THERE WILL BE BLOOD: Deadpool
Posted: February 22, 2016 | Author: Donald | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Brinna Hildebrand, Deadpool, Ed Skrein, Leslie Uggams, Morena Baccarin, Paul Wernick, Rhett Reese, Ryan Reynolds, Stefan Kapicic, T.J. Miller, Tim Miller | 1 Comment »First, a word from our sponsors: I am now offering a new service: so much emphasis has been given lately to the importance of the opening of your screenplay, I now offer coverage for the first twenty pages at the cost of $20.00. For those who don’t want to have full coverage on their screenplay at this time, but want to know how well their script is working with the opening pages, this is perfect for you. I’ll help you not lose the reader on page one.
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Warning: SPOILERS
I’m sure that Deadpool isn’t the first post-modern comic book movie, but I’m sure it has to be one of the most obvious ones, one that absolutely revels and glows in all its post-modernism glory. It not only feels as if it comments on such films, it feels as if it comments on comments on such films.
The style and tone is set by the opening credits which aren’t made up of the names of the people who actually did what the credits claim they do, but are more generically described. I don’t remember them exactly, but there was God’s Perfect Idiot as the star; The Obligatory Cameo; Asshats as the producers, and perhaps my favorites, the Screenplay is by the Real Heroes of the Movie, while the direction is by an Overpaid Tool.
THE MOORE THE MERRIER: Movie Review of Where to Invade Next by Howard Casner
Posted: February 18, 2016 | Author: Donald | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Michael Moore, Where to Invade Next | 1 Comment »First, a word from our sponsors: I am now offering a new service: so much emphasis has been given lately to the importance of the opening of your screenplay, I now offer coverage for the first twenty pages at the cost of $20.00. For those who don’t want to have full coverage on their screenplay at this time, but want to know how well their script is working with the opening pages, this is perfect for you. I’ll help you not lose the reader on page one.
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Warning: SPOILERS
In Dan Ariely’s book The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Home and at Work, the author talks about how logic isn’t always the best way to go and that, at times, it makes much more sense to act in a counter-intuitive manner. One of his chapters is devoted to an age old fault that most people find difficult to ignore: that if someone else comes up with a solution to something, it’s not worth considering since you didn’t come up with it yourself. We, as humans, are more likely to ignore good advice simply because we didn’t think of it first.
This was something that happened to me while I was watching Michael Moore’s new documentary, Where to Invade Next. The basic premise of the film revolves around our intrepid and peripatetic hero Moore, traveling from nation to nation in Europe and studying how each has managed to resolve issues that are verily plaguing us, whereupon at the end, he plants an American flag whenever he takes that solution for the U.S.
His first stop is Italy, which has an incredibly large number of holiday and vacation days, as well as five months for pregnancy leave, shorter work days and two hour lunches. The workers are much happier and seem to enjoy life a lot more, since there’s more life to enjoy. With the result that Italy is just as, if not more, productive than the U.S.
And this is where my defense mechanism kicked in. I said in my mind, yeah, maybe, but Italy has a lot of problems, which means I’m not so sure we should consider adopting such a work place attitude. Read the rest of this entry »
I’M READY FOR MY CLOSEUP, MR. DEMILLE: Movie Review of Hail, Caesar! by Howard Casner
Posted: February 8, 2016 | Author: Donald | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Alden Ehrenreich, Alex Karpovsky, Caesar!, Channing Tatum, Ethan Coen, Francis McDormand, George Clooney, Hail, Joel Coen, Jonah Hill, Josh Brolin, Michael Gambon, Ralph Fiennes, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Veronica Osorio | 7 Comments »First, a word from our sponsors: I am now offering a new service: so much emphasis has been given lately to the importance of the opening of your screenplay, I now offer coverage for the first twenty pages at the cost of $20.00. For those who don’t want to have full coverage on their screenplay at this time, but want to know how well their script is working with the opening pages, this is perfect for you. I’ll help you not lose the reader on page one.
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Warning: SPOILERS
Hail, Caesar!, the latest comic satire from Joel and Ethan Coen, is one of those films that has so much that is right with it, plus a bit more that is brilliant, that it makes it all the more disappointing that it doesn’t quite come together.
The basic premise has as its center piece one Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin), head of production at the fictional Hollywood studio Capital Pictures (the same studio that the Brothers used in Barton Fink). Over the course of one or two days, he has a difficult decision to make: should he remain at Capitol where he’s constantly having to put out fires both large and small and is constantly confronted by the insane antics of his stars, or will he take a position as head of Lockheed, a safe position with a guaranteed future (this is the 1950’s after all, and TV is more than making its presence known), fewer hours and less stress on the nerves?
Well, so far so good. Read the rest of this entry »
OUT OF GAS: Movie Reviews of The Lady in the Van and Aferim! by Howard Casner
Posted: February 7, 2016 | Author: Donald | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Aferim!, Alan Bennet, Alan Bennett, Alex Jennings, Florin Lazarescu, James Corden, Jim Broadbent, Maggie Smith, Marius Panduru, Nicholas Hytner, Radu Jude, Teodor Corban | 5 Comments »First, a word from our sponsors: I am now offering a new service: so much emphasis has been given lately to the importance of the opening of your screenplay, I now offer coverage for the first twenty pages at the cost of $20.00. For those who don’t want to have full coverage on their screenplay at this time, but want to know how well their script is working with the opening pages, this is perfect for you. I’ll help you not lose the reader on page one.
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Warning: SPOILERS
Forgive me if I start out with a pun to describe the new comedy The Lady in the Van. It’s basically little more than a vehicle for the legendary actress Maggie Smith. To add insult to injury, I’ll continue with another pun: it’s a pretty stalled vehicle when all is said and done.
The cental premise is based on something that sorta, kinda happened to the British playwright Alan Bennett (The History Boys, The Madness of King George). After striking up a conversation with the neighborhood bag lady who lives in her van, and after not being able to shake her off, the playwright acquiesces to her suggestion that she park her vehicle in his driveway. He agrees, more out of an inability (or cowardice as he describes it) to say no. It’s only supposed to be for a little while, but she stays there until she dies fifteen years later.
Even though this is a vehicle for Maggie Smith, she is only fitfully effective, and I think that this may be because her character is more a construct than a real person. I mean, Bennett’s bag lady here is not your run of the mill everyday type of bag lady. No, here she is a former concert pianist and ex-nun who has gone into hiding because she thinks she is responsible for the death of a motorcyclist (she’s not) and who is being blackmailed by a police officer. Read the rest of this entry »
MANLY MEN: Movie Reviews of The Finest Hours and Mojave by Howard Casner
Posted: February 2, 2016 | Author: Donald | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Ben Affleck, Ben Cross, Carter Burwell, Chris Pines, Craig Gillespie, Eric Bana, Eric Johnson, Garrett Hudland, Holiday Grainger, Mark Wahlberg, Mojave, Paul Tamasy, Scott Silver, The Finest Hours, Walter Goggins, William Monahan | 9,039 Comments »First, a word from our sponsors: I am now offering a new service: so much emphasis has been given lately to the importance of the opening of your screenplay, I now offer coverage for the first twenty pages at the cost of $20.00. For those who don’t want to have full coverage on their screenplay at this time, but want to know how well their script is working with the opening pages, this is perfect for you. I’ll help you not lose the reader on page one.
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Warning: SPOILERS
The story of The Finest Hours, based on a true one the screen tells us, takes place in 1951, which is probably apropos since whatever else the movie is, it’s certainly good old fashion entertainment.
It’s a movie in which men have to do what men have to do and their strong independent minded women also serve by sitting and waiting. It’s a movie that if it were done in odorama or smellovision, testosterone would be the fragrance of choice. It’s a movie so Howard Hawksian, you can’t help but wonder what that great director might have achieved with state of the art CGI.
But perhaps most important than all of that is that The Finest Hours is rollicking, edge of your seat fun. Yes, it’s formulaic and predictable (you can see the tropes coming a mile, or knot, off), but here it’s so well done, with such sincerity and heart, that the familiarity just makes it more enjoyable. And if that’s not enough, it has enough chills, thrills and nail biting suspense for ten movies.
The basic premise revolves around what is considered the most daring and dangerous rescue mission in Cast Guard history. During a massive storm, a tanker is split in two. The half with the captain goes down, but the other half, which has more ballast, is still afloat…for now. While the crew on the tanker try to figure out what to do (they settle on a plan to find a shoal and run the ship aground), on shore a Coast Guard cutter is assigned to look for the tanker—what many see as a suicide mission.
EXUENT PURSUED BY A BEAR: Movie Reviews of The Revenant and Anomalisa by Howard Casner
Posted: January 14, 2016 | Author: Donald | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, Anomalisa, Charlie Kaufman, David Thewlis, Domhnall Gleeson, Duke Johnson, Emmanuel Lubezki, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lukas Haas, Mark L. Smith, Michael Punka, The Revenant, Tom Hardy, Tom Noonan | 8,206 Comments »First, a word from our sponsors: I am now offering a new service: so much emphasis has been given lately to the importance of the opening of your screenplay, I now offer coverage for the first twenty pages at the cost of $20.00. For those who don’t want to have full coverage on their screenplay at this time, but want to know how well their script is working with the opening pages, this is perfect for you. I’ll help you not lose the reader on page one.
Ever wonder what a reader for a contest or agency thinks when he reads your screenplay? Check out my new e-book published on Amazon: Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader, including my series of essays, What I Learned Reading for Contests This Year, and my film reviews of 2013. Only $2.99. http://ow.ly/xN31r
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Warning: SPOILERS
The Revenant is, perhaps, one of the most visceral movies you will see in some time. Everybody involved, from the technicians to the designers to the screenwriters (Mark L. Smith and Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu from a novel by Michael Punka), to the director (Inarritu) seemed to have gone out of their way to give the movie a feeling of verisimilitude that can be matched by few films.
The dirty bodies and clothes and rotting teeth (you can almost smell the bad breath); the zip of an arrow through a man’s throat; the blood flowing from wounds made by knifes, bullets and hatchets; and the never ending harsh environment of snow and icy rivers (I almost caught the flu) are all paraded proudly for public consumption.
This is probably best demonstrated with what may now be the infamous bear attack scene in which our hero (Hugh Glass, played very bravely and stoically by Leonardo DiCaprio) is mauled, bitten and strewn all over the place by a mama grizzly fearing for her cubs. It’s an amazing bit of filmmaking and in many ways deserves all the praise it has earned.
And it goes on for a very long time. Read the rest of this entry »
HEAD CASES: Movie Reviews of Joy and Concussion by Howard Casner
Posted: January 10, 2016 | Author: Donald | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Albert Brooks, Alec Baldwin, Annie Mumolo, Bradley Cooper, Concussion, David Morse, David O. Russell, Diane Ladd, Edgar Ramirez, Isabella Rossellini, Jeanne Marie Laskas, Jennifer Lawrence, Joy, Ken Howard, Melissa Rivers, Peter Landesman, Robert de Niro, Susan Lucci, Virginia Madsen, Will Smith | 183 Comments »First, a word from our sponsors: I am now offering a new service: so much emphasis has been given lately to the importance of the opening of your screenplay, I now offer coverage for the first twenty pages at the cost of $20.00. For those who don’t want to have full coverage on their screenplay at this time, but want to know how well their script is working with the opening pages, this is perfect for you. I’ll help you not lose the reader on page one.
Ever wonder what a reader for a contest or agency thinks when he reads your screenplay? Check out my new e-book published on Amazon: Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader, including my series of essays, What I Learned Reading for Contests This Year, and my film reviews of 2013. Only $2.99. http://ow.ly/xN31r
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Warning: SPOILERS
The movie Joy, the new sorta, kinda, maybe bio-pic of Joy Magano, inventor of the Miracle Mop, starts out with text on the screen: “Inspired by the true stories of daring women. One in particular”.
I don’t know. Somehow on seeing those words up there in front of me, there was something so…condescending and patronizing about it all. It’s as if the filmmakers David O. Russell (who wrote the screenplay and directed) and Annie Mumolo (who worked on Bridesmaids and gets co-story credit here) were doing women a favor by making the movie at all and that somehow women should be thankful that someone actually created a film that instructs them how they should be leading their lives, since, being women, apparently, they don’t really know how to be daring and independent themselves.
I’m sure I’m overreacting and I’m sure few others felt the same way, but there was just something about it that left a bad taste in my mouth.
Once this intro was over, we then spend the first third of the movie with Joy being victimized by her family (both extended and not) as it falls to her to take care of everyone else’s problems while she puts hers on hold.
This section didn’t play that well with me, I’m afraid. It’s hard to watch a character allow her or himself to be treated like a door mat, letting everyone walk all over then. I think the intent is for those in the audience to say, “Oh, the poor woman”, when in reality, we’re sort of thinking, “Hey, no one’s forcing you to be the cure all for other people’s over-exaggerated slings and arrows”. Read the rest of this entry »
IMMORTALITY: Hitchcock/Truffaut and He Never Died
Posted: December 31, 2015 | Author: Donald | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Alfred Hitchcock, Francois Truffaut, He Never Died, Henry Rollins, Hitchcock/Truffaut, Jason Krawczyk, Kent Jones, Toubiana | 895 Comments »First, a word from our sponsors: I am now offering a new service: so much emphasis has been given lately to the importance of the opening of your screenplay, I now offer coverage for the first twenty pages at the cost of $20.00. For those who don’t want to have full coverage on their screenplay at this time, but want to know how well their script is working with the opening pages, this is perfect for you. I’ll help you not lose the reader on page one.
Ever wonder what a reader for a contest or agency thinks when he reads your screenplay? Check out my new e-book published on Amazon: Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader, including my series of essays, What I Learned Reading for Contests This Year, and my film reviews of 2013. Only $2.99. http://ow.ly/xN31r
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Warning: SPOILERS
One of the great Woody Allen’s more well-known quotes is his musings on the end of life. He said: “I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve immortality through not dying”.
Recently, two films have played in which the central characters achieved immortality in one of those ways.
The documentary Hitchcock/Truffaut is based upon a series of interviews that the great New Wave French filmmaker, Francois Truffaut, had with one of his most important influences, the more polished Hollywood filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock.
It was an attempt in a way to save the master of suspense. Up until then, though considered one of the most reliable and successful filmmakers of his time, Hitchcock still really wasn’t taken as seriously as he is now for the simple reason in that he made “thrillers”, a genre that was not considered something that filmmakers who took the art form seriously entered into (back in 1940, Gary Cooper turned down the lead in Foreign Correspondent, a role that went to Joel McCrea, because he felt that this genre of film was unimportant and beneath him—a decision he said later was his greatest mistake). Read the rest of this entry »
PASSING THE LIGHTSABER: Movie Review of Star Wars: The Force Awakens by Howard Casner
Posted: December 25, 2015 | Author: Donald | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Adam Driver, Carrie Fisher, Daisy Ridley, Daniel Craig, Domhnall Gleeson, George Lucas, Harrison Ford, J.J. Abrams, John Boyega, Lawrence Kasdan, Lupita Nyong’o, Mark Hamill, Max von Sydow, Michael Arndt, Oscar Isaac, Star Wars: the Force Awakens | 8,899 Comments »First, a word from our sponsors: I am now offering a new service: so much emphasis has been given lately to the importance of the opening of your screenplay, I now offer coverage for the first twenty pages at the cost of $20.00. For those who don’t want to have full coverage on their screenplay at this time, but want to know how well their script is working with the opening pages, this is perfect for you. I’ll help you not lose the reader on page one.
Ever wonder what a reader for a contest or agency thinks when he reads your screenplay? Check out my new e-book published on Amazon: Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader, including my series of essays, What I Learned Reading for Contests This Year, and my film reviews of 2013. Only $2.99. http://ow.ly/xN31r
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Warning: SPOILERS
The new Star Wars film (Star Wars: the Force Awakens to be exact) has a simple theme: the only thing that can stop a bad guy with the force is a good guy with the force.
All in all, I would have to say that this new entry in the franchise is both better than the original Star Wars and not as good as the original Star Wars.
It’s better acted than what is now known as A New Hope; the dialog is a bit more pithy and witty; the characters are somewhat less one-dimensional; and the special effects less cheesy.
But there’s one thing the original space opera had that the new one doesn’t, can’t and will never have. Read the rest of this entry »
A BIT SHORT: The Big Short and The Hateful Eight
Posted: December 23, 2015 | Author: Donald | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Adam McKay, Brad Pitt, Bruce Dern, Channing Tatum, Charles Randolph, Christian Bale, Damian Bichir, Ennio Morricone, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Karen Gillan, Kurt Russell, Melissa Leo, Michael Lewis, Michael Madsen, Quentin Tarantino, Ryan Gosling, Samuel L. Jackson, Steve Carrell, The Big Short, The Hateful Eight, Tim Roth, Walton Goggins | 1,892 Comments »First, a word from our sponsors: I am now offering a new service: so much emphasis has been given lately to the importance of the opening of your screenplay, I now offer coverage for the first twenty pages at the cost of $20.00. For those who don’t want to have full coverage on their screenplay at this time, but want to know how well their script is working with the opening pages, this is perfect for you. I’ll help you not lose the reader on page one.
Ever wonder what a reader for a contest or agency thinks when he reads your screenplay? Check out my new e-book published on Amazon: Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader, including my series of essays, What I Learned Reading for Contests This Year, and my film reviews of 2013. Only $2.99. http://ow.ly/xN31r
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Warning: SPOILERS
The Big Short, like Spotlight, is the one of those movies ripped from the headlines—of years and years ago; but this time the subject is not pedophile priests, but the downfall of the American economy. Written by Charles Randolph and the director Adam McKay, from a book by Michael Lewis, it’s also a very satisfying bit of agitprop theater with Brechtian distancing devices thrown in for good major.
It basically tells the story of four different groups of people who all realized, more or less at the same time, and years ahead of schedule, that the housing mortgage bubble was going to burst in 2007 and destroy the world’s economy.
This leads to the movie’s major irony: the people who figured this out then proceed to invest heavily against the U.S. economy, making tons of money when their Cassandra like prediction of doom came true.
So basically, we in the audience, along with the characters in the movie, find ourselves and themselves actually hoping that the U.S. financial system tanks like the Titanic. Read the rest of this entry »
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