I enjoy writing about all sorts really. I love travel and am pregnant at the moment so expect a lot ...
I enjoy writing about all sorts really. I love travel and am pregnant at the moment so expect a lot of baby reviews to come. I also post on Dooyoo under the name Whizz11
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It's not often that a remake of a classic movie is a hit but in my opinion the 2003 version of the Italian Job was a great movie.
The original version of the film is classified as a British caper film with lots of darsterdly deeds. It came out in 1969 and starred Michael Caine. Now I can't say that I've seen this version but from all accounts it was a classic. Apparently, according to an article I read, in 2004 the magazine Total Film named The Italian Job the 27th greatest British film of all time. The line "You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!", said by Michael Caine in the film, was voted the favourite movie one-liner in a 2003 poll of 1000 movie fans.
So, to remake the film was a pretty bold move but in my opinion a good one. The film's director, F Gary Gray called this version a homage to the original but he still put his own spin on it. They have turned a British movie into an American movie with most of the car scenes set in Los Angeles. This is one of the reasons why I like this movie because I love LA and it has so many greats shots of that beautiful city. It is filmed downtown a lot where there have some great long straight roads but also lots of hills and I really think this added to the chase scenes considerably.
The story sticks somewhat to the original I believe in that there is a gang of crooks who plan to get payback for past crimes. The main plot of this movie revolves around a team of thieves who plan to steal gold bullion from a former associate who double crossed them. The team is lead by Charlie Croker played brilliantly by Mark Wahlberg (Marky Mark). He has a special mix of boyish charm and persuasion that will make anybody do anything! The girl and love interest in this movie is played by Charlize Theron who is a really beautiful woman and plays the part of a bad girl/good girl particularly well. There is a really great supporting cast in this, they really did get a lot of stars to star in it. Donald Sutherland plays the older heist master who believed he was participating in his final heist until things took a different turn, Edward Norton, Seth Green, the great Jason Statham and Mos Def. They all worked really well together as a cast. I think this film could some what be compared to the Ocean's Eleven/12/13 movies as it has the same sort of teamwork values but different as well.
The original heist takes place in Venice Italy with some beautiful scenery and this is where we see the original double cross and is the start of the payback that the team wants.
The cars used in this movie for a lot of the scenes are the new style Mini Coopers so if you like these cars then this is definitely a film for you. The obviously got some great stunt drivers because some of the scenes with the cars are absolutely unbelievable and you wonder how on earth they do not crash into each other!
The DVD runs for approximately 110 minutes and has a number of good special features. If you only watch one do tune into The Italian Job - Driving School if you want to see more of the cars in action. Apart from that there are stunts, deleted scenes and The Making of The Italian Job.
All in all definitely a movie I would recommend.
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Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
Production Year: 1977 - Action/Adventure - Director: Clint Eastwood - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring:Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Pat Hingle, William Prince, Bill McKinney
Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
Advantages: One of my favourite films of all time, an absolute classic film still enjoyed today. Disadvantages: It has taken its time to arrive in DVD format.
hepialid 20.12.2002 ·
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Review of The ItalianJob (DVD)
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