Main Cast And Crew Stars: Miranda July, Hamish Linklater, David Warshofsky,Isabella Acres,
Joe Putterlik,Angela Trimbur, Mary Passeri,Kathleen Gati,Clement von Franckenstein Director: Miranda July Writer: Miranda July Production Co: GNK Productions, Haut et Court, Match Factory, Genre:Drama Runtime:1 hour 31 minutes Release Date: July 29th, 2011 USA
Studio: Roadside Attractions Rating: NR Country: Germany | USA Language: English Release Date: 17 August 2011 (France) Filming Locations: Los Angeles, California, USA
Storyline:
When a couple decides to adopt a stray cat their perspective on life changes radically, literally altering the course of time and space and testing their faith in each other and themselves.
Movie Info:
Sophie (Miranda July) and Jason (Hamish Linklater) live in a small LA apartment, have jobs they hate, and in one month they'll adopt a sick cat who will need around-the-clock care. Terrified of their looming loss of freedom, they quit their jobs, disconnect their Internet, and set out to pursue their modest dreams. But as the month slips away, the two find themselves living in two starkly different realities. Sophie and Jason must reunite with time, space and their own souls in order to reconnect. Using elements of magical realism-a talking cat who narrates his own sad tale, a living t-shirt, and a strangely familiar Moon-the film bravely creates its own universe. With pathos and humor, it invites us to recognize the bitter sweetness of this very moment.
Main Cast And Crew Starring:Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Liam Cunningham, David Wilmot, Rory Keenan Director:John Michael McDonagh Writer:John Michael McDonagh Produced by: Martin McDonagh, Don Cheadle, Lenore Zerman, Ralph Kamp, Tim Smith, Paul Brett, David Nash. Production Co: Reprisal Films, Element Pictures, Crescendo Productions Studio:Element Pictures Genre:Thriller Runtime: Germany: 96 min Country: Ireland Language: English | Gaelic Release Date: 29 July 2011 (USA) Also Known As: L'Irlandais Filming Locations: Barna, County Galway, Ireland
Storyline:
Sergeant Gerry Boyle is a small-town Irish cop with a confrontational personality, a subversive sense of humor, a dying mother, a fondness for prostitutes, and absolutely no interest whatsoever in the international cocaine-smuggling ring that has brought straight-laced FBI agent Wendell Everett to his door.
Movie Plot Summary:
THE GUARD is a comedic, fish out of water tale of murder, blackmail, drug trafficking and rural police corruption, and the two cops who must join forces to take on an international drug-smuggling gang, an unorthodox Irish policeman and a straitlaced F.B.I.agent.
Cynical and crass, Sergeant Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson) is an eccentric small-town cop with a confrontational personality and a subversive sense of humor. A longtime policeman in County Galway, Boyle is a bit of a maverick with his own moral code, not always above the law but certainly with its own high standards. He has seen enough of the world to know there isn’t much to it and has had plenty of time to think about it.
Boyle takes nothing and no one seriously, but when a fellow police officer disappears and the small town Boyle patrols becomes an important location in the greater scheme of things, he is forced to at least feign interest when dealing with the humorless F.B.I. agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) assigned to the case. Left to run his territory to his liking for many years, he is not at all impressed when the F.B.I. comes to town.
Agent Everett has led an American life of privilege, complete with the highest levels of formal education. Consumed with his pursuit of justice, Everett has no interest in Connemara other than as a backdrop to solve the case. He underestimates the townspeople, especially Sergeant Boyle. Everett looks down on Boyle as a provincial low level cop with a limited view of the world who doesn’t take anything seriously. Boyle doesn’t have any higher appreciation for Everett, who he sees as a by the book cop with a chip on his shoulder and no understanding of how the real world runs.
However, despite the fact that Boyle seems more interested in mocking and undermining Everett than in actively working to solve the case, Boyle finds that circumstances keep pulling him back into the thick of it. First his tiresomely enthusiastic new partner disappears, then his favorite hooker attempts to blackmail him into turning a blind eye, and finally the drug-traffickers themselves try to buy him off as they have every other member of the local police force.
These events unwittingly offend Boyle's murky moral code. He realizes that he needs to take matters into his own hands, and the only person he can trust is Everett. And so the scene is set for an unlikely friendship and explosive finale.
THE GUARD stars Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Liam Cunningham, David Wilmot, Rory Keenan, Mark Strong, Fionnula Flanagan, Dominique McElligott, Sarah Greene and Katarina Cas. Shot by Larry Smith against the epic grandeur of Ireland, the scenery juxtaposes with the inventive soundtrack from Americana/alternative country band Calexico. Written by John Michael McDonagh (Ned Kelly), THE GUARD marks McDonagh’s feature directorial debut. The film is produced by Chris Clark, Flora Fernandez Marengo, Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe; Executive produced by Martin McDonagh, Don Cheadle, Lenore Zerman, Ralph Kamp, Tim Smith, Paul Brett, David Nash.
Reviews: Funny, entertaining, but flawed. 8 July 2011 | by Fatboydim (Ireland)
I saw this movie in Galway at the film Fleadh. Dit it entertain me? Absolutely. Would I buy it on DVD / Blu Ray ? Another yes. Funnier than The Hangover [1st film] In my opinion yes. However just like that film you have to decide very early on to suspend your disbelief and just go along for the ride.
I feel a little for John Michael McDonagh as he will no doubt always walk in the shadow of his brother. Which is a burden most writer / directors do not have to deal with. Already an early reviewer has compared it to In Bruges. I think I gave In Bruges a ten star rating. This has an eight. In Bruges - as extraordinary as it was - had a whiff of truth about it and the danger in the movie was real. Here the action is so cartoon that it generates no tension at all, and you never really fear for the characters. Of course Gleeson is in both movies and in my opinion give a much better performance in In Bruges. . Here he is just having fun. Who can blame him... The characters in The Guard are drawn with very broad brush strokes, and lack any kind of subtlety. The sub-plot involving Fionnula Flanagan feels bolted on and slows the movie down. It's intended to show the main character has a softer side, but you can get that through the thrust of the main story, and the elements are there to take advantage of this. Simple things that could have been done to add a little more realism and heart to the movie that would have generated greater emotion, depth of feeling, tension, jeopardy and ultimately bigger laughs.
At the Q & A afterward it was suggested the script was written in 13 days. Clearly that was just a first draft - but I do think subsequent drafts were not worked hard enough. As sometimes there isn't enough breathing space between the jokes... so the bigger gags / situations don't build in the way they should. Or a moment of compassion is lost because a laugh comes rolling on top of it due to a cheap gag.In that respect it feels to me as if the writer / director is still learning pace and rhythm. It's very common in comedy where a writer doesn't want to lose what he feels is a good gag - but sometimes you have to cut gag A in order to get a bigger laugh on gag B. A stronger script editor on the film could have made all the difference.
So all in all it is a bravo. I very much enjoyed the movie. I do expect John Michael McDonagh to go on to bigger and better things and I wish the movie great success. After all 8/10 is a great score.
Main Cast And Crew Starring: Dominic Cooper, Ludivine Sagnier, Raad Rawi, Mem Ferda, Dar Salim Director:Lee Tamahori Writer:Michael Thomas, Latif Yahia Studio:Lionsgate Genre:Action, Biography, Drama Release Date:July 29th, 2011 Language: English Country: Belgium Filming Locations: Radisson Blu Golden Bay Resort and Spa, Golden Bay, Malta
Movie Plot Summary:
Based on a gripping, unbelievable true story of money, power and opulent decadence, Lionsgate's THE DEVIL'S DOUBLE takes a white-knuckle ride deep into the lawless playground of excess and violence known as Bagdad, 1987. Summoned from the frontline to Saddam Hussein's palace, Iraqi army lieutenant Latif Yahia (Dominic Cooper) is thrust into the highest echelons of the royal family when he's ordered to become the 'fiday' - or body double - to Saddam's son, the notorious Black Prince Uday Hussein (also Dominic Cooper), a reckless, sadistic party-boy with a rabid hunger for sex and brutality. With his and his family's lives at stake, Latif must surrender his former self forever as he learns to walk, talk and act like Uday. But nothing could have prepared him for the horror of the Black Prince's psychotic, drug-addled life of fast cars, easy women and impulsive violence. With one wrong move costing him his life, Latif forges an intimate bond with Sarrab (Ludivine Sangier), Uday's seductive mistress who's haunted by her own secrets. But as war looms with Kuwait and Uday's depraved gangster regime threatens to destroy them all, Latif realizes that escape from the devil's den will only come at the highest possible cost.
Movie Story:
Bagdad, the playground for the rich and infamous, where anything can be bought - but for a price. This is Uday Hussein's world and with his depraved lust for debauchery and immorality, he helps himself to whatever turns him on. When army lieutenant Latif Yahia, is summoned to Saddam's palace, he is faced with an impossible request - to be Uday's 'fiday' - his body double, or have his family condemned to death. In a world entrenched in betrayal and corruption knowing who to trust becomes a matter of life or death for Latif, as he battles to escape from his forced existence.
