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Film Review – Drive (Second Take)

In creating the mood for the film Drive, Ryan Gosling shows his character’s driving skills early, as well as the calm of his character in intense situations, his fast thinking and movements of the vehicle, and how he handles problems that arrive—knowing that the audience will be waiting for scenes of intense driving (so much like Milk did in getting the gay sex scene out of the way.) After showcasing Gosling’s skills, the story starts in earnest. Gosling, known simply as Driver, is a stoic, silent type, works as a mechanic and stunt man, and also moonlights as a driver for criminals. No history or motivation is given into why he does this work. He is who he is, that is how he presents himself and it stays constant.

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Film Review – 127 Hours (Second Take)

Aron Ralston is an American hiker and mountain climber. In the summer of 2003, Ralston decided to take a trip by himself to the Blue John Canyon in Utah. Ralston did not tell anyone where he was going. He wanted to be alone, to test himself against the elements and against nature. Nature bestowed on him the opportunity, and on this particular occasion Ralston was the victim of a strange and tragic accident, getting his arm caught between a boulder and a crevice wall. His arm was so trapped that after five days of pushing and pulling his arm had not moved even a fraction. Aron Ralston was alone out in the deserts of Utah, too far away to hope for any passersby to come to his rescue. Aron Ralston resorted to cutting his own arm off in order to survive. Aron Ralston is a real human being and this really happened. This is 127 Hours.

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Film Review – Conviction (Second Take)

Directed by Tony Goldwyn, the new movie Conviction tells the true life story of Betty Anne Waters, played by Hillary Swank. Growing up in Ayer, Massachusetts with her older brother Kenny (played by the wonderful Sam Rockwell), they would escape from life with their neglectful mother, often by getting into various minor incidents with the police. However, in 1983, Kenny was arrested for a murder he didn’t commit, though Betty Anne seems to be the only one who believes in his innocence. Through sheer determination, this High School dropout spent the next 18 years getting her G.E.D., putting herself through College and law school, and passing the bar exam in 2 states just so she could become her brother’s defense attorney.

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Film Review – The Social Network (spoilers)

There are two films being released this year that deal with the current aspects of American prosperity and greed. While one of them appears to be outwardly critical, perhaps even slightly cynical, in its approach to addressing the modern day financial quandaries, the other is more obsequious in its outlook, and yet definitively deliberate in its’ presentation. The first film I speak of is Oliver Stone’s WALL STREET – MONEY NEVER SLEEPS which hits theaters a week before the other film, David Fincher’s THE SOCIAL NETWORK. Stone appears to be taking a direct swipe at Wall Street and the upper class’ views on how economics in American society should be run. Meanwhile, at the heart of Fincher’s film is the story of, loosely based on actual events, Mark Zuckerberg and the situations surrounding his creation of the website, Facebook, and rise to being the youngest billionaire in the world.

A reminder – this review contains spoilers. If you would like to check out our spoiler-free reviews, they are available from Allen and from Brandi.

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Film Review – The Social Network (Second Take)

We can agree that none of us thought a Facebook movie sounded like a great idea when it first surfaced, right? I personally had a flash of some sort of emo You’ve Got Mail. (No offense to You’ve Got Mail.) But once it was clear that the intention was to tell a story not just using Facebook as a marketable backdrop, but to really comment on one of the specific phenomena of the 2000s, my interest was piqued. When the director and writer turned out to be David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin, I knew that whatever we got, brilliant or failure, would be worth talking about.

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Film Review – Catfish (Second Take)

You’re not supposed to know about Catfish. The tagline on the poster says, “Don’t let anyone tell you what it is.” The entire ad campaign wants you to know that Catfish is a secret not to be shared.

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