Restored documentary footage of Scott's doomed trip to the South Pole can finally be seen on the big screen
One hundred years ago, the former whaling ship Terra Nova sailed out of Cardiff harbour for the Antarctic. On board were 24 officers and scientists who would carry out research in biology, geology, glaciology, meteorology and geophysics during the voyage. More importantly, the ship would later land Captain Robert Scott and his colleagues Henry Bowers, Edgar Evans, Lawrence Oates, and Edward Wilson on Ross Island in Antarctica. From their base camp, Scott and his men launched their doomed attempt to become the first men to reach the South Pole.
The story of the expedition – which led to the deaths in 1912 of Scott and his four colleagues after they discovered they had been beaten to the pole by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen – is one of the most poignant episodes in the history...
One hundred years ago, the former whaling ship Terra Nova sailed out of Cardiff harbour for the Antarctic. On board were 24 officers and scientists who would carry out research in biology, geology, glaciology, meteorology and geophysics during the voyage. More importantly, the ship would later land Captain Robert Scott and his colleagues Henry Bowers, Edgar Evans, Lawrence Oates, and Edward Wilson on Ross Island in Antarctica. From their base camp, Scott and his men launched their doomed attempt to become the first men to reach the South Pole.
The story of the expedition – which led to the deaths in 1912 of Scott and his four colleagues after they discovered they had been beaten to the pole by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen – is one of the most poignant episodes in the history...
- 9/18/2010
- by Robin McKie
- The Guardian - Film News
This past week we were all treated to Phillip Noyce‘s latest spy film Salt. While I enjoyed myself with it, our very own Jordan Raup didn’t. To make him feel all better about himself I decided to cook up this list of my Top Ten Spy Films. Check it out below:
This list could be named my Stirred, not Shaken List since I’ve decided to leave all James Bond properties off the list. I know the first spy in cinema will always be James Bond. There are currently 22 films that he’s featured in and already 6 actors have played the role. So let’s take him as a given and move on with our lives.
10. The Matador (2005) (dir. Richard Shephard)
This movie always struck me for some reason. I know a lot of people would write it off as an average comedy film, but since it’s...
This list could be named my Stirred, not Shaken List since I’ve decided to leave all James Bond properties off the list. I know the first spy in cinema will always be James Bond. There are currently 22 films that he’s featured in and already 6 actors have played the role. So let’s take him as a given and move on with our lives.
10. The Matador (2005) (dir. Richard Shephard)
This movie always struck me for some reason. I know a lot of people would write it off as an average comedy film, but since it’s...
- 7/26/2010
- by Andrew Robinson
- The Film Stage
Robert De Niro's 2006 'thriller' about the birth of the CIA has all the ingredients of a really good spy movie, and then some. So how did it turn out so dull?
Director: Robert De Niro
Entertainment grade: D–
History grade: C–
The American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) developed out of the Office of Strategic Services (Oss) after the second world war.
Conspiracy
The film begins with the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in April 1961. Edward Wilson (Matt Damon), based on the real CIA counterintelligence chief James Jesus Angleton, is watching it all fall apart. "They knew where to find us," intones his deputy. "There's a stranger in our house." The film's suggestion that the invasion failed because someone leaked the location is wrong, straight out of the bag. Fidel Castro knew an invasion was coming, but clearly did not know where it would strike. The evidence? He deployed forces evenly across Cuba,...
Director: Robert De Niro
Entertainment grade: D–
History grade: C–
The American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) developed out of the Office of Strategic Services (Oss) after the second world war.
Conspiracy
The film begins with the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in April 1961. Edward Wilson (Matt Damon), based on the real CIA counterintelligence chief James Jesus Angleton, is watching it all fall apart. "They knew where to find us," intones his deputy. "There's a stranger in our house." The film's suggestion that the invasion failed because someone leaked the location is wrong, straight out of the bag. Fidel Castro knew an invasion was coming, but clearly did not know where it would strike. The evidence? He deployed forces evenly across Cuba,...
- 4/22/2010
- by Alex von Tunzelmann
- The Guardian - Film News
Not sure what to watch? We can help with our comprehensive guide to the best films on TV this Christmas and new year
Choose a date
Saturday 19 December | Sunday 20 December | Monday 21 December | Tuesday 22 December | Wednesday 23 December |Christmas Eve | Christmas Day | Boxing Day | Sunday 27 December | Monday 28 December | Tuesday 29 December | Wednesday 30 December | New Year's Eve | New Year's Day
Saturday 19 December
Yes Man (Peyton Reed, 2008)
10am, 8pm, Sky Movies Premiere
Remember Jim Carrey in Liar, Liar, where he forces himself to tell the truth for 24 hours? Well, here Jim Carrey forces himself to answer yes to any request, for a year. Which is upping the ante somewhat, but doesn't make it a better film. This is a return to the manic, gurning, not-very-funny Carrey, as if The Truman Show, Eternal Sunshine etc hadn't happened. Just say no.
The Golden Compass (Chris Weitz, 2007)
11.40am, 8pm, Sky Movies Family
What with Harry Potter, Narnia, Lemony Snicket and all,...
Choose a date
Saturday 19 December | Sunday 20 December | Monday 21 December | Tuesday 22 December | Wednesday 23 December |Christmas Eve | Christmas Day | Boxing Day | Sunday 27 December | Monday 28 December | Tuesday 29 December | Wednesday 30 December | New Year's Eve | New Year's Day
Saturday 19 December
Yes Man (Peyton Reed, 2008)
10am, 8pm, Sky Movies Premiere
Remember Jim Carrey in Liar, Liar, where he forces himself to tell the truth for 24 hours? Well, here Jim Carrey forces himself to answer yes to any request, for a year. Which is upping the ante somewhat, but doesn't make it a better film. This is a return to the manic, gurning, not-very-funny Carrey, as if The Truman Show, Eternal Sunshine etc hadn't happened. Just say no.
The Golden Compass (Chris Weitz, 2007)
11.40am, 8pm, Sky Movies Family
What with Harry Potter, Narnia, Lemony Snicket and all,...
- 12/18/2009
- by Paul Howlett
- The Guardian - Film News
Outside of Stardust, in which Robert De Niro plays a cross-dressing pirate, the only good film he has been featured in in the past seven years or so was The Good Shepherd, a film he had a minor role in and directed. He was approaching the film with thoughts of a sequel on the outset, but the relatively slow pace turned most people off leading to mixed reviews, a mere $59+ million at the box-office and about a two-and-a-half month run at the box-office. The birth-of-the-cia based drama starred Matt Damon and featured the talent of Angelina Jolie, William Hurt, John Turturro, Billy Crudup, Michael Gambon, Alec Baldwin, Timothy Hutton and Joe Pesci and still couldn't manage to make a dent. It doesn't surprise me considering it is a very slow and methodical film, but in the right frame of mind I think most would really like it, just as I did.
- 7/8/2008
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Berlin delivers 'Ultimatum' locales
COLOGNE, Germany -- Matt Damon will return to Berlin and Studio Babelsberg for location shooting on "The Bourne Ultimatum", the third installment in the franchise based on the books by Robert Ludlum.
Paul Greengrass ("United 93"), who helmed the second Bourne film, "The Bourne Supremacy", will begin shooting in Babelsberg at the end of the month, said Henning Molfenter, managing director of Studio Babelsberg Motion Pictures, the studio's production arm. Babelsberg will act as a production service provider to Universal Pictures on the Berlin shoot.
This is the second Bourne film to lens in Berlin, following Doug Liman's "The Bourne Identity", the film that launched the franchise in 2002.
Greengrass and Damon are crisscrossing the globe for "Ultimatum", which also includes shooting days in Morocco, Spain, France, the U.K. and the U.S.
Damon already was scheduled to come to Berlin in February for the 57th Berlin International Film Festival. Robert De Niro's "The Good Shepherd", which stars Damon as C.I.A. founder Edward Wilson, is running in competition in Berlin.
Paul Greengrass ("United 93"), who helmed the second Bourne film, "The Bourne Supremacy", will begin shooting in Babelsberg at the end of the month, said Henning Molfenter, managing director of Studio Babelsberg Motion Pictures, the studio's production arm. Babelsberg will act as a production service provider to Universal Pictures on the Berlin shoot.
This is the second Bourne film to lens in Berlin, following Doug Liman's "The Bourne Identity", the film that launched the franchise in 2002.
Greengrass and Damon are crisscrossing the globe for "Ultimatum", which also includes shooting days in Morocco, Spain, France, the U.K. and the U.S.
Damon already was scheduled to come to Berlin in February for the 57th Berlin International Film Festival. Robert De Niro's "The Good Shepherd", which stars Damon as C.I.A. founder Edward Wilson, is running in competition in Berlin.
- 1/15/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Good Shepherd
This review was written for the festival screening of "The Good Shepherd".
Who knew Robert De Niro has such a keen fascination for foreign policy and espionage? "The Good Shepherd", his first directorial effort since his debut feature, "A Bronx Tale" (1993), is a thoroughly knowledgeable, carefully researched account of the founding and development of the CIA from World War II through the Bay of Pigs fiasco in 1961. While a bit unwieldy at nearly three hours and at times slow going, the film is absolutely fascinating for anyone who shares De Niro's passions.
To attract moviegoers beyond the foreign-policy crowd, he has recruited stars and top actors led by Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie and borrowed the trappings of spy thrillers, though the film certainly leans more toward John Le Carre than Ian Fleming. The problem with marketing the film centers on the problem of the film itself. De Niro and writer Eric Roth are never clear on their intentions: Is this a thriller with a historical background or history with dollops of intrigue and adventurism?
In this film as well as last year's "Munich", Roth seems to be operating between the genre cracks with political films in the mode of early Costa Gavras that deploy Hitchcockian techniques without romantic characters or situations.
The movie follows the spy career of Edward Wilson (Damon), a privileged male of the white patrician class. The character is modeled, right down to his interest in poetry, on James Angleton, who co-founded the CIA. It's accurate in most things but has the patina of fiction, which allows the filmmakers to imagine and speculate about things that perhaps will always remain secret.
At Yale in 1939, Wilson joins the clandestine Skull and Bones society, a brotherhood meant to incubate future American leadership. (The 2004 Republican and Democratic presidential candidates belong.) Roth makes Crystal Clear that the penchant for utter secrecy and sense of entitlement fostered by the Skull and Bones carry over into its members' work in government.
At the behest of an Army general (De Niro), Wilson joins the Office of Strategic Services during WWII. This sends him to London, where his mentor, Dr. Fredericks (Michael Gambon), teaches him the fine art of counterintelligence. Yet his last piece of advice to Wilson before Fredericks is murdered -- "Get out while you still have a soul" -- goes unheeded.
The movie unfolds in flashbacks from the Bay of Pigs incident, which severely compromises the CIA and Wilson's career. While diligently trying to ferret out the turncoat who relayed invasion plans to the Cubans, Wilson reflects back on his life. What is clear to the viewer, but not to Wilson himself, is how paranoia rules his actions and how self-righteousness blinds him to opinions and desires of others, including his family.
He weds Margaret "Clover" Russell (Jolie), the sister and daughter of a fellow Skull and Bonesmen, in a polite shotgun marriage. The union proves loveless right from the start since Wilson has thrown over his true soulmate (Tammy Blanchard). He doesn't meet his son Edward Jr. until age 6 when he returns home from Europe. The son consequently will wish to win his father's love by emulating him -- with disastrous consequences.
The OSS gets transformed into the CIA with the onset of the Cold War. At work, Wilson's obsessions with double agents and a mole within Langley dominate his relationships with people there, including CIA director Philip Allen (William Hurt); Sam Murach (Alec Baldwin), the rough-and-tumble agent who first recruited him; his blue-collar assistant Ray Brocco (John Turturro); and British spy Arch Cummings (Billy Crudup), whose Cambridge-upper-class heritage mirrors the backgrounds of the good old boys of the CIA.
Wilson's secret weapon is silence. He watches and listens but reveals little. Yet he has one outburst in the movie in an interview with a Mafia don (Joe Pesci), when Wilson says the USA belongs to the WASPs, and everyone else -- Italians, Jews, Irish and blacks -- are mere visitors. While Wilson probably would never say such a thing aloud, it captures the mind-set perfectly.
The sum of the parts might not add up to a great movie, but "Good Shepherd" is a pretty good one. Some scenes hit you with the impact of a bullet. And it probably took an actor of De Niro's caliber to get his stars to tone down their onscreen personas to play genuine roles.
Damon here is not Jason Bourne. No one bothers to age his character, which becomes a distraction when he looks like a drinking buddy to his own son, but this character is a ruthless, insufferable bastard who buried his emotions when his father committed suicide.
Jolie here is not Lara Croft or Mrs. Smith but the once-sassy, now long-suffering wife of a spook. And so it goes through the cast, with only Gambon playing what you might call a fictional movie character, but it fits the role to a T.
Designer Jeannine Oppewall and costume designer Ann Roth bring to life the shadowy world of espionage both in Europe and the East Coast. Cinematographer Robert Richardson gives the film a moodiness and edginess that the score by Marcelo Zarvos and Bruce Fowler --with overtones of Philip Glass -- highlight.
Who knew Robert De Niro has such a keen fascination for foreign policy and espionage? "The Good Shepherd", his first directorial effort since his debut feature, "A Bronx Tale" (1993), is a thoroughly knowledgeable, carefully researched account of the founding and development of the CIA from World War II through the Bay of Pigs fiasco in 1961. While a bit unwieldy at nearly three hours and at times slow going, the film is absolutely fascinating for anyone who shares De Niro's passions.
To attract moviegoers beyond the foreign-policy crowd, he has recruited stars and top actors led by Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie and borrowed the trappings of spy thrillers, though the film certainly leans more toward John Le Carre than Ian Fleming. The problem with marketing the film centers on the problem of the film itself. De Niro and writer Eric Roth are never clear on their intentions: Is this a thriller with a historical background or history with dollops of intrigue and adventurism?
In this film as well as last year's "Munich", Roth seems to be operating between the genre cracks with political films in the mode of early Costa Gavras that deploy Hitchcockian techniques without romantic characters or situations.
The movie follows the spy career of Edward Wilson (Damon), a privileged male of the white patrician class. The character is modeled, right down to his interest in poetry, on James Angleton, who co-founded the CIA. It's accurate in most things but has the patina of fiction, which allows the filmmakers to imagine and speculate about things that perhaps will always remain secret.
At Yale in 1939, Wilson joins the clandestine Skull and Bones society, a brotherhood meant to incubate future American leadership. (The 2004 Republican and Democratic presidential candidates belong.) Roth makes Crystal Clear that the penchant for utter secrecy and sense of entitlement fostered by the Skull and Bones carry over into its members' work in government.
At the behest of an Army general (De Niro), Wilson joins the Office of Strategic Services during WWII. This sends him to London, where his mentor, Dr. Fredericks (Michael Gambon), teaches him the fine art of counterintelligence. Yet his last piece of advice to Wilson before Fredericks is murdered -- "Get out while you still have a soul" -- goes unheeded.
The movie unfolds in flashbacks from the Bay of Pigs incident, which severely compromises the CIA and Wilson's career. While diligently trying to ferret out the turncoat who relayed invasion plans to the Cubans, Wilson reflects back on his life. What is clear to the viewer, but not to Wilson himself, is how paranoia rules his actions and how self-righteousness blinds him to opinions and desires of others, including his family.
He weds Margaret "Clover" Russell (Jolie), the sister and daughter of a fellow Skull and Bonesmen, in a polite shotgun marriage. The union proves loveless right from the start since Wilson has thrown over his true soulmate (Tammy Blanchard). He doesn't meet his son Edward Jr. until age 6 when he returns home from Europe. The son consequently will wish to win his father's love by emulating him -- with disastrous consequences.
The OSS gets transformed into the CIA with the onset of the Cold War. At work, Wilson's obsessions with double agents and a mole within Langley dominate his relationships with people there, including CIA director Philip Allen (William Hurt); Sam Murach (Alec Baldwin), the rough-and-tumble agent who first recruited him; his blue-collar assistant Ray Brocco (John Turturro); and British spy Arch Cummings (Billy Crudup), whose Cambridge-upper-class heritage mirrors the backgrounds of the good old boys of the CIA.
Wilson's secret weapon is silence. He watches and listens but reveals little. Yet he has one outburst in the movie in an interview with a Mafia don (Joe Pesci), when Wilson says the USA belongs to the WASPs, and everyone else -- Italians, Jews, Irish and blacks -- are mere visitors. While Wilson probably would never say such a thing aloud, it captures the mind-set perfectly.
The sum of the parts might not add up to a great movie, but "Good Shepherd" is a pretty good one. Some scenes hit you with the impact of a bullet. And it probably took an actor of De Niro's caliber to get his stars to tone down their onscreen personas to play genuine roles.
Damon here is not Jason Bourne. No one bothers to age his character, which becomes a distraction when he looks like a drinking buddy to his own son, but this character is a ruthless, insufferable bastard who buried his emotions when his father committed suicide.
Jolie here is not Lara Croft or Mrs. Smith but the once-sassy, now long-suffering wife of a spook. And so it goes through the cast, with only Gambon playing what you might call a fictional movie character, but it fits the role to a T.
Designer Jeannine Oppewall and costume designer Ann Roth bring to life the shadowy world of espionage both in Europe and the East Coast. Cinematographer Robert Richardson gives the film a moodiness and edginess that the score by Marcelo Zarvos and Bruce Fowler --with overtones of Philip Glass -- highlight.
- 12/11/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Good Shepherd
Who knew Robert De Niro has such a keen fascination for foreign policy and espionage? The Good Shepherd, his first directorial effort since his debut feature, A Bronx Tale (1993), is a thoroughly knowledgeable, carefully researched account of the founding and development of the CIA from World War II through the Bay of Pigs fiasco in 1961. While a bit unwieldy at nearly three hours and at times slow going, the film is absolutely fascinating for anyone who shares De Niro's passions.
To attract moviegoers beyond the foreign-policy crowd, he has recruited stars and top actors led by Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie and borrowed the trappings of spy thrillers, though the film certainly leans more toward John le Carre than Ian Fleming. The problem with marketing the film centers on the problem of the film itself. De Niro and writer Eric Roth are never clear on their intentions: Is this a thriller with a historical background or history with dollops of intrigue and adventurism?
In this film as well as last year's Munich, Roth seems to be operating between the genre cracks with political films in the mode of early Costa Gavras that deploy Hitchcockian techniques without romantic characters or situations.
The movie follows the spy career of Edward Wilson (Damon), a privileged male of the white patrician class. The character is modeled, right down to his interest in poetry, on James Angleton, who co-founded the CIA. It's accurate in most things but has the patina of fiction, which allows the filmmakers to imagine and speculate about things that perhaps will always remain secret.
At Yale in 1939, Wilson joins the clandestine Skull and Bones society, a brotherhood meant to incubate future American leadership. (The 2004 Republican and Democratic presidential candidates belong.) Roth makes Crystal Clear that the penchant for utter secrecy and sense of entitlement fostered by the Skull and Bones carry over into its members' work in government.
At the behest of an Army general (De Niro), Wilson joins the Office of Strategic Services during WWII. This sends him to London, where his mentor, Dr. Fredericks (Michael Gambon), teaches him the fine art of counterintelligence. Yet his last piece of advice to Wilson before Fredericks is murdered -- "Get out while you still have a soul" -- goes unheeded.
The movie unfolds in flashbacks from the Bay of Pigs incident, which severely compromises the CIA and Wilson's career. While diligently trying to ferret out the turncoat who relayed invasion plans to the Cubans, Wilson reflects back on his life. What is clear to the viewer, but not to Wilson himself, is how paranoia rules his actions and how self-righteousness blinds him to opinions and desires of others, including his family.
He weds Margaret Clover Russell (Jolie), the sister and daughter of a fellow Skull and Bonesmen, in a polite shotgun marriage. The union proves loveless right from the start since Wilson has thrown over his true soulmate (Tammy Blanchard). He doesn't meet his son Edward Jr. until age 6 when he returns home from Europe. The son consequently will wish to win his father's love by emulating him -- with disastrous consequences.
The OSS gets transformed into the CIA with the onset of the Cold War. At work, Wilson's obsessions with double agents and a mole within Langley dominate his relationships with people there, including CIA director Philip Allen (William Hurt); Sam Murach (Alec Baldwin), the rough-and-tumble agent who first recruited him; his blue-collar assistant Ray Brocco (John Turturro); and British spy Arch Cummings (Billy Crudup), whose Cambridge-upper-class heritage mirrors the backgrounds of the good old boys of the CIA.
Wilson's secret weapon is silence. He watches and listens but reveals little. Yet he has one outburst in the movie in an interview with a Mafia don (Joe Pesci), when Wilson says the USA belongs to the WASPs, and everyone else -- Italians, Jews, Irish and blacks -- are mere visitors. While Wilson probably would never say such a thing aloud, it captures the mind-set perfectly.
The sum of the parts might not add up to a great movie, but Good Shepherd is a pretty good one. Some scenes hit you with the impact of a bullet. And it probably took an actor of De Niro's caliber to get his stars to tone down their onscreen personas to play genuine roles.
Damon here is not Jason Bourne. No one bothers to age his character, which becomes a distraction when he looks like a drinking buddy to his own son, but this character is a ruthless, insufferable bastard who buried his emotions when his father committed suicide.
Jolie here is not Lara Croft or Mrs. Smith but the once-sassy, now long-suffering wife of a spook. And so it goes through the cast, with only Gambon playing what you might call a fictional movie character, but it fits the role to a T.
Designer Jeannine Oppewall and costume designer Ann Roth bring to life the shadowy world of espionage both in Europe and the East Coast. Cinematographer Robert Richardson gives the film a moodiness and edginess that the score by Marcelo Zarvos and Bruce Fowler --with overtones of Philip Glass -- highlight.
To attract moviegoers beyond the foreign-policy crowd, he has recruited stars and top actors led by Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie and borrowed the trappings of spy thrillers, though the film certainly leans more toward John le Carre than Ian Fleming. The problem with marketing the film centers on the problem of the film itself. De Niro and writer Eric Roth are never clear on their intentions: Is this a thriller with a historical background or history with dollops of intrigue and adventurism?
In this film as well as last year's Munich, Roth seems to be operating between the genre cracks with political films in the mode of early Costa Gavras that deploy Hitchcockian techniques without romantic characters or situations.
The movie follows the spy career of Edward Wilson (Damon), a privileged male of the white patrician class. The character is modeled, right down to his interest in poetry, on James Angleton, who co-founded the CIA. It's accurate in most things but has the patina of fiction, which allows the filmmakers to imagine and speculate about things that perhaps will always remain secret.
At Yale in 1939, Wilson joins the clandestine Skull and Bones society, a brotherhood meant to incubate future American leadership. (The 2004 Republican and Democratic presidential candidates belong.) Roth makes Crystal Clear that the penchant for utter secrecy and sense of entitlement fostered by the Skull and Bones carry over into its members' work in government.
At the behest of an Army general (De Niro), Wilson joins the Office of Strategic Services during WWII. This sends him to London, where his mentor, Dr. Fredericks (Michael Gambon), teaches him the fine art of counterintelligence. Yet his last piece of advice to Wilson before Fredericks is murdered -- "Get out while you still have a soul" -- goes unheeded.
The movie unfolds in flashbacks from the Bay of Pigs incident, which severely compromises the CIA and Wilson's career. While diligently trying to ferret out the turncoat who relayed invasion plans to the Cubans, Wilson reflects back on his life. What is clear to the viewer, but not to Wilson himself, is how paranoia rules his actions and how self-righteousness blinds him to opinions and desires of others, including his family.
He weds Margaret Clover Russell (Jolie), the sister and daughter of a fellow Skull and Bonesmen, in a polite shotgun marriage. The union proves loveless right from the start since Wilson has thrown over his true soulmate (Tammy Blanchard). He doesn't meet his son Edward Jr. until age 6 when he returns home from Europe. The son consequently will wish to win his father's love by emulating him -- with disastrous consequences.
The OSS gets transformed into the CIA with the onset of the Cold War. At work, Wilson's obsessions with double agents and a mole within Langley dominate his relationships with people there, including CIA director Philip Allen (William Hurt); Sam Murach (Alec Baldwin), the rough-and-tumble agent who first recruited him; his blue-collar assistant Ray Brocco (John Turturro); and British spy Arch Cummings (Billy Crudup), whose Cambridge-upper-class heritage mirrors the backgrounds of the good old boys of the CIA.
Wilson's secret weapon is silence. He watches and listens but reveals little. Yet he has one outburst in the movie in an interview with a Mafia don (Joe Pesci), when Wilson says the USA belongs to the WASPs, and everyone else -- Italians, Jews, Irish and blacks -- are mere visitors. While Wilson probably would never say such a thing aloud, it captures the mind-set perfectly.
The sum of the parts might not add up to a great movie, but Good Shepherd is a pretty good one. Some scenes hit you with the impact of a bullet. And it probably took an actor of De Niro's caliber to get his stars to tone down their onscreen personas to play genuine roles.
Damon here is not Jason Bourne. No one bothers to age his character, which becomes a distraction when he looks like a drinking buddy to his own son, but this character is a ruthless, insufferable bastard who buried his emotions when his father committed suicide.
Jolie here is not Lara Croft or Mrs. Smith but the once-sassy, now long-suffering wife of a spook. And so it goes through the cast, with only Gambon playing what you might call a fictional movie character, but it fits the role to a T.
Designer Jeannine Oppewall and costume designer Ann Roth bring to life the shadowy world of espionage both in Europe and the East Coast. Cinematographer Robert Richardson gives the film a moodiness and edginess that the score by Marcelo Zarvos and Bruce Fowler --with overtones of Philip Glass -- highlight.
- 12/11/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.