Arlington Road

Starring: Jeff Bridges, Tim Robbins Director: Mark Pellington Original UK Premiere: 1999 Dvd Release: 8th November, 1999 Number Of Discs: 1 Format: Anamorphic, PAL, Region 2 Encoding Subtitled In: Dutch, English, German

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Its easy to understand why Arlington Road sat on the studio shelf for nearly a year. No, the film isnt awful; rather, its an extremely edgy & ultimately bleak thriller that offers no clear-cut heroes or villains. In other words, Hollywood had no idea how to sell it. Director Mark Pellingtons underrated directorial debut, Going All the Way, suffered the same fate, essentially because the film-makers presentation of suburban America often shifts dramatically within the same film. Characters are usually miserable & bordering on meltdown, no situation is straightforward & things usually end badly.

Arlington Road begins as an astute study of suburban paranoia. Michael Faraday is a college professor who teaches American history courses on terrorism. Hes been a conspiracy freak since his wife, an FBI agent, was killed during a botched raid that feels like a thinly fictionalised reference to the Waco tragedy. After saving the life of his next-door neighbours child, he initially befriends the family , but soon believes the husband is a terrorist. The first half of the film mocks Faraday: he has no real evidence & is not the most stable of protagonists. Despite the fact that it was government paranoia that got his wife killed, Faraday repeats the same type of behaviour. Pellington shifts gears in the second half, however, & for a while, it seems that the film has simultaneously sunk into a cheap, high-octane brand of Hollywood entertainment & undermined its own point. But Arlington Road possesses a stunning ending thats a real gut punch, one that may leave you needing a second viewing to catch all of its smartly executed setup.

Jeffrey Leon Bridges is an American actor born in Los Angeles, California. He is the son of actor Lloyd Bridges & the brother of actor Beau Bridges. Some of Bridges more notable roles include starring in the 1982 movie Tron, where he played Kevin Flynn, a video game programmer. He gained repute in the mid- 80s for his roles in the sexy thriller Against All Odds & the crime drama Jagged Edge. He also took the leading role of The Dude in the Coen brothers film The Big Lebowski. He married Susan Geston in 1975. They have 3 children, all daughters, together. Posters Of The Big Lebowski

Editors Choice: The Big Lebowski, The Moguls, K Pax, The Door In The Floor, Masked And Anonymous, Seabiscuit, Arlington Road, Scenes Of The Crime, View DVDology

Tim Robbins is an American actor, screenwriter, director & producer. He is the longtime companion of actress Susan Sarandon, with whom he shares strong leftist political views. Robbins was born in West Covina, California, but moved to Greenwich Village with his family at a young age while his father, Gil Robbins, pursued a career as a member of the folk music group The Highwaymen. Robbins joined Theater for a New City at age twelve & participated in the drama club at Stuyvesant High School. Robbins spent two years at Plattsburgh State University, then returned to California to attend drama school at UCLA. On graduation in 1981, Robbins founded the Actors Gang in Los Angeles, an experimental theater group, with actor friends from his college softball team. He also took small parts in films, with a breakthrough part as pitcher Nuke LaLoosh in the 1988 baseball movie Bull Durham. On the set of that movie he began a relationship with fellow actor Sarandon that continues to the present day. Posters Of Tim Robbins

Editors Choice: Code 46, Mystic River, Arlington Road, Mission To Mars, Dead Man Walking, The Shawshank Redemption, Nothing To Lose, Bob Roberts, View DVDology

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