Movies Express

8 Mile (Movie Review)

2007-05-08T17:13:00.001-07:00

Undoubtedly, the surprise film of 2002 was 8 Mile, the story about a young white rapper in Detroit who struggles with his broken family, gold-digging friends, and simply to find his identity in the nefarious world in which he lives. Starring the best-selling rap artist Eminem, 8 Mile is supposedly autobiographical in nature, portraying the true life rise of Marshall Mathers from the hardened streets of Detroit to the gold paved highways of superstardom. But the film begins and ends in the ghetto, cataloguing the time prior to the rapper's success. As a movie, it performs its duties well - virtually transporting the viewer to the crime and poverty riddled neighborhoods of one of America's most dangerous cities…

Local youth Jimmy "B-Rabbit" Smith, Jr. harbors dreams of hitting the big-time as a rapper (along with most of his peers in Detroit), but few are supportive of his efforts, especially his mother Stephanie (Kim Basinger), a self-centered woman who neglects her five-year-old daughter, remains unemployed, and generally wastes her life away. Her verbal battles with Jimmy are the only substantive part of their relationship.

When Jimmy gets a job working on an assembly line at a sheet metal factory, he works long hours in the dead end job making just enough money to get by. Living in a trailer with his mother so that he can save up enough money for a demo tape leads to everyday confrontations with the woman. Things begin to look up, though, when Jimmy meets Alex (Brittany Murphy), an aspiring model who shares his dreams of leaving the ghetto and pursuing a better life. But everything goes awry when Jimmy chokes at a local late-night rap showdown.

The bad news continues when Jimmy catches Alex cheating on him, his mother kicks him out, and a gang of thugs gives him a beating - placing a gun to his head and threatening to pull the trigger.

When the opportunity arises to perform once more in the local rap showdown, all of Jimmy's dreams hinge on his ability to pull out all the stops. Can he verbally destroy his opponent and gain the notoriety necessary to put him on the map…?

A surprisingly well-written screenplay wrought with symbolism, 8 Mile vividly portrays the life of an angry urban youth who aches to express his hatred for the world around him. As the dividing line between the city Detroit and the outside world, 8 Mile represents was is and what can be. The film's ability to draw the audience into a world of which they may not be a part makes this a definite must-see film. For those conservative or older viewers who may be reluctant to the see the film because of its leading star Eminem, I highly recommend giving 8 Mile a chance. If you enjoy drama and peering into unique worlds, then you might be pleasantly surprised with this one…

Movie Review - The Grass Is Greener (1960)

2007-05-08T17:12:00.000-07:00

By Ugur Akinci

As aristocratic a romantic comedy as it gets in which Cary Grant, raised dirt poor as “Archie Leach” in Bristol, England, plays Earl Victor Rhyall, a British nobleman living in a salmon pink castle with his wife Lady Hilary Rhyall (played by Deborah Kerr). The palpable Grant-Kerr chemistry that made AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER (1957) such a success is here at play too and probably the chief factor that somewhat salvages this otherwise forgettable flick.

The Rhyalls are a part of the British nobility but their finances could be better. In order to make ends meet, Hilary is raising mushrooms to sell and they allow bus loads of tourists to visit their castle for a fee.

The unbelievable Plot Point 1 comes early in the film when Robert Mitchum (playing the brash American oil millionaire Charles Delacro), pretending he is a tourist who lost his way around the castle, walks into the private residence of the Rhyalls to express his adoration for Hilary. And surprisingly enough, Hilary returns his advances on the spot and within fifteen minutes of their first “hello” they are kissing in front of the Rhyall fireplace. Seconds later Victor walks into the room, thinking Charles is a photographer sent by a magazine. But soon he is up to speed with this unwanted intrusion to their privacy.

Hilary-Charles romance charges full speed ahead when Hilary travels to London on the pretense of a hairdresser appointment. That's when Victor's old flame Hattie Durant (played by Jean Simmons) steps in trying to win Victor back. The tangled up cat's cradle of commitments, lies and betrayal among the fabulous four reaches its crescendo when Victor, instead of divorcing Hilary, decides to stand by his woman and invites Charles to an old fashioned duel.

Victor gets wounded in the gun duel but later on it turns out he had instructed his butler Sellers to shoot him in the arm for some dramatic effect. Yet having proved the desperate extend to which he is ready to go to defend her wife, Victory wins back Hilary's heart.

A harmless little rom-com with great acting by all four prominent stars and a story line that is not easy to believe in. Like many films which were adapted straight from successful stage plays in the 40s and the 50s, THE GRASS IS GREENER is also a very busy “talking heads” picture. Put it on mute and you'll miss 99% of it.

A 6 out of 10, and another point for the great salmon pink castle.

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Ugur Akinci, Ph.D. is a Creative Copywriter, Editor, an experienced and award-winning Senior Technical Communicator specializing in fundraising packages, direct sales copy, web content, press releases, movie reviews and hi-tech documentation. He has worked as a Technical Writer for Fortune 100 corporations since 1999. He is the editor of PRIVATE TUTOR FOR SAT MATH SUCCESS web site http://www.privatetutor.us

In addition to being an Ezine Articles Expert Author, he is also a Senior Member of the Society for Technical Communication (STC), and a Member of American Writers and Artists Institute (AWAI).

A true movie fan since he was a child, Akinci provides FREE MOVIE PLOT IDEAS every day of the year at SCRIPT BOILER. Visit http://scriptboiler.blogspot.com today.

You are most welcomed to visit his COPYWRITING WEB SITE http://www.writer111.com for more information on his multidisciplinary background, writing career, and client testimonials.

Movie Review - Platoon (1986)

2007-05-08T17:11:00.000-07:00

By Ugur Akinci

PLATOON (1986), nominated for 8 and garnered 4 Oscars in 1987 (Best Director for Oliver Stone, Best Picture for Arnold Kopelson, Best Sound, and Best Editing for Claire Simpson) is a Vietnam War movie about the “evils of war,” a staple approach to any such movie. However, it is also a courageous and in-your-face look at the chaotic nature of warfare and the taboo of “friendly fire.”

Looked at from the vantage point of the year 2006, and having seen many other Vietnam movies like Apocalypse Now or Full Metal Jacket since 1986, I now realize that this is still one of the tamer and straight-forward examples of the genre. This still stands comfortably on its legs as an ensemble piece with its moments and works well as an indictment of a massive letdown in which the grunts trying to do their assigned duties in the death-infested swamps of Vietnam were perhaps the last ones to blame.

The film, shot in the forbidding jungles of Philippines, boasts a high-powered cast including Tom Berenger (as SSgt. Bob Barnes), Willem Dafoe (Sgt. Elias Grodin), an 18 year old Charlie Sheen (Pvt. Chris Taylor), Johnny Depp (Pvt. Gator Lerner), Forest Whitaker (Big Harold), Francisco Quinn (son of the great Anthony Quinn, as Rhah), to name a few.

Writing by Oliver Stone (who won the screenwriting Oscar in 1978 for his Midnight Express as well as another Best Director Oscar in 1989 for Born on the Fourth of July) is well paced, preserving a good rhythm between scenes of carnage and reflection. The dialogs are crisp and realistic.

The voiceover provided by the main character Chris Taylor is without an equal because it addresses Taylor’s grandmother. I thought that was such a poignant touch for a young private lost in the world, who does not even have a girlfriend yet, to take refuge in the wisdom of his grandmother while all hell is breaking loose around him.

The plot, unfolding from the view-point of Pvt. Taylor, actually does not have too much meat in it. This movie shines on character and setting, on predicament and context, rather than on clever plot twists and turns. It can be summarized as one long story of a platoon either engaging the Viet Cong in the slug and snake infected jungle swamps, often under tropic rain, or getting stoned out of their minds to suspend the harrowing reality for an hour or two.

When the two top dogs of the platoon, the over-the-edge nihilistic Ssgt. Barnes and Sgt. Elias who can still rely on his conscience and basic moral values, clash heads, they divide the platoon into two bickering factions. The result of such infighting and accumulating resentment is not pretty.

The metaphysical horror of war has been exposed with more dramatic authority by one-of-a-kind movies like Apocalypse Now. Platoon does not go that deep but it is still a bona fide Vietnam War movie that should be on every movie fan’s must-see list.

An 8 out of 10.

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Ugur Akinci, Ph.D. is a Creative Copywriter, Editor, an experienced and award-winning Technical Communicator specializing in fundraising packages, direct sales copy, web content, press releases and hi-tech documentation.

He has worked as a Technical Writer for Fortune 100 companies for the last 7 years.

You can reach him at writer111@gmail.com for a FREE consultation on all your copywriting needs.

Please visit his official web site http://www.writer111.com for customer testimonials and more information on his multidisciplinary background and career.

The last book he has edited: http://www.lulu.com/content/263630

Free Movies

2007-04-22T22:49:00.000-07:00

By Ken Marlborough

In life, there is no such thing as a free lunch, but amazingly one can watch free movies. Free movies are those movies that are made for free distribution or have entered the public domain. Sometimes free movies may be downloaded from the Internet, which may be done legally or illegally.

Initially, this business started with free movie clips. Movie clips may be screened in a theatre before or after a full-length feature or advertised on certain sites on the Internet, but technology has changed. Movie players can now be downloaded free of charge over the Internet, including the Apple Quick Time Player, The Windows Media Player and The Real Media Player.

Such software can be used to play free movies from the Internet. There are hundreds of sites that offer movies for a small fee. Why spend a fortune on movie tickets when one can watch their favorite movies at a fraction of the price from the comfort of your personal computer? Film directories like Scour and Ifilm are like virtual multiplexes. The advent of free movie sites have made online movie watching a popular activity.

A good place to down load free movies is at ibiblio.org and archive.org. Both these sites have a growing collection of public domain movies that can be easily downloaded. It is legal to down load these movies as their copyrights have expired and hence they are in the public domain. An example is the classic Frank Capra film, ‘It’s a Wonderful Life”, which was termed as a free movie in the public domain for the last several years since its copyright had not been renewed.
Some of the popular free movie sites are Watch Free Movies Online, Shared Movies, Free Movies Now, Movie Download World, 123 Movie Download, Cinema Download, Netbroadcaster.com, and Singingfish. Some low fees sites include CinemaNow.com and Movie Flix.com. Downloading a movie with a broadband connection requires only a few minutes. The flipside to the free movie phenomenon is that it has made movie piracy easy.

The Napster experience of music piracy is threatening the motion picture industry in what is known as the Wrapster phenomenon. Microsoft’s new operating system will have strong anti-movie -piracy features to prevent illegal downloads.

There are a lot of sites on the market offering free downloads. The burden is on the customer to determine whether the movie is a legal or pirated copy. Sometimes, claims on the Internet maybe false. Most DVD’s cannot be downloaded from the net without paying a fee. Only those movies released into the public domain such as when a director has not sought a copyright can be actually downloaded free of cost.

Free Movies provides detailed information about free movies, free anime movies, free movie clips, and more. Free Movies is affiliated with Free Movie Downloads.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ken_Marlborough

Vegetarian Movie Stars - Who Came First?

2007-04-22T22:47:00.000-07:00

By Mark Juddery

It seems that every second Hollywood star is a vegetarian, giving up meat for health or moral reasons. Vegetarian societies can now provide long lists of entertainers who don't eat meat, including vegetarians like Clint Eastwood, Dustin Hoffman, Kate Winslet and Natalie Portman, and pescatarians like Hillary Swank (who eat fish, but no other animals).

With the list of notable vegetarians reading like an invitation list for Oscars night, it is not unusual for someone to ask "How did it all start?" Perhaps surprisingly, it is not a recent trend, but something that goes back some 90 years, to when the movie business was still new.
In the early days of the movies, Mary Pickford was the biggest star in Hollywood - even more popular than her friend and business partner, Charlie Chaplin. Specialising in playing cute children like Little Lord Fauntleroy and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (she was only five feet tall and had a young face), she was known as "America's Sweetheart" - and later, due to her global fame, "The World's Sweetheart".

Mary gave up meat and fish after reading "The Jungle", Upton Sinclair's disturbing expose of the meat industry in New York, with vivid descriptions of the assembly-line slaughterhouses. "It was too much for some of the visitors," wrote Sinclair (who himself became a vegetarian), "and the women would stand with hands clenched and the blood rushing to their faces, and the tears starting in their eyes."

Pickford, however, was not the only vegetarian Hollywood star of the early days. English actor George Arliss, already a popular star of the American theatre, entered movies in the 1921. At a time when vegetarianism in the West seemed peculiar and eccentric, he was a pioneer. "Doesn't it seem probable that many of our diseases are the result of meat eating?" he once asked. "It's an unpleasant habit... eating kidneys and liver and picking the bones... We shudder at the very thought of cannibals, but is there really any difference?"

Another great silent film star, Gloria Swanson, would also follow her rival Mary Pickford into a vegetarian diet. Other early stars dabbled in it. Marion Davies, one of the top comediennes of the 1920s, temporarily became a vegetarian after playing hostess to visiting Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, an outspoken member of the London Vegetarian Society.

However, though they might have been the first, these stars were not as outspoken about their vegetarianism as current stars. Unlike Woody Harrelson or Toni Collette, they did not campaign for animal rights, or publicly extol the virtues of a vegetarian diet to stay young and slim. Stars of 80 or 90 years ago were not encouraged to speak their minds in such a way.
However, as Pickford was Hollywood's most popular hostess, her meat-free diet would have been known to the fanzines and industry figures of the day (though it might have been considered eccentric). Today's stars, able to choose from a number of chic vegetarian cafés and restaurants around Hollywood, can salute her. In this way (along with many others), she was a pioneer among celebrities.

Noivedya Juddery is a writer and journalist based in Australia. A member of the Sri Chinmoy Centre, he is inspired by personal meditation and spirituality in his growing number of creative activities. He can be contacted via his website: http://www.markjuddery.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mark_Juddery

Free Movie Clips

2007-04-22T22:40:00.000-07:00

Free movie clips are those clips that are available free of cost over the Internet. These clips can be downloaded from the website, which offers them without any charge. Free movie clips are generally released to popularize upcoming movies by providing the audience a sneak preview of the main attractions in the feature film, be it its special effect or its music. Releasing a movie clip over the Internet has become a useful marketing strategy for studios.

Free movie clips are released both in video and audio format. The main platforms targeted for free video clips include computers and laptops, which can be used to directly download these clips from the Internet and which already have pre-installed programs to view them. The other viewing platforms that can be used to view movie clips include cellular phones and portable video players, most of which do not have the capacity to download these clips directly.

In case of free audio clips, the main platforms that can be used to play these are cell phones and other music devices such as MP3 players and iPods. A simple method of downloading free audio and video movie clips to devices that cannot download them directly is to first download the clip on your computer and then transfer it to the device, using a data cable or any other transfer method such as blue-tooth or infra red transfer.

Before downloading free movie clips, it is advisable to confirm whether the website offering them is legitimate. This is important, since downloading movies or movie clips from an illegal or unauthorized website is a crime under the federal law.

As a part of their marketing efforts, most studios create a unique website for each movie that they release. Short clips of the movie are usually available for download on these websites.
Movie Clips provides detailed information on Movie Clips, Free Movie Clips, Animation Movie Clips, Movie Sound Clips and more. Movie Clips is affiliated with Free Streaming Videos.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steve_Valentino