You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger

You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger, 2010
Director: Woody Allen
Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Naomi Watts, Josh Brolin


Stage: Home theatre


Tall Dark Stranger in short: Follows a pair of married couples, Alfie (Hopkins) and Helena (Jones), and their daughter Sally (Watts) and husband Roy (Brolin), as their passions, ambitions, and anxieties lead them into trouble and out of their minds. After Alfie leaves Helena to pursue his lost youth and a free-spirited call girl named Charmaine (Punch), Helena abandons rationality and surrenders her life to the loopy advice of a charlatan fortune teller. Unhappy in her marriage, Sally develops a crush on her handsome art gallery owner boss, Greg (Banderas), while Roy, a novelist nervously awaiting the response to his latest manuscript, becomes moonstruck over Dia (Pinto), a mystery woman who catches his gaze through a nearby window.


Preps: Hmmmm, amazing cast. And Woody Allen. Enough reasons for me to see it. Allen for sure. But don't know anything about it and I feel I don't need to :)



Reality: The title makes an ironic statement that is pursued throughout the movie. Showing the reality as it is, not ironed and stashed into some fancy cover paper or pictured as it is supposed to be.. no, this movie really shows the way things can ironically change. Narrator here plays an excellent role, as always in one of Allen's masterpieces. Was surprised, though, not seeing him side by side with the breathtaking cast. Watts and Brolin have the lead character role, that is played with and over and over torn apart - in every aspect of the relationship you can imagine. Passing through past and present in a way to show the viewer the roses from the start and the vinegar at the end of the relationship.. like maturing the flowers, the nourishment and obtaining all relationships in the movie seems a desperate deed. They all flee to the inevitable end. Consisted because of greed (the relationship between the father and the prostitute), doomed to fail. Abandoning your dreams.. leading to desperation and afterall, the end.
The mother, staying at the friend that nurtures her wildest imagination with future visions, taking money for telling her things she wanted to hear - well, that's pure life - so many people do it and so many more are addicted to this. You can get pretty emotional, watching the piece, as it will drive into your brain cells and stream through your veins. I wonder all the time about the things that happen. Stealing your "supposeably" dead friend's work just to make a breakthrough (and yes, irony again), when you find out he's not dead at all and that at some point you will be exposed to public humiliation because you stole the work (or wanted a better life you thought you deserved) - this story in perticular, goes deeply in the egocentrism of a man. Trying your whole life to make a breakthrough and to make it with someone else's work, because yours isn't good enough - this just makes up for the tragedy really happening here. And trying to get another chance with a man that seeks other human beings for the sake of not being left alone.. well, the tragic moments deepen with each moment of this movie.

A splendid artwork of Woody Allen, indeed. Showing real situations, real things that can happen to each individual. Very humorous and very tragical in the same moment. And a brilliant cast. Not a moment lost watching this movie. A strong recommendation.


My personal rating: 9,0 (again, a superb piece from Allen. Pure reality and irony. In its best and its vividness - not the way we like it, because it strikes you too real. But just because it's really real.



The stranger on IMDB
You will meet a tall dark stranger official sites

Wall Street 2 - Money never sleeps, 2010

Wall Street 2 - Money never sleeps, 2010
Director: Oliver Stone
Cast: Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf, Carey Mulligan, Josh Brolin


Stage: Home theatre, HD version


Wall Street in short: As the global economy teeters on the brink of disaster, a young Wall Street trader partners with disgraced former Wall Street corporate raider Gordon Gekko on a two-tiered mission: To alert the financial community to the coming doom, and to find out who was responsible for the death of the young trader's mentor.
Preps: I wanted to see the sequel badly ever since the first part. It inspired me into economy and I wanted to feel the broker's thoughts while bidding, selling, buying, and feel the taste of that much money. So, in my case, pretty expected piece that I hardly waited to get my hands upon. Let's see some Wall Street action..



Reality: What is to follow after the brainwash the first part of this movie offered? Absolutely brilliantly set (with many economical mistakes - as my professors claimed at the university and afterwards tried to explain to us, eager students), gave me the inspiration to study economy. It is rare that a movie gives inspiration to a certain profession. It definitely happened for instance in Top Gun, this is another good example of having a movie inspiring people to go to be brokers or at least, economists.

Therefore, the sequel draw my attention for several reasons. And one of the most important ones - to see Douglas in action again. This piece only proves that the man is made of steal. His energy will drive you like on a rollercoaster from the beginning to the steep ending. Broker world is closed for emotions and the people getting on its bus with feelings, tend to get broken along the way. The plot is quite easy to follow, again you are faced with numerous expressions, that are only used in this broker language world and that I am sure most people cannot follow. But you get the main idea how to create a distortion and scam someone.

The cast creates a good synergy - I would put someone else in the role of his daughter. The girl seems to be crying all the time and makes me wonder whether this was made on purpose. There aren't always scenes where she would be crying, although she seems as if on drugs each time she appears.
I absolutely adore the idea to connect the protagonists from the first part (Brolin - Douglas) and I cannot switch the movie off because it progresses all along the way. No time for picnic there, I cannot just go and fetch something from the fridge, I am curious about the next part all the time. Therefore, I strongly encourage future economists or the ones that wanted to be ones, to see this piece, as it will provoke inner spirit again and make you believe in this green entity that all of us are shutting our eyes from - money, but all of us need. But as said at the beginning, broker world, a.k.a. Wall Street, is no place for mushy feelings, mushy people. No place for emotions either. Roll down your sleeves and get into the game :)





My personal rating: 8,0 (made me nostalgic about the first movie and I absolutely love this economical đibrish - talking in words noone seems to understand).

Wall Street on IMDB

W., 2008

W., 2008
Director: Oliver Stone
Cast: Josh Brolin, Colin Hanks, Richard Dreyfuss



W. in short: A chronicle on the life and presidency of 'George W. Bush'


Stage: Home theatre

Preps: I knew it was a biography of W. Bush, and I didn't take the time to watch it. However, every now and then I just force myself into seeing some things I wanted to see a long time ago and are just standing in the queue.


Reality: Well, the movie surprises with constant switching from present into past. The past, starting with Bush joining the fraternity and later on upgrading from student parties to the governer or the president elections.
Obviously, Bush is here stated as the tragic hero - placing him in flesh and blood, showing his attitude towards alcohol and women. To be quite honest, the tragic hero image doesn't impact my veins, because I simply despise the character he's playing. I believe it to be a true farmer image and having a farmer attitude towards everything. When getting a job, he relies completely on his family, trying to throw away the intelligence he had in his DNA, with a negative attitude; and giving passes to women all around - finally settling up for Linda, who is admired by his family. Making decisions in the president's chambers - like seeing children with their toys. In this case, the toys seem to be powerful enough to destroy nations. All in the name of God. Or higher goals. Which never seem to be lying on the table, transparent to all.

The light motive for this in the background is making up to his father. Or chasing father figure's expectations, living up to them. And when failing them, humbly trying to rise again. Which in many occasions, doesn't happen quite the way W. expected.

The interesting part also for the viewer will be seeing the way strong issues are being handled. Like placing adults into a sandbox, discussing whether to take over Iran or not. Whether to raise an army to march into Afganistan. Like they would be discussing making a cheese omlet. Quite disgusting, I might add. How did such people come to these positions to be making these types of decisions.. and that makes me worried. We all are aware that presidents tend to be puppets in the hands of their elected chiefs of everything in the country, however the thing that should worry us more was, how did some of these people come to their positions and why don't we have a meter/critical border/line, where no person with such values or standards should pass. And yet they do.

A clean and "sort-of-emotional" produced movie. In terms of showing the background of a great name in politics - a true success. In terms of making me try to like/understand the Bush politics more - a great failure.


My personal rating: 6,5 (although I don't like his political views/actions and I don't really support them, I think the movie shows him as a flesh and blood person and gives the grounds to the viewer why he is the way he is and what is the background of his living before and after entering the politics)


W. on IMDB

W official site