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The Last Castle - (2001)
Anybody remember Brubaker? Well, Robert Redford was back at it in 2001, cleaning up another dirty prison - this time as a convicted general going head to head with a military prison's warden (played by James Gandolfini.) I have to admit I enjoyed this immensely. Under the surface there are a number of problems with The Last Castle, especially in regard to it's over-the-top finish, but I felt all the buttons were expertly pushed and I got carried away the way I sometimes do with the familiar prison movie tropes. If you enjoy those films in general then you'll enjoy The Last Castle, where a bunch of court-martialed malcontents (including one played by Mark Ruffalo) go up against a murderous commandant in a literal all out war. (Just never mind the plot-holes, and don't expect anything too intellectual - and mind that this was a box office flop which received middling reviews.) Really like this one.
7/10
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I Am Sam - (2001)
Tropic Thunder - that scene in it is all I can think about when approaching I Am Sam. Anyway, I got curious, especially about Sean Penn's performance as someone with a severe intellectual disability, who nonetheless fathers a daughter and then loses her when she turns 7 and she's taken by protective services. It's a performance that isn't subtle, but he's extremely likeable so the film works for the most part. Sam manages to get himself a lawyer (played in a ruffled manner by Michelle Pfeiffer) and fight for his kid. Dakota Fanning launched her career as the young child (Lucy) in this, but she comes off just a little creepy to me - acting like an adult in the face of Penn's child-like antics. If you're at all cynical, don't go near this film - if you think you might be able to buy it, you might be surprised and like it. It was criticized as being too manipulative and trying to convince us that Sam should get to raise his daughter - but in my eyes it didn't go for that exactly, and all films try to manipulate. I felt for the character, but conceded that he couldn't do the job without serious help and I felt the film was saying that also - that the issue was complex, and neither side were all right and all wrong. I've stayed well away from this film for 20 years because of what the critics were saying when it came out - but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting.
6.5/10
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28 Days Later - (2002)
Watching this apocalyptic film about a pandemic while in the midst of a bona-fide pandemic is a little eerie, especially when the docos (made years ago) in the special features talk about how it's possible a global pandemic might come along one day and kill millions of people. Instead of bats and cats at a market in China it's chimps in a lab in England that manage to pass on a virus to humans that enrage them and sent them on murderous sprees. Nobody got to tell Jim (Cillian Murphy) who was unconscious in hospital when the whole world went away. Now he wanders around a deserted London, eventually teaming up with a young Naomi Harris and others while fighting the infected. Eventually they're captured by somewhat dishonorable British military men intent on starting over (an excuse to rape the females in the group) and must use their wits to survive both the infected and non-infected who want to harm them. After Trainspotting and The Beach Danny Boyle really showed he had great range as a director with this.
8/10
I quite like Splinter. It was a random watch for me when it first came out, and it was a really pleasant surprise. I thought the actors were all really solid.
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We miss you Takoma
We miss you Takoma
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