The Brave One (Widescreen Edition) (2007) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Trauma, severe trauma, can unleash aspects of the human personality that may appear as a stranger within. Such is the premise for this well-constructed film by Neil Jordan (screenplay by Roderick Taylor and Bruce Taylor), and while the neither concept of trauma-altered personality or revenge tales is new, THE BRAVE ONE alters the vengeance idea just enough to make it credible and to even draw the viewer into believing that what the character is doing is justified and right! And that is perhaps the most frightening aspect of this terrifying film.
Erica Bain (Jodie Foster) is a night radio talk show performer, a woman who walks the city of New York gathering sounds and observing the mysteries of the 'safest big city' and relates her observations poetically to a large radio audience. Erica is engaged to young physician David (Naveen Andrews) and the couple are very much in love. One night on an evening stroll with their dog they are attacked by thugs, beaten with pipes, and David is killed while Erica narrowly survives. Upon awakening from her coma she is devastated by her loss of David and becomes a strangely haunted woman, unable to sleep, unable to get immediate help from the police, and turns to purchasing a gun in an attempt to right the wrongs she has suffered. This new 'person' or 'stranger within' happens to witness a murder in a little store and to her amazement she responds by killing the murderer. A similar situation happens on the subway where two thugs threaten people, threaten Erica, and Erica again responds by killing the thugs. She feels driven to avenge the death of her David, but at the same time fears her own inner stranger. Erica returns to her radio show, under changing instructions form her boss Carol (Mary Steenburgen), and finds the changes in her psyche result in bracing her listeners about fear on the streets. In her audience is Detective Mercer (Terrence Howard) who has personal problems related to the fact that he has been unable to arrest a known killer. Mercer connects with Erica in various ways, she interviews him for her show, and the two bond. Erica trusts Mercer, wants to share what she is doing, yet hears his frustration about not being able to seek his own brand of revenge frustration against the oily killer he pursues, and decides to eliminate that trauma for Mercer. As the tension builds, the identity of Erica's assailants is discovered, and how she deals with these thugs (and with Mercer's interaction in the solution) forms the surprising ending for the film.
Too little has been written and said about the quality of performances from both Foster and Howard in this tense thriller. These two actors deliver performances so sensitive in execution that memories of previous similar films evaporate. This is a tough film to watch for all the violence not only on the screen but from within the characterizations by the actors (with the capable direction of Neil Jordan), but it is for this viewer one of the strongest films of the year. Perhaps now that the DVD can be viewed within the safety of the home more people will pay attention to a film that deserves awards. Grady Harp, February 08

Click Here to see more reviews about: The Brave One (Widescreen Edition) (2007)

"Why don‘t they stop me?" Erica Bain wonders. Bain, a popular N.Y radio host, watched her fiancé die and nearly lost her own life to a vicious, random attack. Now she discovers a stranger within herself, an armed wanderer in the urban night, out for vengeance and at war with her own soul. Two-time Academy Award winner Jodie Foster, as Erica, joins Oscar nominee Terrence Howard, as a determined cop hot on her trail. Erica?s future is uncertain, but one thing is not: THE BRAVE ONE is a high- tension thriller that packs a visceral and emotional punch.

Get 78% OFF

Click here for more information about The Brave One (Widescreen Edition) (2007)

Read More...

The Moon and the Stars (2009) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)It is June, 1939, Europe stands on the brink of war. Italy, is firmly under the control of Benito Mussolini and has been since 1922. "Il Duce" centralized all power in himself as the leader of the Fascist party as he attempts to create an Italian empire. He had said, "Everything in the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State." Germany and Italy, reflecting their common interest in destabilizing (and conquering) Europe, announced a Rome-Berlin Axis one week after signing a treaty of friendship, "The Pact of Steel," in 1936. As the viewer knows from history, soon Mussolini's and Hitler's vision of empire will become a reality, a terribly lethal, monstrous reality.

In the midst of unnerving international tension, a disparate group of actors and filmmakers come together in Rome to make an epic movie based on Puccini's opera Tosca at the famous Cinecitta Studios. Davide Rietl, (Alfred Molina), the film's Jewish producer, is determined to see the project through before the war begins. He knows he needs to rush production as he has two strikes against him - anti-Semitism and homosexuality, which was declared to be illegal in 1931. Together with his director, Hungarian Lazlo Molnar, (Andras Balint), and star performers, renowned German actress, Kristina Baumgarten, (Catherine McCormack), and James Clavel, (Jonathan Pryce), the British leading man, they struggle to complete their movie despite pressure from the government, the banks, and the media to close down. The rest of the international cast and crew are equally as dedicated.

As filming proceeds, Davide is forced to use his art collection as collateral against a loan to solve the production's grave money problems. He is in love with rising Italian screen star, the heartbreakingly beautiful, Renzo Davario, (Rupert Friend), who fancies himself to be a staunch fascist despite his bi-sexuality. Kristina, whose husband is a high ranking Nazi, is pursued by an insane young man, a member of the Italian nobility, (Niccolo Senni). She and the morphine addicted James, begin to form a close romantic attachment. There are many, too many, subplots and sub-subplots to write about in one review.

Although a variety of critics panned this film, I wanted to see it because I am interested in the historical time period, film making in general, the opera Tosca, and Alfred Molina's work. I must say, many of the naysayers are correct in their assessment. I was/am disappointed in the movie. Given the catastrophe which the viewer knows lies ahead, the extent of the danger - the mounting pressure keg which is about to explode across Europe - is neither demonstrated nor felt. There is no real drama here, rather too much melodrama, especially in the overdone dialogue. The atmosphere lacks reality and tension. One of the various instances which strains credibility is when James, with his addictive personality, appears to suspend his craving for drugs and alcohol, for the duration of his romance with Kristina.
Director John Irvin's attempt to dramatize a film within a film within an opera is interesting, and at time it works, but the overall pace slows things down to the extent that I lost interest. Some of the overly dramatic episodes come across as comical, like when Tosca screams as her lover is shot, while Kristina belts out a mega-scream as her lover departs - her scream makes an ear-splitting duet with a loud train whistle - and of course, her love is aboard the train. I kept waiting for the title, "Moon and the Stars" to be used, perhaps to understand the underlying metaphor and the point of this work. I was amazed when various characters use "Moon and the Stars" in their dialogue, on various non-related occasions. I still do not know why the title was chosen or what it is supposed to mean.
On the plus side, the actual filming and editing of Tosca is a fascinating process to watch. The acting, although uneven, is good at times, and Jonathan Pryce's humor is delightfully wry. The cinematography is wonderful and some of the shots are reminiscent of "producer" Davide Rietl's paintings. I am not sorry I saw the movie, but I really cannot recommend it highly. There are better films out there to spend your time watching.
Jana Perskie

Click Here to see more reviews about: The Moon and the Stars (2009)

Item Name: The Moon and the Stars; Studio:Lightyear Video

Get 71% OFF

Click here for more information about The Moon and the Stars (2009)

Read More...