IMDB

Genre : Drama/Biography
Country: USA

Cast :
Matthew McConaughey : Ron Woodroof
Jennifer Garner : Eve
Jared Leto : Rayon

Director :
Jean-Marc Vallée

Summary
Dallas 1985. Electrician and sometimes rodeo bull rider Ron Woodroof lives hard, which includes heavy smoking, drinking, drug use (primarily cocaine) and casual sex. He is a stereotypical redneck: racist and homophobic. While in the hospital on a work related injury, the doctors discover and inform him that he is HIV+, and that he will most-likely die within thirty days. Ron is initially in angry denial that he would have a disease that only "faggots" have, but upon quick reflection comes to the realization that the diagnosis is probably true. He begins to read whatever research is available about the disease, which at this time seems to be most effectively treated by the drug AZT. AZT, however, is only in the clinical trials stage within the US. Incredulous that he, as a dying man, cannot pay for any drug which may save or at least prolong his life, he goes searching for it by whatever means possible.
My opinion
I swear it, Ray, God sure was dressin' the wrong doll when he blessed you with a set of balls.

I admit. Everyone will probably repeat this infinitely times. The acting of Matthew McConaughey is irrefutable top level. I'll do it just one more time ... the acting of Matthew McConaughey is top level ! After I saw him in "The Lincoln Lawyer " where he plays a lawyer who works from out of his Lincoln, there was a sign of sheer acting talent in the movie "Mud". "Mud" isn't an average movie. You like it or you hate it. But it it does show that he isn't an ordinary actor. The metamorphosis in "Dallas Buyers Club" is even more spectacular. Physically it must have been quite a sacrifice in order to lose that much weight. The image of him lying in the hospital next to Rayon and his hospital pajamas reveal a skinny leg, is shocking at the time. How he plays that hotheaded Woodroof sometimes, is really a joy to watch. With that Texas accent he talks like a cheeky rascal and a few moments later it sounds flattering and seductive. He likes to taste the pleasures of life : Sex , Drugs and Rock 'n Roll. I must admit I hardly recognized him at the beginning with that big mustache, those big glasses, the stetson on his head and that skinny body. The moment they told him in the hospital he had AIDS was memorable. The way he reacts is a perfect display of how a heterosexual person would react that never used hard drugs (using a needle). He denies it completely and rejects the assumption to have AIDS. Instead, he returns to his camper and organizes with his drinking buddies a wild orgy with lots of booze, cocaine and willing rodeo ladies.
Jared Leto plays the role of Rayon brilliantly. A transvestite who tries to bound with Ron, but gets taunted by the latter in a humiliating way. The moment Rons friends turn their backs at him (also a strong fragment) and they avoid him like he's a leper, is the point he starts tolerating Rayon, although he keeps making teasing remarks. Leto was convincing as an addicted but attractive transvestite.
During the whole movie there is an interaction between dramatic and humorous moments. There is the monopolizing role of the FDA in terms of legalized medication. They focus more on the profit margins and seem to forget about the effective healing effects of certain medications. You can enjoy the humor both in conversations as in certain situations that arise. The bond of friendship that develops gradually between Ron and Rayon is the main storyline.
Frankly, it was hugely entertaining until the club was founded. From there it was a little less interesting and actually more of a boring presentation of Ron who travels the world looking for suppliers and new drug cocktails. And again a fight against the FDA while Ron gradually degenerates (although this isn't actually shown explicitly). A strong,humorous and touching start that significantly begins to captivate to the end. Personally I think the role of Eve by Jennifer Garner even was a minimal contribution to the whole. The doctor in Mexico was, compared to her, a more interesting character role.
In "Philadelphia" the movie got weaker by dragging in the cliche court scenes. In this movie it's the constant fight against a government agency such as the FDA which begins to irritate. But despite that, it's a hell of a movie, with two excellent performances done by two excellent actors.
My rating 7 /10
Links : IMDB

Genre : Biography/Crime
Country : USA

Cast :
Michael Shannon : Richard Kuklinski
Winona Ryder : Deborah Pellicotta
Ray Liotta : Roy Demeo

Director :
Ariel Vromen

Summary
Richard Kuklinski is working as a porn film lab tech until his mob bosses persuade him to change his career into that of a contract killer. For years, Kuklinski gains a reputation for cold blooded professionalism even as he raises a family who are kept in the dark about his true career. Unfortunately, mob politics ultimately forces him to secretly work independently with the psychopathic Robert 'Mr. Freezy' Pronge.

Genre : Biography/Drama
Country : USA

Cast :
Ashton Kutcher : Steve Jobs
Dermot Mulroney : Mike Markkula
Josh Gad : Steve Wozniak

Director :
Matt Whiteley

Summary
The true story about one of the most famous and largest American entrepreneurs in history. JOBS tells the impressive story of thirty inspiring years in the life of Steve Jobs. 
My opinion
I expected "jOBS" to be a long stretched commercial for Apple, instead of a sketch of the founder of this quirky product. This wasn't entirely true, but it was close. I wonder how much input Jobs himself had in this film. Or was the script drafted without consultation of himself?
The disadvantage of a biography is that if the person portrayed is not part of your interest, you're probably going to find this a bland and boring movie. If I would watch a biographical movie about the driving force behind the Tupperware story, I 'd probably fall asleep and look at it disinterested. Obviously since I'm working in the IT sector, "Jobs " kept me in its grip. I saw the rise of the famous PC. I've been through it all : programming with a punch card machine, Winchester disks, C64 and C128, using floppy disks with, looking at the current standards, terribly little capacity and only used nowadays as a Frisbee, the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Tandy TRS-80, the 286/386/486 DOS machines,.... And when I started my career in the world of the IT, the person who was about to offer me a job, asked me if I knew anything about Macintosh. I wholeheartedly said I did and the next day I was attending a course about DBase II and asked if they could tell me what the hell a Macintosh was. I was allowed to have a Mac Plus and for the first time I held a mouse (I thought it was bloody inconvenient) in my hand and I learned about dragging files and throwing it in the garbage bin. Nobody can imagine how groundbreaking and shocking this was for people who were used to work in a DOS environment and struggling with "CD" and "DIR" commands. A whole new world revealed itself thanks to Apple. Deep down, I still adore everything that has to do with Apple.
What did I miss in this film ? The technical side of the origin of the idea of this thought out product. We see the Apple II passing by. Lisa is mentioned. And then there is the creation of the Macintosh what leads to the seperation of Jobs and the Apple company. The Next passes and before you know it we look at the design of the iMac. That's it. No digression about the creation of the graphical interface. Who the hell got the brilliant idea of that mouse design ? Ultimately, the film is a self-glorification of the individual Jobs. We actually get to see a tyrannical person without any feelings. To be honest I think he was an arrogant bastard with no mercy. The people who started with him were put aside after a while and didn't share in the profit at the time it became a success. A programmer who showed no enthusiasm is fired on the spot. There's a child that he completely ignores and doesn't accept as his child. He sells his shares to destabilize the company. The debacle over alleged copying of Macintosh software by Microsoft (And I'm convinced it was a copy) is just a flash in the whole movie . They could have gone a bit further with this item. But it's undeniable ! He was a visionary with strong opinions about what the computer would mean in our ordinary life. It's also obvious that he turned out to be a sociopathic bully.
Aston Kutcher actually did a very fine job (What a quibble !) in portraying Jobs. The attitude, the wandering gaze and enthusiasm seemed sincere. Likewise, this can be said about the actors who formed the gang of computer nerds that stood at the cradle of Macintosh. A movie that won't make a deep impression on most people. I found it an enjoyable film that briefly allowed us to look at a product that is central in our lives, but in a different way.
My rating 7 /10
Links : IMDB