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Showing posts with the label true story

THE POLKA KING - REVIEW

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Based on the true story of polka band leader Jan Lewan, The Polka King is a new comedy released by Netflix starring Jack Black, Jenny Slate and Jason Schwartzman. The film follows the rise and fall of Lewan, who was convicted for running a Ponzi scheme in the early 2000's. Jack Black is in familiar territory here playing a likeable, well-meaning yet off-beat and troubled character based on a real person like he did in the underrated 2011 film Bernie . This story, however, isn't so much dark as it is fascinatingly ridiculous: the idea that a little-known Polish polka singer in Pennsylvania somehow convinced a lot of people to invest in him for years is so surreal that it's ripe for parody. Black could have easily turned this role into a Nacho Libre -style cartoon but, even though he puts on an impossible accent here, he still captures what made this guy so appealing to others and shows different sides to his personality. Most of the time, Lewan is friendly and generous

AMERICAN MADE - VLOG REVIEW

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I talk about American Made in a live vlog.

SPOTLIGHT - REVIEW

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The Best Picture winner at this year's Oscars, Spotlight pretty much set the tone for that particular awards ceremony as it talks about a serious issue as earnestly as possible. The film follows a group of Boston Globe investigative journalists as they try to shed some light on systemic sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests in the early 2000's. Based on a true story, the main goal of Spotlight seems to be to celebrate the hard work and determination of these reporters while reminding the world how easily that kind of recurring problem can be covered up. With a solid cast that includes Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber, Rachel MacAdams and Stanley Tucci, the film is well made and the performances are all very strong so it's easy to see why it did so well at the Oscars. Another great thing about it is it doesn't glorify its characters too much as most of them are flawed in some way and sometimes even get in the way of the investigation. Unlike Z

FOXCATCHER - REVIEW

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Channing Tatum, Steve Carell and Mark Ruffalo star in Foxcatcher , the Oscar-nominated film based on the shocking true story of an Olympic wrestler and his brother's destructive encounter with bizarre multimillionaire John E. Du Pont. After Tatum's wrestler Mark Schultz is called in by the wealthy entrepreneur (and avid bird watcher) to his vast estate, he is promptly hired to train for Du Pont (Carell) as part of the Foxcatcher team in the hope that another Olympic win lies ahead. Unfortunately, Du Pont's strange behaviour becomes something of a problem as it becomes quite clear that he's not quite the talented wrestling coach he painted himself out to be. Add to that a drug problem, an odd relationship with his mother (played by Vanessa Redgrave) and some altogether inappropriate behaviour and you've got yourself one awkward training environment for Schultz to say the least. Things take a turn for the worse when Du Pont hires Mark's brother David (Ruffalo

BERNIE - REVIEW

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Based on a surprising true story, Bernie is a dark comedy starring Jack Black, directed by Richard Linklater, which kinda passed by nearly unnoticed despite the talent involved and the intriguing premise at its heart. Though he was nominated for a Golden Globe, that Jack Black was ignored for an Oscar nomination just goes to show the Academy Awards' reluctance to acknowledge comedy as a legitimate genre worthy of recompense. The actor goes completely against-type as the mild-mannered, multi-talented Bernie Tiede who one day, out of nowhere, shot an 81 year-old millionairess after a lifetime of not doing anything remotely violent or suspicious. The film makes full use of Black's versatility and he rises up to the challenge like a pro, delivering one memorable, quietly hilarious performance. Linklater tells this tale through a variety of talking heads which build up every scene and although this technique rarely works when it's not used in a documentary, here it helps g

THE FROZEN GROUND - REVIEW

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Nicolas Cage faces off against John Cusack in The Frozen Ground , a dark Alaska-set thriller in the vein of Insomnia in which a cop tries desperately to arrest a serial killer but struggles due to the people around him being unhelpful douchebags. The main focus of the story (which is based on real events) is Vanessa Hudgens' prostitute Cindy who manages to escape Robert Hansen (a chilling John Cusack), claiming he kidnapped her, raped her and tried to kill her. Though she is being truthful, the police refuse to buy her story because of her background, which leaves Nicolas Cage's good cop in a tricky position seeing as he believes her, literally all the evidence points to the same suspect and there's a loose psychopathic killer lurking around, ready to strike again at any moment. This is one of those tense, serious movies that relies heavily on atmosphere and strong performances rather than action and artifice so if you're looking for balls-to-the-wall gun fights,

DALLAS BUYERS CLUB - REVIEW

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After popping up in The Wolf Of Wall Street and just before ruling the HBO airwaves with hypnotic new show True Detective , Matthew McConaughey appeared in the Oscar-nominated Dallas Buyers Club and, once again, knocked it out of the park. The film follows a Texan rodeo cowboy/electrician, Ron Woodroof (McConaughey), as he is diagnosed with AIDS and has to deal with the reality set by his doctor that he might only have 30 days to live. The film is set at a time when new experimental medication was being introduced to treat the disease by the FDA but there were doubts about the best approach to take. Woodroof is a dude that's hard to warm up to seeing as he's pretty homophobic and at times even racist. That said, the movie manages to still make you like the guy as he slowly educates himself about the disease and eventually becomes friends with Jared Leto's transgender woman Rayon, who is also HIV-positive. The change in Woodroof's character is one you'd expect

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN - REVIEW

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Based on true events, Catch Me If You Can would have made a compelling film regardless of who directed it. A compelling documentary, even. But with Steven Spielberg behind the camera, the film was a sure-fire hit and was a thrilling, fast-paced rollercoaster ride of creative conmanism. Set in the 1960's, the film follows teenager Frank Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo Di Caprio) who learns that not only is his father (Christopher Walken) ruined but his parents are getting a divorce. Looking to find a way to fix that somehow, financially at least, Frank sets out to assume various identities and con banks with the help of fake cheques. He becomes co-pilot for an airline, a doctor and a lawyer among other things. Along the way, he is pursued by Tom Hanks' FBI agent Carl Hanratty whom he manages to trick over and over, always leaving him one step behind. It's a relentless cat and mouse game right up until the movie's final shot and although the film takes time-outs here and the

CAPTAIN PHILLIPS - REVIEW

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Having not seen a Tom Hanks film that wasn't a Toy Story sequel since Angels & Demons (yes, I missed Cloud Atlas , I know), I went into Captain Phillips  (the movie, that is...) looking forward to see the actor back in action. Besides, the solid trailer promised a tense sea-set thriller. Based on a true story, the film follows Captain Richard Phillips (Hanks) as he is tasked with taking a cargo ship through the Persian Gulf. Unfortunately, Somali pirates show up with the intent of hijacking the ship. After several attempts at keeping them from entering the ship and taking hostages, they do finally come aboard and Muse (Barkhad Abdi), the leader, uses Phillips to try and find the rest of the crew. That doesn't go quite according to plan so the pirates end up taking Phillips hostage on a lifeboat instead. After a low-key opening in which we see Phillips and his wife (played by Catherine Keener) wake up early in the morning and drive to the airport, we are shown how t