Set in 1964 at a Catholic church in the Bronx, the film opens with Father Flynn (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) giving a sermon on the nature of doubt. That evening, Sister Aloysius, the head of the Catholic school discusses the sermon with her fellow nuns.
She asks if any of them have seen any weird behavior in the school to give Father Flynn ideas about doubt, and asks that they keep watch for such behavior.
Sister James, a young and naive teacher, observes the bond between Father Flynn and Donald Miller, the school's only black student and altar boy. One day , Sister James receives a call in her class asking for Donald Miller to meet Father Flynn in the chapel. When he returns, Donald is frantic and Sister James smells alchohol on his breath. Later, while her students were learning to dance, she sees Father Flynn placing a white shirt in Donald's locker. On guard following her warning about unusual behavior from Sister Aloysius, Sister James reveals her thoughts to Sister Aloysius.
Under the pretext of discussing problems with the school's Christmas play, Sisters Aloysius and James confront Father Flynn with their suspicions that his relationship with Donald may be a sexual one. Father Flynn asks them to leave the matter alone as it was a private issue between the boy and himself. Finally, he tells the Sisters that Donald had been caught drinking altar wine and that he had agreed to help the boy and allow him to remain an altar boy provided that no one else knew. Having forced him to reveal the truth, Father Flynn tells the nuns that he is disappointed in the way they handled this and that he will now have to expel Donald.
Initially, Sister James is convinced of Father Flynn's innocence, but Sister Aloysius' belief that he has behaved inappropriately with the boy is true. Sister James later confronts Father Flynn about the shirt she saw him leaving in Donald's locker, having not revealed this to Sister Aloysius. They talk about his relationship with the boy, and Sister James' doubts now are more apperent.
Sister Aloysius calls a meeting with Donald mother and reveals her suspicions. Mrs. Miller surprises Sister Aloysius by stating that she should not take the matter further and that he only has to last until the end of the school year before he goes on to attend high school. Mrs. Miller believes her son to be gay and in order to protect him from his abusive father, she asks that the matter not be pursued further.
At the film's climax, Sister Aloysius again confronts Father Flynn and despite having no evidence and no support from Donald Miller's mother, she demands that Father Flynn tell her the truth. Father Flynn repeats that there is no inappropriate relationship between himself and the boy, but Sister Aloysius says she knows that he has a history of problems having moved to three different parishes in five years.
She states that she has contacted a nun at one of Father Flynn's prior churches who corroborates her doubt. Father Flynn is furious that she has gone outside the chain of command by contacting a nun rather than the church's priest. Sister Aloysius demands that he resign, and unable to stand up to her, he relents.
Following his final sermon, Sisters Aloysius and James sit together in the church garden. Sister Aloysius tells Sister James that although Father Flynn has left, he has been given a promotion in the church hierarchy and is now headmaster of a more prestigious Catholic school.
Sister Aloysius goes on to reveal that she lied about speaking to a nun at Father Flynn's former church, and repeats a line from earlier in the film that "when you take a step to address wrongdoing, you are taking a step away from God," but adds that there is a price. Aloysius breaks down in tears and says to Sister James "I have such doubts."
This movie was OK, It had a great storyline, but it sort of let itself down. Its like going to Hobart, or Munich, Everything's great, the people are nice, but when you come back, it's not like your thinking "Gee, I wish I was still there."
This movie just did exactly that for me so I gave it 2 and a half stars.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
The Bank Job
Petty-criminal-gone-straight Terry Leather owns a failing car-sales garage being harassed by two debt-collectors. His old girlfriend Martine offers Terry a chance to earn enough money to never worry about debt again: a bank robbery in the West End. Terry gathers a bunch of petty-criminal friends to help execute the plan. They lease a shop two lots away from the bank and start digging a tunnel underneath the middle shop (a chicken fast-food restaurant) in order to reach the underground bank vault. Terry employs Eddie a worker in his garage, as a "watchman" with a walkie-talkie to sit on the roof of the building opposite and keep a look out for trouble.
What they don't know is that Martine, who has been caught smuggling heroin into Britain and desperately wants to avoid jail, is setting them up on behalf of MI5, which wants the contents of a certain safe deposit box (No. 118) within the bank. This safe deposit box contains compromising photos of a female member of the British Royal Family (identified in the film as Princess Margaret participating in a threesome. The photos are in a box belonging to a black militant who calls himself Michael X, he is using the photos to avoid trouble with the Metropolitan Police, and MI5 is desperate to keep the photos out of circulation.
As Terry and his crew dig, their radio chatter draws the attention of a local amateur radio operator, who listens in on the conversation and realises he's overhearing a bank robbery in progress. He calls the police, but with a ten-mile radius to search and a lack of concrete details, they fail to pin the robbery down.
After they have broken in and begin looting the vault, Martine goes for the deposit-box with the photos. A suspicious Terry opens the box with her and, upon seeing the pictures, knows that Martine has a hidden agenda. In addition to those photos, further photos of a number of high-ranking government officials are found, at the top a senior MP in compromising positions in a local S&M brothel. The robbers pocket these with the money and other valuables. Terry arranges for alternate transportation "to be safe", throwing off MI5 who had intended to immediately intercept them.
Guy and Bambas leave with their share of the spoils. When Terry confronts Martine over the photos, she explains their predicament. Meanwhile, the robbery is discovered, and the police — both corrupt ones receiving payoffs and honest ones — start their investigation. MI5 is likewise searching. Lew Vogel a local club owner, is worried about the contents of his ledger, which lists every payoff he's made to the police, which by chance also was stolen during the robbery. He also phones Michael X to inform him that his box containing the royal 'portraits' has gone missing. Michael X starts to get suspicious of Gale Benson a British spy who has befriended his brother and gone with the family to Trinidad
The club owner manages to find one of the robbers, Dave and tortures him for information with a sandblaster, When he eventually tells Vogel everything, Vogel goes to the garage where Terry worked and kidnaps Eddie, who was the lookout during the robbery, taking him to the same secret location and tying him down. At the same time, the senior MP is shown the photos of himself in the brothel and agrees to try to help absolve the robbers of all wrongdoing and give them safe passage out of the country. Meanwhile, MI5 issues a D-Notice forbidding the press from reporting on the heist any longer. Police simultaneously release recordings from the walkie-talkie conversations, in the hope that someone will recognize the voices. These recordings are heard on the radio by Terry's family.
The club owner's accomplice eventually shoots Dave in the head and threatens to shoot Eddie also unless he gets his ledger book (with incriminating info about payoffs) back. Lew makes an agreement with Terry, agreeing to meet him at Paddington Station in London. During this time as well, Guy and Bambas are murdered by unknown people, and Michael X kills Benson in Trinidad. Terry has Kev give the same instruction to the officer in charge of the investigation, citing knowledge of corrupt officers under his control. He also convinces the club owner to go to Paddington Station at the same time, offering him the book with details of corrupt officers in return for the safe return of his mechanic. This results in a large meeting of all of the involved parties at the same time.
Terry stands on the platform waiting for the others, while Martine meets up with Tim Everett, her original contact within MI5, on a bridge overlooking the scene. The club owner and his corrupt police accomplices arrive with the mechanic, but recognize MI5 agents present and run. At the same time, the head of MI5 arrives (with Lord Mountbatten), handing over the documentation and passports that Terry bargained for, in return for the photos of the princess. Terry then chases the fleeing club owner and his henchmen. He starts to attack the club owner, and then fights with one of the aides, knocking them both out. The second aide appears with a gun, but Terry manages to avoid the shots and knock him out with a brick hastily dislodged from a wall.
The police officer in charge of the investigation then arrives, and sees the robbers being arrested. He speaks with the MI5 officers present, who direct police to let the robbers go. Terry gives the ledger to the police officer before he, Kevin, and Eddie go away. Vogel and the corrupt officers are arrested instead. Everett personally supervises Michael X's arrest in Trinidad and Tobago and has Benson's remains exhumed for reburial in Britain.
The final scenes have Terry and Martine say good-bye, and Terry and his family enjoying a relaxed and carefree life on a small sailing yacht of their own, near some sunny beach.
The epilogue states that the revelations about the brothel forces many government officials to resign. Scotland Yard starts investigating the corrupt officers named in the ledger. Michael X was hanged in 1975 for Benson's murder and his personal files are kept hidden in the British National Archives until 2054. Vogel gets imprisoned eight years for crimes that were unrelated to the robbery. The murderers of Guy and Bambas have never been found. About GBP 4 million worth of materials and money was stolen from the robbery. At least 100 safety-deposit box owners did not claim insurance nor identify their items in the boxes.
Awesome movie made with fast paced cinematography, and awesome angles, Jason Statham was an awesome choice for hard nosed softie mechanic Terry Leather.
5 Stars
What they don't know is that Martine, who has been caught smuggling heroin into Britain and desperately wants to avoid jail, is setting them up on behalf of MI5, which wants the contents of a certain safe deposit box (No. 118) within the bank. This safe deposit box contains compromising photos of a female member of the British Royal Family (identified in the film as Princess Margaret participating in a threesome. The photos are in a box belonging to a black militant who calls himself Michael X, he is using the photos to avoid trouble with the Metropolitan Police, and MI5 is desperate to keep the photos out of circulation.
As Terry and his crew dig, their radio chatter draws the attention of a local amateur radio operator, who listens in on the conversation and realises he's overhearing a bank robbery in progress. He calls the police, but with a ten-mile radius to search and a lack of concrete details, they fail to pin the robbery down.
After they have broken in and begin looting the vault, Martine goes for the deposit-box with the photos. A suspicious Terry opens the box with her and, upon seeing the pictures, knows that Martine has a hidden agenda. In addition to those photos, further photos of a number of high-ranking government officials are found, at the top a senior MP in compromising positions in a local S&M brothel. The robbers pocket these with the money and other valuables. Terry arranges for alternate transportation "to be safe", throwing off MI5 who had intended to immediately intercept them.
Guy and Bambas leave with their share of the spoils. When Terry confronts Martine over the photos, she explains their predicament. Meanwhile, the robbery is discovered, and the police — both corrupt ones receiving payoffs and honest ones — start their investigation. MI5 is likewise searching. Lew Vogel a local club owner, is worried about the contents of his ledger, which lists every payoff he's made to the police, which by chance also was stolen during the robbery. He also phones Michael X to inform him that his box containing the royal 'portraits' has gone missing. Michael X starts to get suspicious of Gale Benson a British spy who has befriended his brother and gone with the family to Trinidad
The club owner manages to find one of the robbers, Dave and tortures him for information with a sandblaster, When he eventually tells Vogel everything, Vogel goes to the garage where Terry worked and kidnaps Eddie, who was the lookout during the robbery, taking him to the same secret location and tying him down. At the same time, the senior MP is shown the photos of himself in the brothel and agrees to try to help absolve the robbers of all wrongdoing and give them safe passage out of the country. Meanwhile, MI5 issues a D-Notice forbidding the press from reporting on the heist any longer. Police simultaneously release recordings from the walkie-talkie conversations, in the hope that someone will recognize the voices. These recordings are heard on the radio by Terry's family.
The club owner's accomplice eventually shoots Dave in the head and threatens to shoot Eddie also unless he gets his ledger book (with incriminating info about payoffs) back. Lew makes an agreement with Terry, agreeing to meet him at Paddington Station in London. During this time as well, Guy and Bambas are murdered by unknown people, and Michael X kills Benson in Trinidad. Terry has Kev give the same instruction to the officer in charge of the investigation, citing knowledge of corrupt officers under his control. He also convinces the club owner to go to Paddington Station at the same time, offering him the book with details of corrupt officers in return for the safe return of his mechanic. This results in a large meeting of all of the involved parties at the same time.
Terry stands on the platform waiting for the others, while Martine meets up with Tim Everett, her original contact within MI5, on a bridge overlooking the scene. The club owner and his corrupt police accomplices arrive with the mechanic, but recognize MI5 agents present and run. At the same time, the head of MI5 arrives (with Lord Mountbatten), handing over the documentation and passports that Terry bargained for, in return for the photos of the princess. Terry then chases the fleeing club owner and his henchmen. He starts to attack the club owner, and then fights with one of the aides, knocking them both out. The second aide appears with a gun, but Terry manages to avoid the shots and knock him out with a brick hastily dislodged from a wall.
The police officer in charge of the investigation then arrives, and sees the robbers being arrested. He speaks with the MI5 officers present, who direct police to let the robbers go. Terry gives the ledger to the police officer before he, Kevin, and Eddie go away. Vogel and the corrupt officers are arrested instead. Everett personally supervises Michael X's arrest in Trinidad and Tobago and has Benson's remains exhumed for reburial in Britain.
The final scenes have Terry and Martine say good-bye, and Terry and his family enjoying a relaxed and carefree life on a small sailing yacht of their own, near some sunny beach.
The epilogue states that the revelations about the brothel forces many government officials to resign. Scotland Yard starts investigating the corrupt officers named in the ledger. Michael X was hanged in 1975 for Benson's murder and his personal files are kept hidden in the British National Archives until 2054. Vogel gets imprisoned eight years for crimes that were unrelated to the robbery. The murderers of Guy and Bambas have never been found. About GBP 4 million worth of materials and money was stolen from the robbery. At least 100 safety-deposit box owners did not claim insurance nor identify their items in the boxes.
Awesome movie made with fast paced cinematography, and awesome angles, Jason Statham was an awesome choice for hard nosed softie mechanic Terry Leather.
5 Stars
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Seven Pounds
Righty ho.
Seven Pounds is about a man named Ben Thomas. Well at least you think it is, up until halfway through the movie. He worked for an aeronautics company. Now he works for the IRS as “your friendly neighbourhood tax collector”.
Ben seems to have seriously lost it, and spends his days hunting down certain people, claiming to some that they are being audited.
Ben calls Ezra, a telemarketer, who is blind, and insults him. Ezra remains patient and just listens, and doesn't get angry. Ben meets Stewart Goodman, a retirement home owner/manager, who is being audited. His patients seem to be demoralized, and Stuart explains that he hasn't paid his taxes because he has had an unsuccessful bone marrow transplant and needs a new one. While Stewart is saying all this, Ben looks out the window and notices Stewart's new BMW sports coupe.He speaks to one of Stewart's patients and discovers he isn't a good man, and he forces her to take medication against her will. Ben then angrily confronts Stewart, and denies an extension on Stewart's window to pay his taxes.
Ben seeks out Emily Posa, who hasn't also paid her taxes because of medical bills. A friendship forms between them.
Ben talks to his friend Holly, who works in the department of Child services. He says that "she owes him a favor". and she replies that "I'll do anything"
Through Holly, Ben finds Connie, a mum who is beaten by her boyfriend who she refuses to leave. He moves out of his beach house, to a motel, and when she calls him, to say that her boyfriend has beaten her up yet again, he sends her to his old house, which to him was always "a safe haven, a place of peace".
He says to sign the deed, and never try to contact him again.Ben also meets George Ristuccia, an ice hockey coach, who has helped fund scholarships for kids who really need them. George is on dialysis, and needs a new kidney.
Ben is called by his brother, who asks if he took something when he stayed at his house. Ben replies that he didn't. Later Ben's brother confronts him and says "Tim, you can't just play with people's lives!" and tells Tim that impersonating an IRS agent is a crime, thus revealing that the real Ben Thomas is Tim's brother.
Tim checks into hospital, to give some of his bone marrow to a little boy named Nicholas who needs a transplant. (It is hinted he was going to give it to Stewart but, didn't because he didn't deserve it)
Tim spends more and more time with Emily, who now needs a new heart. She explains that her printing press, which she uses, has broken down, and in the middle of the night, Tim endeavors to fix it, which he does.
When Tim sees Emily's doctor, and the doctor says there is only a 3-5 percent chance that she will find a donor in time, Tim calls his friend Dan and tells him that its time.
Tim goes back to his hotel room, and you see a scene that you saw at the start of a movie again. Tim calls the ambulance to report a suicide, and that he is the victim.He puts a box jellyfish in the bath, and it stings him in into paralysis, killing Tim.
It is then revealed that Tim was involved in a car accident, where everyone in the accident except him died, as well as the accident being his fault, because he was driving and answering a work text message at the same time. This explains the chanting of the names, because they were the victims. He also killed his fiance who was in the car with him.
Then Emily's pager, which was given to her, to notify her of a suitable heart, goes off, and she is given a transplant, from Tim's heart.
Emily is later contacted by the real Ben Thomas, who says that last year, he got sick and needed a lung transplant, which Tim gave him.
He believed that it started something in Tim. Later he also gave part of his liver to Holly, which was the reason for the favor of finding Connie, who Tim gave his house.He also gave his bone marrow (to Nicholas, the boy) and his kidney (to George) while he was still alive.
Emily finds Ezra, who is a pianist as well, playing at a children's concert. When she sees him up close as they talk, she realizes that he has Ben's dark brown eyes, which have cured Ezra's blindness.
Ezra figures out who Emily is and they hug in a climatic final scene.
4 stars.Rosario Dawson's character was developed a lot more than others that I would have liked to see (George the ice hockey coach and Nicholas) and the movie started to frustrate me with the romance but it was a very good move with a very good story. Would notreccomend this to anyone who doesn't like depressing movies
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