Showing posts with label Vera Farmiga. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vera Farmiga. Show all posts

Friday, April 8, 2011

Source Code

Released Year: 2011
Directed by Duncan Jones

Casted by:
Jake Gyllenhaal as Captain Colter Stevens
Michelle Monaghan as Christina Warren
Vera Farmiga as Captain Colleen Goodwin
Jeffrey Wright as Dr. Rutledge
Michael Arden as Derek Frost
Story:
Captain Colter Stevens is a decorated army helicopter pilot whose last memory is of his recent mission in Afghanistan, flying with his team while taking on enemy gunfire. He awakens on a train headed for Chicago with no memory of how he arrived there. His reflection is of a different man and his wallet says his name is Sean Fentress. Sitting across from him is a woman named Christina Warren who seems to know him as Fentress. But before he can understand what is happening, a bomb goes off and destroys the train.

Stevens then awakens inside a chamber, where he is greeted through a computer screen by Capt. Colleen Goodwin, an Air Force officer who tells Stevens that he is inside the Source Code, a program that allows him to take over someone's body in his or her last eight minutes of life. Earlier that day, a bomb exploded and destroyed a train headed into Chicago, the train that Stevens awoke on. Stevens' mission is to locate the bomb, discover who built it, and report back to Goodwin before the bomber can detonate a second larger bomb, a dirty nuclear device, in downtown Chicago which could cause the deaths of millions of people.

Stevens is sent back to the train, where he locates the bomb in the ventilation shaft above the bathroom. The bomb explodes again, activated by a cell phone detonator. After the bomb goes off, Stevens sees blurred images of a round highly polished artistic structure in a park-like setting. Stevens reawakens in the chamber, where Goodwin and the Source Code's creator, Dr. Rutledge, tell him that the Source Code is not a simulation, but a visit into the past in the form of an alternative reality. Stevens can perform different actions each time and learn from those actions. He's told that he cannot truly alter the past to save Christina or any of the other passengers. But hopefully the intel he gathers can be used to alter the future and prevent a future attack.

Confused and frustrated, Stevens wonders how he got assigned to this project if it felt like just yesterday he was on mission in Afghanistan. He suspects that Goodwin is not telling him the whole truth when she says that he has been with the Source Code project for two months. Stevens catches a glimpse of Goodwin's uniform insignia during one debriefing, and discovers where Goodwin and Rutledge are assigned. Using a cellphone, he eventually discovers that he supposedly died in the war two months ago and that his injured body was apparently appropriated by the Air Force and used by Rutledge to enter the Source Code. He was chosen because his physical attributes are a close match to Sean Fentress, and his particular injuries allow him to be connected to the Source Code system, due to half of his brain still being "active".

Stevens is sent back several more times. Each time he learns more, and each time the bomb goes off he sees the blurred images of a round highly polished structure, and is then returned to the chamber. During one debriefing Stevens is made to hear an emotional audio statement from his father concerning his death. Stevens resolves to complete his mission, now with the personal goal of saving Christina and the people on the train if at all possible. On one trip he retrieves a gun from the conductor's compartment on the train and eventually discovers that the bomber is an American extremist named Derek Frost. Stevens confronts Frost and is able to inform Goodwin before Frost activates the second bomb. Authorities are then able to apprehend Frost and save Chicago. However, the train is still destroyed by this first bomb and Christina is still dead.

Earlier, Stevens had asked Goodwin and Rutledge to let him die after the mission is completed, and Rutledge agreed to that. But now that the mission is over, Rutledge decides that Stevens is too valuable to the Source Code project and, unknown to Stevens, Rutledge orders Stevens' memory wiped/erased instead. But Stevens persuades Goodwin to send him in one more time and give him one last chance to avert the train disaster before they pull the plug on him.

With the information he has uncovered from previous sorties, Stevens is able to defuse the bomb and capture Frost before he can destroy the train. Stevens then sends an email to Goodwin, and later makes a phone call to hear his father's heartfelt voice one last time, telling his father that he was Sean Fentress, a soldier that served with his son and was there when his son died. Frost is arrested by the police and the people on the train are saved. Stevens and Christina kiss in the last seconds before the plug is to be pulled at the eight-minute mark, but, to his surprise, he does not return to the chamber. Instead, his mind remains in Sean Fentress' body (what happens to the real Sean Fentress is unresolved).

Stevens - now in Fentress's body - leaves the train with Christina. While walking together in Millennium Park in Chicago, they come to the Cloud Gate sculpture which turns out to be the structure Stevens had seen blurred images of every time he returned back to the chamber from a mission.

Now in an alternate timeline, back at Nellis Air Base, Goodwin receives the email sent by Stevens while he was on the train. The message details the averted train crisis, and outlines that it was Stevens and Goodwin and the Source Code project that averted the train disaster - however because the train disaster was averted Stevens was never sent to the train. Goodwin starts to tell Rutledge about the email, but in the process she hears about the bomber that got caught earlier that day and the averted train disaster and that if the bomber had set off a bomb it would have been a good opportunity to try the Source Code. Goodwin then decides to hold off telling Rutledge about the email.
L² Scored: 5/10

L² Comment:
Though i love Gyllenhaal, Farmiga & Monaghan, but i feel this movie is kinda weird. Maybe this kind of sci-fic movie is not my type. There's not much connection between these few characters and i dont like it. Maybe the novel of Ben Ripley is good, but not necessary in the movie. Too bad

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Orphan

Released Year: 2009
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra

Casted by:
Isabelle Fuhrman as Esther Coleman / Leena Klammer
Vera Farmiga as Kate Coleman
Peter Sarsgaard as John Coleman
Aryana Engineer as Max Coleman
Jimmy Bennett as Daniel Coleman
C.C.H. Punder as Sister Abigail
Story:
Kate and John's marriage was in danger when Kate is pregnant with their 3rd kid because of the affair that John has. The baby was lost and Kate lost herself in the drinking habit. Both the couple decided to adopt a new children to place their love with. They went for the orphanage and adopted Esther who's good in arts.

Esther was welcome by Daniel and Max who is a deaf-mute. But Kate grow suspicious when she found out Esther is different as stated by Sister Abigail. Esther was afraid that Sister Abigail will find out the secrets hide beneath her, so she bring Max together to kill Sister Abigail. Esther warn Max not to tell anyone or else she will kill the parents. But Max managed to tell Daniel about this and Daniel try to retrieve the hammer which killed Sister Abigail from a treehouse. Esther followed him and lock him in the treehouse while set fire on.

Daniel jump and broke himself. In the meanwhile, Kate discover that Esther is from a mental hospital of Russia before she was with Sister Abigail. Esther sneak into Daniel's ward and suffocated him. The death of Daniel broke Kate's heart, she slapped Esther in the hospital and everybody think Kate has a mental problem. Esther got what she wants and went to seduce John later at night. When John reject, Esther gone crazy and stabbed him to death.

Kate received a call from Russia and inform her that Esther real name is Leena and she actually suffered from an illness called hypopituitarism, which stunted Leena from physical growth and always stayed in a little girl status. Kate rushed all her way home but sad to found that John has die. Esther is chasing after Max but Kate jump off from the greenhouse and smashed on Leena. While escaping to outside, Leena is coming and fought with Kate. Both of them struggle on the frozen lake and finally Kate managed to save Max by kicking Leena into the cold deep water.
L² Scored: 8/10

L² Comment:
I remember i watched this movie with a bunch of bloggers at Pavilion previously. And this really really freaked me out a little of how cruel this kid can be. By the end of the story, it reveals the shocking truth which really make me feel like giving the movie a big round of applause.

Isabelle Fuhrman is definitely showing us how good she is in this age. Vera is good too. Bravo for both of them.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Up In The Air

Released Year: 2009
Directed by Jason Reitman

Casted by:
George Clooney as Ryan Bingham
Vera Farmiga as Alex Goran
Anna Kendrick as Natalie Keener
Story:
Ryan works as a counselor for conducting layoffs for his company. He flies around in the US for this conducting and deliver motivational speeches using the title of "What's in your backpack?" During his travelling, he met another frequent flyer, Alex whom Ryan found very attractive.

Ryan was then called back to the main office in Omaha, Nebraska to meet up with a young coworker, Natalie. Natalie is promoting a cut costs plan by having employees to stay grounded and conducts layoffs over the internet. Ryan disagree with her plan and agree to take Natalie with him on his upcoming layoffs work, so that Natalie can experience the real things.

Ryan was request to bring along his sister and brother-in-law photo to wherever he went and help them to take photo. During the layoff, Natalie found that its not easy to just interpret a layoff plan through the computer screen without handling the staff emotion. She even feel it when her boyfriend send her text through handphone for a breakup. Feeling depress, Natalie followed Ryan and Alex (came to meet Ryan) for party. Ryan started to feel that he wanna become stable and attach with Alex. He even brought her to his sister wedding. Middle of it, the brother-in-law chickened up and Ryan managed to persuade him for the confident in marriage.

One night, Ryan fly all his way to find Alex because he decided to settle down. But in the end, he discovered that Alex is marry with 2 children. Alex claimed that Ryan is just her fly-mate and would not consider him for a stable relationship. Feeling sad and alone, he flew back to office. During his flight, the crew announced that Ryan has got the free million miles for his 10 million miles mark, he thought he would feel happy about it but he does not. Ryan transfer half of the free miles to his sister as a wedding gift instead.

When he reached office, he found out that Natalie has quit her job due to the stress and sad feeling of this layoff job. Ryan wrote her a recommendation letter for her future work. The movie ends with Ryan making a speech of stating how important families are.
L² Scored: 5/10

L² Comment:
Simple love story movie, talks about a bachelor and his love life. Its kinda enjoying watching this film. Nothing heavy and relaxing. But after the movie, it makes me thought of my own life instead. What do i want? What do i plan? Its all kinda important.