I finally saw Ted earlier this week, and in a lot of ways got exactly what I was expecting, and in some surprising ways got a lot more than I expected. Based on the previews and prior knowledge of the work of Seth MacFarlane, I expected the humor to be of the type that could …
Category: Reviews
Beware the Homage; They Do It Better Than You
I traveled to Cape Cod a few weeks ago for personal reasons. I grew up there and had to spend a few days there last month for a family obligation. While I was there, I was convinced to go to a cast and crew screening for a film directed and produced by a couple of local guys. …
John Carter: A Disorganized Mess
Let me just start out by saying that I went in to this film last night with very low expectations. I had heard and read the reviews and seen its performance at the box office. I knew that I was likely to see a film that wasn’t all that good. Unfortunately, my expectations were met. …
Kung Fu Fighting: Go Check Out “The Raid: Redemption”
Even though this is a blog about screenwriting and the value of well-crafted scripts that tell well-constructed stories, occasionally we come across something that is the complete antithesis of all of that, and yet is still entertaining and fun. It proves that in the hands of a good director and a good editor, a film …
Happy Hunger Games: The Odds Are Ever in Their Favor
What makes The Hunger Games an effective adaptation is that the filmmakers seemed to care little if you hadn’t read the book, and seemed to make the film assuming that you did. There are few surprises, a couple of big changes, and quite a bit left out, but at 2 hours and 20 minutes they managed to …
A Follow Up on Dialogue
I posted a couple of weeks ago about a scene from the film Wait Until Dark that effectively moved the story forward and revealed a big story moment without using dialogue. I posted portions of it on some of my group message boards on LinkedIn, and received some interesting comments as feedback. Some people mentioned scenes …
An Awesome Example of Storytelling Sans Dialogue
I love this time of year because TCM does 31 days of Oscar leading up to the Academy Awards. That means there’s almost always a good movie on. On Saturday night they played three great movies in a row. The evening ended with Three Days of the Condor. The middle film was The Apartment, and the whole …
The Adventures of Tin Tin: Almost Great
And please don’t misunderstand me. By saying that it’s almost great, I am not saying that it’s very good. On the contrary, it was actually very mediocre. What I mean by almost great is that if they had done a couple of things slightly differently, this would have been a great movie. Unfortunately some poor …
Puss In Boots: This Bad Kitty Made a Good Movie
In a world where animated have become a dime a dozen, DreamWorks Animation has released a fresh film taken from a stale franchise. The “Shrek” films had taken a down turn since the third installment, although the 4th film started to get some of the magic back. But with this delightful spinoff, DreamWorks has breathed …
Sensitive Hillbillies: A Quick Review of “Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil”
I saw this indie film last night at the Sunset Five in West Hollywood, and I was very pleasantly surprised. Forget about all of the horror spoofs you’ve seen. This film was everything that most of those are not. That is to say that it was clever, original and well made. The first thing you …