Posts Tagged ‘Forest Whitaker’

Short Take: Action-packed and bloody, but also truly thought-provoking

Director: Miguel Sapochnik (debut)

Screenwriters: Eric Garcia (author “The Repossession Mambo”), Garrett Lerner (TV’s House, LAX)

Cast: Jude Law (Sherlock Holmes), Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland), Liev Schreiber (Taking Woodstock), Alice Braga (I Am Legand)

Length: 1h 51m

Synopsis: In perhaps an alternate future, it will be possible to buy replacement organs and body parts for just about any component of the human anatomy. In exchange for these marvels of engineering The Union, the company which manufactures and sells these organs, asks to be paid very handsomely. If the recipient of one of these synthetic organs is unable to make the payments, repo men such as Remy (Jude Law) and Jake (Forest Whitaker) will track you down and cut you open wherever they find you (your home, place of work, the subway, a back street, etc.) and reclaim The Union’s property for a hefty commission. But when an accident occurs that leaves Remy the unwilling recipient of a synthetic heart, his eyes are opened and he finds himself fighting the same system he used to work for. Irony be damned. Read the rest of this entry »

Jude Law and Forest Whitaker in the violent dark comedy/thriller "Repo Men"

ShockTillYouDrop.com has recently published an interview with the director of the upcoming sci-fi thriller Repo Men, Miguel Sapochnik.

The movie itself takes place in the future and is about a company that sells artificial organs at absurdly high prices. If a recipient of one of these organs ends up not being able to make the payments, though, said organ gets repossessed by Repo Men like Remy (Jude Law) and Jake (Forest Whitaker). Through an accident, Remy becomes an unwilling recipient of one of these high-priced organs and, because he can’t pay, gets pursued by the same men he used to work with.

The interview goes into a lot of detail about how the film came to fruition, from when the idea came about through Eric Garcia’s novel “The Repossession Mambo” to when Sapochnik was shopping the script around Hollywood trying to get financing. The director clearly recognizes that the tone of the material and subject matter are very much against the grain, but says that these factors are what drew him towards the project. With this being Sapochnik’s first feature film (his background is comprised of shorts), it would be an understatement to say that this was a learning experience.

Sapochnik claims that he got much of his inspiration for the movie from the British comedy group Monty Python, who often mixed violence with humor. “I love the humor of Monty Python. I always remember being so impressed by how violent Monty Python are actually when you look at what they do. Terry Gilliam has a great way of kind of proposing violence. Even Terry Jones in “The Search for the Holy Grail” when he’s kinda cutting the guy up into pieces and he’s saying, ‘You know, it’s just a flesh wound.’ They were very violent movies, but there’s humor in that violence and there’s irony in it.”

For those looking forward to the film or just interested in getting to know exactly what it’s about, this interview should prove to be both entertaining and informative.

Repo Men opens Friday, March 19th.

Short Take: A poingant tale that really hits home

Director: Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation)

Screenwriters: Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers, Maurice Sendak (book)

Cast: Max Records (The Brothers Bloom), Catherine Keener (40 Year Old Virgin), James Gandolfini (The Sopranos), Chris Cooper (Breach), Catherine O’Hara (Away We Go), Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland), Lauren Ambrose (Love and Other Impossible Pursuits)

Length: 1h 21m

Synopsis: An ordinary boy named Max (Records), through dealing with everyday life, is finding out that the world is not everything he keeps hoping it will be. From having an older sister who doesn’t pay much attention to him, and a single mom (Keener) who is trying her best to keep her family afloat, he constantly relies on his vibrant imagination to create happiness. One day he runs away to find a land where he can find this happiness and discovers a place as wild as his dreams. Read the rest of this entry »