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December 2008
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Monthly Archives: December 2008

Valkyrie (2008)

valkyrie-cast-cruiseDIRECTOR: Bryan Singer

CAST:

Tom Cruise, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Terence Stamp, Tom Wilkinson, Carice van Houten, Kevin McNally, David Schofield, Eddie Izzard, Jamie Parker, Thomas Kretschmann, Christian Berkel, Tom Hollander, David Bamber

REVIEW:

During his twelve-year reign, Adolf Hitler survived over forty known assassination attempts, at least fifteen of which were made by Germans. But the most hated man of the 20th century was also one of the most extraordinarily lucky. Something always managed to go wrong; Hitler would cut speeches or conferences short, avoiding timed bomb blasts, the explosives themselves would fail to detonate, and the forces arrayed against him often proved to be unfortunately uncoordinated and indecisive. The final, most famous, and most nearly successful attempt on Hitler’s life came on July 20, 1944, orchestrated by a group of rebel German military officers and politicians spearheaded by decorated injured war hero Colonel Count Claus von Stauffenberg. Continue reading

Doubt (2008)

doubtDIRECTOR: John Patrick Shanley

CAST: Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Viola Davis

REVIEW:

Doubt, John Patrick Shanley’s film adaptation of his Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play, deals with various issues—the debate over whether the Catholic Church should stand firm to old-school doctrine or evolve with the times, the ways in which those too wrapped up in their own righteousness lose sight of compassion, more tangential questions of crisis of faith and (perhaps) sexuality—-but primarily it’s a battle between doubt and certainty, both as an external conflict between characters and within individual characters’ hearts.  Its outwardly simple, straightforward premise steeps itself in ambiguity and leads us into a moral quagmire from which it never lets us emerge.  Those who dislike ambiguity and expect a film to offer a clear-cut resolution with clear answers will not be satisfied.  Different viewers will come to different interpretations, and Doubt is the kind of film (or play) that can inspire heated debates after the end credits have rolled or the curtain has fallen. Continue reading

Frost/Nixon (2008)

Frost/Nixon - Plugged In

DIRECTOR: Ron Howard

CAST: Michael Sheen, Frank Langella, Kevin Bacon, Sam Rockwell, Oliver Platt, Matthew Macfadyen, Rebecca Hall, Toby Jones

REVIEW:

For the latest entry on an eclectic filmography, Ron Howard has teamed up with playwright/screenwriter Peter Morgan for this film adaptation of Morgan’s own play, a semi-fictionalized docudrama chronicling the 1977 interview pitting British talk-show host David Frost against former President Richard Nixon. To this end, they have managed the impressive accomplishment of turning what could have been a dry, stuffy subject into a powerful and compelling drama and character study, proving that slick cinematic craftsmanship, an intelligent script, and powerhouse acting can take something seemingly mundane—an interview—and make it intensely riveting.

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