IMAGINARY HEROES is an engrossing, if somewhat bleak, look at a typical American family that is devastated when the oldest son, a star swimmer, takes his own life. The reactions of his siblings range from extreme grief (the parents) to a somewhat apathetic acceptance (his brother and sister). Dan Harris' script takes some unexpected turns, and somehow seem a little "cheap" by the end, but nonetheless, he has crafted a sturdy tale of emotional ambivalance. His talented cast also helps: Emile Hirsch as the brother whose own sexual confusion and feelings of unacceptance come to surface; Sigourney Weaver as his upbeat mother who tries to establish some kind of communication with her family; Jeff Daniels is superb as the father whose obsessive love has underlying motivations. Not always easy to watch, IMAGINARY HEROES joins films like ORDINARY PEOPLE in trying to show the devastative impact of suicide.
Stunning
Imaginary Heroes is a tough drama with some funny parts. It has great acting from an equally great cast. The story is solid and real. An awesome movie for a day when you want something serious.
My fast forward button got the ultimate workout!
I happen to like slow-paced movies (Barry Lyndon, Once Upon A Time In The West) but found Imaginary Heroes unfocused and aimless. I can imagine the pitch echoing around the studio's corner offices: It's going to be American Beauty meets Virgin Suicides meets Royal Tenenbaums! Hip young director! We can't miss, guys! Regrettably, while talented actors gamely tackle Big Dramatic Scene after Big Dramatic Scene, this project misses by miles. At least viewing I.H. on DVD enables one to bring the proceedings to a rapid conclusion. To Mr. Harris: Nice try, kid.
Four extremely beautiful people do extremely horrible things to one another in Closer, Mike Nichols' pungent adaptation of Patrick Marber's play that easily marks the Oscar-winning director's best work in years. Anna (Julia Roberts) is a photographer who specializes in portraits of strangers; Dan (Jude Law) is an obituary writer struggling to become a novelist; Alice (Natalie Portman) is an American stripper freshly arrived in London after a bad relationship; and Larry (Clive Owen) is a dermatologist who finds love under the most unlikely of circumstances. When their paths cross it's a dizzying supernova of emotions, as Nichols and Marber adroitly construct various scenes out of their lives that pair them again and again in various permutations of passion, heartbreak, anger,... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Mike Nichols DVD Release Date: Released the 29 March 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Movie studios, by and large, avoid controversial subjects like race the way you might avoid a hive of angry bees. So it's remarkable that Crash even got made; that it's a rich, intelligent, and moving exploration of the interlocking lives of a dozen Los Angeles residents--black, white, latino, Asian, and Persian--is downright amazing. A politically nervous district attorney (Brendan Fraser) and his high-strung wife (Sandra Bullock, biting into a welcome change of pace from Miss Congeniality) get car-jacked by an oddly sociological pair of young black men (Larenz Tate and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges); a rich black T.V. director (Terrence Howard) and his wife (Thandie Newton) get pulled over by a white racist cop (Matt Dillon) and his reluctant partner (Ryan Phillipe); a... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Paul Haggis DVD Release Date: Released the 06 September 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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As a bleak and chilling mood piece, The Machinist gets under your skin and stays there. Christian Bale threw himself into the title role with such devotion that he shed an alarming 63 pounds to play Trevor Reznik (talk about "starving artist"!), a factory worker who hasn't slept in a year. He's haunted by some mysterious occurrence that turned him into a paranoid husk, sleepwalking a fine line between harsh reality and nightmare fantasy--a state of mind that leaves him looking disturbingly gaunt and skeletal in appearance. (It's no exaggeration to say that Bale resembles a Holocaust survivor from vintage Nazi-camp liberation newsreels.) In a cinematic territory far removed from his 1998 romantic comedy Next Stop Wonderland, director Brad Anderson orchestrates a grimy,... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Christian Bale - Jennifer Jason Leigh - Aitana Sánchez-Gijón Director(s): Brad Anderson (II) DVD Release Date: Released the 07 June 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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From Hollywood's legendary Cocoanut Grove to the pioneering conquest of the wild blue yonder, Martin Scorsese's The Aviator celebrates old-school filmmaking at its finest. We say "old school" only because Scorsese's love of golden-age Hollywood is evident in his approach to his subject--Howard Hughes in his prime (played by Leonardo DiCaprio in his)--and especially in his technical mastery of the medium reflecting his love for classical filmmaking of the studio era. Even when he's using state-of-the-art digital trickery for the film's exciting flight scenes (including one of the most spectacular crashes ever filmed), Scorsese's meticulous attention to art direction... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Leonardo DiCaprio - Cate Blanchett - Kate Beckinsale Director(s): Martin Scorsese DVD Release Date: Released the 24 May 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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As directed by Jonathan Glazer (Sexy Beast) and dimly lit by cinematographer Harris Savides, Birth is a melancholy chamber piece, its pensive mood sustained by nearly sub-sonic nuances in a fine, thematically developed score by Alexandre Desplat. All of these fine qualities are well-matched by the somber performance of Nicole Kidman, playing a still-grieving widow of 10 years, about to remarry when a 10-year-old boy (Cameron Bright) arrives to announce that he is her dead husband, reincarnated and full of convincing answers to personal marital questions. Rather than go for Sixth Sense-like chills and thrills, Glazer approaches Birth as a conundrum with no clear-cut solution, and his directorial style is so subdued, so deliberately understated, that most of the... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Nicole Kidman - Cameron Bright - Lauren Bacall Director(s): Jonathan Glazer DVD Release Date: Released the 19 April 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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From Hollywood's legendary Cocoanut Grove to the pioneering conquest of the wild blue yonder, Martin Scorsese's The Aviator celebrates old-school filmmaking at its finest. We say "old school" only because Scorsese's love of golden-age Hollywood is evident in his approach to his subject--Howard Hughes in his prime (played by Leonardo DiCaprio in his)--and especially in his technical mastery of the medium reflecting his love for classical filmmaking of the studio era. Even when he's using state-of-the-art digital trickery for the film's exciting flight scenes (including one of the most spectacular crashes ever filmed), Scorsese's meticulous attention to art direction...