In the past five years or even more, the issue of transgenderism has been one of the hottest topics in the United States of America. It’s an issue that has seen celebrities like Chaz Bono and more come out in support for the issue. In the 1920’s when this kind of topic was extremely taboo, one man stepped forward because he truly believed that he was a woman and that was the basis for the film The Danish Girl. The Danish Girl tells the story of Lili Elbe/Einar Wegener (Eddie Redmayne), the first person to ever go through the sex change operation in Dresden, Germany. The movie tells the struggles that Einar went through along with his artist wife Gerder (Alicia Vikander) to become the woman known as Lili. The film also stars Amber Heard (Never Back Down) as Ulla, Emerald Fennell (Anna Karenina) as Elsa, Adrian Schiller (Son Of God) as Rasmussen, Ben Whishaw (In The Heart Of The Sea) as Henrik, Matthias Schoenaerts (Far From The Madding Crowd) as Hans Axgil, Henry Pettigrew (Next Of Kin) as Niels, Pip Torrens (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) as Dr. Hexler, Sebastian Koch (A Good Day To Die Hard) as Warnekros, and the film was directed by Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech).
This truly was an amazing story and it’s all based off of her diaries that she kept while she was going though the sex change. The romance part of the film I believe was fictitious, but most of the film was true. Based off of the site History Vs Hollywood a lot of things in the film were true like having Einar put on the stockings indeed did drive his desire to change. Almost everything in this film was true from what I can read there and if you want to read more about it like how he went through four or five different operation just click on it. Eddie Redmayne put on one heck of a performance in the film so it comes as no surprise that he was nominated for an Oscar. Alicia Vikander who also did one heck of an amazing job in the film won an Oscar for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role and she deserved it. Both of them unleashed the pain, confusion, and hurt that both must have been feeling at the time and it shows. Alicia Vikander is not only sexy and beautiful, but she is becoming one actress to watch because I loved her in this and in Ex Machina. Everything about the film was masterful from the gray tones in the film to the final brightness of Lili being free. The cinematography was absolutely amazing and the writing was phenomenal. There really wasn’t too much I hated about the film and I certainly didn’t mind having Amber Heard in the film. I am going to give the film an A+ for a final grade. Check it out on HBOGO right now.
Did you know that there are roughly 66 days until my favorite holiday of the whole year is here. That holiday I am talking about is Halloween and during the month of October, we have 31 days of Halloween (31 Days of Horror movies). I just couldn’t wait until then and I have one that I think everyone will enjoy for today. Today’s film of course is the much talked about horror/thriller Don’t Breathe. Alex (Dylan Minnette), Rocky (Jane Levy), and Money (Daniel Zovatto) are three friends that live in the slums of broken down Detroit who are desperate to get out of that city at any cost. You may not agree with their method of choice as they rob houses that are monitored by Alex’s dad’s security company. One day, they decide to rob the house of the blind man (Stephen Lang) after they hear about settlement money, but that could prove to be the dumbest thing they have done yet. The film also stars Emma Bercovici in her first role as Diddy, Katia Bokor (World War Z) as Ginger, Sergej Onopko (A Good Day To Die Hard) as Trevor, Franciska Töröcsik (Swing) as Cindy, Christian Zagia (El cojunudo) as Raul, and the film was directed by Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead).
Spoiler Alert: There may be information contained in this Article that could potentially spoil the plot of the film so continue with caution or do not read any further if you do not want to know. Let me just say to all of you out there that this is one intense freaking movie and it’s not your typical horror movie. There’s no supernatural being, monster, or masked serial killer that comes after you. It’s a blind serviceman who uses his sense of hearing to figure out where you are in his house which is just as much of a fortress as the house in The People Under The Stairs (without the freaks). When the hunt is on, it becomes one heck of an intense film that leaves you unknowingly screaming, “you’ve got to be kidding me.” One of my favorite scenes in the film is in the basement when he cuts all of the lights sort of like a welcome to my world bitches. That is one of the most intense sequences and hunts of the film. Then there is some information that you discover towards the end of the film that is just one very disgusting and two kind of twisted. I won’t give that part away, but wait until you see it for yourself. All of the performances in the film were very good and its a relatively small cast as it focuses on the three and the blind man primarily. Stephen Lang is one heck of a twisted and persistent SOB int his film that he is definitely one of my MVP’s of the film with the other going to Jane Levy and Dylan Minnette. I cannot wait for October, but you definitely shouldn’t wait that long to see this film. What are you waiting for, go see it. I am giving the film an A- for a final grade because it was definitely my favorite horror film of the year so far.
There are certain actors in Hollywood that when you hear that they are starring in a film, you immediately want to see it because of how amazing they are. The same could be said when you hear a certain directors name and Bridge Of Spies is one of those films that works for both those cases. The film stars Tom Hanks (Catch Me If You Can) and it was directed by Steven Spielberg (Schindler’s List) and it takes place during the cold war at a time when both The Soviet Union and The United States were deploying spies. One day, a Soviet Spy by the name of Rudolph Abel (Mark Rylance) is caught and arrested. James B. Donovan (Tom Hanks) is tasked with the duty of representing Abel in a court of law and then he is tasked with having to set up an exchange between the two mega powers. The film also stars Domenick Lombardozzi (Phone Booth) as Agent Blasko, Victor Verhaeghe (The Wolf Of Wall Street) as Agent Gamber, Joshua Harto (The Dark Knight) as Bates, Alan Alda (M*A*S*H) as Thomas Watters Jr., Amy Ryan (Escape Plan) as Mary Donovan, Mikhail Gorevoy (Die Another Day) as Ivan Schischkin, Sebastian Koch (A Good Day To Die Hard) as Wolfgang Vogel, Burghart Klaußner (Goodbye Lenin!) as Harald Ot, Will Rogers (The Bay) as Frederic Pryor, Austin Stowell (Whiplash) as Francis Powers, and Jesse Plemons (Black Mass) as Joe Murphy.
Mark Rylance who played Rudolph Abel, the accused Soviet spy won an Oscar this year for Best Supporting Actor and it was the only Oscar the film won I believe. I have still not seen many of the other pictures that were nominated to really make a critique, but I didn’t think he did enough to earn the win. It was a great performance none the less from the man, but there was more of Tom Hanks than there was of him. I do however understand the point of Best Supporting Actor who is there to support the lead actor. Nevertheless, you are probably wondering what I thought about the film itself. Like I said in the above paragraph, there are actors that you see their name and you do not question it at all. Tom Hanks is definitely one of those guys and he puts on a superstar performance in the film as James B. Donovan. Donovan’s character is very interesting because here is a man representing someone we labeled a spy knowing full well that he was going to be hated because of it. yet, the man kept going and did one of the most unthinkable things later on. I’m not giving away any spoilers because it’s based on a true story. The film is compelling and the story was well written. This isn’t an action film or a psychological thriller, but a drama that is historical and I guess is a little bit of a thriller towards the last half of the film. The cinematograghy in the film was amazing and you have to give it up to the set design and costume department for making us believe we were 1950’s New York and a dilapidated Berlin. I love films that are based on true stories because they are so much more compelling. That is why I am going to give this one an A- for a final grade.
365moviesin365dayschallenge 