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davisonhorst
Reviews
Alexander (2004)
Gaily we go off to war. Off to war we go.
Yee God, apparently, according to Oliver Stone, everything in ancient Greece was gay with the exception of the horses and elephants. You wonder how any of them had children. Another revisionist history drama according to the Hollywood fruitcakes. Except for the battle scenes this was one of the biggest pieces of trash to come out of Weirdywood since Myra Breckinridge. Alexander the Sissy and his boyfriends were bad enough, but Colin Farrell was a disaster as Alexander. Farrell can't act period, in anything, much less as Alexander the Great probably the most powerful leader and general in history. Angelina Jolie is surely nice to look at. But, her misplaced and overly done infatuation for Alexander were ludicrous at best. Anthony Hopkins the Great was totally wasted and without a doubt would have liked to have been anywhere but on the set of this amateurish film. I continued to watch it as I thought it must come to its senses and get better than this. It didn't. Just got worse. Don't waste your time with this garbage.
The Den (2013)
Lessons Learned
Yes, this movie was done in a very unconventional format. A lot of people probably turned it off after the first 5 minutes or so as they were bothered by it. However, if you stick with it to the end it all comes together in a strange sort of way. The very beginning sets the stage for what is to transpire throughout the film. I believe that this movie is in the Lessons Learned category. Shows what could happen when people are too revealing about themselves in today's high tech electronic media. How, in an instant, your reputation and lifestyle could be altered in such a way as to destroy you. In some instances it could lead to devastating circumstances and possibly end your life. Be prepared for a few shocking scenes unlike you have seen before. It was necessary, I believe, to show the reality of what probably happens in some of these instances.
Heart of the Country (2013)
Very Nice All American Movie
Heart of the Country was filmed in Wilmington, NC the exact same place as the filming of One Tree Hill. So Jana Kramer, who was a star attraction on One Tree Hill, should have felt right at home. First of all I'm quite a bit older than Jana but I fell in love with her from the moment I saw her as Alex on One Tree Hill. Actually I liked the part she played on One Tree Hill better than in this movie. However, she does a very credible job here. She has an incredible amount of sex appeal, which was very evident in One Tree Hill and which was still evident in Heart of the Country. Her sex appeal is that she is very sweet and probably makes every guy wish they knew her up front and personal. Heart of the Country was a typical but nice story of small town girl who goes to NYC to further her singing career, meets a very wealthy guy, falls in love, gets married, and then he runs into high finance trouble and ends up in jail. Assets are frozen and so Faith goes home to NC to regroup and to be with her dad and sister. Near the end she reconciles with her husband, who is really a decent guy. Her Doctor friend in NC, who has feelings for her, loses out. In that regard the movie may become disappointing to some. But, in real life it usually ends up the way that it finally did. Most married couples do reconcile after they separate for awhile. After all, they were in love when they married. All in all a nice movie that did not make me want to jump off a cliff when it was over like so much of the trash out of Hollywood these days.
A Year in Mooring (2011)
Pure Cinema Art
Two excellent actors, Josh Lucas and James Cromwell, headline this deeply moving and interesting movie. It's a simple story of overwhelming guilt and grief. An intelligent executive who is reduced to a helpless shell of his former self through an extreme tragedy. It seems he has come to this semi isolated place in upper Michigan to blank out horrific memories and in the process even contemplates suicide more than once. Beautiful Israeli actress Ayelet Zurer, the waitress, feels his pain from afar but seemingly does not want to interfere and just watches during most of the movie.
Being a hopeless romantic I am puzzled by two aspects of this movie. The first is the blond employee at the supermarket, Helen (Anne Faba). Having seen him at the supermarket a few times and apparently noticing how messed up he is, she comes to visit him one night and stays on the boat with him but sleeps in a separate compartment. She seems to have been abused and he comforts her. Nothing is ever explored with her beyond that instance. The second is when the waitress finally ventures down to his boat and climbs in bed with him to comfort him and to make love. Again, nothing is explored beyond that one time and for the rest of the movie they both seem as strangers to one another. He eventually sells the boat and returns to the big city (I'm thinking Chicago) where he worked and lived. He does not even say goodbye to anyone when he leaves.
I would recommend this movie to people who are deep in their understanding of life and how we are each only one step away from tragedy every day in our lives. Although the dialog is limited the movie does move along going from one scene to another and one season to another rather quickly. I got cold just watching the fall turn into winter in upper Michigan.