Wicker Park

Amazon.com

No, Josh Hartnett doesn't make the most convincing corporate up-and-comer in the world, but then Matthew, his character in this pensive romantic drama, is supposed to be uncomfortable in his business costume. He's a photographer at heart, a sensitive guy who abandoned that passion when Lisa (Diane Kruger), his enigmatic other true love, abandoned him. Their romance had an oddly abrupt end after Lisa left without a word, so when Matthew thinks he sees her upon returning to Chicago, he starts lying to his fiancée and practically stalking his old flame before becoming entangled in a strange tryst with a lovesick nurse (Rose Byrne). The MGM publicity department busied itself trying to promote this remake of L'Appartement (1996) as some kind of heavy-breathing Fatal Attraction, and director Paul McGuigan certainly fills it with enough slick split-screens and MTV-soundtrack moments to hype it, yet it isn't even remotely a thriller. There are flashbacks upon flashbacks--Vanilla Sky begins to feel linear in comparison--and the screenplay insists on spelling everything out so we'll be sure to get how thoughtful it really is, but it all isn't half bad. Though Hartnett is a little out of his depth, his gentle, beleaguered masculinity works well, and the women are both compelling: Kruger redeems herself after being more wooden than the Trojan Horse in Troy, and Byrne is quite good. Even Matthew Lillard does solid work as Matthew's vulnerable, big-talking buddy. Somewhere in all of it is a surprisingly adult look at the things people do when love seems either too perilously close or too far away to believe in. --Steve Wiecking

Description

Enter the torrid and treacherous world of Wicker Park, where deception and seduction walk hand in hand. Starring an outstanding cast of Hollywood's hottest young stars, including Josh Hartnett(Pearl Harbor), Rose Byrne (City of Ghosts), Matthew Lillard (Scream) and Diane Kruger (Troy), Wicker Park is a sizzling, action-packed noir thriller that will leave you breathless. What if the woman you loved disappeared without a word? Without a trace? How far would you go to find her again? When Matthew (Hartnett) glimpses his lost love (Kruger) in a crowdedcafÃ(c), he's determined not to lose her a second time. But determination soon turns to obsession, as Matthew finds himself on a dangerous and chilling journey, where no one is who they seem and chance meetings with a sexy brunette (Byrne) might unravel friendships, careers and lives.

Customer Reviews:

Wooo.......2007-08-24

This was a great movie.. Rose Byrne, that girl was scary.. Makes you wonder.. Hey I'm trying not to give the game away here...

oh dear, oh dear this was demoralizing and painful to endure.......2007-07-13

boorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrringggggg. I gave it all I could, and this was by far one of the most ill conceived, yawn driven dramas I have seen in decades. Cheesy, horrible miscasting; josh hartnett is juvenile in his abilities to be so much more than that. His endearing obsession is painful to watch, it's redundant and the pain of redundancy echoes into the last three minutes of the film.

Cliff Martinez does the buzz, of Soderberg stuff, so in all, the instrumental was a nice taste. I felt at times placing the movie in an editor and taking out the dialouge and just caressing the music into the Kenwood.

Bland, they should have never remade this, wasn't L'Appartement bad enough as it was, albeit different outcomes?. The director drags us on for two hours of endless twist and turns and Hartnett's obsession, and over-doing it so much is simply grody and unbearable. If you rent this with your girlfriend for the evening with some pizza, be sure to know that she will take your number out of her Helio the next day.

Truly not remarkable, unsatisfying and anyone, anyone that gave this five stars, aside from having really bad taste in cinema, needs to seriously think about what medication they are on. :) j/k

cheers.

A glossy jigsaw puzzle.......2007-05-17

In the commentary, Scottish director McGuigan brags about the confusion level of this film, calling it "non-linearrr" storytelling. I don't know if this was a characteristic of the original European movie (L'APPARTEMENT), but in this film, non-linear is expressed by extensively using flashbacks without clarifying the chronology. In fact, the movie is really a jumble of out-of-order scenes. It actually opens near the end of the plot.

Presumably, it all comes clear at the end. But I didn't find it clear, albeit, the conclusion was understandable enuf.

Upon re-watching the film with and eye to figuring out the timeline, I began to see how much better the film would have been in a conventional form. This had the potential to be a satisfying movie. Someone should tell the people responsible that their interest in the jigsaw puzzle structure of the story doesn't always translate to the viewer.

As for the cast, top marks go to the very lovely young Aussi, Rose Byrnes, so convincing and heart-rending as the mousey girl, and Matthew Lillard as a lively friend. Sleepy-sounding Josh Hartnett makes a solid leading man. German actress Diane Kruger and, in a small role, the Canadian Jessica Paré are very pretty.

It's a glossy looking film with fancy split-screens and pretty images of Montréal in the dead of winter (!) substituting for Chicago. (Did you know it gets really cold in Montréal in the dead of winter?!)

Just be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed when you watch this one.

What more in the name of love?.......2007-04-27

Before his smart, mistaken identity crime-noir `Lucky Number Slevin' (also starring Josh Hartnett), Paul McGuigan directed this diamond-in-the-rough, a twist-filled romance mystery of obsession and love unrequited. With flashbacks cleverly thrown in at strategic points of the movie that gradually peels away the mystery like the layers of an onion, the viewer is led to a shocking revelation that is well worth the wait. The non-linear style of storytelling is effective in building suspense and should be familiar to those of us who have seen such excellent films as `Crash,' `Babel,' `Memento' and '11:14.'

Poignant and thoughtful, `Wicker Park' revolves around three key characters, Matthew, Lisa and Alex, played by Josh Hartnett, Diane Kruger and Rose Byrne, respectively. The story starts out simply and sweetly enough: Boy sees girl, falls in love at first sight, gets obsessed to the point of following her to dance class, gets girl. However, just as boy summoned the courage to make a `commitment,' the love-of-his-life disappears abruptly for no apparent reason. Two years later, after boy gave up his happiness and moved on, he sees a fleeting glimpse of her and his obsession is rekindled once again. Things get complicated as a third girl, in a bravura performance by Rose Byrne with the perfect blend of deviousness and vulnerability, enters the picture in the love triangle and the pieces to the puzzle start falling into place.

For all its unlikely coincidences, `Wicker Park' is a superbly told tale of love and loss, obsession, and how far some people will go in the name of love.

Chi-Town.......2006-12-21

So I basically went to see this movie because I love Wicker Park, and I was in San Diego when the movie came out and felt like I was representin the CHI!!! Anywho, I actuall enjoyed it a lot, the plot twists and turns. I never would have thought Alex was the sick puppy that she was if the flashbacks had not been included. I liked the who split screen, artsy thing this movie had going. I also like to believe it's romantic when a man becomes obssessed enough with you to ask you out on a date. I don't think it's cool if you have a lovesick nut job for a friend who basically ruins your relationship....I liked this movie enough to buy myself a copy....

The Wicker Man (Widescreen Unrated/Rated Edition)

Average customer rating:

why bother?
Incoherent and Pointless Remake
The worst movie ever made
Good But Comes in Second
Please listen to me!

The Wicker Man (Widescreen Unrated/Rated Edition)
Starring: Nicolas Cage , Ellen Burstyn , Kate Beahan , Frances Conroy , and Molly Parker
Director: Neil LaBute
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Horror | Genres | DVD | Video

Suspense | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

Mystery | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

Comedy | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

( W ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B000JYW5DW
Release Date: 2006-12-19

Amazon.com

Nicolas Cage stars in The Wicker Man as a traumatized police officer investigating a lost girl on a mysterious, mist-shrouded island of imperious women and dimwitted men. Summoned by his ex-fiancee (Kate Beahan, Flightplan, who seems to have borrowed her lips from Angelina Jolie), Edward Malus (Cage, Adaptation.) blusters his way into a closed religious community by flashing his out-of-state badge around and insulting everyone he meets. To describe The Wicker Man any further would deprive viewers of enjoying the staggering ineptness of this absurd remake of the fairly creepy 1973 original. Despite a talented cast (including Ellen Burstyn, Requiem for a Dream, Molly Parker, Deadwood, and Leelee Sobieski, Joy Ride), the performances are uniformly awful, with Cage leading the pack; his overwrought cries of "How'd it get burned?!?" will provoke barks of laughter. Arbitrary wierdness abounds--ranging from animal masks to a body-stocking of bees--in a flailing effort to distract the audience from the narrative running madly off the rails. Maybe writer/director Neil LaBute (In the Company of Men, The Shape of Things) aspired to create a fever dream of male fears about women, but the result is a deformed hybrid of Invasion of the Bee Girls and The Village. A future camp classic. --Bret Fetzer

Description

Out patrolling a California highway, police officer Edward Malus (Nicolas Cage) stops a station wagon to return a little girl's lost doll. Moments later, a runaway truck slams into the station wagon, igniting it into a fiery wreck with the mother and child trapped inside. Edward fails to save them before the car explodes...and then spends months of his life choking down pills to get the image of their faces out of his head. But Edward is about to get a second chance. A desperate letter from his former girlfriend, Willow (Kate Beahan), arrives at his home with no postmark. Willow came into his life and left just as unexpectedly years before. But now, her daughter Rowan has gone missing, and Edward is theonly person she trusts to help locate her. She asks him to come to her home on a private island - Summersisle - a place with its own traditions where people observe a forgotten way of life. Edward seizes the opportunity to make his life right again, and soon finds himself on a seaplane bound for the islands of the Pacific Northwest. But nothing is what it seems on isolated Summersisle, where a culture, dominated by its matriarch Sister Summersisle (Ellen Burstyn), is bound together by arcane traditions and a pagan festival called "the Day of Death and Rebirth." The secretive people of Summersisle only ridicule his investigation, insisting that a child named Rowan never existed there... or if she ever did was no longer alive. But what Edward doesn't know is that Willow's plea for help has invited more into his life than a chance for redemption. In unraveling Summersisle's closely held secrets, Edward is drawn into a web of ancient traditions and murderous deceit, and each step he takes closer to the lost child brings him one step closer to the unspeakable. And one step closer to the Wicker Man.

Customer Reviews:

why bother?.......2007-09-16

this is by far the worst movie ever made with nic cage. mark my words you will be sorely disappointed. ranks right up there with "the village" by that m knight shamallayayallanannn guy. it sucks bad. dont want to ruin it for you but the best part was seeing nic burn alive for taking this role.

Incoherent and Pointless Remake.......2007-09-16

Neil LaBute's remake of "The Wicker Man" is possibly the worst film of the decade, probably worse than "Battlefield Earth" and "Epic Movie," considering that the former film actually stars two Oscar winners, Nicholas Cage and Ellen Burstyn (the latter with strangest make-up on the face). And their acting is very disappointing.

What you see here is beautiful landscapes and an utterly incoherent story about a missing girl and a police officer. The truths are obvious from the moment when Nicolas Cage's policeman landed on a remote, privately owned island off the coast, but our dim-witted hero never knows the right thing to do. Instead he does many silly things and perhaps his "bear" costume part would be the worst. But there are more to come before and after that, as many other reviewers rightly pointed out.

But what made me really sad is the presence of Leelee Sobieski as Sister Honey. I just couldn't believe what I am seeing during her "brawl" scene and its terrible results. If director wanted to make a point about war between men and women, he surely made it with dreadful portrayal of Sister here, or any other terribly-acted Sisters and heavy-handed metaphor of bees.

Please. We don't need any more "re-imagined" version of classic films. Also, British films should be left untouched if you don't have a more suitable idea to update them. The concept of female-dominated society may be intriguing, but that idea is hardly compatible with the eerie world of "The Wicker Man."

The worst movie ever made.......2007-09-16

I don't write many reviews, but this movie is so bad it deserves this many words about it... "________________". And I normally love Nicolas Cage movies. What a disappointment.

Good But Comes in Second.......2007-09-04

Nicholas Cage stars in an ambitious re-write of the cult classic. Cage plays a highway patrolman who is unable to save a mother and daughter from a tragic accident. The failure haunts him until a letter from a past love gives him a chance at redemption. She lives on a small island in the Pacific Northwest and her daughter is missing. She has asked Cage to help. Seeing a chance to save a child Cage sets off on the wild adventure.

On the island he meets a strange group of women who don't like him being there. They also don't believe there is a girl missing. Cage knows there must be something going on and bullheadedly continues his investigation. Nothing seems to make sense but something about an upcoming festival seems to be at the heart of things. Eventually we get the shocking surprise ending we all expect.

Although there are Pagan beliefs in this film, it lacks the true Christian/Pagan conflict of the original. We are also missing the Christopher Lee character and the wrinkle about what if it doesn't work (Lee's life was on the line in the original). But still, the film manages to elicit many of the same feelings as the original while also being fresher and newer. This one, while quite good, will never replace the original in the hearts of its fans. Check it out.

Please listen to me!.......2007-09-04

This was Horrible!!! Don't listen to anybody who says this was a good movie. Don't waste bandwidth by downloading via bit torrent.

Average customer rating:

West Coast Reality in the Hood
JUST ANOTHER GANGSTA MOVIE

Tapped Out
Starring: Kasan Butcher , Coolio , Alleta Darby Michelle , Stacy Fields (II) , and Ty Granderson Jones
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Crime | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

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General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

4-for-3 Action & Adventure | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

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Secret Indictment

ASIN: B0000CDLAT
Release Date: 2003-11-18

Product Description

Tapped Out" follows two aspiring musicians as they take on a gang of industry thugs for a shortcut to hip hop stardom.

Features:

Full-Motion Scene Selections

Full screen Version

Tapped Out Trailer

System Requirements:

Approx. Feature Running Time 95 Min

Format: DVD MOVIE

Customer Reviews:

West Coast Reality in the Hood.......2004-02-14

To me this movie was a real slice of life from the ghetto of South Central Los Angeles. The movie has suprisingly good acting performances from eveyone. I'd say is Coolio's best on screen performance to date! Also first time director Georgio does a good job (acting and directing). The sound track is much better than one usally finds in this type of flick, there are a few stand out tracks on here I really like. All in all this movie was well worth watching.

JUST ANOTHER GANGSTA MOVIE.......2004-01-07

THIS IS JUST ANOTHER ONE OF THE MANY GANGSTA MOVIES THAT CONTINUE TO LINE UP ON THE SHELVES OF VIDEO STORES ALL ACROSS AMERICA. IN THIS ONE, TWO YOUNG MUSICIANS STEAL A HOT SONG THAT DOESN'T BELONG TO THEM. THE SONG UNEXPECTEDLY BECOMES A HIT FOR THEM AND WHEN THE ORIGINAL OWNER FINDS OUT ABOUT IT, HE TRYS TO KILL THEM. THIS IS NO DIFFERENT FROM ANY OF THE OTHER GANGSTA MOVIES. DESPITE THE FACT THAT THEY ARE ON THE COVER FOR THIS MOVIE, COOLIO AND CLIFTON POWELL BOTH HAVE SMALL ROLES. A MAN NAMED GEORGIO [WHO ALSO IS THE DIRECTOR] IS THE REAL STAR OF THE MOVIE. YOU MIGHT BE BETTER OFF RENTING THIS ONE INSTEAD OF BUYING IT. MS. TOI ALSO HAS A ROLE IN THIS MOVIE.

DVD:

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