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21 (2008)
They proved the Vegas Blackjack System was beatable...by beating the hell out of it.
Filmmaker(s): Robert Luketic

Ben Campbell is a young, highly intelligent student at M.I.T. who strives to succeed. Wanting a scholarship to transfer to Harvard School of Medicine to become a doctor, Ben learns that he cannot afford the $300,000 tuition as he comes from a poor, working-class background. But one evening, Ben is introduced by his unorthodox math professor to a small but secretive club of five students, Jill, Choi, Kianna, and Fisher, who are being trained by Professor Rosa to count cards at blackjack.

Surf Heard in the Background is a matter of tone. No matter what a film does, it has to take us somewhere. Ideally it goes another place after it has established you, but it has to establish a place, a form, a tone. MIT is a...


Published December 3, 2022
| Categorised as IMDB Comments, Threes |
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Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008)
Same Planet. Different World.
Filmmaker(s): Eric Brevig

On a quest to find out what happened to his missing brother, a scientist, his nephew and their mountain guide discover a fantastic and dangerous lost world in the center of the earth.

Dibs on the Guide is all about intent, isn’t it? If you have a film intended to reach some depth, the intent can be simply what the artists trust and if they are deep themselves AND good artists we get something valuable. I would never discount...


Published March 7, 2023
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Australia (2008)
Welcome to Australia!
Filmmaker(s): Baz Luhrmann

Set in northern Australia before World War II, an English aristocrat who inherits a sprawling ranch reluctantly pacts with a stock-man in order to protect her new property from a takeover plot. As the pair drive 2,000 head of cattle over unforgiving landscape, they experience the bombing of Darwin by Japanese forces firsthand.

The Story plenty of space for others to comment on how wrong the shape of this is, and whether Nichole is too wooden. Talk like that is boring to me. I enjoyed it in spite of it working hard against success. One reason is that I...


Published May 16, 2023
| Categorised as IMDB Comments, Twos |
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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
Life isn't measured in minutes, but in moments.
Filmmaker(s): David Fincher

Born under unusual circumstances, Benjamin Button springs into being as an elderly man in a New Orleans nursing home and ages in reverse. Twelve years after his birth, he meets Daisy, a child who flits in and out of his life as she grows up to be a dancer. Though he has all sorts of unusual adventures over the course of his life, it is his relationship with Daisy, and the hope that they will come together at the right time, that drives Benjamin forward.

Clockworks understands cinematic narrative construction and has the craft to match. I fell under his spell during “Fight Club”. The idea there was to play a game with inner narrative. It was, I think when Pitt first found his way into full collaboration with a director’s...


Published May 17, 2023
| Categorised as IMDB Comments, Threes |
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The Dark Knight (2008)
Welcome to a world without rules.
Filmmaker(s): Christopher Nolan

Batman raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lt. Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as the Joker.

The Noir Card things interesting about this for me. (I’ll let others talk about Heath.) One is how much more of a comic book it is than a film. I don’t mean that it is sillier or more fantastic, but that the values seem to be...


Published May 17, 2023
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Iron Man (2008)
Heroes aren't born. They're built.
Filmmaker(s): Jon Favreau

After being held captive in an Afghan cave, billionaire engineer Tony Stark creates a unique weaponized suit of armor to fight evil.

Too Contained did not expect much from this. Marvel just seems to make what seems to me ordinary, boring movies. I was hopeful this time because the three main actors have done some rather elaborate work so far as reflected acting. Downey is something of...


Published January 19, 2024
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Wanted (2008)
Choose your destiny.
Filmmaker(s): Timur Bekmambetov

Doormat Wesley Gibson is an office worker whose life is going nowhere. He meets a sexy woman named Fox and discovers that his recently murdered father - whom Wesley never knew - belonged to the Fraternity, a secret society of assassins which takes its orders from Fate itself. Fox and Sloan, the Fraternity's leader, teach Wesley, through intense training, to tap into dormant powers and hone his innate killing skills. Though he enjoys his newfound abilities, he begins to suspect that there is more to the Fraternity than meets the eye.

Shoots Itself in the Head a trend in these big budget action moves to try and support the thing with hefty story components: profundity, explorations of fate and power (often via revealed conspiracies). We come to expect this, and I believe have rather clear thresholds...


Published November 21, 2024
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Synecdoche, New York (2008)
Filmmaker(s): Charlie Kaufman

A theater director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he attempts to create a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse as part of his new play.

Death of a Playwright am thrilled by this film: all the wonderful narrative devices that I find delicious and engaging, and this time turned to have an effect on the viewer that is not to be lost lightly. He's wonderful. But I'm amazed at the writers...


Published November 30, 2024
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Tropic Thunder (2008)
Get Some.
Filmmaker(s): Ben Stiller

A group of self-absorbed actors set out to make the most expensive war film ever. After ballooning costs force the studio to cancel the movie, the frustrated director refuses to stop shooting, leading his cast into the jungles of Southeast Asia, where they encounter real bad guys.

Three, Five, Eight seen to be only eight ways for humans to reference themselves. Only 5 are considered possible though I have encountered six I believe. Rarely, three are present here. Robert Downey Jr is an actor on-screen. We never lose sight that it is he....


Published November 30, 2024
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Appalossa (2008)
Feelings get you killed.
Filmmaker(s): Ed Harris

Two friends hired to police a small town that is suffering under the rule of a rancher find their job complicated by the arrival of a young widow.

Shifty you can see the notes of the writer in a film. It is as if he or she sat down with the intent of accomplishing certain things and wrote a story. But instead of the story, we still see the unerased list of goals....


Published November 24, 2022
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