U Turn

Starring: Nick Nolte, Sean Penn Director: Oliver Stone Original UK Premiere: 1998 Dvd Release: 14th December, 1998 Number Of Discs: 1 Format: Anamorphic, PAL, Widescreen, Region 2 Encoding Subtitled In: Czech, Danish, English, Finnish, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Swedish Dubbed In: German

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U Turn is a controversial 1997 Oliver Stone movie, based on the book by John Ripley. It stars Sean Penn, Billy Bob Thornton, Jennifer Lopez, Jon Voight, Powers Boothe, Joaquin Phoenix, Claire Danes & Nick Nolte. // The plot concerns a drifter who ends up entangled in a plot involving a woman & her husband, also finding himself in conflict with the town mechanic. Roger Ebert gave the movie 1 1/2 stars, deeming it a repetitive, pointless exercise in genre filmmaking--the kind of movie where you distract yourself by making a list of the sources. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that it demonstrates a filmmaker in complete command of his craft & with little control over his impulses. Sean Penns role was at one point going to be played by Bill Paxton.

Oliver Stone used such words as liberating & fun to talk about U-Turns relatively quick production schedule of 42 days. Stones ideas of film fun, however, are something older generations would call sick. This film is a Southwestern noir tale about Bobby Cooper , a hotshot who is stuck in the tight confines of Superior, Arizona, when his car breaks down. His subsequent adventure is a meatball comedy, loud, obnoxious & violent, & stuffed with diffused light, a hot cast & a no-fat Ennio Morricone score. This film has plenty of odd characters but you never really find out much about them. Bobbys first encounters include a repulsive mechanic & a blind Indian . Then theres Grace McKenna , who is as dangerous as the curves of her red sundress. Bobbys got time to kill & Grace seems more than willing. Unfortunately, it seems that Bobby has never seen a movie such as A Touch of Evil; if he had, he would know it can only get worse. About the time Graces husband, Jake , shows up, Bobby is knee-deep in murder plots & double-crosses.

The first 40 minutes or so are fun to a point. Penn is the perfect near-creep to root for & as he wanders back into town after meeting Grace, the eclectic characters pile up. But soon it gets monotonous, tiring & just plain ugly. And when incest & bloody fights begin, the fun is gone. If Penn wasnt so solid an actor & able to be empathetic in the most morose situations, the movie would be unwatchable in stretches. Lopez makes another good impression but this is not a performance that stands out. Nolte, raspy & ill-looking, is the Lee Marvin of the 90s. Before U-Turn is over, you are already wondering if Oliver Stone will do something else, something more important, soon.

Nicholas King Nolte is an American model, actor & producer. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska. His father, Frank Nolte, was an itinerant irrigation pump salesman. His father was also an All-American candidate at Iowa State in 1934. His mother, Helen Nolte, was a department store buyer. His paternal grandfather was a German farmer with farm in Iowa. His maternal grandfather did agricultural research at Iowa State University, invented the hollow-tile silo & was prominent in early aviation. His maternal grandmother ran the student union at Iowa State University He attended high school at Benson High School & Westside High School, both in Omaha. He attended Arizona State University on a football scholarship. He also attended Eastern Arizona College, in Thatcher, Arizona & Phoenix College, Phoenix, Arizona. He eventually dropped out due to unsatisfactory grades. He then started his career in theatre. He attended the Pasadena Playhouse & Stella Adlers Academy in Los Angeles. After training, Nolte spent years travelling the country & working in regional theaters. Posters Of Nick Nolte

Editors Choice: The Beautiful Country, The Good Thief, Affliction, Simpatico, Nightwatch, U Turn, Mother Night, Mulholland Falls, View DVDology

Sean Penn is a American film actor noted for his inflammatory & sometimes violent personality. Penn is the son of director Leo Penn, who was blacklisted during McCarthyism for refusing to testify. actor Chris Penn & musician Michael Penn. Penn has starred in over 40 movies & has won an Academy Award for Mystic River. He has also been nominated for three other Academy Awards. Penn lives in Marin County, California, north of San Francisco. Once married to pop icon Madonna, Penn is currently married to actress Robin Wright, whom he wed on April 27, 1996. They have two children together, born before the two were married. On October 18, 2002, Penn placed an $56,000 advertisement in the Washington Post asking President Bush to end a cycle of violence. It was written as an open letter & referred to the planned attack on Iraq & the War on Terror. In the letter, Penn also criticised the Bush administration for its deconstruction of civil liberties & its simplistic & inflammatory view of good & evil. Penn visited Iraq briefly in December 2002, largely eschewing meetings with the press. Posters Of Mystic River

Editors Choice: Mystic River, 21 Grams, The Interpreter, September 11, The Assassination Of Richard Nixon, I Am Sam, Dogtown And Z Boys, The Pledge, View DVDology

Oliver Stone is an Academy Award -winning American film director. Stone attended Yale & the New York University. He has won two Academy Awards for Directing for Platoon & Born on the Fourth of July. A distinct feature in Oliver Stones movies is the use of a multitude of different cameras & film formats, from VHS to 8mm film to 70mm film. Stone has written or taken part in the writing of every film he has directed, except for U Turn. He also had a hand in the screenplays for Midnight Express, Conan the Barbarian, Scarface, Year of the Dragon, 8 Million Ways to Die & Evita. Critics contend that Stone is a conspiracy theorist & that his films manipulate the viewers & distort history; in spite of that, many consider Stone one of the best directors in Hollywood & the most controversial as well. Posters Of Any Given Sunday

Editors Choice: U Turn, Any Given Sunday, Natural Born Killers, The Bone Collector, Nixon, Born On The Fourth Of July, Heaven And Earth, Box Set, View DVDology

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