Flimmaker's reviews

Batman Begins: ****

This is my second viewing of this film. I am trying to get myself pumped up for the Dark Knight rises which comes out this weekend.

After watching this I remembered just how underrated Batman Begins is. It is just as good as the Dark Knight. Yet it was overshadowed due to Heath Ledger's performance as the joker.

As a child, Bruce Wayne falls into an abandoned well filled with bats, causing him to develop a phobia, and later witnesses his parents' murder at the hands of mugger Joe Chill, leaving him to be raised by the family's butler Alfred Pennyworth. Years later, Chill is granted parole in exchange for agreeing to testify against crime boss Carmine Falcone.

Bruce, now a young man (Christian Bale), goes to the courthouse intending to shoot Chill, but one of Falcone's assassins does so first. Bruce confides in his childhood friend Rachel Dawes, now a Gotham City assistant district attorney, who is disgusted by Bruce's desire for vengeance. Bruce leaves Gotham to learn the ways of the criminal underworld, in hopes of learning skills that will allow him to return to Gotham and free it from the crime and corruption that threaten to consume it. In a Bhutanese prison, he meets Ducard , who offers to train him as a ninja of the League of Shadows led by Ra's al Ghul (Liam Neeson). As he completes his training, Bruce learns of the League's true intentions: to liberate Gotham from the evils that plague it by destroying the city. He burns down the League's temple, killing Ra's in the process, while saving the life of Ducard.

Bruce returns to Gotham. While publicly posing as a reckless playboy, he takes an interest in his family's company, Wayne Enterprises, a technology and defense conglomerate run by the unscrupulous CEO William Earle, who intends to take the company public. Bruce meets Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), who introduces him to several of Wayne's experimental prototype technologies, including an armored car and protective bodysuit, which Bruce uses to form his crime-fighting persona, Batman. As Batman, Bruce intercepts an illegal drug shipment, empowering Sgt. Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) and the Gotham police to arrest the previously untouchable Falcone. Meanwhile, a Wayne Enterprises cargo ship is raided and an experimental weapon is stolen, a "Microwave Emitter" that uses microwaves to vaporize an enemy's water supply.

Back in Gotham, Falcone and his henchmen are declared mentally unfit for trial and transferred to Arkham Asylum by the corrupt Dr. Jonathan Crane (Cillian Murphy), who had been using Falcone to import a dangerous hallucinogenic drug that causes severe psychosis. Crane exposes Falcone to the toxin while wearing a burlap mask, driving Falcone mad with fear of the "Scarecrow." While investigating Crane, Batman is also exposed to the drug and is rescued by Alfred and given an antidote by Fox. Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes) goes to Arkham, where Crane reveals that he has been dumping the toxin into Gotham's water supply before dosing her with it. She is rescued by Batman, who exposes Crane to the toxin and interrogates him. Crane reveals that the toxin is harmless in liquid form and only dangerous if inhaled. Batman inoculates Rachel and gives her two vials of the antidote, one for Sgt. Gordon and one for mass production.

This is the film that brought Batman back into the lime light. And we can thank Christopher Nolan for that. He is able to please the hardcore batman fans and the fans of actions movies with this film.

Batman begins along with it's sequel The Dark Knight, Spiderman 2, Iron Man, and the Avengers have set the standard for what superhero films should be. The amount of action, suspense, and even a little depth.

I can hardly wait until the Dark Knight rises. It is currently at a 86% on Rotten Tomatoes. If it is half the movie that Batman Begins is, then I will be happy.

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Going 18600 miles per second.

You can count on me: ****


You can count on me is one of those simple films that simply overachieves. It takes simple characters and simple situations and makes them touching and entertaining. Everything about this movie seems so real. Family life can be difficult in situations where you are the only parent and both our your parents are gone. Many people have this issue in their real lives. What You can count me does is take that and depict it in a very realistic way.

As children, Sammy and Terry Prescott lost their parents to a car accident. Years later, Sammy (Laura Linney), a single mother and lending officer at a bank, still lives in her childhood home in Scottsville, New York, while Terry (Mark Ruffalo) has drifted around the country, scraping by and getting in and out of trouble.

After months of no communication with his sister, Terry is desperate for money, so he comes to visit her and her son Rudy (Rory Culkin) who are excited about reuniting with him. Sammy lends him the money, which he mails back to his girlfriend. After the girlfriend attempts suicide, he decides to extend his stay with his sister, which she welcomes.

For a school writing assignment, Rudy imagines his unknown father as a fantastic hero. Sammy only gives him vague descriptions of the truth while Terry lets his feelings be known about Rudy Sr.'s abandonment. Sammy rekindles a relationship with an old boyfriend, but is surprised when he proposes to her after a short time. She needs time to consider it.

At the bank, Brian (Matthew Broderick), the new manager, tries to make his mark with unusual demands about computer color schemes and daily timesheets. He is particularly tough on Sammy, requesting that she make arrangements for someone else to pick up her son from the school bus rather than leaving work. After some minor arguments, they end up having an affair, despite Brian's wife being six months pregnant.

Mark Ruffalo is a very underrated actor. His performance as this stoner is a great one. He brings a redeeming quality to this burn out. We see that Terry has pretty much abandoned all hope and is just a drifter. Laura Linney's performance as Samantha is just as if not more impressive. She embodies this woman who takes whatever life throws at her.

What I liked about this film is that I feel like I could go to some small town and meet these people. And that is a very big compliment to the movie. It never tried to hard. It stuck to it's guns. It is quite and nice. And that is one of it's biggest assets. This is a storyline that can hard to cover. And I don't think they could have done a better job.

Sometimes the simple approach is the way to go. Sometimes it works. It worked here. And it just a beautiful human story.

Zodiac:****


Zodiac is based on a real life investigation of a serial killer who was never caught. Why was he never caught? Not enough evidence. Though some cops do think they know who it is. There is not enough evidence to arrest the man.

Director David Fincher, screenwriter James Vanderbilt, and producer Brad Fisher spent 18 months conducting their own investigation. They used to create a gripping, horror filmish tale.

The film opens on July 4, 1969, with the Zodiac killer’s second attack, the shooting of Darlene Ferrin (Ciara Hughes) and Mike Mageau (Lee Norris) at a lovers' lane in Vallejo, California. Mageau survives while Ferrin dies from her injuries.

One month later, a letter written by the Zodiac arrives at the San Francisco Chronicle. Paul Avery (Robert Downey, Jr.) is a Chronicle crime reporter. Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a political cartoonist there. The newspaper receives encrypted letters that the killer sends, taunting the police. Because of Graysmith's status as a cartoonist, he is not taken seriously by Avery and the editors and is excluded from the initial details about the killings despite his interest in the case. In particular, he is drawn to the encrypted code that is included with the letters and is given access to one. When he is able to crack one of the codes and makes several correct guesses about the killer's actions, Avery begins sharing information with him. While at a bar together drinking Aqua Velvas, which Avery initially makes fun of Graysmith for, they discuss the coded letters.

The Zodiac killer attacks again, stabbing Bryan Hartnell (Patrick Scott Lewis) and Cecelia Shepard (Pell James) at Lake Berryessa in Napa County. Shepard dies as a result of the attack, while Hartnell survives. Soon afterward, San Francisco taxicab driver Paul Stine is shot and killed in the city's Presidio Heights district. San Francisco police detectives Dave Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) and his partner Bill Armstrong (Anthony Edwards) are assigned to the case, liaising with other detectives such as Jack Mulanax (Elias Koteas) in Vallejo and Ken Narlow (Donal Logue) in Napa. The killer, or someone posing as him, continues to toy with authorities by speaking on the phone with celebrity lawyer Melvin Belli (Brian Cox) when he makes an appearance on a television talk show. Avery and Graysmith form an alliance, delving deeper into the case.

David Fincher is the king of griping and disturbing movies. He has put that in all his films like Fight Club, Seven, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Panic Room for examples. In this film he knows he is dealing with a real life story. Something that he conducted his own investigation on. He is able to give us a glimpse of what it must have been like for the people who were involved in this case.

The film is two and half hours. But somehow continues to be gripping. All the actors do a superb job. It was just amazing to look at them. I just felt like I was following the people these actors were playing.

Did the guy that was the number one suspect do it? In the end there I don't think there is enough evidence to convict him of this crime. Since we rather have a guilty man on the street than an innocent man in jail everything will remain the same.

The Dark Knight Rises: ***


Batman is a hell of a super hero. No super powers. Just strength, wits and some cool gadgets. I have seen every single Batman movie. I have different versions of this character. I have seen different directors different takes. None more different than Christoper Nolan's take on Gotham's greatest hero.

We are introduced to Bane (Tom Hardy) In a very interesting way. The scene is action filled and sets the tone for what kind of villain Bane is. Meanwhile Meanwhile we see Harvey Dent's funeral. James Gordon (Gary Oldman) wants to say what really happened. But he feels it isn't time.


Batman (Christian Bale) has been gone for eight years has the movie starts. We all know he took the fall for Harvey Dent's death. This also means that Bruce Wayne has been living in solitude for years too. The city sees the Dark Knight more as a villain rather than the hero he really is. He feels as if the city doesn't need him anymore.

He gets a visit from a lady named Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway). She is wearing something that belongs to him that she stole. She isn't just Selina Kyle. She is Catwoman.

There is a a new officer on the force too. John Blake (Joesph Gordon Levitt). He seems strangely intrigued by the Batman. He ends up revealing his past later and a connection to Batman. Blake and everyone thinks Gotham is okay. But Gordon knows it isn't. He just doesn't know what is brewing.

Bane has a plan. A plan that could leaves the whole city of Gotham in ruins. Bane is just an average villain. He isn't terrorizing. But he is tough and complex And Tom Hardy did his hardest to show that. We don't really know at first why Bane is doing what he is doing. Or what makes him tick. Bane also gets just as much screen time as Batman does.

Joesph Gordon Levitt really stood out in this film. He stole every scene he was in. Michael Caine as Alfred was great despite limited screen time. And Morgan Freeman as the genius inventor Lucius Fox delivered.

With all this the first half of the film is a chore. You see these characters all go into different directions. But the second half makes it worth the while. But I do wonder where Bane imprisons Batman.

This like the other Nolan Batman films are dark and heavy. Maybe more so. It goes full steam ahead on what a superhero movie is. It is inspiring and admirable that Nolan is able to combine anarchy, total destruction and a new Batman flying device all together and no 3D gimmick. The movie could have benefited from being more straightforward and also a better villain. But as finales go it is a proper send off to one of my favorite superheros.

Brokeback Mountain: ****


Brokeback mountain on the surface is a joke between people. Two gay cow boys. There is a Family Guy joke in there somewhere. Even that failed Friends spinoff Joey made a joke about it.

But Brokeback mountain is a film that beautifully shows the relationships of two men who are in the closet. Never has this issue been discussed in this way before. And done this way before too.

In 1963, Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) are hired by Joe Aguirre (Randy Quaid) to herd his sheep through the summer in Wyoming. After a night of heavy drinking, Jack makes a sexual pass at Ennis, who is initially apprehensive but then succumbs to Jack's advances. Although he warns Jack that it was a one-time incident, they develop a sexual and emotional relationship. Shortly after learning their summer together is being cut short, they briefly fight, and each is bloodied.

After Jack and Ennis part ways, Ennis marries his longtime fiancée Alma Beers (Michelle Williams) and fathers two children. Jack returns the next summer, but Aguirre, who witnessed Jack and Ennis on the mountain, does not re-hire him. Jack meets, marries and starts a family with rodeo rider Lureen Newsome (Anne Hathaway). After four years, Jack visits Ennis. Upon meeting the two kiss passionately, which Alma accidentally witnesses. Jack broaches the subject of creating a life together on a small ranch, but Ennis, haunted by a childhood memory of the torture and murder of a man suspected of homosexual behavior, refuses. He is also unwilling to abandon his family. Ennis and Jack continue to meet for infrequent fishing trips.

The marriages of both men deteriorate. Alma and Ennis eventually divorce. Ennis sees his family regularly until Alma finally reveals her knowledge of the nature of his relationship with Jack and has a violent argument with Ennis in which she makes homophobic remarks about Jack. Ennis subsequently severs his ties with Alma. Lureen abandons her rodeo days and becomes a businesswoman with her father and expects Jack to work in sales. Hearing about Ennis's divorce, Jack drives to Wyoming hoping they can live together, but Ennis refuses to move away from his children. Jack finds solace with male prostitutes in Mexico. Ennis meets and has a brief romantic relationship with a waitress, Cassie Cartwright (Linda Cardellini). Jack and Lureen meet and befriend another couple, Randall and Lashawn Malone, and it is implied that Jack and Randall begin an affair behind their wives' backs.

Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhall provide great performances. They are able show these mens struggles with their double lives without deeming it all. It was really great acting.

Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway also gave great performances. As the ex wife and wife to these men they both had to show a sense of doubt over who their husbands really were.

Everything is done so subtly, it feels as if this was based on a true story and not a work of fiction.

So before you continue to make your brokeback mountain jokes. Why don't you give it a watch? You will end seeing that great films can have gay main characters too.

Whip it:*** and a half

I used to roller stake and roller blade. It was for fun. I did go to a few roller skating rinks when I was in summer camp though. Those were fun. We saw who had speed and who didn't. Who had balance and who didn't. I had both speed and balance. I wonder sometimes if I missed my calling.

Drew Barrymore's Whip is a tale a young lady who doesn't know where to go in life. But gets smitten by roller staking. It is a story about finding your calling.

Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page) is a misfit in the small town of Bodeen, Texas, with no sense of direction in her life. Her mother, Brooke (Marcia Gay Harden), a former beauty queen, pushes her to enter beauty pageants despite her lack of interest. Bliss and her best friend, Pash (Alia Shawkat), dream of escaping. Pash plans to attend an Ivy League school in a big city, but Bliss is uncertain as to what she wants for her future. During a shopping trip to Austin with her mother, Bliss encounters three roller derby team members. Intrigued, she and Pash attend a roller derby bout under the pretense of going to a football game, where they see the Holy Rollers defeat the Hurl Scouts, a perennially unsuccessful derby team. Bliss tells the Hurl Scouts that they are "her new heroes" and is suddenly drawn to the idea of being a roller derby skater herself when one of the Hurl Scouts, Maggie Mayhem (Kristen Wiig) replies, "Well, put some skates on. Be your own hero."

Returning to Austin, Bliss lies about her age and tries out for the Hurl Scouts, discovering her natural skating abilities in the process. After realizing she needs to be ruthless in roller derby, Bliss sees she needs to take charge in other aspects of her life, revealed through various subplots. One involves Bliss' love interest, a lanky young rock guitarist and singer named Oliver (Landon Pigg) whom she meets via her exposure to roller derby. They enjoy a whirlwhind romance and an underwater lovemaking session before Oliver leaves for a tour, taking a T-shirt Bliss gave him to remember her by. She later finds a picture of him at a gig with another girl, who is wearing her t-shirt. She breaks up with him following his return, although he vehemently denies that anything happened.

Another sub-plot examines Bliss' relationship with her parents, a loving but controlling mother and an amiable but clueless father (Daniel Stern) who seldom opposes his wife's parental decisions. Although, eventually, Bliss' father convinces her mother to let Bliss out of a pageant (which is at the same time) and convinces the Hurl Scouts to come get Bliss for the bout. Various other sub-plots include her relationship with Pash, and confrontations with a stuck up snob at school.

The roller skating scenes are done extremely well. You can sense the competitive nature of the game. Ellen Paige is a great actress. She always displays range. This film is no exception. She shows her vulnerability as a young girl who seems lost. And her confidence when she fins her passion.

Drew Barrymore's first foray into directing is a successful one. She is able to create a fun film that also separates it from a Disney Channel Original movie.

Whip it is Drew Barrymore and Ellen Paige getting together to create something that is fun and free. It may not be a women empowerment film a few thought it would be. But it has balls, charm, and is sweet until the end.

Attack the Block:*** and a half

Attack the Block pays tribute to all those classics alien invasion films. Adding a bit of comedy in there as well it is goes through the normal steps of a film in that genre so well that I am sure ten years from now it will be considered a cult classic.

Walking home on Bonfire Night, nurse Sam (Jodie Whittaker) is mugged in Brixton by a small gang of teenagers: Pest (Alex Esmail), Dennis (Franz Drameh), Jerome (Leeon Jones), Biggz (Simon Howard), and leader Moses (John Boyega). The attack is interrupted when an object falls from the sky into a nearby car, giving Sam the chance to escape. As Moses searches the car for valuables he is attacked by a small creature; the object which fell from the sky. Together, the gang chase and kill the creature. Hoping to gain fame and profit they take it to drug dealer Ron (Nick Frost) to gain advice.

Moses asks Ron and his boss, Hi-Hatz (Jumayn Hunter), to keep the creature in their fortified "weed room" while he decides how to proceed. More objects begin to fall from the sky. Eager to fight more of the creatures, the gang arm themselves and go to the nearest crash site. They find new, larger aliens with huge claws and multiple rows of luminescent fangs. Fleeing the aliens, the gang are intercepted by the police and Moses is arrested, identified as a mugger by Sam. The aliens kill the police and attack their van, leaving Sam and Moses trapped inside. Dennis reaches the vehicle and drives the van away, only to crash the van into Hi-Hatz's car. Sam runs away while the rest of Moses' gang catch up and confront Hi-Hatz. Enraged about his car, Hi-Hatz threatens them with a gun, refusing to believe their story of aliens - until his henchman is attacked by one, allowing the gang to escape.

The gang attempts to flee to the Block, their council estate, but are attacked en route by the aliens, forcing Biggz to hide in a rubbish container and mauling Pest's leg. They discover Sam lives in their building, force their way into her flat, and persuade her to treat Pest's leg. An alien bursts in and Moses kills it. Sam reasons it is safer to stay with the gang than on her own and joins them. The gang move upstairs to the flat of some neighbourhood girls believing their security gate will keep them safe. The aliens instead attack from outside, smashing through the window and killing Dennis. As one alien is about to kill Moses, Sam stabs it through the head, saving him.

The girls note that the aliens went straight for Moses and kick the gang out, believing them to be the focus of the creatures. In the hall, they are attacked by Hi-Hatz and more henchmen. The gang escapes while an alien pursues Hi-Hatz and his henchmen into a lift. Hi-Hatz kills the alien, though his henchmen perish, and continues his search for Moses. Making their way upstairs to Ron's weed room, the gang again encounter aliens. Using fireworks as distractions, they get by, but Jerome becomes disoriented in the smoke and is killed by an alien. Entering Ron's flat they find that Hi-Hatz is already there. Hi-Hatz prepares to shoot Moses but hordes of aliens smash through the window and kill him. Moses, Pest and Sam, joined by Ron's weed customer Brewis (Luke Treadaway), retreat into the weed room while Ron hides in the flat.

Biggz, still trapped in the bin by an awaiting alien, is saved by Probs and Mayhem, two children, using a water-gun filled with petrol and a flame to torch the creature. In the weed room, Brewis notices a luminescent liquid on Moses' jacket under the ultraviolet light. Brewis theorises that the alien which Moses killed was a female, and left a pheromone on him that the aliens have been tracking. The gang form a plan for Sam, who has not been stained with the pheromone, to go to Moses' flat and turn on the gas oven. Before she leaves, Moses forces Pest to return the ring they stole from her, feeling guilty for having mugged her.

Attack the block's success really stems from the performances given. John Boyega in particular. He shows amazing character development in Moses. He takes him from being this punk kid. To being a sensitive hero. That is quite phenomenal. All the characters go through some sort of change.

The aliens were clearly cheaply made. However they still worked. It was still creepy. It did it's job. It made us feel they were actually going through an alien invasion.

I love these types of films. Usually the same storyline. But the great ones are able to take it, make it their own and it becomes something wonderful. And that is what Attack the Block did.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides:**

The Pirates of the Caribbean film series has been a fun one. The first three films are ones that I liked very much. Exciting and fun. And who doesn't love Jack Sparrow? Here in the fourth installment of the series they try it again this time differently. Gone are Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley who wisely said they felt their characters have been explored as far as they could be.

Pirates of the Caribbean on stranger tides lacks something the first three films had. It is really just too much. Though there are a few positives that I will get into.

After a failed attempt to rescue his first mate, Joshamee Gibbs (Kevin McNally) in London, Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) is brought before King George II (Richard Griffiths), who wants Jack to guide an expedition to the Fountain of Youth before the Spanish locate it. Heading the expedition is Jack's old nemesis, Captain Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), now a privateer in service to the Royal Navy after losing his leg and ship, the Black Pearl.

Jack escapes, but his father, Captain Teague (Keith Richards), finds him and warns Jack about the Fountain's tests. He also reveals that someone is impersonating Jack. The impostor is Angelica (Penélope Cruz), Jack's former lover and daughter of the ruthless pirate Blackbeard (Ian McShane), who practices voodoo magic and wields a magical sword that controls his ship.

Jack is taken aboard Blackbeard's ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge, and forced to lead the way to the Fountain and find two silver chalices that once belonged to Juan Ponce de León, both believed to be aboard his lost ship. The Fountain's water must be drunk simultaneously from the two chalices. The person drinking from the chalice containing a mermaid's tear has their life extended, while the other person dies, their life drained from their body and their remaining years 'donated' to the other. Meanwhile, Gibbs, having memorized and destroyed Jack's map, barters with Barbossa to guide him to the Fountain.

Blackbeard seeks the Fountain's power to circumvent his predestined fatal encounter with "a one-legged man,"(Barbossa) and sets a course for Whitecap Bay. There they are attacked by a vicious horde of mermaids, but Blackbeard captures one (Ŕstrid Bergčs-Frisbey). Philip Swift (Sam Claflin), a captive missionary, falls in love with the mermaid and names her Syrena. Blackbeard then sends Jack to retrieve the chalices from de León's ship.

And trust me a lot more happens. A LOT more. Penelope Cruz was an excellent choice. Sexy and talented she works well. But this movie just seems to go on and on and not be interesting as well. I like long movies. But there has to be a reason. What is the reason for this movie?

At this point it feels like Johnny Depp is just making these movies for the cash (he was paid $55.5 million as Disney admitted there would be no films without him). Why? He doesn't even want to do them anymore. Here is one of the best actors of this generation doing films for a paycheck? Should have went the Bloom and Knightley route.

There could be a fifth installment. Is that necessary? What more needs to be explored? Does Jack Sparrow go to the Americas and helps George Washington in the revolutionary war? Either way they are doing it for the almighty dollar

American Gangster:****

Frank Lucas did something that the Italian Mafia couldn't do. He was able to cut the middleman. He was able to go to Vietnam and get pure heroin. And he made a fortune doing it too. Lucas's case study is interesting enough to look at. A film about him and this whole situation is simply a treat to watch.

American Gangster shows us the way only film does perhaps how everything seemed like during this situation. Not only from Lucas's side, but from Richie Roberts side.

Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) just watched his mentor Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson (Clarence Williams III) die. Frank now is pretty much left alone. He could go work for someone else and make a decent living. But he decides to go out on his own. He wants to cut the middle man and work for himself. He goes to Vietnam and he some how makes it happen.

Mean while Richie Roberts (Russel Crowe) has a failing marriage, is taking night law classes, and has a police career. When Richie and his partner, Javier Rivera (John Ortiz), discover nearly $1 million in unmarked bills in a car, Richie resists temptation and turns the money in. His rare honesty makes him a hated member of his precinct, causing his partner to be exiled from the force, while Richie's rampant womanizing behavior and undercover double life leads his wife to seek a divorce and custody of their son. After his exiled partner dies from overdosing on "Blue Magic", a relatively new and powerful type of heroin being sold for less money than its drug competition, Richie's honesty catches him a break when his superior Captain Lou Toback (Ted Levine) puts him in charge of a newly created task force to stop major drug trafficking in Essex County, New Jersey by going after the actual supplier, rather than the middle-men. Richie handpicks honest cops and gets to work on finding who is supplying Blue Magic. When Richie and his partner, Javier Rivera (John Ortiz), discover nearly $1 million in unmarked bills in a car, Richie resists temptation and turns the money in. His rare honesty makes him a hated member of his precinct, causing his partner to be exiled from the force, while Richie's rampant womanizing behavior and undercover double life leads his wife to seek a divorce and custody of their son. After his exiled partner dies from overdosing on "Blue Magic", a relatively new and powerful type of heroin being sold for less money than its drug competition, Richie's honesty catches him a break when his superior Captain Lou Toback (Ted Levine) puts him in charge of a newly created task force to stop major drug trafficking in Essex County, New Jersey by going after the actual supplier, rather than the middle-men. Richie handpicks honest cops and gets to work on finding who is supplying Blue Magic.

Blue Magic is being supplied by Frank Lucas, who took over Bumpy's gang. After hearing a TV report referring to the cheaper drugs supplied to servicemen in Vietnam, Lucas decided to cut out the middle-man and buy his drugs directly from the producers in Thailand. By cutting out the middle-man, Frank is able to provide a higher quality product at a cheaper price than his rivals, eventually wholesaling drugs to most of the dealers in the New York area, while making his tracking by the authorities more difficult. He smuggles his drugs into the country by way of the US military involved in the Vietnam War. He creates a brand drug “Blue Magic” and with a great monopoly on quality product, Frank quickly makes a fortune and buys several nightclubs and apartments. He moves his family from North Carolina to New Jersey, where he purchases a large estate for his humble mother. His five brothers are enlisted as his gang lieutenants in the drug trade – forming “The Country Boys” - who work together to traffic and sell dope on New York area streets. During his rise, Frank meets and falls in love with Eva, a Puerto Rican beauty queen. Through his discipline, intelligence, organization, power, and willingness to kill everyone who stands in his way, Frank quickly rises to the top of the Harlem drug and crime scene as the biggest gang leader and drug dealer.

Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe are top actors. Each are truly great at what they do and never give a bad performance. Washington and Crowe took these real life figures and became them in every sense of the word. Their contribution to the movie is endless.

American Gangster not only benefits from it's performances. But also it's slick script, it's pacing, and direction by Ridley Scott. He focused on making these characters seem as human as possible. So as an audience we could feel what they are feeling just truly understand them.

This movie is told so smoothly without a hitch. Everything is covered so well. Everything works. Which makes it so interesting to watch.

Hackers:***


People hack into computers everyday. Some people have the intention to really mess things up. Others want to just have fun. They are like cowboys of the the internet (as said in the movie). Hackers is a film about young hackers who just want to do that. Have fun.

But it didn't start out that way. In 1988, Dade "Zero Cool" Murphy (age 11) is arrested and charged with crashing 1,507 systems in one day and causing a single-day 7-point drop in the New York Stock Exchange. Upon conviction, his family is fined with $45,000 and he is banned from owning or operating computers or touch-tone telephones until his 18th birthday.

Shortly before Dade (Jonny Lee Miller) turns 18, his mother (now divorced) takes a job in New York City. Upon turning 18, Dade calls a local television station, dupes the security guard into giving him the modem's phone number (a tactic known as social engineering) and successfully hacks into the station's computer network, changing the current TV program to an episode of The Outer Limits. However, Dade is "attacked" by a hacker (handle "Acid Burn") on the same network. During the conversation, Dade identifies himself by the new alias, Crash Override, to hide his old alias as Zero Cool.

Dade enrolls at Stanton High School, where he meets Kate Libby (Angelina Jolie), who is assigned to take him on a tour of the school. After Dade learns that Kate is "Acid Burn", a feud erupts between them, fighting to who is the better hacker.

The real trouble begins when Joey Pardella (Jesse Bradford), the novice hacker of the group, successfully breaks into an Ellingson Mineral Company supercomputer (called "The Gibson", in homage to cyberpunk pioneer William Gibson) to prove to the rest of the group that he is an elite hacker. To validate this feat, he downloads part of a garbage file. Unfortunately, the company's IT employee Hal (Penn Jillette) detects this unauthorized entry and summons computer security officer Eugene "The Plague" Belford (Fisher Stevens) to deal with the problem. He realizes the file being downloaded can prove that The Plague is stealing from the company via salami slicing. The Plague enlists the U.S. Secret Service to recover the file by claiming that it is the code to Da Vinci, a computer virus that will capsize the company's oil tanker fleet and he needs that code to destroy the virus.

This is smart and entertaining film. The key to this movie is to not take it too seriously. I didn't take it seriously at all. Hackers is able to sustain itself and get it's message across.

Drive:****

Neo-noir (English: New-black; from the Greek neo, new; and the French noir, black) is a style often seen in modern motion pictures and other forms that prominently utilize elements of film noir, but with updated themes, content, style, visual elements or media that were absent in films noir of the 1940s and 1950s.

art film (also known as art movie, specialty film, art house film, or in the collective sense as art cinema) is the result of filmmaking which is typically a serious, independent film aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience

Drive is both of those types of films. I watched Drive when it came out. I decided that it was time for a second viewing. I loved it even more. Everything about Drive is done so artistically well.

The Driver (Ryan Gosling) lives alone in a low rent apartment. He is a part time stuntman and works in a garage for Shannon (Bryan Cranston). But he has another job. He is also a getaway driver.

One day at the market he sees his neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan) who he met in an elevator before. He sees her with her son Benicio (Kaden Leos). They are having trouble. So he offers them a ride. She invites him inside to have a glass of water. He sees a picture and she explains that it is her husband who is about to get out of prison. Meanwhile Shannon is trying to persuade Bernie (Albert Brooks) to invest in a race team that he wants the unnamed hero to be the driver of. This is when we know what kind of person Bernie is and the kind of person Shannon is. Bernie's business partner a Jewish man named Nino (Ron Perlman) once broke Shannon's pelvis when Shannon overcharged him on a job which explains his limp.

Irene's husband Standard (Oscar Issac) is now out of a jail. But he owes money for having protection during his prison sentence. He is beaten up by his debt collectors. Irene and Benicio are next. He explains to the Driver that he has to rob a pawn shop for the debt to be forgiven. The Driver wants Irene and Benicio to be safe. He has grown to care for them. So he agrees to help Standard.

Drive is just pure art. Long pauses, long screen stares, beautiful shots, an awesome 80s soundtrack, slow scenes, yet quick pacing. Ryan Gosling's performance is the center piece of the film. I don't think anyone else could have played the driver. He gives a performance that is so quiet and in control. Yet as the film develops shows the Driver to have many different layers to him. He enters Steve McQueen and Clint Eastwood status with this performance.

Bryan Cranston and Albert Brooks also gave very solid performances. Both were essential supporting actors. In reality everyone was spot on. Carey Mulligan didn't have too many lines (no one had that many lines) but she was beautiful and graceful.

Drive is just art. That is the best thing to call it. It uses a genre that isn't used enough. It doesn't just show a defined goal off the bat to please audiences. It has respect for it's writing and realism. It respects the audience. It uses different platforms effectively and in the end created a work of art.

I love both Zodiac and Drive, two brilliant films.

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"George, this is a little too much for me. Escaped convicts, fugitive sex... I've got a cockfight to focus on."

Ruthless People:*** and a half


It is a daunting task to play the loveable villain. You have to be evil and yet have a redeeming quality. Danny DeVito does that oh so well in Ruthless People. He plays a disgusting man, yet we somewhat feel bad for him and want him to come out strong in the end.

Millionaire Sam Stone (Danny DeVito) absolutely hates his wife Babara (Bette Midler). He is planning her demise to gain control of his $15 million in family fortunes so that he can run off with his mistress Carol Dodsworth (Antia Morris). Only thing is Babara has just been kidnapped by Ken and Sandy Kessler (Judge Reinhold and Helen Slater). They have put her up for ransom. The thing is these guys are not criminals. They are new at this. They have a hard time handling an overwhelming Babara.

Carol, having learned of Sam's plan to kill Barbara, secretly intends to blackmail Sam, with the help of her handsome but dim-witted boyfriend Earl (Bill Pullman). Knowing Sam plans to dump his wife's body in the Hollywood Hills at night, Carol has Earl lie in wait with a video camera. He mistakenly films a rendezvous between a prostitute and her client performing noisy sex in the front seat of a car. Earl, hearing the woman's screams, thinks the murder is happening right in front of him. Without watching the tape, Carol sends an anonymous copy to Sam, who sees the sex act and thinks Carol has sent it to him as a tittilating birthday present. Carol sends another anonymous copy to police chief Henry Benton (William G. Schilling) — who happens to be the prostitute's client. When Carol calls him, Benton, thinking that he is being blackmailed, asks for her demands and she tells him to arrest Sam Stone for murdering his wife.

Ruthless People benefits from a smart script, and exceptional performances. As I have stated Danny DeVito did a masterful job playing the loveable villain. We really should hate him. But there is something about him. Bette Milder was also charming as the bitchy wife.

Ruthless People's ability to somehow show that all the characters involved in one way or another does some despicable is done really well. They are not made to be cartoony evil. But as everyday people who do things that will benefit themselves.

I watched Bette Milder on inside the actors studio. She said that her and Danny DeVito thought the movie was awful and were shocked at how many liked it. I guess they are were nitpicking too much. Ruthless People is a good comedy that never runs out of steam.

Inception:****


I watched this back in 2010. I loved it instantly. It's surprising depth, intelligence, and how they integrated action. In my second viewing I loved it more and understood it more. Christopher Nolan brings his imagination to the big screen in a big way.

Former architecture student Dominick "Dom" Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) and business partner Arthur (Joseph Gordon Levitt) perform corporate espionage by dreaming and using an experimental military-developed machine to infiltrate the subconscious of their targets and extract information, their latest target being powerful Japanese businessman Saito (Ken Watanabe). Tiered dream within a dream strategies are used and dreamers awaken by a sudden kick or by dying in the dream. Each extractor carries a totem, a personalized small object whose behavior is only predictable to its owner, that serves the purpose of identifying dream-state or reality-state: in the different states, the totem behaves differently. Cobb's totem is a spinning top that perpetually spins in the dream state. The extraction fails due to Mal (Marion Cotillard), Cobb's deceased wife, whose memory projection sabotages his missions. Saito reveals that he is in fact auditioning the team to perform the difficult act of inception: using dreams to implant an idea.

Saito wishes to break up the energy conglomerate of his ailing competitor Maurice Fischer (Pete Posltewaite), by planting this idea in his son and inheritor Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy). Should Cobb succeed, Saito will use his influence to clear a murder charge against him, so he can return to the U.S. and his children. Cobb accepts the offer and assembles his team: Eames, an identity forger; Yusuf, a chemist who concocts the powerful sedative needed; Ariadne (Ellen Paige), a young architecture student tasked with designing the labyrinth of the dream landscapes; and Arthur. Saito accompanies as mission observer.

Unbeknownst to the rest of the team, due to the effects of heavy sedation and multi-layered dreaming, death during this mission will result in entering Limbo, unconstructed dream space where the dreamer could be trapped indefinitely. Elapsed time in each dream level is, on average, roughly twelve times greater than in the level above it; in Limbo, the deepest level of all, 24 hours of outer-world time would be experienced as about half a century there. Cobb reveals to Ariadne that he spent "50 years" with Mal in Limbo constructing a world out of their shared memories whilst seemingly growing old together. After waking back into our outermost world, however, Mal remained convinced she was still dreaming and committed suicide, trying to persuade Cobb to do so by retroactively incriminating him in her death. He subsequently fled the U.S. and left his children behind, ostensibly in the care of his father-in-law.

When the elder Fischer dies in Sydney and his body is flown back to Los Angeles, the team share the flight with Robert Fischer and Cobb sedates him, bringing him into the shared dream. At each stage, the member of the team generating the dream stays behind to initiate the kick, while the other members sleep within the dream to travel a level deeper. In the first level, Yusuf's rainy downtown dream, the team abducts Fischer. However Fischer's antibody-like trained subconscious projections attack, severely wounding Saito. Eames temporarily takes the appearance of Fischer's godfather, Peter Browning, to suggest Fischer reconsider his father's will. Yusuf drives the team in a van as they are sedated into Arthur's dream, a hotel, where the team recruit Fischer, convincing him his kidnapping was orchestrated by Browning. In the third dream level, a snowy mountain fortress dreamed by Eames, Fischer is told they are in Browning's subconscious, but they are, in fact, really going deeper into Fischer's. Yusuf, under assault by trained projections, initiates his kick too soon by driving off a bridge, sending Arthur's dream world into zero-gravity and causing an avalanche in Eames' dream. Arthur is forced to improvise a new kick using an elevator that will be synchronized with the van hitting the water, while the team in Eames' dream races to finish the job before the new round of kicks.

Inception is smart, daring, brave, and electrifying. Some may have written if off as a popcorn film. But it is so much more. It goes into about dreams and the depths into dream.

In Inception, Nolan wanted to explore "the idea of people sharing a dream space...That gives you the ability to access somebody's unconscious mind. What would that be used and abused for?" The majority of the film's plot takes place in these interconnected dream worlds. This structure creates a framework where actions in the real or dream worlds ripple across others. The dream is always in a state of production, and shifts across the levels as the characters navigate it.

It explores reality. Haven't you ever been in a dream that felt so real that when you woke up you didn't know what was real? Inception is the closest thing that can describe that feeling.

Nolan himself said, "I tried to work that idea of manipulation and management of a conscious dream being a skill that these people have. Really the script is based on those common, very basic experiences and concepts, and where can those take you? And the only outlandish idea that the film presents, really, is the existence of a technology that allows you to enter and share the same dream as someone else."

Inception is all about process. Navigating our way through panels of reality and dream. Reality within dreams and dreams within reality. It is absolutely breathtaking.

You've been busy... last time I looked, TDKR was your last review.

Nice work matey!

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More like I have been lazy on my days off . But thanks!

L.A Confidential: ****


L.A Confidential is a smart, sleek, smooth, intense, neo-noir film based on John Ellroy's 1990 novel of the same name. Period Pieces are hard to do. This one nails everything. It is seductive and beautiful and the twists are done so sharply.

Against the backdrop of Los Angeles in 1953, three LAPD officers become caught up in corruption, sex and murder following a multiple homicide at the Nite Owl coffee shop. Their story expands to encompass organized crime, political corruption, narcotics, pornography, prostitution, tabloid journalism and institutional racism.

Sergeant Edmund Exley (Guy Pearce), the son of a legendary LAPD detective, is determined to live up to his father's reputation. His intelligence, insistence on following regulations, and his cold demeanor contribute to his social isolation from other officers. He exacerbates this resentment by volunteering to testify in a police brutality case (based on the real-life Bloody Christmas incident), insisting on a promotion to Detective Lieutenant (which he receives) against the advice of Captain Dudley Smith (Cromwell). It is revealed that Exley's consuming ambition is fueled in large part by the murder of his father by an unknown assailant.

Officer Wendell "Bud" White (Russel Crowe), whom Exley considers a "mindless thug," is a plainclothes officer violently obsessed with punishing woman-beaters. White comes to dislike Exley after his partner, Dick Stensland, is fired due to Exley's testimony in the "Bloody Christmas" scandal. White is sought out by Capt. Smith for a job intimidating out-of-town criminals trying to fill the void left in L.A. following the imprisonment of Mickey Cohen, the city's most successful and notorious gangster. The Nite Owl case becomes personal after Stensland is found to be one of the victims.

Sergeant Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) is a slick and likable narcotics detective who moonlights as the technical advisor on Badge of Honor, a popular Dragnet-type TV crime program. He is also connected with Sid Hudgens (Danny DeVito), publisher of Hush-Hush magazine, receiving kickbacks for tipping Hudgens off to celebrity arrests that will attract even more readers to the magazine. When a young actor winds up dead during one of these schemes, a guilt-ridden Vincennes is determined to find who did it.

I love movies like this. This is an allstar cast. Though at the time Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce were unknowns. All of the actors and actresses were top notch. They are helped by a brilliant script. Everything about is so intriguing, so engaging. You just can't look away.

It is able to make itself different from all other time pieces. It never runs out of steam, never cops out of anything. It is more than entertainment, it almost feels like a documentary.

L.A Confidential was one of the best films of 1997 easily. The twists toward the end are intense and shocking, and the ending scene is wonderful. It covers a time period of the LA police department like no other has or will.

Love L.A Confidential, Inception & Ruthless People.

Never Been Kissed:***


Never Been Kissed is about a 25 year old woman named Josie Geller (Drew Barrymore). A highly intelligent but socially inept copy editor for the Chicago Sun Times. She has never had a real relationship yet, she hasn't quite gotten out of her awkward faze yet. She dreams of being a journalist but her boss Augustus "Gus" Strauss (John C. Reilly) doesn't think she is cut out for it. But one day during a meeting, on impulse their boss Rigfort (Garry Marshall) decides to give her her first story. She is to go undercover as a 17 year old at a high school.

Josie tells her brother Rob (David Arquette) about the assignment, and he reminds her that during high school she was a misfit labelled "Josie Grossie", a nickname which continues to haunt her. Her first day at South Glen South High School is miserable. Josie reverts to the old geek that ruined her first high school career. She also has an unfortunate run-in with Gibby, Kirsten, and Kristen (Jordan Ladd, Jessica Alba, and Marley Shelton), three mean, popular girls, and Guy Perkins (Jeremy Jordan), the most attractive, popular student at South Glen South. Upon discovering that Guy and his friends have hidden her car, Josie loses hope, but is warmed when a kind-hearted, intelligent girl named Aldys (Leelee Sobieski) befriends her. Aldys dislikes Guy and his gang, referring to them as "lemmings", and they in turn view her as an uncool geek. Aldys suggests that Josie should join The Denominators, a group of intelligent students. Josie does but fails to get her story.

Josie becomes enamoured with her English teacher, Sam Coulson (Michael Vartan), who is a fan of Shakespeare, as is Josie, and she becomes the top student in his class. After reciting a romantic excerpt from Shakespeare to Sam, Josie has horrible flashbacks to where she read a romantic poem aloud in class to her high school crush, a popular boy named Billy Prince (Denny Kirkwood), who made fun of her for it.

One night while out driving with Aldys, Josie encounters Guy Perkins and his gang at a local hangout called "The Court" where promiscuity and underage drinking takes place. Guy is nasty to Josie and Aldys, who claims that nothing exciting happens in Guy's court, but Josie knows from experience that Aldys secretly longs to be popular. Gus loses patience with Josie after a rival paper exposes the truth on The Court, and orders Josie to become friends with the popular kids. He arranges for her to wear a hidden camera that will report back information to Gus, and soon the whole office becomes obsessed with Josie's story. Josie's co-worker Anita (Molly Shannon), after hearing Josie's recital of Shakespeare, grows unhappy with her promiscuous lifestyle and develops an attraction towards Gus, and he reciprocates.

Josie goes home and confides in Rob about her fears. She tearfully tells him that South Glen South is simply a repetition of her old high school days and all she wants is to be accepted and not abused. Rob - who was the most popular guy in school in his youth - insists that if Josie can get one cool person to like her, then no one will dare question her. He urges her to let go of her old self and start anew. Determined, Josie goes to school the next day and overhears Guy telling his group about a cool band that are playing in a bar that night. Josie follows and meets Sam and his uptight girlfriend, Lara (Maya McLaughlin). However, she is tricked into eating a hash brownie and makes a fool of herself onstage by dancing wildly in front of Guy, the girls, and Sam.

The next day, Josie oversleeps and is late for school. As her hand was stamped "loser" the night before at the club, the ink prints the word "loser" on her forehead, unknown to her. She merrily goes to school and is horrified to find everyone mocking her. She runs to the bathroom, sees the mark on her face and vomits in the toilet. She breaks down in tears and remembers the night of her prom. She was overjoyed at the thought of Billy Prince taking her to the prom and waits outside for him in her prom gown. But when Billy arrives in his limo, he has another girl with him and the both of them hurl eggs and insults at Josie, who collapses in tears. As she runs through the school hall, she encounters Rob who has enrolled as a new student and schemes to help her be popular. He becomes an instant hit with Guy Perkins and the other trendy kids, and spreads incredible stories about Josie, convincing the others that she is not a loser. Much to the anger of Aldys, Josie becomes popular and hangs out with the cool crowd.

Sam and Josie grow closer but Sam struggles with his feelings as he thinks that she is a student and therefore off limits. Josie begins dating Guy and she recommends that the theme for the senior prom should be "Meant for Each Other", famous couples throughout history.

Never Been Kissed is one of those movies that you sit down and watch and afterwards you say "that was sweet". Drew Barrymore is an underrated actress. She has a vulnerability in her eyes. She was able to perfectly play this awkward girl. She never tried to make Josie more than who she was. She stuck with the character and made us all feel for Josie.

There is someone in this movie who ended up becoming a big star (academy award nominated actor now). His role was not significant at all. But he provided some funny moments. And that was James Franco.

The ending to Never Been Kissed was nice. The last scene somewhat cliche. But so what? Doesn't make it bad. I quite enjoyed it.

Man on the Moon:*** and a half


Man on the Moon is a biopic about the late Andy Kaufman. A comedian who doesn't think he is one. More of a song and dance man. He was an interesting character for sure. He was an oddball. Which is why a biopic on hmm so interesting to watch. Here is a man quirks and all was probably a genius.

Andy Kaufman's (Jim Carrey) "foreign man" character appears in black-and-white, declaring that (due to massive editing), this is actually the end of the film, not the beginning. He plays a phonograph record alongside the credits before walking off. Kaufman then comes back, and, in his normal voice, claiming he "had to get rid of the people who don't understand me, and don't want to try," he proceeds to show the story of his life on a film projector, starting with his childhood home in Great Neck, New York, circa 1957.

Kaufman is a struggling performer whose act fails in nightclubs because, while the audience wants comedy, he sings children's songs and refuses to tell conventional jokes. As the audience begins to believe that Kaufman may have no real talent, his peculiar "foreign man" puts on a rhinestone jacket and does a dead-on Elvis impersonation and song. The audience bursts into applause, realizing Kaufman had tricked them.

He catches the eye of talent agent George Shapiro (Danny DeVito), who signs Kaufman as a client and immediately lands him a network TV series, Taxi, much to the dismay of sitcom-hating Kaufman. Because of the money, visibility, and promise that he can do his own television special, Kaufman accepts the role on Taxi, turning his foreign man into a mechanic named Latka Gravas. He secretly hates doing the show, however, and exasperates co-stars with his behavior.

Invited to catch a different act at a nightclub, Shapiro witnesses a performance from a rude, loud-mouthed lounge singer, Tony Clifton, whom Andy wants to guest-star on Taxi. Clifton's bad attitude is matched by his horrible appearance and demeanor. But backstage, when he meets Shapiro in person, Clifton takes off his sunglasses and we see that he is actually Kaufman. Clifton is a “villain character” created by Kaufman and his creative partner, Bob Zmuda (Paul Giamatti). Once again, the gag is on the audience.

Kaufman's fame increases with his Saturday Night Live appearances, but has problems with his newfound fame. When he travels to college campuses, audiences dislike his strange sense of humor and simply want to see his more famous TV characters, so he deliberately antagonizes them by reading The Great Gatsby aloud from start to finish. Kaufman shows up on the Taxi set as Clifton and proceeds to cause chaos until he is removed from the studio lot. He relates to Shapiro that he never knows exactly how to entertain an audience “short of faking my own death or setting the theater on fire.”

Kaufman decides to become a professional wrestler -– but to emphasize the “villain” angle, he would wrestle only women (hired actresses) and then berate them after winning, declaring himself "Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion." He becomes smitten with one woman he wrestles, Lynne Margulies (Courtney Love), and they begin a romantic relationship.

The wrestling Kaufman enjoys getting a rise out of the crowds and feuds publicly with Jerry Lawler, a professional male wrestler, who challenges Kaufman to a "real" wrestling match, which Kaufman accepts. Lawler easily overpowers and seriously injures Kaufman, resulting in the comedian wearing a neck brace. Lawler and an injured Kaufman appear on NBC's Late Night with David Letterman, theoretically to call a truce, but Lawler insults Kaufman, who throws a drink at the wrestler and spews a vicious tirade of epithets. It is revealed that Kaufman and Lawler were in fact good friends.

Andy pays a price when he is banned from Saturday Night Live by a vote of audience members, weary of his wrestling antics. Shapiro calls to inform him that Taxi had been canceled. An appearance on a live TV comedy show, ABC's Fridays, turns into a fiasco when Kaufman refuses to speak his lines. His television special also is a flop.

Jim Carrey as Andy Kaufman is seemless. I looked up pictures of Andy. Just amazing. He nailed everything down right to a tee. His performance and devotion to this character puts him in the same class as Robert De Niro. He is able to seem as nuts, funny, and a loose cannon just like Kaufman was.

Man on the moon like any good biopic just follows Kaufman. It shows what potentially made him tick. What he set out to do. What he was all about. Here was a man who had all the talent in the world. But he was such a loose cannon that you never knew what to expect from him.

Man on the moon is engaging, funny, heartfelt and sad all the way to the end. We get to see the rise, fall rise and demise of a man. The ending though is genius and leaves you questioning something. The answer? I don't know. But that is the point.