Change Your Image
kevingi-1
Reviews
Observe and Report (2009)
Faris beautiful; film ugly
Both of the stars I give this film are purely for Anna Faris, who, though a thoroughly unsympathetic character in this film, is at least easy on the eyes. Otherwise, I thought this film was mean-spirited and sophomoric from start to finish. I considered walking out on it in the theater, but couldn't bear to admit that I'd just wasted nine bucks plus the price of popcorn and a drink. I had high hopes that, given the depth of talent in the cast, the film would eventually redeem itself. Rogen, Faris, Liotta, and especially Celia Weston, have done *so* many *much* better films that to see them appear together in this bile-filled, misanthropic, mis-directed 'comedy' was very dispiriting. Seth Rogen must have been totally baked on Pineapple Express when he argued for getting this film green-lit.
24: Day 3: 11:00 p.m.-12:00 a.m. (2004)
Interesting bit of trivia in this episode
As another writer has mentioned, this episode features the return of one of the more complicated and reviled members of the "24" family, Sherry Palmer, the president's Macchiavellian ex-wife. Her purpose: To serve up a freezing-cold plate of revenge to one of President Palmer's adversaries. Penny Johnson never looked more beautiful or more dangerous.
Since it wasn't mentioned in the Trivia section here, I thought I'd add it: There's a brief shot of Nina Meyers' information on a display screen back in CTU. A close inspection reveals that it is, in fact, either the real driver's license or real passport of Sarah Clarke (who plays Nina Meyers), who presumably goes by Sarah Berkeley elsewhere, since she's married to former "24" co-star Xander Berkeley. The name on the document reads "Sarah Berkeley." This can't have been an oversight, so one presumes that Nina is intended to have an alias of "Sarah Berkeley" as a cover. Who knows? Or maybe it's just the writing team having a little fun at our expense. At any rate, it caught this writer's eye, and probably many other viewers' eyes as well.
Fun stuff from an already-fun series that really knows how to build and sustain the suspense!
Ingenious (2009)
Well above average indie flick!
Just saw this film at the AFI Dallas Film Festival. I was very impressed with all elements of the film: acting, direction, editing (though the dialog transitions were sometimes a little shaky), cinematography, etc. Dallas Roberts (Matt) and Jeremy Renner (Sam), who had not worked together previously, establish an amazing on-screen chemistry as best friends struggling to run a novelty gift business. The dilapidated storefront they operate out of is the emblem of their entrepreneurial disconnect: high on energy and ideas, low on success. Ayelet Zurer, the smoldering Israeli beauty, plays Matt's long-suffering wife Gina with nuance and flair.
I would recommend this film not only to indie fans who like a fair amount of high-speed comedy mixed in with their drama, but also to *anyone* who has ever tried to run their own business, and really put themselves out on a limb for an idea or a dream.
All great films (and this is surely one of them) have a key line or scene that summarizes the film. Without giving anything away, I will tell you that in this film, it is the closing scene atop a mountain with Matt and Gina.
Jeremy Renner was at the screening for a Q&A. He was funny, quirky, and candid, much like his character in the film. I can't wait to see this guy in more vehicles, even the television series "The Unusuals" that he's making with Amber Tamblyn.
Two thumbs way up!
Jude (1996)
Agree whole-"Hardy"-ly (pardon the pun)
The gentleman from the UK who commented on the film and said that he hadn't read the book is very intuitive regarding the book's motive force - and quite correct!
Thomas Hardy (my favorite author) wrote many of his novels as searing polemic against the institutions of Victorian English society. Hardy was a modern thinker, and felt that the societal strictures that predestined people to riches or servitude were abhorrent in the extreme.
It seems evident that the film was suggestive enough of this agenda, so on that score the film is successful.
Kontroll (2003)
Monty Python meets Samuel Beckett
Happily, "Kontroll" is neither too absurdest (though there's absolutely *nothing* wrong with Monty Python absurdity!) nor too dreary (a la "Waiting For Godot") - rather, it straddles the very fine line between the surreal, Dali-esquire world often portrayed in Terry Gilliam films and the dark, nihilist environs of a Frank Miller graphic novel.
"Kontroll" puts a three-dimensional face on a group of people most of us take for granted - ticket control officers. And if we're not taking them for granted, we're cursing and reviling them for forcing us to toe the line and actually pay for our transit through their world. While the film essentially revolves around the tension, paranoia and latent despair of the lead character, Bulcsu (played to perfection by Sandor Csanyi), it also affords comic relief via the giant narcoleptic, Muki (played by a guy who would be Brad Garrett here in the U.S.), the wizened underground sage known simply as The Professor, the manic driver Bela and his winsome daughter Szofi, and the wild prankster called Bootsie (Hungarian spelling "Buci").
The film works on multiple levels (please pardon the pun), as most great cinema does, but at its core it is really a story of rebirth, seen through the lens of a subway system that has a personality of its own. Amid the various story threads, there is a running motif of a madman who is pursuing random victims in the system itself.
If you are a fan of art-house cinema, but appreciate a story that works on a very human level, I think this film will appeal to you. It is stark in places, and extravagant in others. Don't expect everything to make sense - just go with the flow, and you'll be rewarded by film's end for your suspension of disbelief.
Ordinary People (1980)
Only Redford could start off behind the camera this way!
Another reviewer said it best when they wrote that Redford let's the story address its elements, issues and character chemistry in its own time. That's one of the most effective, and ultimately most moving, characteristics of this film - it begins and ends with the ironic name of the film. We watch the lives of a family slowly unravel and re-align, thinking all along that "it would never happen to us," and yet it does, over and over again, in ways both great and small. And that is the strength of this story - that it touches everyone in a way that makes some people uncomfortable, others relieved, and still others enlightened.
The conventional wisdom is that someone nominated for a Best Supporting role has one or two specific scenes that beget the nomination. I would submit that for Judd Hirsch, it's the final scene with Timothy Hutton. Conrad is teetering precariously on the edge of his personal abyss once more, crying out for a human touch-point. He wails, "Are you my friend?" Hirsch replies, "I am! Count on it!" Similarly for Mary Tyler Moore, it's the last line she gets to utter, this time to Donald Sutherland - "I feel the same way I've always felt about you." Her portrayal of a woman who can't bring herself to simply love her family, notwithstanding all their faults, is riveting, and serves notice that she isn't "just" Laura Petrie or Mary Richards anymore.
In my personal list of Top Ten films, this one is #3 (behind only "The Seven Samurai" and "Breaker Morant"). It should be near the top of the list of anyone who appreciates the power of a totally human narrative.