Saturday, September 12, 2009

Brief Interviews With Hideous Men Online English Movie Download Review Free Watch Trailer Cast Crew

Brief Interviews With Hideous Men English Movie

Cast And crew

Genre: Comedy
Release Date: September 25, 2009
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Distributor: IFC Films
Starring: Chris Messina, Michael Panes, Lou Taylor Pucci, Denis O'hare, Timothy Hutton
Director: John Krasinski
Producer: Eva M Kolodner, James Suskin, Yael Melamede

Reviews

After her boyfriend mysteriously leaves her with little explanation, grad student Sara Quinn is left looking for answers as to what went wrong. Directing all her energies into her anthropological dissertation, Sara conducts a series of interviews with men in an effort to uncover the secret thoughts that drive their behavior. As she records the astonishing and disquieting experiences of various subjects, Sara discovers much more about men and herself than she bargained for.

PARK CITY -- "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men" is one hell of a date movie. A surgical examination of the male psyche based on David Foster Wallace's book and written and directed by John Krasinski, there is plenty of food for thought and argument. A savvy distributor could stir up enough controversy for a select theatrical run before the film settles into a healthy ancillary afterlife.

Not since "In the Company of Men" has the male gender been so ruthlessly portrayed on screen. Taking Wallace's chapter-by-chapter interviews and cutting them into interwoven fragments, Krasinski (best known for his role in NBC's "The Office") has managed to create an unconventional narrative flow. Ingeniously structured and beautifully acted, the film at times is a bit clinical but never less than compelling.

Krasinski has added a female character, an academic played by Julianne Nicholson, who interviews a cross-section of men about their relationships with women. Most of them don't have a clue, but their deceit and manipulation are so clever and deep-seated it's like watching a car wreck on the side of the road: You can't take your eyes off of it.

It's somewhat simplistic to say that all men are this terrible, but it makes for better storytelling. The interviews start on a lighthearted note and progress to some nasty revelations about what men are really capable of. Sometimes the interviewees appear in an antiseptic room talking into a microphone, and sometimes the events they're describing are dramatized.

There's all sorts of crazy stuff, like the guy who for some unknown reason is compelled to shout "victory for the forces of democratic freedom" just before he has an orgasm. Or the one who breaks up with five different women with the same line.

Then things start to get darker. Bobby Cannavale plays a man with one arm who knows how to use his affliction for sympathy and then close in for the kill. On another occasion, Sara (Nicholson) overhears brash businessman Christopher Meloni describing to his friend Denis O'Hare what happened when he hooked up with a despondent woman abandoned by her boyfriend at the airport.

An inspired set piece has Frankie Faison visiting the men's room where his father made a career out of servicing the needs of white men, and explaining how the disgust he felt about his father informed his whole being.

The actors all work at a high level, and their monologues using Wallace's precise language literally feels like a class in acting. Timothy Hutton is suitably smarmy as Sara's professor, but Krasinski turns in the most devastating performance to climax the film. He's Sara's ex-boyfriend and her intellectual equal who fashions an elaborate rationale for why he cheated on her with a woman for which he had nothing but contempt. It's a chilling moment to which Sara responds with icy silence.

For the most part, the film is more cerebral than emotional, and the denseness of the material makes the brief 72-minute running time feel like more than enough. Editor Rich Fox has done a splendid job giving momentum to a story that could have been shapeless, and John Bailey's photography puts the action in sharp focus, the better to see the deeds done.

It's not every day that you get to watch a film about betrayal, carnal desire and the supposed intrinsic nature of men to think below the waist -- all at 8:30 in the morning. But on Tuesday, as the rest of the world tuned in to see a new president take the oath, myself and a half-asleep Sundance crowd shuffled into the Racquet Club theater to see John Krasinski's "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men."

By the end of the film, I considered my admission price of sleep and historical perspective well worth it.

Obviously, most people know Krasinski for his work on "The Office," and your first thought as you watch "Interviews" is that he's a looooong way from Jim Halpert. But while this pensive, somewhat nihilistic "In the Company of Men"-like exploration into the darker aspects of the male mind will undoubtedly scare away some segment of his core audience, fans of the NBC show aren't your typical shiny happy sitcom lovers. For those who simply enjoy smart entertainment -- and are daring enough to consider great achievements in highly-varied genres -- "Office" and "Interviews" will seem on the same level.

Adapting David Foster Wallace's 1999 collection of short stories, Krasinski proves himself to be a talented writer/director. Adding in a character named Sara (played perfectly by Julianne Nicholson), the film version has the graduate student attempting to find the reasons behind her recent dumping by talking to various men about their sexual taboos, formative experiences, and reasons for behaving badly.

When "Interviews" is finished with you, what you'll remember are the stories that touch you most. Some are funny, others sad -- and a few simply don't work. But the most impressive thing about Krasinski's direction is his self-assured ability to know when it's time to mix in visual elements, and when it's best to simply point a camera at a good storyteller and let the actor speak.

My personal favorites? One man speaks of being ashamed of his father -- a lowly bathroom attendant -- while we see a younger version of the father taking great pride handing towels to the privileged, tending to their needs as if he's a maitre d' at a fine hotel. Another standout has "Law & Order" star Christopher Meloni sharing a coffee with a friend and telling a story about a woman he picked up at the airport -- as he, his friend and the coffee cups keep popping up in the background of the story, looking on at this large-breasted babe like Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Past.

Other interviews -- like Will Forte's laundry list of what he loves about women, and Michael Cerveris' tale of dealing with his father's rage -- aren't quite as memorable. When you find yourself stuck watching one of the less-compelling interviews, the film can drag a bit -- and the soundtrack doesn't help as it makes you feel like you're trapped in the bohemian coffee shop from hell, with Maynard G. Krebs working the bongos.

Glimpsed briefly but mentioned throughout the film, Krasinski finally shows up on-camera for the film's big finale: A powerful scene that has him explaining his reasons to Nicholson for dumping her. In a film full of a-holes, the charismatic actor has no problem casting himself as the king of the scumbags. All we can do is admire Krasinski's skill with the complicated monologue, marvel over his impressive filmmaking debut -- and hope that sweet Pam Beesly has enough sense to stay far, far away from this guy.

The Other Man Online English Movie Download Review Free Watch Trailer Cast Crew




The Other Man English Movie

Cast And Crew


Genre: Drama, Adaptation
Release Date: September 25, 2009
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Distributor: Image Entertainment, Inc
Starring: Amanda Drew, Paterson Joseph, Craig Parkinson, Romola Garai, Laura Linney
Director: Richard Eyre
Producer: Michael Dreyer, Tracey Scoffield, Richard Eyre, David Richenthal

Reviews

After many years of marriage a man's wife dies. Shortly afterwards, a letter arrives for her from another man. Obsessed with finding out the truth, the husband writes back, impersonating his dead wife. Soon he discovers a love which he cannot understand.

A Rainmark Films presentation, in association with Gotham Prods. (International sales: Ealing Studios Intl., London. North American sales: ICM, Los Angeles.) Produced by Frank Doelger, Tracey Scoffield, Michael Dreyer. Executive producers, Richard Eyre, Jan Mojito, Mary Beth O'Connor, David Richenthal.

The story of a husband who suspects his wife of adultery, and sets out to track down the other man in her life.

Based on a short story by Bernhard Schlink, The Other Man is a love story about a man (Liam Neeson) who discovers that his wife (Laura Linney) has been involved with another man (Antonio Banderas). The husband sets out to find the other man, and forms an unusual friendship with him; through a series of informal meetings and emails, the husband uncovers the truth about his wife's affair, and in a stunning denouement, reveals the truth about his wife to her unsuspecting lover.

The Other Man, based on a short story by Bernhard Schlink (THE READER), was written and directed by Richard Eyre (NOTES ON A SCANDAL, IRIS) along with co-writer Charles Wood (IRIS). The producers on the film include Frank Doelger (JOHN ADAMS, MY HOUSE IN UMBRIA, THE GATHERING STORM), Tracey Scoffield, Michael Dreyer (NINE, STARDUST, FINDING NEVERLAND), Mary Beth O'Connor and David Richenthal (TAPE) with original music by Stephen Warbeck (SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, VANILLA GORILLA, SKELLIG)

In this film by Richard Eyre, Liam Neeson is the husband, Peter, who stumbles across an incriminating e-mail to his wife, Lisa (Laura Linney) -- which leads him to snoop around her laptop and uncover a trove of photographs of herself in Italy with a handsome man who Peter doesn't know.

So he jets off to Milan, where the e-mail says Lisa and the other man are set to rendezvous. He tracks the guy down -- his name is Ralph (Antonio Banderas), pronounced in the Welsh manner ("Rafe") -- then contrives to meet him. Before long, Peter and Ralph are regularly playing chess together in a café.

Chess is a pretty strained metaphor and not just for the game that Peter is playing with Ralph. It's also emblematic of a game that Eyre, whose script is adapted from a Bernhard Schlink short story, is playing with the audience.

The film bounces back and forth in time, repeating scenes with new context or letting them play out slightly longer. Eyre keeps us guessing about when the husband will reveal himself and what he'll do next.

There's also the question of Ralph himself, who may not be the wealthy gigolo he passes himself off as. But Banderas has trouble capturing the uncertainty beneath the façade; he seems too smooth by half to be party to any of these situations.

By contrast, Neeson's Peter is too much of a hard-charger to be a decent chess player in any sense of the word. He's an angry man whose pride has been hurt; it seems hard to believe that he can keep himself in check long enough to reach the conclusion he seeks.

What's missing here, unfortunately, is Linney, whose character disappears less than halfway through the film. Linney is such a strong actress that her absence is noticeable; her presence takes up space, even when she's not on camera because we're looking for her.

But she's not there. As a result, The Other Man feels like a movie that focuses on the hole, instead of the doughnut.

Skills Like This Online English Movie Download Review Free Watch Trailer Cast Crew



Skills Like This English Movie

Cast And Crew

Genre: Comedy
Release Date: September 29, 2009
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Distributor: Shadow Distribution
Starring: Spencer Berger,
Gabriel Tigerman, Brian Phelan
Director: Monty Mirand

Reviews

The day before his 25th birthday, Max Solomon (Spencer Berger) faces the awful truth that he will never be a writer. In a desperate attempt to find his next artistic endeavor, he turns to crime and pulls off a great feat. His newfound talent ignites a passion within him and sends his two best friends on their own journeys. Tommy (Brian D. Phelan), the slacker, is inspired to enter the job market, and Dave (Gabriel Tigerman), only too aware of the consequences of grand theft, becomes obsessed with writing the perfect apology letter. It may not be the time to fall in love, but when Max meets Lucy (Kerry Knuppe), it's decision time.
Monty Miranda’s lighthearted little caper movie Skills Like This seems to be gaining a cult following, which is a bit mystifying. Frankly, it’s surprising this movie isn’t going straight to DVD.

In Spencer Berger’s screenplay, from a story by Berger and Gabriel Tigerman, three young Denver men find themselves unable to keep steady jobs or achieve success with their creative endeavors. Having failed as a writer, Max (played by Berger) decides to radically change course and rob a bank—for fun and profit. His pal Tommy (Brian D. Phelan) encourages the plan, while Dave (Tigerman), a nervous sort, has to be convinced of the benefits.

Over a three-day period, Max robs the bank, celebrates with his friends, and meets and falls in love with Lucy (Kerry Knuppe), the teller who handed him the money. Eventually, Lucy demands that Max stop his criminal activities, but he argues it is his métier. Finally, after Lucy threatens to leave Max and his grandfather dies, our "hero" starts to regret his actions and tries to make amends. Maybe.

In this period of economic turmoil, Skills Like This should have been a black-comic comment about the revenge of the little guy against banking institutions and the wealthy, something akin to Fun with Dick and Jane (the original, not the awful remake). As it stands, Berger and director Miranda have concocted a completely tone-deaf, mildly offensive farce about robbing for the hell of it.

The first part of the film jumbles so much of its action with flashy cutting that it seems like one very long trailer for itself. Once the narrative slows down, it does so to a snail’s pace. After the robbery, there remains little left for the characters to do other than spend the money and look for women. Max’s standoff with his new girlfriend, Lucy, provides the only sort of conflict, but we don’t really care about any of these irresponsible and selfish people. (And why should Max’s love for this woman be the only impetus for his "crisis of conscience"?)

Skills Like Us shows a dull competency in most technical departments, and Berger (who resembles Noah Wyle with an afro) does better as an actor than as a screenwriter—the unintended irony being that the character he has written for himself gives up on writing! The only element to really stand out, however, is the score. Neat songs from well-known bands like New Order and Wired mix well with new original compositions throughout the film. You’d be better advised to buy the soundtrack and skip the movie.

There's a backstory involving Max's family (to whom he introduces his new gal pal in Granpa's hospital room), and a kind of side-story involving Tommy's pet bicycle named Gloria (she's a beaut, and no dispute). But the main story comes to a head when Max, Tommy, Dave and Dave's girlfriend Lauren (Jennifer Batter) find themselves drunk and indecisive in the drive-through of what might easily be taken for a Jack In The Box. On a sudden whim, Max responds to the disembodied voice's request that they place their order with "give me all your money." Which he proceeds to climb through the window and take.

Unfortunately, the potential getaway car is blocked front and rear by fellow late-night noshers; Max hoofs it, leaving his buds behind to take the heat - which hangdog Dave does, ending up in jail.

Skills Like This is a charming counter-culture tale enacted by some personable and photogenic young actors - particularly Berger, who has a background as a standup comedian. The amusing action is accompanied by an engaging pop soundtrack, laced with original tunes by local Colorado bands. And the local Colorado joints frequented by the protagonists look like the kinds of places we'd enjoy visiting for a smothered burrito or a frosty brew. (Particularly if a waitress like Rosa is serving.)

Dangerously, the message of Skills seems to be that crime might, in fact, pay - though not necessarily in terms of cash. In Max's case, it delivers the sense of accomplishment that's eluded him in his role as a (really bad) writer. Not to mention the hot babe hookup.

But what of poor Dave?

UNCLEAR ON THE CONCEPT: "Money laundering - gotta do it!" - Tommy, re. bills drying on the clothesline

POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT: "The more I do it, the better it feels." - Max, re. robbery

TATTOOUS INTERRUPTUS: "No Regr" - Dave's unfinished body art

Meanwhile, gorgeous waitress Rosa (Marta Martin, who landed the plum role of "Medical Technician #2" in Star Trek) runs down the list of available margarita flavors for the enraptured Tommy. (Think: "MAN-go.") Dave is likewise oblivious, brooding over his ill fortune at having to wear a tie to work.

So neither of them are expecting Max to return after a few minutes with a sack full of money and a Beretta he's lifted from the holster of the hapless security guard at the bank's front entrance.

Tommy on Gloria. (Ain't she a beaut?)
Tommy, being a free spirited individual (not to mention crazy as a loon), is excited beyond all measure and immediately begs permission to play a part in Max's next heist. Dave, whose middle name could be "Anal-Retentive" (but would probably be pronounced "Wah"), is certain that the cops will be on their doorstep at any moment, and petitions Max to return the money right away. Taking on the role of token responsible person, Dave hides both the money and the gun in a secret location he deems secure. (It isn't.)

The trio decide to celebrate Max's newfound success with a night on the town; they decamp to the local watering hole where - DANG! - who should show up but the teller who handed the money to Max at gunpoint. (Sort of - Max was actually holding the gun to HIS head.)

Lucy - played by cute and fresh-faced Kerry Knuppe - threatens to call the police. Unperturbed, Max convinces her to wait until after he buys her to a drink. Whereupon he proceeds to charm the pants off her. Literally.

Following their night of bliss, Max promises Lucy that he'll remain sequestered in her apartment, out of sight of law enforcement types. Instead, after she returns to work at the bank, he wanders down to the Quickie Mart and expertly distracts the clerk while he extracts bills from the open register. (His talent for larceny is indeed a genuine one.)
You may ask yourself: if Skills Like This was completed back in 2007, why is it just now appearing in theatrical release? Additionally, you may ask yourself: would this film be worth seeing? If you're also the sort who wonders whether the old adage "crime doesn't pay" is true in all instances, then stop with the questions already and head on over to the Angelika.

By way of brief explanation, Skills Like This played at SXSW in 2007, where it took the audience award for Best Narrative Feature; since then it has run the festival circuit, and was lately picked up for distribution by an outfit called Shadow out of Maine. (MAINE? That's spooky!)

Skills, directed by newcomer Monty Miranda, stars newcomer Spencer Berger (who also wrote the script) as a playwright named Max who's seeking new career opportunities: his recently-debuted The Onion Dance stunk so badly it sent his grandfather to the emergency room with a heart attack. (O.K., so maybe that connection is a bit tenuous, but it was a disastrous opening, nonetheless.)

Hanging out at the neighborhood Mexican cafe the next day with friends Tommy (Brian D. Phelan) and Dave (Gabriel Tigerman), Max is understandably down at the mouth. He resolves then and there to abandon writing forever. Only problem is, he doesn't have any other skills. (Which is to say he doesn't actually have ANY skills.) Acting on a throwaway remark made by Tommy, Max proceeds across the street to rob the bank thus situated.