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#140RVW

One of Tim Burton’s best films, this Southern gothic fairy tale is as visually spellbinding as you knew it would be, but it’s so much more.

What’s more:

A truly original film from Tim Burton. Based on Daniel Wallace’s novel Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions, this may be the most realistic film Burton has ever made, which is honestly funny when you consider the nature of this story.

Big Fish is a winding, epic tale, moving easily between realism and fantasy as it portrays the entire life of one extraordinary man, Edward Bloom. Edward’s whole life has been a series of larger-than-life events, or at least that’s how he’s portrayed them, much to the frustration of his son Will. Will grew up in awe of his father’s tall tales, but grew increasingly weary of them as he got older, feeling that the extraordinary life his father rhapsodized about was more important to the man than the family he left behind on his constant business trips.

The men fall out at Will’s wedding, but when Edward’s health deteriorates, Will returns to his estranged and now terminally ill father. Now an expectant father himself, Will presses to learn who his father really is and find the truth behind the old man’s myths.

It’s a detailed synopsis because it’s a rich story, full of unique characters, momentous events, times and locales. It’s a very ambitious film, although it must have seemed less so coming after Tim Burton’s previous film, the disastrous Planet of the Apes.

Burton is much more at home in this tale, with its quirky characters. But it is far from a typical Tim Burton movie. Yes, Helena Bonham Carter is here and he brings back Danny DeVito, but it contains little else of his usual hallmarks. (Ok, Danny Elfman does the music, but it’s not your typical quirky Elfman-esque score.)

The film is equal parts fantasy and reality, and acquits itself well with both. You know Burton knows how to do the visually gorgeous stuff. What impresses is his equal mastery of the small moments in the “real world”.

Visually, the movie is a delight. Burton first used DP Philippe Rousselot on his crap ape movie (which at least looked good) and this second collaboration is much more fruitful. (They’d team up one more time for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.)

The visuals are a bit showy and would risk overwhelming the story in any other film, but this story is so mythic in its nature that it is the perfect complement to the narrative. You’re drawn in to this mystical tale just as the audience of Edward’s stories is and it’s easy to see why the yarns he spins have such sway.

The film has truly inspired casting – the younger counterparts of Albert Finney and Jessica Lange, played by Ewan McGregor and Alison Lohman, respectively, are perfect. Lohman in particular looks eerily like Lange.Mc

McGregor is one of my favorite actors, and really shines here, but really everyone is fantastic. While he gets the most to do, Billy Crudup is the glue that holds the story together as Will Bloom, giving the story its grounding.

Finney and Lange have some wonderful scenes together, as Finney also does with Will’s lovely wife Joséphine (Marion Cotillard).

The ensemble is filled out with great performances by Danny DeVito as the circus ringmaster who sets Edward on the path to his future wife; Steve Buscemi as poet turned bank robber turned businessman Norther Winslow, and Bonham Carter in dual roles. A larger cast of characters is headlined by the late Matthew McGrory as the gentle giant Karl.

Screenwriter John August adapted the novel with obvious affection and it really deserved more recognition from the Academy. (The film received a single nomination for Elfman’s score.)

 

The story simple is marvelous, and the way it twists and turns, jumping from present to past, fairy tale to family drama makes it one of the finest efforts in Burton’s career.

Poster:

Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Pass

The Representation Test Score: B (8 pts)

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

Main Cast	Ewan McGregor Ed Bloom – Young, Albert Finney Ed Bloom – Senior, Billy Crudup Will Bloom, Jessica Lange Sandra Bloom – Senior
Rating	PG-13
Release Date	Fri 09 Jan 2004 UTC
Director	Tim Burton
Genres	Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Plot	A son tries to learn more about his dying father by reliving stories and myths he told about his life.
Poster
Runtime	125
Tagline	An adventure as big as life itself.
Writers	Daniel Wallace (novel), John August (screenplay)
Year	2003

#140RVW

Dreadful adaptation of great comic could only have been made in the 1990’s, and didn’t even work then. Unmitigated disaster of a film.

What’s more:

My sister turned me on to the Tank Girl comics by Jamie Hewlett & Alan Martin in the early 90’s. They were irreverent, totally unique, and I loved them instantly. This movie: kangaroo dung.

I don’t know what possessed United Artists to make this movie, aside from some wild assumption on their part that the “grrrrl” movement may put a few bums in seats. Massive miscalculation. I was in college when this came out and I can’t remember a single person going to this movie or even talking about it.

This thing only could have come out when it did. Riding a wave of edgy “youth” movies, the thing plays like a frenetic nightmare desperately screaming “Look at me! I’m being edgy!”

How bad is it?

• It fails the Malcolm McDowall test – that’s a deal-killer by itself.
• It fails the rocker test; Iggy Pop shows up. Granted, he’s Iggy, so you can’t tell him apart from all of the other freaks…
• It fails the rapper test; Ice-T not only “acts” but contributes a “song”. The fact that he is hidden under Stan Winston makeup I consider a mitigating circumstance. Unfortunately, the makeup is that of a mutated kangaroo with Caucasian skin grafts. Intensely disturbing.
• The set design proves that while $25 million dollars is a small budget, it’s still too much money if you don’t know what to do with it.
• Courtney Love was a music consultant…
• The story is a train wreck. I’m giving the benefit of the doubt to the filmmakers here, though, as they fought bitterly with the studio at every turn (and lost). While a great story wasn’t strictly necessary to making a cool, stylized movie of this type, the Mad Max one they ended up turning this into is the pits.

I actually think Lori Petty is pretty great in the titular role. She seems to get the character and does her part well. Pity she’s American. It’s painful to watch Naomi Watts in this. Bet this got left off a few resumes.

At the end of the day it was simply ill-advised making this movie. The comic is brilliant but was never going to translate no matter what you did. There’s really nothing salvageable here, but I do have an idea that could have at least saved them all some money. They should have cast Gwen Stefani as the lead and got some heat off of that. Actually, that may have been a little off, time-wise. No Doubt was white-hot in 1995 but probably too late for filming this. The idea holds, though; I would have hired any one of the Spice Girls (reportedly 3 of them were in contention for the role). The movie would have been no better (probably even worse) but the box office would have gotten a bump…

Poster:

Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Yes

The Representation Test Score: B (9 pts)

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

 

Main Cast	Lori Petty Tank Girl, Ice-T T-Saint, Naomi Watts Jet Girl, Don Harvey Sgt. Small
Rating	R
Release Date	Fri 31 Mar 1995 UTC
Director	Rachel Talalay
Genres	Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Plot	Based on the British cult comic-strip, our tank-riding anti-heroine fights a mega-corporation, which controls the world’s water supply.
Poster
Runtime	104
Tagline	In 2033, justice rides a tank and wears lip gloss
Writers	Alan Martin (comic strip) and, Jamie Hewlett (comic strip) …
Year	1995

#140RVW

Excellent character study by rookie writer/director Craig Johnson features great acting by Mark Duplass, beautiful pacific northwest scenes.

What’s more:

I’m getting to really enjoy movies with Mark Duplass. Sometimes he writes, sometimes he directs, sometimes he acts, sometimes with brother Jay Duplass. But the result is consistently well-made, realistic, mostly independent films. This film contains the best acting that I have seen from him yet.

In True Adolescents, Duplass plays Sam, an unreliable man-child still trying to make it as a rocker and refusing to take on any responsibility. This isn’t a Jack Black, School of Rock type character – he’s not funny, just kind of sad. After being kicked to the curb by his latest girlfriend, he crashes with his aunt Sharon, a divorcee who is barely older than him, and her teenage son, Oliver. When Sharon’s ex-husband fails to take Oliver & his best friend Jake on a promised camping trip, Sam reluctantly takes the boys himself. Sam is at least as immature as the teenagers but in the woods he’s going to have to man up.

Written and directed by first-timer Craig Johnson, True Adolescents is an excellent film. It is an unflinching look at all of the awkwardness of adolescence, whether chronological or that of a man who refuses to grow up. It has a ton of funny moments, but it pulls none of its punches. Sam has to come to terms with who he has really become and it is not a gentle ride.

Poster:

Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

The Representation Test Score: D (3 pts)

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

Main Cast	Mark Duplass Sam Bryant, Bret Loehr Oliver Mitchell, Carr Thompson Jake, Melissa Leo Sharon Mitchell
Rating
Release Date	Fri 29 Jul 2011 UTC
Director	Craig Johnson
Genres	Comedy
Plot	Craig Johnson’s poised and poignant first feature follows Sam (Mark Duplass), an, unbeknownst to him…
Poster
Runtime	88
Tagline	Get lost.
Writers	Craig Johnson (written by)
Year	2009

#140RVW

The highwater mark for all teen movies. Crowe becomes a director, Cusack a superstar, “In Your Eyes” the soundtrack for love forever more…

What’s more:

The tagline for Say Anything is great; “To know Lloyd Dobler is to love him. Diane Court is about to know Lloyd Dobler.” It’s a perfect setup for the story, in which recent high school grad, amateur kickboxer and professional good guy Lloyd pursues and wins over gorgeous brain Diane Court, much to the chagrin of her legal-troubled father.

Cameron Crowe has a unique insight into the mind of the American teenager (at least the teenager of the 1980’s). Whether it’s his semi-autobiographical experiences as a teen journalist following bands (chronicled in Almost Famous), or his going undercover as a high school student to write the truthful and surprising Fast Times at Ridgemont High. It all comes together best here in Say Anything, his directorial debut, as he expands the focus of this insight to include the adults that inhabit this world.

This incredible talent for getting into the heads of teenagers is as strong as ever, as he writes dialogue and scenes that reflect the reality of being a recent high school graduate and searching for the meaning of it all. But one of the things that gives Say Anything real depth is the all too human presence of Jim Court, possibly the first fully-fleshed out adult in a teen movie yet. He’s not here as the dopey dad, or even the kind father who occasionally has a sincere heart to heart talk with his daughter, delivering the right mix of wisdom, insight and love. He is a complete human being with a full range of emotions, and his love, joy, jealousy, anger, fear and vulnerability make for a better film. Brought to life by John Mahoney, who turns in the best acting I’ve ever seen from him; I think you could make a case for an Oscar nomination for this performance.

Then there are the “teens”, even if many of them had long since left these years behind. By this time, John Cusack was past playing roles like this. He’d done the whole teen comedy thing and was moving on to more adult roles. Crowe was able to convince him to return to the genre, based on the quality of the character and the script. (Reportedly John Mahoney, who was starring with Cusack in Eight Men Out, also talked it up.)

Lloyd Dobler is a star-making role, even if Johnny C already was a star. Lloyd is easy to root for, but he too is more than a simple “good guy”. Cusack may have covered a lot of this comedy ground before, but he had never been as exposed as he is with Lloyd Dobler.

Ione Skye is nearly perfectly cast as Diane Court. While she’ll never again have a role as full-featured, she makes the most of the opportunity and makes the unattainable “Diane Court, whoa” a real character.

Lili Taylor & Amy Brooks as Corey & DC, respectively, are the friends you hope you’re lucky enough to have. Loren Dean didn’t get the part as Lloyd but makes a great Joe. Bebe Neuwirth makes her film debut in a small role as Lloyd’s persistent guidance counselor. Jeremy Piven & Joan Cusack make small but important appearances, as is customary in Cusack movies. Ditto Eric Stoltz for Cameron Crowe, who in addition to his cameo was a Production Assistant on the film.

The movie is executive produced by mastermind James L. Brooks, who actually came up with the germinating idea of a criminal father and his daughter.

The music in Say Anything is simply fantastic. Crowe certainly has an ear for good music, unsurprisingly, considering his roots as a music journalist, and there is a great mix of styles here.

The famous boombox scene was to highlight a Fishbone song, “Turn The Other Way”, as Cusack was a big Fishbone fan, but virtually no one in the world would disagree that Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” makes the scene a classic. (If I were going to use a Fishbone song, though, I’d go with “A Movement in the Light”.)

Best bit of trivia I found when writing this review: the dojo featured in this movie is the same one that was used in The Karate Kid (1984) as the Cobra Kai dojo.

Say Anything is not only one of the best teen movies, it’s one of the very best romantic comedies of all time. “Get ready for greatness, Lloyd.”

Poster:

Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Pass

The Representation Test Score: B (7 pts)

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

Main Cast	John Cusack Lloyd Dobler, Ione Skye Diane Court, John Mahoney James Court, Lili Taylor Corey Flood
Rating	PG-13
Release Date	Fri 14 Apr 1989 UTC
Director	Cameron Crowe
Genres	Comedy, Drama, Romance
Plot	A noble underachiever and a beautiful valedictorian fall in love the summer before she goes off to college.
Poster
Runtime	100
Tagline	To know Lloyd Dobler is to love him. Diane Court is about to know Lloyd Dobler.
Writers	Cameron Crowe (written by)
Year	1989

#140RVW

Mike Judge returns to the workplace comedy for the first time since Office Space. Exciting! Sadly, lightning doesn’t strike twice. Not good.

What’s more:

Jason Bateman is so likable. It’s hard to remember him before Arrested Development at this point, but that was a gutsy bit of casting. Now he seems to be synonymous with “nice guy”, even when he’s playing a jerk.

Mila Kunis is lovely and great at comedy. Kristen Wiig never disappoints, and JK Simmons is an underutilized gem. One of my favorite comics, TJ Miller is in it. So why isn’t this movie any good? Would it be over-simplistic to blame it all on Ben Affleck?

I joke, of course. I mean, Affleck is terrible; he always is. But he’s far from the problem with this one. The problem is Gene Simmons. Yes, that Gene Simmons. Seriously. The bassist from KISS. He turns in the worst acting performance by a bass player in a feature film since…wait, have any bass players ever been cast in a movie?

Really, it’s just not all that funny. And it had to be. There’s no story here worth having, nothing of merit but comedy. So it has to be brilliant. And it isn’t even close. Mike Judge made the funniest workplace comedy of all time in Office Space, so perhaps I was expecting too much. I don’t mean to overstate things or imply that this is a bad movie – it just isn’t good. At all…

Poster:

Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Pass

The Representation Test Score: C (5 pts)

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

Main Cast	Jason Bateman Joel, Kristen Wiig Suzie, Ben Affleck Dean, Mila Kunis Cindy
Rating	R
Release Date	Fri 04 Sep 2009 UTC
Director	Mike Judge
Genres	Comedy, Crime, Romance
Plot	Joel, the owner of an extract plant, tries to contend with myriad personal and professional problems, such as his potentially unfaithful wife and employees who want to take advantage of him.
Poster
Runtime	92
Tagline	Working for the Man Sucks. Being the Man Blows.
Writers	Mike Judge (written by)
Year	2009