Movies Update

The story is shopworn, but not without dramatic potential: Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg play brothers on the opposite-ish sides of the law; Joseph (Wahlberg) has followed in the footsteps of their father (Robert Duvall) and joined the NYPD while Bobby (Phoenix) rebels by running a seedy nightclub. With a drug dealer inching into Bobby’s territory, he’s forced to reconsider his loyalties.

With this third work, Gray sets all inhibitions aside and begins confidently with a series of black-and-white cop photos set to melancholy saxophone followed by the image of uninhibitedly sexy party girl Amada (Eva Mendes) pleasuring herself on a ’70s-style gold couch. Her boyfriend Bobby (Joaquin Phoenix) enters the frame and caresses her thigh, then her breast; there’s a cut to them waiting to kiss, with Amada’s tongue fluttering in the air, then a cut of Bobby pulling down her top, so that one of her breasts pops out?all set to Blondie’s “Heart of Glass.” This arousing vision of a warm erotic paradise, unrepentantly heightened by the use of drugs, haunts the rest of the movie, which deals with raw loss, the chill of betrayal, and the opposing institutions of the mob and the police force.

The good brother, played with sullen intensity by Mark Wahlberg, is decorated New York City policeman Joseph Grusinsky. The bad brother — well, he’s not really all that bad — is the playboy-ish Bobby Green, played at first with devil-may-care glee by Joaquin Phoenix, later with a sullen intensity that goes way beyond Wahlberg’s character. Bobby, who tells his disapproving deputy police chief father (Robert Duvall) that he has changed his last name to something easier to pronounce, runs the swanky El Caribe nightclub in an old Brooklyn movie palace that’s owned by kindly Russian immigrants. Bobby is in love with vivacious club dancer Amada Juarez (Eva Mendes), toys with drugs and knows a lot of unsavory characters, although he isn’t part of their illicit schemes that usually involve drugs and murder.

Star(s) to watch : Eva Mendes (”Once Upon a Time in Mexico”, “2 Fast 2 Furious”, “Ghost Rider”, “Urban Legends: Final Cut”, “Exit Wounds”) as Amanda Juarez, Mark Wahlberg (”The Big Hit”, “The Italian Job”, “The Departed”) as Joseph Grusinsky, & Joaquin Phoenix (”Signs”, “Gladiator”) as Bobby Green.

Genre : Drama, Gangster.

Release date : October 12, 2007

Rating : 7/10

Official website : http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/weownthenight/

Poster : http://movies-update.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/we_own_the_night-200×300.jpg

Trailer :

Smokin Ace’s chronicles the talented Las Vegas performer Buddy Israel, played by Jeremy Piven, who chooses to rat out the mob to the FBI, but the mob places a sizable $1 million bounty on his head hoping to kill him before he squeals. Many different hitmen, all using their own styles, do whatever it will take to kill the double-crossing snitch. However, before Buddy Israel enters protective custody with the government, he decides to have some fun for the last time in the Lake Tahoe, Nevada casinos. The assassins, including Ben Affleck and Alicia Keys, race each other to claim the bounty by killing Buddy Isreael before the FBI can catch up and protect him.

When the sleazy magician and wannabe gangster Buddy ‘Aces’ Israel learns it is not easy to be a mob boss once the Feds have evidence against him, he chooses to turn state’s evidence instead of going to jail. A real mob boss, Primo Sparazza does not like the fact Buddy is informing the FBI about the mob’s secrets and decide the best way to deal with the snitch is to have him eliminated.

For the complete breakdown of the Smokin’ Aces cast click here. The movie was full of many talented Hollywood stars, the characters in Smokin’ Aces are what makes the movie special.

Star(s) to watch : Ryan Reynolds (”Blade: Trinity”) as Richard Messner, Martin Henderson (”Torque”, “The Ring”) as Hollis Elmore, Chris Pine (”Just My Luck”) as Darwin Tremor, Ben Affleck (”Armageddon”, “Daredevil”, “The Sum of All Fears”, “Pearl Harbor”) as Jack Dupree, Matthew Fox as Bill Security Super, Jason Bateman (”Freddy vs. Jason”) as Rupert “Rip” Reed, & Alicia Keys as Georgia Sykes.

Genre : Action, Gangster.

Release date : January 26, 2007

Rating : 9/10

Official website : http://www.smokinaces.net/

Poster : http://movies-update.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/smokin_aces-202×300.jpg

Trailer :

Death Sentence is a 2007 film loosely based on the 1975 novel by Brian Garfield. The film is directed by Saw director James Wan, and stars Kevin Bacon as Nick Hume, a man who becomes a vengeful vigilante killer after his son is murdered by a gang as an initiation ritual. The film premiered on August 31, 2007. It was filmed at and it took place in Columbia, South Carolina.

A little background first, to connect Bronson to Bacon. Both were pulp thrillers, and the latter, released in 1975, was a sequel to the former. The movies do not share this close a kinship, especially considering that Death Sentence the movie has almost nothing to do with Death Sentence the novel (other than the title and the broad thematic content) but it’s clear - despite the pretensions of the 2007 feature - they are cut from the same whole cloth. Death Wish has taken its share of knocks over the years but at least it doesn’t pretend it’s something more important and meaningful than it is - a mistake made by Death Sentence to its detriment.

Bacon’s performance in “Saw” creator James Wan’s laughably extreme revenge thriller “Death Sentence” is six degrees of ham. Playing an insurance executive out to exact revenge against the gang that killed his precollege son, Bacon exhibits every facial expression except one you might have seen on a real person.

Star(s) to watch : Kelly Preston (”Sky High”, “Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat”) as Helen Hume, Kevin Bacon (”Hollow Man”, “Trapped”, “Apollo 13″) as Nick Hume, & Aisha Tyler as Detective Wallis.

Genre : Action, Drama, Thriller, Gangster, Adaptation.

Release date : August 31, 2007

Rating : 8/10

Official website : http://www.deathsentencemovie.com/

Poster : http://movies-update.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/death_sentence-209×300.jpg

Trailer :