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Blogs written for rottentomatoes.com
Get Smart- A film review
By Darrell J Banks
CR 2008
All Rights Reserved
The critics hated this film. I went for two reasons Amy Hathaway and Amy Hathaway. I loved Get Smart as a kid, so when I learned this film was in production I knew I see it doing release week. It appears that the plot was diverted through either development or doing the film shoot. Perhaps they did not read Plot by Ansen Dibell.
The costumes, gimmicks and clothes reflect Get Smart. But it was the sarcasm of the show created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry ( see Imdb.com) that created a comic sensation in reruns.
I was late again. The concessions packed on this hot June day. I came in as analyst Smart drove up to the Smithsonian main bldg. He enters several doors add some slapstick humor and we find ourselves at:
Act 1 Scene 1.
The teenage boys found this humor funny. This was perhaps the targeted market. But the film didn’t progress until The Rock, ala Dwayne Johnson came in as agent 23. You can skip most of the character arch, but analyst Smart becomes agent Smart when Control is attacked.
Act 2 S1
Agent Smart and 99 Hathaway, are sent on a mission to Moscow. The physical humor fails, think STAPLES, the store and what office supplies you purchase there. This was a very sad scene.
By the end of Act 2 the movie picks up its pace offers some good humor, action and slices of the old Get Smart movie. One thing missing throughout this movie. Chaos hated Smart and was always trying to find a way to get rid of him. In this movie while Steve and Amy stay in character as Smart and 99, this element should have been established in the first five minutes of the film.
I give this film 5 smoke stacks.
There will be blood- A MOVIE REVIEW
CR 2008
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED WORLDWIDE
By Darrell J. Banks
At the 2008 SAG awards, winner Daniel Day Lewis humbly dedicated his award to the late Heath Ledger. Perhaps he saw in Heath another actor dedicated to his art. An ironic turn occurred, when I left the theater there was a poster for the new Batman movie. Heath stood there and painted in blood were the words Why So serious? There are astrological reasons. I am in sync in Lewis. Born in London he has portrayed a Czech to perfection in the Unbearable Lightness of Being. He has portrayed each character to perfection. My favorite was in Gangs of New York.
In There Will Be Blood one must be serious to comprehend this performance. It is after all 160 minutes in length. The movie opens with the sound of metal on metal. Daniel is striking metal to metal in a well. Is he digging for water, gold, or oil? The movie is profound in that in the first act we only see the actors silently perform. Until Paul arrives, a sojourn on the road to salvation. Their isn't very much talking. The images, the movement speak for themselves. Fortunately, we are presented with a hellish film that takes us several hours to comprehend the title of the movie.
The writer/director carefully delves into the human heart and soul, the conflict between power, love and religion. There is no redemption. No sacred refuge of home, family or church to be found by Act 3. In a film that defines the meaning of brotherhood, false hopes and of course life Daniel Day Lewis exposes us to the things we must question when we are awake at three in the morning. Is this worth it? A hand full of oil is the imagery that answers that question.
10 smokes stacks
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Michael Clayton- A Review
2008 CR
by Darrell J. Banks
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
WORLD WIDE
Like in American Gangster it took me awhile to see this movie. No fault of my own. The first time the theater couldn’t reduce the lights. Being a photographers, see www.14crescentdrive.com, and not willing to see a grainy print I requested a refund. I was prepared to wait for the February 19 DVD date. But wait it got nominated for an Oscar, so the movie returned to the local multiplex. I sat in anticipation, having written a legal thriller The Rules of the Game (06. I bought my notebook to compare films. Well, the audience was full of mostly senior citizens, twenty to thirty years older then me. Twice the movie wouldn’t start. We sat their waiting for like ten minutes. The projectionist must have glued the print back together. The movie started and the house lights were on for like fifteen minutes. No volunteers from my elders, I had to go to the restroom anyway so I had the lights dimmed. Be kind to your elders they say.
Now for the movie.
Act one we find the protagonist somewhere in the middle of China town. New York, LA, Boston, who knows. No subtitle. It’s a scene similar to Will Smith in Enemy of the State, except they are playing cards. We find out Michael,George Clooney is a lawyer, a desperate lawyer from the look on his face. He tries to soothe another pissed off client. We find him driving into the country. In an attempt to calm his nerves he stops, approaches some horses and his car blows up.
Act two begins with four days later, a brave flash back funded by the Bank of Ireland. Something they say in the screenwriting books you should never used. But hey they weren’t nominated for an Oscar. From that point the movie becomes slightly confusing. A lawyer associate told me most people she knew didn’t like the plot line. We find ourselves in Wisconsin with two lawyers on the edge of a multibillion dollar case. Somebody gets naked. Trust me it gets clarified if you stick around for another hour.
By Act 3 the writer/director has resolved, many things family therapy couldn’t resolve in twenty years. But that’s Hollywood, and well Clooney and the film have been nominated for an Oscar. So check this one out.
PS the governor of Michigan is promoting my state for future film shots ala Transformers, the Island and that film shot on Mackinaw Island. Ciao
9 smog pipes
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