The Critical Filmmaker

If this had been billed as a student film, I might have tolerated it a bit better.  Sadly, this first-foray by Clara Mamet (daughter of David Mamet) is just not smooth enough to be considered off-beat or quirky comedy.  The problem is that it tries too hard. It's supposed to be autobiographical, which is even crazier.  Does David Mamet hide under his bed all day? I'm all for absurdest humor.  I love Monty Python and have enjoyed some classic off-the-wall comedies from the UK as well as the US.  But maybe that's my problem.  Nothing seemed original.  Sure, dancing fish and ballerinas out of the blue does make one pause and wonder, but I was a teenager when MTV was born.  Oddball videos were a part of my childhood, so I have seen this all before. Sometimes a film is funnier to those involved in making it than it is to the audience.  I have a feeling the cast and crew laughed themselves silly, but maybe because it was a lot of fun to do something silly, quirky and just a

It's been a while, and I think that's because I only seem to write in this blog when a film or TV show touches me emotionally or causes me to think.  Whiplash is one of those films. I have heard the Oscar buzz about it and while I do think it has a chance with its powerful performances, I'm wondering how people feel about J.K. Simmons' character of Fletcher. I hated him. I totally get the tough-love approach to getting people to do their best.  When I was a kid in school that was the way to do it.  A teacher or a coach could be mean, be nasty and push buttons to get the kids to do their best, much like a drill sergeant in the army.  It's not like today's "good job" coaching where everyone wins.  I realize why it's not done as much, because in some cases it's akin to bullying. My view is that while I am on the fence with tough coaching (when it works and it's done right, go for it, but think about the psyche of the people you're