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353
V for Vendetta
James McTeigue
 
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical: 2006
Genre: Action & Adventure
Rated: R
Writer: Larry Wachowski
Duration: 133
Languages: English, French
Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
Picture Format: Widescreen
IMDb: 0434409
Starring: Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, Stephen Rea, Stephen Fry, John Hurt
Summary: "Remember, remember the fifth of November," for on this day, in 2020, the minds of the masses shall be set free. So says code-name V (Hugo Weaving), a man on a mission to shake society out of its blank complacent stares in the film V for Vendetta. His tactics, however, are a bit revolutionary, to say the least. The world in which V lives is very similar to Orwell's totalitarian dystopia in 1984: after years of various wars, England is now under "big brother" Chancellor Adam Sutler (played by John Hurt, who played Winston Smith in the movie 1984), whose party uses force and fear to run the nation. After they gained power, minorities and political dissenters were rounded up and removed; artistic and unacceptable religious works were confiscated. Cameras and microphones are littered throughout the land, and the people are perpetually sedated through the governmentally controlled media. Taking inspiration from Guy Fawkes, the 17th century co-conspirator of a failed attempt to blow up Parliament on November 5, 1605, V dons a Fawkes mask and costume and sets off to wake the masses by destroying the symbols of their oppressors, literally and figuratively. At the beginning of his vendetta, V rescues Evey (Natalie Portman) from a group of police officers and has her live with him in his underworld lair. It is through their relationship where we learn how V became V, the extremities of the party's corruption, the problems of an oppressive government, V's revenge plot, and his philosophy on how to induce change.

Based on the popular graphic novel by Alan Moore, V for Vendetta's screenplay was written by the Wachowski Brothers (of The Matrix fame) and directed by their protégé, James McTeigue. Controversy and criticism followed the film since its inception, from the hyper-stylized use of anarchistic terrorism to overthrow a corrupt government and the blatant jabs at the current U.S. political arena, to graphic novel fans complaining about the reconstruction of Alan Moore's original vision (Moore himself has dismissed the film). Many are valid critiques and opinions, but there's no hiding the message the film is trying to express: Radical and drastic events often need to occur in order to shake people out of their state of indifference in order to bring about real change. Unfortunately, the movie only offers a means with no ends, and those looking for answers may find the film stylish, but a bit empty. --Rob Bracco

On the DVDs
On disc 1 is a 16-minute documentary "Freedom! Forever!: Making V for Vendetta" with discussions on the movie's origin and themes by the principal cast and crew (no Alan Moore or Wachowskis, to no one's surprise, but the graphic novel's illustrator David Lloyd is on hand to call the movie "a very good version"). On disc 2 is a 17-minute production featurette, a 10-minute history of Guy Fawkes, and the 15-minute "England Prevails: V for Vendetta and the New Wave in Comics." Lloyd and others from the comics industry such as Paul Levitz and Bill Sienkiwicz talk about the graphic novel and how it appealed to a different, older audience. The second menu of the second disc also has an easy-to-find Easter egg of a rapping and swearing Natalie Portman on Saturday Night Live. --David Horiuchi

Beyond the Film

The graphic novel by Alan Moore and David Lloyd

More by Alan Moore

From Graphic Novel to Big Screen

More by Natalie Portman

More by Hugo Weaving

More by the Wachowski Brothers
354
Vacuuming Completely Nude in Paradise
Danny Boyle
 
Studio: KOCH VISION
Theatrical: 2001
Genre: Comedy
Rated: NR
Writer: Jim Cartwright
Duration: 75
Languages: English
Picture Format: Widescreen
IMDb: 0275764
Starring: Timothy Spall, Michael Begley, Katy Cavanagh, Miriam Watkins, Rodney Litchfield, Sandra Gough, Lorraine Cheshire, Terry Barry, Maggie Tagney, James Cartwright, Julie Brown (II), David Crellin, Caroline Ashley, Keith Clifford, Jonathan Bridge, James Foster (III), Caroline Pegg, Alice Barry, Renny Krupinski
Summary: In addition to boasting one of the quirkiest titles in movie history, Vacuuming Completely Nude in Paradise is a riotous showcase for the formidable talent of Timothy Spall. One of the finest character actors to emerge from England in the 1980s and '90s, Spall gave great performances in Life Is Sweet, Secrets and Lies, and Topsy-Turvy (all for director Mike Leigh), and made memorable appearances in Vanilla Sky, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and many others. Here he plays Tommy Rag, a vile, uncouth salesman, determined to win "The Golden Vac" award as England's best door-to-door peddler of vacuum cleaners, unaware that his disapproving boss has sabotaged his chances of winning the coveted prize. Filmed on digital video, this over-the-top BBC-TV comedy was director Danny Boyle's rough-edged rehearsal for 28 Days Later, and its ragged visuals are entirely appropriate for Jim Cartwright's screenplay, which probes the desperate economy of England while plumbing the depths of Tommy's maniacal motivation. There's rich social satire to be found in this delirious mess, but the main pleasure comes from Spall, playing an ethically challenged lout on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Think Willy Loman with apoplectic road rage, and you've got the right idea. --Jeff Shannon
355
Valkyrie
Bryan Singer
 
Studio: United Artists
Theatrical: 2007
Genre: Action & Adventure
Rated: PG-13
Writer: Christopher McQuarrie, Nathan Alexander
Duration: 121
Languages: English (Original Language) English (Unknown) English (Subtitled) Spanish (Subtitled) French (Dubbed) Spanish (Dubbed)
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Picture Format: Widescreen
IMDb: 0985699
Starring: Tom Cruise, Kenneth Branagh
Summary: BASED ON ACTUAL EVENTS, A PLOT TO ASSASSINATE HITLER IS UNFURLED DURING THE HEIGHT OF WWII.
356
The Virgin Suicides
Sofia Coppola
 
Studio: Paramount
Theatrical: 1999
Genre: Period Piece
Rated: R
Writer: Jeffrey Eugenides
Duration: 96
Languages: English, French
Subtitles: English
Picture Format: Widescreen
IMDb: 0159097
Starring: Danny DeVito, Kirsten Dunst, Scott Glenn, Michael Paré, Jonathan Tucker
Summary: Previously criticized for her marginal acting skills, Sofia Coppola made her directorial debut with The Virgin Suicides and silenced her detractors. No amount of coaching from her director father (Francis Coppola) or husband (Spike Jonze) could have guaranteed a film this assured, and in adapting Jeffrey Eugenides's novel, Coppola demonstrates the sensitivity and emotional depth that this material demands. Surely the pain of youth and public criticism found its way into her directorial voice; in the story of four sisters who self-destruct under the steady erosion of their youthful ideals, one can clearly sense Coppola's intimate connection to the inner lives of her characters.

Played in a delicate minor key, the film is heartbreaking, mysterious, and soulfully funny, set in a Michigan suburb of the mid-1970s but timeless and universal to anyone who's been a teenager. The four surviving Lisbon sisters lost a sibling to suicide, and as its title suggests, the film will chart their mutual course to oblivion under the vigilance of repressive parents (Kathleen Turner and James Woods, perfectly cast). But The Virgin Suicides is more concerned with life in that precious interlude of adolescence, when the Lisbon girls are worshipped by the neighborhood boys, their notion of perfection epitomized by Lux (Kirsten Dunst) and her storybook love for high-school stud Trip (Josh Hartnett). Unfolding at the cusp of innocence and sexual awakening, and recalled as a memory, The Virgin Suicides is, ultimately, about the preservation of the Lisbon sisters by their own deaths--suspended in time, polished to perfection, and forever untainted by adulthood. --Jeff Shannon
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This is Alejandro Mora's Movie Collection