The Critical Filmmaker

‘The Sweetening’ Adds a Little Spice to a Mundane Life By Monica Sztybel Imagine finding the one, the person who gets you, who knows and loves everything about you.  What if you could meet that person, only they aren’t a person at all?  Instead it is a virtual encounter.  A computer-generated companion that only you can see and hear, and in some ways even touch. The Sweetening explores what can happen when the unreal feels real. Like most of us, Sadie (Grace Rowe) has regrets.  She wishes her life was different.  She is lonely, but refuses to admit it to anyone.  Perhaps she doesn’t realize it until she meets Jack (Matt Houston)?  He’s everything she wants, handsome, charming and attentive.  He also seems to know everything and love everything about her.  How can she not fall for someone like him?  The film starts with Sadie sitting on a park bench, holding an ice cream cone. She is alone with her thoughts, her narration touching upon he...

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 so...

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 ...

Call me a cynic, but this film didn't grab me at all.  I guess it's really designed for people who are a bit more involved in politics or have strong ideals about their candidates.  For me it was just a fictionalized account of events that have happened in politics within the past few years.  The only shocking thing was the ending which felt like it was saying, "Hey look, this is what it's like.  Life goes on." I had expected more from this film.  I thought it would be more of a thriller with twists and turns, but it didn't thrill me at all.  The acting was great, but the plot fizzled for me. Personally, I think I'm more of a realist than a cynic, since I do lean toward positivity.

Good film, though I had expected more from it.  The trailer made it seem like Brad Pitt's character, Billy Beane, was the one with the ideas, although he's the one who brings in Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), who helps make a considerable difference to the team. It was a nice film, and a true story worth telling.

Showing my age here...  I used to watch SWAT when I was a kid and I loved it.  I also watched The A-Team, and while I watched it every week and was a big Stephen J. Cannell fan, I didn't love the show as much as his others (Hardcastle & McCormick and Riptide). The A-Team: I have to admit, I was ambivalent about seeing this film.  I'm not crazy about all the remakes of TV shows out there.  I think Hollywood needs to come up with some original ideas and stop reviving old films and TV shows (or copying from each other). When a friend told me she liked it, I decided to give it a chance.  Unfortunately, I don't share her enthusiasm.  It just didn't gel for me.  What made the show work was the banter and the charm.  This film was all cockiness with a couple of inside jokes here and there.  There was no cohesion for me.  It was just a big mess. SWAT Conversely, I liked SWAT.  I loved the old show, so I was expecting this one ...

Here's a list of films I recommend seeing: Girl Rising - documentary about the importance of education for girls in poorer countries and how girls give back to their communities The Iceman - based on the life of mob hitman Richard Kuklinski.  It was a compelling film with some minor plot holes, but still captured my interest. Attack - a film by a Lebanese director about a Palestinian man who is a successful doctor in Israel.  Everything is going great until he finds out that his wife was a suicide bomber. Reluctant Fundamentalist - another terrorist film, only this one is about a man who is accused of being the mastermind of a terror cell, but he insists he's an innocent victim.  Is he telling the truth? Kon Tiki - the true story of a group of men who (in 1947) set out to prove whether a balsa wood raft made it across the pacific in ancient times.  It well done, and I loved how they filmed it in English as well as in Dutch. Disconnect - Some people didn'...

I know I've been remiss at posting reviews.  I have seen a few good films lately, but I find myself more interested in exploring the why's and wherefores of films I didn't completely love.  I'm not being facetious or negative. Just the opposite.  In fact I know I should post all my positive reviews and I will do it in the next posting.  Right now I'm motivated by one thing: Why was Silver Lining's Playbook awarded so many accolades? Again, I'm not trying to poke fun or be negative.  I'm just trying to understand what stood out.  Was it the fact that Pat and Tiffany were able to go against the odds and find love with each other?  Was it the shocking condition that Pat had?  Were we supposed to feel sorry for him or laugh about it?  Was it because De Niro was in it?  Was it because Jackie Weaver was in it? I'll tell you what I liked about this movie.  First, my most favorite scene is when Pat's father confides in him about wanti...

I know I mentioned in a previous review that I like stories of discovery.  I also have said in the past that I tend to enjoy films about teachers and writers. Well, this film is sort of an exception to that.  Maybe it's because I saw Freedom Writers the night before and the scenes of jaded teachers and faculty tend to grate on me.  Coming from that film and seeing the opening sequence in which college professor - and Lewis and Clark aficionado - Lewis is told that teaching his students isn't important, only irked me a tad bit further And then there are his kids who in some ways remind me of George Clooney and the younger cast in the Descendents (read my review).  Another film I didn't love. I think my problem is that we've gone down this road before.  We've seen these kind of predictable plots.  They key in these films should be how they get there.  To paraphrase Lau Tsu, "It's the journey, not the destination."  And yet neither of these fil...

Impossible is definitely an apt title for this film, which tells the true story of a family that got caught up in the Tsunami in Thailand a few years ago. The special effects of the tsunami is incredible.  It's amazingly realistic.  It just takes your breath away. It's a compelling and powerful story.  It also seems so unbelievable.  Yet, if you believe in fate and destiny and happenstance, you find this film quite intriguing.

I love the British.  I do.  I also love Dustin Hoffman.  And, I also have seen plenty of operas.  So I was expecting a truly delightful film.  Sadly, it just didn't have the punch I would have expected from a British comedy. For a funny film I'd recommend The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (see my review).  It was lighthearted, moving and funny.  This one had some really great moments including and not only the musical performances, but some of the comedy.  Sadly, the jokes only elicited a mild chuckle from me and nothing that had me doubled over. Highlights include Tom Courtney's character Reginald connecting with young kids by comparing rap to opera, and the ending credits which showed old photographs of the opera singers who appear in the film and the opera company they performed with.  And for the actors who aren't opera singers, they had similar photographs that included one of their hit performances on stage or film. I think Dustin H...

Another admission:  I've never read On the Road by Jack Kerouac.  At times I wish I had, being an English major and always enjoying the exploration in novels.  Sadly, I have yet to read this one.  I would like to. So it was with a blank slate that I saw the film adaptation by Jose Rivera . Sitting in a crowded theater prior to the film commencing, I was keenly interested in knowing who had read the book, as the question was being posed to the audience.  A decent amount of hands went up.  When people were asked whether they had liked the book or not, they were divided.  I thought that was interesting. Then the critic who introduced the film, Godfrey Cheshire, agreed that many people are divided by their feelings over the book.  To this day you either love it or hate it.  To give us an idea of what was going on during the era depicted in the film (late 40's/early 50's), he mentioned that the interstate highway system was brand new then...

Okay, I'm not ashamed to admit that I've never seen an Ed Burns film before.  Not that I have anything against him or his films.  I just never have seen The Brothers McMullen.  Now that I've seen the Fitzgerald Family Christmas, I would like to see Brothers McMullen. Not having the first film to compare, I can say that this one is entertaining.  I wasn't laughing out loud all the time, but the story was interesting, the acting solid and the film as a whole was entertaining. There were predictable moments like the sister who was dating a much older guy and her brother who was dating a younger woman and what occurs when they decide to spend the weekend at a beach house. The main plot of the film involves the estranged father of seven kids wanting to see his family again after he had deserted them some 20-30 years ago.  Ed Burns plays the loyal son who still lives with his mother and constantly works to bring this fractious family together every Christmas....

I found this movie entertaining... a bit too much so. As I watched this film I found myself not really connecting with it.  At first I couldn't understand why, but afterwards I realized it was because it didn't seem realistic.  It painted Alfred Hitchcock as a temperamental, spoiled child, and not the bossy, tyrant tales about him have told.  It is an entertaining film, though.  I would just take it with a grain of salt.

An interesting, well told tale of two young men, who discover they were switched at birth.  The twist is that one man is a Palestinian being who had been raised by a Jewish family in Israel and the other is a Jew who had been raised by Palestinians across the border. What helps this movie along is that the young men, while in shock, seem to be more curious than angry about their predicament.  Each one wants to know more about their real family. I won't give anything more away, but I wonder how the film would have played out if they had been angrier? Note:  This is a French film with English subtitles.  Sometimes the characters speak English because it's easier for the two families to comprehend each other.  Other times - aside from French - Hebrew and Arabic are spoken.

I'm not a prude - at least I don't think I am - but lately I've been wondering about the proliferation of movies that involved people cheating on their spouses and how it's presented on screen. A few years ago Michael Douglas starred in a film called Solitary Man about a man who is given only a few months to live, and decides to go out and leave his old life behind, divorce his wife and essentially have his mid-life crisis adventure while there’s still time left.   The writer/directors claimed they were trying to show how wrong it was, but yet I didn't get that vibe from the film.   Instead I saw it as a man trying to find himself even if it meant leaving his wife and sleeping with a much younger woman.   And yet, I felt the writer/directors were trying to hide the fact that the guy was actually living the life they wanted to live. Instead they had to have a moral, a lesson as to why it's so wrong just so someone in Hollywood would distribute it. Do all fi...

Writer/director Debbie Goodstein shares the true story about a man wrestling with anger issues to the point where it terrifies his family. Joe Fine (Chazz Palminteri) owns a garment business in the mid 1970's.  He has moved his family to New Orleans to start fresh.  It is not the first move, as explained in voice-over by his daughter, Natalie (Jodelle Ferland), and soon we see why.  When his business dreams are dashed, he takes his stress out on his family.  Older daughter Maddy (Rainey Qualley) reveals that this is not the first time he has acted so violently. The film shows an interesting angle as to how abuse can affect people.  In this case it's often more verbal than physical, but he does lash out at times as well. Palminteri does a good job, but as with his other roles he seems to be playing the father like a thug at times.  Andi MacDowell is terrific as his wife,  a Holocaust survivor.  She is scared of her husband, although she loves...

Film:  Frozen River Synopsis:  It's about a woman whose husband up and leaves the family without warning. She's desperate, because they had enough for a final payment on a modular home, and he's ran off with the money. So she has only a few days to pull together the funds, and she can't earn the amount needed on her salary. So she has to resort to some desperate means to get the money in time, taking a huge risk that could not only put herself in danger, but also her kids as well. My review:  This is a powerful film and very compelling. ------------------------------------------------- Film: Away We Go My review:  It's a cute film, though somewhat over the top at times. I'd recommend it, but I wouldn't rank it at the top of the list of comedies. ------------------------------------------------- Film:  Beeswax My review:  Boring. The production values were very amateurish - lower than low budget - and the writer/director decided to throw away...

This is a fictional Holocaust film, taking a very real, alarming subject and making a children's story out of it. Considering the sensitive subject matter, I thought it was well done. It stars David Thewlis (Harry Potter) as a German soldier whose son befriends a boy in a concentration camp. The plot requires you to have to suspend reality, since there are some scenes that just wouldn't make sense otherwise.  Based on a children's book, the writers of both the book and the film called it a "Fable", but in the end this misled the audience and caused some negative reviews. I cried of course. I always do, but I did think it was a good film so long as you ignored a couple of obvious flaws.

Film:  For My Father Review:  A very good film about a Palestinian who has to redeem his family name by becoming a suicide bomber. We see what he encounters when he goes into Israel to do the deed. It was a very interesting and poignant film. ------------------------------------- Film:  The Young Victoria Review:That was very good, although I think it would have worked better as a Masterpiece Theatre mini-series with more episodes added to it chronicling her whole reign. The film only covers her early years, and even that scratches the surface. Still it was entertaining with a nice bit of romance. They did bend the truth in one scene, which I heard bugged the British audiences a bit, so that might not sit well with purists, but overall it was a nice film. --------------------------------------------------- Film:  Wonderful World Review:  This is the fourth time since I started attending the film series that I've seen a Matthew Broderick film, and I...