kramer v/s kramer, scene

Peacock Trailer (2010) [HQ]

PEACOCK

I'm not quite sure what to say about this movie. I only heard about it from a fellow movie addict that seemed rather non plussed. Hence its direct to DVD status.
The title intrigued me and the cast didn't completely turn me off. After all, how many turkeys has Susan Sarandon made?
Peacock is the culmination of a few years work by writer/director Michael Lander.
Funnily enough the synopsis for this movie changed several times. The original script surrounded the trial and tribulations of a transvestite in the country. (Sound familiar)
Hence,we begin. Forget the transvestite,enter the confused young man with Multiple Personality disorder. (Oh shit-haven't we been here before too!!!) Christ why cant the Yanks come up with something original! Is it really that hard???!!!
The story unfolds to reveal nothing much. I love hearing the director say in the Extras "we really want to leave the audience with a lot of questions"
Why Michael? Why dont you just fucking answer them! Life is hard enough without shrouding it in MORE mystery.
"Peacock" is a strange attempt to fuse "Sybil" ""The three faces of Eve" and "Psycho".
The STAR of this movie is the relatively unknown Irish actor Cillian Murphy. He is often referred to as the "chameleon" in the buz for his complete physical and psychological transformation into character. "Peacock" is no exception.
Murphy who had to cover up his baby blues with boring brown contact lenses plays both "John Skillpa" a tortured young man who barely holds down his bank job and his alter ego "Emma" who lovingly protect and feeds him unlike his recently deceased mother.
It appears his "mother" starved him of many things.
"Peacock" picks up where "Psycho" left off. In fact the character of "John" is a carbon copy of the infamous "Norman Bates" in both demeanour and appearance. The notion of Emma as his protector is slightly more original. I must admit that Cillian Murphy is far more attractive as a woman than a man. Nice cheekbones!
The pair seem to have a nice synergy. That is until a fucking train ploughs into the backyard. PHALEAsE!!!!!
I wont spoil the plot,its already spoiled.
I WILL praise Cillian for his mighty effort. Here is a Christian Bale contender that we havent seen the last of. I always love Susan S and her enquiring hazel eyes. Ellen Page seems to have removed the large June Bug that was up her arse.
In terms of horn factor, Josh Lucas (yum yum) and yes I do like older men, Keith Carradine. (or Martha Plimptons dad)
Bill Pullman was delightful as Johns devilish boss at the Bank.
Good luck with this one people. All I know is that I fell asleep after 10 minutes and found myself watching the rest
begrudgingly in the morning.

Check ya,

Jax x

127 HOURS-SPOILER ALERT.

Its tight ass Tuesday. You know what that means; I can finally afford to see something on the Big Screen.
As its Oscar season; its a tough choice so I go with "127 Hours" directed by Danny Boyle. (You may remember such movies as"Trainspoting" and the multi award winning "Slumdog Millionaire")
The movie chronicles the real life story of American climber Aron Ralston and his torturous 127 hours in the desert.
The movie begins classic Boyle style. AR Rahman soundtrack,screen division and bright colors.
Ralston is played by the ever faithful James Franco. Never has he been just a pretty face for me. He is finally pissing with the big boys. (literally)
There is no mucking around here,just straight into the action.
After a nice dip in a cave pool with some fellow climbers,Ralston reaches his demise early in the piece. I think shit,they've got another 2 hours to fill here-tough job.
Boyle what are you gonna do? How are you going to make this interesting when we've just about had enough of men versus the elements movies?
Well he does just that. The casting of Franco is a gold move. Franco manages to be spot on with EVERY emotion one suffers in response to a trauma. This pretty boy is now on his meteoric rise.
Boyle does not edit the experience with Ralston.We see a man drink his own piss,hallucinate and scream painfully in frustration.We are on the edge of our seats in the amputation scene. Apparantly two people were treated by medics at the Toronto Film Festival.
What an original! Every time Franco hacks away at his arm and hits a raw nerve the soundtrack reacts with an adjoining screeching sound. NOT for the fainthearted.
There is a beautiful moment at the end of this scene. Once Franco is free again,he looks in wander at the remnants of his five day horror show. He quietly says "thankyou". Some may say he is saying thank you for his freedom. I agree but furthurmore he is thanking the experience. As strange as it sounds,any man that can endure this atrocity is surely more than a man.
In real life, Ralston is still a keen adventurer.
Sometimes I feel Boyle labours the point. There is too much reliance on the soundtrack and the juxtaposed visions of Ralstons past/future for me. I find this type of story telling overused and unoriginal.
There was not enough of a backstory for me to care or even understand the significance of Ralstons unborn son.
He'd already demonstrated silence and nature are sometimes piercing enough.
Over all Boyle is still a genius. I look forward to next project.

Jax

TIME FOR A TURKEY....EAT PRAY LOVE

"Eat Pray Love" is the movie in question. Sure I had been warned. Somehow I thought by the time it got to DVD, it wouldn't be so bad.

I was mistaken.

I,like the rest of the female race LOVED the book by Elizabeth Gilbert. It spoke of a freedom and mental stillness that had seemed elusive until now.

Gilbert explained her utopia as guilt free feeding sessions, endless meditation and most importantly falling in love with your soulmate.

Bring it on!

I received her words easily and gracefully.

It seems though that there is a big fucking difference between author of book and script consultant.

Gilbert where did you go? This was your life on the big screen and you didn't seem to raise your hand in protest once!!!???

Ryan Murphy isn't an idiot. This is the man behind "Running with Scissors" and more recently "Glee". Sure he provided us with a pumping soundtrack and colorful location shots.

This was NOT enough to sustain us for over 2 hours of otherwise visual and auditory torture.

The big problem with this movie is Julia Roberts. I can honestly say now her finest hour was playing a prostitute in "Pretty Woman".

Julia simply has no range as an actor. She came back from Maternity leave and was even more wooden. Julia seemed to be either welling up crocodile tears or looking downright stoned and confused. I cringed at this performance.

In Rome, the napoletana pizza outshone her. In Bali, you find it hard to believe that the sensuous Felippe (played orgasmically by Javier Bardem)would want to be anywhere near her. Why James Franco insisted she get up off the floor; I'll never know.

This casting was disastrous for the film. I would of preferred to see an ageing Michelle Pfeiffer.

There is one beautiful speech in the film delivered by meditation buddy "Richard" (played by Richard Jenkins) He relays the importance of forgiveness of self and others. Here is an actor who knows his craft and gives the words depth. He doesn't need bright lights and music for the message to be understood.

Julia, like Richard advises you in the film.To be free,we must forgive- I send you light and love and most importantly I let you go.... (Until I hear they've cast you in the sequel)

Jax

"Traffic" - Morcheeba "Let Me See"

"TRAFFIC"

There are only two movies in my life that have caused me to get up off my chair and applaud. The first one is "Schindlers's List" the other is "Traffic".The 2000 feature written by Stephen Gaghan and directed by Steven Soderbergh.

A dense film at 147 minutes;it addresses the issue of illegal drug trade in The States. It is a unique in that it is told from four perspectives-user,politician ,trafficker and enforcer. It does not however show the characters meet.

Soderbergh had a difficult time getting the project off the ground. Finally USA films took the bait and he was off and running. In fact he elected to operate the camera himself. This provided the film with its naturalistic look. He also wanted to shoot each of the four stories differently so that the audience could clearly tell them apart.

We are taken on an intimate journey with each of these characters. One of the first scenes to illustrate this is with the politicians (Michael Douglas) daughter played by the haunting Erika Christensen of "Swim fan" fame. We are introduced to a private school girl who is having more than a weekend dalliance with drugs. After freebasing some coke we see her float in the shower with an expression that screams "this must be what Heaven's like". I hear that type of non verbal performance the most.

There is no denying the cops and the villians crucial part in this movie. For me there were memorable scenes with the crooked cops and their Tarantino like Banter. With Benicio Del Toro at the helm I felt assured justice would prevail. He beautifully demonstrated his own internal conflict with the omnipresent drug war and ongoing frustration and restlessness with members of the FBI undercover unit.

I remember grimacing that Catherine Zeta Jones was in this movie. I could not understand how she could possibly fit in. Wasnt she that pouty,talentless,Welsh Gold Digger?.

Catherine had a small part to play here but scored a home run and my eternal allegiance to her.

Growing up in a private school environment,I was surrounded by mothers that were were overfed and disillusioned, I knew this character well. She did too and hit the ball out of the park.If she wasn't maintaining her facade, she was talking about how "duck is so fattening" at her ladies lunch. She was perfect.

The movie takes many routes. We are not spared a fathers worst nightmare in one of the movies final scenes. How his lifes work to preserve justice is futile when the rot has clearly set in his OWN house. No one is safe.

I like a director to go all the way. With subject matter like this ,there is no point in sugar coating it. Soderbergh did a magnificent job with the script. His frenzied cinamatography, precise casting and flexible pallete put this movie in clear oscar contention Does "Traffic" give us a hope? Not really. It does tell the truth. This is ALWAYS a good thing.

For a stirring tribute to the drama and the imagery of the film,please see flic. (spot all the special guest stars)

Jax

Torch Song Trilogy part 2

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