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mhthehammer rated The Last Picture Show

 The Last Picture Show 9/10

3 years, 2 months ago

mhthehammer added 1 item to Best Picture Nominees (in Ten Sentences) list

In the small town of Anarene, Texas, there live lost souls wandering around the economic wasteland. Sonny (Timothy Bottoms), a kid in high school, and his best friends Duane (Jeff Bridges) and Billy (Sam Bottoms) make the best of their time by going to diners, playing pool, watching movies in the rundown theater, and hooking up girls. Sonny also schedules daily rendezvouses with Ruth Popper (Cloris Leachman), a lonely middle-aged woman whose husband feels sexually distant from her. Naturally, Sonny wants to evolve from his provincial aesthetic and he does, by eloping with the most beautiful girl Jacy (Cybill Shepherd), only to have the marriage backfire when her mother Lois (Ellen Burstyn) restrains their relationship. With nowhere to go and no other purpose in his existence, the teenager remains a spectre in the rural town. "The Last Picture Show," directed by Peter Bogdanovich, is another coming-of-age film about making rebellious decisions, somewhat similar to The Graduate. Unlike Benjamin in that film however, Sonny knows what his future is like, but he needs to tear all the walls to get that far. Most teenagers go through that phase where they feel to stand against their privileged environments, whether consumed in anger or libido makes the best of them. However, as they grow up, they quickly face the grim reality and understand the fatal circumstances they have to face. "The Last Picture Show" reflects that journey brilliantly and is one of the best in that genre. (4 ½ Pool Sticks out of 5)

3 years, 2 months ago

mhthehammer rated Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 8/10

3 years, 3 months ago

mhthehammer added 1 item to Best Picture Nominees (in Ten Sentences) list

Our next Best Picture nominee hails from Taiwan and is brought to you by Ang Lee in his first mainstream film since "Sense and Sensibility." In "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," two master warriors, Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-Fat) and Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) discover their treasured jade sword The Green Destiny stolen. The thief, Yu Jen (Zhang Ziyi), is the accomplice of Jade Fox (Cheng Pei-Pei), an assassin who killed Mu Bai’s best friend and teacher years ago and is mastering the art of Wudang. By day, Jen, also the daughter of Governor Yu (Li Fazeng), partakes in an arranged marriage, which is soon roadblocked by her hidden romance with a bandit Lo (Chang Chen). The central theme of the film is secrets and, more appropriately, hidden talents. Jen’s skills in martial arts and romance with Lo are kept a secret from her father and the master warriors. Mu Bai’s secret is his love for Shu Lien and confesses it the second before he dies. Speaking of, before she dies, Fox’s hidden motif was to murder Jen for hiding the secrets to Wudang’s best fighting techniques from her. To top everything else, the title "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" refers to an idiom suggesting passion and secret desire that lie underneath the surface of human behavior. Visually beautiful and creatively choreographed, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is a good love story and a better action film. (4 Poisoned Darts out of 5)

3 years, 3 months ago

mhthehammer voted for list

Surrealist photographers (19 person items)

3 years, 3 months ago

mhthehammer voted for list

Works of Art in Cinema. (90 movies items)

3 years, 3 months ago

mhthehammer added 1 item to Best Picture Nominees (in Ten Sentences) list

Peter Jackson’s films may have ranged from mystical to over-the-top to downright silly, but the series that turned him into a Hollywood staple name was The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The first film, "The Fellowship of the Ring," introduces us to Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) who is asked by Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellan) to make a lifelong quest to destroy The One Ring of Sauron, the most powerful ring of the twelve rings. They recruit with Elrond (Hugo Weaving), the other Fellowship members Gimli (John Rhys-Davies), Legolas (Orlando Bloom), Boromir (Sean Bean), and Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Maiden Arwen (Liv Tyler), and Queen Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) to travel to Mordor and complete their quest. Jackson’s first foray into fantasy-adventure is probably the most magnificent out of all his films. The New Zealand director has delved into fantasy before to a small extent with "Heavenly Creatures," but his version of J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved books is where he glows with the genre. "The Fellowship of the Ring" is also where his knowledge of visual effects has exceeded expectations. His biggest challenge was to find the various practical illusions to make the tiny Hobbits seem real. It is all accomplished with forced perspective, building small scale replicas of the set, hiring dwarf doubles, and filming composite shots on a blue screen. With all the visual effects taking place, this culminated into one of the most triumphant technical achievements of the 21st Century. Ultimately, combined with the terrific cast of characters and an intriguing story, "The Fellowship of the Ring" is a mystical start of an epic cinematic journey. (4 ½ Honey Cakes out of 5)

3 years, 3 months ago

mhthehammer rated Elmer Gantry

 Elmer Gantry 8/10

3 years, 3 months ago

mhthehammer added 1 item to Best Picture Nominees (in Ten Sentences) list

"Elmer Gantry" tells a story about the fast-talking, booze-drinking, womanizing salesman (Burt Lancaster) who travels to a small town in Zenith, Winnemac to spread the word of Christianity. Once his preaching becomes successful, he teams up and falls in love with an evangelist Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons), who at first smells his fishy scheme. Meanwhile, Elmer’s ex-lover and prostitute Lulu Barnes (Shirley Jones) plots her revenge by exposing blackmail photos of them during a sexual affair to the press. While "Elmer Gantry" was a subject of controversy when it came out, the book published in 1927 was even more shocking. “Elmer Gantry” by Sinclair Lewis is considered to be the pinnacle of great American literature, tackling religious exploitation, inherent hucksterism, and hypocrisy, topics that resulted in churches banning the book and threatening jail sentences. Richard Brooks’s adaptation tones down Lewis’s themes, trimming off huge chunks of the book in favor of a Hollywood fairy tale with a likeable protagonist and a conventional romance. In fact, "Elmer Gantry," the film, almost mirrors the plot from the musical “The Music Man,” also about a con man who exploits town pride for profit, yet earns admiration from everyone in the end. Despite all of these changes, there are saving graces in the film. Burt Lancaster’s charismatic performance, Shirley Jones’s sexy, venomous eyes, and the fact that a mainstream film in the 60’s could show such explicit content make "Elmer Gantry" worth the watch. However, before you check the movie out, I highly suggest you read the more superior Sinclair Lewis novel. (4 Pails of Milk out of 5)

3 years, 3 months ago

mhthehammer added 1 item to Best Picture Nominees (in Ten Sentences) list

One of the biggest counterculture landmarks of cinema, "Bonnie and Clyde" is about the most notorious outlaws of the Depression Era, Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty) and Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway) and partake in a series of robberies. The dynamic Texas duo, along with Buck (Gene Hackman) and Blanche Barrow (Estelle Parsons), and C.W. Moss (Michael J. Pollard), hop in from car to car committing these crimes, while trying to lose tail from the police. Released in 1967, "Bonnie and Clyde" was controversial for its rebellious nature and the excessively bloody shootout at the end. The pure rawness of the film really stands out with the French New Wave style choppy editing by Dede Allen. Oddly enough, "Bonnie and Clyde" was one of those films that suffered through constant fight with studio executives. Warren Beatty wanted to make a picture that was a throwback to the gangster films of the 1930’s and 1940’s, something Warner Brothers strongly objected to. The producers in particular were concerned over the amount of sex and violence in the script, topics of such that were outdated and would not sell at the box office. While the violence was left unturned, the sex was massively toned down, trimming off any possible nudity, Clyde’s bisexuality, and a menage-a-trois that would make the MPAA group raise their eyebrows. Nonetheless, "Bonnie and Clyde" became a sleeper hit and got nominated for nine Academy Awards, winning only for its cinematography and, unfortunately, Estelle Parson’s performance. Thus, this movie ended up being one of the cornerstones of modern filmmaking. (4 Cheeseburgers out of 5)

3 years, 3 months ago

mhthehammer added 1 item to Best Picture Nominees (in Ten Sentences) list

Howard Hughes was one of the most powerful, if not eccentric, actors, producers, directors, playboys and plane engineers in the Golden Age of Hollywood. Naturally, Hughes has been the subject of multiple films, whether as a supporting character, a fictional character inspired by him, or the subject of a biopic directed by Martin Scorsese. What makes this one, "The Aviator," so fascinating and stand out from the others is that it follows Hughes’s (Leonardo DiCaprio) struggle with obsessive-compulsive disorder and path to reclusiveness. One of the first signs of his behavior is his extreme perfectionist cinematic eye, no matter the financial consequences. In the making of Hell’s Angels, he wanted to do reshoots of the climactic biplane sequence because the clouds in the test screening looked phony, causing an overinflation of the film’s budget. Another sign of his OCD is his outrageously specific descriptions, whether ordering a bottle of milk with the cap on or ten medium-sized chocolate chip cookies with no chips near the rim. The final symbol of his condition is his tendency to keep everything clean and symmetrical. Several episodes, such as the peas on his steak plate being scattered, Katharine Hepburn’s (Cate Blanchett) dog jumping in front of him, putting saran wrap on the plane’s steering wheel, finding uneven seams on bolted metal sheets and finding blood on the prime rib, showcase this extreme level of orderly perfection. So, with all the behavioral side effects from the larger-than-life Hollywood personality represented, Martin Scorsese put together a great biopic about mental illness. (4 ½ Hercules Planes out of 5)

3 years, 3 months ago

mhthehammer rated The Lion in Winter

 The Lion in Winter 9/10

3 years, 3 months ago

mhthehammer added 1 item to Best Picture Nominees (in Ten Sentences) list

Another Best Picture nominee around Henry II, "The Lion in Winter" explores the English king (Peter O’Toole) and his dynamic dilemma with his imprisoned wife Eleanor of Aquitaine (Katharine Hepburn), and his sons: Richard I (Anthony Hopkins), Geoffrey (John Castle), and John (Nigel Terry). All three sons quarrel over wanting the throne during Christmas and their father is in the middle of a tug of war between choosing his oldest son Richard or his personal favorite John. Also roped in is King Philip (Timothy Dalton) who wants to weave Alais (Jane Merrow), his sister, into Henry’s inheritance, while conspiring with the sons to craft war on England. Much like "Becket," "The Lion in Winter" is about power struggle and betrayal from the perspective of the royal family. However, this film feels almost like a rewrite of Shakespeare’s “King Lear,” also a play about an elderly king choosing an heir, being backstabbed by his three children and accompanied by a partner who taunts him for his foolishness. In fact, there’s a line in the beginning where Henry compares himself to the legendary titular character. He says that the two are similar figures, except Lear divided his kingdom into three for his daughters. Also unlike Lear, Henry locks Richard, Geoffrey and John up in a wine cell and attempts to kill them, but fails, waking up from his violent trance and realizing that he’s not the vibrant monarch we was before. Lear, on the other hand, died holding Cordelia’s body after her execution, while Goneril and Regan met their makers after poisoning and suicide, having redemption swept away and leaving only grief to live with. Even though "Becket" works best on a story level, "The Lion in Winter" is an emotional powerhouse and pure quintessential cinema. (4 ½ Porks on Treetops out of 5)

3 years, 3 months ago

mhthehammer rated Becket

 Becket 7/10

3 years, 3 months ago

mhthehammer added 1 item to Best Picture Nominees (in Ten Sentences) list

Based on the play by Jean Anouilh, "Becket" follows the friendship of King Henry II of England (Peter O’Toole) and Thomas Becket (Richard Burton), his servant and soon-to-be Bishop of Canterbury. Becket’s Christendom has alienated him from the king and, ultimately, cost his life once four barons slaughter the meddlesome priest and Henry canons him as a saint. For the most part, Peter Glenville’s film version of "Becket" is fairly respectful to the Tony Award winning play of religious cynicism, power struggle between monarchy and the church and betrayal. Aside from the scene-by-scene symmetry from Anouilh’s book, the film flips between uttering lines and paraphrasing from the text. Meanwhile, the film also spares away scenes between minor characters to keep Thomas and the king’s storyline consistent. For example, in the play, the four nobles argue at a camp in Saxon territory about who Thomas is as a person, whereas the film cuts out the conversation. Another big touch to the film is that the characters speak Latin, which ironically never happened in the play. Historical anachronisms aside, being a story about an archbishop in Europe, you’d think that the original French version and the English translation would have included some lines in Latin. At least the movie gave some form of authenticity when depicting a fictionalization of Thomas Becket’s final years. Other than that silliness, "Becket" is a really decent film and a faithful interpretation of the play. (3 ½ Saxon Rings out of 5)

3 years, 3 months ago

mhthehammer added 1 item to Best Picture Nominees (in Ten Sentences) list

Jake LaMotta, the Raging Bull, is not just a wild boar, he’s also a bad egg with a rotten yolk in the middle. In Martin Scorsese's biopic "Raging Bull," the former middleweight champion (Robert De Niro) goes on a path from his boxing career, to owning a nightclub in Miami, to losing everything due to his gluttony and greed. Much like Charles Foster Kane, he treats everyone around him, including his brother and manager Joey (Joe Pesci) and his second wife Vickie (Cathy Moriarty), as objects, and gains pride in his own self-worth. Even when he’s trying to make amends with his loved ones, Jake is still a fat pig with a heart like an ape. Yet, Scorsese builds a window for the audience to find pathos in Jake as he retires his winning title, unsuccessfully sells the jewels from his belt, and is sent to jail for introducing a teenage bar patron to other men. In terms of his career, Jake constantly aims for the prize to only make himself a god among all contenders. LaMotta’s love and passion for boxing is incorporated with excerpts from operas like “Cavalleria Rusticana,” “Silvano,” and “Guglielmo Ratcliff,” to give a nirvanic trance or existential enlightenment. Also, the explosive fight with Joey to the fight in the arena shows he’s just as much a monster on the ring as he is at home. At the end, Jake laments about his shattered dreams in front of the mirror, quoting the line from On The Waterfront to support his loss. So, with all the fragmented relationships, his larger-than-life shrewdness, or his passion for boxing, you get a difficult, yet another compelling entry into Marty’s masterpiece library. (4 ½ Overcooked Steaks out of 5)

3 years, 3 months ago

mhthehammer rated Selma

 Selma 6/10

3 years, 3 months ago

mhthehammer added 1 item to Best Picture Nominees (in Ten Sentences) list

In "Selma," Martin Luther King, Jr (David Oyelowo), willing to undo the racial injustice in the American South, forms a peaceful march protest to Montgomery along with Andrew Young (Andre Holland), Diane Nash (Tessa Thompson), Amelia Robinson (Lorraine Toussaint), Annie Cooper (Oprah Winfrey), and thousands of African Americans. Dr. King tries to negotiate with President Lyndon Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) and Governor George Wallace (Tim Roth), but they have alternative motives and plan to arrest the protestors for violating their policies. Right from the start, I noted some notches to Richard Attenborough’s "Gandhi," which follows a civil rights rebellion against a government that’s oppressing its people. However, "Gandhi," being a three-hour epic, covers the Indian man’s entire career path, unlike "Selma" which depicts one chapter of Dr. King’s life. In fact, the story and filmmaking feels paint-by-numbers, despite getting scraps of details right about the Edmund Pettus Bridge march. David Oyelowo, an extreme talent who plays brilliantly with the Southern accent, doesn’t exactly capture one of the most insurmountable and legendary voices of civil rights. The weakest link in the subjectively powerful biopic is the cinematography. While at times Bradford Young evoked some beautiful imagery, most of his shots contained head and nose rooms, leaving way too much dead space around the main subject. For instance, when we see the exterior of King’s house in one scene, the camera shows three quarters of the house, while most of the shot shows the trees next to it. With that said, while the movie doesn’t shy away from being the voice of African American civil rights, "Selma" didn’t have the same novelty as Martin Luther King’s hagiographic royalty. (3 Nobel Peace Prizes out of 5)

3 years, 3 months ago

mhthehammer rated The Cat in the Hat

 The Cat in the Hat 2/10

3 years, 3 months ago

mhthehammer added 1 item to Best Picture Nominees (in Ten Sentences) list

Once upon a time, every freshmen including myself was assigned to read Harper Lee's “To Kill a Mockingbird,” a book that depicted Southern racial prejudice and maturity from a child’s point of view. Naturally, because her only full-length book was a major hit, it was turned into a film in 1962 by Richard Mulligan. The story is about Scout (Mary Bedham), a young daughter of poor lawyer Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) in the town of Maycomb, Alabama. Meanwhile, Atticus is assigned to defend Tom Robinson (Brock Peters), a black man accused of beating and raping Mayella (Collin Wilcox), the daughter of Bob Ewell (James Anderson). All the while, Scout and her brother Jem (Philip Alford) and her friend Dill (John Megna) play games and make up stories about a reclusive man named Boo Radley (Robert Duvall). One main lesson in the book and film is never understand someone else unless you fill in their shoes. Scout, being a roguish young girl who previously picked up wild ideas about who Boo Radley is, sees him rescue Jem from being attacked by Bob, they share powerful stares and she walks her back to the Radley house, having known him as a person. The other lesson in "To Kill a Mockingbird" is to fight for others or yourself even if you lose. After Atticus makes his fabulous speech about abandoning racial prejudice and supporting equality, everyone in court, including the jury, dismiss his claim and plead Tom guilty, thus killing the mockingbird. "To Kill a Mockingbird" is the cornerstone of great cinema as well as a well-done adaptation of an even better novel. (4 ½ Pocket Watches out of 5)

3 years, 3 months ago

mhthehammer rated The Caine Mutiny

 The Caine Mutiny 7/10

3 years, 3 months ago

mhthehammer added 1 item to Best Picture Nominees (in Ten Sentences) list

Ensign Willie Keith (Robert Francis) is enlisted to the USS Caine along with Lieutenant Steve Maryk (Van Johnson), Lieutenant Tom Keefer (Fred MacMurray), Lieutenant Commander William H. De Vriess (Tom Tully) and under the command of Captain Queeg (Humphrey Bogart). While onboard, the seamen suspect mental illness in Queeg and threaten to take command during a Pacific typhoon, not long before they are court martialed for mutiny. The main storyline of "The Caine Mutiny" is probably my favorite part of the movie because it can be read into multiple angles. One, it could allude to William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” a play about a band of conspirators who overthrow a ruler who they think may go too far with power. Two, it could be a satire of the mental actions of Senator Joe McCarthy, a politician famous for the Communist witch hunt, which many people saw as a case of paranoia. The weakest part of the movie is the roped-in love story between Ensign Keith and his girlfriend May Wynn (May Wynn). Other than to do service to Herman Woulk’s book, "The Caine Mutiny" should not have padded itself with corny romantic dilemmas, commitment conflicts and mother-in-law problems. This almost gives the movie that pleasant novelty feeling that post-war generation folks watch with mild satisfaction. If not, the superfluous romance subplot greatly detracts the tension from the main plot, as writer Stanley Roberts becomes too faithful to the source material. Beyond that, you have a brilliant main plot, which is a tense and well-acted exercise. (3 1/2 Steel Balls out of 5)

3 years, 3 months ago

mhthehammer rated Apollo 13

 Apollo 13 9/10

3 years, 3 months ago

mhthehammer added 1 item to Best Picture Nominees (in Ten Sentences) list

Apollo 13 was the seventh mission for NASA’s space program in which Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks), Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon), and Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) attempted to land on the moon. However, the mission went haywire when the shuttle’s oxygen module failed two days after launching, so the team looped around the moon and returned back on Earth. Twenty-five years later, Ron Howard and the executives of Universal and Imagine Entertainment adapted the real-life events into a space drama called "Apollo 13." While I could linger on the historical inaccuracies and the fictional mechanical inputs invented for the movie. However, I’m going to address the theme of superstitions because, afterall, "Apollo 13," a film about one of NASA’s most famous aborted lunar missions that happens to bear the unlucky number, has to carry such a motif. One of the first omens before launching came from the case of the German measles from Ken Mattingly (Gary Sinise), one who originally was part of Lovell’s trio before Swigert replaced him. The rest of the astronauts, being the least superstitious bunch, can’t help but laugh about the unlucky number, in fact they probably saw the replacement as mere coincidence. The most superstitious moreover is Marilyn (Kathleen Quinlan), Jim’s wife, who fears her husband may die in outer space and her first omen is that she lost her wedding ring in the shower. Yet, it’s those superstitions that induce the stakes and obstacles that Lovell and his men must face in order to survive and land back on Earth. What "Apollo 13" ends up being is a great space drama as well as Ron Howard’s best film. (4 ½ Moonrocks out of 5)

3 years, 3 months ago

mhthehammer added 1 item to Best Picture Nominees (in Ten Sentences) list

Twelve years after his mega-blockbuster hit "Titanic," James Cameron outdid his own competition and created another giant box office wonder, one based on his childhood nightmares and a script conceived in the 1990’s. In "Avatar," Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is assigned by Col. Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) to Pandora, the fifth moon of the planet Polyphemus, where the Na’vi tribe inhibit and unobtanium can be found. Sully meets the tribe’s leader Mo’at (C.C.H. Pounder) and her daughter Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and they team together to fight the colonel’s army and protect Pandora from their evil robotic clutches. The last time I saw "Avatar" was when it first came out in a 3D Imax theater. Much like everyone else, I was blown away by the breathtaking scenery and the imaginative creatures. However, the writing felt like it was cobbled from a simpler time, where environmental films and Native American savior dramas were all the rage. James Cameron wanted to wait until computer generated technology was feasible to digitally craft Pandora and the Na’vi, and it showed. This, unfortunately, hurts the world of "Avatar" since the storylines and character archetypes are long since outdated by 2009. By this point, audiences could accept people trying to protect the ecological environment and connect with indigeounous cultures, so the film’s message comes off as trivial by today’s standards. While the technology and 3D is amazing and colorful, the scriptural substance in "Avatar" is not anything special. (2 ½ Stingbats out of 5)

3 years, 3 months ago

mhthehammer rated Capote

 Capote 9/10

3 years, 3 months ago

mhthehammer added 1 item to Best Picture Nominees (in Ten Sentences) list

Truman Capote (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is gathering resources to publish his latest novel “In Cold Blood,” a non-fictionalized account on the Clutter Family murders in Kansas. His main inspiration comes from his interviews with the murder suspects Perry Smith (Clifton Collins, Jr.), and Dick Hickock (Mark Pellegrino), under permission from Detective Alvin Dewey (Chris Cooper) and accompanied by his best friend Nelle Harper Lee (Catherine Keener). During his research, Capote develops a friendship with Perry and even tries to find a lawyer to defend his case before execution. Let me address the elephant in the room, Philip Seymour Hoffman was one of the best versatile actors of all time, and his performance as Truman Capote exceeds beyond description. Whether through his anecdotes in a party or sharing a tragic backstory, the way he blends the New York author’s vocal articulation and mannerisms with raw emotion embodies the film as a whole. You really feel the dedication and the care that Truman puts out for his work and the people around him, especially Perry. He accomplishes “In Cold Blood,” his biggest career-breakout yet he must sacrifice self-acceptance in the end once he says goodbye to someone he may have betrayed. Bennett Miller’s directing is fascinating as well, combining the handheld camera with fragmented French New Wave editing and cold desaturated color scheme. This stylistic decision could possibly give a melancholic, if not raw, quality to Miller’s biopic. Poetic, brooding and witty, "Capote" explores the most sensational period in Truman Capote’s life, one that requires moral surrender and morale decay. (4 ½ Banana Baby Food Jars out of 5)

3 years, 3 months ago

mhthehammer rated Captain Phillips

 Captain Phillips 8/10

3 years, 3 months ago

mhthehammer added 1 item to Best Picture Nominees (in Ten Sentences) list

"Captain Phillips" tells us the story about Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks), merchant mariner of the MV Maersk Alabama, who is ordered to transport from Oman to Kenya. During his duty, his vessel gets hijacked by a band of Somalian pirates, led by Abduwali Muse (Barkhad Abdi), and Phillips is taken hostage for five days. The rest of the film is Phillips trying to survive with the Somalis while the DEVGRU picks up the signal and negotiates with the pirates in the lifeboat. Obviously, "Captain Phillips" was made during the wake of survival films in 2010’s. Unlike the other films, this one, based on true events and Phillips’s memoir, is much smarter and more realistic, with natural lighting and hand-held camerawork to complement the tone. Plus, the intro scene where we see the main character at home in Vermont packing his bags, checking his boarding pass and destination, and interacting with his wife (Catherine Keener) is probably the best part in the movie, showing us who Richard Phillips is. Speaking of, I wish we could have had more scenes with the wife or have the film end with Phillips reuniting with her. Conversely, the book flashes back from him during the hostage to his relationship with his family. Maybe, Keener didn’t have much time to shoot more or maybe there were deleted scenes in the Blu-Ray, but there could have been more to that chemistry than an exchange of emails. Beyond that, "Captain Phillips" is one solid and clever motion picture. (4 Khat Plants out of 5)

3 years, 3 months ago

mhthehammer rated The Good Earth

 The Good Earth 7/10

3 years, 3 months ago