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Showing posts with the label Forest Whitaker

Platoon

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UK Release Date:  24 April 1987 Certification:  15 Director:  Oliver Stone Cast:  Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Keith David, Johnny Depp, Kevin Dillon, John C. McGinley, Francesco Quinn, Charlie Sheen, Forest Whitaker Rating:   91 % Review: A true war epic.  Powerful and profound. Visceral and grainy. Platoon is an incredibly immersive and sincere experience. The audience can't hear certain lines of dialogue, can't distinguish characters from one another and it's extremely difficult to know what is going on 100% of the time. The film feels real. You feel involved with the story, consumed by the horrors of war.  Charlie Sheen is convincing as the film's main protagonist. Arriving both into the film and the war as a young recruit, the audience grows and learns alongside Chris - naive to begin with but destroyed by the anguish the Vietnam War caused. In many ways, Chris is the audience. A bystander simply watching the events pass him by.  Despite...

The Color of Money

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UK Release Date:  06 March 1987 Certification:  15 Director:  Martin Scorsese Cast:  Bill Cobbs, Tom Cruise, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Paul Newman, Helen Shaver, John Turturro, Forest Whitaker Rating:   78 % Review:   Legacy sequel to Paul Newman classic,  The Hustler , The Color of Money continues to follow 'Fast Eddie' whilst adding Tom Cruise in front of the screen and Martin Scorsese behind the camera.  With Paul Newman being the only returning cast member, it's solely down to him to continue on the continuity from The Hustler . He's fantastic yet again - there's a reason he's held in such high regard. His performance in this film was his first and only Oscar win. Newman plays the mentor role to a tee and then is able to switch back into flamboyant, charismatic hustler on cue. He shares the screen with a young and immature, Tom Cruise. Before he become a real life action star, these were the type of roles Cruise was born to play....