Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Python Hyena Blow (2001): Dir: Ted Demme / Cast: Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Ray Liotta, Paul Reubens, Cliff Curtis: Based on a true story with Johnny Depp playing a drug addict whom will meet his daughter for the first time after years of separation. They engage in heartfelt conversation until he is made aware that she was never there. He glances hesitantly but the promise he had broken to his daughter before his prison sentence has long slipped his sanity. Title refers to his previous life until his addiction made it vanish as if snorting the drug made everything of value scatter like dust. It begins with his father's bankruptcy while his mother left home and eventually betrays him to the police. Film chronicles his days of selling marijuana to parole into Mexican territory. Structure is repetitious with painful consequences. Insightful directing by Ted Demme whose credits include Beautiful Girls and Life. Depp is tremendous as someone caught up in self deception while losing what matters. Penelope Cruz as his screaming wife is unfortunately unsympathetic. Ray Liotta steals scenes as his father who stands by his son despite his mistakes and his own. Paul Reubens stands out as a drug kingpin. Cliff Curtis is also featured as someone Depp goes into business with during his spiral into disaster. Great visual flair about a man who blew away everything that mattered most. Score: 6 ½ / 10

AlexanderExtazy This is an inspiring film that tells the story of an entrepreneur who started in the "illegal" profession at a young age, and because of that he just couldn't release it from his life.George Jung always knew how to connect the dots from A to B.There was a demand, and he knew how to supply; therefore he did it.This is one of those movies which teaches you that incarceration is absolutely brutal and inhuman... it not only abstains us from living our lives, but it sharpens our criminal skills too.The whole smuggling tutorial thing in the movie is one way to sharpen, but by meeting fellow criminals in the same building can gather oneself a great amount of connections for the next life to come upon release.The movie was lovely.. however the end where the father listens to the son's voice on recording, was very heart breaking and a crucial point in the movie where the viewer realizes this is the end of the road for Mr. Jung, and so it was.

jimbo-53-186511 George Jung (Johnny Depp) is a young boy living with his parents in Boston, Massachusetts. His childhood is difficult because his parents are suffering from money problems. These money worries cause many a rift between George's parents. As a result of all the problems that being poor has caused his family, George announces that he'll make sure that he's never poor when he gets older. When he becomes a teenager, both he and his best friend Tuna move to California and soon discovers that drugs are an easy way to make a quick buck. However, as George discovers, the lifestyle that he accustoms himself to isn't all glamour and his actions end up having far reaching consequences.I think part of the problem that I had with this film is that I didn't find it particularly insightful. Despite the fact that the film clocks in at around the 2 hour mark, I left the film feeling as though I'd never really learnt much about George. I'm assuming that this was intended partly as a character study of sorts, but for me the writers didn't give George enough depth for this aspect to really work.There were other narrative issues in this film such as writing out the character of Tuna. After George is released from prison, we're told that George is living in Mexico and that's it. This may be what actually happened, but it seemed a very lazy way to write out someone who I considered to be a fairly important character. Another problem that I had with this film is that it felt repetitive (particularly after the first hour) and it did get to a point where it started to feel a bit boring. This wasn't helped by the fact that I just didn't care about any of the characters - not because they were bad but just because they weren't developed. I also thought it was a bit of a cop-out that George lost all his money due to the fact that the bank ended up nationalised which resulted in the Government seizing all his funds. I'll admit that came as a surprise, but not in a good way. It actually almost made me feel sorry for him.There are some good aspects to this film; I thought Johnny Depp was excellent in the lead role and I also thought that Molia was excellent in his respective role. I also liked the fact that the writers told the story pretty straight and didn't seem to really glorify George at any point. However, by telling the story straight it did mean that the film wasn't always as exciting or engaging as it perhaps could, and should have been. It just needed a bit more life to it.Despite all its flaws, Blow does end strongly and the ending is actually very moving. Whilst I thought it was an OK film, I didn't feel that it was anything more than that due to its rather poor development of characters, the repetitive and meandering nature of the narrative, and its severe lack of energy.

jlbrady-933-748122 Blow Review The Movie Blow (Ted Demme 2001), is a movie that follows the rise and also the fall of the primary U.S. distributor of 1970s cocaine, George Jung. Debuting on April 6, 2001 in theaters, it was sure to be a fan favorite, with aspiring dreams of reaching the heights of movies alike like the Godfather. With a star studded cast headlined by Johnny Deep (George Jung) and Penelope Cruz (Mirtha Jung) and backed by solid actors such as; Franka Potente, Jordi Molla and Cliff Curtis, anticipation was high for the release. Out of the $30 million starting budget, $12.5 million was made back just in opening weekend. Speaking to the strenghth of the movie as a whole, the film went on to gross $53 million as of July 2001. ("Blow") Surprisingly, to me at least, the movie did not go on to win any prestigious awards, which could be in part do to the smaller budget of the film. The director, Ted Demme did go on to get nominated for a Crystal Globe by the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, along with another personal nomination of Penelope Cruz for Breakthrough Female Performance by the MTV Movie Awards. The only win the movie was able to capture was a Prism award presented by the Prism Awards for Theatrical Feature Film. Graeme Revell was nominated for Best Original Score of the Year Not Released on an Album for his role in Blow. ("Blow") Just a little background on George Jung, he was born in 1942 in a small suburb outside Boston, Massachusetts. One he got to high school/college age, he began to experiment with marijuana, both smoking and selling also to make small profits. This is where the movie starts, George and his childhood friend Tuna decide to leave their small town in the East and see what California has to offer them. California has all they can ask for; drugs, women, beautiful beaches, and most importantly a market for them to sell their weed that they obtain from flamboyant hairdresser Derek, who they met through George's lady Barbara, who also is a stewardess. George naturally, always looking for something better soon realizes after a visit with a friend from back East that the market for weed back in his childhood state is exponentially higher than in California and with that could come exponential profits. Gears get moving and before you know it, Barbara's suitcases are packed tight with pounds upon pounds of marijuana headed back East almost daily. More, More, More is all that George hears in his mind and Derek is simply not able to deliver. George is no longer playing a game of small risk, small reward, he has elevated himself to a new level with new risks. 1972, games it is no longer, the police bust him with 620 pounds of marijuana crossing through Chicago. Followed by 2 years in prison, George Jung exclaims "I went in with a bachelor's of marijuana and came out with a doctorate in cocaine." (Roger, Ebert) Mid 1970s, can be looked at and world wide power Pablo Escobar can be seen. Who was this man? Pablo Escobar was one of the most powerful men of this decade because of a thin white powder called cocaine. Here, in Medellin, Colombia, George Jung is introduced to the Colombian cartel led by Pablo Escobar. A budding mutually profitable relationship forms between Escobar, who needs a runner and seller in America and Jung, who needs a source and a supply of this new drug running rampant through the country. Jung is now blinded by the light of success and power and money, with the cartel at his back he says that he now feels invincible. At this point in his life he meets beautiful but wild Mirtha (Penelope Cruz), who he soon marries. This part in the movie would be considered the climax, because from here on out it goes downhill, whether it is because he is not thinking as clearly or if it is simply just a matter of business. George tells his partner Diego who his middle man is that is helping him deliver and distribute the cocaine. With this newfound information, Diego goes right to Derek, the middle man, and undercuts George right out of the business that he started from the ground up. At this point, George leaves the cocaine business, but not without harsh consequences. In a spiraling turmoil he loses all his money, his freedom through one last DEA bust, and even his family whilst he is in jail, all in quick succession. Ending with a beaten and demoralized and completely broken picture of the real George Jung. This is a story of the damaging effects that such rapid success can have on a human being. George Jung started his life on top of the world but quickly fell to his knees losing everything he had by getting blinded by the light of success he was having.