cult film freak: scarlett johansson

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Written by James M. Tate / 7/25/2014 / No comments / 2014 , action , luc besson , morgan freeman , scarlett johansson , science-fiction

LUC BESSON DIRECTS SCARLETT JOHANSSON IN LUCY

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfNi5uw52C6s8_w3_gpkStf4-Zhe1tMC_dBtYx-5Wjr8pNP1yNby-uXLDo5sAc6OZpvBAwuZJanbJstCtky0rm3wNfXZyjXuB-7YWX3nmOZhqYyGE9spzt3LWjU4idyZsecg19Tm6jgKI/s1600/Lucy-Poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfNi5uw52C6s8_w3_gpkStf4-Zhe1tMC_dBtYx-5Wjr8pNP1yNby-uXLDo5sAc6OZpvBAwuZJanbJstCtky0rm3wNfXZyjXuB-7YWX3nmOZhqYyGE9spzt3LWjU4idyZsecg19Tm6jgKI/s400/Lucy-Poster.jpg" width="230" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2014 rating: ***</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;">When writer/director Luc Besson does science-fiction, one gets the impression he prefers rising intentionally above the audience... </span><br />
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So now he’s created the perfect starlet in Scarlett Johansson as LUCY, starting out as the naïve girlfriend of a passive/aggressive jerk with a dangerous occupation in Taiwan...<br />
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More than sporadically, Besson compares Lucy's place in humanity to the animal kingdom by showing clips of nature coinciding with her particular situation, escalating wildly as she’s given the forced task to deliver a briefcase to mobsters, and then hide the contents of a mysterious blue drug inside her very own guts.  <br />
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Once the drug leaks from the bag and flows through her bloodstream, Lucy begins using more (and more and more) than the required 10% of the brain, turning into a Marvel like superhero that can lift objects and project her image onto computers screens and… sky's the limitless... But all those powers aside, Lucy has one real mission: to seek her own hydraulic revenge against the Asian mobster who "hired" her in the first place. Meanwhile, the title cards and animal imagery become repetitive. Lucy, also the name given to the first female Ape/Neanderthal, is evolving quickly: We get the point already! <br />
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Morgan Freeman’s wise Professor Norman keeps the expository information in check, teaching us flawed mortals stuff the nature clips don’t make entirely clear, morphing Lucy into what Johnny Depp’s limp TRANSCENDENCE attempted... but with guns blasting MATRIX style, it's a far more entertaining ride. And before long, you’ll forget the actual story evolves slower than our heroine, who, becoming floating specks of computerized dust particles, is still completely unbreakable.<br />
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One can only imagine if Lucy had her own bombastic vengeance-driven story without all the science: KILL BILL 3, anyone?

2014, action, luc besson, morgan freeman, scarlett johansson, science-fiction

LUC BESSON DIRECTS SCARLETT JOHANSSON IN LUCY

year: 2014 rating: *** When writer/director Luc Besson does science-fiction, one gets the impression he prefers rising intentionally abo...

Written by James M. Tate / 4/04/2014 / 1 Comment / 2014 , chris evans , comic book , marvel , robert redford , samuel l. jackson , scarlett johansson

MARVEL PRESENTS CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid0gPUIop-6ZAriN3XwEzS-1t-nBWm3u7JoE2VdyPmZgCrXlyWreagUM-Tei3BIymu9sNK9EO8h3SuJBhWTo71GP3Q8BaJnB8zWin6obAT1MXUfboAG8rucltErNsEGEHKE4ctK8bdryE/s1600/2aaaea27-f3d2-40fe-b2fa-a62f535d6fe9_zps8dda70f8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid0gPUIop-6ZAriN3XwEzS-1t-nBWm3u7JoE2VdyPmZgCrXlyWreagUM-Tei3BIymu9sNK9EO8h3SuJBhWTo71GP3Q8BaJnB8zWin6obAT1MXUfboAG8rucltErNsEGEHKE4ctK8bdryE/s320/2aaaea27-f3d2-40fe-b2fa-a62f535d6fe9_zps8dda70f8.jpg" width="223" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2014 rating: *1/2</td></tr>
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“Lotta things you don’t know about me,” Nick Fury tells Captain America… And he could also be talking to the theater audience since so far, through several films, the monotone, monologue-spouting S.H.I.E.L.D chief has been kept on the peripheral…<br />
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And now he, along with former Russian agent Natasha, can step into the co-lead spotlight, which sadly winds up casting an extremely dull glow on everyone…<br />
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Especially our hero, Steve Rogers, who literally starts out in a brisk, humorous pace and then has a bland pop culture conversation with fellow soldier Sam Wilson, played by Anthony Mackie, a forced sidekick eventually donning his winged-costume befitting a bad cartoon...<br />
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Perfectly suited for other Marvel ventures, the new character Falcon awkwardly contrasts to the gloomy plot that's part James Bond, part political thriller: The latter where Robert Redford, as a stiff-suited wolf in sheep's clothing... setting up giant drone flying machines to "protect" the country... fits like a dreary glove.   <br />
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Between spurts of bombastic action are lofty conversations about American defense, questionable freedom and glimpses into the first movie including a pointless visit to Steve's old stomping grounds… This occurs after Sam Jackson’s Fury has his very own car chase leading to the introduction of a stealthy, long-haired assassin with limitless fighting skills, equal to Captain America, and whose real identity adds to the melodrama. (Tony Stark, where are you? These people take themselves way too seriously!) <br />
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The only good parts that seem worthy of – or that were already wasted and/or spoiled on – theatrical trailers happen much too fast while the<i> </i>head villain’s wag-the-dog goal is not only cliché, but for a  world derived from comic book origins, and following up the cinematic spectacle that is THE AVENGERS, this uneven, uninspired SOLDIER is no fun at all...

2014, chris evans, comic book, marvel, robert redford, samuel l. jackson, scarlett johansson

MARVEL PRESENTS CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER

year: 2014 rating: *1/2 “Lotta things you don’t know about me,” Nick Fury tells Captain America… And he could also be talking to the the...

Written by James M. Tate / 9/27/2013 / 1 Comment / 2013 , joseph gordon-levitt , julianne moore , romantic comedy , scarlett johansson , tony danza

JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT IN DON JON

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiXH55Jkzgqwvn0ny_3Flqi2-zWbo7ibWwDH8mWqMvKobBYBBQZW5XF8VnNe-2I6lTJKVqguL058z2rOcyRea3j9rEy7pW9knwN2YXzPaMrGEp3_IhJVgjOXNr1hyIBfr5YvcuYu7SUx3i/s1600/o-DON-JON-TRAILER-facebook_zpsa316b81e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiXH55Jkzgqwvn0ny_3Flqi2-zWbo7ibWwDH8mWqMvKobBYBBQZW5XF8VnNe-2I6lTJKVqguL058z2rOcyRea3j9rEy7pW9knwN2YXzPaMrGEp3_IhJVgjOXNr1hyIBfr5YvcuYu7SUx3i/s640/o-DON-JON-TRAILER-facebook_zpsa316b81e.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2013 cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Tony Danza, Julianne Moore rating: ***</td></tr>
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In most movies, a slick, guiltless womanizer is usually the second banana. From SWINGERS to SIDEWAYS, the main character we can relate to is the gentle, passive guy who learns from the gigolo how to (or how not to) play the ladies… So be prepared for the dude who gets all the “action" to tell the whole story…<br />
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After scoring plenty in a noisy strobing nightclub, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s titular lady killer finds <i>the one</i> who puts the rest to shame… Although Jon, called DON JON since he’s kingpin in the bedroom, has something he likes better than random sex or this new hopeful conquest, and that’s porn.<br />
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Quickly edited scenes of various internet porn not only puts the audience into Jon’s busy brain, but provides director Levitt a creative way to show how we view things: No matter what you're into, thanks to high speed Internet, information is fast, flashy and perpetually omnipresent. But what happens when The Don’s not online?<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlT7sVdTaacpJ1r-j8UtGpevJ9DDJ-XL1mNjNAf67v6-CRuMgqWZd9nAuOJufyEZilKSk_5jKbjdoM1Fr7uNvQAgZiRSBDV57kixoc5D_XZMSmGsJKPVn1XdMRosw-ShCTVPOfMRQL0IY-/s1600/tonydanza.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlT7sVdTaacpJ1r-j8UtGpevJ9DDJ-XL1mNjNAf67v6-CRuMgqWZd9nAuOJufyEZilKSk_5jKbjdoM1Fr7uNvQAgZiRSBDV57kixoc5D_XZMSmGsJKPVn1XdMRosw-ShCTVPOfMRQL0IY-/s640/tonydanza.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">A Tony Danza comeback... Why didn't Quentin Tarantino think of that? Did he see GOING APE?</td></tr>
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A game-changing relationship with the girl Jon considers a “dime” (perfect 10) is his only complication. Scarlett Johansson’s curvaceous Barbara tries her best to change Jon’s habits, and breaks ground where no other ladies have. First by meeting his family, which includes macho Italian Tony Danza, and then giving Jon forceful advice on how to live: from shopping to cleaning house, she has<i> all </i>the answers. But it turns out Barbara’s merely a distraction to an underlying “issue” that must be resolved…<br />
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The initially platonic relationship with night school older lady Ester (Julianne Moore) attempts to change Jon’s outlook for the good… and that’s subjective. The film’s sexually charged, potentially limitless, surprisingly insightful frolic – captured in vivid, frantic motion by a promising first time director – takes backseat to an attempted bittersweet romance that winds up crashing the party: Oh well, it was fun while it lasted…<br />
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2013, joseph gordon-levitt, julianne moore, romantic comedy, scarlett johansson, tony danza