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An Inside Look at Iron Man 2
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Written by Zach Ellman, Entertainment Editor
There is much to say about the latest story about the Marvel Universe. Iron Man 2 opened up big last weekend bringing in $133 million in domestic box office earnings. The film was already released early in other foreign countries to make way for the FIFA World Cup in June. So far, the movie has made a total of $327 million in box office earnings on a $200 million budget.
It is six months after Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) has announced to the public that he is Iron Man. Since then, Tony has been the symbol of peace by diminishing terrorism and crime. On top of that, the military is trying to get Tony to give them the Iron Man suit for the use of advancing military weapons. Besides that, Russian physicist Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) is seeking revenge
Gwenyth Paltrow returns as Tony’s assistant turned CEO Pepper Potts and Director Jon Favreau reprises his role as driver and bodyguard Happy Hogan. New to the cast this time around is Natalie Rushman, aka SHIELD Agent Natasha Romanoff, played Scarlett Johannson and Samuel L. Jackson as SHIELD Director Nick Fury. For the sequel, Terrence Howard decided not to reprise his role as Stark’s military weapons partner Lt. Colonel Jimmy Rhodes. Instead, Jon Favreau chose Don Cheadle as his replacement.
What most comic book fans will love about this film are The Avengers references. For example, in one scene Tony uses a shield with a star on it to help balance out something that he is working on. However, this just so happens to be Captain America’s shield. Also, after the credits, there is a scene that shows SHIELD Agent Coulson at a crash site which appears to show Mjolnir, the hammer of Thor.
Although the sequel is not as better as the first movie, the sequel was still amazing. Personally, I’ve never seen so much action before in a superhero movie. On this high priced budget, Jon Favreau goes above and beyond. For a movie that just started filming early last summer, Iron Man 2 is a sky high action-packed work of art.
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Top 10 High School/College Movies of All Time
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Written by Zach Ellman, Entertainmnet Editor
As Graduation is right around the corner, here is a look at what we believe to be The Top 10 High School/College Movies of all time.
10. Revenge of the Nerds- For all of the “nerd” inside of us, Revenge of The Nerds is a laugh out loud comedy about a group of nerds who try to form a fraternity at the new college. However, the competing jock fraternity keeps harassing them to get off campus. That all changes once the nerds start to fight back with gags like messing with their football practices, panty raids on their affiliated sorority, and more.
9. 10 Things I Hate About You- This romantic comedy, based on William Shakespeare’s The Taming of The Shrew, is about a girl whose father will only let her date is if her sister does. To get the girl of his dreams, the new kid in town tries to pair up his crush’s sister with the school rebel. The movie stars Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Larry Miller.
8. Hoosiers- Set in 1951 in Indiana, Norman Dale is the new basketball coach at the local high school. As the new head coach, Dale starts to aggravate the people of the town by kicking off one of the vital players of the team after disobeying 1 of his guidelines. Dale, also having a history of assaulting one of his previous players, coaches his team to the fullest to bring them to the state championships. Starring in this classic sports movie is Academy Award Winner Gene Hackman and Academy Award Nominee Dennis Hopper.
7. Fast Times at Ridgemont High- This great high school movie gives stories concerning almost every kind of student at a high school. Fast Times was also the movie debut for many award winning actors. For example, the most hilarious character in the movie, Jeff Spicoli, is a pothead surfer dude who is played by Academy Award Winner Sean Penn. Also making cameos in their movie debut are Nicholas Cage and Forest Whitaker.
6. Accepted- Bartleby Gaines (Justin Long) has just been rejected to every college that he has applied to. So now what does he do? He establishes his own college, The South Harmon Institute of Technology. When more college rejects have now where to go, Bartleby “accepts” them into the college. The college offers classes like The Rise and Fall of Chevy Chase, Blowing Up Stuff With Your Mind, Taking a Walk and Thinking About Stuff, and watching girls sunbathe. Also starring is comedian Lewis Black, Jonah Hill and Gossip Girl’s Blake Lively.
5. Old School- Three childhood friends are in the worst years of their lives. Mitch has just divorced his wife, Frank is now a devoted newlywed, and Beanie is a single father working at an electronics store. To re-live the college days, these three maniacs decide to start a fraternity that is open to anyone. Starring in this “laugh out loud” comedy is Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn and Entourage’s Jeremy Piven.
4. Rudy- Daniel Ruettiger, aka Rudy, has always wanted to play football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, although lacking the physical and academic requirements to do so. He becomes the first one in his family to go to college by attending a local transfer school that will help him get into Notre Dame. Rudy must now commit himself to his academics, despite learning that he has dyslexia, and to playing football to accomplish his dream of being a Fighting Irish. In his words, “The day you stop dreaming is the day you give up hope.”
3. American Pie- In East Great Falls, four friends make a pact to lose their virginity before the graduate high school. Kevin tries doing so by trying to fix his relationship with his girlfriend. Oz, the high school jock, joins the school chorus to meet new girls. The Amazing party-addicted Stifler tries by “keeping the party going 24/7.” Finch tries spreading “macho” rumors about him. And of course, there’s Jim, who has never been with a girl and makes numerous attempts to get with the Czechoslovakian exchange student and the nerdy school orchestra player. With recurring gags like dancing on web cams half naked, giving the classic “father-son talk,” and picking on the school band members, this one slice of pie that you can’t resist having.
2. National Lampoon’s Animal House- Although filmed in 1978, the year is 1962 at Faber College, and the first semester has just begun. The Delta fraternity is the worst, most troubled, biggest partying fraternity on campus. When the Dean has finally had enough, he officially puts the Deltas on “Double Secret Probation.” However, this doesn’t stop these college misfits. The Delta’s retaliate by having a toga party, doing drugs with their professor, hiding the school horse in the dean’s office, and battling with the competing top-notch Omega fraternity. This classic comedy was the first of college humor themed movies to inspire others like Old School, Road Trip, American Pie, etc.
1. The Breakfast Club- To top of our list, the 80’s cult classic tells the story of six high students, each from different cliques, spend their Saturday detention together. During their six hour long detention, they talk about numerous topics concerning drugs, sex, high school life, etc. As they start to converse, they start to see that they aren’t that different after all.
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WBHS Drama Dominates in Tampa
Last week, many students returned to West Boca after a long and peaceful spring break. Fortunately for me, it wasn’t over just yet. I got the opportunity to go up with the West Boca Drama Department to Tampa for the 2010 Florida State Thespian Festival. Each year, high school drama departments from all around the state come together in Tampa to experience five days of nonstop theater. This festival is the largest gathering of Thespians in the world, with more than 7,000 students and teachers representing their schools. At the festival, students are offered to take various workshops that range from acting, directing, choreography, stage combat and even African dancing. They also have the opportunity to view some of the best high school one act performances and musicals from around the state. The Festival also critiques students on individual events from performances and technical events.
With months of long and hard work, West Boca Drama, Thespian Troupe 6760, did amazing with their performances at States. The Drama Department got 5 superior ratings in two Large Group Musical Performances in “Facade” from Jekyll and Hyde and “Blue Skies” from White Christmas, one in Solo Musical of “Show Off” from the A Chorus Line by Stefanie Anarumo, one in Publicity Design by Jonathan Sosnoski and one in Duet Musical of “Dangerous Game” from Jekyll and Hyde by Candace Zamoski and Bruno Faria. They also got 2 excellent ratings, with one for a performance in Solo Musical by Christie Getejanc and Set Design by Brooke Belcher.
In their performance of “Blue Skies,” Troupe 6760 excelled all the way to the top by adding tap-dancing to their choreography. In Publicity Design, Jonathan Sosnoski went “above and beyond,” according to the judges. Besides making playbills, promotional ads and posters, Sosnoski even made T-Shirts, hats and even chocolates with the poster of the show on the wrapper.
Besides watching all of West Boca’s performances, I also got the chance to look at other school’s performances, some of which were considered to be the best at the district and state level. For example, I got to watch a one-act performance from Boca High at the former Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. Also, I got the chance to take on a few workshops during my visit in Tampa. One of the workshops that I got the chance to take part in was a Stage Combat class, which teaches how some actors use “violence and combat” in some of their performances, such as doing a fake slap of punch in the face. In the midst of all of the workshops and performances, the festival also offers students to take a look into scholarship opportunities in theatre at numerous in and out of state schools, such as Wake Forest, The New York Film Academy and University of Central Florida.
At nights, the students get the chance to see some of the best high school productions from around the state, where they can perform in the historic Tampa Theatre of at The Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. West Boca went to see the musicals Hair and Sweet Charity, both of which received great reviews and standing ovations.
Besides all the theatre interaction that I got to take part in during States, this festival was also a special one, for it was the last for State Thespian Director Michael J. Higgins. Throughout his 18 year reign as Director, he has expanded the festival into being the largest gathering of Thespians in the world. At the closing ceremonies, Higgins gave an emotional farewell speech and received numerous honors and awards from members of the board and sponsors of the festival, all of which were followed by the students in the audience chanting his name and thanking him for his years of dedication and passion for theatre. Higgins also received a special letter of recognition from Gov. Charlie Crist.
All in all, I got the amazing experience to view of another side of theatre that I’ve never seen before. I got to see a group of people with amazing talents do what they love best in this world and the amount of hard work that these students put into performing the best of their abilities. With West Boca, I actually got to see them prepare for this hands on. “These scores are not easy to achieve, but the hard work these students put in allowed them to be successful,” said West Boca Drama Director Lance Blank. In general, coming back from the festival, I can say that I am very proud to be a member of Thespian Troupe 6760.
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West Boca’s Thoroughly Modern Millie
Written by Zach Ellman, Online Entertainment Editor
After months of planning and rehearsing, the award-winning West Boca Drama Department is ready to present its spring musical – Thoroughly Modern Millie. When the show first appeared on Broadway, it won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical of 2002. Millie takes place during the 1920’s in New York City where a girl by the name of Millie Dillmount moves to the city in search of marrying a wealthy bachelor.
With a large cast of thirty-five students, Director Lance Blank is excited to open the show to the public. He explains that “Millie is a high spirited show which demands a large amount of work from both the cast and the crew to produce our largest and most elaborate show yet at West Boca High School.”
Ever since the show was cast in December, the cast members have spent most of their time preparing and rehearsing for Millie. For some cast members, Millie is their first appearance on stage and they are already showing potential throughout with their rehearsing songs, dances, and scripts.
This production of Thoroughly Modern Millie stars Stefanie Anarumo as Millie Dumont and Bruno Faria as Jimmy, a paper clip salesman who Millie starts to fall for. It also features Adam Segal as Trevor Graydon, a wealthy man in charge of an insurance company with Candace Zamoski, Max Zitomer and Stav Berlinerblaw. In addition, while being part of the principal cast for the first time, Millie also stars Alina Castillo, Samantha Behrman and Jennifer Chang.
Through months of hard work, rehearsals, and meeting almost everyday of every week, Millie will amaze everyone with its tap dancing numbers, its good laughs, and more. Brace yourself for the biggest production yet from the West Boca Drama Department.
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A Look Inside The Green Zone
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Written by Zach Ellman, Online Entertainment Editor
Matt Damon and Director Paul Greengrass are at it again with their latest thriller, The Green Zone. Taking place right after the US invasion of Iraq, Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller (Damon) is sent to Iraq with his team of soldiers to look for Saddam Hussein’s so-called “weapons of mass destruction.” However, as time goes by, Miller and CIA bureau Chief Martin Brown (Brendan Gleeson) start to question whether or not the intelligence that they are receiving is accurate. Through much investigation, all of the information leads straight back to Pentagon specialist Clark Poundstone (Greg Kinnear) and an unidentifiable source known as “Magellan.” With fingers being pointed at and time running out, Miller has to try and find “Magellan” and uncover the truth before its too late.
What personally interested me about The Green Zone was Paul Greengrass’s amazing hand-held camera work while filming, which was somewhat similar to his style of filming The Bourne Movies and United 93. Also, let’s face it, we know that the US government never found any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but what keeps the movie going is wondering what will happen next.
For those who have seen all three Bourne Movies, you can see that some of the thriller combat sequences have a lot of similarities. You can also see the same style of filming and editing that Paul Greengrass used for The Bourne Movies. The only thing that made this film different from the rest of The Bourne Movies was that there wasn’t any case of amnesia with the lead character in the story.
One of the major themes that is shown throughout the movie is the governmen manipulating journalists in Iraq about giving them so called “intelligence” of weapons of mass destruction. Although, the movie is fictional, The Green Zone will keep you wondering why our government chose to invade Iraq. Some people have been referring to this as “Anti-American.” Director Michael Moore called the movie on his Twitter page “the most honest film about the Iraq war made in Hollywood.” The Green Zone perfectly portrays US government eagerly pushing for the invasion and the start of “democracy” in Iraq.
In its opening weekend, Green Zone came in second with earning a measly total of $24 million, which has yet to make its $100 million budget. All in all, The Green Zone is an action-packed war thriller that will keep you on the edge of you seats until the very end.
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Kevin Smith and Cop Out
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Kevin Smith always leaves his audiences laughing with films like Dogma and Clerks. With his latest flick, Cop Out, Smith leaves some audiences laughing and some disappointed. Starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan, two raunchy New York cops on the search for a valuable baseball card that Willis’s character hopes to sell to pay his daughter’s wedding. Also starring in Cop Out is Sean William Scott, who help makes the movie as funny and hilarious as it is, Adam Brody, Kevin Pollack and Jason Lee.
What I personally liked about this film was that unlike most white-black cop buddy films, Cop Out didn’t show any white-black comedy bits. However, there was one comment in the trailer where Tracy Morgan’s character made a racial comment about President Obama, but it was eventually cut from the film. But besides that, Willis and Morgan kept the laughs going with their hilarious routine bits of interrogating criminals while quoting movies, staking out a 10 year old car thief, trying to speak Spanish to a Latino witness, etc.
Willis chose to star because he says that he hates playing cops. In an interview, he stated, “There’s only so many times you can do a scene running down the road with two guns in your hand, screaming and take it seriously. You just start laughing in the middle of the take. I’m sick of playing cops, that’s why I wanted to do Cop Out that was just about funny cops.”
The movie also had a lot of talks in Hollywood because of the numerous title changes that the project had to undergo. The original title was a choice between A Couple of D**ks and Cop Suckers. However, due to the controversial title of the movie, Smith later changed it to A Couple of Cops. As a result of the negative reaction from the title change, the movie was finally titled to Cop Out.
In its opening weekend, Cop Out placed second over Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island with receiving total earnings $18.6 million in box office revenues.
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Martin Scorsese and Shutter Island
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Written by Zach Ellman, Online Entertainment Editor
Whenever we think of Martin Scorsese, what comes to mind is a director with a vision like no other. From directing hits like Goodfellas, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, and the 2007 Oscar winner for Best Picture The Departed, Martin Scorsese has once again brought his vision to the big screen with his latest thriller, Shutter Island. Teaming up again with Leonardo DiCaprio for the fourth time, Shutter Island dominated the box office this weekend with grossing over $40 million.
Based on the book by Daniel Lehane, Shutter Island takes place in 1954 at a mental institution for the criminally insane on an island a couple of miles off of Boston Harbor. DiCaprio plays Teddy Daniels, a U.S. Marshall who has been sent to Shutter Island to investigate the mysterious escape of one the institution’s inmates. However, while investigating, Daniels is also seeking out to find the person that was responsible for murdering his wife, played by Michelle Williams.
As the movie goes on, Daniels starts to realize that the island isn’t exactly what it seems. From having numerous nightmares of his wife, to noticing the odd behaviors of the hospitals chief physician (Academy Award Winner Sir Ben Kingsley) and that of his newly assigned partner (Mark Ruffalo), Daniels starts to question his purpose for being sent to the island. Throughout the course of the movie, Daniels also has flashbacks of his days fighting in World War II, when he was liberating the Nazi concentration camps.
Most people who saw the movie questioned why Scorsese decided to release the film after the Oscar nominations were announced. The truth is that Shutter Island was originally supposed to be released in November 2009, but it was postponed to February insteand. In my opinion, Shutter Island could definitely be nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director.
In an interview, Scorsese said, “I do the best I can with every movie I make.” This latest Scorsese film gives us a look at a different side of filming that he has never done before. The “man vs. man” conflict in Shutter Island keeps you guessing until the very end. With twists and turns, creepy images, and thrilling outcomes, Shutter Island is a must see film.
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A Look at We Are The World-25 For Haiti
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Written by Zach Ellman, Online Entertainment Editor
Last Friday wasn’t only a day for bringing together the nations of the world at the XXI Winter Olympics in Vancouver, but it was also a day where 87 artists and musicians came together. These 87 artists and musicians recorded their own modern day version of “We Are The World,” for the 25th anniversary of the original recording and to help raise awareness for the ongoing efforts in Haiti. The original recording featured artists such as Michael Jackson, Dianna Ross, Tina Turner, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Cyndi Lauper, and many others.
Since its original recording, which took place in 1985, the song has won three Grammy Awards and one People’s Choice Award. The song, which is a major contribution to The We Are The World Foundation, has raised more than $63 million, of which has mainly been donated to help regions of poverty in Africa, people that are in refuge, etc.
Artists such as Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Jennifer Hudson, Jordan Sparks, American Idol Judge Randy Jackson, Celine Dion, Wycleaf Jean, Jamie Foxx, Kanye West, Fergie, Vince Vaughn, Snoop Dogg, Barbra Streisand, Jeff Bridges, Jason Mraz, will.i.am, and many many more contributed their voices when they first recorded the song on February 1st, which was exactly the 25 year anniversary of the original recording. During the music video, a clip of Michael Jackson, who was one of the artists in the original recording, was shown singing his sister, Grammy Winning Singer Janet Jackson.
Lionel Richie and Quincy Jones, the creators of the original version of the song, decided to use today’s artists, while also incorporating some of other generations. Also, Academy Award Winning Director Paul Haggis was put on to direct the music video and to film a “behind-the-scenes type” video of the recording. The video aired on the opening ceremonies of the XXI Winter Olympics in Vancouver on Friday, where more than 30 million viewers saw the star-studded performance.
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2010 Oscar Predictions
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Written by Zach Ellman, Online Entertainment Editor
Last week, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominees for this year’s Oscars. From our standpoint, here are our predictions of who will take home the golden statue.
Best Picture: Avatar- Already making more than $2 billion in box office earnings, James Cameron has once again made another masterpiece to add to his collection of films. Cameron originally had the script in 1995, but decided to do it after completing Titanic. However, he didn’t start pre-production until 2005. While acquiring the money and technology to make the film possible, Cameron also hired a cast with a huge amount of talent and perfection, most of which who were unknown in Hollywood at the time.
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart)- In what was said to be his comeback performance, Jeff Bridges plays Bad Blake, a washed-up country singer who is in the turmoil of his career and of his life. His performance in Crazy Heart is almost like that of Mickey Rourke’s comeback performance in The Wrestler.
Best Actress: Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side) - In this uplifting story about Baltimore Ravens offensive tackle Michael Oher, Sandra Bullock gives her best performance yet. Bullock plays Leigh Ann Tuohy, a woman who takes in the homeless Michael Oher and enrolls him into school to play high school football. Besides the drama of the movie, Bullock also gives some of her charming humor to please the viewers, especially when she is with her youngest son in the movie.
Best Supporting Actor: Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones) – Based on the novel by Alice Sebold, Stanley Tucci plays the psychopathic creepy pedophile/serial killer in Peter Jackson’s latest film, The Lovely Bones. To prepare for the role, Tucci watched numerous documentaries and read many books about catching serial killers, especially those under criminal profiler John Douglas. In addition, his appearance and mannerisms that he portrays in the film are almost like that of an actual serial killer.
Best Supporting Actress: Anna Kendrick (Up In The Air)- In Jason Reitman’s latest film, Anna Kendrick keeps the laughs going sky high in Up In The Air. Kendrick plays a dumbfounded, but hilarious, college graduate that joins George Clooney’s character traveling the country. With comments like, “No, I don’t even like him like that. He’s old,” Kendrick steals the movie with her amazing performance.
Best Director: James Cameron (Avatar)- 4 years and $237 million dollars later, James Cameron has once again painted another masterpiece. With acquiring the technology possible to film in 3-D, to getting the technology to film a majority of the movie in CGI, Cameron definitely takes home this Oscar. From any of the slightest things, Cameron makes sure that everything in the film is perfect. As a perfectionist, in a way he is kind of like the Alfred Hitchcock of our time.
Best Original Screenplay: “The Hurt Locker,” Written by Mark Boal- This amazing story will blow you away, literally and figuratively. The Hurt Locker tells the story of a bomb defusing team that is stationed in Iraq. Each time you see someone defusing a bomb, the only thing that’ll be in your head is whether or not they are going to survive and not let the bomb go off. The Hurt Locker is truly a story like no other.
Best Adapted Screenplay: “Up In The Air,” Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldo Turner- Based on the novel by Walter Kim, Up In The Air is about a man named Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) who travels constantly for pleasure and for his business of firing people at companies so that their CEOs don’t have to put up with it. Bingham also gives motivational speeches to encourage the nature of living a life free of relationships, interactions with people, etc. However, along the way, Bingham starts question this so called “philosophy” and starts to see the better picture. Also starring is Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, and Jason Bateman.
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Edge of Darkness Review
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Written by Zach Ellman, Online Entertainment Editor
The last time we saw the Mel Gibson on the big screen, he was overcoming a swarm of crop circles and fighting aliens in the 2002 film Signs. Since then, Gibson has stuck to producing and directing films, such as the 2006 film Apocalypto and the 2004 controversial film The Passion of The Christ. Returning to the big screen eight years later, Gibson is back in action in the newly released action thriller Edge of Darkness.
Gibson plays Tom Claven, a Boston police detective, whose daughter is murdered right outside of his home. As Klaven starts to investigate the murder, he starts to realize that he was not the target in the shooting. With the help of CIA specialist Darius Jedburgh (Ray Winstone), Klaven traces the murder back to the weapons manufacturing company that his daughter was interning for, which leads back to corruption and conspiracy. Also starring is Danny Huston (The Kingdom, X-Men Origins: Wolverine) as his daughter’s boss.
Within its opening weekend, Edge of Darkness came in second with earning $17.1 million, right behind Avatar, which earned another $30 million internationally and broke $2 billion in its total box office earnings.
Besides its ensemble cast, Edge of Darkness also has an ensemble crew. Written by Academy Award Winner William Monahan (The Departed), and directed by Martin Campbell (Casino Royale), Edge of Darkness is a thrilling action packed movie. At the age of 54, you’ll be shocked to see that Mel Gibson still has it in him to show the side of him that was seen in Mad Max and Lethal Weapon.
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