The City of Your Final Destination (2009)

Waste of time

Crappy film

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

***SPOILERS***Beautifuly photographed-in living color- but confusing movie about a young graduate student Omar Ragazhi, Omar Matwally,from the University of Colorado being forced by his nagging girlfriend Deirdre Rothemund, Alexandra Maria Lara, to travel down to to Uruguay and get permission from the family of the late writer Jules Gund to write his biography. It turns out that Omar is at a dead end in his life and needs to write the biography of Jules Gund to get his PHD as well as life back together again.Off to Uruguay Omar learns that the Gund family especially his widowed wife Caroline, Laura Linney, want nothing at all to do with him much less give him permission to write or authorize him write Gund's biography. He does get involved with Gund's older brother Adam, Anthony Hopkins, in a smuggling scheme to smuggle out of the country the family jewels that never seems to go anywhere and is later dropped altogether. Instead Omar falls in love with Arden Langdon, Charlotte Gainsbourg, the late Jules Gund's girlfriend who let him in on why he killed himself in that he couldn't come up with a final end his last novel.Allowed to stay at the Gund residence Omar becomes part of the family and even strikes up a friendship with Adam lover as well as 40 year old houseboy Pete, Hiroyuki Sanada, who later saves his life after he was attacked by a swam of killer bees. Hospitalized and near death Omar's girlfriend from the states Deirdre shows up and finds out that he's no longer in love or even interested in her! In that he's found better things in life then her to hook up with. It all comes together in the end when Caroline agrees to let Omar write her husbands Jules' biography only to burns the unfinished manuscript of his last novel which was critical in Omar writing it! P.S The film seem to be going nowhere and ended up on a high note with all involved, who were still around, at some concert at what looked like New York's Carnegie Hall taking in the music and trying to forget what they've been through in the movie and just have a good night out!

This adaptation of Peter Cameron's 2002 novel is the first film from director James Ivory (he's 82 this year by the way) after the passing of his longtime producing partner Ismail Merchant. Over the past two decades, the Merchant-Ivory name was a brand of literary cinema in itself, from which acclaimed works such as "The Remains of the Day" and "Howard's End" were spawned.Unfortunately, this reportedly final film from James ivory will not be remembered in the same light as those aforementioned films- because as much as it tries its best to evoke the same literary feel, this solo venture by James Ivory is too genteel, too wandering, and ultimately too bland to make much of an impact. And that is despite the efforts by a fine cast- the likes of thespian Anthony Hopkins, Laura Linney and French actress Charlotte Gainsburg.In adapting Cameron's novel, longtime Merchant-Ivory screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala keeps her focus on the academic Omar Razaghi (Omar Metwally), a University of Kansas English graduate student who journeys down to Uruguay to meet the family of the late minor novelist Jules Gund. Omar wants to write a biography of the late author- and his academic and financial future depend on it- but the family has thus far refused their permission.Ivory gets the events leading up to Omar's unannounced visit at the Gund estate over and done with quickly, and leaves the rest of the film for his audience to get to know the eccentricities of the Gund family. There, Omar meets Jules' imperious widow, Caroline (Linney), and his mistress Arden (Gainsburg) and her daughter Portia (Ambar Mallman). Not forgetting of course Jules' older brother Adam (Hopkins) and his Japanese lover Pete (Hiroyuki Sanada).Jhabvala's screenplay allows Omar to have plenty of interactions with each one of the Gund family, but these largely lack much sizzle. The most interesting of these is the tension between Omar and Caroline, the widow bristling with hostility especially when she sees how Arden is taking too quickly to Omar. The romance between Omar and Arden however turns out too nondescript, while Omar's talks with Adam mostly centre on Jules' legacy- an unfinished novel and a mysterious suicide. An accident leads to the arrival of Omar's domineering girlfriend (Alexandra Maria Lara), but even this turn of events doesn't quite set the drama afire. Neither does the ensemble cast for that matter. Hopkins is good as always, but his role is hardly much of a stretch for him. Ditto for Linney, who gives the film's sharpest performance as the brittle and thorny widow eager to hide some family secrets. Metwally on the other hand is woefully miscast, his genial performance undermining what potential dramatic moments the film has going for it.Admittedly though there are few- and the fault ultimately lies with director James Ivory's directorial choices. There is little to suggest that we as the audience should care for any of the characters or their dilemmas, which seems trivial and insignificant. The production values here are stellar as with any Ivory film, in particular the evocative cinematography by Javier Aguirresarobe ("Talk to Her," "Vicky Cristina Barcelona")- but the storytelling is ultimately what makes this a forgettable entry in the list of Ivory films.www.moviexclusive.com

I am immensely pleased to have found this film. Many of the performances (Anthony Hopkins, Hiroyuki Sanada, Alexandra Lara, and Laura Linney) were inspired but some (Charlotte Gainsburg) were not. The story is engaging but there were many aspects of the plot that did not make real practical or emotional sense. The motion of the plot is a bit formulaic. The story drew me in in spite of the gaps, however. The cinematography is lush and beautiful. I particularly liked the warmth of the relationship between Hopkins' and Sanada's characters and the coldness at the heart of both Linney's and Lara's portrayal of their characters. When all is said and done, as E.M. Forster said: "only connect."

I recently saw this film at a festival in a nearby town. I was very disappointed to find that it was not a sequel to the ever lasting "Final Destination" series, because at least then I would have no expectations for the film. I stepped into the theater and as the film began to roll it showed beautiful scenery but as the film went on my hopes slowly fell by the minute. After watching for an hour I wanted to walk out of the theater and not look back, but out of respect for any members of the cast or film crew I sat in my seat hoping each minute would conclude the film. The acting was bland and showed the least emotion in a role I have seen since the Bill O' Riley show. I hope that says enough, because the actors might as well have been reading off a teleprompter. The only amusing part of the film was Anthony Hopkins wit and flamboyant humor. But not even the Oscar winning actor could save this sinking ship movie, the titanic has a better chance of floating again then this movie does of being seen by me twice.