Movie Feature: A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES

 Movie release material

Based on the best-selling mystery book series by Lawrence Block, this action-packed film follows the unorthodox, recovering alcoholic and ex-NYPD cop Matthew Scudder, after he reluctantly agrees to help find the men who kidnapped and brutally murdered a drug kingpin’s wife.

During the investigation, Scudder learns that the killers are deviants who make a habit of committing twisted crimes, and he vows to hunt them down, even though it means blurring the fine dividing line between right and wrong.  

 Matt gets help from his former colleague played by Ruth Wilson and a homeless 17-year artist, TJ (Astro). In a race against time, he tries to stop them before they get the chance to kill again. Unlicensed and operating just outside the law, Matt Scudder stops just short of becoming  a monster himself.

The cast of A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES include Liam Neeson as Matthew Scudder, Dan Stevens, Boyd Holbrook, Ruth Wilson, Sebastian Roché, Whitney Able, Stephanie Andujar, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, David Harbour, Eric Nelsen, Marielle Heller and Brian "Astro" Bradley.

A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES is directed by Scott Frank and is distributed by Solar Pictures. Coming soon at your favorite theaters.

                                                                                                                 – EMY ABUAN

LIAM NEESON’S DANGEROUS AFFAIR WITH THE “THIRD PERSON”

Movie online release material

 

From Paul Haggis, director of Oscar winning film “Crash,” comes “Third Person” starring a powerhouse cast led by Liam Neeson, Olivia Wilde, Kim Basinger, Adrien Brody, Mila Kunis, James Franco and Moran Atias that tells three stories of love, passion, trust and betrayal.  

 

                The idea for “Third Person” started within days of finishing shooting The Next Three Days, Haggis’s last film.  It began with a series of conversations between Paul and actress Moran Atias, who suggested Paul should write a multi-plotline film about love and relationships. Shared stories and painful and joyous anecdotes about love and relationships turned into fiction over the next months as the characters took form and the stories slowly found shape.  Paul found this the most challenging of his screenplays “because I wrote it all wrong, from the inside out.  I let the characters tell me where the story was going, and often they just wouldn’t speak to me – or worse, they lied to me” he said with a wry smile.

 

                Haggis enjoys exploring complex characters,  “While we don’t often see it in movies, I believe people often take actions that are completely contrary to their needs, and make little to no sense to those around them.  How often have you seen a friend and asked ‘why is she with that horrible man?’, or vice versa. Sometimes they are too close to see what is so blindingly clear to us.  And other times what is clear to us is simply a mirage.  We think it’s the awful woman using the lovely man, when in truth the lovely man is just much better at hiding his crueler intentions”.

 

                “I had all sorts of questions about relationships that I couldn’t answer.  Like how do you deal with an “impossible” person?    Do you try and get what you need by changing them?  And in the rare event that you succeed, do you change them into someone you no longer love?     Or if you know in your gut that someone is lying to you, what are your options?  What happens if you decide to trust a totally untrustworthy person?  Is complete belief transformative?      Do people come to embody the virtues or sins we imbue them with?  In matters of love, do you only truly win if you surrender?  Or does the victor just walk away with the cruelest of smiles, as our egos will warn us?  And if some of us are doomed to only fall in love with the wrong person – is that wrong person really the right person, we just can’t recognize it?  As you can see by these questions, in relationships, I am that impossible person.”

 

                Reminiscent of Paul Haggis’ “Crash,” the tales play out in New York, Paris and Rome - three couples who appear to have nothing in common and only tangential connections. But there is always a third person in any relationship -- perhaps not romantically, perhaps you aren't even aware of their existence, but they are there.  At its heart, Third Person is much more than a collection of love stories -- it is a mystery; a puzzle in which truth is revealed in glimpses, and clues are caught by the corner of your eye -- and nothing is truly what it seems.

 

                “Third Person” opens on June 18 in cinemas nationwide from Axinite Digicinema.

Taken 2 review

Story: The father of the abductor whom ex-CIA operative Bryan Mills killed in the previous movie swore revenge on him and his family.

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Flagg

Years after Bryan Mills rescued Kim, his daughter, they were living normal lives. From this time, there are some developments have already occurred in the Mills family. In the last movie, Bryan Mills is trying live a normal life as a father. But he is not normal and old habits die hard. Whatever is Mills good at, it's part of his system.

In the last movie, we saw what he can do best and he's going to do it again. Bryan Mills is not a type of hero like in the action movies. At first, her daughter was at the wrong place at the wrong time. The only mistake of the abductors, they had to pick the daughter of Bryan Mills. Bryan Mills is really resourceful. I made a comparison with other fictional secret agents like James Bond, Jack Ryan and Jason Bourne, Bryan Mills is much more better.

For the story, it was unexpected. The point why there's a sequel is fueled by vengeance. In my opinion, it was too soon. I was expecting another "taken" situation not rooted with the first one. But it was not all bad. Taken is released and distributed by Twentieth Century Fox.