3.5 Razors

The Bank Job

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Bank Job
  • IMDB: link

“We’re not bank robbers.”
“Maybe that’s why we could get away with it.”

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Terry (Jason Stratham) and his small-time crook pals (Daniel Mays, Michael Jibson, Stephen Campbell Moore, Alki David, James Faulkner) are offered a chance at the biggest score of their lives by one of Terry’s old flames, Martine (Safron Burrows).

Trouble is they only know have the half the story.  Martine is actually working for MI5 (British Intelligence) who desperately need some damaging photographs from a safety deposit box owned by a black militant (Peter De Jersey) who is using them to blackmail the government.

Tim (Richard Lintern) is given the assignment of capturing the damaging material without using any company resources, as the government can not be tied to the operation if all goes wrong.  He blackmails Martine into getting her friends to do the job.

The job is further complicated by a pornographer (David Suchet) whose ledger of police payoffs is also hidden among the treasures the team lifts from the bank.

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War/Dance

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: War/Dance
  • IMDB: link

“In my heart I am more than a child of war.”
 

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The film tells the tales of three children – Nancy, Dominic, and Rose – from the Acholi tribe in the Pantongo region of northern Uganda.  These children live in a refugee camp among 60,000 other members of their tribe, displaced by a violent terrorist group known as the Lord’s Resistance Army.  Each has harrowing tales of tragedy to tell.

As the film opens these children, along with many others from the camp, are training and working towards winning the national dance competition in the town of Kampala.  This is the first time a primary school from a camp such as this has earned a spot in the final competition and the children hope to do honor to their tribe and bring a trophy home.

The documentary from Sean Fine and Andrea Nix does many things well including capturing the look and feel of the various settings in the film from the camp, to the open bush, to Kampala.  Facts and statistics are also inserted throughout the film in way that doesn’t make them seem forced or distracting.

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First Blood Part II

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Rambo: First Blood Part II
  • IMDB: link

“Sir, do we get to win this time?”
“This time it’s up to you.”

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Locked away in a maximum security prison, and serving his sentence for the crimes committed in the first film (read that review), Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) is approached by his old commander, Col. Trautman (Richard Crenna), and offered the chance to receive a Presidential pardon if he agrees to perform a small service for the United States government.  All he must do is return to Vietnam.

A program run by Marshall Murdock (Charles Napier) is searching for evidence of American POWs are alive and still held captive in Vietnam.  Rambo’s mission is simple, to infiltrate the camp and take pictures – but under no circumstances to engage the enemy.

With the help of a local woman (Julia Nickson) Rambo finds rescues one of the POWs, but is left to fend for himself by Murdock, who didn’t want any evidence actually found.  Rambo, being the soldier that he is, breaks the other POWs out of the camp before destroying it and returning to the staging area in Thailand to take his revenge.

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Hidden Gem – The TV Set

/ / Home Video
  • Title: The TV Set
  • IMDb: link

“I’m fucking freaked because this show, it’s not Shakespeare I know.  It’s not The Sopranos, but it’s my show and if I don’t worry about the content of my show, if I just sit back and let them turn it into another cannibalized piece of shit then I’m part of the problem.  I am the one who’s responsible for pumping shit into people’s living rooms.  I’m making the world more mediocre.”

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Mike Klein (David Duchovny) should be on top of the world.  He and his wife (Justine Bateman) are expecting their first child and a television network is interested in this script for a new comedy based on the aftermath of his brother’s suicide.  So what’s the problem?  Well, this is Hollywood.

At every turn Mike is forced to make concessions to casting, shooting, and script which slowly chip away at the original premise until it is almost unrecognizable.  Here’s a great look at how talented people get roped into bad television shows, and how the power does not come from the actors, directors or writers, but the network.

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Bourne to be on DVD

/ / Home Video
  • Title: The Bourne Ultimatum
  • IMDB: link

bourne-ultimatumJason Bourne (Matt Damon) returns for a third entry picking up right where The Bourne Supremacy ended.  Bourne gets himself out of Russia and goes after those responsible for Treadstone looking for answers and revenge for Marie’s (Franka Potente) death.  The film is filled with amazing stunts, and yet another great car chase, this time through the streets of New York City.  For more on the plot and review of the film check out my original review.

I liked, but was slightly disappointed with, The Bourne Ultimatum as I feel it was a small step backward from the second film.  Still, it’s a fun ride and with the extras offered here it’s an easy recommendation to make and a nice addition to anyone’s collection.  Also worth noting, if you don’t already have the first two films in the series, Universal is putting out “The Jason Bourne Collection” – a four-disc set filled with all the extras, complete with a Jason Bourne passport, and housed in a safety deposit box tin.

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