Review: Eye of The Dolphin (2007) [Reviewed By Kelsey Zukowski]

Eye of the Dolphin
Review By: Kelsey Zukowski
Starring: Carly Schroeder, Adrian Dunbar, Katherine Ross
Directed By: Michael D. Sellers
Written By: Michael D. Sellers, Wendell Morris
Released: Bahamas: 2006, USA: 2007
Grade: B

Eye of the Dolphin’s story line reminded me a lot of that of a Disney channel original movie from 2002 called A Ring of Endless Light. It starred Mischa Barton, Jared Paladecki, and Ryan Merriman. They both are about a girl who finds communication with dolphins and are dealing with a death in the family. The difference is that A Ring of Endless Light is far more laughable and not in a good way. The girl is portrayed as experiencing some comic physic connection through her mind with the dolphins. Eye of the Dolphin takes a similar base point and takes it far more seriously. The girl slowly establishes a basis of communication with them. It is in a more realistic sense shown by reactions, observations, and a level of need and understanding.

Alyssa (Schroeder) has become a troubled 14-year-old girl. She smokes pot at school and has been suspended several times. She really doesn’t seem to care about this or anything for that matter. The reason for this is that within the last year, her mother died. Her mom was an excellent swimmer and practically lived in the water. Alyssa was a big part of this life, until they were in a boating accident and Alyssa couldn’t do anything but watch her mother drown to death. Since then she has been living with her grandmother (Ross). At this point though, her grandma feels she has done everything she can. Alyssa thinks that her father died, since she never knew him. Her Grandmother finally tells her the truth; her father is alive. He never knew that Alyssa was born. Her mother kept this from him, because he didn’t want children and wasn’t ready for a family.

Alyssa and her grandmother head to the Bahamas, where Alyssa’s dad, James (Dunbar,) lives as a dolphin researcher. The relationship between father and daughter has a slow and rough start. James is completely thrown off guard. He wasn’t sure he ever wanted children, and here he has had one for 14 years. As Alyssa, is still in a rebellious stage, she distances herself somewhat as well. James is also in the middle of a crisis with his research. He feels that he is very close to proving the level of dolphins intelligence and that they can transmit images through talking, something that humans would need technology to do. However, his funds are in risk of being cut. The company wants to make the whole island a huge tourist attraction, where the dolphins would just be doing tricks. Everything that James owns belongs to this company, even two of the dolphins, who he has come to care about very dearly. Alyssa shows interest in his work and starts spending time on her own with the dolphins of the island. In time, they respond to her and there seems to be a definite connection between her and the dolphin.

It is still a bit weird for me to see Carly Schroeder doing drugs and getting drunk in films. She even showed moments like this in Gracie. I still think of her as the little girl from Lizzie McGuire. Schroeder is supposed to be playing a 14-year old, so these things are thought to be controversial to the other characters in Alyssa’s life. Schroeder did very well in Eye of The Dolphin. The more Alyssa changed, the more life Schroeder showed. Katherine Ross did very well as Alyssa’s grandmother. She was really the reason why Alyssa had the chance of getting her life back. Adrian Dunbar did fairly well in his role as the father, but the previous two actors stand out more in the film. Jane Lynch was very funny as one of those fighting for a more tourist attractive island.

Eye of the Dolphin questions whether humans really are the superior species. Sure we have control over society, but dolphins have been proven to have great intelligence. They are just as smart as humans if not more so. Based upon James’ theory in the film, they naturally do what humans needed buildings, technology, and inventions for. They seem to be a more peaceful species, possibly because they have a higher understanding between each other due to how well they can communicate. Captivity vs. the wild is also brought up. Two of the dolphins are kept by James so he can study them in comparison to the dolphins who live in the wild. Because of this the captive dolphins are sheltered and not thought to have the same capabilities of others. The wild are thought to be dangerous, yet that is where Alyssa finds the largest understanding. Prior to finding this fondness of dolphins, Alyssa could be considered very wild herself.

In the film it is said that dolphins talk, but it is up to humans whether they really want to listen. Alyssa takes the time to do this and really just needs someone to listen and relate to her in turn. In some ways she needs the dolphins as much as they need her. They really matter to her like nothing else has since her mother died. She finds a passion and joy through them, which fills an empty void that was in her life before. This common ground of interest is really what gives her a real relationship with her father. Without that she might have just left and never seen him again.

Review: The Namesake (2007) [Reviewed By Clifford Kiyabu]

Directed by: Mira Nair
Written by: Sooni Taraporevala (screenplay) Jhumpa Lahiri (novel)
Genre: Drama
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for sexuality/nudity, a scene of drug use, some disturbing images and brief language
Released: 9 March 2007
Starring: Irfan Khan, Tabu, Kal Penn, Sahira Nair, Zuleikha Robinson, Jacinda Barrett, Brooke Smith, Rupak Ginn, Tanusree Shankar, Sabyasachi Chakravarthy, Dhruv Mookerji.

Plot: American-born Gogol, the son of Indian immigrants, wants to fit in among his fellow New Yorkers, despite his family's unwillingness to let go of their traditional ways.

Rating: 8/10

My Thoughts: A name we all have a one, but many of us don’t know why we have it, or better yet what history does it carry. They say every name or namesake has it’s reasons. And The Namesake shows us just that, a powerful and greatly moving film of learning and understanding ones past, the film takes us to both past and present showing us two incredible individuals, a father who gives his son a name that means so much to him that no one will ever truly understand why, and a son who doesn’t relies just how important his name is to his father. the namesake is a touching and emotionally moving film that you will appreciate. I must admit I knew nothing about this film but the fact that it starred actor Kal Penn in it and it wasn’t a comedy, but man was I glad that I didn’t know much about this film because for me it was an incredible adventure that had me sold with in the first five minutes of the film, the on location filming was beautiful, showing you the beauty that is India and the cinematography was so beautifully done it should get an Oscar nomination. I am however greatly surprised it didn’t because such movie like this should never get unnoticed.

Also the namesake gives us a look into both American and Indian culture and the rebelliousness of children from there parents, like for example; Ashoke and his wife, Ashima are married by there families instead out of love, and yet over time they learn to love each other and become soulmates, and there son ,Gogol and daughter, Sonia who rebels from the old traditional why of marriage of being married off to another Indian, by it’s culture overall but slowly by slowly there son Gogol begins to fallow his Indian cultural roots as do many after they hit maturity, which I found to be beautiful and somewhat poetic in it’s message, which says in life we all must take this journey of self discovery in one’s self and in one’s culture before becoming fully free and shine into your own light.

The story is about Ashoke Ganguli (Khan) and his son, Gogol Ganguli (Penn) Ashoke experiences a horrible tragedy as a young man while reading a book by Nikolai Gogol, which through this tragedy he later will use the author’s name as his son’s namesake, while his son however does not know of that part of his father’s past desires to change his name because how stupid it may sound and because he is laughed at for having such a name like Gogol, and the more and more he tries to rid himself of this name the more he is reminded what it means to be named after this author, and ultimately learning the truth behind the mystery of his name.

As for the acting, well I can tell you now I was greatly impressed with Kal Penn because in this movie he shows a more mature side and that he’s more than just another actor sticking to the boundaries given to him, and if you ask me I liked it because after seeing him in films like, Van Wilder, Harold & “Kumar Go to White Castle, Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj, I thought oh his end is near, even his small role in Superman Returns I thought was somewhat laughable, and than he did the horrible Epic Movie which I thought would without a doubt be the end f his career, but after seeing him in The Namesake I must admit he made a magnificent comeback with an outstanding performance.

As for the rest of the cast, actor Irfan Khan did a fantastic performance Ashoke Ganguli that most both powerful and hart warming, and even though this is the first film I’ve ever seen him in I will be looking out for other films by him and looking forward to future film by him as well, and actress Tabu who plays Ashima A. Ganguli was great, her performance was beautifully done, not to mention her beauty is only matched to that of her voice which is wonderful, also of course actress Zuleikha Robinson does a fantastic job in seducing the audience with her deadly good looks and her great acting, I first seen her co-star along side Viggo Mortensen in Hidalgo which was an ok movie, not the best but certainly not the worst, just ok, but than she really showed she is an actress that is willing to go the limits in a role, see Rome Season 2 to see what I mean and than you’ll understand, and last but not lest Sahira Nair does a nice performance as Gogol’s sister, Sonia, and though her role in this film is small she still manages to do her part, as well as being this brother sister relationship with actor Kal Penn that feels real.

Final Say: overall this movie was greatly enjoyable and worth watching again sometime, though my only problem was the running time which for your information is 2 hours and 2 minutes, I felt it should have been just a little longer as for me this story was over too quickly. But other than that I highly recommend it.

Copyright 2008 TCWreviews.com
All Rights Reserved

Review: Rambo (2008) [Reviewed By Clifford Kiyabu]

Directed by: Sylvester Stallone
Written by: Sylvester Stallone and Art Monterastelli
Genre: Action / Drama / Thriller
MPAA: Rated R for strong graphic bloody violence, sexual assaults, grisly images and language.
Released: 25 January 2008
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Julie Benz, Matthew Marsden, Graham McTavish, Reynaldo Gallegos, Jake La Botz, Tim Kang, Maung Maung Khin, Paul Schulze, Cameron Pearson, Thomas Peterson, Tony Skarberg, James With.

Plot: In Thailand, John Rambo (Stallone) assembles a group of mercenaries and leads them up the Salween River to a Burmese village where a group of Christian aid workers went missing.

Rating: 9/10





My Thoughts: Many people have said actor Sylvester Stallone was done for, an actor that’s long past his prime, but after viewing Rambo I say defiantly, I say this old dog has still got some fight in em and damn it I say we give it to him, first Mr. Stallone pulls off a stunning comeback in 2006 with Rocky Balboa , and than blown away with Rambo which many people laughed at the idea of a 62 year old John Rambo kinking it old school style on a bunch of bad guys. Well I have to say to that is it looks like Mr. Stallone got the last laugh as Rambo has gotten some nice reviews by moviegoers all around and is doing pretty good at the box-office with $18,203,876 in it’s opening weekend, taken the movie cost only $50 million and is rated R by the MPAA which I can’t understand how they gave it only an R when movies have done less than what they did and got worst. But I guess I should be thankful for it getting only an R and keeping all the good stuff in, but the thing that I guess I’m still having a problem with is the fact that such a good film like this only gets a second place to a shitty excuse of a film like Meet the Spartans! That to me falls hard in the WTF! Category, and shame on you, if you in anyway helped the movie become number 1 at the box-office or even think about seeing it in anyway, if so than I hope Chuck Norris pays you a visit at your home and roundhouse kicks you in the head! but enough about that crappy movie and back to the review.

Okay so like I said Rambo is a nonstop action flick that never lets up, but besides all the gore and the 200+ body count in this movie I think the part that got to me the most was the realism to this film like the story for example which is involving the current problems going down in the country Burma with such things like genocide, gorilla warfare, kidnappings which is very well putting fear into the population of the country, and by putting this into the film makes John Rambo seem real and make the feel overall even greater, plus like I said with the action not letting up well this move goes all out with extremely graphic kills. Like in one particular scene in the movie involves a women only seconds away from being raped by a solder and right from behind the gut Rambo grabs him by the neck and brakes the guy’s windpipe and while the guy is still alive but unable to scream Rambo slowly rips the guy’s neck open while making sure that the last thing the guy sees is that women as he feels excruciating pain before he dies, and that’s just one of the kills in this movie! Now if you liked the description of just that one scene from the movie than I can guarantee you’ll love this movie overall.

The movie is basically about it’s been 20 years since our hero John Rambo has been in war, and lives a very quiet solitary life in a small village with locale villagers in Thailand, and like all things in time our hero is forgotten and is aged but he is happy to be out of trouble and just living his life, but when a group of Christian aid workers asking for his assistance in providing a passage into Burma so they can bring aid to the small village he refuses but eventually agrees letter word is brought to him that it’s been almost two weeks and the Christian aid workers never been heard from now he is ask to provide passage into Burma again, but this time a group of mercenaries hired by the church's reverend, but what they don’t know is the Christian aid workers is being held captive by a military group of over a 100+ solders, which means it’s time for our hero to come out of retirement and kick some major ass.

Now there has been some debate over Sylvester Stallone acting in this because he doesn’t really give any expression except from one which is rather cold looking, but to me it works very well because he is suppose to be Vietnam vet that has seen way more war time that any man should have (Rambo 1, 2, and 3) and after all the years and years of killing how do you expect him to even have an ounce of the man he once was? The answer is you can’t because Rambo like any other human in that situation would be damaged beyond repair from such a life of violence, so for Sylvester Stallone to so that was fantastic, but that’s just my opinion.

As for the rest of the cast; Julie Benz who some you may remember her from her days on the once hit TV show Angel does an okay job playing as, Sarah, one of the Christian aid workers and the only one who could convince Rambo in helping them in the first place and only main reason why he would go back to help them, and although it’s never said or confirmed she and Rambo kind of have this moment between them. First time actor Maung Maung Khin did a great job playing, Tint the commander of the militant squad in Burma which I was impressed with because he sure did such a great job in making us hate him so much. And of course actors Matthew Marsden, Graham McTavish, Reynaldo Gallegos, Jake La Botz and Tim Kang do pretty nice jobs in this film playing as the mercenaries and even though their roles were rather small it still help add to the movie overall not to mention each and everyone one of there character’s were uniquely different in everyway, and of course actor Paul Schulze is great playing as Michael Burnett, the leader of the group of Christian aid workers, who I found to be greatly annoyed with throughout the film, but than again that how his character was made to be to all an all it worked out magnificently.

Final Say: Rambo is without a doubt going to be noted down as one of the best action/sequels of 2008, and better yet looks it’s only the beginning of the year the supposed bad luck quarter for films all around and already have I seen three great films (Cloverfield, Juno and Rambo) that all deserve to be called great. I highly recommend.

Copyright 2008 TCWreviews.com
All Rights Reserved

Review: There Will Be Blood (2008) [Reviewed By David Dominic DiMichele]

There Will Be Blood-

**** Out of ****
Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul F. Tompkins, Dillon Freasier
Release: January 19, 2008

The first fifteen minutes of Paul Thomas Anderson's widely controversial and thematically charged There Will Be Blood is silence, except for the haunting and harrowing score by Johnny Greenwood from Radiohead. The stark and dry landscapes of the west during the turn of the 19th century (1898 we pick up) provide us with a miner and a couple of his partners mining the dry grounds for silver. Anderson starting this sprawling epic in this oddly manner shows dividends not only to his directing ability but also on his approach to the film which spans three decades. It reminded me of the first twenty minutes of 2001: A Space Odyssey: as the apes are fussing around with what they have; bones and rocks. They amuse themselves while an eerie silence and some unnatural music play up the untouched territory of the stark and dry landscapes that engulf them. It's only when they wake up and find something they weren't looking for: a black rectangle of an object. It alters the way the apes think and go about their everyday activities. In There Will Be Blood we get the same exact set-up but with humans and a different kind of object. Here, the miner Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) accidentally stumbles upon oil. Lots of it. This oil will not only change his life and bring him riches but will also bring him ambition, corruption, and extreme hatred. Let's not forget about the big one: Greed.

Plainview is bred differently than everyone else in the movie. He does whatever he wants, says whatever he wishes, and acts the way he wants to. Nothing short of what his darkened, black heart desires. From 1898, and jumping to 1911, the transformation of Plainview is massive. Once digging for silver and minerals, he now finds himself ordering his men around, dealing with huge deadly machinery, setting up camp on family's properties, and becoming greedier by the minute. Now, his profession is an oil man and running a so-called "family" business with his 12-year-old son H.W. (Dillon Freasier). After being tipped off that there's a whole ocean of oil under the Sunday family ranch in Little Boston, California he thrives on the opportunity to capture oil and the weakened family that owns it.

Planning a quail hunting trip with his son just to get inside of the Sunday ranch is genius of Plainview. When he gets in deep enough he strikes with an offer that has the feeble father of the ranch going gah-gah over, while his son, the estranged, extremist preacher Eli Sunday (Paul Dano) starts to question the offer. Knowing what's under their ground Plainview begins to get hungry for oil and land. He utters in his brooding and cocky voice to the town's real-estate agent: "Why don't I have this, or this?" Before you know it Plainview becomes almost untouchable as he owns pretty much all the land in his foresight. Like a snake charming the crowd, Plainview charms the citizens of Little Boston and promises such great turn-arounds in their community, and other communities that felt his wrath, but when he feels comfortable around people he lets them know: "I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed. I hate most people." Most people include his son, step-brother, all the town of Little Boston, and maybe even himself.

There's one theme in particular that Anderson explores here and it really struck me like a drill bit strikes oil. It was the church that Eli Sunday runs. Often it's said that the people who act religious really aren't. False prophets. I see this trait offered in Eli. Anderson views him as an over-the-top, freakishly scary, evil kind of cult preacher. His congregation seems to be full of lost souls just attending his sermons because they think that it's right. He has his hands wrapped around them and even the all the town, and when Plainview comes around he literally makes an ass out of Eli. The tow form a heated rivalry that results with both of them making an ass out of each other. Solely due to the fact of money and power that fuels both of these people's lives.

With little ties from Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel Oil!, Anderson shapes a movie that is full to the brim with such ambition and a film that's beyond epic proportions, it's monumental. He locks in on one specific matter and person and the vice that binds the two never let's its grip loosen by any means. The land that cinematographer Robert Elswit captures and the scary-real sets that production designer Jack Fisk creates for us is a world of man devouring man, which is by no means a world for anyone less than Daniel Plainview's status. We see what happens to the weak beings and the faint of hearts. Anderson doesn't acknowledge any women in the movie because he knows that they're not significant in this world that's shown to us on screen and the relationship between father and son resonates with such deep meaning.

Elements from such classic films like Chinatown (John Huston's character), The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (Fred C. Dobbs doesn't trust anyone with his gold findings) and of course Citizen Kane (Charles Foster Kane buying everything he can, resulting him walking like a zombie through his enormous mansion). Kane looked back on "rosebud" and dwells on the lost innocence, Plainview, on the other hand, remembers a huge house during his innocence that he loved to look at and hoped to live in it, now, older and greedier, he looks back on it and it makes him sick.

The music runs throughout the entire film it seems, fusing each scene together at such a high level of intensity that we're waiting for something to explode and we get that in a classic-in-the-making climax. Paul Thomas Anderson easily creates the year's best movie and Day-Lewis easily delivers the best performance of the year as he portrays a vicious, venial, egotistical, charismatic mad man. There Will Be Blood is based on issues of the past but don't look past the fact that it rings true in today's day and age where everyone is simply out for themselves.

Review: Cassandra's Dream (2008) [Reviewed By David Dominic DiMichele]

Cassandra’s Dream-

***1/2 Out of ****
Directed by: Woody Allen
Release: January 26, 2008
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Colin Farrell, Clare Higgins.

Woody Allen only solidifies his place in the thriller genre with his newest London gripper Cassandra’s Dream. After a couple of years dabbling in the “upper-class” society, he focuses on the “lower-class” and how desperate one can get for money. His Match Point from a few years back really gave him a new poison potion for filmmaking. Years of making his quirky love tales, and over-the-top comedies, he finds himself more at home with these dark and serious tales involving tightly knitted families. After a few production delays, Allen’s Cassandra’s Dream is well worth the wait.

Our premise boils down to one simple thing: a life of lies. Two Blaine brothers are in desperate need of money. Ian (Ewan McGregor) is part owner of a little restaurant with his father. He wants to start businesses of his own though. A dashing sexy actress named Angela (Hayley Atwell), who can be seen as some what of a femme fatale, only increases his need for money. Lies of all sorts come out of his mouth and he even borrows Jaguars from his brother’s garage he works at to drive her around and impress her. Now his brother Terry (Colin Farrell) is a mechanic by day and, on the down low, a gambling, pill popping, booze drinking addict by night. Only his brother knows of his severe gambling problem, not even his sweet caring girlfriend (Sally Hawkins). Yet, he seems happier than Ian even though he’s a degenerate gambler whose luck ranges from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. He owes loan sharks 90,000 pounds and his job can’t pay for that.

What I loved about this film is the way our two brothers want so badly to get out of the gutter and into the good life. It’s such an exact character diagnosis that Allen puts on screen. While they are in the gutter they seem happy. When the movie opens the two brothers are ecstatic when they have a chance to by a nice little wooden sailboat. They name it Cassandra’s Dream after the dog who won a race for Terry. It’s the only sign of happiness we see from the two. The rest of the movie they’re carrying a massive amount of weight on their shoulders contemplating their offer given by their rich Uncle Howard (the great Tom Wilkinson). Family loyalty and values is what he beats into their heads. Uncle Howard turns out to be their puppet master.

Uncle Howard has such a huge array of businesses he owns. The thing is though he built his empire on lies and cheats. Ian and Terry go to him in need of money but he counters the offer by asking them to take out a fellow business partner who may know too much about Uncle Howard’s flaws and lies. This scene when he tells them this will stay with you. It’s that good.

Unlike Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, similar film about desperate brothers, Cassandra’s Dream offers Ian and Terry a tempting decision. They are nice guys; always conning their way to get what they need, not what they want, to get by but never once did the word murder cross their minds. In the other film the two brothers are evil and they come up with the idea to kill. Woody Allen offers us up two normal Joes and how far they will go for a good lump of money. Most of all they seem like “real” brothers. Always willing to offer the other a helping hand when needed even if they don’t have the money, this proves to be the key to the film to show their strong bond they have for one another.

In the end it’s how each brother moves forward after the decision they come to make. The entire middle half of the film to the end is solely a study based on how they come to reason with the decision they will make. One can’t sleep and goes on a guilt trip while the other lives life to the fullest extent. The ending is only suitable because this film isn’t based on nobody else except for the two brothers. Allen spotlights Ian and Terry the entire film that when the ending does come we don’t care about nobody else’s reaction. Allen puts “real life” into these characters and they do what any sane person would do after and before the matter is over.

Oh, the Woodman and his knuckle balls! Most movie goers will find it hard to believe that there’s a movie out so early into the 2008 season that contains gripping thrills, unnerving tension, and high wire emotion that results in leaving its audience upended. You can’t deny a good film, or a great one for that matter, just because of its release date. We should be jumping with joy because Allen is generous enough to present us with such a good and satisfying film. You can call me a sucker for Woody Allen films but most of all call me a sucker for a good fulfilling film when I see one.