Movie Recommendation of the Week: "Hick" (2011)

My Movie Recommendation of the Week:

 

Hick (2011)

Directed by Derick Martini

Starring: Chloe Grace Moretz, Blake Lively and Eddie Redmayne

 



"Small town teenager Luli (Chloe Grace Moretz) escapes to Las Vegas, leaving behind her alcoholic and abusive parents. Armed with her smarts, a pistol and pocket money, she hitchhikes her way west. Along the way, Luli crosses paths with Eddie (Eddie Redmayne), an unstable rebel with questionable motives and Glenda (Blake Lively), a cocaine-snorting drifter on the run. Adapted from the critically acclaimed novel by Andrea Portes, this powerful story pulls you into a provocative world of drugs, seduction and murder." (Phase 4 Films)

 



Movie Recommendation of the Week: "The Raid: Redemption" (2011)

My Movie Recommendation of the Week:

The Raid: Redemption (2011)

Directed by Gareth Evans

Starring: Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, Ananda George and Ray Sahetapy

"Deep in the heart of Jakarta's slums lies an impenetrable safe house for the world's most dangerous killers and gangsters. Until now, the rundown apartment block has been considered untouchable. Cloaked under the cover of pre-dawn darkness and silence, an elite SWAT team is tasked with raiding the safe house in order to take down the notorious drug lord that runs it. But when a chance encounter with a spotter blows their cover and news of their assault reaches the drug lord, they find themselves stranded on the 6th floor with no way out. The unit must fight their way through the city's worst to survive their mission."





Tony Scott, Director of 'Top Gun', Jumps to His Death

According to the L.A. County Coroner, director Tony Scott is dead after jumping to his death from the Vincent Thomas Bridge earlier today in Los Angeles.

Scott's car was found parked on one of the lanes and inside, a suicide note was found. Of course, the contents of the note have not been released.

The 68-year-old directed such films as Top Gun, The Hunger and Days of Thunder. His brother, Ridley Scott, is also a director who directed such films as Alien, Blade Runner and Gladiator.

Source: TMZ

Photo via Collider.com

Happy Birthday, Ben Affleck!

Today is Ben Affleck's 40th birthday and to celebrate his birthday, I'm going to list my top 5 favorite films that feature the actor.

#1: Dazed and Confused (1993)

#2: Chasing Amy (1997)

#3: Smokin' Aces (2006)

#4: Dogma (1999)

#5: 200 Cigarettes (1999)

Honorable Mentions:

Mallrats (1995)

School Ties (1992)

Good Will Hunting (1997)

Fun Fact: Affleck appears in an episode of Lifestories: Families in Crisis in 1994. He portrayed Aaron Henry in the episode A Body to Die For: The Aaron Henry Story which was about steroid use. You can check out a clip below: 



As much as I love Ben Affleck, I haven't been able to bring myself to watch Gigli (2003). Don't get me wrong, I have an urge to watch it just to see how bad it is, but I haven't been brave enough to do so yet. One day...maybe.





Happy Birthday, Steve Martin!

Today, Steve Martin turns 67 years young, so in honor of his birthday, I'm going to post five of his films that I believe are worth checking out.

#1: Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)

Planes, Trains & Automobiles would have to be my favorite Steve Martin film. John Candy as his co-star makes it even better because, in my eyes, both are comedy greats. I watch it around Thanksgiving every year and I highly recommend that anyone who hasn't seen it yet to get on it...you won't be disappointed. 

#2: Three Amigos! (1986)

#3: The Jerk (1979)

#4: Bowfinger (1999)

#5: My Blue Heaven (1990)

Honorable Mentions:

Roxanne (1987)

Parenthood (1989)

Father of the Bride 1 & 2 (1991 & 1995)

Bringing Down the House (2003)



If you've already seen the five films I listed, watch them again! If it's your first time watching any of them, enjoy!

Trailer for 'Zero Dark Thirty'

Sony Pictures has released the first official trailer for Zero Dark Thirty. Kathryn Bigelow directed the film with the script written by Mark Boal. The two previously worked together on The Hurt Locker.

From EW.com :

"Zero Dark Thirty will be an unusual film in that the climax of the story is already widely known and it’s the set-up that remains mysterious. Bin Laden was killed on May 2, 2011 by the U.S. Navy’s elite SEAL Team Six, but what remains largely unknown is the true backstory behind the raid, and how intelligence agencies and the military connected the dots that eventually brought them to that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan."

The film will make its way into theaters on December 19th.

Check out the teaser trailer below:

Movie Recommendation of the Week: "Targets" (1968)

My Movie Recommendation of the Week:

Targets (1968)

Directed by Peter Bogdanovich

Starring: Boris Karloff, Tim O'Kelly, Arthur Peterson and Nancy Hsueh

"TARGETS is a thrilling horror film that follows the story of Byron Orlok (Karloff), an aging horror film star who is contemplating his retirement. Meanwhile, Bobby Thompson (O’Kelly) is a seemingly mild-mannered husband and son whose obsession with firearms is his way of coping with his otherwise mundane life. But, when Thompson suddenly snaps and his harmless hobby turns into a dangerous reality, Los Angeles doesn’t know what hit it as Thompson unleashes undeserved fury upon innocent drivers on the L.A. freeway. And if that weren’t tragedy enough, things take a bigger turn for the worse when Orlok and Thompson’s paths cross as Orlok makes a special appearance at a drive-in theater where Thompson happens to be waiting with his arsenal." (Amazon)





Sight & Sound's Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time

Sight & Sound is a magazine that is published monthly by the British Film Institute. The magazine holds a poll for the Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time. The voters in the poll are an international group of film experts, 846 to be exact, that includes critics, programmers, academics and distributors. The magazine's poll is highly regarded and Roger Ebert has said that it's "the only one most serious movie people take seriously."

For the past 50 years, Orson Welles' Citizen Kane (1941) has sat at the #1 spot, but in the new poll, it now sits at #2 with Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958) claiming the top spot.

The Top 10:

Vertigo (1958)

Citizen Kane (1941)

Tokyo Story (1953)

La Regle du jeu (1939)

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

The Searchers (1956)

Man with a Movie Camera (1929)

The Passion of Joan of Arc (1927)

8 1/2 (1963)

You can check out the full list of the 50 Greatest Films of All Time HERE.

Source: NBCNews.com