Category Archives: movie

Setter’s ‘Spectives: Lamenting the Career Path of Johnny Depp

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Setter Drawing for Blog 082613Once in a blue moon, I wonder why certain actors have made professional decisions that have taken them away from one career route and toward another.

Take Johnny Depp. About 20 years ago, he starred in the intriguing, Jim Jarmusch-directed independent film Dead Man. Now, however, he stars in big-budget spectaculars such as the forthcoming Into the Woods, as well as Tim Burton-helmed duds such as Alice in Wonderland.

Was Dead Man an anomaly? Is Depp really just a Hollywood actor who doesn’t take cinematic risks anymore?

This is a talented performer we’re talking about here, but I’m concerned that celluloid experimentation is no longer of interest to him – that he’s riding on the coattails of his eccentric, tiresome performance in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and, as such, doesn’t feel the need to try something new and inventive. I lament that.

Hopefully, there will be more challenging roles in his future. Although in seeing that he’s reprising his role as the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass, I am not convinced that’s the path he’s traveling down.

Sad.

Skip’s Quips: ‘Wild’ Trailer Makes the Movie Look Really Bad

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Blog Sketch 082813Yes, I realize I’m jumping the gun when complaining about the trailer to a movie. But the preview for Wild, the based-on-a-true-story Jean-Marc Vallée film starring Reese Witherspoon as a woman who takes up hiking as a road to self-improvement, doesn’t look all that wonderful.

I’m not a huge fan of Witherspoon’s acting anyway, so that’s another hurdle. But in general, this picture looks manipulative, frustrating, like Dallas Buyers Club, which Vallée also directed. That flick also has a star that I don’t care for from a performance perspective: Matthew McConaughey.

There’s a trend here, though, and it’s the trend of trailers that don’t sell their movies as well as they should. If a preview doesn’t entice me, there’s something wrong with it. It should tout the picture’s best qualities, not make it look irritating. That’s how Wild came off. And unfortunately, that’s what it left me with.

There’s a chance that this film might be a good one. There is. I’m not expecting that, though. In this case, the trailer tells all. I’m buying that for now.

Setter’s ‘Spectives: What to Make of ‘The Interview’

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Setter Drawing for Blog 082613Just thought I’d jump into the ring regarding the controversy surrounding the upcoming movie The Interview.

Saw a trailer for it recently. It looks pretty silly and sophomoric. And the premise – that a TV star and his producer would be recruited to “take out” maniacal North Korean leader Kim Jong-un – is ridiculous. Folks can rest easy. It’s just a movie.

Funny thing is, no one seemed to mind when Leslie Nielsen’s bumbling policeman Frank Drebin beat up world leader caricatures – including one of Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini – with two-fisted aplomb in The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!. Maybe because the context was so ludicrous, it couldn’t be taken seriously. My feeling is The Interview should be viewed in the same way. I repeat: It’s just a movie. It’s not advocating anything … right?

Which is not to say that filmmakers and their pictures shouldn’t necessarily be absolved of responsibility for the outlook of their projects. In this case, I think, the idea is so absurd that any fears about the prospect of potential political upheaval are unfounded. Case closed.

Right? Right.

Skip’s Quips: Getting Charmed by ‘Mystic Pizza’

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Blog Sketch 082813Last night marked the first time in my life that I’ve watched the Donald Petrie movie Mystic Pizza.

OK, it’s not a masterpiece. But this charming slice-of-life comedy-drama, which concerns the romantic trials and tribulations of three young women as they shepherd slices and pies to customers in a Mystic, CT, pizzeria, has a lot to offer, including solid performances and slick direction. Though it’s a bit unfocused – there doesn’t seem to be a central character, and the film veers from one relationship to the other without honing in on any single one – the script offers some telling observations, particularly when it comes to prejudice in small-town America. (The three women are of Portuguese heritage, and the strongest personality, played by Julia Roberts, encounters bigotry from her rich boyfriend’s family.)

I liked this picture. I wouldn’t rush to see it again, but it was a pleasant diversion. And I’m going to refrain from calling it a chick flick; in my opinion, if a movie is good, it’s accessible to and enjoyable for everyone. So it is with Mystic Pizza: pretty solid filmmaking, and I’m glad I got to watch it. Frankly, there’s nothing mystic about that.

Setter’s ‘Spectives: ‘Mr. Death’ Offers a View to a Shill

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Setter Drawing for Blog 082613It’s hard to watch Errol Morris’ documentary Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr., in part because its subject – the titular electric-chair specialist who became a champion of Holocaust deniers after testifying on behalf of one – is so deluded as to make listening to him an ordeal. But there’s something fascinating about the story behind this misguided individual, and Morris tells it in his usual compelling way. In revisiting the film last night, I was struck by a question I asked myself: Does Leuchter realize he comes off as being willfully ignorant?

Morris’ technique, which includes using incidental music and slow motion to comment on the proceedings, often seems tongue-in-cheek, as it does in another one of his documentaries I saw recently: Tabloid, whose subject also could be construed as being misguided. In some way, this strategy detracts from the idea of letting the viewers draw their own conclusions about the individuals appearing onscreen, but it also adds flavor, context, perspective.

I kinda like it.

Other good news: Morris peppers Mr. Death with views from, happily, intelligent people who document the evidence behind Auschwitz’s use as a location to gas Jews to death during the Holocaust, which Leuchter’s poorly generated findings argued against. Still, watching this guy talk is a trial, and it’s difficult not to get frustrated with what he and other Holocaust deniers interviewed onscreen (such as David Irving) have to say. It’s a testament to Morris’ skill that he lets them speak on camera, and I appreciate that. Because how else are we to know what kinds of people we’re dealing with?

A well-done film. Just not one I want to sit through again.

Skip’s Quips: If It Ain’t in the Book, It Might Work in the Movie

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Blog Sketch 082813I’ve always been a bit bothered by the ending of David Lean’s otherwise masterful film of Great Expectations.

Pip winds up tearing the curtains off the windows to rescue Estella from a Miss Havisham-esque fate, and that just didn’t happen in the Charles Dickens novel.

The question is: Does it work in the context of the film? If so, maybe that’s not such a big problem after all.

I’m an advocate of that idea – that a scene need not be in the original source material to be warranted in a film version. Filmmakers change such content all the time in their adaptations of classic works for all kinds of reasons … sometimes, dare I say it, for the better. So why does it distress me so much in Lean’s version of GE?

It certainly makes a big impact at the end of the movie, and although I do find it somewhat melodramatic, the scene is very powerful. I think it’s also in line with the characters, as Estella was groomed by Miss Havisham to be … well, an awful person. Having her consider becoming her former mentor is an interesting way around the book’s ending, and Pip’s “rescue” ties her back to him in a romantic fashion.

Maybe I should watch this sequence again; sometimes, the more you get used to a film, the better it becomes. And I could definitely stand watching this great picture at least one more time. Especially if I’m looking to understand the ending better.

That just might happen.

Setter’s ‘Spectives: Sipping at the Cup of Jon Stewart’s ‘Rosewater’

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Setter Drawing for Blog 082613Yesterday, while at the theater to watch Nightcrawler, I saw the trailer for the Jon Stewart film Rosewater.

I have to admit, I’m a bit skeptical about this production. Stewart directed the movie and wrote the script for it, and although I think he’s a funny, often insightful guy, I’m far from a devotee of his work and don’t agree with him on everything. This serious picture, which documents the imprisonment and questioning of a journalist in Iran, is hardly comic material, and comedy is Stewart’s specialty. From a cinematic standpoint, it’s a big risk.

On the other hand, the trailer suggests some interesting cinematography and intriguing dialogue, which would be a big step forward for the usually lighthearted Stewart. It’s also topical subject matter, given the tyrannical regime currently in Iran, and might call further attention to the events occurring there. So there’s a part of me that’s looking forward to seeing it.

The question is: Will it be good? It’s hard to say. I guess I have to wait and see.

I hate doing that.

From Skip and Setter’s Creator: Too Sick to Watch Movies?

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Blog Sketch of Me 092213Is there such a thing? I feel like I can’t concentrate today. And I’m on a powerful antibiotic to combat an upper respiratory infection, so I’m feeling under the weather, anyway.

Too much to sit down with a nice movie and enjoy it?

Normally, when you’re sick, movies are your lifeblood, right? They keep you from going crazy as you lie in bed and do nothing. They save you from succumbing to boredom. They make you happy at a time when you feel like being sad.

But for some reason, I can’t fathom taking in a picture right now. It’s too much to digest. I’d rather wait around for this to pass.

I know that sounds lazy, yet it’s the way I feel now. Hopefully, the medicine will do its trick soon. Then I’ll be on my way to watching movies once again. There are a lot that I want to see. No illness is gonna stop me.

I just have to be patient. At least it’s a rainy day here in Forest Hills, and I don’t have to feel guilty about not going out. Though my wife did want to see a movie in the theater today. Guess we’ll have to do that another time.

I’m looking forward to that.

Skip’s Quips: Hoping for a Film of ‘A Confederacy of Dunces’

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Blog Sketch 082813One day, hopefully, A Confederacy of Dunces will become the movie it’s destined to be.

I’ve felt for a long time that this great John Kennedy Toole novel – which focuses on bizarre character Ignatius Reilly as he fumbles from mishap to mishap in New Orleans – was made for the cinema, as it’s got sweep, humor and a kind of beauty in its comic pages. Apparently, a project for a film of this book has been in the works for a while; its IMDB page notes that a picture is currently in development. This can, of course, take a long time to come to fruition, but I’m sanguine about the prospects. Ultimately, I believe, it’ll happen. It’s too good of a story not to.

Sometimes it doesn’t seem fair that so many lesser works have appeared onscreen before Dunces. I just have to keep hoping that this movie will become a reality. I also hope that it won’t be ruined like so many adaptations of classic tomes beforehand. It’s hard to know at this stage, though. Staying positive about the prospects is essential.

I think I can do that.

Setter’s ‘Spectives: The Time Has Come to Speak of ‘The Wicker Man’

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Setter Drawing for Blog 082613Halloween’s a-comin’ … and you know what that means.

Quality horror movies should be watched. Including Robin Hardy’s 1973 creepy-fest The Wicker Man.

There’s something really satisfying about this eerie film, about a policeman’s encounters with paganism on a remote Scottish isle. It’s not pure horror – there’s very little blood or gore – yet there’s plenty of atmosphere, as well as a disturbing subtext that may lead viewers to ask questions about belief and the acceptance of others’ religions. The picture features terrific performances, including that of Edward Woodward as the cop aghast at the islanders’ practices and rituals, and offers a fine, wistful musical score by Paul Giovanni. Plus, there’s a great script by Anthony Shaffer that transcends the usually ghoulish genre with insightful dialogue and vivid characterizations.

This is a cult film that spawned the awful remake of the same name with Nicholas Cage, but it’s the original that should be seen. I like to watch it every now and then when it’s on, and Halloween seems like a good time to do so … though it’s by no means the only time that’s appropriate. I’ll be looking for it with particular interest this month, however, owing to the festivities of the season, and, of course, because I haven’t seen it in a while. It definitely merits watching multiple times; if you haven’t seen it yet, I recommend it. Be prepared for some unsettling scenes that may have more impact than the graphically violent sequences that seem so prevalent in horror today, as it’s a well-crafted picture that doesn’t rely on blood to keep itself going.

All the more reason to enjoy it, right? That’s my opinion, anyway.