Movie Description Two unique crime films are collected together here: COLLATERAL and THE ROAD TO PERDITION.
COLLATERAL: Jamie Foxx plays Max, a Los Angeles cab driver who has a pretty wild night in this thriller from Michael Mann (HEAT, THE INSIDER). First, Max picks up, flirts with, and gets the number of Annie (Jada Pinkett Smith), an attractive District attorney. Next, Vincent (Tom Cruise) climbs into his cab. He is a professional hit man who reserves Max for the night with a whole shopping list of victims he needs to visit. As the night moves forward and the body count rises, Max must wrestle with the question of how to do the right thing while staying alive. Gradually the two men bond in unlikely ways, as each learns survival mechanisms from the other, and it all doubles as a metaphor for morality vs. capitalism. Mark Ruffalo and Peter Berg play cops who eventually get on Max and Vincent's trail, leading to a spectacular action set piece inside a night club. Irma P. Hall (2004's THE LADYKILLERS) gets laughs as Max's hospitalized "momma," and Javier Bardem (BEFORE NIGHT FALLS) is a sinister drug lord. With a capable director like Mann at the wheel, this remains a smooth, enjoyable ride while also being fast, bumpy, and full of twists and turns. The streets of urban, nighttime Los Angeles--captured via a specially modified digital camera--never looked so beautiful or desolate. As typical of the director, the film is both artistic and action-packed; operatically over-the-top while never skimping on the little details.
Directed by Sam Mendes and based on the graphic novel by Max Allan Collins and Richard Piers Rayner, the Depression-era crime epic ROAD TO PERDITION stars Tom Hanks as Michael Sullivan, a quiet hit man who is duty bound to Mafia boss John Rooney (Paul Newman). The mobster's close bond with Sullivan, however, leads Rooney's jealous blood son, Connor (Daniel Craig), to orchestrate a tragic series of events that results in Sullivan on the run with his 12-year-old son, Michael Jr. (Tyler Hoechlin). Soon an unscrupulous crime photographer/assassin named Maguire (Jude Law) is sent after Sullivan and his son, and Sullivan must decide on a course of action as young Michael comes to terms with his father's violent way of life. Meticulously directed by Mendes and brilliantly photographed by Conrad Hall, each scene of ROAD TO PERDITION has the composition of an expertly crafted painting. Making effective use of rain, snow, and shadows, the filmmakers create a cinematic world that's as dark, cold, and unforgiving as many of its inhabitants. But the film also allows for glimpses of emotional warmth, particularly in Sullivan's relationships with his son and Rooney, his surrogate father. In these roles, the respective actors create complex characters that resonate even in their restraint; Hanks is outstanding as a man of action with little time for words, while newcomer Hoechlin creates an unsentimental portrait of a confused boy, and Newman once again proves why he's a screen legend. And, in a strikingly unflattering role, Law makes the most out of his screen time as a creepy, parasitic hit man. Even in its harshest moments, however, Mendes never fails to remind the audience that ROAD TO PERDITION is a film about fathers and sons; and this is what elevates it from an atmospheric gangster movie to a truly astonishing work of art.
| Credits | | Cast: | Jude Law, Mark Ruffalo, Paul Newman, Peter Berg, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks |
| Details | | Edition: | Back To Back |
Notes COLLATERAL
DVD Features:
Region 1 Snap Case Anamorphic Widescreen - 2.40 Audio: DTS 5.1 - English Dolby Digital 5.1 - English Dolby Digital 5.1 - French Additional Release Material: Deleted Scenes With Commentary Trailers - 1. Theatrical Trailer Featurette - 1. CITY OF NIGHT: THE MAKING OF COLLATERAL 2. VISUAL FX: MTA TRAIN 3. Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx Rehearse 4. Shooting On Location : Annie's Office 5. Special Delivery Text/Photo Galleries: Filmographies - 1. Cast 2. Filmmakers Production Notes
ROAD TO PERDITION
DVD Features:
Region 1 Keep Case Anamorphic Widescreen - 2.35 Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 - English Dolby Digital 5.1 - French Dolby Digital 2.0 - English Additional Release Material: Deleted Scenes Audio Commentary - 1. Sam Mendes - Director Making-of Trailers Interactive Features: Scene Access Interactive Menus Text/Photo Galleries: Stills/Photos Production Notes Biographies
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