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August 2010 Archives
August 6, 2010
Heaven’s Gate (1980)
Has a more notorious film than Heaven’s Gate ever been made? Michael Cimino’s follow-up to a masterpiece, 1978’s The Deer Hunter, was plagued by budget problems and negative press from day one. A disastrous early screening at an unwieldy 330 minutes was so reviled by those who screened it, Cimino himself begged for more time to edit it to a manageable length. The 150-minute cut released into theatres several weeks later received some of the worst reviews any movie has ever received in the history of the medium.
Posted by D. B. Bates at 12:00 AM | Comments (4) | Trackbacks (0) | The Parallax Review, Columns, Movie Defender
All the Right Moves (1983)
All the Right Moves has all the earmarks of a sports movie, but it isn’t one. It’s telling that the epic football game usually saved for the climactic sequence occurs in the middle of the film. The ragtag, diverse students populating the team have already learned to work together and support each other. Although it falls into some of the trappings of the teen-angst genre, All the Right Moves defies clichés at almost every turn.Posted by D. B. Bates at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | The Parallax Review, On Cable
August 13, 2010
Modern Problems (1981)
This is a great setup for a sly (if slightly cartoonish) comedy about, well…modern problems. Unfortunately, Max develops telekinesis, which ruins everything.
Posted by D. B. Bates at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | The Parallax Review, On Cable
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)
Before I get ahead of myself, let me say this: I liked the movie. It’s a testament to the script itself, the cast, and director Steve Pink that the movie works despite the occasional super-cheap gag. In many ways, I think I actually prefer it to the script.Posted by D. B. Bates at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | The Parallax Review, Columns, Script to Screen
August 14, 2010
Eat, Pray, Love (2010)
Eat, Pray, Love desperately seeks to tell a unique story of female empowerment. Unfortunately, it manages to get things wrong at pretty much every turn. For starters, the “unique” story is just a rehash of 2003’s Under the Tuscan Sun (plus two extra countries for more culture-clash wackiness!): a newly divorced woman impulsively decides to travel abroad to find herself. True, Eat, Pray, Love contains more food porn and eye-rolling attempts at deep spirituality, but the core of the story remains virtually identical.
Posted by D. B. Bates at 6:00 PM | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | The Parallax Review, In Theatres
August 20, 2010
Death Hunt (1981)
The early parts of the film revel in the characters and environment. I went into the experience knowing nothing about the plot or its real-life basis, and I thoroughly enjoyed the way it established characters, setting, and tone without tipping its hand about the plot’s direction. When the plot finally gets going, though, it’s a disappointment.
Posted by D. B. Bates at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | The Parallax Review, On Cable
August 21, 2010
Lottery Ticket (2010)
Lottery Ticket has done a wonderful thing. It has successfully merged a ridiculous, high-concept studio idea with a nuanced, character-driven slice-of-life comedy. The result is one of the best comedies of the year — granted, a lackluster year for comedies thus far, but that shouldn’t diminish this film’s accomplishments.
Posted by D. B. Bates at 12:29 PM | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | The Parallax Review, In Theatres
August 27, 2010
The Detective (1968)
The Detective drops an ethical, tough-as-nails film noir antihero into a mystery story designed to tackle every conceivable issue plaguing late-’60s New York City: police/political corruption, corporate greed, racism, sexism, homophobia, divorce, psychiatry, hippies, casual sex, and even-more-casual drug use. It’s a good but not great film that earns some bonus points for not biting off more than it can chew, despite its expansive social agenda.
Posted by D. B. Bates at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | The Parallax Review, On Cable
August 29, 2010
Centurion (2010)
Centurion makes a fatal misstep in its very concept. It focuses on a ragtag group of one-dimensional Romans fighting for their lives against the Pictish tribes of Caledonia, when the Picts are the ones depicted as sympathetic and just in their fight. A movie about the tricky gray areas and moral ambivalence inherent in war could have pulled off a story focusing on the Romans, but this is not that movie. For the majority of its runtime, this is a movie about black-and-white heroes and villains, and because the story focuses on the Romans, they become the heroes whether we like it or not.
Posted by D. B. Bates at 10:58 AM | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | The Parallax Review, In Theatres
Lebanon (2009)
Like the best war movies, Lebanon makes a statement about the nature of war without seeming like it’s making any statement at all. It doesn’t get swept up in examining the political machinations that led to the First Lebanon War and picking sides. It simply depicts four inexperienced men inside the turret of an Israeli tank as it rolls through Lebanon at the start of the war in 1982. It’s at once a microcosmic view of the hell of war and a harrowing thriller. Not to sound too hyperbolic, but it’s a tremendous film that makes The Hurt Locker look like The Delta Force.Posted by D. B. Bates at 3:00 PM | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | The Parallax Review, In Theatres
August 10, 2010
Going Home Again
Title: Going Home Again Genre: Romantic Comedy Draft: Third Length: 111 pages Logline: Washed-up rock star Girth McDürchstein returns to his hometown of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to prevent his high school sweetheart from marrying. Click the image to download the…
Posted by D. B. Bates at 3:49 PM | Print-Friendly | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Writing, Feature Scripts
