J. Edgar (2011)
The story of J. Edgar Hoover’s rise to power.
Wow, what an interesting bit of history and an interesting character. I felt the movie was flawless. I was engaged throughout.
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J. Edgar
by My Two Cents
Movie Reviews
by Persepolis
Persepolis (2007)
This a young girl’s coming-of-age story in Tehran; how her hopes and dreams were confounded when Islamic Fundamentalists came to power and proceeded to destroy the country.
I suppose this is anime because it would be difficult to make such a film in Iran if such a political atmosphere prevails there as is described.
by Everything is Illuminated
Everything is Illuminated (2005)
A young, quirky Jewish boy from New York visits Ukraine looking for the person responsible for saving his grandfather from the holocaust. His guides are even quirkier, which makes for an interesting adventure.
I was tickled by the odd characters in this movie. Totally cute, entertaining story with some beautiful shots of Ukraine. I especially liked this brand of humor and the ways they communicated this was a “Russian” story.
by The Counterfeiters
The Counterfeiters (2007)
Nazis enslave some of the finest criminal minds to counterfeit Western currencies in a plot to destroy the world economy. And they almost pulled it off.
An amazing true story expertly told and a sketch of some very interesting characters.
by The Contender
The Contender (2000)
The President’s efforts to choose a VP replacement are complicated by political spin on each of the favorites.
Jeff Bridges does a great job acting presidential. The president proves himself expert handler of everything political as the drama unfolds. The way the story is told, the viewer gets to experience how little shreds of evidence can be constructed to create a convincing story.
by The Departed
The Departed (2006)
The local mob boss detects an FBI mole the same time the FBI detects a mob mole. The race is on to blow the opposite’s cover first.
This is a tense thriller with an all star cast that is chock-full of great performances and surprises from beginning to end.
by Defiance
Defiance (2008)
A true story about a couple Jewish brothers who rally fellow Jewish refugees in Belarus to fight the advance of German troops in the area.
This is a gritty, personal story of survival in the woods, peppered with all the complications that might arise from asking civilians to risk their lives for the greater good.
by The Debt
The Debt (2010)
A team of three Mossad agents botch the job of kidnapping a Nazi war criminal from East Berlin and then collude to cover up their mistakes.
This is a complex story within a story format that is constructed with surprises to the very end. It was very engaging.
by Days of Heaven
Days of Heaven (1978)
This film is set in 1916 and focuses on a migrant farm worker who drifts west with his girlfriend and plots to swindle his employer. A young Richard Gere gives a quirky, memorable performance.
At this point in history, the application of internal combustion engines to farming was causing an upheaval perhaps no less revolutionary than the invention of the wheel. This movie captures the wildness of that age, the sights and sounds of this new method of farming and the surge of population that followed jobs to the American Great Plains as fast as it could be plowed. This masterpiece of cinematography conjures a spirit of the old West as large as a Texas Pan Handle thunder storm. You can smell the wheat, taste the sweat and feel grit in your boots.
by Fort Apache, the Bronx
FortApache, the Bronx (1981)
A few weeks in the life of a cop working in one of the roughest city neighborhoods on Earth.
A classic Paul Newman movie. Exudes the personality of a sitcom despite the violent scenes. The new chief complains about all the people hanging around the station until the veteran officers explain to him it is the only place of safety available to the locals.
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