Movie 22 of 2008: Donny Brasco

Movie Description:

In the late 1970s, FBI agent Joe Pistone (Depp) is assigned to infiltrate a New York City mafia family. Calling himself Donnie Brasco, and posing as a diamond expert, he befriends Lefty Ruggiero (Al Pacino), a low-level mob hit man whose personal life is in tatters, and Dominick Napolitano (Michael Madsen). Lefty can't seem to make any money, his son is a junkie, and he is continually passed over for promotion to a higher position within the Family. He continually reminds Brasco of his growing disillusionment about having spent 30 years in the mafia (and killing 26 people), with little to show for it. In Donnie, however, Lefty sees a young protégé who might be able to succeed where he had failed. He takes Donnie under his wing, and under Lefty's tutelage Donnie quickly becomes accepted by the other Family members, although he is never elevated above the rank of "associate" member (the lowest mafia rank). But the longer Pistone plays the role of a gangster, the more he finds himself actually becoming Donnie Brasco during his rare off duty hours. His change in personality drives a wedge between him and his wife (played by Anne Heche) and three children. Over time, Pistone comes to realize that the slightest mistake in his performance as a mobster could result in the death of him and his family. In addition, Joe Pistone has come to regard Lefty as a close and trusted friend. He knows that when the day finally comes that the FBI arrests his mob associates, he will be ending Lefty's life as surely as if he himself had killed him.

Movie Trailer:



My Opinion:

This was one of the few Johnny Depp movies I hadn't seen yet, but I now have. It's definitely not one of my fave Depp movies, but I did enjoy it. Al Pacino is also a fabulous actor (especially in THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE) so that helped make the movie a winner as well. I'll probably re-watch this one someday though as I was kinda drifting in and out towards the end.

Movie 21 of 2008: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Movie Description:

Sweeney Todd is a villain/anti-hero appearing in various English language works starting in the mid-19th century as a barber and an early example of a serial killer. His weapon is a cut-throat razor (or "straight razor" in American English), with which he slits his victims' throats. In some versions of the story, Mrs. Lovett, who is his partner in crime and variously his friend or lover (and whose first name is variously Marjorie, Sarah, Nellie, Shirley or Claudette) hides the crimes by butchering the corpses of Todd's victims, baking their flesh into meat pies, and selling them to unknowing customers. His wife, Lucy Barker, is a woman so contested that it caused him to be exiled for life and fuel his vengeance. He is also assisted by an unwitting apprentice lad named Tobias Ragg, who later aids in unmasking his crimes. In most recent versions of the story, Sweeney either helps or hinders (sometimes both) the love affair of a young woman, Johanna Barker, and a sailor named Mark Ingesterie or more commonly known as Anthony Hope. In the musical stage production and 2007 film, Johanna is Todd's daughter Johanna Barker.

Movie Trailer:



My Opinion:

This was actually my 2nd viewing of this movie as I originally saw this at the theater back in December the week it came out. I enjoyed this movie a lot! Granted... I'm a bit biased as I'm a fairly huge fan of both Johnny Depp and Tim Burton and when they work together on a film the outcome is always amazing! The songs in this movie are fabulous and I ended up ordering the soundtrack the day after I saw this movie the first time. I don't know if I should've laughed so much during this movie considering the theme, but I found several things about the movie to be quite amusing... even the way the blood splattered. LOL!!! Maybe I'm a bit sick & twisted... who knows!

Movie 20 of 2008: L.A. Confidential

Movie Description:

L.A. Confidential is a 1997 feature film based on the 1990 crime fiction novel of the same title by James Ellroy, the third in his L.A. Quartet novel cycle. Both book and film tell the story about a group of Los Angeles police in the 1950s, and police corruption bumping up against Hollywood celebrity. The film adaptation was produced and directed by Curtis Hanson and co-written by Brian Helgeland and Hanson. At the time, both Australian actors Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce were relative unknowns in North America and one of the film’s backers, Arnon Milchan was worried about the lack of movie stars in the lead roles. However, he supported Hanson’s casting decisions and this gave the director the confidence to approach Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito and Kevin Spacey. When Hanson gave Spacey the script, he told him to think of Dean Martin while in the role.

Movie Trailer:



My Opinion:

I honestly didn’t focus on this movie as much as I probably should’ve when watching it so I can’t give a full opinion of this. I did enjoy it, but I didn’t keep up with the movie enough to get a true idea of what all happened in it. LOL!!! Maybe I’ll watch it again one day.

Movie 19 of 2008: 21

Movie Description:

Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) is an MIT student who – needing to pay school tuition – finds answers in counting cards. In his non-linear equations class, he amazes his professor, Mickey Rosa, by correctly understanding variable change and correctly solving the Monty Hall Problem. As a superior math and statistics student, he is recruited to join a group of mathematically-gifted students that heads to Las Vegas every weekend with fake identities and the know-how to turn the odds at blackjack in their favor. Unorthodox math professor Mickey Rosa (Kevin Spacey) leads the way. By counting cards and employing an intricate system of signs and signals, the team can beat the casinos. Drawn by the money, the Vegas lifestyle, and his teammate, Jill Taylor (Kate Bosworth), Ben begins to push the limits. Though counting cards isn’t illegal, the stakes are high, and the challenge becomes not only keeping the numbers straight, but staying one step ahead of the casinos’ menacing enforcer, Cole Williams (Laurence Fishburne).

Movie Trailer:



My Opinion:

I went to see this not realizing until it started that this movie is based on the book, BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE by Ben Mezrich. (see below for cover art of original book) I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and thought that all of the actors/actresses did a fabulous job. The plotline was extremely interesting with the whole "counting cards" thing as I was finding myself trying to remember all the methods that they were using. Ha ha!!! I’ve never played BlackJack in a casino, nor will I ever most likely, but it still was intriguing to me. Typically I won’t read a book once I’ve seen the movie of it as it kind of ruins it for me, but I am curious to see how much more there was to the book considering how much I enjoyed the movie. I highly recommend to anyone looking for a comedy/action movie.

Book 20 of 2008: Rogue by Rachel Vincent

Book Description:

Okay, so cats don’t always land on their feet

I know that better than most. Since rejoining the Pride, I’ve made big decisions and even bigger mistakes: the kind paid for with innocent lives. As the first and only female enforcer, I have plenty to prove to my father, the Pride, and myself. And with murdered toms turning up in our territory, I’m working harder than ever , though I always find the energy for a little after-hours recreation with Marc, my partner both on and off duty.

But not all my mistakes are behind me. We’re beginning to suspect that the dead are connected to a rash of missing human women, and that they can all be laid at my feet--two or four, take your pick. And one horrible indiscretion may yet cost me more than I can bear...

My Opinion:

First off... I have to say how much I absolutely LOVE the covers of Rachel Vincent’s books. In case you haven’t seen the cover of the first book in this series, I’ll post it here as well:



I just think the color scheme and the design is absolutely gorgeous. I’m not sure who did the cover art, but I definitely hope to see more by them!

At any rate... on to the story. This book continued on where STRAY left off. (see my 2007 reading blog for my review of STRAY) There are several different events taking place in this book, yet all of them are tied together in one way or another... werecat killings, stripper kidnappings, human-turned-stray, etc... Vincent leaves little "down time" in the book as it is chock full of action scenes. I loved it from start to finish and found myself enjoying it even more than STRAY, but mainly due to the fact the characters are growing on me so much. The characters are absolutely fabulous and believeable. All of the "drama" between Faythe and Marc cracks me up and I keep on cheering for Jace, but I have a feeling where things will end up there in the end. LOL!!! I also found myself laughing at several other scenes in the book, the most memorable being when Faythe was flinging cassette tapes in order to attack someone and refused to use a classic Aerosmith cassette, so in turn tossed the Thompson Twins. Ha ha!!!

Unfortunately, the book left a major cliffhanger at the end and now I’m left waiting until the fall to find out what is going to happen next. Drat!!! Can’t these books get published faster?!?!? LOL!!! Seriously though, I am highly anticipating the 3rd book of this series, PRIDE, and commend Rachel Vincent for how wonderful she has done in writing this series thus far. I hope that she continues on with this story for many more books and one day moves on to some other storylines as I’m quickly becoming a huge fan of her writing style.

Book 19 of 2008: The Haunted Vagina by Carlton Mellick III

Book Description:

It’s difficult to love a woman whose vagina is a gateway to the world of the dead...

Steve falls madly in love with Stacy, but it isn’t until they move in together that he hears voices coming from Stacy’s southern junction. When a skeletal creature makes it’s way through Stacy into their world, Stacy convinces Steve he must go exploring to find out where this mysterious passage leads. After his fist foray, Steve almost doesn’t make it back from the alternate world, but the next time Stacy sets him up for a full spelunking.

My Opinion:

First off... I absolutey love the cover of this book. I think it’s gorgeous!!! The skeletal hand reaching up to the "girl" is a very neat touch (pardon the pun). The story itself is very f’ed up! Stacy has a "haunted vagina" in that it makes noises and expands, etc... She decides that she wants her boyfriend, Steve, to explore the "world" within. The adventures continue from there as he wanders around the insides of Stacy’s vagina meeting up with Stacy’s childhood "friend" as well as the Zephrans. I won’t say much more than that as I don’t want to spoil the story, but the story makes you laugh as well as wonder WTF!!! Mellick is definitely a writer I’m going to have to explore some more because his stories really make you think. Of course, the entire time I was reading THE HAUNTED VAGINA I kept having the same one though... Why doesn’t this girl go get checked out at the gynecologist!?!?!?!?

Book 18 of 2008: Whiskey Sour by J.A. Konrath

Book Description:

Lieutenant Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels is having a bad week. Her live-in boyfriend has left her for his personal trainer, chronic insomnia has caused her to max out her credit cards with late-night home shopping purchases and a frightening killer who calls himself "The Gingerbread Man" is dumping mutilated bodies in her district. Whiskey Sour is full of laugh-out-loud humour and edge-of-your-seat suspense. It also introduces a fun, fully drawn heroine in the grand tradition of Kinsey Millhone, Stephanie Plum and Kay Scarpetta.

My Opinion:

Fabulous read!!! I wish I had listened to my friends and started into this series sooner. I finally made myself start the series due to the upcoming release of SUCKERS which is co-written by J.A. Konrath and Jeff Strand (my favorite author for those who don’t know me all that well) as SUCKERS includes a character from both this series as well as Strand’s sickeningly-awesome Andrew Mayhem series.

Konrath definitely has a way with keeping his viewers interested. This book is full of action from the first page to the last. You are immediately thrown into the nightmare life of "Jack" Daniels. She is one kick-ass lieutenant who doesn’t take shit from anyone... well, except Harry McGlade, somewhat. I am looking forward to seeing what kind of "trouble" Jack and the rest of the cast get into in the future installments of this series.