Public Enemies

Due to the hotness of my house and the coolness of a movie theater I decided to check out this also quite cool movie, Public Enemies, at the new Cinemark cinema in Barboursville.

I knew going in the movie would be over 2 hours long but it really didn't feel that way. The pace was good and covered a lot of different events, spending the right amount of time on each gun fight or escape but also allowing us to see a lot of character interaction. Depp and Bale looked comfortable in these roles and really bought the characters to life.

One downside for me was that Michael Mann assumes you actually know something about Dillinger. Which I really didn't. I knew some basics, but the movie starts off from the point that you knew a little about public opinion of him and the state of the country at the time as it doesn't go out of it's way to drive these home. At times this meant that I felt disconnected to Dillinger and really just rooted for Purvis trying to capture him.

A solid crime drama movie that recreated the 1930's beautifully but do your homework on Dillinger first (apparently Mann really went to town with his research particularly accented by the fact that the "woman in red" wears orange) and then you may enjoy the movie more.

Terminator Salvation Trailer!

Christian Bale: In his defence

If you have turned on your pseudo news recently you may have heard the story of Christian Bale and his angry outburst at a "colleague" on the set of the new Terminator movie. The whole thing happened some months back when the film was actually being shot and involved someone walking around during an important scene and obviously putting off the Dark Knight. It don't really see this as much of a story so perhaps it is an intentionally leak to promote the film early or just to get the bloggers talking and give "Showbiz tonight" something to talk about. Maybe it was simply "leaked" to show just how awful the media is these days (Exhibit A: the headline "Chrisitian Bale's Blowup Proves Actor's Anger Problem" from ABC news.) Proves he has an anger problem?? It sounds a bit like arguments I would use about twenty years ago on the playground.

From what I know about Bale, I know that he is a very serious, method actor. He totally immerses himself in his roles whether it's mastering regional dialects or losing excessive weight and so it doesn't really surprise me that he might become a little niffed when someone is distracting him during "work time". It's not as if he is hating on people, picking up hookers, or smoking illegal drugs.

3:10 to Yuma

I'm not much of a Western fan. Mainly due to the fact that I have seen very little and haven't really felt any need to see them. This may all change from now on after watching the excellent "3:10 to Yuma". I had a feeling it was going to be good when it had received 8.8 on imdb (always a good sign) but also because Christian Bale and Russell Crowe were in the movie. I don't mind Crowe's movies. He's had a couple of flops recently but "Yuma" showed some of his better acting abilities and was a much better fit. Bale is quickly becoming one of the best actors of this generation of movie stars. He is certainly versatile, (just look at The Machinist, American Psycho, Batman Begins, and The Prestige) and has an incredible talent to not only put on an American accent, but change that accent to suit the region/state he is supposed to be from. Both of these stars put in an excellent performance (dare I say, Oscar worthy?) which is helped due to a really effective and original storyline (although this IS a remake) played out in the Old West. This is a must for Western fans, Bale and Crowe fans and just anyone who wants to see one of the best films of the year so far. It made me jump, it made me laugh, I was on the edge of my seat literally for the last 30 minutes so be prepared for it all.