‘Ronin’ Download and Reviews
“Ronin” Movie Details
Ronin tagline: Your ally could become your enemy
 Ronin DVD Cover |
Actors:
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Clown Ice Skater |
“Ronin” Movie Review
“Ronin” Plot Summary
A freelancing former US intelligence agent tries to track down a mysterious package that is wanted by both the Irish and the Russians.
Successful, Machine-Processed Action Movie.
I’m going to give it a 6 partly because it was shot in Paris, Nice, and Arles. It gives you a tourist’s eye view of France in the winter, including a chilly, overcast Riviera and Van Gogh’s Yellow House, morphed into what looks like an overpriced cafe
Other than that, this is an action movie stripped down to the bare bones. The characters are as rudimentary as the plot. A handful of unemployed professionals are hired by Natascha McIlhone (representing the Irish) to ambush a convoy of cars transporting a curious-looking case, the contents of which have been sold to the Russians. I think I’ve got that right. If I haven’t, it doesn’t matter. The conspicuously aluminum case is an operational definition of a MacGuffin. What’s in it? Who knows and who cares? The whole movie is built around its action sequences and they are plentiful. There is a meeting between the professionals and the French gangsters who are to supply them with equipment for the heist. It turns into a shoot out. The convoy is intercepted and it turns into a car chase. It ends in a shoot out, during which one of the professionals, Gregor, turns into a cockroach. There’s another car chase through tunnels and whatnot that destroys so many vehicles it surely would have cleared even the Parisian streets of traffic. The end involves a couple of murders. Even Katarina Witt gets it, which is a dirty trick
Novelties? Not too many. Well, I suppose that in the course of these pursuits and battles, it’s a novelty to see innocent bystanders get plowed down or shot up or blown up. The zipping cars smash through the usual food stands and push carts but I don’t remember their ever doing it on such narrow streets
There isn’t any noticeable development of character. That is, nobody changes in any fundamental way. Michael Lonsdale, as a rich old man, and Stellan Skarsgard, as Gregor the dung beetle, give the best performances. Rober DeNiro, a fine actor, seems out of place in all this European company. Natascha McIlhone has a somber, angular, and sexy face but I wouldn’t trust her as far as I could throw her, which isn’t very far. I like Jean Reno best of all. Regard that face, that voice! The guy looks like he’s coming down from a week-long bout with the bottle. There aren’t that many international movie stars at whom I can look without saying to myself, ‘I wish I were that handsome.’ Aside from bullets and baggage, what is the movie about? It seems to be about itself. There’s nothing much behind what you see. It’s like buying ‘roast beef’ at a modern deli. Roast beef, my foot. It’s machine-processed beef, scraped right down to the bone, then pureed and solidified and seasoned so that it looks a little — just a little — like what it purports to be. There’s some phony philosophy from Michael Lonsdale’s sage, who tells DeNiro the story of the forty-seven ronin — who planned and waited for years for an opportunity to avenge their betrayed master — but it has nothing to do with the movie. Lonsdale’s thoughtfully delivered lesson might as well have been the Gilgamesh epic, or Huckleberry Finn, for that matter. It’s an attempt to coat the plot with some portentous uber-meaning, but that just makes it the same processed stuff under a thin, negligible shell of pastry, like Beef Wellington
I’ve made this sound like a pretty crummy movie but it’s not, if you like action movies. The director knows exactly what he’s doing. The editing is superb, as it has to be to make this genre piece a success. The shootouts, collisions, and deaths are in real time, not slow motion. It may not be pregnant with meaning but it’s diverting, exciting, and not insulting to the viewer who’s willing to shrug and say, ‘For an action movie, this one isn’t too bad.’
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‘Valiant’ Download and Reviews
“Valiant” Movie Details
Valiant tagline: Meet the Flockers
 Valiant DVD Cover |
Actors:
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Charles De Girl |
“Valiant” Movie Review
“Valiant” Plot Summary
Set in 1944, Valiant is a woodland pigeon who wants to become a great hero someday. When he hears they… add synopsis
Great British film
Charming and funny. I liked it very much! You can tell the difference from British and American films. It’s about a small young pigeon who joined the RHPS (the Royal Homing Pigeon Service) for fame and glory and ending up finding just that, but only after a vicious fight with the studious Black Falcon who was a pigeon-eater falcon and a Nazi too (of course). Another spicy detail: the French Resistance is actually the French Resistacne Mouse Division. That’s it! I wont tell you anymore as it spoils the fun
Go out and see it. It’s a big laugh. At least for me and my girlfriend it did. It is not made by Pixar, but it is at least as good as the ones made by them.
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‘Munich’ Download and Reviews
“Munich” Movie Details
Munich tagline: The world was watching in 1972 as 11 Israeli athletes were murdered at the Munich Olympics. This is the story of what happened next.
 Munich DVD Cover |
Actors:
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Tony – Andreas’ Friend |
“Munich” Movie Review
“Munich” Plot Summary
Based on the true story of the Black September aftermath, about the five men chosen to eliminate the ones responsible for that fateful day.
Incredible film with a beautiful message
The film starts off at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany. A group of Arab terrorists capture and later murder 11 Israeli athletes. The Israeli community is outraged with the murders and they set out to investigate who planned the massacre, in order to send assassins to settle the score. Eric Bana (who plays Avner) is chosen as the lead assassin and the film takes us on a thrilling, violent and heartbreaking ride watching how Bana and his team accomplish their morbid task and the dangers they go through in order to finish it
After the film ended, I thought about the reviews that complained it was too cold and detached for their taste. I Don’t know why some critics felt nothing because I did care for Eric Bana and his family. At first it’s hard to like him for what he’s doing, but after we see his remorse, guilt and paranoia(nightmares, trouble sleeping, fear of being murdered) start to kick in as why he’s doing what he’s doing and if his actions will accomplish anything, I began to care for him. The film also offers great suspense and the haunting score adds depth to it. We know Avner (Bana) is an assassin, he has to kill people and the film builds an unnerving suspense around this; anything can go wrong with the operations and we fear for the life of innocent people such as the target’s family or innocent bystanders who have nothing to do with the events in Munich
Another complain I’ve seen from a few people is that the film had no point. My guess is they weren’t paying attention since Avner (bana) had two discussions with other characters, which clearly show what the film is ultimately about; the discussion with Ephraim (Geoffrey Rush) at the end of the film and the discussion with Ali (Omar Metwally) outside the safe-house. I thought the film was made to show how pointless and absurd revenge can be, that violence cannot bring about peace. Group A kills people from Group B and vice versa, but it doesn’t stop there, the slain people are replaced the endless cycle of killing continues. This in effect made the film thought-provoking, it makes you think about subjects you wouldn’t normally think of or discuss with other people. Thinking about it fills you with sadness since the events in it are in reality still happening and it’s sad to see how the two groups (Jews AND Arabs) don’t realize that death and violence will continue if they don’t learn to listen and forgive others and let the authorities decide what punishment people should get.
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