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Vantage Point [2008]

starring: Dennis Quaid, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Forest Whitaker, Zoe Saldana
directed by: Pete Travis

August 04, 2008
One of the stars of Vantage Point-Dennis Quaid - has described the film as a "Kind of Rashomon [1950] [Special Edition]" alluding to the films method of showing the same 23 minute loop of time from several different perspectives. Whoah there Dennis , don't get carried away . Structurally , though he kind of has a point though in terms of quality these two films while not chalk and cheese are definitely wildly varying qualities of cheddar.
Vantage Point takes place at an anti -terrorism summit in Salamanca ,Spain( though most of the film was actually shot in Mexico) where the American President Ashton ( William Hurt) is making a speech. He is shot , a bomb goes off , general chaos ensues as you would expect. We, the audience, then to ... Read More:

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The Shield - Season 5 [2005]

starring: Forest Whitaker, Michael Chiklis, Laura Harring, Kenneth Johnson, Walton Goggins
directed by: Scott Brazil, Stephen Kay

January 28, 2008
This installment to The Shield saga is just as good as the others have been. Right away you are introduced to the IAD rat Kavanaugh, who is only as brilliant as he is detestable, and unsurprisingly excellently portrayed by Forest Whitaker. Kavanaugh relentlessly pursues the Strike team for their numerous misgivings throughout the previous four seasons. Vic, Shane, Lem and Ronnie seem to have put all differences behind them at the start of the series, but as Kavanaugh sinks his teeth into every potential lead, the team suffers, and the always loveable Lemanski is exposed. All the shocks, squirms and grit are still there as you would expect from this masterfully written and shot series, and the story gets stronger as it lurches towards its devestating ... Read More:

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The Last King Of Scotland [2006]

starring: James McAvoy, Forest Whitaker, Gillian Anderson, David Oyelowo, Kerry Washington
directed by: Kevin Macdonald

May 14, 2007
I don't tend to follow award nominations, as they can be very pretentious. However, at this price, I thought to give it a try. I have to say I was not disappointed! I remember something of this regime on television as I was growing up, but did not know much about it. This film had a compelling story, outstanding acting, and a great insight into African politics and the British involvement. This I found to be quite different to most films, in the fact that the 'hero' of this story is more of an anti-hero, who is only the hero as he is less bad than the bad guy. Excellent story based on real history, a must view!

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Vantage Point [Blu-ray] [2008]

starring: Dennis Quaid, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Forest Whitaker, Zoe Saldana
directed by: Pete Travis

August 04, 2008
Got this DVD frre with a Samsung BDP1500 bluray player so I didn't think it would be very good. How wrong, could I be. Kept me and my family enthralled with its twisting and turning plot. Great action sequences that will keep you on the end of your seat. Absolutely stunning in bluray.

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Platoon [1987]

starring: Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Forest Whitaker, Francesco Quinn
directed by: Oliver Stone

September 18, 2000
Platoon is a cinematic classic from Director Olive stone. And is supposedly his auto-biography of his experiences in Vietnam as a G.I. The characters in this film are based on real-soldiers he met in his 'platoon' in Vietnam.

I'm highly recommending the Special Edition for a feature documentary on the 'making of platoon' which is the best feature I've ever seen on a DVD to date. It shows how Oliver Stone put the cast through hell and back whilst shooting in the jungle. Plenty of accounts from Charlie Sheen, a young Johnny Depp, and Elijah Woods on how much they grew to hate Oliver Stone, which is exactly what he wanted!. A must see.

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Good Morning, Vietnam [1988]

starring: Robin Williams, Forest Whitaker, Tung Thanh Tran, Chintara Sukapatana, Bruno Kirby
directed by: Barry Levinson

May 13, 2002
Am I supposed to find this guy funny or something? I attempted to watch the whole of this film, but ended up bearing the first hour only ... My favourite part? ... when the world most annoying man (Williams) finds himself punched by a GI in the bar. Maybe something meaningful happened in the second half, but I will never know because I was so irritated by the swell headed antics of the desperately unfunny lead character. I dedided to leave early.

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Street Kings [2008]

starring: Keanu Reeves, Forest Whitaker, Hugh Laurie, John Corbett, Terry Crews
directed by: David Ayer

September 15, 2008
This plays like a third of the plot of L.A. Confidential - not surprising when you realise that it's co-written by James Ellroy. Tough, but tender, dumb cop is manipulated by senior officers in the LAPD for their own ends. Everyone is cynical, everyone is corrupt, everyone is violent, to the point where you begin to wonder how the LAPD can even function anymore.And yet this modern look at crime and punishment is so old fashioned. We've seen it all before in films like The French Connection only more interestingly done. At the end I half expected someone to tell Keanu Reeves "It's Chinatown, Jake.". Violent, action-packed, reasonably acted, competently directed and strangely boring. Reeves compares badly to Denzil Washington's similar turn in the superior Training Day.Watching it,I found ... Read More:

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Street Kings [Blu-ray] [2008]

starring: Keanu Reeves, Forest Whitaker, Hugh Laurie, John Corbett, Terry Crews
directed by: David Ayer

September 15, 2008
This plays like a third of the plot of L.A. Confidential - not surprising when you realise that it's co-written by James Ellroy. Tough, but tender, dumb cop is manipulated by senior officers in the LAPD for their own ends. Everyone is cynical, everyone is corrupt, everyone is violent, to the point where you begin to wonder how the LAPD can even function anymore.And yet this modern look at crime and punishment is so old fashioned. We've seen it all before in films like The French Connection only more interestingly done. At the end I half expected someone to tell Keanu Reeves "It's Chinatown, Jake.". Violent, action-packed, reasonably acted, competently directed and strangely boring. Reeves compares badly to Denzil Washington's similar turn in the superior Training Day.Watching it,I found ... Read More:

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Bird - The Charlie Parker Story [1988]

starring: Diane Venora, Forest Whitaker
directed by: Clint Eastwood

September 06, 2006
"Bird"(1988) directed by Clint Eastwood (Unforgiven,1992; Mystic River,2003; Million Dollar Baby,2004) is first and foremost a great 1940s period drama. Secondly it just happens to be about one of jazz's great musicians, Charles "Bird" Parker. Bird was a great jazz innovator with the development of Bebop which really moved jazz on from just being mere entertainment toward art, drawing heavily on the music of Stravinsky and Varese. Sadly Bird died just as jazz beginning to feel the threat of Rock 'n' Roll although jazz would continue to evolve further into the 1960s.

Clint Eastwood's direction can't be faulted in this loving portrait to Bird who is performed by Forest Whitaker (Platoon,1986). The film uses stylistically a lot Film Noir elements and at times resembles films of the period. ... Read More:

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Phone Booth [2003]

starring: Colin Farrell, Kiefer Sutherland, Forest Whitaker, Radha Mitchell, Katie Holmes
directed by: Joel Schumacher

August 11, 2003
This is perfect example of how to do an intelligent thriller - keep it simple. Find a simple plot device to hook your attention, and then let the characters drive the plot. In this case, it is literally one plot device, and one character - virtually everyone else is superfluous. There is a real beauty in this almost minimal simplicity.

The plot device is an absolute gem. Farrell is well cast as an arrogant, ambitious publicist, smart and hip, full of his own BS, a liar, who takes people for granted. In short, he is a deeply unlikeable person. He makes a phone call to a girl on a public payphone so his wife can't trace the number on his mobile. When he finishes the call, the phone rings, and he picks up. The voice on the end of the phone (Keifer Sutherland) tells him that he has a rifle ... Read More: