by Dean | Apr 10, 2016 | General
With an outstanding range, Sally Field terrifically enacts a poorly conceived character in Hello, My Name is Doris (2016), a pack-of-lies movie by Michael Showalter and Laura Terruso. Pack-of-lies? Yes: Doris is a bashful woman deeply silly enough to chase a much younger, good-looking man—one who is forever tolerant and understanding. Too, though frumpy, she holds her own among the young man’s lively young companions.
A waste of time, this. Launched by the idea that Doris is a naif who must learn a lesson, critic Alan Scherstuhl, though a slight fan of this flop, correctly asks: “What are we supposed to get from watching a naif learn a lesson we already know?”
by Dean | Apr 4, 2016 | General
It’s mainly for Christian viewers, yes, but deals with something serious in American affairs: the effort to suppress all references to Christian doctrine in public institutions, and to suppress Christian actions (such as the refusal to make a same-sex “wedding” cake, of all things) elsewhere.
Unfortunately, this filmic drama, and sequel, directed by Harold Cronk is egregiously preachy. The courtroom material can get quite bad, and excessive closeups are used. I like Melissa Joan Hart, though.
by Dean | Apr 3, 2016 | General
Cover via Amazon
The film is one of Elia Kazan‘s best—a work of considerable realism and intelligence. A political picture, it never gets as tiresome as Kazan’s A Face in the Crowd. Not exactly an art film, with its pastoral long shots it nevertheless reflects the filmmaker’s admiration for the old-time Russian directors such as Pudovkin. Moreover, Wild River is usually impressively acted.
by Dean | Mar 31, 2016 | General
I just finished watching the seventh episode of Game of Thrones (Season 5) on DVD.
In this season, there is a religious cult called the Faith Militant which reminds me of the Taliban. It’s a wonder even Cersei (Lena Headey), who ends up being arrested by the cult, tolerates it. I take it she was pleased by the Militants’ treatment of Margaery (Natalie Dormer), social-climbingly married to Cersei’s young son.
Speaking of Dormer, I’m glad she is now permitted by the show to exercise her acting chops: She convinces as an angry Margaery as well as a sweet and sly one. . . Also, there seems to be better cinematography than in the past—better lighting, more beauty. Truth to tell, although too much nudity appears in the series, much of this beauty can be seen in the excellent body of the show-offy Tyene, played by the California-born (not British) Rosabell Laurenti Sellers.
by Dean | Mar 29, 2016 | General
Cover of Down with Love (Widescreen Edition)
Peyton Reed‘s Down With Love (2003) is a charming curio about love and sex. Actually it values sex over love without realizing it, which is a pity. Another pity is that it was made strictly in the mode of the old Rock Hudson-Doris Day confections of 1959 to 1964, and so displays some pretty trivial nostalgia, mainly for clothes, room decor and period songs.
Rene Zellweger plays the author of a self-help book, “Down With Love,” Ewan McGregor enacts a Casanova of a men’s magazine writer. The scenarists insert a mild, reasonable feminism, but err by having Casanova finally turn into an enlightened and sensitive New Man instead of simply a gent thoughtfully in love with Zellweger. But Down With Love has an agenda, you see.
It also has a nifty opening titles sequence which is so corny it’s hip.
