Eat Pray Love: movie review

In 'Eat Pray Love,' Julia Roberts plays a newly divorced 30-something in search of herself, based on Elizabeth Gilbert’s memoir.

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Julia Roberts is shown in a scene from the new movie 'Eat, Pray, Love.'

Somewhere on its journey to the big screen, “Eat Pray Love” – the film adaptation of Elizabeth Gilbert’s bestselling memoir “Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia” – lost not only its marquee-unfriendly subtitle, but even its two commas. It will compensate by inducing a much larger number of comas among its viewers. 

For those who missed the book, Gilbert – a successful author increasingly dissatisfied with her life – got a divorce and embarked on a yearlong trip to Italy, India, and Bali in search of enlightenment or balance or some other balm to soothe her unease. She reportedly funded the trip with a hefty advance for the book, thus guaranteeing that she had better learn something knowing and wise, since “Writer scours world for meaning of life... Comes up empty-handed” is not a publisher’s dream pitch for display space at Barnes & Noble.

Julia Roberts stands in for Gilbert here, and her movie star persona overwhelms the character. We never for a minute forget who she is. Liz’s big lesson in the “Eat” segment – Liz must have trouble multitasking because there’s one titular activity per country – is to relax and experience pleasure, mainly in the form of Italian food. She encourages her friend Sofi (Tuva Novotny) to stop worrying about maintaining a rigidly low weight and join her in indulgence.

We are treated to a montage – filled with forced jauntiness – of the two women trying to squeeze into a succession of growing pants sizes. Except it’s still Roberts: Even if she did (as reported) gain a whole 10 pounds for the film, her cheekbones could still slice ripe tomatoes. “Letting go” means sliding from the top 1 percent of the population on the slenderness scale to the top 2 percent. (By the way, cinematographer Bob Richardson makes the pasta look so luscious that low-carbers will have to cover their eyes more than the most squeamish viewer at a Saw film.)

Even after the scene switches to India, we’re not allowed to forget Liz’s newfound appetite: A running gag has fellow ashrammer “Richard from Texas” (the always excellent Richard Jenkins) always calling her “Groceries” because of the way she can wolf it down.

But, in the Gilbert blueprint, India is supposed to be prayerful, not prandial. So Liz learns to meditate. This involves emptying her mind, which – judging from the banalities in the voice-over – shouldn’t require much heavy lifting, if you catch my drift. (She also takes what must be the shortest vow of silence ever.) It is hard to imagine anything less cinematic than trancing out; to portray it accurately would provide too tempting an invitation to the audience. While I can imagine taking pleasure in gazing at Roberts’s navel, there are few things less rewarding than gazing at Roberts gazing at Roberts’s navel.

Moving from bellybutton to Bali, the film finally allows Liz a carnal/romantic consummation, in the form of Felipe (Javier Bardem), a soulful Brazilian expat. They have their ups and downs, but end up literally sailing off into the sunset. No, that’s unfair: The boat has a motor.

What with the title and pedigree, no one would expect “Eat Pray Love” to be filled with thrilling action. But the word “movie” does imply movement, and almost nothing ever happens throughout the protracted two hours and 20 minutes that director/co-writer Ryan Murphy takes to chronicle Liz’s travels. Nor are the “meaningful lessons” worth the wait. During the India scenes, Liz accuses Richard from Texas of spouting a bunch of bumper-sticker slogans ... as though her revelations are any better. Grade: C (Rated PG-13 on appeal for brief strong language, some sexual references, and male rear nudity.)

Flipped Reviewed

Rob Reiner has been a great director. From the 1980s through the first couple years of the 1990s the man put out classic after classic, be it incredible comedies like The Is Spinal Tap, truly terrifying horror like Misery, unforgettable fantasy like The Princess Bride, or hard-hitting drama like A Few Good Men. Then came North, a film that was considered by many to be the worst film of 1994. In the 16 years since, Reiner has failed to make anything that’s earned the same level of critical acclaim as his early work. His newest film, Flipped, is the one to end the streak.

Adapted from the book by Wendelin Van Draanen, the film follows a young boy and a young girl as they grow up together in the late 50s and early 60s. Switching back and forth between their points of view, young Juli Baker (Madeline Carroll) has been in love with her neighbor, Bryce Loski (Callan McAuliffe), from the second she laid eyes on him in second grade. She loves everything about him, from his piercing brown eyes to the smell of his hair. As young boys are wont to do, however, Bryce rejects Juli completely, never embracing her love and actively trying to get rid of her. But as they enter the eighth grade, everything begins to change. Bryce begins to see Juli in a way that he’s never seen her before – but his change of heart may have come too late.

What stands out most about Flipped is its relationship with one of Reiner’s best films: Stand By Me. Almost a sequel in spirit, the movie implants a deep feeling of nostalgia, even for those who never lived in the era. Though the book on which the film is based is set in a more contemporary setting, moving the events to 1963 allowed Reiner to feed off of his own experience growing up, and that familiarity fuels the movie and gives it authenticity. The story itself is timeless and relatable to anyone, but the decision to make it a period piece brings it to another level.

The way Flipped is presented, first telling a story through the eyes and thoughts of Bryce and then again through the eyes and thoughts of Juli, could have easily been a disaster in less capable hands, but, surprisingly, the audience never feels bored by the repetition. Nearly every event in the film is told at least twice but, because you are so invested in the characters, you actually begin to eagerly anticipate what the other side of the story will be. There are scenes in which Bryce senses Juli’s emotions, but you’ll want to take that look behind the curtain and understand why she feels the way she does.

Occasionally souring the affair are more saccharine moments. While the movie doesn’t jam a fistful of sugar down your throat every chance it gets, it certainly doesn’t try to avoid doing so. The relationship between Bryce and his grandfather, played by John Mahoney, feels as though it was ripped right off the streets of Mayberry, but, fortunately, Bryce’s father, played by Anthony Edwards, is enough of an asshole to bring it all back down to reality.

Flipped is intermittently an overly sappy, overly simple period young love story, but it’s the film’s heart, reality, and creative storytelling that saves it. The cast is strong and the irregular structure works perfectly. Welcome back, Mr. Reiner.

Clash of the Titans Movie Review

INFO:

• Starring: Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Jason Flemyng, Gemma Arterton, Alexa Davalos, and Mads Mikkelson
• Written By: Travis Beacham, Phil Hay, and Matt Manfredi
• Directed By: Louis Leterrier

IAS ALERT: For all its cheesiness, the original Clash of the Titans holds a special place in my heart (1981 was a really good summer to be nine). I don't believe my borderline loathing of this film has anything to do with those rose-colored memories, but it bears mentioning. One could also cite the blatant disregard for Greek mythology in the epic failure of the new Clash of the Titans, but that's disingenuous too. Popcorn films are allowed to play fast and loose with their material in the name of good clean fun. Clash of the Titans, however, proves unwilling to live by the rules of its own plot, which it breaks and rebreaks so many times that its narrative becomes an utter hash.

Moreover, its slavish reliance on admittedly strong F/X destroys any sense of dramatic pacing. We just get an orgy of Greek monsters plucked from the first film and shoveled at us without rhyme or reason. The actors remain either bored or wooden (you can actually see Liam Neeson spending his paycheck in his head), and the rudderless storyline crashes against more rocks than Odysseus himself. Fault director Louis Leterrier, who hides his lack of storytelling acumen behind copious effects like so many studio hacks before him.

The basics remain the same as in the original. Perseus (Sam Worthington), bastard son of Zeus, quests to find the head of the Medusa--the only thing capable of destroying the monstrous Kraken. The vengeful gods are preparing to set the beast loose on the city of Argos, razing it to the ground unless the people put their princess Andromeda (Alexa Davalos) up for sacrifice.

That much is clear. Delve any deeper into the particulars, however, and the proceedings quickly collapse into a big wet pile of stupid. For starters, men hate the gods: defying their will at every turn and declaring themselves exempt from divine rule. It's part of the screenwriters' ill-conceived notion to depict Perseus as the child of two worlds; his quest an effort to declare his allegiance for humanity and overthrow the gods' rule once and for all. Zeus (Neeson) is understandably irate at all of this and responds… by sending Perseus a magic sword to help him out.

Then there's Zeus's brother Hades (Ralph Fiennes), who volunteers to go down and smite the mortals on Zeus's behalf. Why the king of the gods can't do his own smiting is something of a mystery, especially since he nails King Acrisius (Jason Flemyng) with a ginormous lightning bolt early in the proceedings. But no matter. Hades heads to Earth to lay the smackdown on mortaldom… then says he'll spare them if they sacrifice Andromeda. Given free rein to commit wholesale genocide, he settles for a single hot chick, a move which will doubtless get him tossed out of the Evil Mastermind's Guild on general principles. It's all part of some scheme to seize control of the universe from Zeus, which involves stopping Perseus for reasons never made entirely clear.

Leterrier shows no interest in untangling these thorny knots, content to leave the audience sputtering in bewilderment while the monster mash kicks into high gear. Even then, Clash of the Titans might had prevailed if said monster mash displayed any sense of grace or timing. But the fight scenes are edited into pointless sound and noise, defined only by the particular CG beastie which Perseus and his pals are fighting at any given time. The Pegasus shows up to aid him at one point--black instead of white to emphasize how much more bad-ass this version is than the original--but Leterrier has no sense of how to properly set up such a concept. The horse just gets thrown into the mix haphazardly until it becomes indistinguishable from the other sights onscreen.

So too do Perseus's companions appear to us in a random hodge-podge. As if realizing that Andromeda doesn't register enough screen time to make a proper love interest, the script provides Perseus with a guide, Io (Gemma Arterton), who delivers ungainly chunks of exposition and differentiates which monster is which as they come barreling at us. The slapped-on 3D imagery don't help matters, darkening the film's palette and rendering the action even less comprehensible. If there's any justice, it will crash and burn in 3D and put a quick kibbutz on this burgeoning gimmick to which Hollywood suddenly seems addicted.

The effects themselves are solidly rendered, and Fiennes does well as the ostensible villain, reminding us how much he's going to rock the house as Voldemort this fall. But that's cold comfort for a film as clumsily delivered as this one, crushing the modest charms of its predecessor beneath soulless computer-rendered bulk. The creators of the first Clash had a keen understanding of how Greek mythology worked, with its capricious gods that you could outwit but never openly defy. This new Clash lacks the wit or insight to recreate such a notion, or even deliver half-decent action. The myths it presumes to reinvent serve only as empty grist for its effects houses, mangled by storytelling incompetence past the point of recognition. The gods should be thankful for that, at least: they don't need to take responsibility for the mess created in their name. 

 

Movie Review: The Karate Kid (2010)

A remake of The Karate Kid was always going to cause a stir amongst those who remember the original fondly. Remakes don’t go down too well purely on principal, (“They’re ruining my childhood!”) but with The Karate Kid in particularly this is a film beloved by those who grew up in the ‘80s, more cherished out of nostalgia than for how good the movie actually is.

Truthfully the original Karate Kid isn’t a masterpiece and it could be argued a remake was past due. But at the same time a remake had the potential to be a phoned-in, contrived and silly exercise in cash-grabbing. Luckily that’s not the case as this is one of the better remakes to come out of Hollywood, full of genuine heart and with genuinely well choreographed fight sequences.

The story follows Dre Parker (Jaden Smith), a 12-year-old boy from Detroit who is forced to move with his mother to China because of her job. Not long after landing in a country that feels totally alien to him (including the fact he doesn’t speak the language), he begins to get bullied by a local boy who also happens to be one of his classmates (just his luck).

So Dre decides to try and fight back by learning martial arts. After failing to stand up to his tormentor, he receives a helping-hand from Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), the maintenance man of their building. Mr. Han begins to put him through a rigorous training regime to learn Kung Fu in order to win a martial arts tournament.

The plot isn’t the most imaginative in the world but it provides a container for pretty much everything that this type of film should have. It’s by-the-numbers stuff all the way through, from the personal conflicts of Dre trying to get used to his new home to the things he has to overcome in order to prove his worth and honour (no prizes for guessing what the climax of the movie entails)

But even as it strikes all the chords you’d expect (clichéd is a word I wouldn’t shy away from using), it does so with great aplomb. Crucially the relationship between Dre and Mr. Han is believable and realistic, stretching from tough teacher/student to caring friends and the film manages to achieve this whilst rarely (if ever) feeling forced or contrived.

The fight sequences are where the real strengths of The Karate Kid lie. The film’s age rating stops things from getting into “battered-and-bloody” territory but the fighting still manages to feel realistic – you can really feel every punch and kick that gets thrown.

Jaden Smith as Dre is solid although in the instances of him being defiant towards his mother (back-chatting and the like) or getting sentimental with a girl he likes in his class, his delivery of the dialogue is rather stilted. Still, Smith clearly has some of that acting talent and charisma of his father and I can see him going a long way in Hollywood.

While no masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, The Karate Kid does what it needs to do rather well. It combines some kick-ass fight scenes with genuine heart and emotion, and even a healthy dose of true-to-life humour. Certainly one of the biggest pleasant surprises of 2010, The Karate Kid sits comfortably as one of those rare remakes that’s better than the original.

One last thing: can anyone explain to me why it’s called The Karate Kid when it focuses on Kung Fu?

Repo Men 2010 Movie Review - Repossession of Body Parts Read more at Suite101: Repo Men 2010 Movie Review - Repossession of Body Parts http://scififantasyfilms.suite101.com/article.cfm/repo-men-2010-movie-review---repossession-of-body-parts#ixzz0vPl3ANAi

Repo Men 2010 Movie Review - Universal Pictures

It is one thing to repossess a car or a house, but what about artificial organs? The 2010 movie, Repo Men, explores such situations in bloody detail.

If someone misses a car payment, the bank takes it back. If someone misses a house payment, the bank takes it back.

These words are spoken by Remy, the main character from Universal Pictures, Repo Men, portrayed by Jude Law. It's an interesting premise; what happens if someone misses a payment on a body part? Should the owner have the right to take it back?

Though it is doubtful it will ever be legal to slice open a human and reclaim an artificial organ, it does make for an interesting plot. The majority of these people die as a result of such unorthodox surgery, not to mention how gross these scenes are. The director was certainly going for realism, but it is unlikely that emotionally healthy men could be such repo men.

A Family Man Repossesses Organs

Remy is a married man with a young son. His life seems normal enough until the viewer sees his obvious enjoyment of his job. After one disgusting flashback, where he and his partner, portrayed by Forest Whitaker, have butchered a family at Christmas. They are both covered in blood, holding bloody organs, as they look at each other and burst out laughing. What can possibly be funny about such a gruesome situation, made worse by the Christmas lights and tree seen through the window behind them?

Remy's wife is aware of what he does and as has asked him to transfer to Sales. This doesn't exactly make her a sympathetic character, since she is accepting of the company he works for. Sales or Repossession, this company is awful. They sell over priced artificial organs to people who obviously cannot afford them, thereby leading to the inevitable repossessions. What makes the wife even more unsympathetic is that she throws him out once he has his new heart and then finds he cannot do the repossessions anymore. Unfortunately, he cannot do Sales either without telling the customers the gruesome end result when they are unable to pay.

Repo Man Becomes a Wanted Man

The main premise of the movie is what happens when a Repo Man is forced to accept an artificial heart and then falls behind in his payments? His best friend and partner must reclaim the heart, but can he? It's one thing to cut open the chest of a stranger, but is that possible when that person is a friend? There is an unusual twist to the movie. If there is anyone who has not seen Repo Men and/or has not read any of the write ups about it, spoilers are ahead.

The last half hour of the movie is actually Remy's dream. Since Remy is knocked out several times, it isn't easy to tell when that dream starts. That in itself makes the movie unpredictable. Jake, Remy's partner, decides he cannot kill his friend after nearly losing him in a fight. He then pays off his heart and puts him in the Dream Net for the rest of his life.

Read on 

• Repo Men Opens Up New Wounds in Splatter Fest
• Repo Men - Film Review
• Repo Men Movie Review

Some complaints of the movie have been the dream itself. Why wouldn't Remy have placed himself on an island from the beginning, instead of having to struggle? That wouldn't have made sense though. In order for him to believe the dream is real, it had to pick up where reality ended. Remy had to take out the company, so he and his new girlfriend, Beth, could live in peace. Though everything works out well for all the main characters in the end, the only depressing thing is realizing that none of it actually happened.

Happy Ending Isn't What it Seems

Remy will live the rest of his life in a dream coma, but it is unclear what will happen to Beth. She is also past due on her artificial organs. Will Jake kill her getting them back? The owner of the company, portrayed by Liev Schreiber, is evil personified, but he continues on with his devious plans. Will he ever get his just desserts?

These unanswered questions leave an unpleasant taste behind, almost as unpleasant as the unnecessary gore throughout the movie. After all that is said and done, Repo Men is still an enjoyable science fiction action flick and is definitely worth a rental. It is doubtful though that anyone will want to see it a second time, so don't waste money buying the DVD.

Movie Review: Rambo III (Blu-ray)

Reviewed by: Nathan Swank Director: Peter MacDonald Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna, Sasson Gabai Movie: 6/10 Blu-Ray: 6/10 Overall: 6/10

Remember when times were simpler and the U.S. was an ally to Afghanistan while fighting the Russians?  Oh how times have changed.  This is the premise of the third installment simply titled RAMBO III and “Dedicated to the gallant people of Afghanistan” as displayed before the end credits.

We meet John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) first with a shot of him tying on a bandana over his same semi curly locks flexing his shoulder and back muscles.  Then when he is summoned the music crescendos as he looks over his shoulder toward the audience.  A nice dramatic intro to a beloved character to get the crowd cheering.  After winning a highly intense stick-fighting match to make extra money, we see that Rambo is living in Thailand helping out a Buddhist monastery.   After turning down helping his former Vietnam superior, Colonel Samuel Trautman (Richard Crenna), lead the Afghanistan rebels to fight off the Russian invasion, he learns the mission failed and Trautman has been kidnapped.  This information prompts Rambo to join the Afghan forces and rescue Trautman from being tortured by Russian Colonel Zaysen (Marc de Jonge).

Rambo is back to his usual stunts, being pretty much indestructible.  He fights and blows people up in a variety of ways and has stealth like moves being undetectable and unseen while in plain sight breaking into the enemy’s camp.  I’m personally glad he goes to so much trouble to save the guy who seems to continually put him in bad situations just so Colonel Trautman can say, “He’ll find you” when referring to Rambo for the third time in clever new ways, like this exchange:

Colonel Zaysen (Russian):  “Who do you think this man is, God?”

Colonel Trautman (American):  “God would have mercy.  He won’t.”

It’s always a bit funny to me how these battles or wars between nations become so personal between Rambo and the leading commanding officer from the opposing country.  In this case, Colonel Zaysen makes sure he personally is the one flying the helicopter doing the strikes and who is out to get Rambo rather than ordering his soldiers to do so.  I’m not sure this is the right man to be in charge.  As it stands, Rambo and the Russian Colonel’s final confrontation is an epic chicken battle between a helicopter (Zaysen) and a tank (Rambo).  I never understood why the helicopters kept fighting at ground level, hovering just a few feet above.  May the dumber man lose.

What is it with the horrendous overly sappy music at the end of these Rambo films?  “He Ain’t Heavy…He’s My Brother” by Bob Russell & Bobby Scott and performed by Bell Medley is the culprit of the third film.   I have to mention it because it sticks with you on just how awful it is.  The target audience and fans of the Rambo films need a little more push or energy for their film.  Thankfully the original score throughout the picture never changes here or in any of the movies.  Despite all it’s familiar flaws, RAMBO III just barely delivers for another good time.

BLU-RAY REVIEW

Video: (Widescreen 2.35:1) Very nice picture with beautiful visuals of the Afghanistan and Thailand countries.

Audio: (DTS-HD Master Audio) The sound was great for the explosive action movie.

Audio Commentary with director Peter MacDonald: A mediocre flat commentary with uninteresting information.  The director’s speaking pattern has an uninspiring tone, which makes it a hard listen.

Out of the Blu Trivia: If you choose, you can watch pop-up information and tidbits about the film during your viewing.

Afghanistan Land In Crisis (29:48): Like the previous films, this is the best featurette. The filmmakers including Sylvester Stallone discuss how the entire scenario has been switched how it was released right when we became friend with Russia so the film took a lot of heat.  They talk a little about our current War on Terror in Afghanistan and how the Afghans were a big fan of Rambo and the U.S.

Tags: Peter MacDonald, Richard Crenna, Sasson Gabai, sylvester stallone

SALT Movie Review

Below Line: A spy thriller more than worth its salt.

 

She never quite says: "The name is Salt. Evelyn Salt." But Angelina Jolie, for all intents and purposes, is James Bond in her new film "Salt," and it's really no surprise that Jolie, the only female action star in Hollywood, more than measures up to Daniel Craig.

Donning several guises while on the run in Columbia's spy thriller, she even -- with the help of considerable facial latex, mind you -- turns up as a guy in one scene. She makes a pretty ugly one, but it makes an amusing gag, a kind of acknowledgment that kick-ass action heroes now come in both genders. In Jolie's case, it's more convincing than ever because in those Lara Croft movies, she looked like an animated creature that popped out of a video game.

While preposterous at every turn, "Salt" is a better Bond movie than most recent Bond movies, as its makers keep the stunts real and severely limit CGI gimmickry. This is a slick, light summer entertainment that should throw considerable coin into Sony's coffers while re-establishing (if it needs re-establishing) Jolie's bona fides as an action star. The film certainly didn't need the assist, but recent news events have erased any objection from critics, tied to laws of plausibility, over the film's key concept that Russian sleeper spies still exist in the U.S. long after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Another talking point here is the similarity between this film, reportedly first developed for Tom Cruise, and the action-spy thriller he chose to do, the lamentable "Knight and Day." There are astonishing similarities: An American spy believed to be a rogue agent gets chased by the CIA, with the protagonist escaping by, among other tricks, leaping from one fast-moving vehicle to another on a major thoroughfare. These similarities only point up how smart "Salt" is in crafting its escapist fare.

Director Phillip Noyce and stunt guru Simon Crane, working from a clever though shallow screenplay by Kurt Wimmer, make sure the stunts in "Salt" look like a dangerous and demanding day at the office. In "Knight and Day," the movie's absurd physicality is played as effortless clowning replete with repartee that is supposed to remind you of 007 but in fact is embarrassingly flat and banal.

There's no joking around here. Jolie's Evelyn Salt is made of sterner stuff, the kind that can survive a North Korean prison without giving up the name of her employer, the CIA. Back in D.C. and married to a nice though naive German arachnologist (August Diehl) -- yes, he studies spiders and, yes, there is a payoff to that -- she is assigned to CIA desk duties when a supposed Russian defector (Daniel Olbrychski) walks in one day.

Nobody is particularly buying his act, especially Salt's superior, Ted Winter (Liev Schreiber), but she accedes to his plea to interrogate the man briefly before she heads home to an anniversary dinner. The Russian talks nonsense about sleeper cells and a plot to assassinate the Russian president on American soil. Then he happens to drop the name of the Russian sleeper spy: Evelyn Salt.

This apparently is enough to turn the Agency's counterintelligence officer, Peabody (Chiwetel Ejiofor), into her instant foe. Nothing that happens after this deserves any serious scrutiny, but it's fun to watch Jolie's Salt seemingly transforms into the Russian sleeper agent she is reputed to be -- escaping from a virtual lockdown, dodging cars and bullets, making her way to New York and through subway tunnels to confront the Russian president, then take on, seemingly, every Russian and CIA op in her way.

All those "seemingly" qualifiers are meant to indicate that no studio is going to cast Jolie as a villain or even an anti-hero. What do you think this is, the '70s? But there's just enough doubt for the ad copy to read: Who is Salt?

You can't say the movie keeps you guessing about this for long since most attentive viewers will figure out the true villain(s) well before the climax. But the chase is the whole point.

Here Noyce and his team excel. Propelled by James Newton Howard's nerve-teasing music and enhanced by Robert Elswit's clear-eyed, smartly positioned cameras, "Salt" moves ever forward -- pushing, pushing, pushing its heroine to greater feats every minute. It doesn't stop for martinis, either shaken or stirred, or any other detours. The movie is lean and muscular, looking for action even in situations where a little sleight of hand might have done the trick.

You do wish that maybe it did slow down to consider the human factor. Salt is married; let's dig into that. A marriage between an agent and a civilian is never explored. In making the husband a problem that needs solving, here -- not to give anything away -- the movie stumbles badly. At the end of the day, "who is Salt" is less a tagline than a criticism. Eventually, you know what Salt is. But who she is isn't satisfactorily resolved.

In story terms, that is. In Hollywood terms, there's never any doubt: Salt is Angelina Jolie.

Opens: Friday, July 23 (Columbia)
Production: Columbia Pictures presents in association with Relativity Media a di Bonaventura Pictures production
Cast: Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Daniel Olbrychski, Andre Braugher, August Diehl
Director: Philip Noyce
Screenwriter: Kurt Wimmer
Producers: Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Sunil Perkash
Executive producers: Ric Kidney, Mark Vahradian, Ryan Kavanaugh
Director of photography: Robert Elswit
Production designer: Scott Chambliss
Music: James Newton Howard
Costume designer: Sarah Edwards
Editors: Stuart Baird, John Gilroy
Rated PG-13, 100 minutes

Ballistica (2010)

INFO:
Director:Gary Jones
Writer:Tony Kandah (story)Sean Rourke (screenplay)
Genre:Action

Cast:
(Credited cast)
Jason Ancona ... CIA Agent
Lori Bender ... CIA Agent
Robert Davi ... Macarthur
Andrew Divoff ... Dragomir
Thomas Downey ... D.O.C.
Max Glotov ... CIA Analyst #2
Elle Goodman ... Damian's Wife
G.B. Jones ... Steckler the Alley Thug
Farah Kandah ... Kevin
Hazuki Kato ... Yei Fei
Lauren Mary Kim ... Fang
Jesse Kove ... CIA Agent
Martin Kove ... Riley
James Lew
Paul Logan ... Damian
Mara Marini ... Veronica
Jeffrey Miller ... CIA Agent
Mark Morris ... Mr. Wilson
Anna Maria Panici ... Tatiana
Mark Phelan ... Vladislav
Simon Rhee
Katie Ryan ... Paige (as Katie Taylor)
Sam Sabbagh ... Russian Terrorist
Sam Saliba ... CIA Analyst #1
Shannon Sauceda ... CIA Secretary
Adam Smith ... CIA Agent
C.B. Spencer ... Alexa
Vera Vanguard ... CIA Agent


Synopsis:
A man has been trained in a deadly form of hand-to-hand combat using ballistics and firearms. He is one of the few Americans who has perfected it, which makes him the CIA's best weapon against International Terrorism.

Screenshot:

The A-Team (2010)

INFO:
The A-Team 2010 TS V2 READNFO XViD - IMAGiNE

Ripper ...........: IMAGiNE                              
IMDB Rating.......:7.2/10                           
Video Codec.......: XVID                                 
Release Date......:13/06/10
Audio Codec.......:MP3                                    
Theatre Date......:11/06/10
Audio Bitrate.....:128                                       
Runtime.......:1h 47mn
Subtitles.........:ENG WHEN NEEDED             
Language..........:ENGLISH
Resolution...... 640 x 272                                  
IMDb URL..........:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0429493/

Video
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Format profile                 : Advanced Simple@L5
Format settings, BVOP   : Yes
Format settings, QPel      : No
Format settings, GMC    : No warppoints
Format settings, Matrix   : Default (MPEG)
Muxing mode                 : Packed bitstream
Codec ID                      : XVID
Codec ID/Hint               : XviD
Duration                        : 1h 47mn
Bit rate                          : 1 697 Kbps
Width                            : 640 pixels
Height                           : 272 pixels
Display aspect ratio       : 2.35
Frame rate                     : 25.000 fps
Resolution                     : 24 bits
Colorimetry                    : 4:2:0
Scan type                       : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)          : 0.390
Stream size                     : 1.28 GiB (92%)
Writing library                 : XviD 1.2.1 (UTC 2008-12-04)

Audio
ID                                     : 1
Format                              : MPEG Audio
Format version                  : Version 1
Format profile                   : Layer 3
Codec ID                         : 55
Codec ID/Hint                  : MP3
Duration                           : 1h 47mn
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                             : 128 Kbps
Channel(s)                        : 2 channels
Sampling rate                    : 44.1 KHz
Resolution                        : 16 bits
Stream size                            : 98.5 MiB (7%)
Alignment                               : Split accross interleaves
Interleave, duration                 : 40 ms (1.00 video frame)
Interleave, preload duration     : 500 ms
Writing library                         : LAME3.96r
Encoding settings                     : -m j -V 4 -q 3 -lowpass 17.5 -b 128

IMAGiNE bringing you another release.....The A-Team 2010 TS V2
OK sources used relizlab video and some sweet line audio from TA ,thanks to both Also a special mention to 66Butch for syncing this one ,cheers bro  ;-). Now why a v2???because we always do a v2 :lol: ,well the real reason is because we spent all morning creating our own subpack for this....so now all non english parts have hardcoded english subs ;-) Also we slightly changed the filtering and AR......firstly the AR,nothing wrong really with our first one but this res on this only gives you a 0.1% AR error compared to 0.9% on the other ....so no major difference really. The filtering....well we tried to make it a touch sharper and also remove some of that yellow.

Anyway this is for those that wanted a subbed version.......enjoy you fool!!

Screenshot: