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Guess it has been some time since the last post, huh? Well, John was awesome and got a top five up before his super secret trip. I’m waiting on one movie (or the end of this week, whichever comes first) to do the same. And I’ve been under the weather lately, plus I’ve been in a rut of average-ish movies that didn’t inspire me to do a whole post. So I’ll bunch up five I’ve recently seen into two categories:
Great, but underutilized cast
Easy Virtue: Really, any movie with Colin Firth and Kristen Scott Thomas should almost by definition be amazing, and that’s before I mention it was written and directed by the guy who did Priscilla. Alas, Easy Virtue falls short of the mark. Set in the 1920s and based on a Noel Coward play, the film stars Jessica Biel as an American whirlwind who marries a young Englishman (Ben Barnes) in a fit of passion and then goes to his estate to meet the family. Call it a precursor to Meet The Parents, if you like, though this is a little darker. The film has a lot of trouble setting a consistent tone and events seem to occur out of order.
Lymelife: Set around 1980 in Long Island, the cast includes the Culkins Rory and Kieran, Alec Baldwin, Jill Hennessy, Cynthia Nixon, Emma Roberts, and Timothy Hutton. It is part crumbling family drama, part coming-of-age story, and part an exploration of Lyme disease. I think in a different year, with maybe some relatively small script changes, this film could have been a You Can Count on Me or The Sweet Hereafter. The film’s biggest problem, in my opinion, is its fear of exploring any relationship too in-depth. Perhaps because of the story’s personal nature to the writers (Derick and Steven Martini), the drama seems to be missing its edge. Also, not to go all Brian on you, but based on the trailers for Nancy Drew and Hotel for Dogs, I didn’t really buy Emma Roberts as an ingenue, but I changed my mind.
Shrink: Stars Kevin Spacey as a psychiatrist to the stars who has been going on a pot-smoking binge since his wife’s recently-committed suicide. There were times when I felt the film was on the verge of breaking through to something really great, but it caught itself and settled for complacency. The character is set up for Spacey to be an Oscar dark horse, but he isn’t given quite enough screen time to show off. I may or may not have put this on my queue for Jesse Plemons as a drug dealer, but he doesn’t disappoint, even if he seems to be trying to channel Matt Damon a little. Also, I’ve watched one episode of True Jackson, VP (because Julie Bowen was in it!), but Keke Palmer shone here.
Offbeat really specific genre
Good Dick – The genre being a guy, a girl, and severe social problems. Other things in the genre include Adam (at least, that’s my very educated guess, still waiting for it to come out on DVD), Big Bang Theory, and every relationship I witnessed at the University of Chicago. Written and directed by (and co-starring) Marianna Palka, the film portrays a woman virtually unable to function in the outside world, save for going to the video rental store for porn and the somewhat-troubled video store clerk (Jason Ritter) who desperately tries to woo her. It is (intentionally) all kinds of awkward and raw, at times to the point of distraction. Tom Arnold shows up for a pretty devastating scene, and Martin Starr is in a few scenes.
The Killing Room – The genre being a bunch of people, a room, and people gonna die. Think Cube or Saw. I happen to think Cube was brilliant, if not quite polished. And I’m not really big on Saw, but I do think the idea is inspired. It is kinda hard to describe without giving away too much, but basically the premise is that the government is performing some sort of creepy experiment (supervised by Peter Stormare) involving a few people and a room. The story unfolds in an interesting manner: Stomare is interviewing Chloe Sevigny to see if she can cut it on the project, and does so by showing her tape from a recent experiment involving Nick Cannon, Clea DuVall, Timothy Hutton, and Shea Wigham. I wouldn’t classify this as horror, really, more psychological thriller. I actually really love this genre (or at least I do in theory) and I think this film is a worthy addition, though I would have liked to have seen more time in the room and the ending refined a little.
The Graduates apparently had a limited release earlier this year (so says IMDb, but Box Office Mojo claims ignorance), but is now on DVD. The American Pie-style teencomedy tells the story of a group of friends heading to beach week (in Ocean City) the summer after their senior year of high school. It has a DIY-feel, to the point where I wouldn’t be terribly surprised if writer/director Ryan Gielen came up with the bulk of the film immediately after attending said beach week. I was a bit put off by the general tone of the film, to be honest. There were definitely a handful of funny one-liners and clever set-ups, but too often there didn’t seem to be any particular reason for a scene to have ended and a new one begun. I think there’s a lot of potential in this, once Gielen figures how to create better-formed main characters (and scenes) to support his pretty good ancillary characters (and themes). Oh, and to show any sort of sympathy whatsoever toward female characters.
I bring it up, though, because the film takes place (and was shot) in Maryland. And is thus deserving of mention. Also, and this is something over which I may have gotten into heated arguments, Ocean City is in Maryland. The real one, anyway. Any other Ocean City is nothing more than an impostor. Plus, there’s a few good Maryland lines sprinkled about the film (“You don’t have to fight for me, I grew up in Baltimore.” ”Columbia.” ”Whatever!”)
The existence of Powder Blue suggests that sex does not, in fact, sell. The film gained some notoriety when it was revealed that star Jessica Biel went topless for her role as a stripper, and then again when pictures of said stripping floated around the internet. But it never made it into theaters, rather quietly going straight to DVD in May.
Powder Blue is one of those multiple intersecting storylines with an ensemble cast kind of deals. Except the storylines barely intersect, instead there are sort of two focal points. Biel is one of them, she has a small son in the hospital who has been in a coma for a long time. Ray Liotta plays the dad she never knew she had, just released from prison after a couple of decades, he’s also dying. Patrick Swayze is the manager of the strip club where she works. The other focal point is Oscar-winner Forest Whitaker who has been suicidal since he lost his wife. But since he’s a former priest, he can’t kill himself, instead he’s looking to pay someone to kill him. Which leads him to a transsexual prostitute and later an undertaker (Eddie Redmayne, who eventually hooks up with Biel). He also befriends a waitress (Lisa Kudrow). Oh, and Oscar-nominee Kris Kristofferson is in the film for a scene. But it was the first scene, so it was pretty upsetting not to see him come back.
The thing about Powder Blue is that it is pretty darn boring. While writer-director Timothy Linh Bui’s script actually does attempt to provide nuanced takes on a number of interesting concepts dealing with relationships and death, it fails to make anything compelling. The film, alas, compensates for moving slowly by not going anywhere. Which is sad, because I think the cast is an intriguing group of people.
Indeed, whenever Bui can be bothered to quit his meandering and get to some sort of revelation (which he’s usually been building to for some time), he refuses to explore the impact of the reveal, instead quickly reverting back to the meandering. Which obviously can get frustrating, as it feels like a deliberate attempt to make the movie less enjoyable. Besides, when you have Liotta, Swayze, and Whitaker, you have to just let them do their thing. If you can’t give Liotta the space to be creepy, or Swayze the space to be completely over the top, why bother?
Finally, back to Jessica Biel. It doesn’t work (well, other than that she’s a beautiful woman). Her nudity feels forced and unnecessary for a variety of reasons. First, her character embodies just about every stripper movie cliche you can think of. And whenever we see a glimpse of something halfway original, Bui, as mentioned, quickly moves on. Second, frankly, her dances aren’t all that erotic. Which kinda feels like it should be intentional (given certain plot elements), but isn’t. And last, it suggests an unwritten rule: If the only reason to watch a film is to see X get naked, then you don’t actually want to see that film.
The idea here is to take a look at some movies you might not have noticed. Where I define “you” however I please.
Killshot’s pedigree is rather impressive. The film was scripted by Oscar-nominee Hossein Amini (Best Adapted Screenplay, The Wings of the Dove) and based off an Elmore Leonard novel. Many of Leonard’s books and stories have been adapted for the silver screen, including: 3:10 to Yuma, Get Shorty, Jackie Brown, and Out of Sight.
But, OK, as much as I’d like to believe otherwise, writing isn’t everything. Killshot was directed by Oscar-nominee John Madden, who, granted, has been responsible for a couple of duds since Shakespeare in Love. But I don’t think he has been proven completely incompetent.
So maybe the film barely saw the light of day because of the actors? Well, no. Killshot stars Oscar-nominee Mickey Rourke as a Native American hitman. He soon partners up with Joseph Gorden-Levitt (OK, he hasn’t been nominated for an Oscar, but that’s only because he is too awesome for the Academy to handle), a brash small-time crook with a big mouth. After a botched scam, they go after the two witnesses, Oscar-nominee Diane Lane and Thomas Jane, who play a married couple, newly separated. Oscar-nominee Hal Halbrook has a small role, as does Rosario Dawson.
To recap, that’s five Oscar nominees, a story whose author has generated multiple films which could best be described as “cool,” attractive women, and Mickey Rourke as a friggin’ hit man.
I had thought Killshot went straight to DVD, but both IMDb and Box Office Mojo claim it played on 5 screens for a few weekends in January of this year, taking in a cool $10,000. So what went wrong?
Well, as I’ve described the film to a few people (and as I’ll keep doing until the analogy becomes true), Killshot is like a hookless pop song: it isn’t bad, but there’s no real reason for it to exist. The solid production can’t make up for the extremely thin and uninteresting plot. Honestly, with a few changes, it could be an unaired pilot for an 80s Stephen J. Cannell action-adventure TV show. Which certainly isn’t bad, but not the tone for which the filmmakers were striving. If, that is, they had a tone in mind at all.
There are very few twists and even fewer subplots, meaning the end result hits many of the cliches you’d imagine in a story about a hit man with a talkative apprentice hunting down an innocent couple. There’s nothing particularly bad about the film (assuming you can get past the idea of Mickey Rourke having any difficulty whatsover tracking someone down and killing him or her). There’s just nothing particularly outstanding.
It is unfortunate all this talent is wasted on such a forgettable film. But at least no one has to be ashamed of the work.
Well, we are right around halfway through the calendar year, so here’s my top five so far. Hopefully the other Grouches follow.
1. Up
A fantastic movie, though I didn’t think it was as good as WALL-E. Which isn’t really a knock, seeing as how I would have said the same thing about every other film from last year.
2. I Love You, Man
This film is funny, sure, but it also manages to generally keep up a compelling story. It has been a long time since Jason Segel wasn’t in a movie in my top five.
3. Star Trek
As usual, John is wrong. We’ll see if I can come up with some sort of rebuttal.
4. The Hangover
I know the point isn’t original, but goodness gracious did this movie rake in the dough. It is gonna finish with $200 million domestic, and be safely in the top 100 domestic grosses all time. The film was often funny and occasionally hilarious, but I had a few quibbles with it, specifically that it significantly tailed off at the end, and they had no idea what to do with Heather Graham’s character.
5. The Brothers Bloom
Has a fantastic beginning (and no, not just due to the two cameos), but the last third has serious issues. Which is unfortunate, because I really wanted to love the film. Con movies are really hard to pull off, and Rian Johnson puts forward a jolly good effort. Bang Bang steals the show, in my humble opinion. There’s also a line in the film that’s in the early running for my favorite movie quote of the year.
In “Silence Is Not Golden,” we are attempting to take a look at some modestly-released films through the eyes of the filmmakers themselves. This installment features writer/director Marc Fienberg, who was kind enough to answer our questions about Play the Game, which has a national release date of August 21st. Our thoughts on the film can be found here and be sure to check out the official website at: www.playthegamemovie.com.
Golden Grouches: I’ve read that Play The Game is, at least in some ways, a very personal project, the idea stemming from conversations you had with your own grandfather over his foray back into the dating pool. But another reason the story felt so fresh was the relative paucity of romantic comedies (or really movies in general) with a major plot revolving around the elderly. Did that concept of bringing something somewhat new to the genre impact the writing and filmmaking process at all?
Marc Fienberg: The film was inspired by my own grandfather who started dating again when he was 89 years old. When he started sharing the details of his love life with me, admittedly I was a bit uncomfortable with the images popping into my head, but when I started to see my grandfather go through the all the same emotions and issues of a schoolkid in love, (Should I talk to her, what should I say, what if she doesn’t like me, what if she DOES like me, etc.) I found it amazingly touching and endearing. And that range of emotions that I experienced in learning about the love life of a older person was the same range of emotions I wanted to bring the audience through in the film. And so throughout the filmmaking process, I didn’t pull any punches with the “senior sex” scenes. Very little is shown, as the film is PG-13, but I wasn’t afraid of making people in the theater a little uncomfortable. So the biggest effect of having the senior storyline in the film was making sure that it stayed true to the life of real seniors, not diluting it at all out of fear of offending people. Strangely enough, those scenes are the ones that bring the biggest laughs from the audience, so I’m glad we didn’t cave to the pressure of making it more mainstream.
Oscarwatchers generally don’t have much love for the MTV Movie Awards. And hey, when Twilight and High School Musical 3 dominate the list of winners, it isn’t hard to feel that the distaste is warranted. But I actually have a lot of respect for the MTV Movie Awards and think they have something to teach the Academy: It is OK to be passionate about movies.
I certainly hope members of the Academy like movies, but sometimes I’m left with the impression that they don’t really love films. Oh, sure, they may wax rhapsodic about cinema, but can you imagine very many of them waiting in line for a midnight screening of something? Say what you will about Twilight and HSM3, but they inspired mass hysteria in a pretty sizable chunk of moviegoers. That shouldn’t be a bad thing. No one is suggesting the Oscars should switch to fan balloting or only nominate movies seen by lots of people. But how many people loved Frost/Nixon or The Reader? The fact that you are coming up with a name for each only proves my point. The Dark Knight met with riotous fan approval, but also near-universal acclaim. It shouldn’t have been punished because its supporters were loud.
A few months ago, a friend asked how I decided what movies to watch. I gave a typically rambling answer that, I’m sure, didn’t entirely answer the question. But it did get me thinking about the movies on my Netflix queue and how they got there. So here is a reason I watch movies. Maybe it will become a series. This installment: Jessica Alba.
When I first started thinking about this idea and what I would write, I came up with a number of things, hopefully I’ll get to them all. But writing about watching movies because of Jessica Alba is fitting for two reasons. First, when I was debating getting Netflix a few years ago, I distinctly remember that the ability to see all of the movies in which she appears was one of the more compelling reasons I came up with. Second, apparently everyone is under the impression that I am obsessed with Jessica Alba. Sure, she’s featured prominently on my list of most attractive celebrities for almost a decade now. But it creeps me out a little bit that most of my friends would not be surprised if they found out I was arrested for stalking her.
Let’s take a little walk through some highlights of her filmography, shall we?
In “Silence Is Not Golden,” we are attempting to take a look at some modestly-released films through the eyes of the filmmakers themselves. In this installment, Scott Prendergast was kind enough to answer our questions about Kabluey, released in July 2008 and available on DVD. Here’s a brief look at our thoughts on the film.
Golden Grouches: As writer, director, and star (and I’ve read where you said it wasn’t necessarily easy to convince potential producers that you should take the lead), it would certainly seem like you had significant control over how Kabluey went into the can. Were there any limitations preventing the final cut from being what you hoped for, or was the end result how you envisioned it would be when you first set out on the project?
Scott Prendergast: There were ALL SORTS of limitations preventing the final cut from being what I had hoped for. But I realized that no movie ever lives up to the initial hope/dream/idea. And that’s not always a bad thing.
There are financial limitations (we don’t have enough money to blow up a car), time limitations (we don’t have enough time to shoot all 4 seasons), availability limitations (Zsa Zsa Gabor can’t play the lead).
Then there are what we’ll call “personnel” limitations. Like, the director of photography goes insane and stops taking his medication. Or one of the producers is a maniac and wants to direct the film himself. Or one of the actors is barely hanging onto reality.
These are all generic examples. We had our share of troubles on Kabluey – but you always have troubles. SOMETHING always comes up. And you realize that making a movie is all about DEALING with the problems in a creative way that will not derail your vision for the movie.
And of course the director is usually wrong about something. Like, it’s not actually that charming to have a 5 minute close up of the teddy bear. Or the music he wrote for the film is awful. Or the film is just too long and the test audiences hate it. Or the footage just doesn’t add up to the same story told in the script.
So again – you are working with what you have – and creatively improvising to make something in line with what you had originally hoped for.
Kabluey ended up being about 75% of what I had originally hoped for. But there are so many things in the movie that I LOVE that were not in the script. I was asked to write a few scenes – and I did it begrudgingly – and those scenes turned out fantastic.
It’s all about rolling with the punches and creatively improvising.
I’m pleased as punch to announce a new (hopefully) semi-regular feature here on Golden Grouches. Interviews! The yet-to-be named series focuses on movies with relatively small theatrical releases, and we’ll be discussing, among other things, the challenges these types of films face in the writing and filming processes. We already are wrapping up a few, so be sure to look for them soon.
If you have any suggestions for films to include in this series, please feel free to e-mail us at GoldenGrouchesATgmailDOTcom.
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