Knight and Day

I’ve been in love with the Tom Cruise in movies since I fell in love with Top Gun years ago, and it broke my heart while I was in college and in star began to tarnish. Thankfully for me, his star has been glowing a little more in the past few years, first Les Grossman and Valkyrie and now it can continue with Knight and Day. Knight and Day is the kind of Tom Cruise movie that I adore watching, and for the life of me I cannot figure out why this movie is not burning up the box offices. Knight and Day is a spy romantic comedy for lack of a better description of the genre, and it works on every level.

June Havens accidently gets caught up in the path of government agent Roy Miller, who is trying to protect young genius Simon from a rogue agent – a rogue agent who has pegged Miller as the bad seed and has the agency tracking him, and now June, down. While June is the resistant passenger on Roy’s journey she begins to fall for Roy even though she’s never sure if his tale of conspiracy is a lie or the truth.

The reason this film works so well is because of James Mangold. This director has put to huge stars together with Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise and yet neither outshines the other, and their chemistry is fun to watch whether they are sparring verbally with one another or being attacked.

I’ve complained a great deal about directors that can’t handle tonal shifts in their films, and Mangold deserves praise because the tonal shifts in Knight and Day are imperceptible. As a viewer you go from laughing to anticipating onscreen gunfire without ever noticing that the mood suddenly changed in the film, simply because the writer, actors and Mangold did their job well – so well it looks easy and forgettable.

This movie is built around the chemistry between Cruise & Diaz. As a director I don’t know if I would have put the two onscreen together simply because I would have been afraid one star would eclipse the other, but thankfully that doesn’t happen here. Even though the tale is told from June’s perspective Roy is never sidelined or forgotten, and Roy’s character never makes June’s seem less important. This is a marriage of perfect characters and actors and the film is much better for it.

As I stated, Knight and Day is a movie that makes me happy to be a Tom Cruise fan again. This film is a throw-back to adult comedies, action films and stories. It’s a good film that masquerades as a popcorn film and the best part about it is that Knight and Day is fun, and makes you want to spend another two hours at the movies just so you can see it again.

Director: James Mangold
Writer: Patrick O’Neill
Roy Miller: Tom Cruise
June Havens: Cameron Diaz
Fitzgerald: Peter Sarsgaard
Antonio: Jordi Molla
Director George: Viola Davis
Simon Feck: Paul Dano
Rodney: Marc Blucas
April Havens: Maggie Grace

June: The pilots are dead.
Miller: Yeah, they've been shot.
June: By who?
Miller: By me. No, actually, I shot the first pilot then he accidentally shot the second pilot. It's just one of those things.

Prey for Rock & Roll

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Originally uploaded by toothpicklabeling

The most interesting thing about Prey for Rock & Roll is that it is a very gritty tale of the life of yet-to-be-successful rockers in LA – and they’re a chick band. This is a very independent film that most people have not heard of, thought it is at least worth watching once.

Prey for Rock & Roll follows the members of Clam Dandy who are all friends, all dedicated to their craft and all hoping that they can fall into their big break. The compelling thing about the story is that at one point or another all of these women admit that they are most likely never going to get that big break, yet that cannot give up because music is what makes them a complete human being. The film follows them through the ups and downs of their life in LA; one is addicted to drugs and needs to clean up, two are in a lesbian couple that deals with the complications of being a couple that lives and plays together, one is becomes a victim of rape, and the lead beings a relationship with the brother of a band member. The film is gritty, dirty and deals with female musicians in a way that I have not seen in another film; in fact I am not sure if there is another fictional film about female rockers out there.

What I greatly enjoy about this film is the frankness with which it deals with its characters and their issues. I don’t know if that frankness comes from the director or the writers, but it is refreshing to see the film deal with things like rape and drug addiction in the case of our female protagonists and not shy away from the emotional turmoil, stress and even the joy they take in their daily lives. These women are not glamorized, and nothing is glossed over because it is too dark or depressing. All of this lends to make very genuine, real female characters.

The music in the film is also a treat as the filmmakers had the actors learn and perform the songs. The actors actually toured through the country performing in an effort to make some publicity for the film. I think that this effort and dedication shows in the soundtrack and makes the entire film feel that much more real.

While I don’t think everyone will enjoy this film I do believe that it has a unique story to tell and unique characters to relay it and is well worth the watch.

Director: Alex Steyermark
Writers: Cheri Lovedog & Robin Whitehouse
Jacki: Gina Gershon
Tracy: Drea de Matteo
Faith: Lori Petty
Sally: Shelly Cole
Animal: Marc Blucas

Jacki: OK, two dykes, a wannabe rock star, and a tequila guzzling speed freak walk into a restaurant. I always imagined it would be a bit more, I don't know, glamorous. I mean we'd be in this big beautiful office, we'd sign on the dotted line, and we'd cut to band on stage, playing to thousands of adoring fans. Wow, I can't believe that my whole future is hanging in the balance at the Big Drip Cafe.