Gary Webb
(Jeremy Renner) died a very unhappy man in 2004. He spent the last 7-8 years of his life
chasing a story that was “too true to be told” as one of his sources put
it. A story that the government (read
CIA) was aware (not complicit in as many words) about of the explosion of Crack
Cocaine in Los Angeles and how it was
used to fund the Contra rebels of Nicaragua.
Showing posts with label Jeremy Renner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jeremy Renner. Show all posts
Friday, 17 October 2014
Saturday, 18 January 2014
American Hustle
My admiration
for David O Russell keeps growing with every movie that he directs. My first experience was with Fighter where he
took Christian Bale and Melissa Leo to Oscars.
Next up was Silver Linings Playbook with Jennifer Lawrence making her
mark with the coveted statuette. Now it
seems to be the turn of Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence who have brilliant
roles and have backed it with performances that deserve their nominations.
Saturday, 2 February 2013
Hansel & Gretel Witch Hunters 3D
Hansel (Cedric
Eich) and Gretel (Alea Sophia Boudodimos) are the children of a poor
woodcutter. Times are tough and the
woodcutter’s 2nd wife decides that it is better to do away with the
children and gets the woodcutter to leave them in the jungle. On the 2nd attempt, they succeed
and the children get captured by a witch who eats children. The brave kids however, manage to stay alive
and in fact kill the witch in her own oven.
They then use the witch’s riches to stay happily ever after.
Saturday, 11 August 2012
The Bourne Legacy
So firstly lets get some facts absolutely straight.
1. The Bourne Legacy was and is NOT part of the Bourne series
2. The Bourne Legacy was written by a guy called Eric Van Lustbader in 2004.
3. There are 6 more novels in the series – Betrayal, Sanction, Deception, Objective, Dominion and Imperative
4. The movie has nothing to do with the novel or any of the 6 novels released thence.
5. Robert Ludlum has nothing to do with the novels of Lustbader. He has just permitted him to use the character. He has also been credited as the inspiration for the movie but that’s where it all ends.
First Doug Liman, then Paul Greengrass and now Tony Gilroy joins the list of directors who have been involved in Bourne Movies to date. Liman kick started it all and Greengrass was responsible for the 2 sequels that followed and are rated by many as the best in the series. Greengrass has nothing much to fear after the release of Legacy. Not because Gilroy is a bad director by any stretch of imagination. But more because if Matt Damon is not in a Bourne movie then it has probably lost half its sheen.
Thankfully, Jeremy Renner doesn’t play Bourne. The character of Bourne as shown in a few pics and rushes from the previous movies is played by Damon. But 13.839 seconds of screen time is all he gets. Renner plays the role of Aaron Cross who is part of a programme called Outcome which is being run in parallel to Operation Blackbriar and Treadstone. It is spearheaded by Eric Byer (Edward Norton).
With the shit hitting the roof after Pamela Landy’s (Joan Allen) exposé on Blackbriar, all so called “patriotic agencies” start dismantling their respective programmes. Outcome is part of this initiative. For the un-initiated, dismantling would mean doing away with – leaving no proof – incinerating all evidence – killing everyone remotely associated with the programme.
And so each and every field agent is done away with from Karachi to Seoul to back home. Aaron Cross is however, in a training exercise in Alaska and manages to evade extermination. He heads straight across to the only person who also miraculously survives these attempts to eliminate - Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz). And the story that follows is like most other Bourne movies.
Credit to Gilroy – who has also written the previous ones – for ensuring the consistency in the story line and little or no gaps. But then, he has also not come up with anything spectacular or new. So if you have seen the previous ones you may be a tad disappointed. But if you haven’t then you may miss out on certain key connections that are important. More importantly – where were you when all the excitement was happening?
Bourne Legacy is a must watch for self confessed Bourne fans. The final chase sequence is very good and edge of the seat material. The build up towards the finalé is however quite slow with just a couple of exciting moments such as when Martha and Aaron meet for the first time after they escape being killed. Overall a well made movie. But not so important to watch on the big screen. Good performances overall. 6.5 on 10.
Watch the trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1065461017/
1. The Bourne Legacy was and is NOT part of the Bourne series
2. The Bourne Legacy was written by a guy called Eric Van Lustbader in 2004.
3. There are 6 more novels in the series – Betrayal, Sanction, Deception, Objective, Dominion and Imperative
4. The movie has nothing to do with the novel or any of the 6 novels released thence.
5. Robert Ludlum has nothing to do with the novels of Lustbader. He has just permitted him to use the character. He has also been credited as the inspiration for the movie but that’s where it all ends.
First Doug Liman, then Paul Greengrass and now Tony Gilroy joins the list of directors who have been involved in Bourne Movies to date. Liman kick started it all and Greengrass was responsible for the 2 sequels that followed and are rated by many as the best in the series. Greengrass has nothing much to fear after the release of Legacy. Not because Gilroy is a bad director by any stretch of imagination. But more because if Matt Damon is not in a Bourne movie then it has probably lost half its sheen.
Thankfully, Jeremy Renner doesn’t play Bourne. The character of Bourne as shown in a few pics and rushes from the previous movies is played by Damon. But 13.839 seconds of screen time is all he gets. Renner plays the role of Aaron Cross who is part of a programme called Outcome which is being run in parallel to Operation Blackbriar and Treadstone. It is spearheaded by Eric Byer (Edward Norton).
With the shit hitting the roof after Pamela Landy’s (Joan Allen) exposé on Blackbriar, all so called “patriotic agencies” start dismantling their respective programmes. Outcome is part of this initiative. For the un-initiated, dismantling would mean doing away with – leaving no proof – incinerating all evidence – killing everyone remotely associated with the programme.
And so each and every field agent is done away with from Karachi to Seoul to back home. Aaron Cross is however, in a training exercise in Alaska and manages to evade extermination. He heads straight across to the only person who also miraculously survives these attempts to eliminate - Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz). And the story that follows is like most other Bourne movies.
Credit to Gilroy – who has also written the previous ones – for ensuring the consistency in the story line and little or no gaps. But then, he has also not come up with anything spectacular or new. So if you have seen the previous ones you may be a tad disappointed. But if you haven’t then you may miss out on certain key connections that are important. More importantly – where were you when all the excitement was happening?
Bourne Legacy is a must watch for self confessed Bourne fans. The final chase sequence is very good and edge of the seat material. The build up towards the finalé is however quite slow with just a couple of exciting moments such as when Martha and Aaron meet for the first time after they escape being killed. Overall a well made movie. But not so important to watch on the big screen. Good performances overall. 6.5 on 10.
Watch the trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1065461017/
Friday, 16 December 2011
Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol
Maybe what they say about sequels is true. With the exception of the likes of Godfather in the genre of serious cinema and Police Academy in the comedy space, I cannot think of too many franchises which have really made the cut with the sequels coming upto the same level as the first part. I am a huge fan of Star Wars and Indiana Jones as well. Quite a few in the animation genre - Toy Story, Cars, Shrek & Kung Fu Panda to name some. And what makes or breaks a successful franchise would be the bane of public expectation. Much like a hugely successful athlete, movie makers need to find that magic potion which will raise the bar every time that they put something out there.
So you would understand my apprehensions when I walked into watch Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol last night. Only this time, I was really hoping against hope that the strike team of IMF which caught the fancy of several people across the globe nearly 5 decades ago would come up with an entertaining and acceptable performance. Disappointingly and sadly, but not surprisingly, my expectations were belied - once again. The first edition of MI in 1996 was excellent simply because it was made in a manner well ahead of its time. The use of effects was stunning and to see a team of people do what almost everyone would perceive as Impossible was just the adrenaline rush that we were waiting for.
Most importantly, what they saw was bordering on the unbelievable but the operative word here is bordering. All of us wanted to be Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise). But since then it has been downhill. Is it because of a change of directors? Moving from the inimitable Brian De Palma to one of the best action directors of our time John Woo to the little known JJ Abrams and now finally to the lesser known Brad Bird (Ratatouile & The Incredibles) seems to have done no good to the team from IMF. Tom Cruise’s acting skills have never been brilliant but what does stand out is his supreme ability to look drool worthy to the opposite sex at the age of 50!!!!! What is clearly missing is the emphasis on the villain. Jim Phelphs (Jon Voight) made way for Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott) and then Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman). But in this one the villain seems to be more of a ghost (as the name of the movie would suggest). I guess much like James Bond, Ethan Hunt would be nothing without his villainous adversaries who give him the impossible opportunities.
A weak story line, several consistency errors, poor special effects, really bad sets (if you claim to be shooting in India at least make it real folks. Don’t make it obvious that you used sets) and poor screenplay dot the weakest of the 4 parts. At this rate it would not take long to make difficult seem impossible and not the other way round as is the case with the IMF. Even with Anil Kapoor’s 3 minutes and 32.83 seconds, 5 on 10 is the max I can give. I guess Don 2 will be better. Do something guys otherwise this franchise will self destruct in 5…4…Aaah you know what I mean.
Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2866585113/
So you would understand my apprehensions when I walked into watch Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol last night. Only this time, I was really hoping against hope that the strike team of IMF which caught the fancy of several people across the globe nearly 5 decades ago would come up with an entertaining and acceptable performance. Disappointingly and sadly, but not surprisingly, my expectations were belied - once again. The first edition of MI in 1996 was excellent simply because it was made in a manner well ahead of its time. The use of effects was stunning and to see a team of people do what almost everyone would perceive as Impossible was just the adrenaline rush that we were waiting for.
Most importantly, what they saw was bordering on the unbelievable but the operative word here is bordering. All of us wanted to be Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise). But since then it has been downhill. Is it because of a change of directors? Moving from the inimitable Brian De Palma to one of the best action directors of our time John Woo to the little known JJ Abrams and now finally to the lesser known Brad Bird (Ratatouile & The Incredibles) seems to have done no good to the team from IMF. Tom Cruise’s acting skills have never been brilliant but what does stand out is his supreme ability to look drool worthy to the opposite sex at the age of 50!!!!! What is clearly missing is the emphasis on the villain. Jim Phelphs (Jon Voight) made way for Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott) and then Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman). But in this one the villain seems to be more of a ghost (as the name of the movie would suggest). I guess much like James Bond, Ethan Hunt would be nothing without his villainous adversaries who give him the impossible opportunities.
A weak story line, several consistency errors, poor special effects, really bad sets (if you claim to be shooting in India at least make it real folks. Don’t make it obvious that you used sets) and poor screenplay dot the weakest of the 4 parts. At this rate it would not take long to make difficult seem impossible and not the other way round as is the case with the IMF. Even with Anil Kapoor’s 3 minutes and 32.83 seconds, 5 on 10 is the max I can give. I guess Don 2 will be better. Do something guys otherwise this franchise will self destruct in 5…4…Aaah you know what I mean.
Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2866585113/
Friday, 15 October 2010
The Town
Located in the outskirts of the “Tea Party” city of Boston is a small hamlet called Charlestown. “The Town” is famous, or should I say infamous for producing the maximum number of criminals in the Boston area. The saying goes, “It’s a family business – passed on from father to son”. And in this small hamlet stay Doug McRay (Ben Affleck), James “Jem” Coughlin (Jeremy Renner), Albert 'Gloansy' Magloan (Slaine) and Desmond Elden (Owen Burke) – a gang of bank robbers masterminded by MacRay and controlled by Fergus 'Fergie' Colm (Pete Postlethwaite) a.k.a the Florist. Between the Florist and MacRay 4 robberies have been masterminded to date. Obviously the florist keeps a cut from the job. The FBI is of course onto their backsides but there is absolutely no proof of their involvement with anything. The gang is smart enough to not leave any fingerprints. They either torch anything that they have touched or spray the place with chemicals to not leave any DNA traces either. And also burn any tapes that may have recorded the entire activity. This obviously leaves FBI Special Agent Adam Frawley (Jon Hamm) quite frustrated.
Frustrated till they pull off their next piece of work. They go about the heist dressed as Skeletors but almost get caught this time around. The Bank Manager, Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall) manages to sound a fire alarm. She also manages to see the tattoo of a cartoon character on Jem’s neck. The gang is about to leave but on 2nd thoughts decide to take Claire along with them as some sort of a hostage if the cops catch up with them on the way out. Nothing untoward happens though and a blindfolded Claire is dropped off @ the beach with a warning against talking to the cops or the FBI. For some reason the gang also keeps her license. A highly traumatized Claire is then interviewed by Agent Frawley. Still reeling under the stress of the robbery, she divulges very little. She specifically leaves out the part of the tattoo.
In the meantime, our anti-heroes are back @ their rendezvous point and realize that Claire stays barely 4 blocks away from Charlestown. Panic starts setting in and Jem is all set to dispose her off. But better sense prevails and McRay asks the gang to calm down and focus on the next job which he secretly wants to be his last. He takes the onus of following Claire to check on whether she finds her way back to the cops. He also befriends her in the bargain to try and figure out what she has been speaking to the cops about. Now there is no points for guessing that there is a soft corner that MacRay has a really soft spot for the Bank Manager ever since the robbery was in progress. For a seasoned Bank Robber it was quiet surprising that he lets himself fall for the victim. Not sure what they call this. But the reverse is the “Stockholm Syndrome”.
The Town is Ben Affleck’s 2nd directorial venture. His first being an equally intense drama starring his brother Casey Affleck. He continues with his style of movie making which is set against a dark easy going background and deals with a topic that is extremely socially relevant. Must give him credit in the direction department. Definitely not Oscar worthy as on date but definitely loads of potential in there. Lets put it this way, he is a much better director than an actor. He has definitely done his best to squeeze out as much possible from the not so famous cast. He also keeps the movie going with very little or no low points. There could have been some more effort made on consistency. For e.g. Blake Lively plays the role of Doug’s ex Krista Coughlin. For the kind of set up the Charlestown has, one would not expect Krista to have immaculately manicured and painted nails. Maybe I am wrong but instances like these stick out like a sore thumb in an otherwise well made & compact movie. In the acting department, I thought Jeremy Renner’s performance was quite noteworthy. The rest of the cast barely made it. And yes ladies – you can drool over Affleck’s 8 packs for all of 3.5 seconds during the movie. Overall, I give this a 6.5 on 10.
Frustrated till they pull off their next piece of work. They go about the heist dressed as Skeletors but almost get caught this time around. The Bank Manager, Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall) manages to sound a fire alarm. She also manages to see the tattoo of a cartoon character on Jem’s neck. The gang is about to leave but on 2nd thoughts decide to take Claire along with them as some sort of a hostage if the cops catch up with them on the way out. Nothing untoward happens though and a blindfolded Claire is dropped off @ the beach with a warning against talking to the cops or the FBI. For some reason the gang also keeps her license. A highly traumatized Claire is then interviewed by Agent Frawley. Still reeling under the stress of the robbery, she divulges very little. She specifically leaves out the part of the tattoo.
In the meantime, our anti-heroes are back @ their rendezvous point and realize that Claire stays barely 4 blocks away from Charlestown. Panic starts setting in and Jem is all set to dispose her off. But better sense prevails and McRay asks the gang to calm down and focus on the next job which he secretly wants to be his last. He takes the onus of following Claire to check on whether she finds her way back to the cops. He also befriends her in the bargain to try and figure out what she has been speaking to the cops about. Now there is no points for guessing that there is a soft corner that MacRay has a really soft spot for the Bank Manager ever since the robbery was in progress. For a seasoned Bank Robber it was quiet surprising that he lets himself fall for the victim. Not sure what they call this. But the reverse is the “Stockholm Syndrome”.
The Town is Ben Affleck’s 2nd directorial venture. His first being an equally intense drama starring his brother Casey Affleck. He continues with his style of movie making which is set against a dark easy going background and deals with a topic that is extremely socially relevant. Must give him credit in the direction department. Definitely not Oscar worthy as on date but definitely loads of potential in there. Lets put it this way, he is a much better director than an actor. He has definitely done his best to squeeze out as much possible from the not so famous cast. He also keeps the movie going with very little or no low points. There could have been some more effort made on consistency. For e.g. Blake Lively plays the role of Doug’s ex Krista Coughlin. For the kind of set up the Charlestown has, one would not expect Krista to have immaculately manicured and painted nails. Maybe I am wrong but instances like these stick out like a sore thumb in an otherwise well made & compact movie. In the acting department, I thought Jeremy Renner’s performance was quite noteworthy. The rest of the cast barely made it. And yes ladies – you can drool over Affleck’s 8 packs for all of 3.5 seconds during the movie. Overall, I give this a 6.5 on 10.
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