A 2008 AMERICAN SPY MOVIE: BODY OF LIES

Hello my dear followers!

This week I'll be telling you guys about a pretty recent American spy movie named "Body of Lies". The movie stars Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio and it is directed by Ridley Scott, the director of "Gladiator", "American Gangster" and "Kingdom of Heaven".

Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a successful CIA operative who is usually on duty in dangerous areas and who takes orders from a high level CIA boss named Ed Hoffmann (Russell Crowe). Ferris's new mission is to track down a terrorist leader named Al Salim who plans to bomb American and European cities continually to take revenge from Americans for what they've done to Muslims. To overwhelm this terrorist, Ferris has to cooperate with the Jordanian Intelligence Agency. As Ferris approaches his target, he starts to find himself in a game of deception where trusting the others is a huge mistake.

The movie was adapted from a 2007 novel of the same name written by David Ignatius. The movie's IMDB rating is 7.5 out of 10.

In conclusion, if you like action movies which are about contemporary issues, try this one, you might like it!

Here is the trailer of the movie:

A HILARIOUS 2008 MOVIE: BURN AFTER READING

Hi again everybody!

We had a 1 week break, that's why I couldn't post anything last week but we're going on from where we stopped. The movie that I'm going to talk about this week is a 2008 crime comedy named "Burn After Reading" which made me laugh a lot and which has an incredible cast including John Malkovich, George Clooney, Frances McDormand and Brad Pitt. The film was directed by Joel and Ethan Coen Brothers, the directors of Academy Award winning "No Country For Old Men".

The movie starts with the sack of an analyst named Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich) from CIA due to his drinking problem. After his being fired, he decides to write a memoir about his job in CIA. His wife Katie Cox (Tilda Swinton) ,who wants to divorce Osbourne, copies his husband's personal work onto an optical disc at her divorce lawyer's office but the lawyer's receptionist forgets the disc in a workout gym. Then, an employee of the gym, Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt) finds the disc, assuming it contains some highly qualified information. He tells about the disc to his fellow employee Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand) and they decide to use the disc to blackmail Osbourne Cox. Things get even more complicated when a womanizing treasury agent, Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney) who has an affair with Osborne's wife, gets involved in the story.

The film's budget was $37 millions and it grossed $130.4 millions totally. The movie's IMDB rating is 7.5 out of 10.

My personal note: Brad Pitt plays the stupid very well in this movie.

In conclusion, if you're interested in comedy movies combined with drama and crime, I say you had better watch this, you'll love it!

Here is the trailer of the movie:

A 2000 BRITISH CRIME MOVIE: SNATCH

Hello again my dear readers!!

On the contrary to previous weeks, this week, I'll be talking about a relatively older movie. This week's film is a 2000 English crime movie written and directed by Guy Ritchie (Madonna's ex-husband). Its name is "Snatch" and has a great cast including Jason Statham, Benicio Del Toro and Brad Pitt.

The movie contains two different plots which are connected to one another after some point. The first plot focuses on a fist-sized diamond which is stolen by Frankie Four Fingers (Benicio Del Toro) in Belgium and then brought to London. Though Four Fingers brings the diamond to a group of Jewish money launderers, different illegal figures of London claim the diamond for themselves.

The second plot revolves around the relationship between an unlicensed boxing promoter named Turkish (Jason Statham) and a Londoner crime boss, Brick Top (Alan Ford), who is known for feeding those who fall out of his favour to his prized pigs. One day, Brick Top's boxer Gorgeous George dies in a dispute with a gypsy man named Mickey (Brad Pitt) over a caravan. Then, Brick Top accuses Turkish about this incident and Turkish finds himself in a big amount of debt to him. As a result, to improve the situation, Turkish and his partner decide to use Mickey as the boxer.

Eventually, these two plots intertwine and become one humorous and active story full of action. I won't give any other spoilers.

"Snatch", being the third movie of Guy Ritchie, received some criticism since the story was almost identical as Ritchie's second movie, "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels". However, the movie was very successful at the box office, having won about $50 million totally in US and UK.

Apart from these, the movie resembles Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, inasmuch as both movies deal with underworld criminals, valuable items and boxers.

In conclusion, if you like crime movies with original scripts and famous actors, I would definitely recommend this movie!!

Here is the trailer:

YOUR FAVOURITE JAMES BOND: DANIEL CRAIG

My dear readers!!
This week's post will be about the poll I conducted about 3 weeks ago. I asked you who your favourite James Bond was and you guys chose Daniel Craig. In this post, I'll give some brief information about him.

Daniel Wroughton Craig was born in Chester, England in 1968. After attending Hilbre High School there, he moved to London to join the National Youth Theatre when he was 16.

He studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and graduated from there in 1991. His first leading role on screen was as a co-star in the 1996 BBC Television Serial "Our Friends in the North".

After playing in several English movies, he started appearing in American movies such as "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider(2001)" with Angelina Jolie, "Road to Perdition" with Paul Newman and Tom Hanks, and Steven Spielberg's "Munich"(2005). His last movie before the James Bond series was "Infamous"(2006).

In October 2005, Craig signed a five-film contract with EON productions to portray James Bond. Four of the previous Bond actors supported Daniel Craig as the new Bond. Clive Owen, who was linked with the character, defended Craig, too. Being born in 1968, Craig was the first James Bond to be born after the series started.

His first movie "Casino Royale"(2006) was a huge box office success, being the highest grossing Bond movie with $594 million. After "Casino Royale", Craig played in "Quantum of Solace"(2008), the 22nd movie of the series. Craig stated that his favourite Bond was Sean Connery.

He married Scottish actress Fiona Loudon in 1992, whom he has a daughter from. However, he ended this marriage in 1994. Currently, he is in a relationship with American film producer Satsuki Mitchell. He is a fan of Liverpool FC.

Here is a video about Daniel Craig:

THE LATEST BOND MOVIE: QUANTUM OF SOLACE

Hello dear readers! This week, I'll be telling you about Quantum of Solace, the new James Bond movie which I've been waiting for for a long time. This is the second movie that we see Daniel Craig as James Bond. The movie was directed by Marc Forster and is the shortest movie of the series. At certain points, you will have to relate what happens in the movie with Casino Royale because the two movies are connected to each other. As a matter of fact, the movie starts an hour after the last scene of Casino Royale.

In this movie, Bond and M (Judi Dench) learns about the existence of a dangerous organisation called "Quantum" while interrogating Mr. White (Jesper Christensen), who is a member of the organisation and this is the same organisation as the one that blackmailed Bond's girlfriend in the previous movie.

Then, the agency finds a bank account in Haiti which is related to the organisation. In Haiti, Bond meets Camille (Olga Kurylenko) who also seeks revenge for the death of his family. After that, Camille leads Bond to Dominic Greene, a businessman who is a member of Quantum.

After some investigations, Bond finds out that Greene is helping General Medrano, the murderer of Camille's family, to stage a coup d'état in Bolivia and in return, Medrano will provide him a seemingly barren land which Greene will use to take control of Bolivia's water supply. At this point, Camille and Bond start to cooperate for the thing that they both want: Vengeance.

If you like movies full of well-shot action scenes and if you liked the previous James Bond movies, I suggest you watch this movie as soon as possible!

Here is the trailer of the movie:

A GREAT ACTION REMAKE: DEATH RACE

Dear readers,

Here I am again! This week, our movie is "Death Race", an action movie directed and written by Paul W. S. Anderson. The movie is a remake of the 1975 movie "Death Race 2000". The remake was in development since 2002 but could not be released until this year because of the disputes between Paramount Pictures and the producers. The movie stars Jason Statham(starred in "The Transporter") in the lead role.

In 2012, the unemployment and crime rates in the US are on the rise and prisons are run by prvate corporations. The movie focuses on the Terminal Island Prison where the executives decided to broadcast "Death Race" via a paysite on the internet. "Death Race is not only a race to the finish line; it's a battle where you use cars for not to be killed. As you can imagine, this race grabs the attention of millions of people and helps the corporation make a fortune.

One day, in a race near its end, the car of a well-known racer wearing a mask named Frankenstein, gets destroyed by Machine Gun Joe(Tyrese Gibson), another racer. Eventually, Frankenstein dies. Since Frankenstein is one of the most important reasons for the high ratings, the executives start to search someone who can replace Frankenstein and they find Jensen Ames(Jason Statham), a three-times-championship winning driver whose driving license has been impounded.

One day, after coming home from the steel mill he works, an assasin kills his pregnant wife and attacks Ames. Ames faints and when he wakes up, he finds the weapon in his hands and he notices the police are cuffing him.

This way, Ames becomes a convict of the Terminal Island Prison. Then, he is taken to Hennessey(Joan Allen), the prison warden. Hennessey makes Ames an offer: He can either choose to be a part of this barbaric race to be free, or he will stay and perish inside a prison cell for the rest of his life.

If you haven't watched this movie yet, I suggest you go watch it immediately. If you don't, you will miss a movie with a super original script, great special effects and full of action!

Here is the trailer of the movie:

A RECENT VIDEO GAME ADAPTATION: MAX PAYNE

Dear followers,

This week, I will be informing you guys about a recent video game adaptation, Max Payne. The main reason for my going to the movie was that I liked the computer game a lot and I thought the movie could also be good and I wasn't wrong! I found all I looked for in this movie in terms of a good action movie.

It's time to talk a little bit about the plot...

Max Payne (Mark Wahlberg) is a police officer who works in DEA. He is a happy man who has a good job, a beautiful wife and an adorable child. Unfortunately, this perfect life portrait doesn't last very long.

One day, he finds his wife and daughter murdered in his house. After this violent incident, he starts to feel like a wreck, but he pulls himself together very soon and promises himself to be strong, find the murderer and take revenge!

As he follows the traces of the murder, he meets a woman named Mona Sax (Mila Kunis), whose sister, an acquaintance of Payne, is also murdered. After they get acquainted, they start to cooperate and eventually, they figure out that the two murders are connected.

Max Payne is just the right guy to find the criminals and clean the city from scum and he knows that the revenge he's been longing for is very close!

Here is the official movie trailer of Max Payne:

OUR POLL WINNER: THE GODFATHER

Our poll which lasted about a month and a half finally resulted and I'm not very surprised that the result is the legendary Godfather series.

Since you have picked this series as the winner, I assume that you already know about the plot . That's why I'll write about some interesting points of the series which you may not know about.

-The Godfather I received 3 Oscars and 5 Golden Globe Awards. The movie is the first in Empire's Greatest 500 Movies list and the second in IMDB's Top 250 Movies list.

-The Godfather II was the first film in which both Al Pacino and Robert De Niro played, though they never played in the same scene during the movie.

-Paramount wanted Robert Redford or Ryan O'Neal to be Michael Corleone but Coppola wanted a ratherly unknown guy, so he found Al Pacino, having appeared in only two minor films. The studio didn't consider him right for the role because of his height. Al Pacino got the role only after Coppola threatened to quit the production.

-Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, Martin Sheen and Warren Beatty also auditioned for being Michael Corleone.

-The well-known music of the series by Nino Rota was removed from the Academy Award nominees list after it turned out that the theme was used before in a 1958 comedy movie named Fortunella.

I'm officially ending our first poll by placing this very well-known scene from The Godfather I:

ACTION AND COMEDY COMBINED TOGETHER: TROPIC THUNDER

Hello everybody!! After a brief while, I'm here again to talk to you about a recent movie (US:Released in August, Turkey: Released in October) named "Tropic Thunder". The movie grabs attention at first with its cast including Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. Besides them, Tom Cruise, Matthew McConaughey, Nick Nolte also have fairly important roles. The movie is directed by Ben Stiller, the main star of the movie.

The movie is about a bunch of actors who try to make a movie of a memoir about the war in Vietnam. After some trials to make some scenes, it appears that the actors are lacking the spirit that is needed to make a war movie. Then, the writer of the memoir which the movie is based on, a veteran of the US army (Nick Nolte), convinces the director that the atmosphere should be just like the war time to make a great war movie. Followingly, the actors are dropped off next to a forest; but of course, the actors don't know that they are in the Golden Triangle: the home of an Asian heroin producing gang. After that, the actors become obliged to use the fighting skills that they've learnt during making movies. While they try to survive, their story comes out to be very amusing.

If you are defining yourselves as both an action and a comedy fan, try "Tropic Thunder"; i'm sure that it'll meet your expectations!

Here is the trailer of the movie:

A BRILLIANT BOOK ADAPTATION: REQUIEM FOR A DREAM

Hello dear readers!! Today, we're going to talk about a movie named "Requiem For A Dream", a 2000 movie adapted from the 1978 novel of the same name. The movie was directed by Darren Aranofsky, an American director aged 39.

If we had to say one word on which the movie was based, it would definitely be DRUGS and the their harms on people. There are four main characters in the movie. First one, Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn) is a fairly aged woman whose best desire is to appear on her favourite quiz show. One day, someone telephones Sara and tells her that she is chosen to appear on the quiz show. After that, she gets overly excited and gets obsessed with her look and how fat she is. For that reason, she goes to a doctor who is well-known for making the patients slim in a very brief period. The doctor gives her amphetamines( without letting Sara know) and Sara starts to use them regularly. Finally, she ends up a vicim of the look obsession and finds herself in the hospital. The other main character, Harry Goldfarb (Jared Leto) is Sara's son and an unemployed young man whose desire is to make some money and he starts dealing drugs to reach this goal of his, in cooperation with his girlfriend, Marion Silver (Jennifer Connelly) and his friend Tyrone C. Love (Marlon Wayans). After making a big amount of money dealing drugs, the police seize most of the money they've won and the group turns broke. Once, Marion even sleeps with her therapist for money. In the end, Tyrone gets caught by the police and ends up in prison and Marion visits Big Tim, a drug dealer, who guarantees that he'll give her heroin if she does some sexual favors for her. Then, Marion calls Harry to tell him to come back since she doesn't want to go to Big Tim's, and Harry says he will but both know that it won't happen. In prison, noticing the gruesome look of his arm because of heroin use, the officers send Harry to the prison infirmary and after a big operation, he ends up with one arm.

Therefore, in conclusion, no one can reach their dreams by using drugs and everybody ends up a loser.

The soundtrack of the movie is "Lux Aeterna", a song that holds a melancholic and tragic melody. The same song is used by many different movies, commercials and trailers, too.

Ellen Burstyn was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar with her performance. Also, the movie is the 61th in the IMDB list of the best movies ever.

In conclusion, if you think you're capable of enduring a really sharp and highly dramatic movie, this is the one for you.

Here is the trailer of the movie for you guys to make an idea of what the film's like:

THE CONTEMPORARY MASTERPIECE OF SCORSESE: THE DEPARTED

Hi everybody, i'm here again to talk to you guys about a movie. Today's movie is "The Departed" which is a 2006 movie by Martin Scorsese and by far one of the bests I've watched...

The only bad thing I can find about the movie is that the movie is the remake of a 2002 Hong Kong movie named "Infernal Affairs". This means that the script is not original but still the cast is so good that it makes you feel like you're watching a totally different movie owing to the actors/actresses's great acting talents.

The movie takes place in Boston, US and is based on two "rats". The Irish mob boss, Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson), plants the boy he's been mentoring for years, Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon), within the Massachussetts State Police as an informant. At the same time, the state police assign undercover cop William Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) to move into Costello's crew. When both sides realize the existence of the informants, each "rat" tries to find out who the other "rat" is...

Besides these, Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin and Martin Sheen also have fairly major roles in the movie...

Although the movie had been a remake, it managed to win 4 Oscars including the Best Picture and the Best Director, which was the first Oscar of Scorsese throughout his whole life.

According to authorities, including the Rolling Stone magazine, "The Departed" was the best movie of the year 2006.

In conclusion, if you want to see a crime masterpiece with an original script and loads of talented actors, you'd better watch this as soon as possible!

Here is a very good scene from the movie, enjoy!

A CRIME CULT: PULP FICTION

Hello to all our readers!! As a brand-new movie blog, it's time to post our first review. It's going to be about "Pulp Fiction", a 1994 film directed by Quentin Tarantino.

The movie's two main characters are Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson), two serial-killers who act as the errand-boys of Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames), a black mob kingpin who has become infamous because of the rumours about what he has done to a man who hitted on his wife, Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) who is a cocain addict.
Apart from the story of Vincent and Jules, meanwhile, another story is going on; in which Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis), an aging boxer whom is paid a big sum of money by Marsellus Wallace to lose a match, is the main character. At first, Butch agrees to take a dive in the match and accepts the money but afterwards, he suddenly remembers the old days and those days remind him of the honour he's got deep down. Not doing what Wallace told him to, Butch comes across with Marsellus. In the end, Butch ends up killing Vincent Vega, Marsellus's hitman, but somehow he manages to make peace with Marsellus.
Just like all the other Tarantino movies, "Pulp Fiction" has many humorous and ironic dialogues mixed up with violence. That can be a thing which helped the movie become a classic. Besides being a crime classic, the movie was nominated for 7 Oscars and won "The Best Picture Award" in Cannes Film Festival. Moreover, the movie is also well-known as the movie which revitalized the career of John Travolta. The movie is fifth in the IMDB list and ninth in the Empire list of best movies ever. Furthermore, one of the main songs of the movie is "Girl, You'll be A Woman Soon" which is a great song by Neil Diamond.
In conclusion, if you want to see a movie which is both humorous and full of action, this is the one for you. I suggest you watch this as soon as possible (for the ones who haven't watched yet).
Here is the trailer of the movie for you guys to make an idea of what the film is like:

THE BEST OF THE BESTS IS CHOSEN: THE GODFATHER

EMPIRE, one of the most prestigeous movie magazines in the world, has recently compiled a list of 500 hundred best movies ever. EMPIRE polled more than 150 directors, including hotshots like Tarantino, some celebrities of the movie world and thousands of readers for this list. "The Godfather" (Released in 1972) of Francis Ford Coppola has topped the list.
Here are the movies that got into the first 20:
1. The Godfather
2. Indiana Jones- Raiders of the Lost Ark
3. Star Wars- The Empire Strikes Back
4. The Shawshank Redemption
5. Jaws
6. Goodfellas
7. Apocalypse Now
8. Singin’ in the Rain
9. Pulp Fiction
10. Fight Club
11. Raging Bull
12. The Apartment
13. Chinatown
14. Once Upon A Time In The West
15. Batman- The Dark Knight
16. 2001: A Space Odyssey
17. Taxi Driver
18. Casablanca
19. The Godfather II
20. Blade Runner

Among all the movies that got into the first 20, "The Dark Knight" is the only one which is a movie of the 21th century. All three episodes of Peter Jackson's "Lord of The Rings" found themselves a place in the first 60. Moreover, some other surprising results have come out of the poll, too. Certain classics such as "Shakespeare in Love" and "Easy Rider" couldn't get a place even in the whole list. Moreover, the latest movie of James Bond, "Casino Royale" got the 56th place. Furthermore, "Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban" became 471th and the last movie of the list, the 500th, came out to be "Ocean's Eleven".

Salutes to My Dear Visitors!!!!

Hello everybody!!!!

I'm Hamdi Soysal and I believe I can call myself a "movie lover". That's why I have chosen this topic for my blog. In fact, this is the very first blog of mine, so I'm a bit of a "rookie"on blogging but I suppose that won't be much of a problem since blogging doesn't require being a computer genius.

Obviously, the blog is going to be about movies. At first, I'm planning to post movie reviews each week but after a while, I may start posting once in 1-2 days... Other than the review, you'll also be able to see some decent screenshots of the movies. Moreover, I'm planning to post contest questions and even polls sometimes, this way, I can get an idea of what my visitor population(you guys) thinks about certain things... If you come out with different ideas for the blog, you may share them with me and I can take them into account of course.

These are my short term plans for the blog. Besides all these, most importanly, my main goal is to make this blog a portal which embraces "movie lovers" from all around the world!!!

With the hope of a nice, entertaining blog!!!