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Edward Zwick made trivial Hollywood spectacles (not quite films).
About Last Night (1986)
Glory (1989)
is a war movie about the black regiment that fought in the Civil War.
Leaving Normal (1992)
Legends of the Fall (1994)
Courage Under Fire (1996)
The Siege (1998) is a political thriller full of stereotypes but
with strong ethical overtones.
CIA agents kidnap an influential sheikh in Saudi Arabia.
Some time later two FBI agents, Anthony (a black man) and Frank (who was born in an Arab country) are called to the site of a terrorist attack: terrorists have
seized a bus. They have no demands. They don't injure anybody but leave behind a "paint bomb" as a warning. Later the FBI receives a fax demanding the release
of the sheikh, except that the FBI knows nothing of the sheikh.
While investigating, Anthony and Frank find a female CIA agent called Elise
who is investigating the crime scene without their permission. Since she refuses
to tell Anthony what she knows about Islamic terrorists, Anthony orders her
to leave.
Anthony and Frank follow an Arab suspect who is carrying a lot of money.
He escapes but is captured by Elise. The suspect claims that the money was
simply dowry. She still refuses to cooperate so Anthony arrests her.
As they are taking her to the police station, they are summoned to the scene
of another bus hijacking. The terrorists again make no demands.
They accept to release the children but then blow up the bus killing everybody
on board.
Anthony interrogates the Arab suspect but realizes that he is just a "mule" (a courier of money).
The FBI finds the name of one of the suicide bombers and arrests the man
who signed his application for a study visa. This Samir, however, is protected
by Elise because he works for her. She still doesn't volunteer everything
she knows about the terrorist cell. Later we see that she sleeps with Samir.
Meanwhile, Anthony gets to meet an army general, Devereaux.
Thanks to a tip from Samir, Anthony and Frank destroy a terrorist cell
but they don't have time to celebrate: another terrorist cell blows up
a theater killing 200 people. Then another terrorist takes children hostages
and Anthony risks his life to kill him and free the children.
Pundits and politicians debate whether martial law should be imposed and the
army sent to restore order.
When another terrorist cell blows up the FBI headquarters, killing 600 people, the president of the USA authorizes martial law.
The general has not disclosed to the president that he is detaining the sheikh.
Devereaux's soldiers and tanks seal Brooklyn and arrest thousands of young Arab men (including Haddad's son) with no trial.
Anthony continues his investigation, finally helped by Elise whose real name
turns out to be Sharon. Sharon tricks Samir into revealing the name of another
ringleader, Tariq. The army however is eavesdropping and launches
a massive operation to arrest Tariq just when Anthony and Elise are about
to arrest him. Anthony demands in vain that he be surrendered the prisoner:
the general orders the man to be tortured. Anthony begs him in vain to
avoid the torture, arguing that resorting to torture means that the
terrorists won. Tariq doesn't know any names and dies under torture.
Sharon reveals to Anthony that the sheikh was a US ally in Iraq that
was betrayed by the USA, and his terrorists were trained by her own group.
She helped the group obtain visas to the USA to protect them from retaliation
after the USA abandoned them. The terrorists are using the methods that she
taught them. Sharon thinks that there is only one remaining terrorist cell.
Anthony and Sharon convince Samir to arrange a meeting with the remaining terrorist cell.
This time they find a way to avoid the surveillance by the army and operate
without interference. Samir takes Sharon to a public bathhouse after telling her
that the terrorist cell will blow up a bomb to kill the peaceful protesters
who are marching against the army. At the bathhouse she realizes that
Samir himself is the remaining terrorist. Anthony and Frank arrive just in time
to stop Samir but Sharon is killed in the crossfire.
Now that it is clear that it all started with the unauthorized kidnapping of
the sheikh, Anthony leads an FBI raid to arrest the general for torturing and
killing Tariq. The general's soldiers and the FBI agents face each other with guns but eventually the general follows Anthony peacefully and all detained Arab men are released.
The Last Samurai (2003)
Blood Diamond (2006)
Defiance (2008)
The overlong
Love & Other Drugs (2010), based on the memoir of a real Viagra salesman, is a comedy/melodrama with a lot of sex scenes and an incredibly stereotypical happy ending.
Jamie, a womanizer who can't stay out of trouble, has a brother, Josh, who is a nerd who got rich with a startup. Josh finds Jamie a job as a salesman for a
pharmaceutical corporation, Pfizer. Jamie is very good at seducing secretaries which helps him get into doctor's offices, but he has tough competition, Trey,
who already serves doctor Stan. Trying to impress Stan, Jamie pays him to be
allowed to simply follow him, pretending to be an intern. Thus he assists the
doctor when he examines the breast of a young beautiful patient, Maggie, who
is the rare young person suffering from Parkinson's disease. Jamie gets Maggie's
phone number from the secretary whom he already seduced and easily gets Maggie
in bed. Neither is interested in a real relationship but they are happy to have
casual sex.
Ironically, Josh is kicked out by his wife and, despite all his money, he decides to sleeps on his brother Jamie's couch, witnessing Jamie's and Maggie's wild sex.
Trey finds out that Jamie has been throwing out his samples and beats up Jamie in the street. Jamie also finds out that Maggie was in love with Trey, a married man, and was betrayed by him.
Jamie learns that the corporation is developing Viagra to treat impotence and applies to be its first salesman.
Jamie has seriously fallen in love with Maggie, who instead rejects him, scared of getting into another relationship.
Meanwhile, the Viagra business explodes.
Jamie and Maggie keep seeing each other for casual sex until one day, for the first time in his life, Jamie tells Maggie that he loves her.
They are now in a real relationship, and, like all couples, they argue too.
Maggie and Jamie travel to a medical conference. During the conference,
Maggie accidentally runs into a Parkinson's support that meets nearby.
Jamie joins her during a break and meets a man whose wife has Parkinson's.
The man tells Jamie how terrible it is to see one's wife degenerate to the
point that she can't even move and advises him to dump Maggie right away.
Now it's Maggie who discovers to be truly in love with Jamie.
Jamie now has money and so he decides to contact the best doctors in the country to find a cure for Jamie. This creates a lot of stress in his busy life.
Eventually, Maggie rebels: she knows that there is no cure, and she understands
that he wants to cure her in order to be able to love her. She decides that
they have to break up.
One day Josh convinces Jamie to attend a pajama party that turns out to be
an orgy. Josh finally has sex with a woman, and is healed of his inferiority
complex towards Jamie. Jamie, on the other hand, has sex with two lesbians
but takes Viagra and his erection turns painful and doesn't stop.
Josh has to drive him to a hospital's emergency room.
While waiting for the doctor, Jamie receives the news that he has been promoted to regional manager.
One day Jamie runs into Maggie, who is with another man.
She congratulates him on his promotion but leaves with the other man.
But he can't resist and the following day drives like a maniac to catch up
with the bus on which she is working as a guide for seniors.
Jamie begs her, she accepts in tears. Jamie gives up the promotion and enrolls
in medical school to finish the degree he never finished.
Pawn Sacrifice (2014)
Jack Reacher - Never Go Back (2016)
Trial by Fire (2018)
(Copyright © 2020 Piero Scaruffi | Terms of use )
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