As I write, I am still trying to recover from having watched this apocalyptic vision of our society if, rapidly and without explanation, people become visually impaired en masse.
Here's the lowdown; there's a doctor (optometrist) played by Mark Ruffalo and his wife, played by Juilanne Moore. Patient Zero, played by a Japanese man is the first to become afflicted and visits the doctor at the insistence of his wife to secure a prognosis. Within 24 hours of that visit, doctor and his wife are both quarantined, though only the doctor has lost his sight. Within 72 hours most of the people who had any contact with Patient Zero join the doctor and his wife in Ward 1 of the quarantine. Shifting from the doctor's perspective to that of his wife, we see what a sighted person would experience as civilization and the activities, habits, and thoughts of civilized people become secondary to the emotional and physical needs of those who have lost their grip on reality.
It took ten years to acquire the rights for this film, development is a slow process, and with few exceptions, development is generally a slow process. Daniel Craig, not Mark Ruffalo was the original choice for the film and I cannot say he would have been better, but a different performance might have made this insufferable qualities for the doctor more bearable. Other incidentals: even though a city is not identified, the film definitely feels very different than an American city or culture. In the beginning of quarantine, even with characters speaking a predominantly English vocabulary, you feel as if this would not or could not happen in the U.S. The point that the director attempts to translate is that it did happen in a civilized society, and it happened to the highest and lowest elements of the population cutting across all races, religions, and physical aptitudes. By the end of the quarantine sequence, you're fairly certain this is exactly how your neighbor, boss, teacher, even a congressman or a convict would react to prolonged blindness and imprisonment.
Something I noticed that really seemed illustrate fear from outside the walls of quarantine was how people were transferred, guarded, and supplied in the beginning and how that process evolves. It's very telling that as the blindness is spreading, people are becoming more and more scared of the remote possibility of contact with those afflicted.
I'm tough, and I can handle some difficult scenes. I like horror movies, sci-fi, alternate realities, etc., but there were at least two scenes about five minutes in total, where I had to fast forward through. I'm not certain as to what could have been cut, but the film was too long, and for a period in quarantine, too depressing. The best way to relate this story would be to assure you that it is very much like I Am Legend, but the infected rely heavily upon the hero. Secondly, the ending is worth enduring through the isolation Moore's character expresses and the utter horror that Ward 3 is capable of producing.
Blindness is a difficult rental to recommend, but it is unique, and well-done in that respect.
Monday, February 16, 2009
WORST OF THE WORST ('08 and '09 Jan-Feb)
Ok, so I won't bother to review the following films in-depth individually if you promise to not rent them.
APPALOOSA
Maybe it was a great book, but not all things that provide for stimulating reads are adapted for the big screen with the same success. I'm thinking a film with Ed Harris, who delivered the only performance I enjoyed in A Beautiful Mind, and Viggo Mortensen, (who if you haven't seen him in Eastern Promises, you are missing out), would capably deliver something intriguing. No such luck! Appaloosa is a virtually action-free Western, centered heavily on a story that is very much, lost in translation.
HOTEL FOR DOGS
Awww, these kids with no resources, no real parents, and apparently no school, turn their love for their pet into a hotel for displaced pups. It's a kid movie. I can't be too hard on it, except to say that kid movies are all about peaks and valleys, highs and lows in the stories. Because apparently being an adult means you can finally understand a tempered storyline without the throws of elation or depression. Hmmm. I think kids are smarter than that, and they don't have to be put to tears to understand sadness or disappointment. Happy ending for kids and dogs alike - whew...what a shock!
LAKEVIEW TERRANCE
Snooze...haven't we come far enough to rise above a neighborhood of one volatile who just happens to be a large African American man pitted against his white Hybrid-driving neighbor. I was largely indifferent to the technical qualities of the film, but the storyline is the same crap we get fed every year: he's the aggressor, he's the guy you thought he was going to be and he's totally tortured. Here's the hero, he's unassuming and everybody, I mean everybody would want to be his friend, and oh yeah, he's just WASPier than you can probably stand. Barf. I'd rather watch Samuel L. Jackson in Snakes on a Plane or Patrick Wilson in Hard Candy, both of which incidentally are far better films.
MAX PAYNE
No way! What-to-Rent is actually going to tear apart a sci-fi film? Actually, no, but only because I am writing only this snippet of a review. Taking a video game, comic, or graphic novel, and developing it into something that is worthy of the big screen is more challenging than one would think. This film casts Mark Whalberg, who, hey everybody, is a decent if not a good actor. It shouldn't stumble, but it does, as if it were a drunk, not yet out of a stuper that may have involved a toxic combination of NyQuil, O'Doul's, and TylenolPM. Joking aside the mettle of the film is tested in character development, story, and creating a singular compelling antagonist.
NIGHTS IN RODANTHE
The Officer and a Gentleman and Pretty Woman money ran out long ago and despite his reputation for being a bit lackluster, Richard Gere continues to get work. But really, let's put the blame where the blame is due...writing. Who wants to watch an hour of struggle to get to the end where there's just more disappointment. Billed as a rentable watchable film for couples, that billing might be more appropriated for the lovelorn or estranged. I gleefully rejoiced when the disc ejected from the DVD player. By the way, the Outer Banks backdrop is incredible, and if you can't make something out of nothing -you could have made something out of that!
WALL-E
What is this? Ok, it is a kid movie and I can go hard on it. This is from the Monsters Inc. folks who have delivere on quality family entertainment in the past! Don't feed me this BS about droids, robots, and their like falling in love and getting their feelings hurt. There is nothing incredible about the animation, and the story is lame. Let's stop worrying about the marketing, i.e. the kind of toys, sheets, and pencils, we can create based on the characters in the story and start actually giving our kids something that inspires and entertains them. The rest will follow! Basically, it's I-Robot in outerspace, but without the pleasure of Will Smith as a hero.
APPALOOSA
Maybe it was a great book, but not all things that provide for stimulating reads are adapted for the big screen with the same success. I'm thinking a film with Ed Harris, who delivered the only performance I enjoyed in A Beautiful Mind, and Viggo Mortensen, (who if you haven't seen him in Eastern Promises, you are missing out), would capably deliver something intriguing. No such luck! Appaloosa is a virtually action-free Western, centered heavily on a story that is very much, lost in translation.
HOTEL FOR DOGS
Awww, these kids with no resources, no real parents, and apparently no school, turn their love for their pet into a hotel for displaced pups. It's a kid movie. I can't be too hard on it, except to say that kid movies are all about peaks and valleys, highs and lows in the stories. Because apparently being an adult means you can finally understand a tempered storyline without the throws of elation or depression. Hmmm. I think kids are smarter than that, and they don't have to be put to tears to understand sadness or disappointment. Happy ending for kids and dogs alike - whew...what a shock!
LAKEVIEW TERRANCE
Snooze...haven't we come far enough to rise above a neighborhood of one volatile who just happens to be a large African American man pitted against his white Hybrid-driving neighbor. I was largely indifferent to the technical qualities of the film, but the storyline is the same crap we get fed every year: he's the aggressor, he's the guy you thought he was going to be and he's totally tortured. Here's the hero, he's unassuming and everybody, I mean everybody would want to be his friend, and oh yeah, he's just WASPier than you can probably stand. Barf. I'd rather watch Samuel L. Jackson in Snakes on a Plane or Patrick Wilson in Hard Candy, both of which incidentally are far better films.
MAX PAYNE
No way! What-to-Rent is actually going to tear apart a sci-fi film? Actually, no, but only because I am writing only this snippet of a review. Taking a video game, comic, or graphic novel, and developing it into something that is worthy of the big screen is more challenging than one would think. This film casts Mark Whalberg, who, hey everybody, is a decent if not a good actor. It shouldn't stumble, but it does, as if it were a drunk, not yet out of a stuper that may have involved a toxic combination of NyQuil, O'Doul's, and TylenolPM. Joking aside the mettle of the film is tested in character development, story, and creating a singular compelling antagonist.
NIGHTS IN RODANTHE
The Officer and a Gentleman and Pretty Woman money ran out long ago and despite his reputation for being a bit lackluster, Richard Gere continues to get work. But really, let's put the blame where the blame is due...writing. Who wants to watch an hour of struggle to get to the end where there's just more disappointment. Billed as a rentable watchable film for couples, that billing might be more appropriated for the lovelorn or estranged. I gleefully rejoiced when the disc ejected from the DVD player. By the way, the Outer Banks backdrop is incredible, and if you can't make something out of nothing -you could have made something out of that!
WALL-E
What is this? Ok, it is a kid movie and I can go hard on it. This is from the Monsters Inc. folks who have delivere on quality family entertainment in the past! Don't feed me this BS about droids, robots, and their like falling in love and getting their feelings hurt. There is nothing incredible about the animation, and the story is lame. Let's stop worrying about the marketing, i.e. the kind of toys, sheets, and pencils, we can create based on the characters in the story and start actually giving our kids something that inspires and entertains them. The rest will follow! Basically, it's I-Robot in outerspace, but without the pleasure of Will Smith as a hero.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
DEFIANCE
There are so many stories about World War II and the Holocaust, it has become increasingly more difficult for producers of films and printed works to decipher the truth. Accounts in the pending, but now dead in the water, Angel at the Fence were disproved to a degree that Herman Rosenblat could no longer defend or deny by a team from Michigan State University. The discovery all but shelved the author's dreams of sharing his fictitious account of how he first met his wife as kids on opposite sides of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp.
I mention this as a mini-foreword so that you will understand the significance of finding an intensely unique, and more importantly true, story in a period during the world's history that has been convoluted and reimagined to the distress of historians, survivors, veterans, and nations alike.
Everybody's favorite, or at least current favorite Bond, Daniel Craig is Tuvia Bielski, an unsettled man who returned home to find his best friend and brother, Zus, played aptly by Liev Schreiber has managed to save the younger Bielski brothers from certain death by roving Nazi's. These same Nazi's, known to them since childhood were once farmers and businessmen, never fond of any of the local Jewish families. Distraught by the death of their parents, Tuvia kills a commander and his sons while his brothers safely retreat to the Belarussian forest and await his return. Of course Tuvia returns with many more displaced Jewish men, women and children all seeking the safety and anonymity the forest afford them. Quickly, the rogue spirit of the brothers begins to shine through as they devise a plan to create a co-op and support the influx of their fellow brethren. Leadership is not easily shared and Zus and Tuvia take separate but equally intriguing pasts, at times they are at odds with each other, but more often than not, they are share the same enemy - self discovery.
Defiance by name is not accurate. Most of those who retreat to the forest are not fighters by trade and simply wish to avoid the Nazi rule or plight afflicting family and friends now taken to work camps across Germany and Poland. Tuvia struggles with how to save everyone and lead compassionately. Zus battles to escape the shadow of his older brother and in joining the Soviet military finds the disdain for his fellow Jews comparable to the Nazi's.
I marveled at the depth of the story and the relative ease with which Edward Zwick and Clayton Frohman delivered superior character arcs and kept the momentum. Two years literally passed in eighty-eight minutes. Though I jest, there was little room for ho-hum acting or a lapse in action, drama, and great dialogue. At moments the air of despair felt too thick to breath and the utter joy at times fed my soul long enough to endeavor the next daring moment, whether it be an escape or a food mission.
Another strength of Defiance is also its barrier to getting its credit where and when it is due. Somewhat a sleeper film, those who favor action will pass it, fearing too much drama and those who favor story will see Craig and almost immediately and viscerally react to it as if they were being asked to watch Rambo. Catch Defiance on the big screen or the home theater and you are sure to see an intelligent adaptation of a true story that moves, entertains, and challenges you, the viewer.
I mention this as a mini-foreword so that you will understand the significance of finding an intensely unique, and more importantly true, story in a period during the world's history that has been convoluted and reimagined to the distress of historians, survivors, veterans, and nations alike.
Everybody's favorite, or at least current favorite Bond, Daniel Craig is Tuvia Bielski, an unsettled man who returned home to find his best friend and brother, Zus, played aptly by Liev Schreiber has managed to save the younger Bielski brothers from certain death by roving Nazi's. These same Nazi's, known to them since childhood were once farmers and businessmen, never fond of any of the local Jewish families. Distraught by the death of their parents, Tuvia kills a commander and his sons while his brothers safely retreat to the Belarussian forest and await his return. Of course Tuvia returns with many more displaced Jewish men, women and children all seeking the safety and anonymity the forest afford them. Quickly, the rogue spirit of the brothers begins to shine through as they devise a plan to create a co-op and support the influx of their fellow brethren. Leadership is not easily shared and Zus and Tuvia take separate but equally intriguing pasts, at times they are at odds with each other, but more often than not, they are share the same enemy - self discovery.
Defiance by name is not accurate. Most of those who retreat to the forest are not fighters by trade and simply wish to avoid the Nazi rule or plight afflicting family and friends now taken to work camps across Germany and Poland. Tuvia struggles with how to save everyone and lead compassionately. Zus battles to escape the shadow of his older brother and in joining the Soviet military finds the disdain for his fellow Jews comparable to the Nazi's.
I marveled at the depth of the story and the relative ease with which Edward Zwick and Clayton Frohman delivered superior character arcs and kept the momentum. Two years literally passed in eighty-eight minutes. Though I jest, there was little room for ho-hum acting or a lapse in action, drama, and great dialogue. At moments the air of despair felt too thick to breath and the utter joy at times fed my soul long enough to endeavor the next daring moment, whether it be an escape or a food mission.
Another strength of Defiance is also its barrier to getting its credit where and when it is due. Somewhat a sleeper film, those who favor action will pass it, fearing too much drama and those who favor story will see Craig and almost immediately and viscerally react to it as if they were being asked to watch Rambo. Catch Defiance on the big screen or the home theater and you are sure to see an intelligent adaptation of a true story that moves, entertains, and challenges you, the viewer.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
TOWELHEAD (NOTHING IS PRIVATE)
In an era of uber-patriotism where stories from the fray about the Arab-American experience are limited, I reveled in the release of Towelhead and the reception it received from the critic and film communities. Often times, these are one in the same, but hopes were still high as indie and art house films are counted among my favorites. Towelhead would dash these hopes within the first few minutes, and like a patient in a coma, the subsequent 80 or so minutes would fail to revive me to a conscious state.
Based on the novel by Alicia Erian, Alan Ball adapted the controversial story of a rapidly maturing teen whose defiant tendencies and multiracial roots underlie a series of tensions including gender, sexuality, and class. Jasira, played rather indifferently by Summer Bishil has been raised by her WASPy mom in a lesser, but distinctly American environment, where the presence of a strong, let alone decent male role model is sorely absent. After a misstep by her mother's boyfriend, young Jasira is sent to live with her Arab father to learn appropriateness, which we all understand to be code for a mother feeling threatened by her increasingly more developed and attractive daughter. Jasira's father, employed at NASA and residing in a conventional American suburb is a walking contradiction and adeptly acted by Peter Macdissi. His inability to relate to his kin is matched only by his passion to preserve his daughter's virginity.
Among Jasira's non-related antagonists is a Reservist and his family, who represent all we have been led to believe is true about middle-class neo-con Americans. Conflict also presents itself in the form of an attractive male classmate whose is forbidden to Jasira because he is African-American. Neither resolves itself by the end of the movie, though illusions of such a thing exist.
Towelhead proved to be little more than a Lifetime movie. Lacking inspiration or grit in any measure, we don't know whether to root for Jasira to grow up more quickly like her peers or shutter at the thought that Jasira's attempts to mainstream her life and self-identify are in fact unbecoming realities of our culture.
The script lacked cohesion to a point of distraction. I feared in an attempt to attract the big names of Hollywood to the project only a few actors were matched with roles actually becoming of their talents, Toni Collette for one, whom you never doubt for a minute as the well-meaning, intrusive neighbor harboring a personal vendetta against the Reservist.
My hope would be that the book is somehow "better" than the movie. Whatever the case, Towelhead fails to connect in a big way and almost completely ignores how well-placed its release was in the timeline of our country.
Based on the novel by Alicia Erian, Alan Ball adapted the controversial story of a rapidly maturing teen whose defiant tendencies and multiracial roots underlie a series of tensions including gender, sexuality, and class. Jasira, played rather indifferently by Summer Bishil has been raised by her WASPy mom in a lesser, but distinctly American environment, where the presence of a strong, let alone decent male role model is sorely absent. After a misstep by her mother's boyfriend, young Jasira is sent to live with her Arab father to learn appropriateness, which we all understand to be code for a mother feeling threatened by her increasingly more developed and attractive daughter. Jasira's father, employed at NASA and residing in a conventional American suburb is a walking contradiction and adeptly acted by Peter Macdissi. His inability to relate to his kin is matched only by his passion to preserve his daughter's virginity.
Among Jasira's non-related antagonists is a Reservist and his family, who represent all we have been led to believe is true about middle-class neo-con Americans. Conflict also presents itself in the form of an attractive male classmate whose is forbidden to Jasira because he is African-American. Neither resolves itself by the end of the movie, though illusions of such a thing exist.
Towelhead proved to be little more than a Lifetime movie. Lacking inspiration or grit in any measure, we don't know whether to root for Jasira to grow up more quickly like her peers or shutter at the thought that Jasira's attempts to mainstream her life and self-identify are in fact unbecoming realities of our culture.
The script lacked cohesion to a point of distraction. I feared in an attempt to attract the big names of Hollywood to the project only a few actors were matched with roles actually becoming of their talents, Toni Collette for one, whom you never doubt for a minute as the well-meaning, intrusive neighbor harboring a personal vendetta against the Reservist.
My hope would be that the book is somehow "better" than the movie. Whatever the case, Towelhead fails to connect in a big way and almost completely ignores how well-placed its release was in the timeline of our country.
Monday, January 12, 2009
2008 Recap
It’s odd that I should start a new year with two reviews on films I did not particularly enjoy. One I had low (read “no”) hopes for and it was basically that good, although credit where credit is due, it could have been much worse. The other film had a decent chance to be excellent and was more less a saga of indifference all the way around.
A note about where we are going with this blog. The old model for reviewing films is forever gone. It was labor intensive and designed for a time when I would watch two to three movies in a day. This commitment to reviewing has given way, to my pursuit of seeing one of my own screenplays optioned and developed into a movie that I can file somewhere on my DVD shelf. In 2009, I am looking to complete a few projects and select a Ph.D. program, which really leaves me little time to chronicle my fascination with the silver screen. Recently, I joined a movie preview critic’s club that lets me view, one whole day in advance, a film opening for the general public. This month it is Defiance with Daniel Craig. No word whether it will be good, or if I will clean house on the Cinequiz that follows the film preview.
If you’re any kind of fan of film, 2008 was a rough year for you marred by movies that fell flat, promised nothing, and likewise delivered it, or were spectacular(ly) overlooked. My favorite film of 2008 was Slumdog Millionaire. If I could give you the gift of great film, every year you would open something that would resemble Millionaire. Inspired and unique, it is the champion of Danny Boyle’s career as a director. Last year I recounted how seeing Little Children made me want to read the book, Millionaire also makes me want to read Vikas Swarup’s novel Q & A. If there is one thing Millionaire’s impending award season success proves, it’s that outsourcing is not just a corporate trend. The movie had a comparatively small budget and turned out superbly equal product. Now of course the world is filled with great stories and America cannot own such an honor itself, but bet money on Bollywood henceforth. Their time is here.
Lastly, thank you for reading! I vow not to let you down in the blog and in my own writing for the screen. Reviews will be littered with little tidbits you didn’t know and perspectives that are mine, yours or somebody else’s who just wouldn’t shut up as they sat behind me in the theater. Thankfully, I have much more control over the home theater situation.
A note about where we are going with this blog. The old model for reviewing films is forever gone. It was labor intensive and designed for a time when I would watch two to three movies in a day. This commitment to reviewing has given way, to my pursuit of seeing one of my own screenplays optioned and developed into a movie that I can file somewhere on my DVD shelf. In 2009, I am looking to complete a few projects and select a Ph.D. program, which really leaves me little time to chronicle my fascination with the silver screen. Recently, I joined a movie preview critic’s club that lets me view, one whole day in advance, a film opening for the general public. This month it is Defiance with Daniel Craig. No word whether it will be good, or if I will clean house on the Cinequiz that follows the film preview.
If you’re any kind of fan of film, 2008 was a rough year for you marred by movies that fell flat, promised nothing, and likewise delivered it, or were spectacular(ly) overlooked. My favorite film of 2008 was Slumdog Millionaire. If I could give you the gift of great film, every year you would open something that would resemble Millionaire. Inspired and unique, it is the champion of Danny Boyle’s career as a director. Last year I recounted how seeing Little Children made me want to read the book, Millionaire also makes me want to read Vikas Swarup’s novel Q & A. If there is one thing Millionaire’s impending award season success proves, it’s that outsourcing is not just a corporate trend. The movie had a comparatively small budget and turned out superbly equal product. Now of course the world is filled with great stories and America cannot own such an honor itself, but bet money on Bollywood henceforth. Their time is here.
Lastly, thank you for reading! I vow not to let you down in the blog and in my own writing for the screen. Reviews will be littered with little tidbits you didn’t know and perspectives that are mine, yours or somebody else’s who just wouldn’t shut up as they sat behind me in the theater. Thankfully, I have much more control over the home theater situation.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
RUN, FAT BOY, RUN (2007)
TITLE
Run, Fat Boy, Run
STARRING
Simon Pegg, Thandie Newton, Hank Azaria, Dylan Moran, Harish Patel
COMPARABLE TO...
Any movie where a guy works through regret to become the man she wants him to be and in the process discovers he's the man he always wanted to be.
THE JIST
The last time Dennis Doyle (Pegg) ran, he was running from his impending wedding to the beautiful and very pregnant Libby Odell (Newton). Several years later his relationship with his son although characteristically intact is much like that of brothers and his unrequited love for Libby is far from being returned as a new seemingly too good to be true man (Azaria) has entered the picture. In order to best the competition and win back the family he so eagerly fled from six years prior, Dennis agrees to run a full marathon, and perhaps for the first time ever, complete something he starts.
WOULD I SUGGEST IT TO OTHERS?
Yes. It's a slow start - not the best screenwriting in the first 15 minutes, but all the elements are there. More to the point, (and saints be praised) David Schwimmer has contributions to make to the world outside of Friends!
I was also fascinated that the movie is penned by both Pegg and Michael Ian Black, who in his own right, is outrageously funny. I wasn't aware of his off screen contributions beyond the realm of TV sketch and comedy writing, but it was great to see him transfer some of those talents to the big screen.
Run, Fat Boy, Run is honest and heartfelt. It bests most of Pegg's recent work by a mile and despite its predictable ending, there is decent character development and solid writing, meshed with some eccentric trivial characters who add flare.
MORE INFORMATION
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425413/
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Run_Fatboy_Run
Run, Fat Boy, Run
STARRING
Simon Pegg, Thandie Newton, Hank Azaria, Dylan Moran, Harish Patel
COMPARABLE TO...
Any movie where a guy works through regret to become the man she wants him to be and in the process discovers he's the man he always wanted to be.
THE JIST
The last time Dennis Doyle (Pegg) ran, he was running from his impending wedding to the beautiful and very pregnant Libby Odell (Newton). Several years later his relationship with his son although characteristically intact is much like that of brothers and his unrequited love for Libby is far from being returned as a new seemingly too good to be true man (Azaria) has entered the picture. In order to best the competition and win back the family he so eagerly fled from six years prior, Dennis agrees to run a full marathon, and perhaps for the first time ever, complete something he starts.
WOULD I SUGGEST IT TO OTHERS?
Yes. It's a slow start - not the best screenwriting in the first 15 minutes, but all the elements are there. More to the point, (and saints be praised) David Schwimmer has contributions to make to the world outside of Friends!
I was also fascinated that the movie is penned by both Pegg and Michael Ian Black, who in his own right, is outrageously funny. I wasn't aware of his off screen contributions beyond the realm of TV sketch and comedy writing, but it was great to see him transfer some of those talents to the big screen.
Run, Fat Boy, Run is honest and heartfelt. It bests most of Pegg's recent work by a mile and despite its predictable ending, there is decent character development and solid writing, meshed with some eccentric trivial characters who add flare.
MORE INFORMATION
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425413/
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Run_Fatboy_Run
FINDING AMANDA (2008)
TITLE
Finding Amanda
STARRING
Matthew Broderick, Brittany Snow, Maura Tierney, Peter Facinelli, Steve Coogan
COMPARABLE TO...
All I Want, Excess Baggage
THE JIST
Taylor Peters (Broderick) has seen better days, personally and professionally. A compulsive gambler and soon-to-be has been in the world of sitcom writers, his relationship with his wife (Tierney) is equally stressed. To leverage some favor with his wife, and because his adventure would take him to heaven on Earth - Las Vegas, Peters agrees to go round-up his niece, Amanda, and take her to rehab. It's been years since they've seen each other and on the outside Amanda appears to be a free spirit with capitalistic qualities. She's also dancer of the exotic variety, whose line of work keeps her abusive boyfriend in the best of goods. As they reconnect and compare notes on their varieties of dysfunctionalties, the Vegas backdrop provides for some winning and losing scenarios.
WOULD I SUGGEST IT TO OTHERS?
This was hardly a favorite, even the description on DVD case read more interestingly than this film played out. There were moments, both brief and fleeting, of entertaining quips between the protagonist and his niece. In general, it was a relatively unremarkable movie. Peter Tolan, who both wrote and directed Finding Amanda certainly did not channel some of the savant from his earlier works. For the record, I thoroughly enjoyed Stealing Harvard and just recently watched it all over again. The series Rescue Me was also enjoyable. The last ten minutes of the film were quite redeeming, but simply not enough to endure the rest of this flop.
MORE INFORMATION
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0889134/
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_Amanda
Finding Amanda
STARRING
Matthew Broderick, Brittany Snow, Maura Tierney, Peter Facinelli, Steve Coogan
COMPARABLE TO...
All I Want, Excess Baggage
THE JIST
Taylor Peters (Broderick) has seen better days, personally and professionally. A compulsive gambler and soon-to-be has been in the world of sitcom writers, his relationship with his wife (Tierney) is equally stressed. To leverage some favor with his wife, and because his adventure would take him to heaven on Earth - Las Vegas, Peters agrees to go round-up his niece, Amanda, and take her to rehab. It's been years since they've seen each other and on the outside Amanda appears to be a free spirit with capitalistic qualities. She's also dancer of the exotic variety, whose line of work keeps her abusive boyfriend in the best of goods. As they reconnect and compare notes on their varieties of dysfunctionalties, the Vegas backdrop provides for some winning and losing scenarios.
WOULD I SUGGEST IT TO OTHERS?
This was hardly a favorite, even the description on DVD case read more interestingly than this film played out. There were moments, both brief and fleeting, of entertaining quips between the protagonist and his niece. In general, it was a relatively unremarkable movie. Peter Tolan, who both wrote and directed Finding Amanda certainly did not channel some of the savant from his earlier works. For the record, I thoroughly enjoyed Stealing Harvard and just recently watched it all over again. The series Rescue Me was also enjoyable. The last ten minutes of the film were quite redeeming, but simply not enough to endure the rest of this flop.
MORE INFORMATION
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0889134/
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_Amanda
Friday, September 26, 2008
So, I took the summer off.
More than one of you has reminded me my last post was in May, but I have no stellar reasons for this (big things like a new job, much needed studying and smaller things like my in-laws lovely pool and outings to the drive-in all contributed). Furthermore, I do not promise a robust writing on this blog, or my current screenplays Anthem 2050 and This Modern Love, until after the GRE on October 11th. That's right, I am headed back to college!
We, (and when I say "we," I mean largely me, because my husband and parents haven't exactly envisioned how working full-time, TAing and getting a PhD go together) are hoping for U of M, IUPUI, or, *sigh*, MSU.
But, in the meantime, dissecting current works on DVD is a great exercise for aspiring screenwriters, and the reviews, I hope, will continue to entertain you!
Happy Fall!
Go Blue! Go Chips! Go Spartans! (We are a blended household here.)
Happy Birthday Blue! 10/31/2005
More than one of you has reminded me my last post was in May, but I have no stellar reasons for this (big things like a new job, much needed studying and smaller things like my in-laws lovely pool and outings to the drive-in all contributed). Furthermore, I do not promise a robust writing on this blog, or my current screenplays Anthem 2050 and This Modern Love, until after the GRE on October 11th. That's right, I am headed back to college!
We, (and when I say "we," I mean largely me, because my husband and parents haven't exactly envisioned how working full-time, TAing and getting a PhD go together) are hoping for U of M, IUPUI, or, *sigh*, MSU.
But, in the meantime, dissecting current works on DVD is a great exercise for aspiring screenwriters, and the reviews, I hope, will continue to entertain you!
Happy Fall!
Go Blue! Go Chips! Go Spartans! (We are a blended household here.)
Happy Birthday Blue! 10/31/2005
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
SOUTHLAND TALES (2006)
TITLE
Southland Tales
STARRING
Dwayne Johnson, Mandy Moore, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Justin Timberlake, Nora Dunn, Seann William Scott, Cheri Oteri
COMPARABLE TO...
The Manchurian Candidate, Mad Max, Mulholland Drive
THE JIST
This movie is more what I think we like to call visionary than easily captured in two or three sentences. The best way to describe it is as an attempt at envisioning an alternate future, post-war and nuclear attack for group of Southern Californians who are deeply woven into a series of conspiracies, mayhem, facades and truth. Writer/director Richard Kelly offers a unique look at the collapse of civilization through a star-studded ensemble of characters consumed by their own reality.
WOULD I SUGGEST IT TO OTHERS?
Yes. I cannot clearly begin to articulate the finer points of the film and it is one I would never own, but I think there is great depth in a production like this. Its flaws are that it has a lot going on, all at once, without reservation or explanation. Most relationships are self-evident, but the constant introduction of new supporting characters, played by actors bigger than the film itself is distracting. The silver lining is the interplay between some of the characters and I love, (it may in fact be my favorite thing to pop up unexpectedly in the history of film) the lip sync number by Justin Timberlake towards the end of the Southland Tales. It just has to be seen!
The movies I compared this to need some referencing, because in truth, liking any one of those movies will not indicate whether or not you find this film as intriguing as I did. The Manchurian Candidate meshes politics and conspiracy with film, and I've always quite liked that film. There are some of those elements in Southland Tales, particularly as they pertain to Jericho Kane (Johnson). Mad Max is set against a futuristic backdrop, which isn't so far feeling as it is close to present, definitely an attribute of Tales. Years later, I still watch Mulholland Drive and try to make sense of it. The pieces never quite fit, but each on its own was entertaining, and that is Tales in a nutshell. Overall, Southland Tales is a bit more interconnected, but still leaves you with the wonderment of whether or not you interpreted correctly exactly that which Kelly wanted to have come across onscreen.
MORE INFORMATION
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405336/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgbuuUIMHq8
Southland Tales
STARRING
Dwayne Johnson, Mandy Moore, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Justin Timberlake, Nora Dunn, Seann William Scott, Cheri Oteri
COMPARABLE TO...
The Manchurian Candidate, Mad Max, Mulholland Drive
THE JIST
This movie is more what I think we like to call visionary than easily captured in two or three sentences. The best way to describe it is as an attempt at envisioning an alternate future, post-war and nuclear attack for group of Southern Californians who are deeply woven into a series of conspiracies, mayhem, facades and truth. Writer/director Richard Kelly offers a unique look at the collapse of civilization through a star-studded ensemble of characters consumed by their own reality.
WOULD I SUGGEST IT TO OTHERS?
Yes. I cannot clearly begin to articulate the finer points of the film and it is one I would never own, but I think there is great depth in a production like this. Its flaws are that it has a lot going on, all at once, without reservation or explanation. Most relationships are self-evident, but the constant introduction of new supporting characters, played by actors bigger than the film itself is distracting. The silver lining is the interplay between some of the characters and I love, (it may in fact be my favorite thing to pop up unexpectedly in the history of film) the lip sync number by Justin Timberlake towards the end of the Southland Tales. It just has to be seen!
The movies I compared this to need some referencing, because in truth, liking any one of those movies will not indicate whether or not you find this film as intriguing as I did. The Manchurian Candidate meshes politics and conspiracy with film, and I've always quite liked that film. There are some of those elements in Southland Tales, particularly as they pertain to Jericho Kane (Johnson). Mad Max is set against a futuristic backdrop, which isn't so far feeling as it is close to present, definitely an attribute of Tales. Years later, I still watch Mulholland Drive and try to make sense of it. The pieces never quite fit, but each on its own was entertaining, and that is Tales in a nutshell. Overall, Southland Tales is a bit more interconnected, but still leaves you with the wonderment of whether or not you interpreted correctly exactly that which Kelly wanted to have come across onscreen.
MORE INFORMATION
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405336/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgbuuUIMHq8
Monday, May 5, 2008
THE GOLDEN COMPASS (2007)
TITLE
The Golden Compass
STARRING
Daniel Craig, Nicole Kidman, Dakota Blue Richards, Sam Elliott, Eva Green, Christopher Lee
COMPARABLE TO...
Visually: Narnia, Lord of the Rings, newer Star Wars episodes. Thematically: Legend, Neverending Story, Matrix.
THE JIST
Lyra (Richards) is special little girl and has been protected for reasons unknown to her by her alleged uncle (Craig) and the academic community, who support and fund his research in the North. The moral authority known as Magisterium, betray the trust of Lyra and the academics by deceiving her, using the charming Ms. Coulter (Kidman) who easily acquires Lyra's trust in order to gain accesss to a valuable tool in Lyra's possession. Not to be underestimated, Lyra escapes and with the help of friends rallied to her cause by shared interests and an allegiance to her uncle she aims to save her friend for the experiments of the Magisterium. Travels take her far North to where her best pal and uncle are being held captive, separately. Battles ensue discoveries are made, secrets are revealed. Ending much like the first LOTR film, you are left wanting more action and answers, hence the sequel.
WOULD I SUGGEST IT TO OTHERS?
Absolutely. It's been a long time since I've liked a film like this, but it is not for everybody. I thought the first installment of Narnia was awful, overburdened with bad action, religious undertones not understood by kids, and a generally confusing operative, so I was hesitant to see The Golden Compass. Not regarded as similar in theme, they are both designed to be trilogies of semi-epic proportions.
Before you see it, assuming you have not read the book, wrap your head around this: people have a demon that reflects the human soul and runs around in animal form (your demon gets hurt so do you, you die, so does your demon). As a child, the demon can shift shapes, for example, Lyra's demon appears most often as a ferret, but also as a cat, mouse and hawk. Once you become an adult, the demon settles into one shape. Another tip for those who haven't read the book, but will likely see the movie, it is best not to get mired down by the language. Otherwise you might easily let things escape which become pivotal. The writing is good, but not necessarily understood with full clarity until the first forty minutes. A little long for my tastes, but the film is intriguing and the acting wonderful.
MORE INFORMATION
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0385752/
http://www.goldencompassmovie.com/
The Golden Compass
STARRING
Daniel Craig, Nicole Kidman, Dakota Blue Richards, Sam Elliott, Eva Green, Christopher Lee
COMPARABLE TO...
Visually: Narnia, Lord of the Rings, newer Star Wars episodes. Thematically: Legend, Neverending Story, Matrix.
THE JIST
Lyra (Richards) is special little girl and has been protected for reasons unknown to her by her alleged uncle (Craig) and the academic community, who support and fund his research in the North. The moral authority known as Magisterium, betray the trust of Lyra and the academics by deceiving her, using the charming Ms. Coulter (Kidman) who easily acquires Lyra's trust in order to gain accesss to a valuable tool in Lyra's possession. Not to be underestimated, Lyra escapes and with the help of friends rallied to her cause by shared interests and an allegiance to her uncle she aims to save her friend for the experiments of the Magisterium. Travels take her far North to where her best pal and uncle are being held captive, separately. Battles ensue discoveries are made, secrets are revealed. Ending much like the first LOTR film, you are left wanting more action and answers, hence the sequel.
WOULD I SUGGEST IT TO OTHERS?
Absolutely. It's been a long time since I've liked a film like this, but it is not for everybody. I thought the first installment of Narnia was awful, overburdened with bad action, religious undertones not understood by kids, and a generally confusing operative, so I was hesitant to see The Golden Compass. Not regarded as similar in theme, they are both designed to be trilogies of semi-epic proportions.
Before you see it, assuming you have not read the book, wrap your head around this: people have a demon that reflects the human soul and runs around in animal form (your demon gets hurt so do you, you die, so does your demon). As a child, the demon can shift shapes, for example, Lyra's demon appears most often as a ferret, but also as a cat, mouse and hawk. Once you become an adult, the demon settles into one shape. Another tip for those who haven't read the book, but will likely see the movie, it is best not to get mired down by the language. Otherwise you might easily let things escape which become pivotal. The writing is good, but not necessarily understood with full clarity until the first forty minutes. A little long for my tastes, but the film is intriguing and the acting wonderful.
MORE INFORMATION
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0385752/
http://www.goldencompassmovie.com/
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