Visitors Review

AndrewBogut6 (2012-05-25 21:56)

Don't get the angle of this movie....

My main question regards the motivation behind this story. Firstly,does it aim to provide an informative account of Rudy or simply cash inon September 11? Moreover, if his biography is intended to be paramount, I am not sure whether it glorifies or condemn his character.On the whole, i thought this movie was poor. The production values wereterrible, to say the very least. As was the handling of the events ofSeptember 11. To include such emotive footage of that day is dangerous,especially when Rudy exclaims "what have these bastards done to mycity?". From an objective standpoint this line was simply ectopic inthe context of the movie, almost adding light to the situation. Thefollowing "women and children first" dialogue seems misplaced in theterror and hysteria of the situation.

The_Sisk0 (2012-05-25 11:27)

And the Emmy goes to James Woods!

If James Woods doesn't win an Emmy for this roll, it will be a shame! Woodsdepicted Rudy Giuliani perfectly. I forgot that I was watching Woods. Hebecame Giuliani. The movie was good, but James Woods was wonderful!

DCB73 (2012-05-22 17:09)

Penelope Ann Miller

It's too bad the talented Penelope Ann Miller was cast in thisgarbage! Her talent and acting ability should be used for muchbetter roles than this. As usual, Penelope is always outstanding,no matter what she is in but this role was sickening. Hope to seeher in better stuff than this in the future.

DICK STEEL (2012-05-22 03:57)

A Nutshell Review: Rudy

Not all biographical films on politicians are made equal. Some try totell a sprawling tale of someone's political life, such as Oliver Stonewith his Nixon and W, while others capture a momentous slice of anhistorical event, such as Roger Donaldson's Thirteen Days which wasgripping from start to end. Then there are those like Rudy, which triesto do both, but don't really get there, undoubtedly having the storymooted since Rudy Giuliani (James Woods) was the mayor of New Yorkduring the fateful event of September 11 2011, and having this filmweave a glimpse of his political career culminating in that horrendousdisaster.Granted this had a limited budget, and in many ways that showed in thefilm, having some scenes crafted in sparse studios, although lookinglike a million dollars when Robert Dornhel, whose experience andfilmography point to a lot of made for television films which this onealso belonged to, had deliberately opted for the documentary look andfeel for the event of September 11. Everything else looked indoors andnot on location, removing that sense of authenticity of filming it allin the Big Apple.There's also very little on his political and professional careerbefore Mayorship, and what I thought was a very interesting bit in hislife during his Attorney General days as he locked horns with themafia, was grossly glossed over, which was a pity because there's somuch narrative potential there to be explored, but I guess writerStanley Weiser, who based this film on the book by Wayne Barrett,didn't find it interesting enough for a big screen treatment. Muchinstead is preferred to focus on the man's incredibly bad temper behindclosed doors, demonstrating that Giuliani is a man who doesn't mincehis words, and shoots very fast from the hip without due care whetherit'll hurt anyone at all with his pointed, loud barbs.With 9/11 stock footage mixed with its own documentary presentation,the story unfolds in flashbacks, as we glimpse into Rudy's marriage tonewscaster Donna Hanover (Penelope Ann Miller) who had once interviewedhim and begun a whirlwind romance, before his suspected infidelitiesand indiscretion led to breakdowns in both his marriage and almostalways threatening his political career, isolating him from strong, keyadvisers who don't quite see eye to eye with his blind trust of hiscommunications director. I suppose Robert Dornhelm prefers to tell theage old story of how the strong almost always fall prey to the advancesof the fairer sex, and in some ways become the seeds to their downfall,in more ways than one.James Woods puts in a riveting performance as the go-getter in thetitular character, but ultimately got let down by the weak narrativethat didn't get to dig deeper into what made the man, skimming only onthe surface and focused on his anger management issues. Supporting castdidn't outside Woods in his role, and that may be attributed to themore caricature like treatment the supporting characters had to dealwith since a biopic that's about 90 minutes long doesn't leave a lot ofroom for the spotlight to be shared with others.For a man who was to provide a leadership beacon in what would be oneof the most tragic terrorist attacks in human history, Rudy had all thepotential to paint a more complex, detailed picture of just who the manwas, someone whom most had seen on their television screens in theaftermath of that attack, but you're likely to come out from this justa wee bit more knowledgeable about the man himself, if at all, nothanks to its summarizing of key milestones in the man's life, and theindecision to just want to focus on an episode, or be a little bit moreambitious to cover a whole lot of ground.