Green Zone – Did it really happen that way?
Green Zone – Did it really happen that way?
Rated: PG-13 Time: 1:53
Stars: Matt Damon, Amy Ryan, Greg Kinnear, Antoni Carone, Nicoye Banks, Bijan Daneshmand, Jerry Della Salla, Jason Isaacs, Brendon Gleeson, Igal Naor and others
Final Grade: B+
Chief Warrant Officer, Roy Miller (Damon), is regular army. He’s there to do his job, do the right thing and get out. The problem is, the orders he’s being given to do and what he’s finding when he gets to his target destinations just aren’t making any sense. Miller and his squad are specialists in the recovery and disposal of military chemical and biological weapon (CBW) agents as well as other weapons of mass destruction. The things we were told were all over Iraq, prior to the latest invasion.
Miller is starting to seriously doubt the credibility of the intelligence reports he and his squad are operating from when all of their targets end up as total donuts or as in the case of one empty building where the closest thing to a biological weapon was a couple years of pigeon droppings.
When Miller questions the veracity of the sources in a public meeting he’s quickly stifled and told to do his job.
His path soon crosses with Wall Street Journal reporter Lawrie Dayne(Ryan) who’s been fighting the white house and army officials for direct access to a classified source who’s information they’ve been feeding her prior to the invasion theoretically documenting mass quantities of CBW agents in Iraq. She’s seeing all the soldiers coming up empty in their explorations and is getting concerned that all along she’s been a media stooge to the white house and military war propaganda machine.
Joining the foray is CIA agent Martin Brown (Gleeson) who is also concerned that the soldiers are coming up empty in their hunts for weapons of mass destruction and enlists Miller’s help in finding the root causes.
Miller’s squad and escapades continue, pitting him against the Iraqi army, US Army, special forces and CIA. It’s an interesting case of cat and mouse while they hunt for a former Iraqi general while dodging their own forces as the quest for truth and cover up continues in the very fluid days after the invasion of Iraq.
What they find, even though the movie is fiction, will have you sitting back saying “this makes all the sense in the world.”
This is an action packed movie two hours of intrigue, spy versus spy, good versus bad and all in the middle of the heat of war. It doesn’t stop until then end when only one person is left knowing what really happened, leaving you wondering if it really happened that way.
I’m Don Rima, and that’s the way I saw it, From Where I Stand.
Remember Me – Bring life’s priorities back to reality
Remember Me – Bring life’s priorities back to reality
Rated: PG-13 Time: 1:53
Stars: Robert Pattinson, Emilie de Ragin, Chris Cooper, Lena Olin, Tate Ellington, Pierce Brosnan , and others
Final Grade: B+
Our film opens in 1991. An 11 year old Ally Craig (Ragin) and her mother are waiting for their train on a New York subway platform when two hoods rob and murder the mother. Just where is Bernie Getz when you need him?
We fast forward 10 years. A little voice in the back of my head sent up a blurb that this sounds like I’m headed for something about 9/11 and the twin towers. I filed it for further reference. The voice would be right.
Tyler Hawkins (Pattinson) has overslept. Leaving his evenings conquest sleeping in his bed, he rushed off to a memorial service for his dead brother. Hawkins is the son of prominent industrialist Charles Hawkins (Brosnan) who has been at odds with his father ever since his older brother committed suicide some years before. At the memorial service we’re introduced to their feud and that the elder Hawkins would appear to be putting business before family, which lead to his divorce and later his sons death.
Tyler it would appear is undecided about everything except women, beer and his hate for his father. He’s drifting through school auditing classes, and drifting through women as fast as he finishes his next beer. This trend changes after he’s roughed up one by a NYPD cop (Cooper) while defending some strangers who are attacked when he’s leaving a bar. Come to find out, the officer’s daughter is in a class with him. So his roommate suggests he get back at the cop through his daughter, Ally (Ravin) .
As you can predict, the fun and romance buds and blooms. Much to Tyler’s unanticipated expectation, he falls for Ally which really causes a problem when she learns later that their relationship was predicated on a ruse to get back at her father. But, as with any good romance flick, things patch up.
In the mean time, Tyler’s budding artist little sister has her debut public show. Even thought her father promises to be there, he isn’t. This throws Tyler into a rage. Taking one of her drawings he charges into his father’s board room, with meeting in full session. The two lash out at each other in a public family feud.
The feud actually yields positive results as in the morning the father shows up to take the daughter to school, something that’s not happened in a long time. While Tyler waits for his father’s return to his office, the movie comes to an end.
Even thought your mind tells you what’s going to happen, it’s a real punch in the gutt when it does. And for those that know or were directly impacted by the twin towers events, it’s a sudden an painful flashback that leaves you wondering why the masterminds of this cowardly event are still at large.
The movie is a good one. The family dynamics are real, not only on this screen but in many family lives. The movie calls us back to re-evaluate our lives, priorities and the impacts that we have on others in a way that will bring you brutally back to reality and reviewing what your true priorities should be.
I’m Don Rima, and that’s the way I saw it, From Where I Stand.
Alice in Wonderland – The Return to Wonderland
Alice in Wonderland – The Return to Wonderland
Rated: PG Time: 1:49
Stars: Mia Wasikowska, Matt Lucas, Johnny Depp, Michael Sheen, Christopher Lee, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, and others
Final Grade: B-
The latest adaptation of Lewis Caroll’s Alice in Wonderland adventures debuted this weekend in Tim Burton’s film of the same name.
Alice (Wasikowska) is now 19 and in the process of being proposed to by some totally clueless wimp in British aristocracy. For some strange reason, Alice literally puts the whole world on hold waiting for her response to his marriage proposal while she chases a rabbit with a time piece down the hedgerows and falls down his rabbit hole and into Wonderland.
Alas, all is a tizzy in Wonderland. The Mad Hatter (Depp) and his friends are concerned that the rabbit has brought back the wrong Alice and in general life is running amok. The Red Queen(Carter) and the White Queen(Hathaway – complete with trademark banner red lipstick), even thought they’re sisters, have created a huge divide in the kingdom to which the scrolls of prophecy have predicted that Alice will return to cure and in the process slaying the dreaded Jabberwock dragon of the Red Queen. Soon, the Hatter, Alice, Rabbit, Cheshire Cat and the rest of Wonderland and involved in plotting the demise of the evil Red Queen and her henchman knight. The story climaxes as the two sides take positions on the chessboard and the battle rages.
Even though this is clearly a kid’s story, there’s a huge part that’s more calibrated for adults than kids. The storyline keeps the interesting going at a good pace and you don’t fall asleep in this one.
The 3-D production graphics are cool, and the characters are done well for a kids level mind. It was interesting to find a fat mellow Blue Caterpillar sucking on a hookah water pipe making me wonder just was in that cooker and the Cheshire Cat was as cool as a cat can be.
For kids of all ages, this is a story with a heroine who slays the dragon, versus the brave knight, but the message of the hero coming to the rescue and all’s well that ends well at the end is very clear, as well as the message that kids should make their own decisions rather than letting others make major decisions for them. That kids can grow up to be whatever they want to be. And, that’s a good message today’s kids.
Alice is rated PG for a good reason, it’s really not for younger kids that may not understand the violence and war scenes, beheading the dragon or the way the Red Queen treats the peasantry or how she uses animals to play golf with.
I’m Don Rima, and that’s the way I saw it, From Where I Stand.
