Top 10 Diane Lane Movies

August 30th, 2010 Filed under: Richard Gere Movies — Movie Critic

Born on 22nd January in 1965, in New York, Diane Lane’s first brush with stardom came at the age of just 6 as she appeared on stage in “The Cherry Orchard” and “Medea”. It wasn’t long before the talented young Lane was noticed by Hollywood and in 1979 was cast opposite Sir Laurence Olivier in “A Little Romance”. Although “A Little Romance” was not a huge success the young Diane Lane won high praise from Olivier declaring her “The New Grace Kelly”.

Although praised by Olivier and finding herself being touted as the next major movie star by several magazines, Lane’s career for the most slumped for a few years as she appeared in such unmemorable movies as “National Lampoon’s Movie Madness” and “Six Pack”. But things picked up again when legendary director cast Diane Lane in his 1983 movies “Rumble Fish” and “The Outsiders” both of which have become cult classics.

Back on top after those early flops Diane Lane would then appear in two promising movies “Streets of Fire” and “The Cotton Club”, which was to be her first of 3 movies with Richard Gere. Although these movies were expected to be hits they never reached their critical peak on original release causing Diane Lane at the young age of just 19 to retire from the movie business. Ironically both of these movies have since become somewhat cult classics with “Streets of Fire” getting quite a surprisingly large following.

Despite retiring Diane Lane returned to movies a few years later for “Lady Beware” and the much praised “The Big Town” which saw Lane cast in one of what was to become many sexy roles. Although back making movies it would be the TV series “Lonesome Dove” which brought her back to the attention of the major directors which included Richard Attenborough who cast her in a small role in “Chaplin” and also Mike Bender who cast her in the seriously under-rated “Indian Summer” (1993). Around the same time Lane also co-starred in “Knight Moves” with her husband at the time Christopher Lambert.

Having once more made a name for herself Lane found herself co-starring in a series of relatively high profile movies including Sylvester Stallone’s “Judge Dredd” and alongside Wesley Snipes in “Murder at 1600″. But again whilst proving herself as a more than capable actress she still wasn’t the major movie star that early signs promised. And whilst she yet again won praise for her role in the 1999 independent movie “A Walk on the Moon” it would take another year before she really started to become a well known name as she appeared alongside George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg in “The Perfect Storm”.

21 years after being praised by Sir Laurence Olivier, Diane Lane was now the major movie star with movies such as “Under the Tuscan Sun”, “Must Love Dogs” and “Hollywoodland” amongst many continuing to win praise and fans in equal measures. And at the same time she would go on to make two more movies alongside Richard Gere, the tear jerker “Nights in Rodanthe” an adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks novel and probably Diane Lane’s most popular movie “Unfaithful” where she starred as an adulterous housewife.

What of Diane Lane now, well later on in 2010 “Secretariat” her first movie for 2 years will be released which sees her playing Penny Chenery the owner of the famous racehorse. And according to imdb she is also lined up to appear alongside Tim Robbins in “Cinema Verite” about the first American family to appear on reality TV.

#10 – Fierce People (2005)

With his summer holidays beckoning, young Finn (Anton Yelchin) has plans to join his father on one of his expeditions into the Amazon. That is until her is arrested whilst buying drugs for his Liz (Diane Lane). Realising that her addiction is affecting her son, Liz and Finn head off to spend the summer on the estate of her wealthy friend Ogden C. Osborne (Donald Sutherland). Although not the Amazon, young Finn explores the expansive state as if it was and whilst there becomes friends with Osbourne’s grand-children Bryce (Chris Evans) and Maya (Kristen Stewart). But when Osbourne decides to take Finn under his wings it cause jealousy leading to his summer of fun being devastating spoilt.

#9 – Streets of Fire (1984)

During a concert, rock chick Ellen Aim (Diane Lane) is kidnapped by a gang of motor bike riding thugs lead by the sinister Raven (Willem Dafoe). Fortunately her ex boyfriend and mercenary Tom Cody (Michael Paré) is in town and after some gentle persuasion from his sister and along with tomboy McCoy (Amy Madigan) and Ellen’s manager as well as current boyfriend Billy Fish (Rick Moranis) he heads to her rescue. But Raven and his gang of leather wearing thugs won’t take Cody’s interference lying down.

#8 – The Glass House (2001)

Following the death of their parents in a car accident, 16-year-old Ruby (Leelee Sobieski) and her younger brother Rhett (Trevor Morgan) are taken in by their parent’s friends Mr. and Mrs. Glass (Stellan Skarsgård, Diane Lane). Having moved to their Malibu home with it’s minimalistic interior and glass walls things don’t seem quite right, especially as Mr. Glass motivation for taking them in seems a little dubious when Ruby learns he is in a bit of money trouble.

#7 – Indian Summer (1993)

Years after having spent their summers at Camp Tamakwa, a group of thirty something’s are invited back by there old friend Uncle Lou (Alan Arkin). The group which includes Beth Warden (Diane Lane) and Jack Belston (Bill Paxton) find that being back by the lake and at Camp Tamakwa brings memories flooding back as they reminisce about what fun they had when they were young and innocent. But whilst there they discover that Uncle Lou has invited them back for a reason, as with times changing and young people not interested in learning about nature at Camp Tamakwa he is planning to sell up.

#6 – Must Love Dogs (2005)

Sarah Nolan (Diane Lane) is a thirty something and she is recently divorced, not that it really bothers her. But her family seem to be worried and are determined to set her up with a new man. But when one date follows another with little success Sarah decides she has had enough, only for her sister to post her profile on a dating website. Despite reticent about going on another date she agrees and finds herself meeting Jake Anderson (John Cusack) a boat builder with great romantic notions. They hit it off but at the same time Sarah meets (Dermot Mulroney) who she hits it off with as well making her lack of love life suddenly very complicated.

#5 – Untraceable (2008)

Jennifer Marsh (Diane Lane) is a devoted single mother who works the night shift at a cyber crimes agency so that she can look after and spend time with her daughter. But Jennifer discovers a website belonging to a sadistic murderer who posts videos of his victims dieing online, enticing people to visit even though the more people visit the more painful the deaths become. As Jennifer works with other agents to discover the identity of this sick killer it becomes personal with he family can colleagues getting drawn into the murderers deadly games.

#4 – Nights in Rodanthe (2008)

With a husband she can’t trust wanting to come back into her life and a daughter going through her teenage rebellion phase, Adrienne Willis’s (Diane Lane) life as a bit of a mess. Having agreed to look after a friends Inn for a weekend, Adrienne hopes the time away will give her the space to sort out her thoughts and feelings especially as she will only have one guest to look after. That guest happens to be Dr. Paul Flanner (Richard Gere) who is also at the Inn to sort out things and as a storm forces them to stay inside the quirky beach side Inn they find themselves falling for each other in a way which will affect their lives for ever.

#3 – Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)

Frances Mayes (Diane Lane) life seems to be going along swimmingly, a successful writer with what appears to be a perfect marriage. That is until she discovers her husband cheating on her. Having moved out and suffering from writers block she is persuaded by her friends to take some time out and go on a Holiday to Tuscany. Initially not interested she finally agrees and whilst journeying through Tuscany comes across a dilapidated old villa which on the spur of the moment decides to buy. With a rag bag bunch of builders Francis sets about doing up the villa and starting a new life of love, wine and friends in Tuscany.

#2 – Hollywoodland (2006)

Whilst famous for playing the man of steel, Superman, actor George Reeves feels he is cursed by the role, stopping him from being taken seriously as an actor and not getting the big movie roles he so wants. At the age of 45 he is found dead in his home and whilst the Police believe he has committed suicide his mother believes otherwise and hires small time private investigator Louis Simo (Adrien Brody) to discover the truth, Whilst investigating Reeves’ death Simo discovers that whilst he was engaged to starlet Leonore Lemmon (Robin Tunney) Reeves also had a very special relationship with Toni Mannix (Diane Lane) the wife of Eddie the head of MGM a man connected with the mob.

#1 – Unfaithful (2002)

Connie Summer (Diane Lane) has what looks like a perfect life, married to Edward (Richard Gere) and living in a beautiful home with their son Charlie (Erik Per Sullivan). But on a trip to the city Connie meets charming book trader Paul Martel (Olivier Martinez) who comes to her rescue. Intrigued by the charismatic young man, Connie returns to the city and soon embarks on a passionate affair with the young man who awakens up the sexy woman hidden inside her. But Edward soon grows suspicious when he notices Connie acting differently and sets about discovering what she gets up to whilst he is at work.

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Twilight, Eclipse & All That Jazz!

August 30th, 2010 Filed under: Movies — Movie Critic

THE FIRST shot of the Eclipse movie is overwhelming. It is dark, violent and perfectly blending with Howard Shore’s score. But just after that, the graph falls down, and near the end, your thoughts for the film are as same as other two Twilight films – Bland and boring.

It all begins… With a choice

New director David Slade tries too hard to improve the film. He does succeeds in some parts, but the disastrous script of the disaster book never improves. Maybe the screenwriter, Melissa Rosenberg is to be blamed as she is too faithful to the book. The story of the film is the same – Edward wants Bella not to turn into Vampire and constantly telling her cons of becoming a vampire, Jacob insisting Bella to choose him as he is much more human than Edward apart from showing his six packs and Bella, this time, being confused about choosing Edward or Jacob.

The film has prolonged dull and boring dialogs and most of the characters spend most of their time talking, wandering in the forests and kissing.

For sake of story, the film has a one, pretty much about Victoria and her new-born Army of Vampires, which hunt down Bella to avenge her boyfriend. The whole of army and Victoria appear near the end, and gets defeated within five minutes. Then again, talking continues until the final minute of the film.

The reoccurring problem in Twilight series is its weak storyline, and shallow and irritating characters. Bella is most irritating of them. Characters of Edward and Jacob are out of this earth – they fight over a girl who has nothing special.

Anyways, the only good thing about the film is its better pacing then New Moon. New Moon was unwatchable piece of crap, but this one finds better footing. It drags, but comparatively less than its predecessor. Another good thing was decent cinematography by Javier Aguirresarobe, who made this film watchable. Much anticipated score by Howard Shore was average, and no where near his top scores. I would also like to praise David Slade, who did a lot of hard work on the film, but you really can’t do anything if you have the wrong script to work with. Acting has also somewhat improved, and Kirsten Stewart is now bearable. Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner are on the same level, anyways.

First Twilight film was below average, the second one was bad and the third is exactly the same – bad. It hardly takes the story ahead, and its all about the same thing – Bella willing to become Vampire, Edward doesn’t wants Bella to change into Vampire, Jacob arguing with Edward for Bella and Bella telling both of them to stop fighting over her. Hopefully some one tells Summit to either stop, or write good scripts with a lots of changes from the book. Otherwise, the problem will persist for other two parts and the whole saga will be eclipsed forever. The movie gets a 5/10 on the rating chart from me.

Twilight Film

Gohan’s Early Life

August 29th, 2010 Filed under: Movies — Movie Critic

Goku and Chi-Chi gave birth to Gohan in 757 Age. This was about a year after Chi-Chi and Goku married, which also followed the World Martial Arts Tourney. Gohan was nameless for a while until Goku’s grandfather was mentioned, and Gohan liked the name. He had a well pampered childhood, was intelligent, and mild-mannered. He did not show any care for fighting, unlike his father, and was also easily scared. Gohan was given a hat that held a four star Dragon Ball, to honor Goku’s father.

Gohan was home-schooled by Chi-Chi, against Goku’s wishes, until he was the age of four. After, Goku took Gohan to see Master Roshi, Krillin, and Bulma on Kame Island. Soon after, Raditz, originally looking for his brother, kidnapped him. This is when Raditz realized that Gohan, though shy, was actually stronger than his father Goku.

During the battle to save Gohan, he broke free of his space pod where he was being captive and helped fight Raditz, where he delivered a devastating blow, which gave Piccolo and Goku time to kill Raditz. This also killed Goku in the process.

After this time, Piccolo took it upon himself to train Gohan, after witnessing Gohan’s potential, even as a small child. Piccolo left Gohan in the wilderness to fend for himself, while he watched over him. After that, Piccolo taught Gohan to fight. However, during training Gohan looked at a full moon, which turned him into an ape. Piccolo had to destroy the moon to revert the changes done to Gohan by looking at it.

It came time for Gohan and Piccolo to fight Nappa and Vegeta, but he had a hard time. Gohan was not able to control his fears as his younger mentality reared its head. Because of this, Gohan was not effective in battle, except in short pauses.

All this set a motion a grueling future for he, whom at an extremely early age would fight several strong opponents to save his family, friends, and planet Earth. It was also during this time that Gohan learned how to go Super Saiyan under training of his father. Gohan also obtains Super Sayain 2 after witnessing an ally’s death. After a devastating fight between Gohan, Goku, their allies against Cell (Perfect Cell and Super Perfect Cell), the Earth was safe against threats for about seven years. Gohan stays with his mother and younger brother, and then enters high school.

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