Author: mfordfeeney

140 Character Movie Review – #140RVW

What can you say? As a film it’s fairly pedestrian, but it’s hard to care about that while watching this hero relive his story… #Jackie42

Spoiler-free Movie Review of The Jackie Robinson Story:

Today is April 15th, Jackie Robinson Day. It’s one of the most important days of the year, not just the baseball season. It would be impossible to overstate the impact of Robinson on our world. Greater talents than mine have articulated the significance of #42 and I’m not going to try to improve upon them. Suffice it to say, Jack Roosevelt Robinson was a hero of nearly mythical stature, which should not obscure the fact that he was a phenomenal ballplayer and athlete.

The story of the collaboration of Jackie and Brooklyn Dodgers President Branch Rickey to break baseball’s color barrier is such a great one that it was destined to be the subject of a feature film. The only surprising thing is that it was made while he was still playing. In a move that would never happen today, the titular hero played himself in his own autobiography. The movie was filmed in the off-season following Robinson’s third year in the majors. That’s the season of 1949, in which he won the Most Valuable Player award, hitting .342 with 124 RBIs. Busy year…

As inspiring as Robinson’s story is, there’s no getting around the fact that this is a B-movie. It must have been made for about $11, and none of it was spent on production values. The picture is so slapped together it stops just short of employing cartoon sound effects to let you know how you should feel (since you’re not likely to get any clues from any of the actors).

I find it interesting and appropriate that no one would do as good of a job portraying Robinson than Jackie himself, but it does play a bit weird. I’ve seen this technique used before and it’s no less strange. I suppose it’s like watching those dramatic recreations of scenes from bad TV shows like Unsolved Mysteries. Still, he is the only man truly qualified for this role, and he’s a pleasure to watch. It’s just a bit awkward. No one should be asked to reenact their own life – it’s odd.

Ruby Dee acquits herself nicely as Rae Robinson and Minor Watson nails Branch Rickey. Yes, he’s over the top and unbelievable, but reportedly that really is how Rickey conducted himself.

The baseball footage is pretty good, even if it’s filmed entirely wrong; nice to see a little footage of Ebbetts Field, even if I’m certain it’s just stock. The movie in general just suffers from old movie lack of polish. Nothing really wrong, just workmanlike.

There’s almost no humor in the film at all. Not really an issue, but the filmmakers clearly thought it was, since they shoehorn in a recurring bit with a short ballplayer called – wait for it – Shorty, who keeps popping up the ball because he’s…short. It’s exactly as funny as it sounds…

Since Jackie and Rae Robinson were involved, you’d expect the historical accuracy of the picture to be pretty unassailable, and for the most part it is. It just makes the few missteps even more surprising, like the Kansas City Monarchs being re-christened the “Black Panthers”. Seriously? Also, the film shows him speaking before the House of Representatives; it’s a nice moment, but the real reason he was “invited” was to testify before the House of Representatives’ Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC). Sigh…

The Jackie Robinson Story is not a great biopic. It would take until 2013’s 42 for that. (Although the 1996 HBO movie Soul of the Game was pretty good.) But it’s really not important – you can’t judge all films just on their technical merits. It’s a powerful and wonderful story, and Jackie Robinson deserved the spotlight and to take a bow…

Poster:

Trailer:

https://youtu.be/biLJvoQp0C4

Bechdel Test:

Fail

The Representation Test Score: B (8 pts)

(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)

[schema type=”movie” name=”The Jackie Robinson Story” description=”Biography of Jackie Robinson, the first black major league baseball player in the 20th century. Traces his career in the negro leagues and the major leagues.” director=”Alfred E. Green” actor_1=”Jackie Robinson” ]

Main Cast	Jackie Robinson Jackie Robinson Ruby Dee Rae Robinson Minor Watson Branch Rickey Louise Beavers Jackie’s Mother
Rating	Approved
Release Date	1950
Director	Alfred E. Green
Genres	Biography, Drama, Sport
Plot	Biography of Jackie Robinson, the first black major league baseball player in the 20th century. Traces…
Poster
Runtime	76
Tagline	You’ll HIT With Him! You’ll RUN With Him! You’ll SLIDE With Him!
Writers	Arthur Mann, Lawrence Taylor
Year	1950

140 Character Movie Review – #140RVW

Note-perfect movie of the sort seldom made; genuine older characters played not for laughs (although they’re riotous) but as real humans…

Spoiler-free Movie Review of Land Ho!:

Land Ho! is a marvelous picture; an absolute joy to watch and reflect on, as it does stick with you. Technically speaking, I guess you’d have to classify it as a buddy comedy, but that sells it short, even if it does follow some of the genre’s conventions.

The film follows a pair of former brothers-in-law whose friendship has dulled in the wake of the death of one sister and the divorce of the other. Australian actor Paul Eenhoorn plays Colin, a reserved and charming retiree and widower, reeling from the dissolution of his second marriage. His friend Mitch (Earl Lynn Nelson), a human spark-plug, surprises him by booking them both for an adventurous trip to Iceland.

Following these two around is simply a blast. There are some similarities to the quieter road trip films like A Walk In The Woods, but it brings to mind nothing so much as the 2010 Steve Coogan / Rob Brydon comedy The Trip, with nearly as many movie references as that picture.

It probably goes without saying that the scenery of Iceland, with locales such as Reykjavík, Skógar, Jökulsárlón, Landmannalaugar, Gullfoss, Strokkur, and Blue Lagoon, is breathtaking. Too bad – I’m saying it anyway. Iceland is one of the few destinations that could get this homebody to take his act on the road, and the setting is as appropriate for the story as it is enchanting. DP Andrew Reed does a nice job.

The pacing is slow but lively, perfect for an amble around a new country. The tone is exactly right. Interestingly, the picture came together very quickly; I read that it premiered at Sundance just over a year after conception. The entire shoot was only 18 days. This is the beauty of digital filmmaking, for all of its detractors – the filmmakers were able to use a couple of Red One cameras, allowing for a quick shoot that captured the natural settings, improvisation and very easy, genuine conversations and interactions. This is entirely to the benefit of the film, as it allows for a closeness and familiarity that makes the picture work so well. I want to hang out with these guys…

The co-writing & co-directing team of Martha Stevens & Aaron Katz have really created something special here. This isn’t a film about “old” people and their wacky ways. It is a charming, funny story about two old friends off on an adventure. The friends happen to be more advanced in age than protagonists in many pictures. There are no cheap laughs here. This is an engaging film about real humans, not caricatures, positive or negative. Very highly recommended.

Poster:

Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Pass

The Representation Test Score: B (9 pts)

(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)

[schema type=”movie” url=”http://www.sonyclassics.com/landho/” name=”Land Ho!” description=”Back when they were brothers-in-law, married to two sisters, MITCH (Earl Lynn Nelson) and COLIN (Paul Eenhoorn) were close friends, but they drifted apart as Mitch and his wife divorced and Colin’s wife died. Now Mitch, a retired surgeon who can’t quite admit to being retired, recruits a reluctant Colin on a holiday to Iceland – just the ticket to perk up a pair who have endured their share of disappointments but still have a spirit of adventure in them.

Brassy, relentlessly cheery, and prone to colorfully profane language (“…this is so delicious it’s like angels pissin’ on your tongue!”) Southerner Mitch is the live wire of the duo. Colin, a more reserved Australian, is picking up the pieces after a second marriage gone sour. For both men, aging, loneliness, and disenchantment are silent adversaries to be countered with gumption.

Women are much on the radar during their travels: in upscale Reykjavik, they hit the nightclubs with Mitch’s much younger first-cousin-once-removed ELLEN (Karrie Crouse) and her friend JANET (Elizabeth McKee), who happen to be traveling through at the same time. Even though Mitch, who is something of a Dapper Dan, disapproves of the unrevealing outfits worn by the ladies (Ph.D candidates both), a good time, of sorts, is had by all.

As their rented SUV pilots them deeper into the Icelandic hinterlands, Colin and Mitch encounter fellow adventurers, get on each others’ nerves, play movie trivia games, get lost on the moonless moors, grouse about their sons, smoke pot, speak of regrets, and marvel at Iceland’s otherworldly beauty. The vast, haunting landscapes – moss-coated cliffs, fog-shrouded mountains, geothermal pools – form a primordial Eden, the perfect backdrop for the friends’ escapades.

And as Mitch exclaims when Colin’s spirits flag, “Don’t get that Sunday afternoon attitude – good times are still a-comin’!” – a testament to the fact that joie de vivre can replenish us at any age.” director=”Martha Stevens & Aaron Katz” actor_1=”Paul Eenhoorn” ]

Main Cast	Earl Lynn Nelson Mitch Paul Eenhoorn Colin Daníel Gylfason Rental Car Employee Þrúður Kristjánsdóttir Hotel Restaurant Waitress
Rating	R
Release Date	2014
Director	Aaron Katz, Martha Stephens
Genres	Adventure, Comedy
Plot	A pair of former brothers-in-law embark on a road trip through Iceland.
Poster
Runtime	95
Tagline	Come party with these guys!
Writers	Aaron Katz, Martha Stephens
Year	2014

140 Character Movie Review – #140RVW

There’s a good movie to be made about the early years of Walt Disney; sadly, this workmanlike outing isn’t it. Still worthy of your time…

Spoiler-free Movie Review of Walt Before Mickey:

Despite whatever impressions you get from the name of this site, I really try to keep these reviews positive. I take absolutely no pleasure in trashing a film or novel (with a few exceptions, like Zack Snyder, whose films I love to hate). Although I am obnoxiously over-opinionated in real life, I pause before writing a negative review. I simply don’t think it adds anything to the already over-populated web to write a hatchet job. There’s too much of that already. Surprisingly to those who have known me a long time, I generally do follow the advice of not saying anything if you have nothing nice to say.

This is doubly true because this site has developed a bit of an independent focus. I’m really finding it much more rewarding to feature lesser known films and novels. I hope in my own small way that I’m amplifying the signal and helping artists find their audience. So the last thing I want to do is trash someone who isn’t buffeted by dozens of complimentary reviews.

So it kills me when I come across a mixed bag like Walt Before Mickey. I eagerly looked forward to the release of this picture, and I already said I was going to review it, so I don’t want to skip it simply because it was a fairly complete letdown. But I feel badly for saying that…

As movies go, this was probably a great book. “Based on” the Timothy Susanin book of the same name, this is one of those pictures that is more like a dramatization of the source material; it feels like someone mapped out each page of the text and presented it verbatim. When something is that closely linked to the source, I often wonder why they bothered. (Yes, Zack Snyder, I’m talking directly to you…)

The story is fantastic, of course. The tale of Walt’s early years is a great one, and it hasn’t really been told on screen before. So they had to make this picture. But it could have used a bit more creative license. At 110 minutes, it’s a long yarn, particularly because it feels somewhat repetitive. Walt was a man who failed twice in spectacular fashion in two different cities with the same staff. I know that’s what really happened, but it does feel somewhat redundant in the way it’s presented. Too many of the same beats are repeated.

It’s all just very workman-like. There’s a low-budget veneer to everything that makes it feel more like a TV movie than a feature. It’s also somewhat clunky – the dialogue is stilted and the actors aren’t agile enough to make anything more of it. But that’s not meant to be an insult to the actors or the filmmakers; there are some fine performances in here and the production design is good. The period authenticity is excellent and there are a few interesting visual shots and motifs (like Walt befriending a mouse) that hint at a more subtle, nuanced picture that this could have become and would have better suited the story.

In the end, the failing of the film, if such it be, is that it is sort of an inverse example of the little things that come together to make a good picture. Instead of a bunch of serendipitous little moments coming together to make something work, Walt Before Mickey has a combination of weaker factors that just make it less than the sum of its parts. It doesn’t look very good – the camera work is too static and there’s too much color timing; there’s no pacing – it’s just one thing happening after another without connective tissue or a broader tone; a few of the leads, most notably the Disney brothers are miscast – it’s not bad acting, there’s just something a little off. I know what it is – Nichols is all tell and not show; he keeps telling you how badly he wants to succeed, but you don’t really see it. The concept of Walt as a dreamer is lost once the character grows up and Nichols takes over; he just doesn’t believably convey the drive and ambition that made his eventual success nearly inevitable.

I thought a few of the performances were quite good; Armando Gutierrez (who also co-wrote and co-produced) is solid as visionary Ub Iwerks, and fellow animators Rudy Ising (played by David Henrie) and Taylor Gray as Friz Freleng hint at a more interesting workplace comedy. But the antagonists are all such mustache-twirling caricatures that it’s hard to be invested in the picture.

Side note: the amount of smoking in this film is more than anything I’ve seen outside of a gangster picture. Not a criticism, just an observation…Oh, and Bucky “F’n” Dent has a cameo in this movie!

I wanted to like Walt Before Mickey, and I certainly didn’t hate it. It merely represents a missed opportunity. I’d still recommend it as an illustration of an interesting chapter in the life of an icon and a story that’s probably less well known than it should be. There are the bones here for a better film, and though Walt Before Mickey underwhelms, it does tell the tale of Disney’s beginnings and is worth a watch.

Poster:

Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Fail

The Representation Test Score: C (6 pts)

(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)

[schema type=”movie” url=”www.waltbeforemickey.com” name=”Walt Before Mickey” description=”Walt Before Mickey is an independent 2015 biographical drama film about the early years of Walt Disney and the book Walt Before Mickey: Disney’s Early Years, 1919–1928 by Timothy S. Susanin. The film stars Thomas Ian Nicholas as Walt Disney, Armando Gutierrez as Ub Iwerks, and Jon Heder as Roy Disney. The film is based on the book of the same title by Timothy Susanin, with a foreword by Diane Disney Miller published by the University Press of Mississippi.

The film covers Walt Disney’s early years in business, during which he started various businesses including Laugh-O-Gram Studio and The Walt Disney Company with fellow animator Ub Iwerks and Roy Disney.” director=”Khoa Le” actor_1=”Thomas Ian Nichols” ]

Main Cast	Jodie Sweetin Charlotte Disney Jon Heder Roy Disney David Henrie Rudy Ising Jeremy Palko Older Walt Pfeiffer
Rating	PG
Release Date	Fri 14 Aug 2015 UTC
Director	Khoa Le
Genres	Biography, Drama
Plot	Based on the book “Walt Before Mickey” covers the early years of Walt Disney’s career.
Poster
Runtime	120
Tagline
Writers	Arthur L. Bernstein (written by) &, Armando Gutierrez (written by) …
Year	2015