10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

10 Things I Hate About You

It took only three things to like this movie. One was the version of Cheap Trick’s I Want You To Want Me by Letters to Cleo with the band playing on the roof. I don’t know how they got them up there but it was inspired. Please don’t tell me it was CGI. I like the idea of someone humping all that gear up there. Number two was the attempt to look cool riding away on his scooter by Michael Eckman (David Krumholtz). Unfortunately a car blocks his path and forces him off the cliff overlooking the football stadium, giving him the ride of his life. The last was Katarina ‘Kat’ Stratford (Julia Stiles) disdain for the attempts by Ms. Perky (Allison Janney) to get her to play a bigger role in high school activities.


Director:  Gil Junger
Writer:  Karen McCullah Lutz; Kirsten Smith; William Shakespeare
Cast:
Heath Ledger -  Patrick ‘Pat’ Verona
Julia Stiles -  Katarina ‘Kat’ Stratford
Joseph Gordon-Levitt -  Cameron James
Larisa Oleynik -  Bianca Stratford
David Krumholtz -  Michael Eckman
Andrew Keegan -  Joey Donner
Susan May Pratt -  Mandella
Gabrielle Union -  Chastity
Larry Miller -  Mr. Walter Stratford
Daryl ‘Chill’ Mitchell -  Mr. Morgan
Allison Janney -  Ms. Perky
David Leisure -  Mr. Chapin
Greg Jackson -  Scruvy
Kyle Cease -  Bogie Lowenstien
Tarance Houston -  Derek
Cameron Fraser -  Trevor









28 Days Later… (2002)

28 Days Later...

I’m a consumer. I like shopping for stuff. I like reading about stuff that’s coming (and wish it were here now for me to buy). I like to follow the evolution of stuff as it comes to market and see how the roll out of new stuff is accepted. I’ve got lots of stuff that never got that public acceptance it should have received. It sits right next to the stuff that did that is often replaced by the next gen stuff. I guess I’m the poster boy for consumerism. So this movie was a blow to my mad subconscious that regulates my buy, buy, buy fever. It shows a world where there won’t be any new books, movies, CDs and all manner of other toys that keeps me distracted from the real problems our world faces. And then Selena (Naomie Harris) has the gall to tell Jim (Cillian Murphy) essentially the same thing. I was bummed for a time until a buddy called to tell me what he discovered in his latest foray into the shops and I remembered this is just a movie.


Director:  Danny Boyle; Toby James
Writer:  Alex Garland
Cast:
Alex Palmer -  Activist
Bindu De Stoppani -  Activist
Jukka Hiltunen -  Activist
David Schneider -  Scientist
Cillian Murphy -  Jim
Toby Sedgwick -  Infected Priest
Naomie Harris -  Selena
Noah Huntley -  Mark
Christopher Dunne -  Jim’s Father
Emma Hitching -  Jim’s Mother
Alexander Delamere -  Mr. Bridges
Kim McGarrity -  Mr. Bridges’ Daughter
Brendan Gleeson -  Frank
Megan Burns -  Hannah
Justin Hackney -  Infected Kid
Luke Mably -  Private Clifton









28 Weeks Later (2007)

28 Weeks Later

Let’s suppose you are a solider in the military like Doyle (Jeremy Renner). Let’s also suppose you set to guard a group of civilians from insurgents intent on killing them like those infected by the Rage Virus (i.e. zombies on steroids). It seems like a fairly straightforward activity. Let’s now suppose that your commanding officer tells you that the barrier has been breached and orders you to shoot those who have broken through like the virally infected have her in this movie. Given the proper circumstances, I’d level my rifle and pop them once I had them in my scope. I imagine most would follow that order. Now suppose, the order came through to kill anything on the ground whether infected or not. Here is where I pause and examine my commitment to the situation. Particularly if I see a kid like Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton) or a doctor like Scarlet (Rose Byrne) through the rangefinder and I know neither one is infected. I might tap someone about to rip out their throat but Andy is just a kid who has been reunited with his dad after spending 28 weeks in a camp in Spain with his sister Tammy (Imogen Poots). Doyle feels much the same and decides that saving a life is better karma than taking one.


Director:  Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Writer:  Rowan Joffe; Juan Carlos Fresnadillo; Jesús Olmo; Enrique López Lavigne
Cast:
Catherine McCormack -  Alice
Robert Carlyle -  Don
Amanda Walker -  Sally
Shahid Ahmed -  Jacob
Garfield Morgan -  Geoff
Emily Beecham -  Karen
Beans El-Balawi -  Boy in Cottage
Jeremy Renner -  Doyle
Harold Perrineau -  Flynn
Rose Byrne -  Scarlet
Imogen Poots -  Tammy
Mackintosh Muggleton -  Andy
Meghan Popiel -  DLR Soldier
Idris Elba -  Stone
Stewart Alexander -  Military Officer
Philip Bulcock -  Senior Medical Officer









13 Going On 30 (2004)

13 Going On 30

Does anyone in your daily life really listen to what you have to say? Sometimes your family, sometimes your friends, sometimes your co-workers. But there are times when you just want to shake somebody and say listen, I’m talking and it is important. Jenna Rink (Jennifer Garner) goes through her day as a thirteen-year-old in a 30-year-old body but it takes a tween neighbour that Jenna meets in the elevator to suss out that she isn’t what she seems to be.


Director:  Gary Winick
Writer:  Josh Goldsmith; Cathy Yuspa; Susan Arnold; Gina Matthews; Donna Arkoff Roth
Cast:
Jennifer Garner -  Jenna Rink
Mark Ruffalo -  Matt Flamhaff
Judy Greer -  Lucy Wyman
Andy Serkis -  Richard Kneeland
Kathy Baker -  Bev Rink
Phil Reeves -  Wayne Rink
Samuel Ball -  Alex Carlson
Marcia DeBonis -  Arlene
Christa B. Allen -  Young Jenna
Sean Marquette -  Young Matt
Kiersten Warren -  Trish Sackett
Joe Grifasi -  Mr. Flamhaff
Mary Pat Gleason -  Mrs. Flamhaff
Susan Egan -  Tracy Hansen
Lynn Collins -  Wendy
Renee Olstead -  Becky









200 Cigarettes (1999)

200 Cigarettes

We can forgive some people for almost anything. Their efforts, albeit awkward, are so endearing that it only brings a smile to our face. Watching Cindy (Kate Hudson) falling off the curb into the dog shit, dropping her purse, breaking the light over the pool table, smearing lipstick on her dress, knocking over the food and water in the Indian restaurant all contribute to her charm. It’s obvious that the camera loves her and so will anyone seeing her performance.


Director:  Risa Bramon Garcia
Writer:  Shana Larsen
Cast:
Ben Affleck -  Bartender
Casey Affleck -  Tom
Dave Chappelle -  Disco Cabbie
Guillermo Díaz -  Dave
Angela Featherstone -  Caitlyn
Janeanne Garofalo -  Ellie
Gaby Hoffmann -  Stephie
Kate Hudson -  Cindy
Catherine Kellner -  Hillary
Courtney Love -  Lucy
Brian McCardie -  Eric
Jay Mohr -  Jack
Nicole Parker -  Bridget
Martha Plimpton -  Monica
Christina Ricci -  Val
Paul Rudd -  Kevin









16 Blocks (2006)

16 Blocks

Some days it just doesn’t pay to get out of bed. All you want to do is your job, check out and go home. But sometimes you find yourself in a time and place that allows you to become more than you’ve become. Jack Mosley (Bruce Willis) is in the wrong place at the wrong time. Eddie Bunker (Mos Def) is a witness against some bad cops and his courthouse driver gets caught in traffic. Frank Nugent (David Morse) comes by the bar where they are recuperating after one attempt on Eddie’s life and starts in on persuading Frank to give up the witness. About to kill Eddie, Frank kneecaps the shooter and thereby declares which side he’s on.


Director:  Richard Donner
Writer:  Richard Wenk
Cast:
Bruce Willis -  Jack Mosley
Mos Def -  Eddie Bunker
David Morse -  Frank Nugent
Jenna Stern -  Diane Mosley
Casey Sander -  Captain Gruber
Cylk Cozart -  Jimmy Mulvey
David Zayas -  Robert Torres
Robert Racki -  Jerry Shue
Patrick Garrow -  Touhey
Steve Nuke -  FBI Agent
Sasha Roiz -  Kaller
Conrad Pla -  Ortiz
Hechter Ubarry -  Maldonado
Richard Fitzpatrick -  Deputy Commissioner Wagner
Peter McRobbie -  Mike Sheehan
Mike Keenan -  Ray Fitzpatrick









.45 (2006)

.45

You want to change your life. You find yourself stuck in the one you’re living now and you see that there is something better available to you. But your partner is happy with the way things are and any change to the stability is seen as a threat. You know that walking away will only bring pain and violence. You’ve tried it and all you got were broken bones and bruises which you tell friends came from an accident. How do you make a stand and not get hurt? The authorities won’t listen, the judicial system hasn’t got much but paper remedies. How do you plan a getaway? For Kat (Milla Jovovich) it starts with friends Vic (Sarah Strange) and Liz (Aisha Taylor) who provide the moral support in Kat’s struggle to slip away from her drug-dealing boyfriend Big Al (Angus Macfadyen). There is even an offer to take up a collection to get him whacked.


Director:  Gary Lennon
Writer:  Gary Lennon
Cast:
Milla Jovovich -  Kate
Angus MacFadyen -  Big Al
Stephen Dorff -  Reilly
Aisha Tyler -  Liz
Sarah Strange -  Vic
Vincent Laresca -  Jose
Dawn Greenhalgh -  Fran
Shawn Campbell -  Original Owner
Tim Eddis -  Cop #2
Kay Hawtrey -  Marge
Suresh John -  Thief
Tony Munch -  Clancy









30 Days of Night (2007)

30 Days of Night

What would you sacrifice to save the life of a loved one? An arm? Your house? A neighbour? Yourself? That is the choice Sheriff Eben Oleson (Josh Hartnett) feels he must make to save his brother Jake (Mark Rendall) and his wife Stella (Melissa George) and two friends from a marauding band of vampires that move around like they’re on meth. The band appears to be intent on wiping out the town and they are not fussy about how they rip and tear folks to pieces. Any survivors are holed up in buildings hoping to eke out their lives until the 30 days pass and sunrise comes again to their Alaskan town. When the vamps fire up the town, Eben knows he has only one choice to provide the others with a chance to tell those returning from the south that it wasn’t an accident or natural disaster that burned the town to the snowline. But it isn’t a choice that has an upside. I don’t know if I’d have that kind of courage. I’d like to think I do but I wouldn’t want to test my mettle until faced with having to actually do it.


Director:  David Slade
Writer:  Steve Niles; Stuart Beattie; Brian Nelson; Ben Templesmith
Cast:
Josh Hartnett -  Sheriff Eben Oleson
Melissa George -  Stella Oleson
Danny Huston -  Marlow
Ben Foster -  The Stranger
Mark Boone Junior -  Beau Brower
Mark Rendall -  Jake Oleson
Amber Sainsbury -  Denise
Manu Bennett -  Deputy Billy Kitka
Megan Franich -  Iris
Joel Tobeck -  Doug Hertz
Elizabeth Hawthorne -  Lucy Ikos
Nathaniel Lees -  Carter Davies
Craig Hall -  Wilson Bulosan
Chic Littlewood -  Issac Bulosan
Peter Feeney -  John Riis
Min Windle -  Ally Riis









1408 (2007)

1408

I’ve been to many book store signings. Some are good and a lot of people turn out. They are appreciative of the commentary by the writer and go away feeling that the time was well spent. The author is pleased that it went so well and sometimes even looks forward to their next stop on the tour. But sometimes you get one like that experienced by Mike Enslin (John Cusack) who arrives for the signing, gets a cursory greeting by the store staff, has a handful of people asking the regular sickening questions and watches them drift off into the night, hoping they get lost in traffic. But authors look forward to those rare attendees like that of the young lady at the signing (Alexandra Silber) who found a copy of Mike’s first book on eBay, doesn’t buy his new book and tells him how much the novel meant to her. It may be poignant moment but it remains with the author to enjoy once again when that usual question repeats at his next tour stop.


Director:  Mikael Håfström
Writer:  Matt Greenberg; Scott Alexander; Larry Karaszewski; Stephen King
Cast:
John Cusack -  Mike Enslin
Samuel L. Jackson -  Gerald Olin
Mary McCormack -  Lily Enslin
Tony Shalhoub -  Sam Farrell
Jasmine Jessica Anthony -  Katie
Len Cariou -  Father
Isiah Whitlock Jr. -  Engineer
Paul Birchard -  Mr. Innkeeper
Margot Leicester -  Mrs. Innkeeper
Walter Lewis -  Cashier
Eric Meyers -  Man One at Book Signing
David Nicholson -  Man Two at Book Signing
Holly Hayes -  Lady at Book Signing
Alexandra Silber -  Young Woman at Book Signing
Johann Urb -  Surfer Dude
Andrew Lee Potts -  Mailbox Guy