My main man Charlie Babbitt. It is something of a great cinematic achievement that Rain Man became the great film it clearly is because the story surrounding it is interestingly Hollywood in itself. Four directors, six screenwriters, two cinematographers, eight producers, writers strikes, crew change, and a studio fighting for its life. All of the above are common knowledge but it doesn't hurt to remember these facts when viewing the award wining triumph of a movie that stands the test of time today. The film is so simple in structure it really needed something special to pull it out of the prospective banality of being "just another road movie about finding oneself", Rain Man achieves something special by tackling its subjects with very sensitive hands and splicing a believable human concept into the story via the incredible shows from its two leading men. Dustin Hoffman gives a magical moving performance as the Autistic Savant Raymond, the ultimate complement I can pay the performance is that it really is believable, both moving and clever rolled into one artistic result. Tom Cruise is equally as great in a role that called for drastic layer changes, a role that demanded much conviction from the actor taking it on, and Cruise gives the role much depth as he goes from shallow bastard to a very emotive and feeling human being, it's a great show that stands up to reevaluation these days. A performance that seems to have sadly been forgotten in light of Hoffman's film stealing show. With a film such as this you pray that the ending can do it justice, and I'm glad to say that there is no pandering here, it's an ending that says so much because it doesn't cop out, I thank god for those rewrites because the endings to the original scripts would have had me booting the TV set out of the window. Essential cinema. 10/10
I am not going to pretend I have much substantive to say about this movie that will make readers gasp or slap their forwards and realize, yes, that is why I should love this film! But as this is one of my wife and my favorite movies ever, I thought I would share why. When this movie came out, we saw immediately the similarities between Raymond (Rain Man) and our daughter. No, she is not just like him. In addition to her autistic, obsessive behavior, she is deaf and developmentally delayed so that even though she knows sign language, she only answers questions with it and never uses complete sentences. But like Raymond, she has always exhibited weird special gifts. She solves math problems on her fingers that even sign language interpreters don't understand, she remembers exact dates of things that have happened years before, she can create beautiful rugs on a large floor loom. On the other hand, and she can't cross a street by herself, she throws a fit at times over the smallest change in her routine. For example, when she lived t home with us as a child, if we grabbed the TV guide from next to the tv to check out the schedule, she would stand over us and get more and more agitated and shake with frustration and anger. We finally had to start buying two TV guides, one that was "hers" and one that was "ours." But we couldn't buy two of everything. So anyway, what this all meant is that when we watched Rain Man back then when we were living in our daughter's wake, we found ourselves laughing at stuff that had previously driven us crazy with frustration. Needless to say, Dustin Hoffman gave a virtuoso performance, but I think Tom Cruise's efforts were underrated, perhaps because it seems like a natural role for him. I don't claim this is the best movie ever, just our very favorite, for personal reasons.
"Charlie" (Tom Cruise) works his luxury car import business quite literally wheeling and dealing when he is told that his estranged father has died. Driving to meet the solicitor he's informed that he is to receive some perfectly grown roses, but that the $3m estate is to be left elsewhere? Where? Well he discovers that he has a brother "Raymond" (Dustin Hoffman) when he visits him at in institution that cares for autistic people. Resentful and completely unaware and uncaring of his actions, "Charlie" decides to take his new-found sibling on a trip back to LA. Not afraid of throwing the odd tantrum, "Raymond" refuses to fly with anyone but Qantas so they have to drive and it's on the road that the story develops into one that, to be honest, we could probably predict quite easily. Now there's no getting away from the fact that "Raymond" is an exasperatingly annoying character at times, but that's what gets under your skin. Whether or not Hoffman is acting or mimicking, he presents us with an highly intelligent personality with a few pieces of his cognitive jigsaw missing. "Raymond" can display the traits of a small child, but equally those of a sophisticated and complex character who absorbs more from around him than perhaps we'd expect. Cruise is also at the top of his game here. He manages his character's evolution from smart-assed and selfish "Charlie" to a rounder, more mature and responsible individual with an aplomb that certainly belies some of his previous roles. It also doesn't do any harm that his brother's genius comes in quite handy in Vegas either! It's pretty poignantly and sometimes amusingly written offering some on-the-ball observations and plausible scenarios well supported by some equally potent photography, and though not always an easy drama to watch, as it progressed I felt a little invested in whether or not this relationship had legs or was, ultimately, just about a man's desire to get hold of an inheritance.
Mona Bergström is a sweet eurovision-obsessed woman in her 30s. She is married to a lazy husband and has four children, all named after her favorite Swedish Eurovision popstars. Her brother is a crossdressing guy self-titled "Candy Darling". Mona works in a retirement home for disabled people, where she is responsible for taking care of a young man named David who suffers a movement-restricting disease forcing him into a wheelchair. David's parents have abandoned him, as they wanted a normal child. Mona holds a big place in David's heart, and vica versa. David's goal is to get his parents to come and visit him, and he wants to show them that he is a great person, despite his handicap. Therefore he works with music on his computer, and his goal is to create a song, send it to "The Cardigans", a famous Swedish band and have them play the song and credit him, hoping his parents would spot it and want to visit him.
Movie Star Rating : 4.5 Read More
Luise, called Pünktchen, and Anton are closest of friends. Being the daughter of a wealthy surgeon, young Pünktchen lives in a great house. Her mother, who always travels through the world more for public relation reasons than for the social tasks she pretends to fulfill, is never available to her as a mother. Anton, son of a single and sick mother in financial trouble, does his best to help her out of it by working late. Pünktchen decides to help her only friend (as nobody else would anyway) and starts singing in public places. Trouble arises when Anton can't resist stealing a golden lighter and Pünktchen's secret life is discovered by her parents. Two troubled families finally can see the need for actions to be taken.
Movie Star Rating : 7.1 Read More
Humbert Humbert is a middle-aged British novelist who is both appalled by and attracted to the vulgarity of American culture. When he comes to stay at the boarding house run by Charlotte Haze, he soon becomes obsessed with Lolita, the woman's teenaged daughter.
Movie Star Rating : 7.3 Read More
A wealthy landlord lives a decadent life with his wife and son. His passion – his wife would calls it his addiction – is music, and he spends a great deal of his fortune on concerts held for the locals in his magnificent music room. He feels threatened by his neighbour, a commoner who has attained riches through business dealings. His passion for music and quest for social respect are his undoing, as he sacrifices his family and wealth trying to retain it.
Movie Star Rating : 7.5 Read More
When Sam Baldwin's wife dies, he is left to bring up his eight-year-old son Jonah alone, and decides to move to Seattle to make a new start. On Christmas Eve, Jonah rings a radio phone-in with his Christmas wish to find a new wife for his dad. Meanwhile in Baltimore, journalist Annie Reed, who is having doubts about her own relationship, is listening in.
Movie Star Rating : 6.7 Read More
Ryan Logan, a former Special Forces operative, is battling to cope with life after the loss of his wife. He is thrusted into the criminal underworld to keep his only son from being taken from him.
Movie Star Rating : 6.1 Read More
When a willful young man tries to venture beyond his sequestered Pennsylvania hamlet, his actions set off a chain of chilling incidents that will alter the community forever.
Movie Star Rating : 6.5 Read More
Trying to bootstrap his way out of Brooklyn's mean streets is Diamond, a rap musician. With his long-time pal Gage acting as his manager, he's trying to lay down a demo tape with cut-rate studio time. To pay the bills, he and Gage run drugs for "Mr. B." Inside a week, Diamond's beloved mother dies suddenly, his father appears after an absence of 12 years and wants a relationship, and his girlfriend Kia tells him she's pregnant, asking him if he's ready to be a father. Gage steals $100,000 in a multiple-felony robbery so that Diamond can record a full album, not knowing it's Mr. B's money he's taken. B wants his money, Diamond wants his music, Tia wants an answer.
Movie Star Rating : 5.1 Read More
A tale of an inner city drug dealer who turns away from crime to pursue his passion, rap music.
Movie Star Rating : 6.8 Read More
Two fathers' lives intersect when one of them is involved in a terrible and sudden hit-and-run car accident that leaves the other's son dead. In response, the two men react in unexpected ways as a reckoning looms in the near future.
Movie Star Rating : 6.5 Read More
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