Liev Schreiber Archives - HavingSaidThat...

For Your Renting Pleasure

09/03/2010 by Lauren Leave a Comment

That’s right, my write-up for rentals has changed yet again. This time around (and hopefully I will stick to it this time) I will write up little blurbs about the movies I have seen in the past week on Fridays, giving you suggestions for what to pick up and what to avoid when considering what to rent that weekend. On this weeks list we’ve got: The Back-up Plan, The Last Song, Operation: Endgame, Repo Men, The Runaways, A Single Man, and The United States of Tara.

Fight for the Last Copy:

United States of Tara: Season One

This Diablo Cody created, Showtime TV show is about a woman who has recently gone off the medications that have helped to suppress the other faces of her multiple personality disorder (or dissociative identity disorder). Toni Collette plays Tara, and the way in which she moves in and out of these other personalities is pure artistry. Though this is a serious topic, it does not shy away from the humor of it all, thanks in large part to the people she becomes. In the beginning she is aware of three: Alice is a 1950s housewife, Buck is the redneck hick with a heart of gold, and T is basically the teenage slut, but eventually another emerges (but I will not spoil in for those who want to watch) in response to the overriding story arc of Tara digging into her past to discover what caused this disorder to take form during her teen years.

The show does not just stop with how this disorder effects Tara, but shows the strain it puts on her family. John Corbett plays her supportive husband who i leading the search to discover her past and must constantly coral the other personalities (though he is far from ashamed of his wife). [Read more...]

Filed Under: Movie Review, TV Review Tagged With: A Single Man, Adam Scott, Alice Braga, Bobby Coleman, Brandon T. Jackson, Brie Larson, Colin Firth, Dakota Fanning, Diablo Cody, Ellen Barkin, Emilie de Ravin, Floria Sigismondi, Forest Whitaker, Fouad Mikati, Ginnifer Goodwin, Greg Kinnear, Jeffrey Tambor, Joe Anderson, John Corbett, Jude Law, Julianne Moore, Julie Anne Robinson, Keir Gilchrist, Kristen Stewart, Liam Hemsworth, Liev Schreiber, Maggie Q, Matthew Goode, Michael Hitchcock, Michael Shannon, Miguel Sapochnik, Miley Cyrus, Nicholas Hoult, Nicholas Sparks, Odette Yustman, Operation: Endgame, Repo Men, Rob Corddry, Rosemarie DeWitt, The Last Song, The Runaways, The United States of Tara, Tim Bagley, Tom Ford, Toni Collette, Ving Rhames, Zach Galifianakis

Review: Salt

07/23/2010 by Zac 2 Comments

Salt is an iteresting film that twists your loyalties and features a great action turn by Angelina Jolie and while the film doesn’t knock it out of the park it is a pretty good grounding for the film’s larger goal.

Evelyn Salt is a spy for the CIA who is winding down and about to settle into a pencil pushing job so she can be with her husband and get the risk out of her life. Heading home for her anniversary, Salt, is called back in to interrogate a Russian defector who claims that Salt is a sleeper agent for the Russian government which means the Russian’s know who she and her husband are. Salt is immediately worried about her husband and when her own agency tries to detain her she breaks out and goes on the run trying to hunt down her husband to secure his safety.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Movie Review Tagged With: Angelina Jolie, August Diehl, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Liev Schreiber, Phillip Noyce, Salt

Now Playing Review – Salt

07/23/2010 by Lauren Leave a Comment

If you have been watching the news lately then you have probably heard something about all of the Russian spies who are being discovered living in the US like normal people. It might sound cool, but in all honesty it was a little underwhelming as far as I am concerned. No reports of shootouts, no high speed chases through roads of high traffic, no jumping into bodies of water to escape pursuit… Why is this not going down like Hollywood made me believe it would!? For those of you would like the Hollywood version of this story, then Salt just might be what you are looking for.

As a CIA agent Evelyn Salt has been through a lot of situations that most people will never have to deal with. But today, the one thing she probably never saw coming walked right through the front door of her workplace. While interrogating a Russian agent he tells a story of a plot against certain high ranking government officials that seems a little far fetched, but before she can cut him loose he gives the name of the agent who is supposed to carry out these assassinations. And it just so happens to be her name. Instead of sticking around to talk her way out of it, she makes a break for it, giving everyone reason to question who she really is. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Movie Review Tagged With: Angelina Jolie, August Diehl, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Daniel Olbrychski, Liev Schreiber, Salt

Review: Repo Men

03/19/2010 by Zac Leave a Comment

Repo Men is a ridiculous movie, but there is a lot of fun to be had and if you give yourself over to the insanity of it all it is a fairly entertaining flick.

Remy is a repo man, a repo man of human organs in this world in the future where a company called, The Union, has a monopoly over the world’s mechanical organ market. The prices are ridiculous, forcing people into high interest loans that if they default on will have their replacement lung, heart, or liver gladly repossessed by an eager repo man like Remy. Remy’s best friend and co-worker Jake is all about the business and when Remy shows some signs of retiring to sales Jake begins to panic about the end of their partnership. Remy’s home life hits an all time low after an on the job accident forces Remy to get a Union heart and his wife and child leave him as he has to keep working repo which his wife desperately wants him to stop. Remy has lost his edge though and soon finds himself on the other side of the repo business.

Rental Review – X-Men Origins: Wolverine

09/20/2009 by Lauren Leave a Comment

Though I cannot take the same stand that I am sure many comic book fanatics are taking against this film, I will say that I feel slightly cheated by X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

As the name states, Wolverine is an origin story for the beloved X-Men character, so let’s start at the beginning. The character of Wolverine was born through a very traumatic night when the young boy, Logan, learns that the murdered body he is mourning over is not really his father, his mother pulls the “what are you” card, and he is hunted. But the good news is that he gains a brother in Victor Creed (who eventually becomes Sabertooth), who is more than willing to spend the following slew of decades fighting in war after war until the present day. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blu-Ray/DVD Review, Movie Review, Queue Review Tagged With: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Ryan Reynolds, Wolverine, X-Men Origins

Review: Taking Woodstock

08/28/2009 by Zac Leave a Comment

Ang Lee’s latest is his lesser effort as of late as he starts off on the right foot but slowly dissolves into a bit of a mess with no narrative to speak of for the second half.
Elliot Teichberg is a want a be artist living in New York City, only to see most of his income be thrown into his families inn that resides in upstate NY. Scrapping to get by, his mother is a stingy Jewish woman that is a bit crazy on top of that while his father just quietly sits by and lets things happen. Forced to move back home, Elliot begins to find new ways to spruce up his families inn to attract new business while splitting time as being the local chairman on the commerce committee of White Lake. Elliot who keeps one ear to the arts and music scene learns about a music festival that can’t find a home has been looking for a place to call home in the surrounding Catskills communities and Elliot invites them up to his inn as a potential site for the festival. Michael Lang is the face of Woodstock Ventures and when he arrives to White Lake he and Elliot find the perfect spot for their festival and begin to put in motion a final attempt to get their “little” music festival off the ground. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Movie Review Tagged With: Ang Lee, Demetri Martin, Emile Hirsch, Eugene Levy, Henry Goodman, Imelda Staunton, Jeffery Dean Morgan, Jonathan Groff, Liev Schreiber, Paul Dano, Taking Woodstock, Woodstock

Rental Review – Defiance

08/12/2009 by Lauren Leave a Comment

These days it is not hard to find a movie or novel pertaining to the horrors of WWII, rarely do these stories rise above the usual sob story and become something more uplifting. Such is the case of Defiance.

This film tells the true story of four Jewish brothers (three of which are played by Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, and Jamie Bell, all turning in great performances) forced to flee to the forest after German soldiers attack their village. It first appears that this is going to be a simple story of revenge, but luckily it becomes something more. After their first night in the woods they are joined by another group of refugees, and their numbers continue to grow as the story progresses. Though there are a large number of obstacles: fighting amongst themselves, sickness, food shortages, being discovered, etc, even in the most discouraging moments hope somehow remains.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Blu-Ray/DVD Review, Movie Review Tagged With: Daniel Craig, Defiance, Jamie Bell, Liev Schreiber

Review: X-Men Origins Wolverine

04/30/2009 by Zac Leave a Comment

The X-Men franchise returns with an origin story of its main character Wolverine, and the end result is a fun, action filled summer movie that gets the season off on the right foot.
James Howlett was born in the early 1800’s, a consistently sick boy; his father is murdered by vengeful neighbor who is father to his good friend Victor. Howlett in a rage attacks Victor’s father, stabbing and killing him with claws that appear between his knuckles on his hands. With the man’s dying breath, Victor and James learn that they actually share a father and the two begin to go on the run after James’ ability is revealed to the disgust of his family. The two then spend the next 130 some odd years living side by side, fighting in every “great” war over that time before eventually finding themselves in Vietnam. After an act of mutiny and being sentenced to death, they are recruited an hour or two after there execution had been carried out, both brothers posses healing powers, by an officer by the name of Stryker who has assembled a special team of similarly advantaged humans to carry out top secret missions. While on a mission in Africa, James has seen enough and leaves the team to live in seclusion in the Canadian Rockies. Living with a local school teacher for a number of years, James is forced back into the game [Read more...]