Change Your Image
JimmyMcNulty99
Reviews
Temple Grandin (2010)
A Masterpiece and a Future Classic
About the only flaw with this film is that it was only on HBO, yet it deserved a wide theatrical release so as to expose more people to this marvelous work of cinematic art.
Claire Danes didn't deserve an Emmy for her performance...she deserved an Oscar!!!! I never thought Danes was a first-rank actress (remember Terminator III?). Then I saw this movie and was utterly amazed by her transcendent performance. Danes easily moves into the first-rank of modern actresses with this stunning performance. She was born for this role. It was like watching Brando play Vito Corleone or Hanks play Forrest Gump in the sense that she "became" her character.
This is an amazing film and every thinking person alive today should see it.
Into the Storm (2009)
Falls Short
"The Gathering Storm" was a fantastic film and Albert Finney's performance in that movie was nothing short of remarkable. I'm not sure why he didn't star in the sequel, but even his outstanding talents might not have been enough to rescue this film.
"Into the Storm" film missed too many of the key dramatic moments in the Churchill narrative. Churchill learned of his ridiculous electoral defeat (shame on you, British voters of 1945!) at Potsdam, not while on vacation in France. The writers changed history needlessly, for Potsdam would have formed a much more dramatic framework in which to flashback from. Certainly far more so than the vacation in France. Heck, HBO might have even gotten Gary Sinise to reprise his masterful performance as Truman.
Why was there no depiction of Churchill's attempt to warn Stalin of Hitler's looming invasion and Stalin's ignoring of said warning? And where is Churchill interacting with figures like Eisenhower and De Gaulle? Why was all of this omitted? The worst thing about this movie, however, was the omission of Churchill's immortal "Finest Hour" speech. Seriously, how could the writers and producers omit such an amazing and inspirational speech? I was looking forward to the scene of him delivering this speech but, alas, it never came. The producers also could have thrown in a scene of his address to Congress (by the way, what was with the actor playing FDR? He resembled FDR, but didn't even try to sound like him at all).
This film was about one of the bravest and boldest men of all time, the man perhaps most responsible for the defeat of Nazism. He was a real hero. He may have been flawed personally, but heroism consists in the transcending of one's flaws in the achievement of great things.
How did the producers of this movie manage to screw up such golden subject matter?
Dan in Real Life (2007)
Dan in Real Life....not Real Good
I watched this movie last night on DVD. Perusing the various reviews on IMDb tonight, I am absolutely mystified by all the positive reviews. This is one of the most ludicrous films I have ever seen in my life. I usually give a movie a pass if once or twice things happen which don't make sense. Again and again in this movie, however, ridiculous implausibility followed ridiculous implausibility. My wife and I must have rolled our eyes a dozen times and exclaimed "Oh, come on!" during the course of this (mercifully short) disaster.
Think I'm not being fair? First consider the transcendent idiocy of the shower scene and the utter lunacy of both the aerobics and talent-show scene. What family acts like this? The football scene you could sort of forgive, if that was the only familial bliss we were subjected to. You could imagine families horsing around playing football. But aerobics and talent shows on top of that? Consider also the laundry room scene, in which every adult in the film decides to do their laundry at the exact same time as though there were multiple washing machines in the room. Then there is the way Dan's mommy punishes him for his rudeness at dinner by making him do the dishes by himself as if he is eight years old. Finally, notice that everyone in this idiotic family seems to go to bed at the exact same time.
The ending is the worst of all, however. Dan's bratty daughters suddenly approve of his love for Marie and demand that he pursue her. They travel to New York City and manage to locate her, conveniently enough, at her gym (where she met Dan's brother, I believe, which was the clue that led them to find her there). She just happens to be working out facing the front window. How convenient!
And, while I'm ranting a bit, did anyone else find the scene where so many adults in the family were making fun of the allegedly "pig-faced" character a bit off-putting? In front of the kids, the adults were singing songs mocking this woman's supposed looks and setting as horrible an example as possible. And was anyone with a brain surprised when she turned out to be drop-dead gorgeous? (not to mention a doctor, as well!)
I could go on and on. This was an awful,awful movie. Scarcely five minutes went by without something ridiculous or unbelievable happening. What utter rubbish.