Chicano Movie Review: THE GREY

Chicano Movie Review: THE GREY, starring Liam Neeson who plays Ottway, the person who is hired to protect the workers in the wild of the Alaska oil rig pipeline... On there return trip home, the plane crashes and they are stranded without food, shelter in the wilderness y pa acabar de chingar there is a hungry pack of wolves after them, Will They Survive? You will have to see the movie to find out... This pelicula has a great storyline, the scenery is awesome, the action scenes will have you at the end of your seats, Liam is one bad vato in this movie... Some people think this movie is a great film and some felt let down by it... Personally im in the middle... I will rate this flick a: MAS O MENOS....


Chicano Movie Review
http://www.facebook.com/people/John-Davila/767345981

The Grey

Director Joe Carnahan who wrote The Grey with Ian Mackenzie Jeffers steps away from the frenetic action films like the A Team and Smoking Aces to a more serious and realistic subject. It was produced by Ridley and Tony Scott among others. At first glance it seems like a typical ten little Indians plot where characters are eliminated one by one. Like the red uniforms on Star Trek you don't notice them or remember their names. But Carnahan give the film a more contemplative aura with Liam Neeson's hunter John Ottway moody narration.

Ottway works at the end of the world in the dark winter of Alaska's wilderness for a refinery. As a sharpshooter he's in charge of keeping the pipeline workers safe from marauding creatures like wolves and bears. The roughnecks that are attracted to this type of work in the middle of nowhere are mostly ex cons, fugitives, drifters and @-holes, men not fit for mankind. Ottway keeps himself pretty separate from the rowdy bunch while he is haunted by memories of his wife (Anne Openshaw). He writes a letter to her but doesn't send it. Suicidal Ottway almost gives in to his malaise until he hears the wolves.

At the end of their tour of duty the workers are rotated out and flown back to civilization. The bad winter rocks the plane and quickly they are descending to their doom. Most of the men are panicking but Ottway despite his fear buckles himself to both seats in the most horrific plane crash filmed to date. Ottway finds himself in the middle of snow storm with only a sweater on. Dazed and walking to access his situation he finds the wreckage burning, bodies everywhere. The survivors in shock, cold and injured are helped by Ottway's instinctive survival skills. That is until they realized that they are surrounded by wolves. Lots of wolves. Everyone is of different opinions of what to do next but when one of the men is dragged off by a wolf, then they agree with Ottway to make it to the tree line and walk out of the wilderness instead of hoping for rescue.

The journey is somewhat expected, but the execution is tense and exciting. Filmed in Smithers, British Columbia in real snow, icy winds, and sometimes 37 below Celsius adds to the desolate atmosphere. The drudge through the snow, the threat of predators, the infighting that occurs when machismo goes head to head seem all too real. Although some points like falling in a freezing river and not getting hypothermia seems a reach. One by one the men become wolf fodder (a mixture trained animals, puppets and CGI). Everyone's eventual demise seems inevitable.

Frank Grillo as the combative Diaz stands out. Dermont Mulroney as the family man who is in a situation way over his head, and Dallas Roberts as a voice of reason are the only characters you get to know although it's hard to tell who is who with the heavy coats, beards and hats.

“Once more into the fray. Into the last good fight I’ll ever know. Live and die on this day. Live and die on this day.” This is the mantra that keeps Ottway from giving up throughout the film. It's the mantra that you may want to recite during the movie and you may want to remember to bring a sweater. Also, stay for an extra scene at the end of the credits. However the ambiguity may confuse rather than enlighten.
(Review by reesa)

Man on a Ledge

Jumping off a building doesn't exactly seem the best way to go. But in Nick Cassidy's plan it's a sure fire way of attracting attention and distracting the cops. Director Asger Leth and writer Pablo F. Fenjves have created a typical Hollywood thriller in what is typical January movie.

After breaking out of prison Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) goes to the Roosevelt Hotel in NYC and asks for a particular room 2105 checking in with the name of Walters. He orders room service and wipes his fingerprints off everything before taking a deep breath stepping out of the window onto the ledge of the 21rst floor. (Interesting side note: No blue screen was used. The look of fear on Worthington's face is real as it truly was his first time outside of a building at the height even though he was secured by wires). It doesn't take long for the people below begin to notice and gather. Seen it all police psychologist Jack Dougherty (Ed Burns) is on the scene first but Nick asks for Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks) by name. Among her colleagues she has the reputation of being the Grimm Reaper as her last intervention was with a rookie cop who eventually jumped off the bridge. She doesn't really want to take on another job but the case is looking interesting. The lack of fingerprints leads her to seek out more information, plus the man on the ledge seems to be well informed about who she is and police procedure. Nick feeds her just enough tidbits to buy time.

Turns out that Nick was once a NYPD officer who was sentenced to 25 years in Sing Sing for stealing a huge diamond from real estate tycoon David Englander (Ed Harris). You know right away that he was set up because Englander is such a malicious character who seems to have some police officers and the mayor in his back pocket. It seems that Englander used Nick to collect $40 million dollars in an insurance scam. For the past 3 years Nick has been planning to prove his innocence. This involves younger brother Joey (Jamie Bell) and his girlfriend Angie (Genesis Rodriguez) doing some Mission Impossible stuff in the building across from where Nick is staging his suicide threat. The banter between these two is probably worth a movie of their own.

Like Colin Farrell in Phone Booth, Worthington spends most of the movie in one place or pacing on the a few inches of the ledge. Fortunately the camera tracks the supporting players machinations like Kyra Sedgwick as reporter Suzie Morales (!?!) looking for the big story, Titus Wlliver as Dante Marcus who wants to send in the swat team after getting pressure from Englander and Anthony Mackie as Mike Ackerman, Nicks old partner who gets progressively nervous as the film goes on. There's a few exciting moments as expected form a heist/revenge/thriller. However those moments lose momentum from waiting for the plot and the pieces to fall into place. It takes so long for Lydia to figure out what's happening, Like Contraband that just opened, Man on the Ledge is relies on cheap thrills to get the audience into the theater. But after you know what happens, you forget about it quickly.
(Review by reesa)

84th Academy Awards Nominee's

http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/84/nominees.html


Actor in a Leading Role

* Demián Bichir in "A Better Life"
* George Clooney in "The Descendants"
* Jean Dujardin in "The Artist"
* Gary Oldman in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
* Brad Pitt in "Moneyball"

Actor in a Supporting Role

* Kenneth Branagh in "My Week with Marilyn"
* Jonah Hill in "Moneyball"
* Nick Nolte in "Warrior"
* Christopher Plummer in "Beginners"
* Max von Sydow in "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"

Actress in a Leading Role

* Glenn Close in "Albert Nobbs"
* Viola Davis in "The Help"
* Rooney Mara in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
* Meryl Streep in "The Iron Lady"
* Michelle Williams in "My Week with Marilyn"

Actress in a Supporting Role

* Bérénice Bejo in "The Artist"
* Jessica Chastain in "The Help"
* Melissa McCarthy in "Bridesmaids"
* Janet McTeer in "Albert Nobbs"
* Octavia Spencer in "The Help"

Animated Feature Film

* "A Cat in Paris" Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
* "Chico & Rita" Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
* "Kung Fu Panda 2" Jennifer Yuh Nelson
* "Puss in Boots" Chris Miller
* "Rango" Gore Verbinski

Art Direction

* "The Artist"
Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould
* "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
* "Hugo"
Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
* "Midnight in Paris"
Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
* "War Horse"
Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales

Cinematography

* "The Artist" Guillaume Schiffman
* "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Jeff Cronenweth
* "Hugo" Robert Richardson
* "The Tree of Life" Emmanuel Lubezki
* "War Horse" Janusz Kaminski

Costume Design

* "Anonymous" Lisy Christl
* "The Artist" Mark Bridges
* "Hugo" Sandy Powell
* "Jane Eyre" Michael O'Connor
* "W.E." Arianne Phillips

Directing

* "The Artist" Michel Hazanavicius
* "The Descendants" Alexander Payne
* "Hugo" Martin Scorsese
* "Midnight in Paris" Woody Allen
* "The Tree of Life" Terrence Malick

Documentary (Feature)

* "Hell and Back Again"
Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
* "If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front"
Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
* "Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory"
Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
* "Pina"
Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
* "Undefeated"
TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas

Documentary (Short Subject)

* "The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement"
Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
* "God Is the Bigger Elvis"
Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
* "Incident in New Baghdad"
James Spione
* "Saving Face"
Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
* "The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom"
Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

Film Editing

* "The Artist" Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
* "The Descendants" Kevin Tent
* "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
* "Hugo" Thelma Schoonmaker
* "Moneyball" Christopher Tellefsen

Foreign Language Film

* "Bullhead" Belgium
* "Footnote" Israel
* "In Darkness" Poland
* "Monsieur Lazhar" Canada
* "A Separation" Iran

Makeup

* "Albert Nobbs"
Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
* "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin
* "The Iron Lady"
Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

Music (Original Score)

* "The Adventures of Tintin" John Williams
* "The Artist" Ludovic Bource
* "Hugo" Howard Shore
* "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" Alberto Iglesias
* "War Horse" John Williams

Music (Original Song)

* "Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets" Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
* "Real in Rio" from "Rio" Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown Lyric by Siedah Garrett

Best Picture 84th Academy Awards Nominee's

* "The Artist" Thomas Langmann, Producer
* "The Descendants" Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
* "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" Scott Rudin, Producer
* "The Help" Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
* "Hugo" Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
* "Midnight in Paris" Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
* "Moneyball" Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
* "The Tree of Life" Nominees to be determined
* "War Horse" Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

Short Film (Animated)

* "Dimanche/Sunday" Patrick Doyon
* "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
* "La Luna" Enrico Casarosa
* "A Morning Stroll" Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
* "Wild Life" Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

Short Film (Live Action)

* "Pentecost" Peter McDonald and Eimear O'Kane
* "Raju" Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
* "The Shore" Terry George and Oorlagh George
* "Time Freak" Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
* "Tuba Atlantic" Hallvar Witzø

Sound Editing

* "Drive" Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
* "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Ren Klyce
* "Hugo" Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
* "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
* "War Horse" Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

Sound Mixing

* "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
* "Hugo"
Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
* "Moneyball"
Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
* "Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
* "War Horse"
Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson

Visual Effects

* "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
* "Hugo"
Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
* "Real Steel"
Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
* "Rise of the Planet of the Apes"
Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
* "Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

* "The Descendants" Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
* "Hugo" Screenplay by John Logan
* "The Ides of March" Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
* "Moneyball" Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin Story by Stan Chervin
* "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" Screenplay by Bridget O'Connor & Peter Straughan

Writing (Original Screenplay)

* "The Artist" Written by Michel Hazanavicius
* "Bridesmaids" Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
* "Margin Call" Written by J.C. Chandor
* "Midnight in Paris" Written by Woody Allen
* "A Separation" Written by Asghar Farhadi

Movies Scheduled for the Week of 1/22 - 1/28

K. It's gotten to the point where this weary moderator is going to try a different tack in fighting off those annoying posts that come here instead of to the person to whom it's addressed. Or the post does not include the right subject heading (yes, the moderator has been kindly changing them so it conforms and informs (and frankly it's like being in a co-dependent situation). So from now on all those posts that were being deleted will not be "rejected". That means that it's returned back to you so you know you did bad,so fix it, send to the right person, and try again. So don't kill the messenger. You've been warned.

When your email has been hacked it gets rejected too so that you know that your email server is sending us virus infected garbage. Change your password, the world goes on.

Don't forget the announcements for the Academy Award nominees will be aired on Tues, 1/24, 7 AM. You have a favorite? Post your comments to our website at here or on our Facebook page.

January 22 - 28, 2012

Sun
1/22

Mon
1/23

7:30 pm
This Means War
tba - Dallas

Tue
1/24

7:30 pm
The Grey
AmStar Cinemas 14

7:30 pm
Man on a Ledge
tba - Dallas

Wed
1/25

7:30 pm
Act of Valor
AMC Northpark

7:30 pm
The Vow
Studio Movie Grill Dallas

Thu
1/26

7:30 pm
Man on a Ledge
Cinemark West Plano

Fri
1/27

Sat
1/28

10:30 am
The Big Miracle
AMC Northpark

Adventures of Tin Tin Review by Wyatt Head

The Adventures of Tin Tin- A film that goes way beyond any "normal 3-D" animation and installs something of new human-like quality to the animated screen. The film itself carries a great story that is filled with a charisma and a ton of good suspenseful sequences.

Red Tails- This wildly new film has just the right amount of thrill and just the right amount of sadness and just the right amount of humor. This film made you feel like you were in the sky watching the planes. This is easily one the top 5 films of the new year (including future films).

Haywire

MMA champion fighter Gina Carano should be the next Wonder Woman in case they ever decide to make the movie. Fighting under formidable names such as Crush or Conviction Dallasite Carano is totally believable as a contract black ops agent in Steven Soderbergh's movie Haywire. Written by Lem Dobbs (The Limey) the convoluted plot only serves to show off Carano's impressive fighting skills while surrounded by big name actors that struggle to make the movie more interesting.

Carano plays Mallory Kane who works for independent contractor Kenneth (Ewan McGregor). The movie starts with her meeting with a fellow agent Aaron (Channing Tatum) at a small town cafe. Aaron was working with her at their last job in Barcelona. He wants her to go with him and acts like everything is fine but he can see in her eyes that she's not going. When he throws a cup of hot coffee in her face all hell breaks out. Some of the coffee shop patrons help her out giving her time to grab bystander Scott (Michael Angarano) to use his car to escape. She begins to tell him her story as the incredulous Scott applies first aid to the grazed bullet wound in her arm while she's driving his car evading the police.

Ex-Marine Mallory and Aaron were running an op set up by Kenneth and government guy Coblenz (Michael Douglas) and Rodrigo (Antonio Banderas) a contractor from Spain to rescue a Chinese dissident jounalist in Barcelona. When that was done she was sent to Dublin to work with a British agent Paul (Michael Fassbender) who she is supposed to pretend they are a couple supposedly so he can gather intel at a party. But things go amiss and Mallory realizes that she is being set up to take a fall. To find out who set up the double cross she has to get out of Dublin and back to the states to protect her father John Kane (Bill Paxton) living in New Mexico.

Technical adviser Aaron Cohen who specialized in counter terrorism training for the US military worked with the fight choreographer J.J. Perry a 5th degree black belt designing a form of fighting he nicknamed “gun-jitsu” which is mixed martial arts and muay thai kickboxing. Soderberg emphasizes the the action by not cutting away from the point of impact to get the full effect of her power blows. She runs across rooftops and bounds between building with ease. There isn't any sped up shaky camera action. The action is filmed in real time. At one point Kenneth warns Paul not to underestimate Mallory because she's a woman and she proves that with deadly precision.

The film itself is basically a B movie with an A-List cast. It almost has a 70's Euro feel with the jazz soundtrack and the grainy picture. The dense plot of who is doing what and why is not all that surprising in the end nor is it necessary. All you need to watch is the amazing Gina Carano. It will now be harder to believe these pretty skinny starlets trying to look like they can take care of business after seeing the real thing. Hopefully Gina will usher in a new kind of role model where it's OK to be athletic and healthy and kick*ss.
(Review by reesa)