Man
on Fire is a film from 2004 starring Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning. It
takes place in Latin America and revolves around the frequent kidnappings that
have happened there. The movie starts off by stating that every 60 minutes,
someone gets kidnapped, and out of that number, 70 percent of the victims do
not survive.
The
main character, Walter Creasy (Denzel Washington) is a retired special
operations assassin who worked for the government to counter terrorism. He
lives in Mexico City and spends his days consumed by his alcoholism. Because of
the frequent kidnappings that happen, many wealthy families in Mexico City are
forced to hire bodyguards for their children.
Creasy is appointed by his friend
to be a bodyguard for a little girl from a wealthy family by the name of Pita (Dakota Fanning). She is a sweet girl
who means well and tries tirelessly to become friends with her new protector.
Locked in his own world of flashbacks and alcohol, Creasy refuses. Soon, however,
Pita’s charm cuts through Creasy’s loneliness, and he becomes her biggest ally.
In turn, she gives Creasy a reason to live again. Things take a turn for the
worst, when Pita gets kidnapped on the way back from her piano lesson,
stripping Creasy of his newfound hope. After it becomes apparent that the local
police are connected to the kidnappings, Creasy reverts to his old ways. He
sets out to kill each and every one of the people involved. Ultimately, Creasy
makes the decision to surrender himself in exchange for Pita being returned,
and after a heart-wrenching goodbye to Pita, the kidnappers take him away to be
killed.
Denzel
Washington has been a good guy for most of his career. His performance
in Training Day, however, makes me wish he had always played bad, because when
he's bad he's outstanding.
In
Training Day, Washington's character, Detective Alonzo Harris, is a dirty
narcotics cop who takes a rookie (Ethan Hawke) under his wing. Harris picks and
chooses his collars; busting when he feels like it and rarely arresting anyone
but the biggest dogs. Even then, there has to be a good reason for someone to
go down. Harris smoothly moves in and out of various roles; training officer,
openly dirty cop, high roller in the legal world. The key aspect to Harris'
character is that he truly believes that he is a god. You see this when he
calmly crosses the street without looking for oncoming traffic as cars screech
to a halt to avoid crunching him, an evil grin on his face the entire time.
Hawke
plays the rookie naturally. If Harris wants him to smoke PCP, he smokes it with
a grin on his face, anger bubbling just beneath the surface. While Washington
plays the dirty cop to the extreme, with great finesse, Hawke's character falls
a bit flat due to the way he is written. His character is just too pat; he is
always moral, always vaguely questioning Harris' behavior. It would have been
better if he slipped just once. In a money "exchange" scene, when
Harris offers him a quarter of a million dollars, he doesn't even appear to be
mildly tempted. All good and all bad characters can be entertaining, and even
Harris has moments of tenderness, where just a bit of his old self shines
through.
Although
the entire movie revolves around careful characterization, there is actually a
plot that cleverly emerges near the end of the movie. It would spoil the movie
to reveal it, but let's just say that all of Harris' activities with the rookie
were never spontaneous. Harris engages in a game of chess, sliding his pieces
into place for an ambush at the end. When the pieces fall into place the entire
movie becomes more than just a chronicle of bad men doing bad things. He is
fascinating to watch, and I caught myself thinking at one point… “He's stealing
from drug dealers, murderers. Who cares?" You might wonder the same thing,
and these moral questions add depth to the film.
Training Day is
well directed, intelligently written, and keeps you hooked throughout the
entire film.
Currently I am in a hotel in Plymouth Meeting, our rugby team has a tournament in Philly tomorrow, and were staying here over the night. On the bus ride down to Philly we watched two movies. First Blades of Glory. Funny movie, but thats about it. The second movie we watched was Remember the Titans. Much better.
Although I have to admit, at first I cringed when the choice was made. I dont know what it is, maybe there's only so much of kid version Hayden Panettiere I can handle, she's quite the brat at times. Or maybe its just that I've seen Remember the Titans literally a thousand times. Literally. But even though I never seek out or choose to watch Remember the Titans, I still get sucked in every time, without fail.
I blame Denzel. He's just so damn good at what he does. He somehow makes over acting look good. He's terrifying and always gets his characters spot on. I think I remember Arturo saying something about how hard he is too work with, which actually makes complete sense. He seems like he could be a little bit on the crazy bipolar side. And you can clearly see how he can go from 0 to all up in yo face in half a second. Sure, his reputation also probably doesn't help his attitude on set, but isn't that the case for all, or at least most, top-notch A-list actors? Every actor has an attitude problem. I feel like its a requirement to have an inflated ego if ou want to be a good actor.
Anyway, Denzel's a great actor, but I could definitely see how he can have an attitude problem. Yeah, I really wasn't sure how to end this blog post, so.......
As mentioned earlier in the year, I love to watch sport movies because they can be inspiring to a lot of audiences especially to the minds of younger adolescents. What makes the sport movie worthwhile besides the adrenaline of the action is the quotes that come from the movie that are inspirational besides just being plain AWSOME. Inspirational quotes from sport movies give the movie that extra boost in what inspires kids and could teach them moral values.Here are some quotes that I love to hear when I watch sport movies...
1. "Heroes get remembered, legends never die"- Art LaFleur as Babe Ruth in The Sandlot.
This was a great movie watching as kid that followed nine boys who played baseball on their old beat up looking sandlot field. It was a summer film and these kids did nothing but play baseball all summer long. However, when a ball signed by Babe Ruth is hit over the fence of a neighbor with a supposedly killer dog their summer of baseball turns into a thriller as they do everything in their power to get the ball back. When all seems lost, the leader of the group, Ben Rodriquez, has a dream that Babe Ruth visits him and tells him to jump over the fence to retrieve the ball and says this quote that inspires him to do just that.
2. Death Crawl from "Facing the Giants"
I couldn't come up with the words to describe this scene, but when you watch this scene you can very well be inspired as I was. This is the story of Grant Taylor who is going through a tough time in the community. Not succeeding at being the greatest coach, the parents and student are through with his coaching and want him replaced. He is struggling financially, and him and his wife are struggling to have a kid. In this particular scene he teaches his players especially his captain the importance of giving all you got and not giving up until you can go as far as you can go. There is no telling how far you will go, but give everything your best and hardest and don't quit.
3. Billy Bob Thornton as Coach Gaines halftime speech in "Friday Night Lights"
I love this scene from Friday Night Lights because it can describe a moment from experiences I had on the field playing football in high school. When our team made it to the semi-finals in the state tournament, we were losing pretty bad at halftime and we came away losing 66-8. We played a rough but great team, but at halftime our coach told us almost exactly what Billy Bob Thornton told his players in this scene. From our coach he said "Being perfect is not what we accomplished this year, it's how you all can look into your teammates eyes and tell each and everyone of them that you did your best and didn't let them down. Being perfect is how we accomplished where we came this year by playing as a team, a family."
4. Denzel Washington as Coach Boone in "Remember the Titans"
Save the best for last I always say. Probably my favorite sports movie of all time and my favorite inspirational speech of all time comes from Denzel Washington as Coach Boone in Remember the Titans. Throughout the beginning there was problems with the team as African Americans joined the once all White titans team. There was much discrimination and fighting in the movie until Coach Boone takes them on a run to the site of the Battle of Gettysburg and makes his famous speech about coming together and playing as one. My most favorite line in the history of motivational speeches as to be when he says "If we don't come together, right now on this hollow ground, we too will be destroyed, just like they were. I don't care if you like each other or not, but you will respect each other and maybe...I don't know maybe we'll learn to play this game like men." I can't tell you how much this movie amazes me every time I watch it how they overcame their differences and learned how to play together.
Last night I watched the film The Siege starring Denzel Washington, Bruce Willis and Annette Bening and it was ok. In a nutshell Denzel is on his A game (as usual), the supporting cast was alright, and the story was creative and fueled by action and conspiracy theories. Unfortunately, The Siege's plot was let down by poor writers as the dialogue did not do the story justice. Also, after Wednesday's class I found a flash drive on the floor! So if you're freaking out don't worry, it's in good hands.
- Kofi
My life completely revolves around football. I have played football since I was 7 years old and I haven't stopped since. My Dad coaches for Assumption College, my Uncle coaches for Wagner University, and I play football here at Ithaca. Every time my family gets together for the holiday's it pretty much all we talk about. I love the game and what is has taught me. On the eve of our sixth game of the season, I decided to pop in one of my favorite football films, Friday Night Lights. This got me and my roommates in a debate over our top three football movies of all time. After a long discussion I finally came up with my list.
1.) Friday Nights Lights is my number one football movie. The Texas football scene is the perfect setting for a football movie. Billy Bob Thornton fits the role of Coach Gary Gaines perfectly. This movie depicts the life of a high school football player in an environment that loves it's local team. My favorite character in this classic film is Don Billingsley played by Garret Hedlund. Billingsley is the teams fullback and is a typical football meat head. He loves football, beer, and girls. Everything else in his life pretty much goes to the wayside. The group of characters in this movie are what makes it so relatable to football players like myself. This is the reason why FNL is number one on my list.
2.) Coming at number two, directed by Oliver Stone, is Any Given Sunday. Any Given Sunday takes a look at football at the professional level. Al Pacino is the lead actor and plays the role of coach. In one of my favorite sports movie moments, Pacino delivers the goods in an epic speech during halftime of a pivotal game. The movie takes a look at athletes with money and what they chose to do with that money. Also, the movie goes into the business aspect of professional sports which is interesting to look at. Any Given Sunday is great for the drama of what it means to be on a professional sports team. My favorite character is "Steamin'" Willie Beamen. The third string QB who is forced to start after array or injuries turns in the star who you can't help to root for. That is why Any Given Sunday comes in at number two on my list.
3.) The Disney film, Remember the Titans comes in at number three at my list. The cast is lead by Denzel Washington who plays Coach Boone. Coach Boone has just taken over at a high school which has just been racially integrated. Boone challenges the team throughout the movie to become one team. Throughout many hardships the Titans starts to realize that they can't win if they don't accept each others differences As the racial barrier is divided the wins starts to pile up in this heart warming story. That is why this movie comes in at number three on my list.
Since I have done three movies with Russell Crowe I should stay with him. American Gangster is a 2007 true story gangster movie based in the 70's about heroin kingpin Frank Lucas, starring Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington directed by Ridley Scott. It was nominated for two oscars including best achievement in art direction. Denzel Washington plays heroin kingpin Frank Lucas, who was smuggling heroin in from vietnam in the early 70's. Russell Crowe plays the detective who is trying to hunt him down. Ridley Scott creates a beautiful picture of the brutality of the drug industry in New York in the early 70's. He also gets an oscar nominated performance from Ruby Dee as Frank Lucas's mom who is the only one who is allowed to talk back to him.
I saw the movie when it first came out when I was maybe a bit to young for it, but my uncle assured my dad it was okay and so I continued watching it. Russell Crowe's character is morally questionable with a failing marriage due to his womanizing behavior and it leads to his wife to seek a divorce and full custody of their child. Though when he turns in unmarked bills he is promoted to head of a task force to stop whoever is supplying a new potent heroin. Frank Lucas is the one supplying the heroin and because of his higher quality heroin at a lower price he quickly builds a fortune.
While Frank is able to avoid the cops for a while, but Crowe's character Richie Roberts gets on to him and with the end of the vietnam war Frank Lucas gets his supply cut off. This combined with a failing marriage due to assassination attempts on his and his wife, and competing with the mafia and other drug dealers leads to him getting caught by Richie Roberts and convicted and sentenced to a 70 year term in jail. He only served about ten years because he gave info to the police that led to over 100 convictions. The movie is a fantastic story that looks beautiful that is a must see.
Link to the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXceJA-eoJg
So yesterday I didn't have very much going on so I decided to watch a movie, and I ended up watching three by the end of the day.
So the first movie I watched was Philadelphia. After seeing the segment of Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington in class I knew it was a movie I had to watch. The movie follows the court case of Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks) a lawyer who was fired because he contracted the aids virus. It is a story that portrays the negative inclination towards homosexuals and aids victims. This was probably my favorite out of the three movies I watched. The films ability to play on the audiences emotions is fantastic. The character development and the talent of the actors creates such a personal connection to everyone in the film. The many close ups of faces during intense emotional scenes just sells it and you have no choice but to put yourself in the courtroom.
The second movie I watched was Dr. Strangelove or: how I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. This movie made in 1964, is about an incident that sparks a nuclear war between Russia and the United States. The part of the film I loved the most was the role(s) of Peter Seller. Peter Seller played three different roles in the movie, and all of them different personalities or even nationalities. One other thing I enjoyed about the film was the lack of cuts. There were large pieces of the movie that were only one shot. I felt this allowed the scene to unfurl on its own, something you would not frequently see these days.
Lastly I watched the movie Blade Runner. This was a movie I had always wanted to see but never had a chance to so I figured why not. This movie stars Harrison Ford as a "blade runner" (basically a police officer) who is supposed to track down and kill genetically engineered humans, which are illegal in the movie. The part of this movie that impressed me the most was the visuals. The entire movie except the last scene takes place at night, in the rain, in a futuristic city. I just couldn't get over how well all the lights and colors went together. There were always a neon color hue, and when there weren't, scenes that took place in homes and such, there were many moving lights to represent the light from outside. The illusion of the lights of passing cars shining through holes in the wall added a particular mood and added to the overall image of the film.
Overall I would say it was a good day. I enjoyed all the movies I saw and I am now inspired to start watching more movies I have always wanted to see. I am in the process of getting Citizen Kane so who knows, maybe the next blog will be about that.
