Posts Tagged ‘George Clooney’

Ticket to Paradise

Director: Ol Parker

Cast: George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Kaitlyn Dever, Maxime Bouttier, Romy Poulier, Lucas Bravo, Billie Lourd

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

UIP Film Preview Release as seen at Suncoast Cinemas

Running Time: 1 hour 44 minutes

Oscar winners George Clooney (Syriana) and Julia Roberts (Erin Brockovich) unite for a romantic comedy Ticket to Paradise directed by Ol Parker (Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again) who play a high powered divorced couple David and Georgina Cotton who against their will have travel to Bali when their only daughter Lily falls in love with a handsome local boy Gede played by French Indonesian actor Maxime Bouttier. Carrie Fisher’s daughter Billie Lourd plays Lily’s hapless friend Wren Butler.

The laughs start on the plane ride to Bali when David discovers that his ex-wife is having an affair with the gorgeous but dorky airline pilot Captain Paul played by Emily in Paris star Lucas Bravo. As the divorced couple get to Bali and meet Lily and Gede, they hatch a rather selfish plan to prevent the wedding at all costs, fearing that they will lose the only connection they have to each other: their beautiful headstrong daughter.

Lily is wonderfully played by Booksmart star Kaitlyn Dever who holds her own in the scenes with these two veteran film stars as onscreen parents as she tries to navigate around her parents complicated marital history.

While many of the Balinese customs are subtly introduced into the film, director Ol Parker makes full use of the exotic and vibrant location of Bali, Indonesia. Ticket to Paradise really focuses on the complex relationship between the parents, both superbly played by George Clooney and Julia Roberts who are no strangers to romantic comedy. In fact Julia Roberts become famous with the biggest romantic comedy of all time Pretty Woman back in 1990.

Sexy silver fox star of TV and film, George Clooney who really makes this film is also no stranger to romantic comedies having appeared in Intolerable Cruelty opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones in 2003 and in One Fine Day opposite Michelle Pfeiffer in 1996. George Clooney is particular good as the over-protective but goofy father in Ticket to Paradise.

Ticket to Paradise is a witty, vibrant and exotic romantic comedy set in Bali about finding first love and old love rekindled, a light-hearted story which should not be taken too seriously with all four stars acting on point while Lucas Bravo provides the laughs as the really out of sync but dashing airline pilot who seems to always turn up in that awkward moment at a Balinese villa.

There are lots of bitter innuendo’s, emotional heartbreak and eventual family bonding, but if audiences feel like a light and colourful film, then book your Ticket to Paradise now – you won’t be disappointed.

Ticket to Paradise gets a film rating of 7 out of 10 and is worth seeing. Recommended viewing.

2016 Berlin International

Film Festival Winners

The 66th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 11th to the 21st February, 2016

The Berlin International Film Festival known as the Berlinale takes places annually in February and is regarded as one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world.

Opening Night Film: Hail, Caesar! directed by Joel and Ethan Coen starring Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Tilda Swinton, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill, Scarlett Johansson, Frances McDormand and Channing Tatum

Golden Bear for Best Film:  Fire at Sea  by Gianfranco Rosi

Silver Bear for Best Director:  Mia Hansen-Løve for Things to Come

Silver Bear for Best Actor:  Majd Mastoura for Hedi

Silver Bear for Best Actress:  Trine Dyrholm for The Commune

Silver Bear for Best Script: Tomasz Wasilewski for United States of Love

Money Monster

Director: Jodie Foster

Cast: Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Jack O’Connell, Dominic West, Caitriona Balfe, Giancarlo Esposito, Christopher Denham

Young British actor Jack O’Connell certainly seems to be handpicked by Oscar winner female actresses turned directors to star in their films. First it was O’Connell’s brilliant portrayal of Olympic athlete Louis Zamperini turned prisoner of war in the World War two epic Unbroken directed by Angelina Jolie and now he is cast as the disgruntled young investor Kyle Budwell in Jodie Foster’s live action hostage drama, Money Monster set on Wall Street, New York city.

Echoing a similar vibe to the brilliant Spike Lee film, Inside Man, in which Jodie Foster starred, Money Monster is a gripping tale of TV show which is taken hostage by the unhinged yet scared Budwell, who holds the show’s vain TV host Lee Gates hostage. Gates is wonderfully played by Oscar winner George Clooney (Syriana) who literally has to put his life in the hands of the Money Monster show producer Patty Fenn, a sharp and sassy performance by Oscar winner Julia Roberts.

The fact that Money Monster has Julia Roberts and George Clooney as the two main leads is testament to the film’s star power yet rising star Jack O’Connell holds his own as the desperate and slightly idiotic Budwell who has literally bitten off more than he can chew, when he creates a live hostage drama so that the show, Money Monster can ascertain the real truth behind an investment company Ibis mysteriously losing $800 million which is initially blamed on a glitch due to a trading algorithm.

As Money Monster develops, it soon emerges, that the slimy CEO of the murky multi-national Ibis, Walt Camby wonderfully played by Dominic West, last seen in the brilliant series The Affair, has done some dodgy stock manipulation as well as orchestrating some labour unrest at a platinum mine in South Africa. No surprise there.

Money Monster is a taut, watchable thriller and whilst the plot is at times contrived, it is a fascinating indictment on the power of broadcast media especially in the public’s hunger to witness a dramatic spectacle unfold, made more pertinent as the conflict being televised relates to the incomprehensible world of international high finance, where a chosen few are entrusted with the financial futures of millions of shareholders in these precarious economic times.

As a director Jodie Foster highlights the immediacy of Live Television while skilfully blending in the less than glamorous, but flawed characters behind the scenes which generate such flashy media content. Clooney and Roberts are particularly well cast as TV host and producer while O’Connell once again demonstrates that his star is on the rise.

Money Monster is highly recommended viewing, extremely watchable, unpredictable and very entertaining.

69th Golden Globe Awards

Took place on Sunday 15th January 2012 hosted by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Golden Globe Winners in The Film Categories:

Best Film Drama: The Descendants

Best Film Musical or Comedy : The Artist

Best Actor Drama: George Clooney – The Descendants

Best Actress Drama: Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady

Best Actor Musical or Comedy: Jean Dujardin – The Artist

Best Actress Musical or Comedy: Michelle Williams – My Week with Marilyn

Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer – Beginners

Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer – The Help

Best Director: Martin Scorsese – Hugo

Best Foreign Language Film: A Separation (Iran)

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/69th_Golden_Globe_Awards

63rd Golden Globe Awards

Took place on Sunday  16th January 2006 hosted by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Golden Globe Winners in The Film Categories:

Best Film Drama: Brokeback Mountain

Best Film Musical or Comedy: Walk the Line

Best Actor Drama: Philip Seymour Hoffman – Capote

Best Actress Drama: Felicity Huffman – TransAmerica
Best Actor Musical or Comedy: Joaquin Phoenix – Walk the Line
Best Actress Musical or Comedy: Reese Witherspoon – Walk the Line

Best Supporting Actor: George Clooney – Syriana

Best Supporting Actress :Rachel Weisz – The Constant Gardener
Best Director: Ang Lee – Brokeback Mountain

Best Foreign Language Film: Paradise Now (Palestine)

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/63rd_Golden_Globe_Awards

The 58th Golden Globe Awards

Took place on Sunday 21st January 2001 by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Golden Globe Winners in The Film Categories:

Best Film Drama: Gladiator

Best Actor Drama: Tom Hanks – Cast Away

Best Actress Drama: Julia Roberts – Erin Brockovich

Best Director: Ang Lee – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Best Supporting Actor – Benicio del Toro – Traffic

Best Supporting Actress – Kate Hudson – Almost Famous

Best Film Musical/Comedy: Almost Famous

Best Actor Musical/ Comedy: George Clooney – O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Best Actress Musical / Comedy – Renee Zellweger – Nurse Betty

Best Foreign Language Film – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Taiwan)

The Monuments Men

Director: George Clooney

Starring: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, John Goodman, Bob Balaban, Bill Murray, Jean Dujardin, Hugh Bonneville, Sam Hazeldine

Actor and director George Clooney and screenwriter Grant Heslov, the team behind The Men Who Stare at Goats and Good Night and Good Luck, team up for an old-fashioned historical war film about a middle aged group of men who set out during the latter years of World War II to recover most of the stolen art works secretly stashed in Nazi hordes across France, Belgium and parts of Germany from 1943 to 1945 as the Germans retreated in defeat as the tide of war turned against them. Whilst The Monuments Men boasts an all star cast including Bill Murray, Jean Dujardin (from The Artist), John Goodman and Matt Damon, the film doesn’t quite match up to the incisive political comment of the Oscar winning Good Night and Good Luck about the approaching threat of McCarthyism on broadcast journalists in the 1950’s.

Instead, Heslov and Clooney focus more on the after effects of war and looting and the utter destruction of entire communities, mainly the European Jews at the hands of the ruthless Nazi’s during the holocaust. There are moments of humour interjected in a mainly historical narrative about how these men travelled across the European Theatres of War from Paris to Brugge to Normandy to track down the hugely valuable and culturally significant pieces of art works stolen by the Nazi’s from Rembrandts to Michelangelo’s famed sculpture Madonna and child stolen from a Belgium monastery.

There is a brief interlude with Damon  as Captain James Granger teaming up with a French Resistance woman in Paris forced to work for the Nazi’s Claire Simone played by Cate Blanchett, with an indistinguishable European accent. There is the witty banter between Richard Campbell and Preston Savitz played respectively by Bill Murray and Bob Balaban and then there is a wonderful cameo by Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey) as Donald Jeffries a British Lieutenant who sobers up to join the Monuments Men to save his famed Madonna.

Whilst at times The Monuments Men comes across as sentimental and nostalgic, it’s because its focusing more on the saving of priceless art than on the horrors of conflict and the utter destruction of parts of Europe. This film is in no league to such Oscar winners as Saving Private Ryan or Anthony Minghella’s elegant The English Patient. Instead The Monuments Men shines light on the aspect of war which is often neglected the looting of treasures by the conqueror over the defeated and the crazy scheme of Hitler’s 3^rd Reich to build a Fuhrer Art Museum in Berlin, which naturally never materialized. If anyone has been to the great art museums of London, Amsterdam, Paris or New York, many viewers will know that much of the greatest artworks was saved and restored to their original glory.

For art historians, The Monuments Men is a delightful and fascinating film, but for lovers of War films, don’t expect loads of action or bloodshed, just lots of barbed humour and the occasional tragic scene as this band of merry men navigate through dangerous battlefields to reclaim the original treasures of war. Recommended for lovers of nostalgic war films.

Gravity

Director: Alfonso Cuaron

Cast: George Clooney, Sandra Bullock, Ed Harris

If brevity is the soul of wit, then gravity is the point of origin. Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron’s fascinating space disaster film Gravity is brief, sublime and an inspiring cinematic message to protect and appreciate the Earth. Cuaron’s impressive filmography includes Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Children of Men and the 1998 version of Great Expectations.

Unlike his friend fellow Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro, Cuaron’s elegant space adventure avoids the clunky spectacle of Pacific Rim, but retains the awe setting almost the entire ninety minutes of Gravity in space, with superb sound effects and brilliant visuals.

Director Alfonso Cuaron emphasizes not just the physical weightlessness of space, but also the terrifying silence and infinity balanced by a deep visual appreciation of Planet Earth retaining all the emotional resonance as seen through the eyes of two astronauts medical engineer Ryan Stone (played against type by Oscar Winner Sandra Bullock) and the smooth talking Matt Kowalsky (naturally played by Oscar winner George Clooney).

Houston we do have a problem as American astronauts Stone and Kowalsky have to deal with being stranded in space after debris from a Russian satellite hits their NASA space ship near the international space station.

Space, the gravitational pull of the earth and the will to survive are just as much featured characters as these two stranded astronauts grapple with an escape plan to return to Mother Earth. Cuaron deliberately avoids the sophisticated social dichotomy of rich and poor so gorgeously illustrated in Neil Blomkamp’s Elysium providing no counterpoint to Stone and Kowalski’s space adventure except the enduring will of the human spirit to survive at all costs.

Gravity is really a 3D visual spectacle with an ambient score by Steven Price and beautiful groundbreaking cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki to tell a very simple story of the emotional and physical impact of human beings stranded in space. For viewers suffering from vertigo or dizziness, Gravity is not for you, as Cuaron’s direction makes the viewer feel that they are in space throughout the film, an astounding and groundbreaking visual trick, helped by strong performances by Hollywood A Listers’ Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.

Images of Engineer Stone in Gravity pay homage to Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and the central female character with a man’s name becomes an allegorical symbol of all mankind seemingly helpless against the celestial powers, not to mention Mother Nature’s central gravitational pull. Gravity is inspiring, underwritten yet beautifully shot.

Fans of Moon and 2001: A Space Odyssey will find Gravity spell bounding. See Gravity in 3D to experience the visual and digital impact otherwise not at all.

78th Academy Awards

5th March 2006

Oscar Winners at the 78th Academy Awards

Best Picture: Crash

Best Director: Ang Lee – Brokeback Mountain

Best Actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman – Capote

Best Actress: Reese Witherspoon – Walk the Line

Best Supporting Actor: George Clooney – Syriana

Best Supporting Actress: Rachel Weisz – The Constant Gardener

Best Original Screenplay: Paul Haggis & Robert Moresco – Crash

Best Adapted Screenplay: Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana – Brokeback Mountain

Best Foreign Language Film: Tsotsi directed by Gavin Hood (South Africa)

Best Documentary Feature: March of the Penguins directed by Luc Jacquet and Yves Darondeau

Best Original Score: Gustavo Santaolalla – Brokeback Mountain

Best Cinematography: Dion Beebe – Memoirs of a Geisha

Best Costume Design: Colleen Atwood – Memoirs of a Geisha

Best Film Editing: Hughes Winborne – Crash

Best Visual Effects: King Kong

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/78th_Academy_Awards