Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on October 15th, 2013
Leland Orser is an actor. You've seen his face a lot over the years playing deranged or demented or despondent characters. He is married to Jeanne Tripplehorn, who is probably better known from the HBO series Big Love and movies like Basic Instinct and Waterworld. Orser decided to write and direct his first movie and have his wife play his wife in the movie. It is an intense character study that includes other top actors like Laura Linney, Eliot Gould, Kyle Chandler, Jason Ritter and Julie White. Everyone in the movie seems to be in support of Jeanne Tripplehorn, who has been given quite a character to play.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on October 15th, 2013
Dave Foley is something of a celebrity, not to overstate the fact. He starred in a famous skit comedy show (Kids in the Hall) and sitcom (News Radio). He's not like super-huge famous, but he has a strong cult following. He also looks like the sweetest and least objectionable person in the world. I say he looks like that. He may be the sweetest person in the world, but he is definitely not the least objectionable person in the world. His standup DVD clearly tries to dispel the notion that he doesn't hold a lot of objectionable views. This DVD is definitely not for everyone. If you’re a very religious and conservative person, this DVD is not for you.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on October 8th, 2013
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It's funny. It's a funny show. That's kind of a big thing for a sitcom. It's good at comedy. You wouldn't think that would need to be said, but it does. I've seen many sitcoms which were like death. They were boring, uncomfortable and unfunny. I've seen many sitcoms that are a joyless exercise executed by unfunny people who have no clue on how to make a funny show. It actually isn't the easiest thing in the world to do unless you have the knack for it. You kind of have to be able to loosen up and kind of go for it. You kind of have to get real and go crazy. New Girl is that kind of show.
Posted in: The Reel World by Archive Authors on September 17th, 2013
I always have a problem when a comedy involves a lot of people getting killed, but there are always exceptions. Mob comedies are rarely completely satisfying, but there is one exception, and that is The Freshman with Marlon Brando and Matthew Broderick, which was completely inspired and hilarious, mostly because it defied expectations at nearly every turn. The new mob comedy, The Family, stars Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer, who have both made OK mob comedies before, Analyze This and Married to the Mob respectively. Almost any other mob comedy you can mention falls flat (including Analyze That).
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on September 10th, 2013
Earlier this year, I reviewed Enlightened Season One and said about Laura Dern's character that she “has so many outrageous outbursts of issues great and small that most people have dismissed her as crazy and just wish she would go away.” Now we are back with Season Two, and all of the potential craziness of Season One is ready to spill and overflow in an uncontrollable fashion. Originally conceived with a three-season arc, it is my sad duty to report that it is unlikely we will ever see the promised Season Three.
Posted in: The Reel World by Archive Authors on September 9th, 2013
Vin Diesel. He is a man. A character who doesn't seem real. He is an actor who seems like an artificial creation. He seems to be all brawn and Cro-Magnon heft with just a tiny spark of sensitivity and some sense of inherent intelligence. It turns out Diesel started out making small independent films like Multi-Facial and Strays which led to Hollywood calling for the films Saving Private Ryan and The Iron Giant,which then led to Pitch Black and a TV movie called The Chronicles of Riddick: Into Pitch Black with Diesel playing the Riddick character.
Posted in: The Reel World by Archive Authors on September 2nd, 2013
What makes a bad movie? What makes a good movie? The standards are getting lost in murky waters, because many of the critics have no interest in film history and the clear record of what is great and what is garbage. That goes for many filmmakers too. Their standards are what works in the last 12 months and how to try out the latest technology. Unfortunately they often forget the tried and true basics like good writing and good acting.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on September 2nd, 2013
The Bronte Sisters is a very historical film in many ways. It is the most accurate film we have depicting the real lives of some very famous writers. It is also an old film from 1979 being reissued that stars three great actresses who are very well known now. It has an excellent commentary that addresses both of these points by film scholar Wade Major and Bronte scholar Sue Lonoff de Cuevas done in 2013. It also includes a 2012 Bronte documentary by Dominique Maillet called the Ghosts of Hapworth. The Bronte Sisters was directed by respected French director, Andre Techine'.
Posted in: The Reel World by Archive Authors on August 21st, 2013
It's nice to see two Spielberg veterans in the same movie. It's been a long time since American Graffiti when Harrison Ford and Richard Dreyfuss last appeared together. It's been a long time since Hooper in Jaws and Roy Neary in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but Dreyfuss and Ford don't appear together in this movie either. It's like they are in two different movies. Paranoia is a corporate espionage thriller with two CEO's played by Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman, who have strong ties and stronger hates. There is lots to like about the movie, but many, many missed opportunities too.
Posted in: The Reel World by Archive Authors on August 9th, 2013
For adults with kids, there is a great need for animated films to make the family happy. For movie studios, there is a great need for films that the entire family can go to that are not slapped with an R-rating which cuts down on profits. Two recent films recently made films about races, Planes and Turbo, showed a need for speed. More and more, the glut of these movies shows the need for greed. Greed is what makes studios only think about making money and not good movies. I actually did like both Planes and Turbo, which is strange because I absolutely hated Cars 2, which was also a race movie.
