treasuremovie-blog
Treasure Movis Online
Discover your favorite movies to watch online
3096 posts
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
Last Seen Blogs
shigguk
잠깐 멈춰봐
dierdrecook
collection
upthebuzzard
Chris Gathercole's Family Projects
a-wrongs
Попрошу любить меня сильно.
laurentgnoni
Laurent Gnoni
Text
New Movies to Watch Online and Download on Treasure Movies
Watch Movie Swades (2004) Free Download - http://treasure-movie.com/swades-2004/
Swades (2004) Movie
Swades (2004)
189 min|Drama|17 Dec 2004
8.3Rating: 8.3/10 from 48815 usersAwards: 12 wins & 23 nominations.
A successful Indian scientist returns to an Indian village to take his nanny to America with him and in the process rediscovers his roots.
Director: Ashutosh Gowariker
Creator: M.G. Sathya (story), Ashutosh Gowariker (story), Ashutosh Gowariker (screenplay), Sameer Sharma (screenplay), Lalit Marathe (screenplay), Amin Hajee (screenplay), Charlotte Whitby-Coles (screenplay), Yashodeep Nigudkar (screenplay), Ayan Mukherjee (screenplay), K.P. Saxena (dialogue)
Actors: Shah Rukh Khan, Gayatri Joshi, Kishori Balal, Smith Seth
30 minutes after I had viewed the film on Sat, I was not sure about how I felt about this film. 48 hours hence, I vividly remember most of the scenes and can lucidly state that is truly ‘haunting’.
Swades is not colorful; Shahrukh doesn’t appear in a GAP or POLO SPORT; there are no introductory shots; there are no romantic scenes and no fields with yellow Tulip flowers; It may be a tad slow and lengthy; But Swades hits you where your heart hurts the most; patriotic and root feelings of an individual with good intentions overcoming societal obstacle. It’s brilliant, heartfelt and touching. The ‘We, People’ film really makes us feel like it’s our film. We see in the film what we see everyday, the places as they are. It’s very much contemporary and it’s our story.
Compared to Veer-Zaara, it’s light years ahead. Comparisons with Lagaan are bound to be there, but in some ways it’s even better than Lagaan. Primarily, for the authenticity and real-life feel unlike Lagaan which was a finely crafted fairly-tale. Lagaan is all about emerging victorious and fighting against the odds. You enjoy it when you see it. Swades is about the conscience trauma of an Indian, urging him to comeback and do something for his country. It haunts you for long enough after the cinema has ended.
There’s a prejudice that the film is about bringing electricity to a small village. It’s not. And the most poignant scene in the film, where we see a boy selling water for 25 paisa, hits you hard. Seeing the harsh reality and we’ll find it difficult to suppress our tears. It’s an answer to the generation of materialistic ‘we’, who never shy from proclaiming our great culture and tradition, but do nothing for our country.
The asset of the film is Shahrukh Khan, looking ordinary and real but in an extra-ordinary performance. His most real since ‘Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa’ and his career’s best. ARR music is soulful and original. The theme song ‘Yeh Jo Des Hai Mera’ haunts both in terms of its visuals and wordings.
But above all, it’s the good intention and the attention to detail, of director Ashutosh Gowarikar that makes wonders for this truly experimental and moving cinema.
I can and will definitely view this movie once more, to celebrate it feel and spirit. I can’t predict its box office outcome, as the masses love fantasies and escapist cinema. But it’s definitely a treat for those who want to see moving and believable films on a large scale. Also if we don’t embrace different cinema like this or even ‘the torturous but different Musafir’ for that matter, we’ll continue to get more ‘Sarson ka Saag’, ‘Karva Chauths’, ‘Maahi Ve’ filled designer romance fables from the Chopra-Johar clan!
Regardless of the box office outcome, take a bow Ashutosh, Shahrukh and ARR!
0 notes
Text
New Movies to Watch Online and Download on Treasure Movies
Watch Movie Sylvia (2003) Free Download - http://treasure-movie.com/sylvia-2003/
Sylvia (2003) Movie
Sylvia (2003)
100 min|Biography, Drama, Romance|31 Oct 2003
6.3Rating: 6.3/10 from 8526 usersAwards: 1 win.
Story of the relationship between the poets Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath.
Director: Christine Jeffs
Creator: John Brownlow (screenplay)
Actors: David Birkin, Alison Bruce, Amira Casar, Daniel Craig
What is it about an artist dying young – particularly if it is at his or her own hands – that strikes such a deep chord in so many of us? Is it the fact that this rare and special person achieves a kind of mastery of fate at the last moment, a perfect conclusion to this messy business of life that we mere mortals can never hope to attain? Could it be that this early death is just one more instance of an artist taking the elements of raw reality and transforming them into something stylized, transcendent and meaningful for the rest of us to brood over and contemplate? When poet and novelist Sylvia Plath committed suicide in 1963, she became the archetype of the tortured artist – particularly for sensitive young people who came to romanticize her end and her suffering in ways that lifted her and her work to iconic status.
The biopic, entitled simply ‘Sylvia,’ gets the ‘tortured’ part pretty much right, but has considerably less success with the ‘artist.’
The film focuses mainly on the tumultuous relationship between Plath and her husband of eight years, famed poet Ted Hughes. The story begins in 1956 with their love-at-first-sight meeting when they were both students at Cambridge University. The film moves quickly through the years, showing how, after a short period of relative marital bliss, Ted’s philandering began to take its toll on the relationship. As portrayed in the movie, Sylvia, despite her notable talent, is a mass of neuroses and insecurities, always toiling in the shadows of her (initially at least) much more well known and commercially successful husband. But her feelings of inadequacy and jealousy over Ted’s infidelities cannot, in and of themselves, entirely account for her paranoia, her outbursts of anger and her suicidal tendencies. Those resulted mainly from the clinical depression that tormented the woman from the time of her father’s death early in her childhood to her own tragic end. The movie sidesteps the electroshock therapy Plath underwent at various times in her life (though it very subtly hints at them), yet the film still manages to convey just how great a victim she was of this disease she could not overcome.
Thanks to John Brownlow’s rather singlemindedly depressing screenplay, there’s a tremendous feeling of sadness hovering over the film. Director Christine Jeffs brings a raw intensity to many of the confrontation scenes involving the pain-wracked, benighted couple. As Sylvia and Ted, Gwyneth Paltrow and Daniel Craig give rich, moving and sensitive performances, and Michael Gambon leaves his mark as a sympathetic neighbor who tries but does not succeed at saving Sylvia.
If there is a flaw in ‘Sylvia,’ it is one common to films that attempt to portray the lives of artists, particularly writers. Although a scenarist can dramatize the details of an artist’s life, it is virtually impossible for him to capture the richness and power of the art itself in the different medium of film. We never get the sense of how Sylvia either overcomes the difficulties of her life to succeed in her writing or how she uses those difficulties to enhance her art. What we do get is a few shots of Sylvia sitting in front of a typewriter, a comment or two about a book that has been or is soon to be published, a few references to critical reviews, and a smattering of voice-over recitations of Plath’s poetry. What we don’t get and what it is virtually impossible for film to capture is the essence of the writing itself. For this, one needs to return to the source material, the works that have lived on after the woman herself all these years. If the movie inspires new people to explore Sylvia Plath’s writing, it will not have been in vain
0 notes
Text
New Movies to Watch Online and Download on Treasure Movies
Watch Movie Code 46 (2003) Free Download - http://treasure-movie.com/code-46-2003/
Code 46 (2003) Movie
Code 46 (2003)
93 min|Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi|17 Sep 2004
6.3Rating: 6.3/10 from 17384 usersAwards: 4 wins & 10 nominations.
A futuristic 'Brief Encounter', a love story in which the romance is doomed by genetic incompatibility.
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Creator: Frank Cottrell Boyce
Actors: Tim Robbins, Togo Igawa, Nabil Elouahabi, Samantha Morton
Take moments of Blade Runner, the lost themes of Lost in Translation, and the haunting images of Gattaca and mix them all into a big bowl, your final product would look something like Code 46. Winterbottom’s vivid imagination and intelligent storytelling is proved once again as he successfully builds another chapter into sci-fi’s growing history. His ability to take a simple story about a forbidden love and transform it to a different time and culture was outstanding. His themes of love, laws, and family are so dominate that he is able to handle them with the greatest of ease and use them to even paint a bolder picture. Code 46 is an instant Winterbottom classic with the professionally superb acting by Robbins and Morton, the cinematic eye candy of our future, as well as a tight script that allows the viewer experience it over and over with new references every time. Winterbottom proves that no genre is too small for him to tackle.
To begin, look at that chemistry between Robbins and Morton. The sparks were literally flying out of my television when they were together on-screen. Their presence together fueled this film to a new level by creating a truth to their relationship. We were rooting for something that was illegal in today’s society as well as this fictitious futuristic one. That is a hard concept to grasp for most audiences, but with Winterbottom behind the camera guiding this masters through the motions, it came across as nothing more than pure art. Robbins has this ability to make every character he touches into this humanistic screen element of yourself. You see yourself in this man as he struggles with the truths that surround him. He isn’t just having an affair, he is in love with someone that the law will not allow. That would be hard to pull off for any actor, but Robbins seems to hit his mark with ease. Morton is no different. She has proved time and time again that she can handle the intense films, and Code 46 is yet another demonstration. She handles herself so well, giving us so much from those big eyes that seem to speak for themselves. We sympathize with her dilemma and want her to continue so that Robbins and her can meet again and again. She is a very complex character with more layers that I could count, yet we see each and every one of them in Morton’s role. She holds nothing back and honestly gives 100% throughout the entire film. That is hard for any actor to do, but Morton does it with the greatest of ease. It is obvious that she will continue to be a strong cinematic force in Hollywood.
Second to the phenomenal acting, you have a brilliantly colorful future. While robots and genetics seem to be the dark horse of this civilization, it is a guiding light to see love emerge from it all. The beauty of the city only enhances this sensation even stronger. The contrast between the city and the desert looming outside shows no blurred lines. It helps us to see the symbolic references to our society and the lack of change to this new one. Winterbottom pulls no punches with his cinematography, taking ideas from Blade Runner and Gattaca, he thrives on the night and sunlight to show the horror and beauty of the surroundings. He does not color coat anything with fake CGI, but instead places you in this very realistic world that could eerily happen tomorrow (watch the current news and you will see the reference). Winterbottom does a great job of giving us both dimensions of this multi-faceted world.
Finally, I have to applaud Winterbottom for the script that he chose. Frank Boyce clearly has done his homework in both the sci-fi genre as well as the love-interest films. He successfully combines the two into this brilliant display of both modern and post-modern culture. He clearly defines the emotion of love through our characters, then throws a big shock through the system halfway into this epic. What we know, or thought we knew about his world changes instantly, but in a very calm and crisp way. He also imaginatively creates this era where languages do not divide us, but instead is required to know throughout the world. I thoroughly loved the idea that everyone knows all languages. It broke the thought that this was going to be an American film. The concept of the virus was impeccable. While not much is said about this invention, the consequences that it has on the film continually keep us on our toes. The mind-shattering voice overs coupled with the actors struggle only proves that Code 46’s entire team was dedicated to the project, and sometimes that is a rarity in Hollywood.
Overall, I thought this was a welcomed change to the recycled love story syndrome that seems to plague our screens as well as a bold step in the sci-fi direction. Winterbottom continues to break new boundaries with his random choices of projects that impresses over and over and over again. For those of you that did not understand this film, I ask (wait, request) that you see it again. It cannot be enjoyed with just one viewing. Code 46 is a multi-view film that opens itself more and more to you the more often you watch it. This emotional film brought tears to my wife’s eyes.
0 notes
Text
New Movies to Watch Online and Download on Treasure Movies
Watch Movie The Cooler (2003) Free Download - http://treasure-movie.com/the-cooler-2003/
The Cooler (2003) Movie
The Cooler (2003)
101 min|Drama, Romance|16 Jan 2004
7.0Rating: 7.0/10 from 27854 usersAwards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 12 wins & 22 nominations.
In an old school Las Vegas casino, its top gambling jinx breaks his curse when he falls in love, much to his boss' consternation.
Director: Wayne Kramer
Creator: Frank Hannah, Wayne Kramer
Actors: William H. Macy, Alec Baldwin, Maria Bello, Shawn Hatosy
As such he is a very valuable asset to casino boss Shelly Kaplow, himself having enough problems of his own trying to stop his old school casino being revamped to the point of losing it’s sense of class. However, with Bernie looking to leave, Shelly is eager to make him stay – not helped by waitress Natalie falling in love with Bernie and turning his jinx into universal good fortune. With the casino dropping a million plus in one day, Shelly takes action to protect what is his.
As with many viewers I suspect, I was attracted to this film by the cast and the fact that it received a few nods from the Oscars (despite being showy enough to win). The plot is based on the old casino idea of coolers being those who bring bad luck to the tables but it very much needs you to buy into the idea of luck to really enjoy this fable of lady luck – unless you get into it, it’ll feel rather forced and silly at times. However the film helped me to overcome this by being very lowkey and downbeat – very much like Bernie himself the film is dog eared and lovable, not a great thing but one that is easy to get into. The film uses Las Vegas really well and it is the Las Vegas I believe in – downbeat, cruel and plastic, it is much better than the fun, breezy and slick Vegas that we are sold in CSI or in Oceans 11. The mix of romance, comedy and violence works very well – at points it was very touching, at others quite funny and then others unrelentingly brutal and downbeat. It isn’t perfect of course and the writing is where the problems lie; the story did rely on the audience buying into it and at times the dialogue comes very close to corn (but just misses). The only time I felt really let down by it was the ending, which, although fitting with the spirit of the film, missed a great chance to be dark, depressing and beautiful all at the same time.
Despite the odd weakness in the material, these are almost totally covered by a superb collection of performances. Macy may be aware of typecasting but so what if he keeps getting roles like this, probably one of his best performances since Fargo. He is typically the little man who we cannot help but root for and Macy does well never to let Bernie become pathetic to the point that he loses the audience. Bello also does pretty well and even convincingly falls for Bernie even though the film offers her very little opportunity to show a real development of love there. She is pretty but not to the point where she is an unconvincing waitress and her dashed hopes are well worn by her. However the one performance that dominated the film was Baldwin who does very well in delivering a role that could easily have become caricature. At turns he is amusing, brutal, friendly and tragic and Baldwin does almost all of these with minor touches – at one point I was impressed by how well he controlled his face (eyes in particular) to convince me that here was a man who was totally lost. A great performance and one that definitely deserved his Oscar nod. Support is just as good from several well known faces; Sorvino is given little more than a cameo but the one scene he shares with Baldwin is fantastic and, unlike some of his other roles, I never saw Paulie once – his Buddy was too tragic for that ghost to linger here. Hatosy is OK even if his part of the story is not as good as the others and Nascarella will be a well known face to many due to many roles in films for Spike Lee, Martin Scorsese and a few other big films.
Overall this is not a perfect film and it needs you to really buy into its fantasy world to really enjoy it but it works well and turned out to be an enjoyable, low key and atmospheric little love story that was never brilliant at any one thing but managed to be touching, brutal, funny and, ultimately, quite satisfying even if my darker side wanted an ending with more punch.
0 notes
Text
New Movies to Watch Online and Download on Treasure Movies
Watch Movie Masked and Anonymous (2003) Free Download - http://treasure-movie.com/masked-and-anonymous-2003/
Masked and Anonymous (2003) Movie
Masked and Anonymous (2003)
112 min|Comedy, Drama, Music|8 Aug 2003
5.5Rating: 5.5/10 from 3854 usersAwards: N/A
A singer, whose career has gone on a downward spiral, is forced to make a comeback to the performance stage for a benefit concert.
Director: Larry Charles
Creator: Bob Dylan, Larry Charles
Actors: Bob Dylan, Jeff Bridges, Penélope Cruz, John Goodman
You would probably have to go back to early Godard to find a movie as audacious, shockingly funny and brilliantly incisive in its analysis of the uneasy alliance between art and commerce as Masked and Anonymous, the new movie from Bob Dylan and Larry Charles. As with some Godard, I can’t say whether it’s a comedy or a tragedy – but it’s definitely a masterpiece.
Less than a year after news of the film was first announced, Masked and Anonymous has arrived. Shot on digital video in just 20 days and apparently made in the same freewheeling spirit that Bob Dylan likes to record albums, the end result is a wonder to behold: a dense collage of sound and image that threatens to overwhelm the senses but never quite does, thanks to the rigor and precision of director Larry Charles and his team of talented collaborators. The film is, at turns, poetic, playful, political, personal, terrifying, funny and deeply moving; in short, all of the virtues we’ve come to associate with Dylan’s greatest work as a recording artist.
In an interview in 2001, Dylan said, “We’re living in a science fiction world whether we realize it or not.” Masked and Anonymous then is the story of that world. This is the world that Bob Dylan sees and responds to; Tom Friend, an aggressive reporter played by Jeff Bridges, is clearly meant to stand in for all journalists, even while Dylan puts his own words in Friend’s mouth. Similarly, the organizers of a benefit concert make demands of Fate that must represent the kind of idiotic commercial concessions that Dylan is faced with on a regular basis: the setlist they want him to play includes (tee-hee) “Eve of Destruction”.
If Dylan’s vision seems bleak, there is a ray of hope. There is one genuine human relationship in the film – between Fate and his former roadie, Bobby Cupid (Luke Wilson, in his prime). I believe the warmth and real affection between these two characters, which stands in stark contrast to all of the other relationships depicted in the film, is key to understanding the agenda of Masked and Anonymous, and especially its surprise ending (which I won’t give away).
Of course, it is impossible to separate the story of Jack Fate from the legend of Bob Dylan. There are so many references to Dylan’s life and career studded throughout the film that it ends up being a kind of self-criticism of the myth by the author. (In this respect, the only film in the history of cinema that is comparable is Chaplin’s Limelight – not coincidentally, another masterpiece by an artist in his autumn years.) One obvious example is the character of Uncle Sweetheart, a portly, overbearing manager played with great panache by John Goodman, who is meant to suggest Dylan’s own former manager, Albert Grossman. If Goodman’s size and obnoxious demeanor don’t give it away, the glasses do. What these personal references ultimately suggest is that Jack Fate, the washed-up troubadour, is both Dylan’s fear and, more importantly, his victory over that fear.
To direct the Hollywood cast to speak in the script’s poetic, ornate language could not have been easy but the actors do an exemplary job. Nearly all of them manage to hit just the right note of cartoonish hysteria to give the film a sense of unity and harmony. Except, that is, for Bob Dylan. Jack Fate is the calm in the eye of the storm, the one rational character surrounded by a world of swirling insanity and director Charles gets a lot of comic mileage out of the contrast between Dylan’s deadpan delivery and the over-the-top performances of nearly everyone else; it’s like taking a Humphrey Bogart character out of the ’40’s and plunking him down in the middle of a massively absurd science-fiction landscape – the resignation and world-weariness of the film noir hero remains hilariously intact! The very idea is inspired and the execution is flawless.
The performance footage of course is terrific. Dylan and His Band play seven songs live on camera and there is a warmth, an intimacy and a relaxed quality to the performances that you will only see at Dylan’s best club shows. Although none of the songs are heard in their entirety, these sequences are nonetheless beautifully filmed. There is none of the rapid-fire editing and pointlessly roving camera moves that mar the filmed footage of so many live performances. Instead, Charles’ strategy is to have the band crowd together and film them in close-up with a wide-angle lens. There are numerous long takes in which all of the band members can be seen and when the camera does move, it’s deliberate and meaningful.
In a recent interview, Larry Charles said he never worried about finding a distributor for the film and that Dylan had told him long ago not to worry about the film “in the short term.” However the film is received in the short term, the richly orchestrated tapestry of sound and image that is Masked and Anonymous is sure to keep Dylanologists and film fans alike busy for decades.
0 notes
Text
New Movies to Watch Online and Download on Treasure Movies
Watch Movie Foolproof (2003) Free Download - http://treasure-movie.com/foolproof-2003/
Foolproof (2003) Movie
Foolproof (2003)
94 min|Action, Comedy, Crime|3 Oct 2003
6.5Rating: 6.5/10 from 7651 usersAwards: N/A
Kevin, Sam and Rob are founding members of a theoretical group which pulls off heists. Leo, a gangster, blackmails them into pulling off a real multi-million dollar heist. Now it's up to them to get out alive.
Director: William Phillips
Creator: William Phillips
Actors: Ryan Reynolds, Kristin Booth, Joris Jarsky, Sean Sullivan
After “The Perfect Score,” “Catch That Kid” and now “Foolproof,” it would appear that the heist film genre is in dire need of either a blood transfusion or, at the very least, some serious mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. “Foolproof” features three former hacker buddies – two male and one female, of course – who have taken up a most unusual hobby: they meticulously devise, plan out and rehearse elaborate burglary schemes that they have no intention of ever carrying out. Even before we have had a chance to buy into that ridiculous premise, the movie goes a step further into narrative idiocy. For what our intrepid little band of reformed lawbreakers doesn’t count on is that one day a diabolical criminal will steal one of their plans, then blackmail the three of them into executing the heist for real. Thus, what starts off as an intellectually challenging game for bored computer geeks turns into deadly serious business.
“Foolproof” might have been a halfway interesting film had anybody involved with the project put even the slightest conviction or effort into it. As it is, the script is juvenile, the direction shoddy, the acting stiff and without emotion. It feels as if everyone on both sides of the camera had been simply passing through the studio that day and decided to get together and toss off this flick on their way to better things. The movie is so utterly slapdash in appearance and style and so utterly devoid of meaning and purpose that one wonders why any studio would ever even have bothered to release it.
Is there really much point in watching a caper film about a trio of Pollyana-ish “criminals” who spend all their time tsk-tsking those involved in committing an actual crime? We in the audience are smart enough to know right from wrong even when we’re watching a heist film and don’t need a bunch of can’t-get-with-the-program moralists spoiling all the fun for us.
0 notes
Text
New Movies to Watch Online and Download on Treasure Movies
Watch Movie Tiptoes (2003) Free Download - http://treasure-movie.com/tiptoes-2003/
Tiptoes (2003) Movie
Tiptoes (2003)
90 min|Comedy, Drama, Romance|1 Jan 2004
4.7Rating: 4.7/10 from 3505 usersAwards: N/A
Two brothers - a dwarf (Rolfe) and one normal-sized (Steve). When Steve's girlfriend Carol becomes pregnant, the pair are fearful that the baby will inherit the dwarfism gene. Matters are ...
Director: Matthew Bright
Creator: Bill Weiner
Actors: Gary Oldman, Peter Dinklage, Kate Beckinsale, Matthew McConaughey
TIPTOES is a film that attempts to deal with the largely unexplored subject of dwarfism, but quickly becomes convoluted and saccharine. The story is centered around Steven (Matthew McConaughey) who has been told by his fiancée Carol (Kate Beckinsale), that she is pregnant. What he has not told her, is that his twin brother, as well as his whole family are dwarfs, and that their child will more than likely be a “little person.” We meet Steven’s brother, Rolfe (Gary Oldman), who prompts Carol to discover more about what this means and in the process discovers important things about herself as well, etc. She becomes involved with an organization (modeled after the Little People of America, or LPA, group) whose aim is to promote understanding in the world at large. There is also a subplot involving Rolfe’s friend Maurice (Peter Dinklage) and his relationship to Lucy, a “normal sized” woman (Patricia Arquette). Maurice is something of an anarchist, who rejects the politically correct nature of the “little person” label (as does Dinklage), has extreme views of the government, and drinks too much. He is one of the most interesting characters in TIPTOES, but is given little screen time and becomes more of a figurehead for the “little people are just people” subtext of the story (Dinklage would be given much more to work with in THE STATION AGENT). As the film progresses, the relationship between Steven and Carol becomes more melodramatic, and in the the end very little is resolved.
TIPTOES, as a film, seems to be more interested in delivering a warm-hearted message than creating a cohesive story. The film presupposes that the audience has a very narrow view of dwarfs: that they don’t lead happy productive lives, that they aren’t promiscuous or enjoy parties or drink to excess. All the “little people” in TIPTOES become exaggerated in order to dispel these notions, and are rarely given the opportunity to be simply characters in the story. The “normal sized” characters suffer from underdevelopment however and both McConaughey and Beckingsale fail to register as they are put through the motions of the uneven plot. TIPTOES rarely shows the prejudice that it constantly refers to. Observe the scene, when renting a motel room to Rolfe, Maurice and Lucy, the man behind the counter makes the comment “one adult and two children.” No response is made by any of the characters, which seems unlikely considering Maurice is a gun-toting malcontent. The term “midget” is referenced as a derogatory epitaph, but little explanation is given (the word is a holdover from the “freak show” era). TIPTOES decides to sidestep many of these issues with well intentioned portrayals of normality, but generates little enlightenment into the specific social experience of dwarfs. Furthermore, the film fails to find the right tone for the material, going from bouncy to lachrymose in brief intervals; the subtext of Carol’s pregnancy is also unsettling. The word ‘abortion’ is never used, but the capsulated plot detail on the packaging states that after she finds out her child will be a dwarf “Carol decides to have the baby anyway…” This line is used in a fluffy quasi-charming context and would be unthinkable to print if the unborn child was mentally handicapped or paralyzed.
Matthew Bright, the director of TIPTOES, has seemingly carved out a niche for himself by making odd-ball low budget films that have become cult favorites. Both THE FORBIDDEN ZONE, which he wrote, and FREEWAY, wrote/directed, have gone on to find a small, but faithful, audience on the fringe of modern film. The fact that the end result of TIPTOES was a soapy, romantic drama was apparently against Bright’s wishes and he claims that the producers marginalized his input as the production went on. He went so far as publicly shun the finished film at the Sundance Festival. Even so, Bright is not a director whose work I would have sought out intentionally, but I was drawn to TIPTOES by the glimmering lure of Gary Oldman. Not only that, but Gary Oldman playing a “little person.” After viewing the film, I am uncertain of what his motivations for choosing this film might have been. It could have been for the complicated technical aspects, or that it was a leading role that allowed him to show off his versatility. He does, however, create a fairly interesting, nuanced character (one of the few present in TIPTOES) considering the fact that he is playing a character roughly half his actual height, who walks with a cane (to mask the uneven gait while on one’s knees I presume), and has a thick southern accent, all this while performing in heavy make-up (well done by Greg Cannom). That said, casting a person of “normal” size to play a dwarf (I’ll let the reader draw their own comparisons) only added to the negative reaction the film received upon its’ initial theatrical release (which was limited, basically going straight-to-video) from critics and the LPA. As other reviewers have noted, the methods by which the filmmakers accomplish the “dwarfing” of Oldman, cinematic ally speaking, are somewhat distracting. I would guess that the limitations in budget and time did not allow Bright and his crew to integrate the special photographic techniques as seamlessly as in a film like DEAD RINGERS. It is somewhat refreshing for a film to be relatively free of CGI effects, but the stand-ins and limited camera angles are obtrusive in sections and ultimately hurt the film.
0 notes
Text
New Movies to Watch Online and Download on Treasure Movies
Watch Movie The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi (2003) Free Download - http://treasure-movie.com/the-blind-swordsman-zatoichi-2003/
The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi (2003) Movie
The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi (2003)
116 min|Action, Comedy, Crime|6 Sep 2003
7.6Rating: 7.6/10 from 38253 usersAwards: 21 wins & 10 nominations.
The blind masseur/swordsman comes to a town in control of warring gangs, and while bunking with a farming family, he meets two women with their own agenda.
Director: Takeshi Kitano
Creator: Takeshi Kitano (screenplay), Kan Shimozawa (novels)
Actors: Takeshi Kitano, Tadanobu Asano, Michiyo Ohkusu, Gadarukanaru Taka
Zatoichi is a good humoured blind man who travels making his living from being a masseur. He arrives in a small village, keeping secret his ability as a swordsman. The village is split with rival gangs, one of whom hires a troubled but talented samurai to wipe the others out. Meanwhile two beautiful geisha sisters are more than they appear. Into the middle of the impending bloody conflict walks Zatoichi.
One of the good things about Kill Bill may well be that it brings a wider audience to the martial arts genre from the Far East on a bigger scale. If that is the case then this is one of the films that they will likely come to first in the cinema, as it is about to have a full UK release. I was able to see this as part of the Birmingham Screen Festival 2004, so I was in a full audience that was ready and willing to be entertained and this may have helped me enjoy it more than a half full cinema of people who have just drifted in. With or without this atmosphere I found this to be an enjoyable, stylish, funny and violent film – but not without flaws.
The biggest flaw is the plot sadly. At it’s heart it is a good story, but the manner of delivery really hamstrings it’s ability to engage and grip. I have read that it was meant to be a homage/spoof of operas, and my very astute (and beautiful!) friend told me that the way of having lots of minor characters to almost cover costume changes for the main actors is a musical thing and that the film reminded her of that. While I accept that may be the reason for the way the film is, it doesn’t change the fact that it didn’t work for me. The films starts with difficulty – it is hard to follow with so many characters and gangs of which we are given no history to work with. This continues for much of the film, with minor characters coming and going, partly contributing to the overall story but also breaking up the flow with subplots that are never really explained or understood.
This trend continues, with the film never getting a real tension or pace to it. The conclusion of the film is a bit of a letdown – although I may have been conditioned to expect `the big showdown’ in this genre. It still works pretty well but I just had a pretty big problem with the way the story flowed (or didn’t). This is not to downplay how much I did enjoy it. The film has a great thread surrounding Osei where he acts as a comic relief – all his stuff is very funny and it really helps to break the tension; it’s just the things like the bodyguard’s subplot – nothing explained yet quite a lot of weight put on him. While it does lack pace, tension and punch, it still works well enough to hold the action together.
The fights are bloody, stylish and enjoyable although I fear that those weaned on Kill Bill’s excess will not accept it as gory enough. The use of CGI blood may be a problem as well – personally I found it to compliment the otherworldly effect of the film by being almost more pronounced than `real’ blood would be. The fights are enjoyable, although they are perhaps a little too brief – certainly some of the more important fights were over way too quickly and without ceremony. Generally though, the film looks amazing. Each shot is framed really well and, where the characters are still or set against a big background, many of the shots would look great on a poster. The sets are fantastic and really capture the sense of period and place. As director, Takeshi really has done well even if he could have done with a bit more help on the action front.
The cast are roundly superb even where the are let down by the material a little bit in terms of their characters. Takeshi plays his character with an easy going humour that contrasts nicely with his sudden, violent movements at key moments. Easily the standout performance though is from Taka, who brings so much to the film with his likeable, comic fool. He is very funny throughout the film and his lack of background is not a problem as none of his strands call upon that like the others do. Asano’s bodyguard is interesting but sadly poorly served by the material. The two sisters are OK but again their performances are overshadowed by the fact that their sections of the film are not as strong as need be – the slightly corny CGI ending involving them is only corny because I didn’t have sufficient buy in to their characters to care that much. The various villains fail to impose themselves on the film but enough is done by Takeshi and Taka to keep the audience engaged.
0 notes
Text
New Movies to Watch Online and Download on Treasure Movies
Watch Movie The Shape of Things (2003) Free Download - http://treasure-movie.com/the-shape-of-things-2003/
The Shape of Things (2003) Movie
The Shape of Things (2003)
96 min|Comedy, Drama, Romance|16 May 2003
6.8Rating: 6.8/10 from 9285 usersAwards: 1 nomination.
Quiet, unassuming Adam is changing in a major way, thanks to his new girlfriend, art student Evelyn. Adam's friends are a little freaked by the transformation.
Director: Neil LaBute
Creator: Neil LaBute (play), Neil LaBute (screenplay)
Actors: Gretchen Mol, Paul Rudd, Rachel Weisz, Frederick Weller
Since “Beautiful Creatures” 2000, Rachel Weisz has taken fearless steps beyond the boundaries of mere beautiful woman roles. In James Foley’s “CONfidence” 2003, opposite Edward Burns and Dustin Hoffman, her role as Lily is equally dauntless and surprising at the same time. Here in Neil LaBute’s “The Shape of Things” – well, what can I say, she bowls over everyone. Yes, all along from the beginning – no, I wouldn’t call it deceptive – she as Evelyn (or Eve) is quite determined with her plan which she follows meticulously with no hesitation what so ever. She’s a woman with a mission and design not to stray from. Now you might say she’s almost like a brain-washed robot from “The Stepford Wives” (d: Bryan Forbes 1975). Maybe. Well, that could be a ‘cop out’ on our part for not being able to accept that such a thing can actually exist, and happen. Is it truly art? Is it humiliating? Is it betrayal? Does she have a heart? ’tis in the eye of the beholder, however/whatever you can swallow. In LaBute’s world, social morality may not be part of the 7 habits of highly effective people.
Neil LaBute is such an observant source of man and woman relationships in particular. He is absolutely tickled with acuity, pungent or thorny (or horny) – he delivers his points of view as they are. We’re kinda blind to it all as the suggestive elements are all there right in front of us – probably real close under our nose. A modern Shakespearean barb (no pun intended), you might say. He is not heartless – he’s simply confidently daring. I came out of “The Shape of Things” determined to see LaBute’s 1998 “Your Friends and Neighbors.” It turns out not as cutting as “The Shape of Things.” In hind sight, LaBute actually brings out the humor of it all – making us look at how couples behave and treat each other and friends, and neighbors – ourselves, in truth.
Paul Rudd is malleably perfect as Adam. He is so amiable and ‘nudgeably’ stripped bare, so to speak. Gretchen Mol and Fred Weller as Jenny and Phillip are the complementing foils being Adam’s close friends – reactions as expected.
You might think there’s no match to LaBute’s trilogy: In the Company Men (1997); Your Friends and Neighbors; The Shape of Things. But I think w-d Patrick Stettner’s 2001 “The Business of Strangers” has the intensity and acrimony from the women’s point of view – the pairing of Stockard Channing and Julia Stiles is fascinating to watch; Fred Weller was the target opposite sex involved. The French film “Read My Lips” (Sur mes lèvres, 2001) from director Jacques Audiard did remind me of “In the Company of Men” – they both included a woman character with hearing loss. Audiard weaves an exciting substantial tale of intrigue, suspense and action, too; Emmanuelle Devos’ Carla is absolutely captivating to watch, and her chemistry with Vincent Cassel steadily sizzles.
Neil LaBute’s written & directed films are mostly cerebral and plenty of verbal exchanges. If you appreciate such and the pairing of Weisz and Rudd, go for it. Be prepared to have an open mind. Judge not and you shall enjoy the ensemble creativeness of it all. Alternatives: try “Nurse Betty” (2000) which he directed; with Renée Zellweger, Morgan Freeman, Greg Kinnear and co. “Possession” (2002) which he co-scripted and directed; with Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart, Jeremy Northam and Jennifer Ehle.
0 notes
Text
New Movies to Watch Online and Download on Treasure Movies
Watch Movie Young Adam (2003) Free Download - http://treasure-movie.com/young-adam-2003/
Young Adam (2003) Movie
Young Adam (2003)
98 min|Crime, Drama|26 Sep 2003
6.5Rating: 6.5/10 from 10921 usersAwards: 7 wins & 16 nominations.
A young drifter working on a river barge disrupts his employers' lives while hiding the fact that he knows more about a dead woman found in the river than he admits.
Director: David Mackenzie
Creator: Alexander Trocchi (novel), David Mackenzie
Actors: Ewan McGregor, Tilda Swinton, Peter Mullan, Emily Mortimer
`Young Adam,’ the new film from David Mackenzie, begins with an image that it is worth remembering throughout the film, and that a lot of people will overlook. We are shown a swan swimming along a canal from above, looking, as swans do, elegant and calm, and then we see the swan from under the water, its feet flapping furiously. I was reminded of an early shot in `Blue Velvet’ where the camera moves through the grass to the bugs and insects underneath – suggesting things are uglier than they appear – and one at the start of `Lantana,’ which moved through a plant that turns out to be more complicated than it seemed. In `Young Adam,’ the image was similar: the contrast between above and below the surface. The image did not suggest that one was more ugly than the other, or that one was more complicated; just that they are different.
This brief but significant image is followed by one of a dead body floating in the canal, which is fished out by Joe, a young worker on a barge in Glasgow, and Les, his employer. Les has a family consisting of a wife, Ella, and their son, Jim. Simple enough. On the surface. We learn quickly that, right under Les’s nose, Joe and Ella are having an affair. The early sex scenes in the film – there are many – follow a pattern; Joe approaches Ella, she says something suggesting she is not interested, but her body itself offers no resistance. She is bored with Les, and gives in too easily to Joe (the concept of giving in to temptation is perhaps the key to the film’s name).
The film unfolds slowly, patiently, and in unexpected ways. The body at the start turns out to be of greater significance than we may have suspected. Joe does not restrict himself, sexually, to Ella. He uses sex as a way to add some colour to his otherwise pretty sad life, although he does not seem to get any great deal of pleasure from it. In flashback, we learn of Joe’s old girlfriend, Cathie, who did, it would seem, love him on a more than physical level (we are not sure if he feels the same way about her, and he probably isn’t either). They share scenes of affection and scenes of bitterness, including one that I will only describe as almost ridiculously kinky. That’s one of those scenes where I was left unsure how I was supposed to feel; unsure whether the characters were enjoying themselves or whether they were finding a way to express their rage.
In a film where the plot moves slowly and rarely hits anything big, the attention and care of the audience depends on the script and the actors. The script is curious; the film’s dialogue is often so dull that I could only think that this is the way people talk in real life, not in the movies. That, though, is not a criticism, especially when you consider the performances. Joe is played by Ewan McGregor, and this may be his best performance yet. It’s certainly his most subtle, so much so that some audience members may be unimpressed by it, forgetting that it’s sometimes most difficult for an actor to reserve emotions and still be a three dimensional character. He certainly is an interesting character, who surprised me constantly. We learn that he reads a lot, he once tried writing – and failed, using his writing time to make custard, leading to the afore-mentioned kinky scene… but I’ll let you discover that for yourself – and that he wants (or wanted) to go to China.
Tilda Swinton plays Ella as a typical wife of the time – the film is set in the ’50s – doing things that are perhaps not so typical, i.e. the relationship with Joe. Her habit of asking Joe if he wants some tea at awkward times gives the film a very slight edge of humour. Her husband, Les, is played by Peter Mullan. When he finds out about the affair, his character acts true to himself, rather than to the conventions of scenes about husbands finding out about their wives’ affairs.
These characters do not express a great deal of emotion, and when they do, it is unexpected, and makes us reconsider the characters once more (such as a scene where Ella and Joe, rather cruelly, laugh together at the misfortune of Les). The film is also shot with patience and care, with a lot of scenes in the dark, and a lot of shots using a haunting symmetry, as when the barge is slowly consumed by a dark tunnel. It is not ugly, nor flashy, but right for the material. `Young Adam’ is a patient, thoughtful film, for patient, thoughtful viewers. Shots sometimes linger on characters for a while, and some people may find themselves fidgeting, others trying to work out what is going on in the characters’ heads, below the surface.
The film ends somewhat abruptly, but it is perhaps the best climax the film could have. Alternatives would have Joe do a far, far better thing than he has ever done, which would be unlikely and unrealistic; or a more neat, happier ending. I prefer this ending’s ambiguity. The whole film is ambiguous, and so are the characters. They are stuck in dull lives, not heading anywhere, not moving. And that is where we leave them.
0 notes
Text
New Movies to Watch Online and Download on Treasure Movies
Watch Movie After School Special (2003) Free Download - http://treasure-movie.com/after-school-special-2003/
After School Special (2003) Movie
After School Special (2003)
90 min|Comedy|25 May 2006
4.9Rating: 4.9/10 from 4968 usersAwards: N/A
Three high school guys attempt to make a porno movie.
Director: David M. Evans
Creator: David H. Steinberg
Actors: Erik von Detten, Tony Denman, Daniel Farber, Sarah-Jane Potts
When I happened to stumble across this film, it was entitled Barely Legal and not After School Special. Truth is, the film is barely watchable and feels more like a drunken after dinner daydream than an after school special. Is there an audience for this sort of material? Are there people that will enjoy a film like Barely Legal? The film isn’t really about anything as much as it is a documentation of producing pornography or the meek attempt at making pornography and all the hassle that it involves. What really grates, and this is an underlying theme, is that watching a really bad film is one thing but watching a really bad film about people attempting to make a really bad film within the universe of what we’re seeing is just painful.
The film, a part of the National Lampoon series (whatever that is), was directed by David M. Evans (answers on a postcard as to what the ‘M’ might stand for) whose previous crimes against cinema include the 3rd and 4th Beethoven outings some years ago and who is also scheduled to direct the up and coming ‘Ace Ventura Junior’ film. That should be, if Jim Carrey sequels/prequels not starring Jim Carrey are anything to go by in the form of Son of the Mask and Dumb and Dumberer, utterly unwatchable at the very best.
This particular little travesty however follows three young American boys at high school as they attempt to feed off Tony Montana’s ideation of ‘getting the money, getting the power and getting the women’. Yeah, trouble is Tony Montana had nothing to do with making pornography and Barely Legal has nothing to do with chasing the American dream: it’s just clueless, horny kids using porn as a front to get closer to girls. The film is fundamentally flawed in every retrospect. Any film entitled ‘Barely Legal’ which revolves around people making pornography and still manages to worm its way into a realm of the ’15’ certificate over here in Britain instead of the ’18’ certificate has to have done something cataclysmically wrong during the making process. Clearly, the BBFC deem it not all that bad in terms of gratuity and I just wonder if that was the certificate the makers were aiming for – I doubt it.
The boys making the film are Deacon (von Detten); Fred (Denman) and Matt (Farber), three hapless individuals given mercilessly unfunny introductions about their relationships toward girls and some of their ‘habits’ when it comes to communicating with them. The film totally disregards women from the off but the sad fact is that’s an absolute given in this genre. There is lots of slow motion, lots of hair flicking and cutesy smiling girls looking flirtatious although any sane viewer will just yawn at it all. At one point in the film, a character whilst making the porno exclaims something along the lines of “Women’s points of view don’t even matter in these sorts of movies” and he’s sort of hit the nail on the head for all the wrong reasons – when he says ‘these sorts of movies’, is it the real film actually recognising how rubbish it knows it is? If so then it’s admitting it is rubbish; if not, then it’s admitting to its blatant sexism right there.
I think when the people that wrote this actually finished it, they were twenty or so pages short of 90 odd minutes. Thus, the messy and dull narrative that opens up to do with Deacon loosing his friends as the project falls apart is silly and doesn’t work; it feels thrown in and manufactured out of the primary story about kids wanting girls so they make porn. It’s the overall idea I don’t understand. When will people learn that pornography is not funny? When will people realise that films about pornography are not funny? Glimpses or very quick cuts of bras, nipples and so forth do-not-make-people-laugh, simple; they are an on screen visualisation of someone’s fantasy writ down and writ large across the screen for others to see – it’s not funny and it’s a waste of everyone’s time.
IMDb has this film on its ‘release dates’ page opening at Cannes, in May 2003 – it’s one of those screenings at Cannes you just wish you were there for, purely for the reaction and the witnessing of the mass walkout I’m sure there was, that is of course if the fact it was shown there is true in the first place. Supposedly, Irreversible is the most walked out of film at Cannes ever, but that’s only because no one was paying any attention to the screenings of this junk. Everywhere else, this was direct to DVD and the cast probably wanted it swept under the carpet for good measure. When the friendships have been broken down and patched up in doubly quick time, there’s time for local porn king Vic Ramalot (Sanz) to waltz around in public complete with gun drawn hunting for the kids who he assumes to be up and coming rivals threatening his business. It really is that daft and that bad.
0 notes
Text
New Movies to Watch Online and Download on Treasure Movies
Watch Movie Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003) Free Download - http://treasure-movie.com/munna-bhai-m-b-b-s-2003/
Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003) Movie
Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003)
156 min|Comedy, Drama|19 Dec 2003
8.4Rating: 8.4/10 from 32500 usersAwards: 17 wins & 29 nominations.
A gangster sets out to fulfill his father's dream of becoming a doctor.
Director: Rajkumar Hirani
Creator: Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Rajkumar Hirani, Lajan Joseph, Abbas Tyrewala (dialogue)
Actors: Sunil Dutt, Sanjay Dutt, Arshad Warsi, Gracy Singh
Inspired by the Hollywood movie ‘Patch Adam’, ‘Munnabhai M.B.B.S.’ tells the comedic story of a thug who wants to become a doctor. The film has its major share of comedic moments and its dramatic moments. It is indeed an entertaining film with the famously lovable characters like Munnabhai and Circuit.
Rajkumar Hirani may have taken the idea of an older outsider wanting to become a doctor from ‘Patch Adams’ but in essence ‘Munnabhai M.B.B.S.’ is its own film and it is the performances and comedy that make it worth the watch because most the dramatic moments are a little over the top. While the dialogue in the comedic scenes are witty and hilarious, the ones in the dramatic scenes are a mess.
Sanjay Dutt totally nails Munnabhai. It’s hard to picture anyone else in the title role. The actor does full justice. It was nice to see Sunil Dutt after a long time and that too as father to his own son. The actor has a strong presence, even in a brief role. Gracy Singh is cute and adorable. Jimmy Shergill is awesome and holds his own as Zaheer and Boman Irani too does very well. However, it is Arshad Warsi who steals the show in a breakthrough performance as one of the most memorable film characters of recent time, Circuit.
Most of the songs are well balanced and are good additions to the film. I found Munnabhai’s romantic ballad hilarious when he tries to convince the suicider to cut the crap. On the technical side, it’s alright. On the whole this is one enjoyable flick. One would have expected more from the second Munnabhai film which I found boring but why should that prevent the pleasure that comes from this movie?
0 notes
Text
New Movies to Watch Online and Download on Treasure Movies
Watch Movie Evil (2003) Free Download - http://treasure-movie.com/evil-2003/
Evil (2003) Movie
Evil (2003)
113 min|Drama|26 Sep 2003
7.8Rating: 7.8/10 from 28282 usersAwards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 9 wins & 9 nominations.
Erik is expelled from school for fighting. He ends up at a private boarding school where the senior students control the young ones. Erik finds a friend in Pierre, his room mate. The story ...
Director: Mikael Håfström
Creator: Jan Guillou (novel), Hans Gunnarsson, Mikael Håfström
Actors: Andreas Wilson, Henrik Lundström, Gustaf Skarsgård, Linda Zilliacus
Imagine the schoolboy sadism of Der Junge Törless (1966), the anarchism of If… (1968), with just a dash of the old school bullying of Tom Brown’s School Days, and you get something of the flavour of Evil, which sets its student angst in 1950s’ Scandinavia. Ironically for a film that will end up on a relatively pacifist message, it starts with a punch up as the rowdy hero Erik (Andreas Wilson), thrashed by his unpleasant step father at home, duly takes it out on another student at his current school – only to be summarily expelled on the basis of his continuing bad behaviour. Dubbed ‘evil’ by the headmaster at his disciplinary hearing Erik appears, at least at first sight, to be irredeemably bad. Surly and uncommunicative, a trait he only gradually overcomes, he’s a disruptive influence. One measure of the film’s success is how it will show a growing moral dimension to this truculent and uncooperative personality, the once-bad boy quickly maturing before our eyes. It will also show how being a ‘disruptive’ influence can ultimately be a positive, just as much as a negative, force in a closed society. But meanwhile Erik’s long suffering mother packs him off at short notice to Stjansberg, an exclusive boarding school where, we are told, are moulded generations of Swedish ‘supermen’.
Adapted from a bestselling novel based on painful reminiscence, Evil is praised in interview on the disc by the author for its ‘journalistic accuracy’ in recreating events. It’s a fact that makes the environment in which a more subdued Erik finds himself all the more chilling and depressing. For Stjansberg is a school where the teachers believe in leaving students to their own devices outside of classes, a place where enthused with an ethos of alleged ‘team spirit’ the system of discipline and punishment is arbitrary, prejudiced against the weak or different, and where elements of fascism still lurk within the teaching profession. Despite its regimentation and strict codes, Erik soon discovers that “there’s no honour in (the) school – only ways of making it hell,” while eventually realising that “what separates men from animals is not only intelligence, it’s morality.” Set on a painfully steep learning curve, he makes friends with the best student in the school (his roommate), and while remembering his promise to his mother, struggles to stay out of trouble. Erik’s painful introspection at this point recalls that of Jim Stark in Rebel Without A Cause (1955) another film in which a troubled male youngster forms an alliance with a weaker soul (Sal Mineo’s ‘Plato’) while in moral agony over conflicting impulses.
Erik may suddenly be concerned to stay out of conflict, but his refusal to compromise a newfound dignity and moral superiority quickly brings him up against Silverstein, the Flashman figure of the piece who, as a the most visible representation of the fascist strain that permeates the school has “to be fought, now and forever.” What infuriates the bullies at the school no end is Erik’s unexpected – and, in the light of what we have seen of him previously, uncharacteristic – refusal to fight. Instead he maintains a quiet mocking stoicism, bearing glumly, at least to a point, the institutionalised humiliation heaped upon him. Like Gandhi, a name associated with a philosophy of peaceful protest and civil disobedience (and who is specifically invoked at one point in the film) Erik’s mature response to provocation is hard earned, but grows increasingly effective.
Wilson is excellent as the put upon student, although from such a physical person one might have wished more passion in his liaison with Marja, the young woman from the kitchen(Linda Zilliacus), who tacitly supports his tactics. In fact, this affair proves to be Erik’s Achilles’ heel, and the events leading on from it form the real climax of the picture. So much of Evil has been outstanding and intriguing to this point that it’s a shame that the conclusion of the piece, springing so readily from a plot ‘plant’ earlier in the story, is a little too pat. From the interviews on the R2 DVD the viewer learns that, in real life, the school in question was brought to book by eventual and unwelcome media exposure prompted by the author. Whether or not it was achieved so easily as is suggested by the movie is a moot point, but the convenient threat of sensational journalism, easily obtainable and brought down upon the head of a palpable corrupt and unfair system is too much of let off, at least to this viewer, as well a cliché of a sort, not to pass un-remarked. One imagines that the scene of an arrogant headmaster made to eat humble pie dramatically was too irresistible to exclude, but I sensed here that such a moment was an easy way out.
With this hesitation, one can recommend the film thoroughly, being both excellently shot and acted as well as making an important statement of its own. Rather amusingly in the accompanying DVD material is a comment from one of the principals, that they didn’t want it to be “a Dogme film, a small film that no one cares about, we want(ed) it to be a stylish, big, expensive, heavy, good film.” It’s an ironic remark as, arguably, a stricter and more rigorous approach to the story, familiar from Van Trier and colleagues, would have led to some fascinating dividends especially in the presentation of such stark material. Fortunately filmic conservatism also pays off when the results are so sincere and full of verisimilitude as here, and with a cast who fit their roles like a glove and, as a film with an ‘old fashioned’ humanistic message about standing out against the evils of totalitarianism in a closed society, the message is as relevant as ever. In short I doubt whether another ‘school film’ as fine as this will come along for some time, and so seek it out.
0 notes
Text
New Movies to Watch Online and Download on Treasure Movies
Watch Movie The Jungle Book 2 (2003) Free Download - http://treasure-movie.com/the-jungle-book-2-2003/
The Jungle Book 2 (2003) Movie
The Jungle Book 2 (2003)
72 min|Adventure, Animation, Family|14 Feb 2003
5.3Rating: 5.3/10 from 10143 usersAwards: 1 win & 9 nominations.
Mowgli, missing the jungle and his old friends, runs away from the man village unaware of the danger he's in by going back to the wild.
Director: Steve Trenbirth
Creator: Karl Geurs (screenplay), Carter Crocker (additional written material), Evan Spiliotopoulos (additional written material), David Reynolds (additional written material), Roger S.H. Schulman (additional written material), Tom Rogers (additional written material)
Actors: John Goodman, Haley Joel Osment, Mae Whitman, Connor Funk
Even though this film was made over thirty years later, it is a sequel to the 1967 Disney flick, “The Jungle Book”, the last animated feature produced by Walt Disney himself, which was released the year after he died. I watched the 1967 film from beginning to end for perhaps the first time in January this year (I definitely saw at least SOME of it in my childhood, but I’m not sure exactly how much), and was not let down, as my review of it will tell you. It’s been nearly three months since then, and it’s taken me this long the get around to watching and reviewing this 2003 sequel, “The Jungle Book 2”, made after so many other animated features produced by the Disney company after the man’s death in 1966. I’ve seen several direct-to-video Disney sequels, most of which have been pretty bland, and this is a bland theatrical Disney sequel.
Mowgli now lives in the “man village” with adoptive parents and a younger stepbrother named Ranjan. He is good friends with Shanti, the girl who lured him out of the jungle and into this village. However, he misses the jungle and his old friend, Baloo, and the friendly bear happens to be missing him. Baloo manages to make his way to the village, escaping from the elephants who try to stop him. Mowgli is obviously glad to see him, but when Shanti sees the bear, she thinks he means harm and screams for help! Baloo runs back into the jungle with Mowgli on his shoulders, and Shanti thinks her friend has been kidnapped, so she follows them. Mowgli and his bear friend are now back together, while Shanti and Ranjan search through the jungle for the boy. Unfortunately, the evil Shere Khan is also looking for the jungle boy, seeking revenge on him! Another problem for Mowgli on this adventure is that he finds himself unsure of whether he wants to live in the jungle with Baloo or in the village with Shanti and his adoptive family.
A major problem with this sequel, one it didn’t take long at all for me to notice, is definitely the humour. The film starts with Mowgli in the village, and nothing here made me laugh or even smile. When we see the jungle animals in this film, it’s still not funny, even with the return of such characters as Baloo, Kaa, and the vultures. Sure, we have more of their antics here, but unlike before, they’re not funny. In fact, nothing in the entire film made me laugh or smile at all, even if I may have very seldom come close! Another complaint I have about this “Jungle Book” sequel is that the Ranjan character is too noisy! I guess this is supposed to be funny as well, but it’s not. Around the beginning, after Mowgli and Ranjan trick Shanti and make her fall in the water, she calls them, “Horrible, stinky boys!” What a cheesy line! Throughout the film, I did not find myself very interested in the plot (it may copy that of the original a little too much), and I think I had trouble following the “W-I-L-D” song because it was so uninteresting to me. There may be some mild suspense towards the end, and some parts later on may even be fairly poignant (or at least close to it), but these things are certainly not enough to make “The Jungle Book 2” worth watching.
The first sequel to an animated Disney feature was “The Rescuers Down Under” from 1990. That film was released in theatres, but most of the animated Disney sequels have been direct-to-video, starting with “The Return of Jafar”, the first of two sequels to 1992’s “Aladdin”. “The Jungle Book 2” was released the year after “Return to Never Land”, which I haven’t seen, but I know that it’s a sequel to the 1953 Disney feature, “Peter Pan”. Unlike most other Disney sequels, these two actually had a theatrical run, and I don’t know about the “Peter Pan” sequel (though it wouldn’t surprise me if I saw that it’s the same as most of them), but this “Jungle Book” sequel is just like another direct-to-video one and probably should have been just that. As one would expect, since this sequel was made decades after the original, the animation is more advanced here, but it’s so bland compared to its predecessor that I don’t really care. I’m not sure whether I should be giving this a 4 or a 5 out of 10, but neither of those are high ratings. 1967’s “The Jungle Book” is good animated family entertainment for many of those who want that, but this 2003 sequel might be just for kids.
0 notes
Text
New Movies to Watch Online and Download on Treasure Movies
Watch Movie Pauly Shore Is Dead (2003) Free Download - http://treasure-movie.com/pauly-shore-is-dead-2003/
Pauly Shore Is Dead (2003) Movie
Pauly Shore Is Dead (2003)
82 min|Comedy|1 Jan 2003
4.6Rating: 4.6/10 from 3804 usersAwards: 1 win.
Hollywood's Pauly Shore loses everything, fakes his own death, and gets caught!
Director: Pauly Shore
Creator: Kirk Fox, Pauly Shore
Actors: Ashley L. Anderson, Pamela Anderson, Camille Anderson, Beaumont Bacon
A narcissist is one who has excessive love or admiration of oneself. You’d think a person who writes, directs and stars in a movie about himself would fit that definition. But it’s the exact opposite.
“Pauly Shore Is Dead” is a satirical, self-deprecating (self-loathing?) autobiography by a man who was once on top of the world but now he’s flattened by it. The movie is mostly predictable, with silly gags and one-liners typical of the plastic 80s and early 90s partycoms we loved so much. Pauly stayed true to the genre that made him a hit.
But what I liked were the introspective moments peppered throughout, particularly toward the end, where we see that maybe Pauly could, in fact, be another Robin Williams or Adam Sandler… a typecast slapstick comedian who manages to break out of the mold and become a legitimate actor. The story is superficial, and if you choose to read between the lines–realizing that this movie itself is part of the autobiography–it’s a grand experience.
Dozens of great cameo appearances make this film a treat. From the opening scene with arrogant Charlie Sheen, to the clips of angry Ben Stiller, to the scene with penniless Gerardo rapping on the side of the road (remember “Rico Suave”?), to the bit with ditzy Paris Hilton or clueless Britney Spears (“Pauly Shore? Oh you mean the guy who was on MTV *before* I was born!”) there’s tons of comedic eye candy, especially for the 90s pop culture crowd. I think that’s the key to all the fun. You don’t necessarily need to be a Pauly fan in order to be entertained, as long as you recognize some of the big & upcoming stars of the late 90s.
“Pauly Shore Is Dead” is not a big budget production, so don’t expect polished Hollywood finesse. It seems like a lot was shot on digital cameras, giving it a cheap, homemade feel (deliberately?). The soundtrack is sorta cheezy (again, deliberately?) but with a few big hits like The Cars “Let the Good Times Roll”, a tune by Eminem, and ironically a tune by Limp Bizkit, whose singer appears in a cameo handing a demo cd to Pauly and subsequently getting into a fight, yelling “You’ll see! My band is going to make it big and we’ll never ask you to be in our video!” (the irony being that Pauly has appeared in several).
So brush up on your 90s pop culture, then pop this movie in & have a blast. Movies I would compare this to are “Best in Show” (or any of the excellent Christopher Guest mockumentaries, “Napoleon Dynamite”, and a weird, undiscovered dark comedy called “Circus Maximus “.
0 notes
Text
New Movies to Watch Online and Download on Treasure Movies
Watch Movie Biker Boyz (2003) Free Download - http://treasure-movie.com/biker-boyz-2003/
Biker Boyz (2003) Movie
Biker Boyz (2003)
110 min|Action, Drama|31 Jan 2003
4.5Rating: 4.5/10 from 10502 usersAwards: N/A
A son of the leader of a legendary group of an urban biker gang tries to retain his championship title.
Director: Reggie Rock Bythewood
Creator: Michael Gougis (article), Craig Fernandez, Reggie Rock Bythewood
Actors: Laurence Fishburne, Derek Luke, Orlando Jones, Djimon Hounsou
Kid is the son of Tariq aka “Slick Will”, engineer to Smoke, who is the leader of the Black Knights motorcycle group and a legend on the streets. When Tariq is killed in a motorcycle accident, Kid drops off the scene for six months but returns determined to become more than just a prospect. His ultimate aim is to challenge Smoke himself and make his mark by taking down the biggest dog there is but first he must go legit and set up his own motorcycle gang with friends Stuntman and Primo.
Opening with a really nice tracking shot (or series of shots, I’m not sure) this film had my interest early on but very quickly blew it. With an obvious and predictable establishing scene, the narrative arch is established and thus I began my weary trudge from start to finish, through countless music video scenes, unconvincing dialogue scenes and loads of motorcycles. It is very basic stuff and it never aspires to much. The characters are cut out of cardboard and the dialogue is awful, this might cut the mustard if the film was an out and out action film but it isn’t. Instead it is supposed to be a character driven film and thus it is a big problem for it to not have characters or convincing dialogue. Sadly it is a mess in regards the writing and plotting and only the forgiving will find the material worth two hours of their time.
The action is pretty weak. I didn’t think any of the races were exciting and although they are well done, all of them could have sorely used the emotions of the characters to feed into them. As it is the failure of the plot means that much of the film is lacking and feels rather pointless. Occasionally it hints at depth and humanity but the occasional spark is totally drowned out in a sea of noise. The music video goals of the film are met but personally I’m glad not to be in the demographic sector that is tricked into thinking that this makes for a good film.
The cast are mixed, containing people that I expected better from and people that deserve stuff like this. Fishburne may well have expected more from the film because at times you can see him reaching, sadly he cannot achieve the impossible and any glimmer of a good performance is swamped. Luke struggles from the start. He is pretty and charismatic here but he can’t deliver emotion and understanding that isn’t in the script and his narration is terrible. The support cast are roundly average with obvious performances from Jones, Hounsou, Fehr and others. Good is sexy but pretty vacant while I’m not sure why Bonet bothered to turn up for so little.
Overall then a fairly pointless film that shrugs off any character potential it may have had in favour of MTV visuals, clunky dialogue and mostly average performances at best. You can see the potential in the story but across several aspects the film fails to deliver this potential and just churns out a totally unnecessary film that doesn’t deserve any of your time.
0 notes
Text
New Movies to Watch Online and Download on Treasure Movies
Watch Movie The In-Laws (2003) Free Download - http://treasure-movie.com/the-in-laws-2003/
The In-Laws (2003) Movie
The In-Laws (2003)
98 min|Action, Comedy, Thriller|23 May 2003
5.7Rating: 5.7/10 from 13219 usersAwards: N/A
Right before his daughter's wedding, a mild-mannered foot doctor discovers that his new in-laws are international smugglers.
Director: Andrew Fleming
Creator: Andrew Bergman (screenplay), Nat Mauldin (screenplay), Ed Solomon (screenplay)
Actors: Michael Douglas, Michael Bodnar, Vladimir Radian, Robin Tunney
Didn’t work for me. Maybe the original spoiled it, but I’m not sure, because the two movies aren’t that congruent. What they have in common are a couple of broad traits. The fathers of an about-to-be-married couple are very different from one another. The more adventurous of the two gets the more recessive one involved in some outrageous caper. Everything ends well. And that’s about it.
The fathers are different characters from those played in the original, and that’s the first noticeable departure from what was a very successful comedic arrangement. If, in the earlier version, Peter Falk was a reasonable-sounding lunatic and Alan Arkin was a comfortable bourgeois, in this one Michael Douglas is an Errol-Flynn-like man of action and Albert Brooks is a neurotic mess. As in so many attempts at remakes, the winsome and amusing situations of the original are distorted for additional comic effect until they’re not funny at all, just silly. Imagine a remake of “Some Like It Hot,” in which the Tony Curtis figure is a no-neck steelworker and the Jack Lemon character is a genuine transexual.
I’m not exaggerrating in my description of the Douglas and Brooks roles. Falk couldn’t do anything right. He tries to start an airplane and the windshield wipers begin arcing. But Douglas, like Flynn, can do everything. He’s perfectly competent. He even turns deadly serious once in a while. Douglas is okay at comedy, as he’s shown in some other roles, his bird hunter in “Romancing the Stone” being the most relevant example, but Falk was an inspired lunatic and Douglas is simply not.
Brooks is closer to the original’s Alan Arkin, and his persona fits the requirements more neatly. He’s really good at projecting anxiety. But again, the anxiety seems to be inbred in him, rather than arising from the increasingly demonic circumstances he finds himself in. Poor Arkin was taken by the hand, along with the audience, and led into a loony bin, whereas Brooks is there almost from the beginning. It doesn’t seem to get worse for him as it goes along because it’s at its zenith as soon as it starts. It’s got nowhere to go.
That’s a weakness of the script, though, not the performances. The bizarre uphill quality of the original is at asymptote here. The two principles are set down in the lair of the villainous David Suchet (excellent) and they stay there. Most of the laughs developed out of this situation aren’t as funny as they might be. What I mean is, they’re kind of funny (both the podiatrist and the fetishist are, in a sense, “foot men”), but it’s the kind of humor you might find in a sitcom. And the laughs don’t come as quickly. The original hit you over the head with one gag after another, from the mark of Zorro to Senor Wences to black velvet paintings of tigers — pow, pow, pow. Here we get an extended scene of Brooks and Suchet in a jacuzzi, with Brooks wearing a bikini bathing suit. It’s amusing but it’s just not outrageous enough.
This one seems to owe too much to ordinary run-of-the-mill action flicks, of which there are thousands out there lining the shelves of Sam’s Blockbuster Video shops. My advice would be to rent an action movie or a great comedy like the original, rather than a failed attempt to combine the two.
0 notes