|
The Hoax Posters
Photos Art
Search for Posters Art Prints, photos and get
results from all the many categories from Amazon including
books, videos, dvds, toys, video games, and more.
|
|
|
Posters Art
Prints Photos collectables |
|
|
|
|
|
|
If for some reason you can't find what the
poster or art print your looking for try using the search boxes
below
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Rating:  -
This makes for an entertaining afternoon at the movies (or evening at home on DVD) but it's too bad that like most Hollywood fare it had to be so polished up that it lost a lot of the realness.
Richard Gere, while doing a great job acting here, plays Clifford in a way completely removed from reality. It's not Gere's fault; it's the script's/director's fault. The real life Clifford is a sleaze ball. He is not fun and whimsical as Gere has portrayed him to be.
This whole movie is just way too slick. Everything is presented in a slick, seamless Hollywood style of acting and storytelling. The cold realities of the story are not presented to us. Similar movies that got the gritty reality right are "Shattered Glass" and "The Insider." This movie almost plays like a musical without the music. Also it plays almost satirical at times like "Wag the Dog." All of that would be fine if that is what they are going for, but I was under the impression they were going for a "true story" feel like "The Insider." It just doesn't hit the right note that the real life story dictates in my opinion.
Again the real life guy is a low down sleaze ball and social parasite; nowhere near as likable and charismatic as Gere has played him here.
Rating:  -
Clifford Irving fools some of the biggest names in the publishing world, when he convinces them that the reclusive Howard Hughes has authorized him to write Hughes' biography. Determined to make a name for himself, Irving (played by Richard Gere) stays just one step ahead of discovery by a creating a tangled web of lies and deceit. Irving states that since Hughes is so eccentric, the more bizarre his lies, the more likely that others will believe him. His sidekick and "researcher" is ably played by Alfred Molina who himself becomes a victim of Irving's charade. As the movie progresses, Irving becomes obsessed with his deception and almost appears to believe it himself. This is a very interesting rendering of a pivotal point in history which implicates a president, as well as an author.
Rating: -
This is an interesting film and an even more interesting set of special features. Most DVDs dealing with actual events don't include any relevant historical footage. I always suspected the DVD producers didn't want to pay royalties to a third party. The Hoax, on the other hand, does not disappoint, and it includes a Mike Wallace interview and the real Clifford Irving.
The movie sometimes moves a bit slow, but the script is well crafted and the acting good, especially by Alfred Molina. This is one of those rare films where it is probably better to watch the Special Features first. You'll appreciate Gere's calm, low-key performance after getting a glimpse of the real Clifford Irving.
The movie promotes itself as being based on a true story. The major events are true enough, but the script is based off a book written by Irving. After Irving fools the corner-office crew at the nations most prestigious media companies, we're suppose to believe Irving's claim that Hughes knew all about the book and manipulated Irving to bring Nixon to heel. Yeah, right. Fool me once...
The Shut Mouth Society
The Shopkeeper
Rating: -
This movie takes us into the heady realm of reality twice (or is it three times?) removed. Richard Gere does a wonderful job of projecting himself into the head of author Clifford Irving, just as Irving in turn projected himself into the head of Howard Hughes in the 1970s. The result is an absorbing dramatization of the resulting scandal.
Irving claimed to have gained exclusive access to Hughes and to have produced a book revealing the mind of that reclusive mystery-man. When Hughes came out of seclusion to deny ever having met, much less having given intimate biographical detail to Irving - the whole house of cards fell. Because of Hughes' far-reaching influence, the scandal reverberated through the halls of power. "Hoax" does a find job tracing that downfall.
However, like me, you might be bothered by a few false notes here. There is generally good buddy chemistry between Richard Gere and Fred Molina who plays Irving's collaborator in the hoax. But the script makes Molina too much the goofy sidekick at times, too much the fidgety foul-up. It's endearing, like Pat Butram and Gene Autry - but it isn't very believable.
Also, Marcia Gay Hardin's accent and overall performance as Irving's European wife, overwrought at his infidelities, sometimes comes across as being a little forced. Maybe not though. Some of these wrinkles seem to hang out with the weight of a second, more informed viewing.
Actually, there's a lot on this DVD, both in the movie itself, and in the bonus materials - so you might want to give yourself time to go through it all. There are two commentaries. One is given by the Director and Writer - the other by the Producers. If you have time for only one, I suggest you make it the Producers' remarks. Once it gets going, it's livelier and packed with more inside information about which parts of the film were invented or exaggerated for dramatic effect, and which parts are strictly factual.
There's a common thread running through film and commentary alike though. The whole DVD is suffused with a tone of awe, almost of reverence. Gere captures how in awe Irving was of Hughes, channeling him, trying to become him. The commentaries in turn show how in awe the filmmakers generally are of Irving, how much they admire the sheer nerve he exhibited in pulling off such a deception for as long as he did. All this admiration seems a little misplaced.
If this movie should pique your interest in Howard Hughes, I recommend you try to get a copy of the TV miniseries "The Amazing Howard Hughes" that aired a few decades ago and starred Tommy Lee Jones. There have been prize-winning movies on the subject, including the recent "Aviator." But for me, that earlier production with Jones is the definitive visual version of Hughes' life. Talk about channeling - Tommy Lee Jones truly became Hughes. "The amazing Howard Hughes" also provides a more realistic view in that it shows how often Hughes persisted in making bad business decisions and consequently in letting money geyser out of his accounts - hardly a universal "genius," hardly someone any enterprising person would want to hold in reverence.
Rating: -
always seems to find the strangest movies to participate in. He does a great job in this one. The movie is about a man that is a down on his luck author that wants to get published so bad he goes to extreme of making up an authorized biography of Howard Hughes. Things go awry and prison time is served for him and his co-horts. I wouldn't say this is a family movie but isn't too bad. I watched it on airplane flight so I think it may have been edited.
It is an interesting movie that makes you want to find out more about the character the movie is about.
|
