GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER: Movie reviews of Beatriz at Dinner and It Comes at Night by Howard Casner
Posted: June 22, 2017 | Author: Donald | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Beatriz at Dinner, Carmen Ejogo, Chloȅ Sevigny, Christopher Abbott, In It Comes at Night, Jay Duplass, Joel Edgerton, John Lithgow, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Michael White, Miguel Arteta, Riley Keaugh, Salma Hayek, Trey Edward Shults | 1,000 Comments »
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Warning: SPOILERS
Beatriz at Dinner is writer Michael White and director Miguel Arteta’s third film collaboration after Chuck and Buck (an interesting character study of a gay man wanting to take up a former relationship with his best friend who is now married and apparently no longer gay) and The Good Girl (a modern day somewhat clever take on Madame Bovary).
Together they have made a very solid series of films. Nothing perhaps to light up the sky, but still, quite respectable and entertaining.
Beatriz at Dinner is probably their most ambitious. At the same time, however intriguing and entertaining it often is, it is probably their weakest. I think this may be because they set up an intriguing premise, but failed to, or didn’t know how to, really resolve it all in a rich and satisfying way. Read the rest of this entry »
LAST BUT NOT LEAST: Movie reviews of Selma and Big Eyes by Howard Casner
Posted: January 16, 2015 | Author: Donald | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Amy Adams, Ava DuVerney, Big Eyes, Carmen Ejogo, Christoph Waltz, Danny Huston, DAvid Oyelowo, Jason Schwartzman, Krysten Ritter, Larry Karaszewski, Margaret Keane, Oprah Winfrey, Paul Webb, Scott Alexander, Selma, Terence Stamp, Tim Burton, Tim Roth, Tom Wilkinson | 6 Comments »First, a word from our sponsors. Ever wonder what a reader for a contest or agency thinks when he reads your screenplay? Check out my new e-book published on Amazon: Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader, including my series of essays, What I Learned Reading for Contests This Year, and my film reviews of 2013. Only $2.99. http://ow.ly/xN31r
Warning: SPOILERS
The title of these reviews is called Last But Not Least because Big Eyes and Selma are the final two movies I’m going to include under my 2014 reviews. After this, all films will fall under my 2015 reviews, no matter whether they were released in 2014 or not.
So off we go.
The strongest aspect of Big Eyes, the new bio-com written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski and directed by Tim Burton, is the art direction and production design.
Beginning in the 1950’s, the sets, the costumes, the look, the colors all have a poodle skirt playfulness about them that gives the movie some much needed energy.
This should probably be of no surprise since Burton has always had one of the more striking visual eyes in movies today, from Edward Scissorhands to Ed Wood to Alice in Wonderland. If nothing else, his films can be fun to watch.
But outside of that, there is almost nothing that works in this movie. Nothing, and almost amazingly so. Read the rest of this entry »
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