Tag Archives: Christian Bale

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American Hustle – Review

american hustle poster

How do you look at American Hustle? Is it Mystique, Hawkeye, Batman and Lois Lane teaming up? The cast of The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook getting together for the movie equivalent of a super group ala The Travelling Wilburies? Watching American Hustle, I couldn’t help but wonder if David O. Russell asked himself if he could do a Martin Scorsese movie, specifically Goodfellas.

American Hustle opens with Irving (Christian Bale) and Sydney (Amy Adams) talking in voiceover about how they met. Their speeches had definite shades of Goodfellas’ opening line, “As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.”

The characters costumes seemed right out of Goodfellas as well. During American Hustle, I couldn’t help but think that toupee wearing dry-cleaner turned con man Irving’s story was actually what was going on with Morrie in Goodfellas when he wasn’t being choked by Jimmy Conway.

Then Robert De Niro showed up and I had no idea if I was watching Goodfellas or American Hustle. My confusion mounted when they cut to a flashback scene of Robert De Niro’s character as a young mobster that I think might have been a deleted scene from Goodfellas. American Hustle’s title should have been Goodfellas 2: Camden Nights.

I enjoyed the twist at the end of American Hustle. It was very Ocean’s 11-esque. However, the 20 minutes before the twist seemed to slog. I felt myself fidgeting in my seat, wondering where this movie was going.

Should you see American Hustle? Take this quiz to find out.

1. Are you a fan of Amy Adams side boob?

amy adams side boob

 

2. Same question, but this time Jennifer Lawrence.

jennifer lawrence boobs

3. Are you a dude who curls your own hair?

bradley cooper curlers

 

4. Is Fat Batman you thing?

fat batman

 

5. Do you want to see Jimmy Conway in action one more time?

robert de niro goodfellas

If you answered Yes to any of these, you should see American Hustle! If you answered No to all of these, I recommend watching The Fighter again instead.

the righter poster

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The Dark Knight Rises (At The Theater 2012 #9)

Yes, yes, yes. I loved The Dark Rises. This was my most anticipated movie of 2012 and it did not disappoint at all!

I loved it so much that I watched Batman Begins and The Dark Knight again back to back shortly after seeing The Dark Knight Rises.

Thank you, Christopher Nolan. This trilogy has been amazing.

Anne Hathaway is definitely the sexiest Catwoman since Julie Newmar. I wasn’t sure what to make of her being cast at first, but she was perfect in DKR.

We can all pretend the Halle Berry movie didn’t happen now, right?

Tom Hardy as Bane was awesome. I loved how well he communicated without saying a word. I loved his voice. I’m very glad they didn’t go with Bane’s traditional wrestling unitard and pants costume from the comics. I’ve always found that costume to be ridiculous looking.

I really glad they didn’t go with this look.

I loved Bane’s jacket in Dark Knight Rises. Seriously, where can I get that jacket?

This jacket will be my closet’s reckoning.

Random thought: Is it me, or does Matthew Modine look a little too much like Aaron Eckhart? When he came on screen, I thought, “Didn’t you get horribly disfigured and die in the last movie?”

SPOILERS BELOW!


IF YOU DON’T WANT TO BE SPOILED, COME BACK AFTER YOU WATCH THE DARK KNIGHT RISES!

I really liked how Nolan mirrored scenes from Batman Begins in Dark Knight Rises, like when young Talia climbs out of the prison. It looked just like young Bruce’s ascent from the cave as a child.

Speaking of Talia, I called Marion Cotillard as Talia fairly early on. She was always being put in situations where if she was a villain, it would be very much to her advantage. Like, “Oh hey, here’s where we keep our nuclear reactor,” and “Hey, can you let me know which truck the Geiger counter says to mark? Thanks.” I was happy to see I was correct and I liked her Danny Ocean-esque plan for getting back at Batman. My only quibble is with Talia’s death scene. It was such a silly looking “And now I’m dead” death.

I don’t think Dark Knight Rises was better than The Dark Knight, but The Dark Knight is my favorite superhero movie ever, so it’s tough competition. The Dark Knight Rises is a great end cap for the Batman saga.

I would very much like to see a new movie with JGL as either Batman or Nightwing. There are so many Batman rouges left that Nolan didn’t touch. I know Nolan says he’s done with Batman, but it would be great if he came back on as producer if he doesn’t want to direct. Give us JGL as Batman like when Dick Grayson took over for Bruce after Batman RIP, or give us JGL as Nightwing. Either would be awesome. That said, I doubt it will happen. I think the next time we see a Batman movie in the theater, it will be a whole new franchise, in a whole new continuity.

That said, this would be all kinds of awesome.
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The Tuesday Night Movies 2011 Oscar Predictions

Need some early help with your 2011 Oscars office pool? Tuesday Night Movies is here to help! All I ask is for a 10% cut.

Best Picture:
Out of the 10 Best Picture nominees, I have seen 9. I would like to see The Kids Are All Right before the Oscars are handed out, but I don’t think seeing it will change my pick here.

Should Win: Toy Story 3
Will Win: True Grit

Actor:
It’s a tough call between Jeff Bridges, Jesse Eisenberg and Colin Firth. As great as Jesse Eisenberg was with his quick talking monotone with his potrayal of Mark Zuckerberg, I’m going with…

Jeff Bridges, True Grit

Actress:
Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Supporting Actor:
Christian Bale, The Fighter

Supporting Actress:
Melissa Leo, The Fighter

Director:
This was the hardest category for me to choose a winner. I could see any of the nominees taking this one. I’m picking…

Joel & Ethan Cohen, True Grit

Animated Feature:
Toy Story 3

Adapted Screenplay:
The Social Network

Original Screenplay:
Inception

Best Foreign Language Film:
I actually didn’t see any of these. Not surprisingly, Mademoiselle Chambon didn’t make the list of nominees. I’m going to try to watch these between now and Oscar time.

Nominees I Have Not Seen Yet: The Kids Are All Right, The Illusionist, Blue Valentine, Rabbit Hole, Animal Kingdom, Another Year, Biutiful, Dogtooth, A Better World, Incendies, Outside the Law

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At The Theater #50: The Fighter

“Want to see The Fighter at the AMC 34th St at 5:40?” Can you spot what’s wrong with that sentence? If you live in New York City you might realize it breaks a cardinal rule of movie going here, namely you need to specify which 34th St movie theater you mean. There are two, and unlike the dueling theaters on 42nd St, they’re completely across town from each other. To add to potential confusion, they’re both owned by AMC-Loews. I should have realized the chances of my cousin and I ending up at different theaters were 100% when I texted him the above quote on 12/29/10.
After discovering we were at different theaters, we didn’t give up. Giving up would be antithetical to the story of The Figther. It would go against every sports movie ever! And I have three movies to watch in the theater with only three days remaining in the year!
We decided to put our fate in the hands of the New York City Transit Authority and headed downtown to the Village East from opposite ends of 34th St.
Transit Tip: If there has been a recent blizzard that knocked out multiple subway lines, stick to the line you know in running well, even if it might leave you slightly further away. Wow, two lessons learned today and I hadn’t even bought my movie ticket yet!
We made it to the Village East with time to spare. Thank you New York City Transit!
If you hate boxing, but have a crush on Amy Adams, here’s your reason to see The Fighter.

The Fighter is an excellent movie and is one of my tops for the year. I’m not a boxing fan and knew next to nothing about Mickey Ward or his brother Dicky Eklund going into the movie. But director David O. Russell does a great job drawing into the story of the two brothers. I also really loved how the fight scenes were shot to look like a televised boxing match.
Mickey’s sisters look a collection of fairytale villains. Is that Gollum on the left?

The Fighter does a great job of getting you inside the head of Mickey Ward. He’s stuck in the shadow of his washed up, crackhead brother Dicky. He’s being mismanaged, but can’t bring himself to fire his manager because she’s also his mother. He also can’t bring himself to fire his crackhead trainer, because his crackhead trainer is also his crackhead brother. His life is going nowhere, and it’s not until he meets his new girlfriend Charlotte that his life gets any direction.

If someone ever produces The Linda McMahon Story, Melissa Leo needs to be cast in the title role.

People told me that Christian Bale steals the show. I think he’s great in The Fighter, but I feel like saying he steals the show takes away from the great jobs that Mark Wahlberg, Amy Adams and Melissa Leo. But yeah, Christain Bale is awesome as usual here.
Christian Bale’s ability to morph into another person is eerie.
Go see The Fighter. It’s a great movie. I doubt you’ll be disappointed.