10s Movie Review - Too Big To Fail

Director: Curtis Hanson
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 99 minutes
Year: 2011
Starring: William Hurt, Billy Crudup, James Woods, Bill Pullman, Tony Shalhoub, Topher Grace, Cynthia Nixon, John Heard, Edward Asner, Kathy Baker, Paul Giamatti

Description: Chronicles of the financial meltdown of 2008 and centers on Treasure Secretary Henry Paulson (William Hurt).

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2025 MOVIE CHALLENGE.
WEEK 3: A FILM WITH WILLIAM HURT
 
Review: A fantastic cast who are all perfect for their roles. But the subject matter is the big draw. I’m not very good with financial topics, don’t know much about it nor does it interest me.

Because the dialogues are sharp and the acting is so strong, it did engage me for most of the runtime. But most of it went over my head, because the financial world is just not something that holds my interest for very long.

I would recommend this movie for anyone who wants to know more about this subject or for people who are interested and fascinated by the financial world.

Rating: 3/ 5

90s Movie Review - The Virgin Suicides

Director: Sofia Coppola
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 97 minutes
Year: 1999
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, James Woods, Kathleen Turner, Josh Hartnett, Danny DeVito, A.J. Cook, Hanna Hall, Leslie Hayman, Chelse Swain

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2024 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 45: A FILM FROM A DIRECTOR KNOW FOR THEIR CHARACTER-DRIVEN NARRATIVE
 
Description: A group a male friends become obsessed with five mysterious sisters who are sheltered by their strict, religious parents (James Woods, Kathleen Turner) in suburban Detroit in the mid-1970s.

Review: Cecilia Lisbon is only 13-years-old when she attempts suicide for the first time. She and her four sisters live a very protected life with their strict and religious parents.

Director Sofia Coppola manages to show the audience what this strict life can do to teenage girls. The five sister all deal with it in a different way, eventually ending in the same fate.

It’s beautifully filmed and it focused on the sisters. The story told from the perspective of the boy next door, twenty five years later.

Rating: 3,5/ 5

80s Movie Review - Videodrome

Director: David Cronenberg
Genre: Horror/ Thriller/ Fantasy/ Science Fiction
Runtime: 87 minutes
Year: 1983
Starring: James Woods, Debbie Harry, Sonja Smits, Peter Dvorsky, Lerslie Carlson, Jack Creley, Lynne Gorman, Julie Khaner, Reiner Schwartz, David Bolt, Lally Cadeau, Henry Gomez

Description: A programmer (James Woods) at a TV station that specializes in adult entertainment searches for the producers of a dangerous and bizarre broadcast.

Review: “Videodrome” gained cult status soon after its release due to David Cronenberg’s innovative vision of mass media and the intertwining of body and technology; by now it has been called a prophetic film, as the director seemed to predict as early as 1983 how obsessed people would become with internet technology. Just look at the scene in which Max Renn walks through a room where homeless people in rooms are getting their own much-needed dose of cable-television.  
“Videodrome” revolves around cable television operator Max Renn who is constantly looking for even more challenging and controversial material. When his sidekick shows a recording of a video named Videodrome, Renn’s world view begins to rapidly shift. Terrible hallucinations plague his brain. Searching for the how and why of his physical decline, he discovers the programs of television guru Brian O’Blivion, who explains tat the show gave him a brain tumor. The evil Barry Convex begins programming Renn with live videos, which he inserts into his body. For Renn, who mutates into a killing machine, there seems to be no turning back.
After so many years, “Videodrome” is still disturbing, thought-provoking and at time particularly unpleasant viewing experience. And overall it’s a very weird movie. Director David Cronenberg devised a few iconic scenes that will leave very few viewers unmoved. The mutating bodies of Renn and Convex seem to be the consequences of the destructive power of VIdeodrom broadcast, which are meant to make weak America strong as the rest of the world gets tougher and tougher.
Even though it’s a creepy, weird and disturbing horror movie, the 80s vibe is a bit funny as well. But “Videodrome” has lost none of its power.

Rating: 3, 5/ 5

90s Movie Review - Hercules

Director: Ron Clements, John Musker
Genre: Adventure/ Animation/ Musical/ Family/ Fantasy
Runtime: 92 minutes
Year: 1997
Starring: Tate Donovan, Danny DeVito, James Woods, Bob Goldthwait, Rip Torn, Paul Shaffer, Hal Holbrook

Description: The son of Zeus and Hera is stripped of his immortality as an infant and must become a true hero in order to reclaim it.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2021 MOVIE CHALLENGE.
WEEK 17: A MUSICAL
 
Review: “Hercules”, in 1997, was on of the last films to fall within what is known as the Disney Renaissance. The Disney Renaissance was the period from 1989 to 1999 when Disney returned to making successful films based on well-known stories. In 1997 Disney came up not with a fairy tale, but with the Greek myth of Hercules.
It is a typical Disney film in which the story is completely different from what is actually is. In the Greek myth, Hercules is actually a baby from an extramarital relationship. Not so much a Disney theme. So, this film begins with the welcoming of Hercules into the family.
Everyone is happy about the birth of Hercules, except for Hades; the God of the underworld. Hades wants to seize power on Olympus, but he us afraid Hercules will interfere with these plans. To prevent this he sends his henchmen Pain and Panic in the middle of the night. They must make Hercules immortal and then kill him. They succeed in making him immortal, but fail in killing him.
We jump in time and see that Hercules has continued to grow up with the farm couple that found him as a baby. Because he cannot handle his own powers, everyone is afraid of Hercules. In fact, he is known as a big klutz who only brings back luck and breaks stuff. Hercules struggles, but after finding out he is the son of Zeus he is told he can regain his divinity when he proves that he is a true hero. Zeus sends Hercules to Phil, to train him to become a hero.
You don’t need any knowledge of Greek myths to watch this film. I think it’s best, because the story is anything but accurate and the “Disney-fied” the hell out of it. It’s a stunning film, with great songs, especially “Go the Distance”. Perhaps not one of Disney’s very best, but certainly entertaining.

Rating: 3,5/ 5