World Trade Center
- Thread starter PJay
- Start date
DotTheEyes
Movie Fan
I'll definitely see World Trade Center opening day. Nicolas Cage is my favorite actor and it's from Oliver Stone, the fantastic director of, among others, Born On The Fourth Of July, JFK, and Platoon. Early reviews say it's a rousing tribute the heroes of 9/11 and just as good as United 93 from earlier this year.
Should be one of the year's best movies!
Should be one of the year's best movies!
DotTheEyes
Movie Fan
Yes. It was an incredible movie, but extremely difficult to watch. Those who stomach it, however, are rewarded with an inspiring, powerful movie. The final shot before the end credits still haunts me, though.
DotTheEyes
Movie Fan
By the way, I am truly perplexed by people who say it's too soon to release films which deal with 9/11. In my opinion, this is exactly the time when 9/11-related films should be made! Right now, it's still fresh in the mind of the artists. The anger, confusion, fear, hate, and sadness is still there and the repercussions of 9/11 are still being felt worldwide. This is the time for it to be recorded on film, by people who still have the taste in their mouths. Besides, we already know what happens when you wait sixty years to do a movie about an American tragedy: it's a schmaltzy action-cum-romance movie with Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett called Pearl Harbor. I don't know about anyone else, but I would rather see hard-hitting, realistic movies about 9/11 now. I don't want the highest-profile 9/11 movie to be a 2035 release with Haley Joel Osment and Dakota Fanning falling in love against the backdrop of the WTC rescue effort.
DotTheEyes
Movie Fan
Usually at the Prince Frederick theatre or in Annapolis.
DotTheEyes
Movie Fan
Thus far, critical reaction to WTC is overwhelmingly positive. Here's a review off the wire from Reuters...
Oliver Stone moves dramatically away from his recent dazzling but often self-conscious filmmaking to direct "World Trade Center" in a somber, focused and straightforward manner that serves the material extraordinarily well.
This is, of course, the account of two Port Authority cops who survived the collapse of the World Trade Center's twin towers on September 11 and were dug from the rubble 24 hours later. These roles are played by a movie star, Nicolas Cage, in one of his most meticulous performances, and Michael Pena -- the locksmith in "Crash" -- a charismatic star-in-the-making.
This is a film of terrific selectivity. By focusing on two of the few who did survive the collapse, the film achieves emotional power and an uplifting ending. To focus anywhere else would probably result in a virtually unwatchable, gut-wrenching film. Thus, "WTC" could provide a mass catharsis for American audiences much as "United 93" did for those who saw that earlier film.
In choosing to throw images on the nation's screen of one of our darkest hours, the film lets people sort out their feelings about the horror, tragedy, heroism and sacrifice experienced in the name of freedom. "WTC" aims to speak to our collective emotions about the historical event we suffered as a people.
And in choosing to tell the fact-based story of Sgt. John McLoughlin (Cage), a 21-year veteran of the Port Authority Police Department, and Colombian immigrant Will Jimeno (Pena), who graduated from the police academy that January, Stone, writer Andrea Berloff and the producers choose to view that day's events as one of survival for America as a nation. We received a staggering body blow but found the moral, spiritual and mental courage to carry on.
You can't make up a story such as the one lived by these two men, even down to such absurd details as a service revolver belonging to one buried cop that suddenly goes off, discharging round after round until it's empty.
In the early moments of the attack, McLoughlin, who knows every inch of the twin towers, commandeers a city bus to race his men downtown to do whatever they can to rescue as many people as possible. Under his breath though, he admits, "There is no plan." In all the emergency scenarios, no one imagined such as attack.
When the first building collapses, McLoughlin directs his guys to race for a service elevator, the building's strongest point. After terrifying blasts, collapsing ceilings and showers of lethal debris, the rescuers are reduced to three. Will and Dominick Pezzulo (Jay Hernandez) occupy a level above John, who lies pinned on a lower section. The only one able to move is Dominick, who stays with his buddies to try to free them.
The second collapse injures Dominick badly. In an ambiguous scene, possibly due to the fact none of the survivors saw what actually happened, Dominick takes his gun and fires upward, dying moments later. This leaves Will and John, who cannot see each other, in semi-darkness, stifling, dust-choked air and continual explosions. They struggle to talk, to keep one another from drifting into sleep and certain death. Will has visions of his wife and Jesus, while John recalls his past with his wife. The two find the will to survive, not so much for themselves as for their families.
In one breathtaking camera trick, Stone pulls back and up from 20 feet below the heap of concrete and metal to the smoky outdoors, then above Manhattan and finally above Earth, where communication satellites relay news of the tragedy to distant corners of the planet. Thus, he signals that the film will tell the story of what happened over the next day from below and above ground.
The wives are tough cookies. Donna McLoughlin (Maria Bello) fights to keep her family calm as fear threatens to tear them apart. A pregnant Allison Jimeno (Maggie Gyllenhaal) nearly succumbs to her emotions as anger, anxiety and nausea fight to take control of her body.
Then there is the improbable story of ex-Marine Dave Karnes (Michael Shannon), a deeply religious man, who dons his old uniform and makes his way to Ground Zero, where he and another mysterious Marine actually locate the two men. This triggers a massive rescue effort headed by emergency officers Scott Strauss (Stephen Dorff) and Paddy McGee (Stoney Westmoreland) and paramedic Chuck Sereika (Frank Whaley).
In his active moments, Cage plays McLoughlin as a weary man of action. Natural instincts and years of service carry him into battle. He clearly believes in his mission and his career but perhaps not with the passion of Pena's rookie, who cannot believe his luck that he is a cop. When the two men cling to life and to each other, the acting is all with the voice and eyes. Each hits every psychological beat with a beautiful sense of the situation and his character -- Cage, barely conscious, questioning everything about himself, and Pena, almost perversely upbeat, willing himself to survive.
The filmmakers do acknowledge the thousands who did not return and torment suffered by their families in a highly charged hospital scene between a distraught mother (Viola Davis) and Donna, who initially direct their anger at confused officials who can't give them enough information. They then collapse into each other's arms.
Behind the camera, Stone oversees a crew at the top of their game: Jan Roelfs' harshly realistic set represents the dark, smoky space beneath the collapsed building. Seamus McGarvey's clear camera angles let you know where everyone is in the darkened nightmare. And Craig Armstrong's somber music never overplays its hand.
Oliver Stone moves dramatically away from his recent dazzling but often self-conscious filmmaking to direct "World Trade Center" in a somber, focused and straightforward manner that serves the material extraordinarily well.
This is, of course, the account of two Port Authority cops who survived the collapse of the World Trade Center's twin towers on September 11 and were dug from the rubble 24 hours later. These roles are played by a movie star, Nicolas Cage, in one of his most meticulous performances, and Michael Pena -- the locksmith in "Crash" -- a charismatic star-in-the-making.
This is a film of terrific selectivity. By focusing on two of the few who did survive the collapse, the film achieves emotional power and an uplifting ending. To focus anywhere else would probably result in a virtually unwatchable, gut-wrenching film. Thus, "WTC" could provide a mass catharsis for American audiences much as "United 93" did for those who saw that earlier film.
In choosing to throw images on the nation's screen of one of our darkest hours, the film lets people sort out their feelings about the horror, tragedy, heroism and sacrifice experienced in the name of freedom. "WTC" aims to speak to our collective emotions about the historical event we suffered as a people.
And in choosing to tell the fact-based story of Sgt. John McLoughlin (Cage), a 21-year veteran of the Port Authority Police Department, and Colombian immigrant Will Jimeno (Pena), who graduated from the police academy that January, Stone, writer Andrea Berloff and the producers choose to view that day's events as one of survival for America as a nation. We received a staggering body blow but found the moral, spiritual and mental courage to carry on.
You can't make up a story such as the one lived by these two men, even down to such absurd details as a service revolver belonging to one buried cop that suddenly goes off, discharging round after round until it's empty.
In the early moments of the attack, McLoughlin, who knows every inch of the twin towers, commandeers a city bus to race his men downtown to do whatever they can to rescue as many people as possible. Under his breath though, he admits, "There is no plan." In all the emergency scenarios, no one imagined such as attack.
When the first building collapses, McLoughlin directs his guys to race for a service elevator, the building's strongest point. After terrifying blasts, collapsing ceilings and showers of lethal debris, the rescuers are reduced to three. Will and Dominick Pezzulo (Jay Hernandez) occupy a level above John, who lies pinned on a lower section. The only one able to move is Dominick, who stays with his buddies to try to free them.
The second collapse injures Dominick badly. In an ambiguous scene, possibly due to the fact none of the survivors saw what actually happened, Dominick takes his gun and fires upward, dying moments later. This leaves Will and John, who cannot see each other, in semi-darkness, stifling, dust-choked air and continual explosions. They struggle to talk, to keep one another from drifting into sleep and certain death. Will has visions of his wife and Jesus, while John recalls his past with his wife. The two find the will to survive, not so much for themselves as for their families.
In one breathtaking camera trick, Stone pulls back and up from 20 feet below the heap of concrete and metal to the smoky outdoors, then above Manhattan and finally above Earth, where communication satellites relay news of the tragedy to distant corners of the planet. Thus, he signals that the film will tell the story of what happened over the next day from below and above ground.
The wives are tough cookies. Donna McLoughlin (Maria Bello) fights to keep her family calm as fear threatens to tear them apart. A pregnant Allison Jimeno (Maggie Gyllenhaal) nearly succumbs to her emotions as anger, anxiety and nausea fight to take control of her body.
Then there is the improbable story of ex-Marine Dave Karnes (Michael Shannon), a deeply religious man, who dons his old uniform and makes his way to Ground Zero, where he and another mysterious Marine actually locate the two men. This triggers a massive rescue effort headed by emergency officers Scott Strauss (Stephen Dorff) and Paddy McGee (Stoney Westmoreland) and paramedic Chuck Sereika (Frank Whaley).
In his active moments, Cage plays McLoughlin as a weary man of action. Natural instincts and years of service carry him into battle. He clearly believes in his mission and his career but perhaps not with the passion of Pena's rookie, who cannot believe his luck that he is a cop. When the two men cling to life and to each other, the acting is all with the voice and eyes. Each hits every psychological beat with a beautiful sense of the situation and his character -- Cage, barely conscious, questioning everything about himself, and Pena, almost perversely upbeat, willing himself to survive.
The filmmakers do acknowledge the thousands who did not return and torment suffered by their families in a highly charged hospital scene between a distraught mother (Viola Davis) and Donna, who initially direct their anger at confused officials who can't give them enough information. They then collapse into each other's arms.
Behind the camera, Stone oversees a crew at the top of their game: Jan Roelfs' harshly realistic set represents the dark, smoky space beneath the collapsed building. Seamus McGarvey's clear camera angles let you know where everyone is in the darkened nightmare. And Craig Armstrong's somber music never overplays its hand.
Bustem' Down
Give Peas a Chance
DotTheEyes said:
That's just one director, and one movie. They had to make it long for the Summer blockbuster and what do you expect them to fill the time with. Besides, it wasn't like that was the first Pearl Harbor movie made, like Tora Tora Tora. Schindler's List came out 50 years after the fact and would you say it was corrupt?
Other than that, I have no desire to see the movie just like I had no desire to see flt 93. 1) I lived a portion of it, and 2) the only reason they are making the movies now is not to preserve the actual events, but to make money. It could be the worst made film in history and people will flock to the theatres.
DotTheEyes
Movie Fan
No, I wouldn't call Schindler's List 'corrupt.' It was an incredible movie about a tragic time in history. But I don't believe there is a set amount of time which must pass before artists can react to an event. People who say it is too soon for 9/11-themed films clearly believe there is. In my opinion, one of the most beautiful things about art is how cathartic it can be and this is why I support directors who are, right now, creating artistic, tasteful films about the 9/11 tragedy, such as United 93's Paul Greengrass and World Trade Center's Oliver Stone. Sure, the producers hope to get a return on the money they spent on these films (it's the nature of the business), but I hardly believe money is the ONLY reason they were made. Established, A-list people are doing these films. They're already wealthy. So I can only assume they're doing them because they want to comment on what happened on 9/11 and they want to create uplifting cinema about the day's events. And I believe it's important for them to do so. I'll gladly spend my money on World Trade Center and I already did on United 93.
DotTheEyes
Movie Fan
Oliver Stone, the acclaimed director of Born On The Fourth Of July, JFK, and Platoon, creates a moving, if sobering tribute to the courage, heroism, and survival witnessed on 9/11: World Trade Center, featuring Nicolas Cage as Port Authority Sgt. John McLoughlin, one of the few men to survive the collapse of the WTC's North Tower.
The movie's often difficult to watch because of the disturbing subject matter, but, overall, it proves both cathartic and powerful. It's definitely not the self-serving Hollywood P.O.S. many feared. Instead, it's a matter-of-fact, well-made tribute to 9/11's heroes and their brave deeds. If you can handle the pain of seeing 9/11 re-enacted, I recommend Oliver Stone's World Trade Center.
The movie's often difficult to watch because of the disturbing subject matter, but, overall, it proves both cathartic and powerful. It's definitely not the self-serving Hollywood P.O.S. many feared. Instead, it's a matter-of-fact, well-made tribute to 9/11's heroes and their brave deeds. If you can handle the pain of seeing 9/11 re-enacted, I recommend Oliver Stone's World Trade Center.