Brian Van Holt

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Wild Review


Very Good

Reese Witherspoon gives a beautifully stripped-back performance in this epic journey based on the memoir by Cheryl Strayed. The title has a double meaning, as it follows this wild child through the Wild West in a quest to find her centre. This metaphor is as obvious as Cheryl's badly over-loaded backpack, but while the messages are unmistakable the filmmaking and acting are raw and natural. And the settings are spectacular.

After a chaotic patch of wanton living, seen in flashback, Cheryl (Witherspoon) sets off to hike a thousand miles along the Pacific Crest Trail, from Mexico to Canada. She has no idea what she's doing, but bravely goes for it, overcoming feelings of loneliness before getting to know some fellow hikers along the trail as she traverses deserts, mountains and forests amid sunshine, rain and snow. All of this gives her a chance to make sense of a variety of memories involving her mother (Laura Dern), her ex-husband (Thomas Sadoski), her younger brother (Keene McRae) and her best friend (Gaby Hoffmann). And there are plenty of issues that need to be sorted out.

The film is structured in a way that lets us learn about Cheryl's past gradually. Important facts and events are dribbled in throughout the hike, shaping Cheryl's physical odyssey into a journey of self-discovery, which is more than a little gimmicky. Especially when "telling" quotes are printed right across the screen. Thankfully, Nick Hornby's script and Jean-Marc Vallee's direction never moralise about her history of promiscuity and drug abuse. These things are not the problem: they are symptoms of what's wrong with Cheryl. And this gives the film a maturity lacking in most Hollywood-studio films that are happy to find easy explanations and solutions.

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Wild Trailer


When young Cheryl Strayed loses her beloved mother, her entire world seems to come crashing down around her. With her family members distancing themselves from each other in their mourning, she feels she has no-one left to turn to and starts taking heroin and indulging in promiscuous behaviour to comfort herself - if only temporarily. As expected, she and her husband soon divorce as her antics do not improve and she decides that she needs to find another outlet for her grief. Despite having had no previous experience, she decides to embark on a solitary journey across the Pacific Crest Trail; a 1,100 mile hike from California to Canada across brutal mountains and savagely dry desert. Has Cheryl made the biggest mistake of her life? Or will she finally be able to find peace with the world?

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Bullet To The Head - Trailer Trailer


Jimmy Bobo is a brutal hitman; the best of his kind, an expert in the convenient disposal of unwanted individuals. When his partner is killed in a ruthless attack by the formidable ex-mercenary Keegan, he vows to take him out but things get serious when he is approached by WDCPD detective Taylor Kwon who seeks his help to investigate the killer who has also murdered his colleague. Although reluctant and apprehensive at first, Jimmy accepts to work with him especially after his tattoo fanatic daughter Lisa is kidnapped by the enemy to lure him into the hands of Keegan who, not content with slaughtering Jimmy's partner, wants to kill him too.

This action thriller is based on the French graphic novel 'Du Plomb Dans La Tete' (which translates to the movie's title) by Alexis Nolent. Out of their usual main areas of filmmaking expertise, the movie has been directed by Walter Hill (producer of the 'Alien' film series and 'Prometheus') who co-wrote the screenplay with Alessandro Camon (co-producer of 'American Psycho' and executive producer of 'Bad Lieutenant'). 'Bullet To The Head' is sufficiently action packed, with a grand portion of humour thrown in there as Sylvester Stallone drops in the characteristic one-liners. It is set to be released on February 1st 2013.

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Momoa, Christian Slater, Sarah Shahi, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Sung Kang, Jon Seda, Brian Van Holt, Holt McCallany, Weronika Rosati

Bob Clendenin, Brian Van Holt, Busy Philipps, Christa Miller, Courteney Cox, Dan Byrd, Ian Gomez, Josh Hopkins and Paley Center for Media - Bob Clendenin, Brian Van Holt, Kevin Biegel, Courtney Cox, Dan Byrd, Busy Phillips, Christa Miller, Ian Gomez and Josh Hopkins Saturday 11th February 2012 Cougar Town's third season premiere held at the Paley Center For Media - Arrivals.

Bob Clendenin, Brian Van Holt, Busy Philipps, Christa Miller, Courteney Cox, Dan Byrd, Ian Gomez, Josh Hopkins and Paley Center For Media

S.W.A.T. Review


Terrible
Is it that Samuel L. Jackson's character is nicknamed "Hondo"? Could it be the sequence where Colin Farrell goes running on the beach, appears to flirt with a dog and later explosively vomits, all of it set to the Rolling Stones' "Shattered"? Or maybe it's the time that the cast of S.W.A.T. all bust out with a rendition of the theme song from the TV show that the movie itself was based on. (Imagine Tom Cruise humming the Mission: Impossible theme while breaking into Langley.) You can pick from a variety of primary causes, but the end result is the same: S.W.A.T. is such an abominable waste of time and resources that I barely know where to begin.

There's plenty of blame to go around, but it should probably start with the script by David Ayer and David McKenna, which starts with your basic bank hostage scenario that can only be solved by (cue music) the S.W.A.T. team. Hotdoggers Jim Street (Colin Farrell) and Brian Gamble (Jeremy Renner) move into the bank, disobeying orders, and Gamble ends up shooting (nonfatally) one of the hostages. Street gets demoted out of S.W.A.T., while Gamble quits the department entirely, holding a serious grudge.

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House Of Wax (2005) Review


Bad
At last count, summer 2005 has approximately 2,005 remakes on the slate, from a re-imagined Bewitched to a rejuvenated War of the Worlds. The parade of photocopies was supposed to begin this week with House of Wax, a marketable, MTV-friendly version of the original and far superior 1953 version, which starred Vincent Price.

But can you technically call this new House a remake? Helmed with vague sensibilities by music video director Jaume Serra, this vacant lot bears absolutely no resemblance to its predecessor, save for the fact that they both feature suspicious wax museums. That's like saying Titanic is a remake of The Poseidon Adventure because they both take place on capsized luxury liners.

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Whipped Review


Excellent
The time is the present, and the setting is New York: where everyone has game... or at least thinks they do. Brad (Brian Van Holt) thinks he's got game but is really an unabashedly sexist pig. Zeke (Zorie Barber) thinks he's got game but all he has are physical shortcomings. Jonathan (Jonathan Abrahams) knows he doesn't have game, but is forced to ante up stories as if he did because Zeke and Brad constantly brag over Sunday breakfasts about how they scammed during the week. And Eric (Judah Domke), a man who was designed to "jump on the grenade" at parties and ended up marrying the grenade, just wants to escape from his utterly pitiful life.

Enter into the story Mia (Amanda Peet), a girl who appears to be innocent but who we quickly discover to be playing all sides against the middle. Mia meets Brad, Zeke, and Jonathan one week, then schedules dates for the next week, only to be surprised by all three on the same night. Knowing that she is found out, she decides that it will be impossible to do a relationship with any single one of them because she likes them all too much and offers them the choice of each one having a relationship with her or having them all leave. Because all of them are too cocky to let Mia go, they all end up dating her... alternating nights, bumping into each other on the way out, and generally growing to hate each other rather quickly.

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Brian Van Holt Movies

Wild Movie Review

Wild Movie Review

Reese Witherspoon gives a beautifully stripped-back performance in this epic journey based on the memoir...

Wild Trailer

Wild Trailer

When young Cheryl Strayed loses her beloved mother, her entire world seems to come crashing...

Bullet To The Head - Trailer Trailer

Bullet To The Head - Trailer Trailer

Jimmy Bobo is a brutal hitman; the best of his kind, an expert in the...

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S.W.A.T. Movie Review

S.W.A.T. Movie Review

Is it that Samuel L. Jackson's character is nicknamed "Hondo"? Could it be the sequence...

House of Wax (2005) Movie Review

House of Wax (2005) Movie Review

At last count, summer 2005 has approximately 2,005 remakes on the slate, from a re-imagined...

Whipped Movie Review

Whipped Movie Review

The time is the present, and the setting is New York: where everyone has game......

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