If you seek a pleasant film experience that isn’t muddied-up in cheesy pop music, dramatic dialogue, slow-motion emotional breakdowns, and otherwise trivial we-will-do-our-best-to-make-you-cry-and-therefore-feel-something constructs, Lasse Hallström’s “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” is the film for you. In two words, the movie is both pleasant and pure—it never tries to be anything it’s not. It never seeks to defy the reality of pure human emotion. Like a movie-detox ridding you of [...]
“Sixteen Candles”, “Clueless”, and “Mean Girls” came before “Easy A” with witty dialogue, smart characters, and cynical sarcasm faithful to the high school experience. And where Molly Ringwald, Alicia Silverstone, and Lindsay Lohan punctuated each film with the face of a star in the making, Emma Stone (when the film premiered in 2010) did the same for “Easy A.” Without her, the film would fall flat. Her impeccable comic timing, [...]
The first movie I remember seeing in the theater was “Aladdin.” And although years later, after countless views of my family’s VHS copy of the Disney classic, I grew obsessed with the story and the characters involved (I seriously donned a Jasmine T-shirt nearly everyday for a three month period of my childhood), that first viewing was about something different. It wasn’t about my new favorite “person” Jasmine. It wasn’t [...]
A television pilot can be a tricky thing. For the creators, they have 45 minutes to convince networks that their characters, story lines, and overall premise has enough meat to it to withstand 23 episodes and properly timed cliff hangers during sweeps week. But it’s only 45 minutes. What if your characters start out as clichés but will be shaped later? What if your premise starts out simple but will [...]
To any cinematic follower, or dabbler in pop-culture, or even those who consider themselves as cultured as every narcissistic character in a Woody Allen film, Alexander Payne’s recent award season buzzed film, “The Descendants”, is the movie to watch for that Oscar gold. (It’s recent Golden Globe win doesn’t hurt either.) It certainly has all the ingredients of an award contender: George Clooney; George Clooney out of his element as [...]
Just imagine if M. Night Shyamalan sat in the front row of every theater “The Sixth Sense” was shown in, pointed towards the screen at Bruce Willis and said, “Oh, by the way, this guy’s really dead” in the first ten minutes. He wouldn’t ever think of doing such a thing because that shocker is the most compelling part of his story. Leave that sort of revelation to Sidney Lumet. [...]
I was thinking the other day about how I understand the world through movies. I only understand economics in terms of the film industry and politics in terms of documentary and politically twisted plots. I know which fork to use first from “Titanic“, and I understand Duke and Duchess culture from “The Duchess“, 80s fashion from “Sixteen Candles”, and how to best rob a bank from “The Town”. My earliest [...]
