Philippe Lacôte directed a thrilling, contemporary mystery in the classic noir style.
Killer Heat follows private eye Nick Bali, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, an American expat in Greece who is hired to investigate the supposed accidental death of young shipping magnate Leo Vardakis, played by Richard Madden, on the island of Crete. Madden also plays the living twin brother, Elias.
The victim’s sister-in-law, played by Shailene Woodley, doesn’t believe the official police report. But what exactly happened to Leo, and why?
Despite the sun-drenched beauty of its exotic Mediterranean locale, Nick finds darkness at every turn: where the rich and powerful Vardakis family rule like gods, where jealousies run deep, and anyone could be a suspect.
The Killer Heat storyline comes from Jo Nesbø’s short story The Jealousy Man. Clare Holman is part of the supporting cast.
It is the summer of 1957. Behind the spectacle of Formula 1, ex-racer Enzo Ferrari is in crisis. Bankruptcy threatens the factory he and his wife, Laura, built from nothing ten years earlier.
Their volatile marriage suffered because of the loss of their son, Dino, a year earlier. Ferrari struggles to acknowledge his son Piero with Lina Lardi.
Meanwhile, his drivers’ passion to win pushes them to the edge as they launch into the treacherous 1,000-mile race across Italy, the Mille Miglia.
Based on Brock Yates’ 1991 book Enzo Ferrari: The Man, The Car, The Races, The Machine, with a screenplay by Troy Kennedy Martin, Michael Mann directed Ferrari as a character study unlike anything else the director has done on the big screen.
“… Enzo Ferrari, one of the most famous yet inscrutable and complex men of the 20th century. For Mann, that was a perfect hook. “There is no equilibrium in his life, and that’s the whole point of Enzo Ferrari,” says Mann. “That fascinated me because that’s more like the way life actually is,” Mann continues. “Life is asymmetrical. Life is messy. Life is filled with chaos. Ferrari was precise and logical, rational in everything to do with his factory and race team. In the rest of his life, he was impulsive, defensive, libidinous, chaotic. This asymmetry and wonderful contradiction is what made him and the other characters in this unique story so human to me.”
Directed by Kevin Macdonald and based on the N.Y. Times best-selling memoir “Guantánamo Diary” by Mohamedou Ould Slahi, The Mauritanian inspired the true story of Slahi’s fight for freedom after being detained and imprisoned without charge by the U.S. Government for years.
Alone and afraid, Slahi, played by Tahar Rahim, finds allies in defense attorney Nancy Hollander, played by Jodie Foster, and her associate Teri Duncan, played by Shailene Woodley, who battles the U.S. government in a fight for justice.
The movie is now on Amazon, or you can get the Blu-ray for your library. The cast is strong, and the story is heart-wrenchingly true.
It’s the test of their commitment to the law and their client at every turn. Their controversial advocacy and evidence uncovered by a formidable military prosecutor, Lt. Colonel Stuart Couch, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, uncover shocking truths and ultimately prove that no one can lock up the human spirit.
The rest of the cast includes Zachary Levi and Saamer Usmani.
Directed by Baltasar Kormakur, who directed 2 Guns starring Denzel Washington and Mark Walberg and has produced several movies, is an actor, is from Iceland, Adrift stars Shailene Woodley, who started in Fault in Our Stars, and Divergent films, and Sam Claflin, who starred in The Hunger Games.
The movie is based on a true story of carefree spirits with a love for adventure. They essentially two free spirits whose chance encounter leads them first to love and then to the dangers of a hurricane.
The story follows their early romance and a commitment as two enthusiastic sailors embark on a journey across the ocean. Tami Oldham, played by Woodley, and Richard Sharp, played by Claflin, had no idea they were in a straight line into one of the most catastrophic hurricanes in recorded history.
In the aftermath of the storm, Tami awakens to find Richard badly injured and their boat in ruins. With no hope for rescue, Tami must find the strength and determination to save herself and the only man she has ever loved.
Kormakur has tackled similar true stories about the spirit coming face to face with natural disasters and overcoming them or ending tragically. The Deep won Kormakur awards in Iceland and Everest. Both of these movies he produced.
Adrift appears to be a story that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Watching the resilience of the human spirit and the transcendent power of love is the only hope imaginable.
The movie is scripted by Aaron Kandell, Jordan Kandell, and David Branson Smith. Kandell twins worked together on Moana, and Branson has worked on episodic television such as Enlightened and the feature film Ingrid Goes West.
The Blu-ray and DVD are hitting the streets, so now is the time to see the movie again. Unless, you haven’t seen the movie, nows your chance to see what is so special about the movie. With that, I am adding some movie clips and behind the scenes clips of the production.
I saw this movie on a flight from Tampa Bay to Denver. The acting was great and the movie seemed slow at times. I did cry at one point toward the end realizing what this young woman went through to survive. I think some of the audience missed the point of Richard’s spirit being on the boat helping her survive and navigate the boat to Hawaii. The movie called him a mirage but it’s more than that if you read Tami’s book.
The second movie trailer is so much better. The music is exuberant and daunting. You can get a feel for what Woodley’s character is going through.
The movie trailer is super intense and explains how you will be on the edge of your seat as you watch this movie.
