Director Mike Clarke’s film could have easily worked its way in to a feature length adaptation, but on its own it’s a very fine and sweet drama. Director Mike Clarke is very adept at switching genres this time around, providing a very heartfelt and utterly interesting character drama that involves a disjointed family finding solace in life, before it runs out. Star Anthony Quinlan plays Thomas, a successful businessman whose spent his entire childhood with a dad that insisted he do nothing but work. Work was all that counted, and getting a good future is what mattered.
Tag Archives: Drama
Philomena (2013)
Stephen Frears’ drama about a woman touching down on her roots and seeking some sense of purpose is a sweet and simple dramedy that really reaches emotional lengths beyond its quaint story. Based on a true event, Steve Coogan is fantastic as a jaded and somewhat disgraced political journalist Martin Sixsmith who decides to leave his world in exchange for writing about Russian history. He’s approached by Jane, a waitress, at a party who offers him a chance to help her mother Philomena search for her long lost son. At first he’s put off by the idea of the search but soon sees it as his opportunity for a best seller.
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
One of the main aspects about “The Wolf of Wall Street” that I loved is that through and through Jordan Belfort is an unapologetic amoral hedonist. When we see him in the opening, right until the final moments of the film, he’s barely apologetic and really misses the days when he swam in money, women, and recreational drugs. Because deep down he felt be earned what he sewed, and right until his downfall, he loves the man he was. Deep down no matter how much he changes, he’s still the same Jordan Belfort, a man who is addicted to satisfying his base pleasures no matter who he hurts.
Out of the Furnace (2013)
Much of Scott Cooper’s revenge drama is based heavily around themes that set our characters down a path where they’re doomed from the moment we meet them. Harlan DeGroat, played Woody Harrelson who is terrifying in the role, is a man that stains everyone that he runs in to. And he becomes especially a stain on the pair of brothers, both of whom struggle to find some way out of their pitiful go nowhere lives. Everything in “Out of the Furnace”: leads right in to DeGroat, who isn’t just a villainous scum, but also revels in being a violent monster.
Boiler Room (2000)
It’s a shame to see a movie filled with so much talent all to add up to absolutely nothing. “Boiler Room” trots out a who’s who of really good actors, many of whom were in vogue performers that eventually got their due. I’m especially a fan of Nicky Katt. That said, “Boiler Room” is a crummy retread of “Glenngarry Glenn Ross” sans the plays on “Death of a Salesman.” Ben Affleck appears twice to give a really raucous and loud speech to perspective stock brokers, and really you can’t help but think that Alec Baldwin did it better.
Gravity (2013) [Blu-ray/DVD/UltraViolet]
While Alfonso Cuarón’s “Gravity” is assuredly a film that will split audiences down the middle as to what its intent is, I’d dare say it’s a film for both fractions of audiences. While it is a movie somewhat based on spiritual themes, it’s also a perfectly fine film that the secular audience that is more fascinated in character themes and the inherent conflict faced by Sandra Bullock’s character Dr. Stone.
Pacing the Cage (2014)
The moment Max Lyons steps out of prison and enters in to the world, not only is his life on the line, but his soul is too. He’s still a very weathered prisoner who is a victim to his drug addiction, and his grasp for a normal life is hopelessly out of his reach. Lyons is one of the many poor ex-convicts hanging on by a thread, and director E.B. Hughes’ crime drama about a man fighting for his soul is a brilliant take on what is typically a tired sub-genre of dramas.