35mmReviews

Welcome to a new Top Ten Tuesdays blog post! This week I've decided to bring my top ten selection on Actors, starting with Nicolas Cage.

Nicolas Cage is one of those actors that you either like it or not, but you can't deny that he's actually a pretty good and versatile actor. He's deinitely one of my top favorite actors in Hollywood, especially, on great action/thriller films.

Note: The films have been placed in NO particular order. Let's be honest... It has been extremely difficult for me to choose just ten films out of my large list of favorite films. Right?

10

Leaving Las Vegas

Synopsis: An avowed alcoholic, Ben drank away his family, friends and, finally, his job. With deliberate resolve, he burns the remnants of his life and heads for Las Vegas to end it all in one final binge. On the strip, Ben picks up a street-smart hooker named Sera in what might have been another excess in his self-destructive jag. Instead their chance meeting becomes a respite on the road to oblivion as something connects between these two disenfranchised souls.

Personal Comments: Such an amazing film! One of his best performances on his career, worth of his Oscars and Golden Globes Awards for Best Actor that year. Amazing cast and an excellent plot, so worth to watch.

9

Face/Off

Synopsis: An FBI covert terrorism expert, through advanced plastic surgery, assumes the identity of his arch-nemesis, a sadistic terrorist. Things get complicated when the terrorist awakens from surgery, faceless, and forces the doctors to attach the FBI agent's face. Both characters then carry out one another's lives in a game of cat-and-mouse--the FBI agent pretends to be the terrorist while trying to locate and dismantle a nuclear weapon, while the terrorist assumes the role of FBI agent and family man.

Personal Comments: What makes this film one of my favorite ones, is not just Nicolas Cage's great acting performance, but the superb supporting cast, led by John Travolta. An amazing action film to watch!

8

Gone in 60 Seconds

Synopsis: Randall "Memphis" Raines long ago abandoned his life of crime, but after an ominous visit from an old friend, he finds he has no choice but to return to what he does best--stealing cars--in order to save his brother's life. It all comes down to one night, 50 cars and a mafia contract. A true automobile afficionado, Memphis has a burning passion for cars. He knows and loves every nut and bolt, every gleaming piece of chrome. Memphis is a car thief of legendary proportions. No fancy lock or alarm can stop him; your car will be there and gone in 60 seconds. Though he's always eluded the law while boosting every make and model imaginable, will his rusty skills be enough to rescue his brother from a particularly dangerous high stakes caper?

Personal Comments: One of the greatest (if not the greatest!) Nicolas Cage's films within the last decade. The film had it all: An impressive cast, action, speed, horse power, romance, suspense... And a great direction. A pretty good remake from the original film in 1974.

7

National Treasure

Synopsis: Benjamin Franklin Gates has spent his whole life searching for a fortune few dare to believe exists. This is the legendary KnightsTemplar Treasure, rumored to be the most awesome bounty in human history, and hidden somewhere in America. For six generations, the Gates family has chased after clues left behindby America's Founding Fathers and scoured the nation in search of the treasure. Now the maverick Ben Gates has made a breakthrough. At last, he knows where the ultimate hint to the treasure's location lies--a hidden map on the back of the Declaration of Independence. As knowledge of the map spreads to a ruthless adversary, Ben is faced with a terrible dilemma. Either Ben must be first to steal America's most sacreddocument--one guarded by the most sophisticated security in the world--or let it fall into dangerous hands. In a race against time, his rivals and the authorities, Gates teams together with his tech-whiz friend Riley and the alluring, but unwitting, National Archivesconservator Abigail Chase to accomplish the unthinkable. Will they succeed in pulling off one of the most ambitious heists of all time? Will the Declaration of Independence lead Ben closer to the treasure? From the ventilation shafts of the National Archives to the catacombs beneath New York City--the answers are revealed as Ben Gates unlocks the mystery behind America'sgreatest national treasure.

Personal Comments: I really enjoyed National Treasure I and II, even though, if I had to choose between the two of them, there's no doubt that the first one was far better than the second one. A pretty creative and entertaining story and plot with such an amazing cast. An adventure so worth to watch!

6

Ghost Rider

Synopsis: A motorcycle stuntman, Johnny Blaze, makes a pact with a dark force, selling his soul to save his girlfriend. When the bargain goes sour and the girl isn't saved, Blaze is transformed, gaining raging superpowers. Based on the Marvel comic series.

Personal Comments: I think the second part of this last decade was one of the weirdest years for Nicolas Cage's career. We've seen him playing in some weird roles and really awful films, even though, there are some of them that were really good and worth to watch. Ghost Rider is one of those films that was entertaining and joyful to watch.

5

8MM

Synopsis: Tom Welles is a surveillance specialist--what used to be known as a "private eye"--but his version of the profession is hardly the stuff to which legends are made. He has modest, home-based practice in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he lives an existence remarkable only for its normalcy with wife Amy and baby daughter, Cindy. Respected but still waiting for a big break that will improve his professional status, Welles spends most of his time on routine cases involving unfaithful spouses and the like. Nothing too dangerous, not too threatening... until a small, innocuous-looking plastic reel of film turns Welles' life upside down, sending him down a sordid and terrifying path into society's darkest corners.

Personal Comments: One of my top favorite thrillers with Nicolas Cage. I still remember watching this film for the first time, not having any idea of what the film was about. The sick and amazing plot, the cast and Nic Cage's great performance simply made this film so worth to watch!

4

Lord of War

Synopsis: Yuri Orlov is a globetrotting arms dealer. Through some of the deadliest war zones, Yuri struggles to stay one step ahead of a relentless Interpol agent, his business rivals, even some of his customers who include many of the world's most notorious dictators. Finally, Yuri must also face his own conscience.

Personal Comments: Based on the true story (well, sort of) of Viktor Bout, the most dangerous illegal weapons dealer in the world. Nicolas Cage shows one more time on this film his weird and wild side expressed on his controversial roles. One of my favorite films and story, even though, part of it was fictional, since Viktor Bout was arrested in 2008.

3

The Rock

Synopsis: For years Brigadier General Francis Xavier Hummel, a decorated military hero, has petitioned the United States government to honor his men who have lost their lives in service to their country during highly covert military operations by providing their families the same benefits and tributes due other war veterans. For years his efforts have been scorned. Now, angry and determined to seek justice, Hummel and a crack team of commandos seize control of Alcatraz Island, taking hostage a group of tourists. If reparations are not immediately forthcoming, Hummel plans to launch a battery of rockets charged with lethal V.X. poison gas on the San Francisco Bay area. The city's only hope for survival is FBI chemical/biological weapons expert, Stanley Goodspeed, and a top-secret federal prisoner, John Patrick Mason, who also happens to be the only known convict to have escaped the island fortress.

Personal Comments: If I had to organize the films according with my preference, I would definitely put this one as one of my top three favorite ones. One of those films with Nicolas Cage that I've watched over and over again, and never get tired of it! Most also give credit to Sean Connery's acting performance in this film, superb!

2

The Family Man

Synopsis: Jack Campbell is a Wall Street trader living the high life in New York City. When Jack, who has forsaken all for the pursuit of money, becomes involved in a grocery store holdup, everything changes. He awakens the next morning, on a snowy Christmas day, lying in bed next to a wife--Kate, the college sweetheart he dumped when his career ambitions took hold--whom he never married, and in a house with two kids he never had. Now living in New Jersey in an alternate suburban universe, he has a chance to see how his life would have turned out had he married Kate and raised a family. Jack soon begins to feel strangely comfortable in the new role of loving husband and father, finding himself happy in the life he would have led had he made different choices as a young man.

Personal Comments: A great romantic drama film to enjoy watching it with your family. Nicolas Cage plays such a great role in this film with a pretty entertaining and unique story, supported by an amazing cast. Tea Leoni makes it worth to watch as Nicolas Cage's wife in the film.

1

Con Air

Synopsis: When a group of the most dangerous and notorious prisoners in the United States penal system are transferred to a new super-maximum security facility, parolee Cameron Poe hitches a ride on their Con Air transport flight only to find himself embroiled in a meticulously planned mid-air hijacking masterminded by Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom. On the ground, it's up to U.S. Marshal Vince Larkin to avert the takeover and prevent his overzealous superiors from blowing the aircraft and its passengers to oblivion.

Personal Comments: Have you ever watched "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People?" This film has a pretty funny scene when Simon Pegg is talking with a group of people and asks them: What's the greatest film ever made? Con Air! It has everything in it... Action, comedy, thriller, and even John Cusack for the gays! Anyway, this is certainly ne of the best films with Nicolas Cage, not just for the amazing supporting cast, but the script. Another great classic that can't be missed!

Synopsis: THE HUNTER is the story of Martin, a skilled and ruthless mercenary sent into the Tasmanian wilderness on a hunt for a tiger believed to be extinct. Hired by an anonymous company that wants the tiger's genetic material, Martin arrives in Tasmania posing as a scientist. He proceeds to set up base camp at a broken-down farmhouse, where he stays with a family whose father has gone missing. Usually a loner, Martin becomes increasingly close to the family; however, as his attachment to the family grows, Martin is led down a path of unforeseen dangers, complicating his deadly mission.

Release Date: April 6th, 2012

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Synopsis: While traveling for work in a city far from their homes, a novelist and a corporate accountant find themselves in bed together. Although she's married, and he's seeing someone, their intense attraction turns a one-night stand into an unexpected relationship and a respite from the obligations of daily life. Through a series of moments--some profound, some silly, some intensely intimate--we see a portrait of an evolving relationship that could become the most significant one of their lives. Chris Messina and Marin Ireland turn in outstanding performances. Each exhibits a vulnerability and emotional honesty that allows the audience to connect intensely with the two characters and every moment they share. 28 HOTEL ROOMS is director/screenwriter Matt Ross's first feature, and it is a candid, exquisitely constructed mosaic. The film adeptly illustrates how seemingly inconsequential moments and actions can often mean more than we suspect.

Release Date: 2012

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Synopsis: A dangerous, sexy, and at times darkly funny story about two people who desperately want intimacy. Michael, in his mid forties, is suicidal about his writing career. He leaves his home in New York and goes to Paris in hopes of igniting his passion for writing and life. Soon after is arrival he meets Sophie, a sexy, smart, soulful, nurse who helps dying people transition to the after world. She and Michael instantly have chemistry albeit combative. Sophie has a secret. Her other job is being a dominatrix.

Release Date: January 27th, 2012

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Synopsis: What happens when someone dies and there's no record of any next of kin? "Pursuit of Loneliness" looks at that deeply personal and interpersonal question when an elderly woman dies anonymously in a county hospital. Four central characters - a nurse, a social worker, the emergency contact person listed on the admission form, and an investigator for the public administrator - try to find the deceased woman's family over the next twenty-four hours. Slowly but surely we watch as her belongings and personal effects are gathered and accounted for and we witness the bit-by-bit eradication and extinction of an individual. In a world that values possessions and comparative wealth, this is a cautionary tale of the preciousness of community and the importance of family. "Pursuit of Loneliness" is a very human story but it studies things that can be very inhumane: institutional health care, bureaucracy, money, apathy; and it makes us ask ourselves whether people end up living in a certain way because they choose to or because society reduces them to it. Laurence Thrush wrote and directed "Pursuit of Loneliness". Acclaimed artist William Basinski provides the soundtrack. The cast is comprised of real doctors, nurses and investigators from the Los Angeles Coroner's Office. The film blends elements of documentary realism within the confines of a strong narrative. "Pursuit of Loneliness" is set in Los Angeles where nearly 100 people work to identify the next of kin for unclaimed bodies at the public administrator's office.

Release Date: January 22nd, 2012

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Synopsis: Will Gerard is a happily married family man whose quiet life is turned upside-down when his wife, Laura, is brutally attacked one night while leaving work. At the hospital, waiting for news about his wife's condition, Will is approached by Simon, who proposes an intriguing offer: Simon will arrange to have a complete stranger exact vengeance on Laura's attacker, in exchange for a favor from Will in the near future. Distraught and grief-stricken, Will consents to the deal, unwittingly pulling himself into a dangerous underground vigilante operation. While continuing to protect his wife from the truth, he quickly discovers that his quest for justice could lead to frightening and deadly consequences.

Release Date: March 9th, 2012

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Synopsis: After the fall of the communist regime in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1991, Divko Buntic returns to his former home after a 20-year exile in Germany. Returning with an attractive young girlfriend, a flashy new Mercedes, a pocketful of cash, and a lucky black cat, things are looking good for Divko. When his cat goes missing things begin to fall apart: trouble with his girlfriend and the fledgling relation with his estranged son are strained as the entire town scrambles to find the cat and collect the cash reward being offered. Divko's personal tumult finds an unsettling mirror in the country at large with signs appearing that the Bosnian War is coming. As the war looms, tensions run high and Divko must decide whether to stay in his newly reestablished home or leave.

Release Date: February 17th, 2012

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Synopsis: The Nazis set up a secret base on the moon in 1945 where they hide out and plan to return to power in 2018.

Release Date: April 4th, 2012

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Have you ever wonder how CGI and visual effects take place during film scenes on your favorite movies? Today, we're sharing with you a short video of the first 9 minutes of the horror film, Final Destination 5. This video brings the same scene of the North Bay Bridge in Vancouver, when Sam Lawton (Nicolas D'Agosto) suffers a premonition that the bridge will collapse, killing everyone and himself.

It's pretty impressive the way they recreate all the small details on this long scene, and how they make it so appeal to the viewers on the final film. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

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The second trailer for the upcoming film, Big Miracle, has been released a few days ago. Starring Drew Barrymore and John Krasinski.

Synopsis: A small town newspaper reporter writes about three California gray whales trapped in the Arctic Circle in that unites a Cold War-era United State and USSR in an effort to rescue them.

Release Date: February 3rd, 2012

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Synopsis: A documentary that investigates incidents of hunger experienced by millions of Americans, and proposed solutions to the problem.

Release Date: 2012

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A new red band trailer for Liam Neeson's latest film, The Grey, has been released. The film is being officially released today in the US and the UK. Looks like a pretty intense thriller!

Synopsis: In Alaska, an oil drilling team struggle to survive after a plane crash strands them in the wild. Hunting the humans are a pack of wolves who see them as intruders.

Release Date: January 27th, 2012

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A new extended trailer for the film Man On A Ledge, starring Sam Worthington & Elizabeth Banks, has been released earlier this week. The film is being released today in the US. Looks AMAZING!

Synopsis: An ex-cop and now wanted fugitive who stands on the ledge of a high-rise building while a hard-living New York Police Department hostage negotiator tries to talk him down. The longer they are on the ledge, the more she realizes that he might have an ulterior objective.

Release Date: January 27th, 2012

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Synopsis: Beth saves a bedraggled lost dog from the side of the freeway on a wintry day in Denver. Struggling with her distracted, self-involved husband Joseph and an empty nest at home, Beth forms a special bond with the rescued animal. When Joseph loses the dog after a wedding at their vacation home in the Rockies, the distraught Beth enlists the help of the few remaining guests and a mysterious young woman in a frantic search. Each member of the search party is affected by the adventure, which takes them in unexpected directions -- comic, harrowing, sometimes deeply emotional and ultimately towards love.

Release Date: April 20th, 2012

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Here's the list of films to be released in theaters this week:

Synopsis: In Alaska, an oil drilling team struggle to survive after a plane crash strands them in the wild. Hunting the humans are a pack of wolves who see them as intruders.
Release Date: January 27th, 2012 [US & UK]

Synopsis: An ex-cop and now wanted fugitive who stands on the ledge of a high-rise building while a hard-living New York Police Department hostage negotiator tries to talk him down. The longer they are on the ledge, the more she realizes that he might have an ulterior objective.

Release Date: January 27th, 2012 [US]

Synopsis: A proud, born-and-bred Jersey girl, Stephanie Plum's got plenty of attitude, even if she's been out of work for the last six months and just lost her car to a debt collector. Desperate for some fast cash, Stephanie turns to her last resort: convincing her sleazy cousin to give her a job at his bail bonding company...as a recovery agent. True, she doesn't even own a pair of handcuffs and her weapon of choice is pepper spray, but that doesn't stop Stephanie from taking on Vinny's biggest bail-jumper: former vice cop and murder suspect Joe Morelli - yup, the same sexy, irresistible Joe Morelli who seduced and dumped her back in high school. Nabbing Morelli would be satisfying payback - and a hefty payday - but as Stephanie learns the ins and outs of becoming a recovery agent from Ranger, a hunky colleague who's the best in the business, she also realizes the case against Morelli isn't airtight. Add to the mix her meddling family, a potentially homicidal boxer, witnesses who keep dying and the problem of all those flying sparks when she finds Morelli himself...well, suddenly Stephanie's new job isn't nearly as easy as she thought.

Release Date: January 27th, 2012 [US]

Synopsis: New couple, Romeo and Juliette, must face the ultimate test when they discover their newborn child is very ill. Gathering their friends and family together, they confront this ordeal together as a form of warfare. The couple surprises even themselves with their ability to fight not only for the life of their child but for each other.

Release Date: January 27th, 2012 [US]

Synopsis: Down a seedy city street, a young woman is obsessed with what appears to be a long abandoned theatre. One night, she sees the front door slightly ajar and impulsively decides to sneak inside. But there in the vast, eerie auditorium, a show unlike any other unfolds before her eyes. Its host is an odd marionette-like man (Udo Kier) who will introduce her to six tales of the bizarre... A couple traveling in a remote part of the French Pyrenees crosses paths with a lustful witch; a paranoid lover faces the wrath of a partner who has been pushed to her limit; the Freudian dreams of an unfaithful husband blur the lines between fantasy and reality; the horrors of the real world are interpreted through the mind of a child; a woman addicted to other people's memories gets her fix through the fluid of her victims’ eyeballs; and a perverse obsession with sweets turns sour for a couple in too deep. But as the stories unfold, something strange is happening to the woman. Something irreversible and horrific.

Release Date: January 27th, 2012 [US]

Synopsis: When two young missionaries head to Scotland, they are initially charmed by their engaging baron Sir Lachlan Morrison and agree to become the local Queen of the May and Laddie for the annual Tressock town festival. But the couple is not prepared for the frightening consequences of their decision and the very disturbing secrets they are about to discover about Tressock's seemingly friendly townspeople.

Release Date: January 27th, 2012 [US]

Synopsis: A newly widowed father -- and one of the richest men in Oahu, Hawaii -- takes off with his two rebellious daughters to track down his wife's lover on the island of Kauai.

Release Date: January 27th, 2012 [UK]

Synopsis: A look at the final days of a turn of the century brothel when much of the Parisian sex trade was confined to grand maisons, populated by elegant madams and vetted clientele. Within L'Apollonide's walls: Madeline who is horribly disfigured by a client and becomes known as "the woman who laughs", Clotilde the veteran who longs to be a "respectable woman" and Pauline, the newcomer whose eyes are quickly opened to reality.

Release Date: January 27th, 2012 [UK]

Synopsis: A wacky inventor, his camera crazy best friend and a madcap monkey make a BIG mistake when let loose in the Professor's laboratory! With lotions and potions spilling everywhere, the troublesome trio accidentally create Franc, a musical talent of monstrous proportions.

With the help of the beautiful but feisty singer Lucille, the team are on a mission to protect their new friend from the ghastly wannabe Mayor, Commissioner Maynott, who has a plan to increase his popularity by capturing Franc and revealing him to be a scary monster to the people of Paris.

Directed by Bibo Bergeron (Shark Tale) with a voice cast including Vanessa Paradis and Sean Lennon, A MONSTER IN PARIS is fantastic fun for all the family.

Release Date: January 27th, 2012 [UK]

Synopsis: Andy Marlow, an ex British S.A.S serviceman turned mercenary, is sent into the Balkans after a military coup has arisen to rescue a U.S ambassador and his aide.

Release Date: January 27th, 2012 [UK]

Synopsis: Set between the parallel worlds of contemporary London, the deserted afterlife and a mysterious dreamscape, Lovelorn is a story of lost souls trying to save each other. Following a motorcycle accident that kills her boyfriend, Lorna is left in a coma. Her brother John, who has always been very protective of her promises to bring her back at whatever cost. Challenging Death himself, John journeys into the dreamscape, putting his own life increasingly at risk in a desperate attempt to bring Lorna back to the waking world. But while John wants Lorna back she may have other ideas. Trapped in the afterlife she is able to search for her recently deceased boyfriend, determined to be reunited with him even if it kills her. Populated with mystical characters and twists at every turn, the afterlife weaves its web around John until he is faced with a final choice. This visually stunning fantasy explores the lengths we will go for someone we love and asks us if love is worth the ultimate sacrifice.

Release Date: March 20th, 2012

Check the trailer and let us know what you think about it!