Tag: Ralph Fiennes

Strange Days (1995) VHS Movie Review

by AnalogJonesTOF

What do you get when you combine Y2K, bourbon and a bad wig? Chaos! Enjoy our Strange Days (1995) VHS Movie Review.



Strange Days (1995) VHS Movie Review

Quick Facts
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow…Near Dark, Point Break, Hurt Locker
Produced by James Cameron and Steven-Charles Jaffe…produced Motel Hell and Ghost
Screenplay by James Cameron and Jay Cocks…Academy Award: Best Original Screenplay, Gangs of New York (2002)
Story by James Cameron

Starring 
Ralph Fiennes…Schindler’s List and The Grand Budapest Hotel
Angela Bassett…How Stella Got Her Groove Back and Vampire in Brooklyn
Juliette Lewis…Cape Fear, Natural Born Killers, and Dusk til Dawn
Tom Sizemore…Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down
Vincent D’Onofrio…Full Metal Jacket, The Cell and Daredevil
Michael Wincott…Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Crow, and Alien Resurrection
William Fichtner…Armageddon, The Perfect Storm, and Black Hawk Down

Production company: Lightstorm Entertainment
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox (North America) and Universal Pictures (international)
Release date: October 6, 1995
Budget: $42 million
Box office: $8 million

Top 9 Movies in the theater during October 1995
1 Get Shorty $72,101,622 
2 Copycat $32,051,917
3 Leaving Las Vegas $32,029,928 
4 Powder $30,862,156
5 Assassins $30,303,072
6 Now and Then $27,112,329
7 Dead Presidents $24,147,179
8 How to Make an American Quilt $23,600,020
9 Vampire in Brooklyn $19,751,736

Strange Days (1995) VHS Movie Review

VHS Box Summary
Strange Days is presented in its original widescreen format. The film’s original screen composition can now be viewed in all its theatrical splendor with the added attraction of being digitally masted by THS for superior sound and picture quality.

“A sexy kinetic thriller.” 
-Graham Fuller, Interview

It’s the eve of the millennium in Los Angeles, December 31, 1999. Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes, “Schindler’s List,” “The English Patient”) is an ex-cop turned street hustler who preys on human nature by dealing the drug of the future. It’s an environment that will lead him deep into the danger zone when he falls into a maze filled intrigue and betrayal, murder and conspiracy. Angela Bassett and Juliette Lewis co-star in this provocative, action-packed thriller.

Trailers
Strange Day Trailer
20th Century Fox Widescreen Series 
Making of Strange Days

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Out Of The Shadows Emerges The First Teaser Trailer For ‘James Bond: SPECTRE’

by Shane O'Hare

Just like the name implies, Spectre  moves about the shadows. Quietly and quickly they struck, with this awesome teaser trailer!

I am, and always will be, a HUGE James Bond fan. Much to the chagrin of our fearless leader Jonathan London, the James Bond formula is ALWAYS fun. I am very excited to see Sam Mendes’ modern take on the SPECTRE organization.

James Bond 007: Spectre stars The Aston Martin DB10 Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz and Ralph Fiennes. It hits theaters November 6th!

Geekscape Movie Reviews: The Grand Budapest Hotel

by MCDave

After enduring an elongated journey to the Oscars this year, thanks to the awards show’s refusal to compete against the Winter Olympics for viewership, it felt as though the 2014 cinematic year would never get going. Early offerings such as The Monuments Men and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit generated initial excitement that managed to wear off quickly. But finally, nearly two and a half months into the year, Wes Anderson strikes again and delivers a film worthy of praise. The long-time director’s latest work, The Grand Budapest Hotel, also proves to be one of his finest to date.

Anderson’s movie follows an author’s fond recollection of the adventures surrounding legendary hotel concierge Gustave H. (played by Ralph Fiennes). The prominent figure at the famous Grand Budapest Hotel develops a strong bond with his trusty protege and lobby boy, Zero Moustafa (Tony Revolori), as the pair find themselves entangled in a web of murder and incarceration thanks to a priceless painting known only as “Boy with Apple”. Gustave and Zero must work together swiftly in order to free their names and survive the pursuit of a ruthless henchmen named Jopling (Willem Defoe).

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Although I’ve never been a huge outspoken fan of Wes Anderson’s earlier works such as Rushmore or Life Aquatic, the director has certainly elevated his game in recent years. With 2012’s indie success, Moonrise Kingdom, making a firm impression on his career, Anderson’s newest feature nearly matches the effort. Leading man Ralph Fiennes puts on his finest acting display in over 15 years with this light-hearted and wacky role. The film’s star is both charismatic and enchanting in his portrayal of the oddball concierge Gustave H. And in an expected trademark move by Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel boasts an extensive list of actors and actresses in varying roles such as Jude Law, Adrien Brody, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Bill Murray, Edward Norton and Tilda Swinton (just to name a few). However, no matter how fun it always is to spot these stars in random scenes, Fiennes is the glue that holds it all together. On the shoulders of a top flight lead performance and another fabulously written screenplay by Wes Anderson himself, The Grand Budapest Hotel makes for an entertaining source of laughs and intrigue.

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Despite the feature’s winning array of perfectly timed jokes and hysterical dialogue, The Grand Budapest Hotel seems to suffer from flaws that typically run rampant throughout Wes Anderson’s catalog of work. With a bloated emphasis on style and setting more so than the characters themselves, Anderson occasionally misses the mark by failing to create depth to his onscreen personae. It goes without question that the colorful scenes are visually appealing and the director has coined a unique and stylistic approach of his own, but his films generally lack the necessary emotion to move audiences and elevate the works to new heights. Instead, we’re left with a “wordy” script containing a fair amount of humor and an excess of vibrant imagery.

Well-paced and delightfully pleasing, The Grand Budapest Hotel is a second consecutive entertaining product from the highly-regarded writer/director, Wes Anderson. Although I continue to wait for the filmmaker to turn the page with his career and take a bold step, I’ve still managed to find a semblance of enjoyment in his recent efforts. Good, but not great, fans of the quintessential Anderson-style are sure to appreciate The Grand Budapest Hotel.

GRADE: 3.5/5

Check out plenty of other fun reviews, trailers and movie news at MCDAVE’s Host Site

Fall Into ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ With The First Official Trailer

by Cameron Shooshtari

Wes Anderson fans rejoice, the imaginative director’s latest project ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ will be upon us soon and from the trailer we can already see that this movie is filled to the brim with many talented actors. Just how many actors? Well, reddit user FennekFox goes into just how much talent is in the film:

“Overall a ridiculously impressive cast. You know how many Oscar nominations and wins this crowd has? I didn’t either, so I looked into it:
 
16 nominations among the cast spread out over 11 actors, albeit Owen Wilson’s and Jeff Goldblum’s nominations are not for acting.
 
3 wins for F. Murray Abraham, Adrien Brody and Tilda Swinton.
 
Wes Anderson himself has 3 nominations.
 
Also lots of more talent behind the scenes: Alexandre Desplat, who writes the music, has 5 nominations (from the last 7 years!). Milena Canonero, who’s obviously done a great job once again with the costume design, has 3 wins and 5 nominations. And set decorator Anna Pinnock has 3 nominations.
 
In total I found 32 nominations and 6 wins. But there may be more. The trailer looks fantastic, so perhaps some of these nominees can turn into winners. Ralph Fiennes performance looks awesome, I hope it’s him.
 
And before you ask: no I don’t have too much time on my hands! Knowing this was important to my well-being.”

The movie is described as a chronicle of the adventures of Gustave M. (Ralph Fiennes), a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars, and Zero Moustafa (Tony Revolori), the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend.

I’m not particularly worried about the balance of screen time the actors will receive. Anderson has an excellent track record of remembering to rely on the actual plot to move the story and not by relying on star power alone.

‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ will be in theaters on March 7, 2014.

Geekscape Movie Reviews: ‘Skyfall’

by Scott Alminiana

The 23rd James Bond film, Skyfall, is finally here and it is fantastic. It’s been four very long years since fans last saw 007 in Quantum of Solace and his return is ever so sweet. Daniel Craig once again returns as Bond and this time the film opens as he’s on the hunt for a hard drive that contains the identities of NATO agents undercover in terrorist organizations across the globe. His hunt leads to an awesome chase sequence that culminates with a fight atop a speeding train. The hard drive falls into the possession of the mysterious Silva, played terrifically by Javier Bardem, whose past links to that of M, once again played by the great Dame Judi Dench. Saying more about the plot would only ruin the fun of watching it unfold on-screen, so you’ll just have to go and see it for yourself.

Sam Mendes, the Oscar-winning director of American Beauty, directs Skyfall and does a great job. He manages to balance the film’s great action set-pieces with some great character moments. The film continues the approach that was first started in the franchise reboot, Casino Royale, and continued in 2008’s Quantum of Solace, which was to make the character more based in reality, a la the Christopher Nolan Dark Knight Trilogy. With the previous films setting the new direction for the franchise, Skyfall drives it further home. Mendes takes obvious influence from The Dark Knight, infusing darker elements of that superhero movie into the spy genre. I’ve been saying for years that Bond is my favorite superhero and now I’m sure others will agree with that statement. Producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli made a terrific choice with hiring Mendes, just as they made the equally terrific choice when they cast Daniel Craig as Bond.

I can’t say enough about how great Craig is as Bond. He long ago made all the naysayers eat their words and quickly established himself as one of the best Bonds ever. With his third outing in the role, he might just have proven himself to be the best Bond of all time. He brings great depth to the role and makes the character a real person as well as a dashing, globe-trotting, panty dropping secret agent. Dame Judi Dench, back again for her (00)7th time as M plays a very large role in the film’s plot and her scenes with Craig are true high-points in the film.

Fans will also be glad to see the return of Q, Bond’s quartermaster, who’s played here by Ben Whishaw. This new Q is younger than Bond, a first for the series, and that sets a new dynamic between the two. Prior to this, Bond has always been the younger between the two, acting as a sort of thorn in Q’s side. Now Q is made to be the younger slightly snobby tech wizard as opposed to the old cranky gadget man. Whishaw is a welcome addition to the franchise and will clearly be around for the foreseeable future. The cast is rounded out with Ralph Fiennes as a government liaison named Mallory, Naomie Harris as MI6 field agent Eve, and Albert Finney as Kincade, a man with a link to Bond’s past. To tell you any more about their characters would spoil the plot, so I shall remain mum on their roles.

The cast really gets a chance to sink their teeth into a terrific script from John Logan and long-time Bond scribes Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. Skyfall will easily go down in history as one of the absolute best in the EON Productions series. It is not only, in my humble opinion, THE best action film of the year, but dare I say, maybe even the best film of the year? Yeah, I’m not the only one saying this. It’s really that good.

Do yourselves a favor and see this one, whether you’re a Bond fan or not. Skyfall is worth it and gets a 4.5/5

Fans who see ‘Skyfall’ in IMAX will get this awesome poster. I’ll be framing mine for sure.

Adele To Perform Theme Song To ‘Skyfall;’ Plus New Posters And Character Banners Released

by Scott Alminiana

It’s been rumoured for awhile now that the theme song to the latest James Bond film, Skyfall would be sung by Grammy winner Adele. Well, it’s now official…Adele will indeed be singing, and most likely writing the theme song for the film.

The song will most likely be titled “Skyfall,” unlike the previous two films which had different titled theme songs and film titles. Casino Royale‘s theme song was “You Know My Name” sung by Chris Cornell and Quantom of Solace‘s was “Another Way to Die” sung by Jack White & Alica Keys.

This isn’t the only 007 news today, a new poster and two character banners have also been released. You can check them out below.

Daniel Craig is back as Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007 in Skyfall, the 23rd adventure in the longest-running film franchise of all time. In Skyfall, Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.

The film is being directed by Sam Mendes and co-stars Javier Bardem, Judi Dench, Berenice Marlohe, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, and Ralph Fiennes. Skyfall lands on November 9th.

Source: Collider

The First Official “Skyfall” Teaser Trailer Has Been Released!

by Jonathan

Last week we got the teaser poster for this November’s next James Bond installment “Skyfall” and now we have the full teaser trailer for you associate yourselves with? What do YOU think of when you hear the name “James Bond”? Cars? Guns? Martinis? Hot women?

Peep this teaser and maybe a few more words will jump into your mind…

Sam Mendes directs this next installment, which hits theaters Oct. 26th 2012. On top of Daniel Craig returning as bond and Judi Dench still playing M, Javier Bardem, Naomie Harris, Ralph Fiennes and Albert Finney have been added to the cast.