Little Big Man

Posted on August 13, 2014 by jaycluitt

This review was originally written for French Toast Sunday as part of my USA Road Trip series.

In a retirement home, a 121-year old man – claiming to be the only white survivor of the battle of Little Big Horn – is being interviewed about the habits of the Native Americans. Instead he recounts his life story, starting when he was ten years old and, after his family’s wagon trail was attacked, when he and his older sister were taken in by a tribe calling themselves the Human Beings. We see the boy – originally called Jack Crabb until the tribe renames him Little Big Man – undertake many adventures, becoming embroiled with the likes of a devout Christian couple, a snake oil salesman, Wild Bill Hickok and General Custer along the way. little-big-man-5
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Inside Llewyn Davis

Posted on July 16, 2014 by jaycluitt

Llewyn Davis is a folk singer, stumbling from sofa to sofa in early 1960s New York. He used to be part of a semi-successful duo, but for reasons explained in the movie the pair are no longer together, and everything Llewyn owns he carries with him and dumps at the next person willing to put him up for the night. He isn’t really going anywhere in life other than downwards, so he plans to head to Chicago in search of a record deal. Also, there’s an accidental pregnancy, and a cat.
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Breaking Away

Posted on July 9, 2014 by jaycluitt

This review was originally written as part of my road trip series for French Toast Sunday.

In Bloomington, Indiana, four aimless teenagers, fresh from leaving school for good, spend their summer days hanging out at the local quarry – where their fathers all used to work – and terrorising the students at the local university. One of the four, Dennis Christopher’s Dave, has recently become obsessed with cycling, specifically the Italian team, who are due to visit Bloomington that year. Dave aims to compete against them in a race, and also plans to take part in the university’s annual cycling event, which has recently extended its rules to include a team from the local town. Also, Dave meets a girl, and inexplicably pretends to be Italian in order to woo her.
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Irreversible

Posted on July 2, 2014 by jaycluitt

Marcus (Vincent Cassel) is desperately trying to find someone, a man who has wronged him in some way. Pierre (Albert Dupontel) follows Marcus warily, clearly uncomfortable with the violent and aggressive manner in which Marcus is carrying out his mission. Who are they after? What did he do? And what will happen if they find him? All these questions are revealed as we weave our way backwards through the story.
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Open Range

Posted on June 11, 2014 by jaycluitt

This review was originally written as part of my USA Road Trip series for French Toast Sunday.

A small-time cattle operation, led by Robert Duvall’s Boss Spearman, sets up grazing near the town of Harmonville, with the intention of moving on before they do any major damage to the local vegetation. When one of their number doesn’t return from a supply run to the town, Spearman and his right hand man Charley (Kevin Costner) head to Harmonville in search of their friend, only to find he’s been beaten and locked up by the town marshal (James Russo), at the behest of Harmonville’s ruthless land owner Baxter (Michael Gambon). Baxter, it would seem, isn’t too keen on free-grazers around his land, and he makes it all too clear to Boss and Charley that if they plan to hang around, bad things are going to happen to them and their herd. Unfortunately for everyone, Charley and Boss are more concerned with enacting vengeance for their man than anything else, so needless to say things get a mite violent in town.
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All About Eve

Posted on May 27, 2014 by jaycluitt

At a prestigious awards ceremony, Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) is being presented with their highest honour for their Best Actress in a stage production. However, judging by the looks she is receiving from the guests at the event, a lot of people don’t seem to be in a celebratory mood about this turn of events. Via flashback we are transported less than a year back in time, when Eve – then nothing more than a down-on-her-luck theatre fan – met Karen (Celeste Holm), the wife of writer Lloyd Richards (Hugh Marlowe) and friend to Eve’s acting idol, Margo Channing (Bette Davis). Continue reading →

The Back to the Future Trilogy

Posted on April 18, 2014 by jaycluitt

Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox), a young slacker who dreams of rock and roll stardom but lacks the courage to showcase his talents, finds himself in something of a unique situation when, during a late night experiment with his friend Dr. Emmet ‘Doc’ Brown (Christopher Lloyd), Marty is transported back in time 30 years to 1955. His only way back is to contact the 1955 Doc Brown to help fix the time machine, but in doing so he must also ensure that his own parents (Lea Thompson and Crispin Glover) – now the same age as Marty – get together, which is made all the more complicated by the fact that his own mother has taken a shine to him.
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The Natural

Posted on March 31, 2014 by jaycluitt

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Casino

Posted on March 19, 2014 by jaycluitt

This post was originally written for French Toast Sunday as part of my Road Trip series.

Sam ‘Ace’ Rothstein (Robert De Niro) was handed it all on a silver platter. Put in charge of a new casino on the Las Vegas strip and living the life of luxury with his smokin’ girlfriend Ginger (Sharon Stone), Ace was at the top of his game. Alas, when his old friend from back home Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) shows up, Ace’s life becomes a little more complicated. Continue reading →

The Crying Game

Posted on February 28, 2014 by jaycluitt

A small group of IRA members take an English soldier captive and attempt to trade him for one of their own who is being held hostage elsewhere. During his captivity, the soldier, named Jody (Forest Whitaker) befriends one of his captors, a man named Fergus (Stephen Rea), and makes him promise that, should Jody not survive his ordeal, then Fergus must track down Jody’s partner, Dil, and tell her Jody was thinking of her when he died. Whilst the hostage negotiations don’t turn out necessarily as anyone expected, Fergus still finds himself tracking Dil down, but he didn’t expect to fall for her himself. Continue reading →