Believe it or not, Jane Got a Gun had a pretty solid hype train a few years back. After all, it landed an Academy Award winning actress in Natalie Portman, not to mention Michael Fassbender and Joel Edgerton. Of course, that was back in 2012 when casting originally took place. And, as you might have noticed – the cast looks a tiny bit different now. After a revolving door of actors signing on and exiting the project, the film also suffered from the swapping of directors, not to mention the dreaded rewrite process. But, nearly four years since the start of production, Jane Got a Gun is finally seeing the light of day. Sadly, though, this is one of those films where the backstage chess games overshadow the eventual end product. In Jane Got a Gun, directed by Gavin O’Connor (Miracle, Warrior), Natalie Portman stars as Jane Hammond. When Jane’s husband, Bill (Noah Emmerich), arrives home (severely wounded) to their secluded ranch, he informs her that their past has finally caught up with them – in the form of a dangerous gang, …show more content…
led by the notorious John Bishop (Ewan McGregor). As a result, Jane turns to the man that she was once supposed to marry, Dan Frost (Joel Edgerton), for help. In the past, Dan was engaged to Jane – but left to fight in the Civil War. He was away for several years – leading Jane to come to the conclusion that he had died in battle. Jane eventually decided to relocate to a new life, but in the process, she, and her young daughter, ended up in the servitude of Bishop. But, one of Bishops’ men happens to be Bill – who desired to marry Jane, in spite of Bishop’s rejection of the idea. Thus, they went on the run from Bishop and his gang. Back in the present, Dan agrees to work for Jane – and defend her home, along with her wounded husband. Still, with several men under Bishop’s employment – it’s only a matter of time before they discover the location of Bill and Jane. And, it leads to action-packed, bullet-flying conflict in which Bill, Jane, and Dan are horribly outnumbered. Far too often, movies are quickly compared to other similarly themed productions within a designated genre. For instance, Jane Got a Gun – an obvious western – is likely (and unfairly) to be put shoulder-to-shoulder against some of Hollywood’s top leading western-themed flicks – including, but not limited to, Unforgiven, Tombstone, or basically anything else that may star Clint Eastwood or John Wayne. With that said, I’ve read some pretty egregious reviews about Jane Got a Gun, thus far. Now, I don’t typically make it a habit to read other people’s thoughts before watching a movie. It’s like tainting a jury pool before you see even go to trial. Still, this movie was such a dust storm before it even made it to the big screen that I couldn’t resist seeing early reactions to a movie that is lucky to have even seen the light of day. Period. And I simply don’t get the negativity… Natalie Portman – to me at least – is wildly infectious as Jane, yet because she doesn’t act like Dirty Harry or The Duke, the movie allegedly isn’t what it could have been. Well, if it hadn’t gone through production hell, maybe it would have been better – but that doesn’t necessarily matter anymore, I suppose. Still, Portman looks the part of an attractive, dusk-kicking heroine – even if her character can’t hit the broad side of a barn with a revolver. Honestly, her nifty western outfit, in particular, is a good enough reason for me to want to watch her shoot at bad guys. But, I’ll happily admit that the watered-down love triangle is a bit weak. I’m not sure I believe very many wives up and left their husbands simply because they didn’t hear from them. Then again, I can’t imagine very many soldiers not having a correspondence with their wives during a period in time where confidence – especially on the Northern front – had several low points. But, it’s just a movie – right? Well, the onscreen marriage between Portman and Noah Emmerich is relatively superfluous. Instead, much of the story focuses on the marriage that wasn’t – between Jane and Dan, portrayed by Joel Edgerton. Clearly, Edgerton has come on in popularity over the past few years – and with good reason. The role of Dan is mostly one-dimensional, though, but Edgerton is a likeable lead, regardless – full of anger-riddled love for his former bride-to-be, which makes for some memorable exchanges between Portman and Edgerton. The film’s antagonist is a point of structural weakness, though – and that’s coming from someone that absolutely loves anything and everything related to Ewan McGregor. His character, John Bishop, is essentially half of a bad guy – opting to have his fiendishly looking underlings do his biddings for him. Boyd Holbrook portrays one such minion – and is the perpetrator of the film’s (alleged) greatest atrocity. Now, I know what you’re saying. In the beginning I came to the defense of the film, but now I’m picking it to pieces. However, I merely stated that Jane Got a Gun shouldn’t be in the same conversation as western cinematic royalty – and it shouldn’t. Outside of that, this film is pleasantly entertaining, featuring an easily digestible story and enough action and tension-filled romance to make it a balanced vehicle of entertainment. Overall, Jane Got a Gun is a valiant effort – from a certain point of view.
If you haven’t heard a single thing about the production’s dysfunction, ranging from endless recasts and a directing change, all the way to distribution calamities, it would probably be fair to say this was an average western. In reality, Jane Got a Gun will (not) be remembered for everything it could have been – but wasn’t. Natalie Portman is good in the leading role, but could have been written stronger. Plus, the story would have been far more potent if it had avoided the back-and-forth time shifts. If it had maintained a straight-ahead agenda, the layers of the story could have dig much deeper and enriched the half-cocked emotions. In the end, though, average is still the best way to describe Jane Got a Gun, even if it’s only occasionally delightful – especially in those rare interactions between two Star Wars alums (Natalie Portman and Ewen
McGregor).
In Firearms: A Global History to 1700, Kenneth Chase investigates why Europe perfected firearms when the Chinese invented them. Kenneth Chase is an attorney at law who received his PhD in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University. He uses primary sources in the form of texts and paintings as well as secondary sources in this monograph to trace the origin and spread of firearms. He also uses these sources to characterize militaries and determine why they used or did not use firearms. Chase dismisses the notion that the discrepancy between Eastern and Western firearms development was the result of cultural aversion. If anything, he argues that Europeans were more averse to firearms due to its association to Satan and a general
Motion pictures from Hollywood had taken Broadway’s place as the king of entertainment. The main reason behind this was that because it was culturally relevant and coming out with new flashy techniques such as Todd-AO and Cinerama.
Using the murder of Dee Ann’s mother as a means to intertwine the lives of the characters together, Steve Yarbrough examines the nature of relationships in “The Rest of Her Life.” The relationships in the story take a turn after Dee Ann’s mother is killed, with characters seeking to act more on their own, creating distance between many relationships throughout the story. Independent lifestyles prevent emotional bonds that hold relationships together from forming, thus preventing the characters from maintaining healthy relationships. The dysfunctional relationship present between Dee Ann and Chuckie in “The Rest of Her Life” is the result of the characters ' desire for self-gratification.
2: Miller, Gabriel. 'Shane Redux: The Shootist and the Western Dilemma', The Journal of Popular Film and Television, Vol.11, No.2, Summer 1983.
The main draw of Shooter, other than the likable performances by its lead actors, are definitely the lovely choreographed action scenes. The movie opens with a particularly delightful sniper sequence and never lets go, its conspiracy thriller premise quickly giving way to furious gunplay. Wahlberg flaunts his action movie star persona at full display and makes the most of Swagger's alone-against-the-world
Defining a film genre is in some ways difficult and simplistic. Every genre has stated what would define its boundaries. The difficult part is finding one that is solidified by the movies in the genre. The stated definition that this paper will digest and regurgitate is that a Western is a film which is set in the American frontier west. The typical time setting is somewhere in the mid to late 19th century and early 20th century(Dirks, 1). They glorify the past-fading values and aspirations of the mythical by-gone age of the American West(Dirks, 1). Over time, however, Westerns have been redefined, re-invented and expanded, dismissed, re-discovered, and spoofed. This actually makes the definition more lucid, making other films flexible enough to fit quite nicely into the genre.
...self and the man that she loves; Scott Summers included the Wolverine in the X-Men movie. Not only that, Mindy Macready who is the superhero of Hit Girl interested with her ally, Dave Lizewski, an ordinary teenager that wants to become a superhero due to help others in trouble and named himself as Kick-Ass. In the end of the Kick-Ass 2 movie, she kissed Dave after she mentioned that she have to leave New York as she have to protect her adopted parent, Marcus Williams from police inquiry.
film was much too serious and I did not like the factor that most of the
This story starts off with Dikeledi headed to prison for man-slaughter. When she is taken to prison, she is told that there are four women in there for the exact crime that she committed of killing her husband. The guard makes a comment that killing your husband is becoming the fashion, dismissing them as if the women had no reasons to kill their husbands. This shows that the women are not taken seriously. They way that the wardess treats the women, represents women oppressing women. There are some women that feel that men are superior and submit to their husbands not because they want to, but because of tradition or what may have been taught to them. This plays on the idea that women are inferior beings to men. By doing this they add to the
The driving force of the film lies within the chemistry of the ensemble cast. In “Precinct 13” there is a fine line between the good-guys and the bad-guys, as the cops and criminals have to team up against more cops who are in fact, the bad-guys. Ethan Hawke plays Jake Roenick, a young sergeant battling the demons of his past, who is forced to team up with Bishop, a local crime lord and cop killer who is masterfully portrayed by Laurence Fishburne. Also, John Leguizamo gives a scene-stealing performance as Beck, the paranoid but articulate junkie. Platinum selling rapper Ja Rule adds a few laughs as Smiley, the counterfeiter; and actress Drea de Matteo adds a touch of sexiness to the dark film. As for the antagonist, Gabriel Byrne gives his usual grim performance as Marcus Duvall, the crooked head of Detroit’s racketeering and organized crime department out to kill everyone inside of Precinct 13. Although, ...
“Shooter” is an action movie that was produced in 2007. It starts off by visually describing the military career of the protagonist, Bob Lee Swagger. His spotter and best friend gets killed by enemy fire, but Swagger survives. After this scene, the movie describes the life that he now lives in the United States. He decides to live in the woods with his dog after he retired from the military. Everything goes as Swagger wants it to until a supposed branch of the government shows up at his door and needs his expertise to aid them in preventing the assassination of the United States president (Rotten Tomatoes). From this point the movie takes a turn that Swagger cannot come back from.
The film also features various popular names in the cast such as Aja Naomi King, Armie Hammer and Jackie Earle Haley. King plays Nat
The film follows a group of friends who fall victim to a family of cannibals while on their way to visit an old homestead. Although it was marketed as a true story to attract a wider audience and as a subtle commentary on the era's political climate, its plot is entirely fictional; however, the character of Leatherface and minor plot details were inspired by the crimes of real-life murderer Ed Gein, similar to Psycho’s Norman Bates and Silence of the Lamb’s Buffalo Bill. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is without a doubt a horror movie. It features a group of friends traveling through the Texas state to a homestead belonging to the family of one of the group. Along the way, they pick up a hitchhiker who proves to be more than they bargained for, so they ditch him. The group separates at the homestead and two lovers plan to go to a waterhole, but find it dried up. The two characters then hear a generator running in the distance and follow the sound to a house where they intend to ask for gas as their vehicle is running low on fuel. It is here that Leatherface makes his first appearance, bashing one of the character’s head in with a hammer, and kidnapping the other. Soon enough, final girl Sally, portrayed by Marilyn Burns, is the last one standing and she is held at the mercy of an entire family of psychotic cannibals with Leatherface serving as the muscle-bound slave of
When you speak if such horror and evil, everyone says that this is the United States there is no way that is true and happening here. American mothers come together to fight one thing with one goal and that was to advocate and educate other about human trafficking. It has been called “a gripping legal thriller” by Esquire and “a powerful call to action” by the Los Angeles Times. I am Jane Doe testifies to the intense and legal encounter that many American families fight on behalf of underage loved ones that are horrified victims of human trafficking for commercial sex on “Backpage.com”, adult page owned by Village Voice Media. This was a classified advertising website, launched in 2004, by 2011 was the second largest classified advertiment