Eastern Promises was David Cronenberg’s follow-up to his critically acclaimed breakout directorial hit, 2005’s A History of Violence. A History of Violence was a bit overrated, and William Hurt receiving a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination for his ten minutes of screen time was a bit of a joke. However, Viggo Mortenson was terrific in his role in that movie, and his work in Eastern Promises is stellar.
Category Archives: 2007
The Nines (2007)
The Nines did nothing to convince me that Ryan Reynolds (The Proposal, The Amityville Horror) is the great actor many consider him to be. I’m still waiting on one Ryan Reynolds movie that I enjoy. I’m expecting I will enjoy The Green Lantern, but my enjoyment of this movie might be despite Ryan Reynolds and not because of him. I also suspect I will enjoy Buried when I watch it. I have heard good things about his performance in that movie. As for now, Ryan Reynolds did nothing in The Nines to improve my perception of him as a lead actor.
Tenderness (2007)
“My wife likes to say there are two kinds of people. Those who are chasing pleasure and those who are running from pain. Maybe she’s right. I don’t know. What I do know is this. Pleasure helps you forget. But pain, pain forces you to hope. You tell yourself this can’t last. Today could be different. Today, something just might change.”
This is what Russell Crowe’s (Gladiator, Cinderella Man) character (Lt. Cristofuoro) says at the end of John Polson’s 2007 drama Tenderness. It is an excellent quote that all of us can ponder and adapt to how we live our lives…Unfortunately, the quote makes you want to nap rather than consider this imaginably meaningful phrase as the movie concludes.
The Darjeeling Limited (2007)
In The Darjeeling Limited (2007), Francis Whitman (Owen Wilson – Marley & Me, Midnight in Paris) reunites with his brothers Peter (Adrien Brody – The Pianist, The Jacket) and Jack (Jason Schwartzman – I Heart Huckabees, Fantastic Mr. Fox) for the first time since their father’s funeral one year ago. The hope is that he can lead them on a quest for spiritual enlightenment as they embark on a train trip through India in hopes of finding their long-lost mother. If this plot + Owen Wilson as the lead actor already have you imagining how dumb this movie might be, keep the imagination rolling because you aren’t even close.
Into The Wild (2007)
The Sean Penn (The Crossing Guard, The Pledge) directed Into the Wild had all the promise of a movie that could have lived in the lives of high school students around the country for years to come. The novel of the same name, penned by Jon Krakauer, is part of the high school curriculum in many school systems around the country. The movie is rated R. I’ve seen it twice. Had a couple of scenes been toned down, the movie could have easily garnered a PG-13 rating, thus allowing it to be viewed in English class after reading the book. I don’t know if Penn thought about this when making the movie and, if he did, if he even cared. It is, however, food for thought.