The Company Men – Starring Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper & Kevin Costner

The Company Men (2010) Starring Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper and Kevin Costner, written and directed by John Wells.  Given the title and the cast, one could think that The Company Men was sharp, gritty film about the CIA and its operatives.  And one would be wrong.  In fact The Company Men is a drama about upper echelon corporate American men, of various ages, all from the same global firm, and how they deal with losing their jobs.  Of course, The Company Men could have been about that same subject and been sharp and gritty as well, and it is not, and it’s unfortunate that, with such a cast, the opportunity was missed.  Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper and Kevin Costner do well with the poor script, especially Jones.  Ben Affleck’s portrayal, on the other hand, leaves very much to be desired.  However, with such poor writing and banal directing, let’s not judge the cast too severely. (PR)

See our posts on the films The Town and State of Play, starring Ben Affleck, and the films The Fugitive, In the Valley of Elah, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada and No Country for Old Men, starring Tommy Lee Jones.

We recommend that you buy your DVDs and Blu-ray Disks.  Have a great personal film library..  Here are links to amazon.com (Amazon Instant Video, DVDs, and Blu-ray Disks, in that order, when available):

top image: Wikipedia

nothingisinvisible@live.fr

The Fugitive – Starring Harrison Ford & Tommy Lee Jones

The Fugitive (1993)  Directed by Andrew Davis (Under Siege (1992), Collateral Damage (2002)), starring Harrison Ford (Witness (1985), The Devil’s Own (1997), Cowboys & Aliens (2011), and many more) and Tommy Lee Jones (Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980), JFK (1991), The Sunset Limited (2011)).  In this iconic thriller, brimming with action, Harrison Ford is excellent as fugitive falsely convicted murderer Dr. Richard Kimble and Tommy Lee Jones is superb as the hard, determined Deputy Marshall Samuel Gerard, a portrayal for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, whose task it is to track the equally determined Dr. Kimble.  Andrew Davis’ directing is tight and sharp, maintaining an exquisite level of tension throughout the film, aided by excellent special effects and highly effective music by James Newton Howard.  The supporting cast is without fault, including Julianne Moore, in a small role as an emergency room doctor.  If you haven’t seen The Fugitive, see it, and if you have seen the film, see it again.  It’s really that good. (PR)

See our posts on the film Extraordinary Measures with Harrison Ford, and the films In the Valley of Elah and No Country for Old Men, starring Tommy Lee Jones, and the film The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, directed by, and starring, Tommy Lee Jones.  Also see our post on the film Chloe, starring Julianne Moore.

We recommend that you buy your DVDs and Blu-ray Disks.  Have a great personal film library..  Here are links to amazon.com for Amazon Instant Video, DVDs and Blu-ray Disks (in that order when available):

top image: Wikipedia

nothingisinvisible@live.fr

Love in the Time of Cholera – Starring Javier Bardem

Love in the Time of Cholera (2007)  Directed by Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Donnie Brasco (1997), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2006)), starring Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men (2007), Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), Biutiful (2010), Eat Pray Love (2010)), Benjamin Bratt (Traffic (2000)), Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Fernanda Montenegro and others.  The film, Love in the Time of Cholera, is, of course, based on the eponymous novel (1985) by the Nobel-prize-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, whose 100 Years of Solitude (1967) introduced so many to the wonders of Magic Realism.  In his novel, Love in the Time of Cholera, however, Garcia Marquez has toned down the fantastical elements (a bit) and has opted for a treatise on the many forms and mysteries of love, from the brute fugue to the capital L, and yet his writing is no less superb, inspired and, yes, magical.  Unfortunately, Mike Newell’s film, Love in the Time of Cholera, despite a commendable effort by the enormously talented actor Javier Bardem, and sumptuous locations, is a leaden thing, a series of scenes missing all the essential life at the heart of Garcia Marquez’ magnificent novel. Yes, and all the magic.(PR)

See our post on the film No Country for Old Men, starring Javier Bardem.

We recommend that you buy your DVDs and Blu-ray Disks.  Have a wonderful personal film library..  Here are links to amazon.com:

top image: Wikipedia

nothingisinvisible@live.fr

American Gangster – Starring Russell Crowe & Denzel Washington

American Gangster (2007)(DVD) Directed by Ridley Scott (Blade Runner (1982), Thelma & Louise (1991), Gladiator (2000), Robin Hood (2010)), starring Russell Crowe (A Beautiful Mind (2001), State of Play (2009)) and Denzel Washington (Glory (1989), Training Day (2001), Inside Man (2006)), with Josh Brolin (In the Valley of Elah (2007), No Country for Old Men (2007), Milk (2008), Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)), Ruby Dee (A Raisin in the Sun (1961), Do the Right Thing (1989)), John Hawkes (excellent in Winter’s Bone (2009)), Cuba Gooding Jr. (As Good as It Gets (1997), Pearl Harbor (2001)) and others.  A crime drama, based loosely on the life of Frank Lucas, a large-scale Harlem drug dealer in the late 1960s and early 70s.  Aside from questions of historical veracity, after all the film is not a documentary, American Gangster is a consummate work:  The acting is excellent on the part of virtually all the cast, Ridley Scott’s directing is superb, the care taken in the set and context design is close to perfect, the writing is sharp, the music apt.  The screenplay, written by Stephen Zaillian, after many workings over by others, fascinates in its details and in its counterpoint between good, evil, morality, family and isolation, temptation and determination.  American Gangster is an excellent film that merits watching, and owning, and is all the more interesting in repeat viewings. (PR)

See our posts on State of Play, with Russell Crowe, In the Valley of Elah, No Country for Old Men, and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps with Josh Brolin, Winter’s Bone with John Hawkes and As Good as It Gets with Cuba Gooding Jr.

We recommend that you buy your DVDs and Blu-ray Disks.  Create a great personal film library..  Here are links to amazon.com:

top image: Wikipedia

nothingisinvisible@live.fr

In the Valley of Elah – Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron & Susan Sarandon

In the Valley of Elah (2007)(DVD)  Written and directed by Paul Haggis (as screenwriter, Million Dollar Baby (2004), Flags of Our Fathers (2006), Letters from Iwo Jima (2006), Casino Royale (2006), Quantum of Solace (2008)), starring Tommy Lee Jones (The Fugitive (1993), The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005), No Country for Old Men (2007) and many others), Charlize Theron (Monster (2003), North Country (2005), Hancock (2008), The Burning Plain (2009), The Road (2009)), Susan Sarandon (The Witches of Eastwick (1987), Thelma & Louise (1991), The Lovely Bones (2009), Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)), Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men (2007), W. (2008), Milk (2008), True Grit (2010)) and others.  In the Valley of Elah, a somber, complex and powerful film, portrays a veteran and father’s search for the murderers of his soldier son, and deals with issues such as the war in Iraq, post-traumatic stress disorder, racism, misogyny, and violence.  Tommy Lee Jones is excellent, rigid, harsh, cold, determined, Charlize Theron, as a police detective, is equally good, sober, human, perseverant, overwhelmed.  Susan Sarandon, in a smaller role, as the wife of Jones’s character and mother of the murdered soldier is very good, detached, distraught, lost; Josh Brolin, in a very small role as Theron’s character’s police superior, is, if briefly, perfect.  In the Valley of Elah is not an easy film, and includes some graphic, gruesome scenes in its portrait of alienated, morally lost Americans. (PR)

See our posts on the films The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada and No Country for Old Men, with Tommy Lee Jones, and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, with Susan Sarandon.

We recommend that you buy your DVDs and Blu-ray Disks.  Have a great personal film library..  Here are links to amazon.com:

top image:  Wikipedia

nothingisinvisible@live.fr