00s Movie Review - Runaway Jury

Director: Gary Fleder
Genre: Crime/ Thriller/ Drama
Runtime: 127 minutes
Year: 2003
Starring: John Cusack, Rachel Weisz, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, Bruce Davison, Bruce McGill, Jeremy Piven, Cliff Curtis, Leland Orser, Jennifer beals, Bill Nunn, Luis Guzman, Nora Dunn, Dylan McDermott

Description: A juror on the inside (John Cusack) and a woman on the outside (Rachel Weisz) manipulate a court trial involving a major gun manufacturer.

Review: Rankin Fitch is a ruthless jury consultant who must select a jury for a revolutionary trial to ensure its verdict. He fears nothing or no one. One the trial begins, it turns out that the selection of one juror can cause problems. He finds himself in a situation that shows he doesn’t know his opponent as well as he initially thought after all.

The films starts with a gruesome shooting in an office that kills many people. We are then place two years later when it is revealed that the shooting caused a trial to now take place that should set a precedent. The wife of one of the men killed is suing the gun manufacturer because it caused guns to be easy to get.

On one side us the conscientious lawyer Wendell Rohr. On the other, the man who is one the side of the gun manufacturer and who actually ges paid for it if the trial is won: Rankin Fitch. His job is to make sure who gets on the jury, because justice in the USA is still left to juries, so it is important to know the people on the jury well. Fitch’s team takes this very seriously and also very far.

Both parties are given a list of names and files of all the people who were called for jury duty, for them to decide which of them will actually be on that jury. Fitch thinks that they got this one, but someone within the jury is there with a purpose.

It is based on a John Grisham novel, an author known for his court dramas. But “Runaway Jury” is one of my favorites and it’s not your standard court drama either. We get to experience how incredibly flawed the jury system is. This movie is about manipulation, corruption, extortion and so on. And even though this movie came out in the early 2000s, this film is still so topical.

“Runaway Jury” is a very strong crime thriller with some surprising twists throughout and a fantastic cast. A movie that is underrated if you ask me.

Rating: 4/ 5

80s Movie Review - Stand By Me

Director: Rob Reiner
Genre: Drama/ Adventure
Runtime: 89 minutes
Year: 1986
Starring: Will Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O’Connell, Kiefer Sutherland, John Cusack, Richard Dreyfuss

Description: After the death of a friend, a writer recounts a boyhood journey to find the body of a missing boy.

Review: The name Stephen King is easily linked to horror stories like “The Shining”, “It” and “Carrie”, but he also wrote some stories that fall in a different genre than horror. The movie  “Stand By Me” is one of them, which is based on the short story “The Body”. In this realistic drama we follow four teenagers in a coming of age story.
Those four boys are Gordie, Chris, Teddy and Vern. They grow up in a little town in Oregon. In the summer of 1958 a boy from their town goes missing. One of the boys overhears a conversation about the whereabouts of the dead body of the boy. The four kids decided to start a journey to find him. Their journey is more than just that, it’s testing their friendship and it’s the next step to adulthood.
Director Rob Reiner creates the perfect atmosphere and shows us the life of small-town American kids in the 50s. This movie makes you long for your own childhood, where a journey outside your town sounded like an adventure already.
River Phoenix, who unfortunately died too young, is the most impressive actor in the film. He manages to convince us as the tormented problem child. But also Will Wheaton, Corey Feldman and Jerry O’Connell manage to impress. It’s touching to see how all these very different characters grow on you.
Simple dialogue, a beautiful story and good acting make “Stand By Me” a fantastic film. It’s on my favorites list.

Rating: 5/ 5

00s Movie Review - High Fidelity

Director: Stephen Frears
Genre: Drama/ Comedy/ Romance
Runtime: 109 minutes
Year: 2000
Starring: John Cusack, Jack Black, Iben Hjelje, Joan Cusack, Lodd Louiso, Lisa Bonet, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Tim Robbins, Lili Taylor, Sara Gilbert

Description: Rob (John Cusack), a record store owner and compulsive list maker, recounts his top five breakups, including the one in progress.

Review: Everyone who grew up in the eighties, early nighties, recognizes something in Rob Gordon and his store Championship Vinyl. Rob is a 30-something guy, dresses okay, pays his bills, has a good education but is also a little stuck in life. And he is especially crazy about music, all sorts, preferably vinyl or cassette tape. Rob doesn’t care about his career, he rather works with his friends. Of all the important things that happen in his life, he makes top five lists. You might call it juvenile, but it can also be called authentic.
“High Fidelity” is the adaptation of the book by the British author Nick Hornby. The record store moves from North London (book) to Chicago (movie), but that’s not a problem.
John Cusack plays Rob Gordon. I’ve always had a thing for Cusack and I think this is the movie that it all began with. Rob is a sympathetic guy, he doesn’t really do a lot of useful stuff but you like him anyway. Rob just does what he likes to do. The fun thing about “High Fidelity” is that Rob breaks the fourth wall. He talks to the camera, to us viewers, making us a part of his story. Rob is in the middle of a break up with Laura and through flashbacks we see that it’s probably his fault it ended. John Cusack is perfect as Rob, who here portrays one of my favorite male movie characters. Jack Black is fun as Barry, an exhibitionist music freak who wants to be in the music business himself.
“High Fidelity” finds a good balance between humor and drama, but is mostly carried by the music and the meaning of it in the character’s lives. I think it’s an underappreciated movie, more people should love it. As Rob, I’m an avid top 5 list maker and “High Fidelity” is definitely in my top 5 of all-time favorite movies!

Rating: 5/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2017 - # 51: Love & Mercy

Director: Bill Pohlad
Genre: Drama/ Music
Runtime: 121 minutes
Year: 2014
Starring: John Cusack, Paul Dano, Elizabeth Banks, Paul Giamatti, Bill Camp

Description: In the 1960s, Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson (John Cusack/ Paul Dano) struggles with emerging psychosis as he attempts to craft his avant-garde pop masterpiece. In the 1980s, he is a broken, confused man under the 24-hour watch of shady therapist Dr. Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti).

Review: When you hear music from The Beach Boys you think of a few things: sun, sand, beach, happy guys and songs about surf girls. But this biopic about Brian Wilson, the leader of the band, is way deeper, touching and complex as the songs sound. The Beach Boys was one of the most successful bands in America. The film doesn’t follow the start of the band, but right in the middle of their success. As a young man in the sixties, Brian Wilson is a musical genius that rather stays in the studio to create new music than to go on tour with his brothers to Japan. They don’t understand Brian’s fascination and obsession with the weird sounds he adds to the songs, but leave him be. In the eighties Brian meets car salesman Melinda, who finds out that Brian has been heavily medicated by his psychiatrist. She decides to help Brian.
The film follows two storylines: the young Brian Wilson in the sixties and an older struggling Wilson in the eighties. This works like a charm. The first story is seen through the eyes of Brian and the other story we see through Brian’s second wife Melinda Ledbetter. Director Bill Pohlad takes us on a journey through the painful, tough life of Brian Wilson. We learn that his father beat him and that it even made him practically deaf in one ear. And that he is left with mental problems.
Paul Dano is really good as the young Brian Wilson. And I really loved Elizabeth Banks as Melinda. Paul Giamatti really shines in his more villainous role as Gene Landry. But the star of the show is John Cusack. I’ve always been a fan of him and he is one of my favorite actors. I simply can’t understand how Cusack has never won an Academy Awards, because his performance in “Love & Mercy” is definitely Oscar worthy.
Although the film focusses on Brian’s life, the musical part of the film is also clearly present. We see how some songs were born and how there were doubts at first, but they eventually turned out to be successful hits.
I really loved this movie, because I really like the music. But I didn’t know this about Brian Wilson, what a tough life he had. Pohland created a touching and intriguing story about musical talent Brian Wilson. And it hits your nerves.

Rating: 4,5/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2017 - # 5: Anastasia

Director: Don Bluth, Gary Goldman
Genre: Animation/ Drama/ Musical/ Adventure
Runtime: 94 minutes
Year: 1997
Starring: Meg Ryan, John Cusack, Angela Lansbury, Christopher Lloyd, Hank Azaria, Kirsten Dunst

Description: The last surviving child of the Russian Royal Family joins two con men to reunite with her grandmother, the Dowager Empress, while the undead Rasputin seeks her death.

Review: The Romanov family flees during their royal celebration, when they are being cursed by counsel man Grigori Rasputin. Short before he predicts that the entire Romanov family will die within two week, the Russian revolution starts. The 8 year old Anastasia and her grandmother manage to escape, but get separated. Years later, Anastasia leaves an orphanage, with no memory of the past, trying to find out where to go.
The film is inspired by the real life story of the Romanov family and their missing daughter Anastasia. The animation is beautiful and the songs have depth. I really liked Anastasia as a character, but also Dimitri. The villain is a bit flat, we don’t really get to know much about him. Which makes him less scary than intended.
The story also has depth and the ending is not typically Disney. “Anastasia” is a overlooked and underrated Disney animation. One Disney princess they always forget about.

Rating: 4/ 5

Marry, Kiss, Cliff - Round 13

Round 13: James Bond (“Bond”-series), Jonathan Trager (“Serendipity”) and Dutch (“Predator”)

Marry: I would definitely marry Jonathan Trager. The things he does to find the love of his life, that’s just amazing.

Kiss: I choose muscles, I would go for Dutch! He’s the real deal when it comes to tough guys. And he also has some cool one-liners.

Cliff: I’m sorry James, but you’re going down. He’s actually a male slut and technically he’s also an alcoholic. He drinks way to much martinis. And when I push him off a cliff, he would probably survive in some mysterious way. With flying shoes or a parachute up his sleeve.

100 Movie Challenge 2015 - # 165: Sixteen Candles

Director: John Hughes

Genre: Drama/ Comedy/ Romance

Runtime: 93 minutes

Year: 1984

Starring: Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Michael Schoeffling, Joan Cusack, John Cusack

Description: A young girl's (Molly Ringwald) "sweet sixteenth" birthday becomes anything but special as she suffers from every embarrassment possible.

Review: Samantha Baker only wants a few things for her sixteenth birthday: a big party, a car and a boyfriend. She gets nothing instead, because her parents completely forget about her birthday. This all because of her older sister’s wedding. Sam is about to have the worst day of her life, so she says.

“Sixteen Candles” is filled with all the teenage suffering. Small boobs, braces, parents that don’t understand you, first loves. The movie is pretty predictable. Don’t expect Oscar worthy performances or very original jokes.

Eventhough it’s not the most original film, “Sixteen Candles” is a teen comedy that I really enjoyed and an ultimate ‘80s film.

Rating: 3/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2015 - # 90: Maps to the Stars

Director: David Cronenberg

Genre: Drama

Runtime: 111 minutes

Year: 2014

Starring: Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, John Cusack, Robert Pattinson, Olivia Williams, Sarah Gadon, Carrie Fisher

Description: A tour into the heart of a Hollywood family chasing celebrity, one another and the relentless ghosts of their pasts.

Review: They may be loved by the audience, but the life of a movie star isn’t all that glamourous as you might think. Classics like “All About Eve” and “Sunset Boulevard” showed us this and also “Mulholland Drive”. Director David Cronenberg gives us an insight on the life of film stars, in his very own way. Dark with a little satire.

Croneneberg’s movie, which was selected in Cannes, looks like a dark comedy. It’s a movie that shows us the ideal Hollywood life, which is not that perfect at all. The base is a serious drama, but it’s filled with irony.

The characters that are introduced in the first half hour of “Maps of the Stars” seem to have nothing to do with each other in the first place. Along the way the characters intertwine and we see that they all try to use or take advantage of the other. They all want to keep their status and their glory days are already behind them.

Julianne Moore plays a great role as Havana Segrand, a maniacal actress who still thinks she is one of the best in Hollywood. Moore has a strong opponent in Mia Wasikowska, who plays a film fan with a dark past. John Cusack, who is one of my favorites, doesn’t get enough to do. He has great moments, but his role is simply too small. The role of child star Benji is a bit too much of a caricature instead of an actual person. Robert Pattinson’s role is practically useless.

The Hollywood in “Maps to the Stars” is a nasty, rotten place filled with shameless and egocentric people. I didn’t like the movie very much and it’s really hard to explain why. It was a strange film, unpleasant to watch. Not bad, but not a movie I will ever rewatch either.

Rating: 2,5/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2015 - # 38: The Ice Harvest

Director: Harold Ramis

Genre: Comedy/ Crime/ Thriller

Runtime: 92 minutes

Year: 2005

Starring: John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, Connie Nielsen, Ned Bellamy, Mike Starr, Oliver Platt

Description: A shady lawyer (John Cusack) attempts a Christmas Eve crime, hoping to swindle the local mob out of some money. But his partner (Billy Bob Thornton), a strip club owner, might have different plans for the cash.

Review: Christmas Eve is a traditional, cozy night where you spend time with your family and loved ones. In “The Ice Harvest” it’s not that idyllic. Because like they say in the movie: “Only morons are nice on Christmas”.

Lawyer Charlie and partner Vic stole money from Charlie’s boss. Before they can run away, they have a few hours to kill. They want to act as normal as possible, but off course that doesn’t happen. A man called Roy, a hitman working for Charlie’s boss, is looking for the two men. When it comes to money, you can’t trust anyone. Vic isn’t planning on sharing the money with Charlie.

One of the first things you notice in “The Ice Harvest”, is the film-noir style. Especially in the character of Renata, Charlie’s love interest. Renata is an old school femme fatale. The dialogues in the movie are very good, only a shame that the story develops slowly.

“The Ice Harvest” is a dark comedy. John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton are perfect for this genre. Cusack is the one you sympathize with and Thornton is, as always, a little bit weird. Their collaboration is surprising and fun.

“The Ice Harvest” is an anti-Christmas movie, with great humor and a good cast. Great for the fans of film-noir movies and dark humor.

Rating: 4/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2015 - # 26: Grosse Pointe Blank

Director: George Armitage

Genre: Comedy/ Crime/ Romance

Runtime: 113 minutes

Year: 1997

Starring: John Cusack, Minnie Driver, Alan Arkin, Dan Aykroyd, Joan Cusack, Hank Azaria, Jeremy Piven, Michael Cudlitz

Description: Martin Blank (John Cusack) is a professional assassin. He is sent on a mission to a small Detroit suburb, Grosse Pointe, and, by coincidence, his ten-year high school reunion party is taking place there at the same time.

 

Review: How do you survive a high school reunion, when everyone wants to know how you turned out, if you’re a cold blooded assassin who’s struggling with himself. “Grosse Pointe Blank” is carried by John Cusack, who is perfect for these sort of films. It’s a mix of slapstick and tragic comedy.

The base of the story is Martin Blank’s hesitance for going back to his home town Grosse Pointe. Martin has to face the life he once ran away from. He has to face his mother, his former girlfriend Debi and the feds who are tailing him. The romantic storyline between Cusack’s character and Minnie Driver’s is anything but cliché and sweet. Driver manages to easily keep up with Cusack.

“Grosse Pointe Blank” is a unleashed comedy with good writing and great comedic performances. That’s why I love John Cusack!

Rating: 4/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 45: The Butler

Director: Lee Daniels
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 132 minutes
Year: 2013
Starring: Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, John Cusack, Robin Williams, Alan Rickman, James Marsden, Vanessa Redgrave, Terrence Howard, Cuba Goodingg Jr., Lenny Kravitz, Liev Schreiber, Jane Fonda

Description: As Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker) serves eight presidents during his tenure as a butler at the White House, the civil rights movement, Vietnam, and other major events affect this man's life, family, and American society.

Review: The story of “The Butler” is inspired by real-life butler Eugene Allen, who worked at the White House for 34 years. Here the main character is called Cecil Gaines. We see how he goes from working the cotton fields with his parents to being a butler in the White House.
Director Lee Daniels wanted to make a film about the position of Afro Americans in their battle for equality. It looks promising, but Daniels bit off more than he could chew. He is known for his heavy themes, like the film “Precious”. There it works a bit better, because he focused on the life of one girl. “The Butler” is set in a timespan of almost 90 years. He simply doesn’t have enough time for that, so his story is a bit lost.
Forest Whitaker does his task. His performance is solid and convincing and it’s better than the movie itself. Oprah Winfrey probably gave her all, but she doesn’t bring it. David Oyelowo, who played Cecil’s son, did a fantastic job. The rest of the cast is hard to judge, because they simply don’t get the room to exploit.
I understand where Lee Daniels was going with this film and the result is definitely not bad, because I enjoyed watching “The Butler”, but I think this project was too ambitious.

Rating: 3/ 5

Quotables: "Stand By Me"

One of my favorites. A good coming of age story, that I can actually watch over and over again. It’s just a great story, filled with quotable lines.







Chris: How do you know if a Frenchman has been in your backyard?
Teddy: Hey, I'm French, okay?
Chris: Your garbage cans are empty and your dog's pregnant.
[Chris and Gordie laugh]
Teddy: Didn't I just say I was French?

Gordie: Suck my fat one, you cheap dime store hood.

Vern: [after dropping his hamburger in the campfire by accident] This isn't funny! What am I supposed to eat?
Teddy: You could cook your dick.
Chris: It'd be a small meal.

Chris: I'm never gonna get out of this town am I, Gordie?
Gordie: You can do anything you want, man.
Chris: Yeah, sure. Give me some skin.
Gordie: I'll see ya.
Chris: Not if I see you first.

The Writer: It happens sometimes. Friends come in and out of our lives, like busboys in a restaurant.

Vern: You think Mighty Mouse could beat up Superman?
Teddy: What are you cracked?
Vern: Why not? I saw the other day, he was carrying 5 elephants in one hand.
Teddy: Boy, you don't know nothin', Mighty Mouse is a cartoon, Superman is a real guy, no way a cartoon could beat up a real guy.
Vern: Yeah, maybe you're right... would be a good fight though!

The Writer: At the beginning of the school year, Vern had buried a quart jar of pennies underneath his house. He drew a treasure map so he could find them again. A week later, his mom cleaned out his room and threw away the map. Vern had been trying to find those pennies for nine months. Nine months, man. You didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

The Writer: The freight woke up the other guys and it was on the tip of my tongue to tell them about the deer. But I didn't. That was the one thing I kept to myself. I've never spoken or written about it until just now.

Movie Moments: "Stand By Me"

"Stand By Me" is one of my favorite movies of all-time. People who follow my blog know this. Although the movie is only around 90 minutes long, it has plenty of great scenes. Here they are.

Moment # 1: Verne tells his friends about Ray
Chris, Gordie and Teddy are talking and playing cards in their treehouse. Verne wants to enter, but doesn’t remember the secret knock anymore. They let him in anyway. While still teasing Verne, he tells his friends about the dead body of Ray Brower. They decide to go on a fieldtrip and find the body.

Moment # 2: Danny gives Gordie the hat
When Gordie is at home, getting all his stuff together for the trip, he has to find his cantine. He goes into his brother Danny’s room, who recently past away. He starts to think about the moment when Danny gave him the New York Yankees cap.

Moment # 3: It’s loaded
When Gordie and Chris meet up for their trip, Chris shows him what he brought: a gun. Gordie starts playing with it and Chris tells him it isn’t loaded. When he points at a mark and wants to fire, they find out it is loaded and they run away.

Moment # 4: Dodging the train
When the boys are walking, they hear a train coming. Verne, Chris and Gordie get off the train rails, but Teddy doesn’t. He decides to dodge the train. He wants to wait untill the last moment to get off the rails.

Moment # 5: Gordie and Chris race each other
The boys climb over a fence and they want to take a break. Gordie and Chris decide to race each other. When they stop and Chris wins, they look at each other and smile, the look of true friendship.

Moment # 6: “Shut Up!”
The boys are hungry and one of them needs to gets something to eat. They flip coins and Gordie is the lucky one. Verne, Teddy and Chris start making fun of him and Gordie tells them to shut up. The other three respond: I don't shut up. I grow up. And when I look at you, I throw up. Aghhh!

Moment # 7: Chopper
When Gordie returns with the food and drinks, he sees his friends climbing over the fence. Than he sees the owner of the property and he releases his dog Chopper. All he hears is “Chopper, sic balls”. When he’s on the other side of the fence, the boys see Chopper’s true identity and he doesn’t look like an evil dog at all.

Moment # 8: “TRAIN!”
In order to get to the other side, the boys decide to take the bridge which has a railroad. While walking, Gordie looks behind and sees smoke. A train is coming and they have to start running to make it to the other side. Chris and Teddy are already there, but Verne and Gordie still have a long way to go. Verne is affraid that he is going to fall, but Gordie makes sure he starts running too.

Moment # 9: Campfire talk
The four friends make a campfire and start all sorts of discussions. Like what animal Goofy is, which food they could eat for the rest of their lives and Wagon Train. Especially the Goofy discussion is a hot topic.

Moment # 10: Gordie’s story
Still around the campfire, Gordie tells his friends a story he wrote. It’s about a fat boy, nicknamed Lard Ass, who enters a pie eating competition and takes revenge on all the people who always make fun of him.

Moment # 11: Gordie and Chris share a moment
While Verne and Teddy are sleeping, Chris and Gordie sit down and talk. Chris talks about his father and gets really emotional. Gordie comforts him. Than Chris tell Gordie that he will be a great writer someday and he might wright about them.

Moment # 12: Leeches
The boys have to cross a swamp to get on the other side. They start fooling around, but when they get out teddy sees something in Verne’s neck. They’re all covered in leeches. When they think they got rid of them all, Gordie checks his undies and than faints.

Moment # 13: They find the body
After a long trip, the guys finally find what they where looking for: the body of Ray Brower. They look at it and decide what to do next. Ace and his friends join them, because they knew about Gordie, Verne, Teddy and Chris trying to find Ray. He starts threatening the boys, but than Gordie pulls out the gun. Ace and his buddies leave.

Moment # 14: Goodbye
The boys return from their trip and say goodbye. They leave and they all go to their own lives again. The voice-over, who’s a grown up Gordie, tells us what happened to his friends. Like Chris, who became a lawyer and was stabbed and died instantly. His closing lines are: “I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone? “

Favorite Moment: Moment # 11: Gordie and Chris share a moment

In the Picture: The Characters from "Stand By Me"

A new item! I wanted to do some sort of an analysis of characters in a movie. Going deeper, trying to find out who they are and what they are like. I'll pick one movie and I sort of put a magnifier over the leading characters. I will start with one of my favorite movies of all-time: "Stand By Me".

Gordie Lachance
Played by: Will Wheaton
Gordie is the sensitive boy in the group, but also the one with the best looking future due to his writing talent. His parents, especially Gordie's father, doesn't really care much for him or his storytelling. Gordie is a loyal friend, he's best friends with Chris. He's is the most mature one of the foursome.

Chris Chambers
Played by: River Phoenix
He takes over the leader role. He is a tough kid, mainly because of his background and family history. He comes from a family of criminals and drunks. He wants to do better for himself and actually has ambitions. He doesn't trust adults, because of his father and older brother who beat him up. Chris is, despite of his tough act, a good kid with the best intentions.

Teddy Duchamp
Played by: Corey Feldman
Teddy is a troubled boy. He is a bit eccentric and likes thrills, like dodging a train. Although his father never treated him well, he still idolizes him and sees him as his hero, because he stormed the beach at Normandy. His dad caused him bad vision and hearing. Teddy is a bit crazy but also has a good heart.

Vern Tessio
Played by: Jerry O'Connell
Vern is often picked on. His friends even mess with him, because he is so easy to get to, and he's used to it. He's overweight, scared easily and timid, thus an easy target for his buddies. He's also the youngest in the group. Vern is not a very brave boy, but he's a kind, big hearted and loveable friend.

Ace Merril
Played by: Kiefer Sutherland
Ace is the leader of a local gang called 'The Cobras', someone you don't want to mess with. Everyone is affraid of him and he isn't affraid to use violence.

Denny Lachance
Played by: John Cusack
Not one of the leading characters, but worth putting up here. Denny is Gordie's older brother who died in a car accident. He was the favorite of the family and the only one who actually cared for Gordie and he saw what talent his little brother had. Their father thought Gordie should've died and not Denny.

My favorite character: Vern Tessio

Drawing Cusack

It was such lovely weather yesterday, that I decided to pick up my pencil and sketchbook again. I choose to draw John Cusack, multiple times, from the "High Fidelity" DVD cover. I wasn't happy at first, but now I am. The bottom two pictures of him are the better ones. I decides to draw more, I love it. It's relaxing and stimulating. It's perfect therapy when your experiencing stress or tension. Drawing (famous) people or animals, that's my favourite subject. It's always hard to start a drawing, but when you're at it, it just goes with the flow. Give it a try....

Movie Tip #15 - High Fidelity

Director: Stephen Frears

Starring: John Cusack, Jack Black, Tim Robbins, Joan Cusack, Iben Hjelje, Lisa Bonet, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Lili Taylor

Description: High Fidelity follows the 'mid-life' crisis of Rob (John Cusack), a thirty-something record-store owner who must face the undeniable facts - he's growing up. In a hilarious homage to the music scene, Rob and the wacky, offbeat clerks that inhabit his store expound on the intricacies of life and song all the while trying to succeed in their adult relationships. Are they listening to pop music because they are miserable? Or are they miserable because they listen to pop music? This romantic comedy provides a whimsical glimpse into the male view of the affairs of the heart.

Review: It's one of my favourite movies. It's known for it's strong dialogues and monologues and his extravagant characters. The story is very simple and to the point, but the way it is brought to us is phenomenal. John Cusack plays a wonderfull role (also one of my favourite movie characters) and Jack Black is hilarious in his own way. I like the music in the film and how the guys talk about it. And Rob makes top fives for everything, that's just great. BTW this movie is based on a book written by Nick Hornby. This story is a little different, but also worthed.

Movie Tip #12 - Stand By Me

Director: Rob Reiner

Starring: Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell, Kiefer Sutherland, John Cusack, Richard Dreyfuss

Description: 4 young friends set out on an adventure. Gordie, Chris, Teddy and Vern go looking for the missing body of a local teenager - found by a gang of older boys. A story of boys hangin' out and growin' up.

Review: This movie shows us about real friendship. It's based on a short story by Stephen King. Young as they are, they explore life and they test their friendship. Four different kids, an odd group, but you come to like every single one of them. It's heartwarming, sad, touching and funny. One thing made me think. At the end of the movie, the grown up Gordie tells us: "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?" And really... I think he's right.