This is (an) American Idol...blog!
Welcome to the first Off the Mark Thoughts American Idol Final reaction post. We (Mark and Mel) will be your guides through the 11th (really?) season of FOX's biggest talent show.
This week it's boys vs. girls, with the boys singing Stevie Wonder and the girl cover the topical, Whitney Houston. The eliminations this week will be judges choice (about time!), but it will only be done once.
This is where we disagree with AI, and feel that they should be closer to "So You Think You Can Dance", with the judges eliminating until a certain point. But, alas, Idol won't change.
Once again, our judges are Randy Jackson, Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez, and the mentor is Mary J. Blige (OK, I guess?). Let's get started:
1. Joshua Ledet -- "Wish"
Mel: "Joshua, of course, was good. His song choice didn't surprise me. Too safe I feel. It will get him through this week."
Rating: 7/10
Mark: "First performance, and I remembered how much the show misses Ricky Minor's orchestration of the background music. Joshua was solid, not overwhelming, but I felt the song would have been better with a stronger arrangement. He could be a dark horse, but he needs to not get over confident with the up-tempo and forget what makes him good."
Rating: 6.5/10
2. Elise Testone -- "I'm Your Baby, Tonight"
Mark: "My ears, my ears. She is nowhere near good enough to pull off Whitney. I hope this isn't predictive of the rest of the night. Last note was pretty bad."
Rating: 4/10
Mel: "My thoughts exactly."
Rating: 5/10
3. Jermaine Jones -- "Knocks Me Off My Feet"
Mel: "Solid performance will get him through again."
Rating: 7/10
Mark: "Very deep and smooth voice. Sometimes relies too much on the low register, but it was the perfect song choice. They seem to be going to a soul vibe this season."
Rating: 7/10
4. Erika Van Pelt -- "I Believe In You and Me"
Mark: "Going for the Adele fans, I see. All kidding aside, it's a shame they made Whitney night the first night. It was really unfair for the contestants. She held her own, but I hope she makes it next week so I can see her with a different song."
Rating: 7/10
Mel: "I love Whitney, but I will cut my ears off if all the girls start thinking they ARE Whitney. She did a good job and restrained herself from over-singing. Much better than the first girl."
Rating: 6/10
5. Colton Dixon-- "Lately"
Mel: "LOVED him."
Rating: 7/10
Mark: "First one to make the song his own, and I absolutely loved it. Definitely would buy the single on iTunes. But I still hate the dead skunk on his head."
Rating: 7.5/10
6. Shannon Magrane -- "I Have Nothing"
Mark: "I hate to sound like a broken record, but these girls keep trying to hit these note that they have no business attempting. This is why Randy says to avoid Whitney, Mariah and Christina songs. She's purdy, though"
Rating: 6/10
Mel: "Her nerves did get the best of her. A for effort."
Rating: 6/10
7. DeAndre Brackensick-- "Master Blaster"
Mel: "No, Mark, he's purdy. Better than his last performance. I think he'll go far in the competition."
Rating: 7/10
Mark: "He'll definitely get the teen girl vote, Mel. His voice is pretty good, but nothing out of the ordinary. He has the stage presence, but I'm curious to hear a more vulnerable song."
Rating: 6/10
8. Skylar Laine -- "Where do Broken Hearts Go"
Mark: "I guess this could be the reverse "I Will Always Love You" with Skylar playing the role of Dolly Parton. Finally, someone does it their way and didn't try to imitate. Head and shoulders above the other girls tonight."
Rating: 8/10
Mel: "Favorite so far."
Rating:8/10
9. Heejune Han -- "All is Fair in Love"
Mel: "Like Randy said, it wasn't perfect but it was really good."
Rating: 7/10
Mark: "Most controlled singer of the night. First one I felt could sing anything. Despite his talent, I don't know the market for him in top 40 music, so I'll need some time to see where he will be successful"
Rating: 7.5/10
10. Hollie Cavanaugh -- "All the Man I Need"
Mark: "Best voice of the night, but didn't separate herself from Skylar enough. Should have tried to go further. Probably the only one who could have survived in Whitney's range. My pick so far."
Rating: 8/10
Mel: "She was very good, but will be great when she finds her song."
Rating: 7/10
11. Jeremy Rosado -- "Ribbons in the Sky"
Mel: "Meh."
Rating: 6/10
Mark: "He's nothing special, and should not have been saved. I don't get why Jennifer had tears in her eyes. I predict he's in the bottom 2, but will be saved. I feel bad for the girl who finishes last."
Rating: 6/10
12. Jessica Sanchez -- "I Will Always Love You"
Mark: "Songs like this can either be a 4 or a 9. They either kill it or it bombs. Jessica MURDERED it. Best performance in 2 years. Favorite in the clubhouse. Wow, just wow."
Rating: 9.5/10
Mel: "Best of the night."
Rating: 9/10
13. Phillip Phillips -- "Superstition"
Mel: "Very predictable"
Rating: 7/10
Mark: "This song choice was too obvious. Reminds me too much of Casey from last season, but he has a good enough voice to succeed without all of the extracurriculars. He showed that tonight. Solid performance, it's a shame he had to follow Jessica."
Rating: 6.5/10
Going home:
Mark: Elise Testone
Mel: Elise Testone
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Day 55 -- The Weather Man
Released: October 28th, 2005
Starring: Nicholas Cage, Michael Caine, Hope Davis
Writer/Director: Steve Conrad/Gore Verbinski
Description: A Chicago weather man, separated from his wife and children, debates whether professional and personal success are mutually exclusive.
[Review may contain spoilers. Please watch movie before reading, unless you don't care. Most of these films have already been released for a while, so they should be readily available.]
***
"The Weather Man" achieved the old, 'Two out of three ain't bad'. While not his best performance, Cage did a wonderful job showing the degradation of a man. This is the one case where his overacting tendency helped rather than hurt his performance. His reaction to the apple pie being thrown at him was the perfect blend of ridiculousness and genius; it was the best way to show that he'd finally had enough.
Cage played Chicago weather man Dave Spitz, who is on the verge of reaching the top level of his profession by become the weather anchor for a Good Morning America clone. During what should be the happiest time of his life, he's on the complete opposite end of the scale in his personal life. He has separated from his wife, his daughter's being teased, and his song is about to be molested, and he is becoming more estranged the harder he tries to reconcile.
What this film shows you is that Cage is at his best in a dark comedy. "Raising Arizona" is probably the best example of this because no one could have played that role as well as he did. Cage gets in trouble when he tries too much drama and action without much comedy. Mediocre performances, such as those in the "National Treasure" movies, occur when he tries to be too careful in script choices. Being aggressive with choice can also back fire, which explains "Knowing". Even at age 48, he still appears to be trying to show that he has range as an actor, which is a foolish choice to make because he could make a nice living in dark comedy or Cohen brothers movies.
Despite Cage's performance, the only other actor who was any good was Michael Caine, and he was barely above average for him. Caine played Spritz's dying father, who is a Pulitzer prize winning journalist in the 70s, was the perfect yang to Cage's yin. Every scene in which Dave's frustration reached a crescendo, Robert would be there to bring his son back to reality. It was a very understated performance, and I wished that he was in it more.
Spritzer kids were pretty terrible even for kid actors, which disappointed me because I enjoyed Nicholas Hoult in both "About a Boy" and the British TV show, "Skins". I wished that anyone, but Hope Davis played Spritz's wife. She not offensively bad at acting, but I've never really liked her in anything. Maybe it goes back to her role on the short lived show "Six Degrees", but I don't know, maybe its one of those things.
"The Weather Man" is a well-made movie. Cage is perfect in the role of a spiraling out of, man, and the writing is solid. But the direction was lacking, and I wish I could pinpoint why. Maybe it was because he didn't get any of the actors outside of Cage and Caine to be mediocre. Or maybe because nothing really stood out in terms of a particular shot. Or I didn't get it. Either way, it was a good direction job away from being a good movie.
Rating: 6/10 -- One of the better Cage performance, but the movie itself doesn't separate it self as either good or so bad it's good. Caine was underutilized and Davis was over used, which is to say she was hired. Induced some chuckles out of me, but most were because of Cage and not the writing.
Day 54 -- Season of the Witch
Released: January 7th, 2011
Starring: Nicholas Cage, Ron Pearlman, Claire Foy, Stephen Campbell Moore, Robert Sheehan
Writer/Director: Bragi F. Schut/Dominic Sena
Description: 14th-century knights transport a suspected witch to a monastery, where monks deduce her powers could be the source of the Black Plague.
[Review may contain spoilers. Please watch movie before reading, unless you don't care. Most of these films have already been released for a while, so they should be readily available.]
***
There is nothing more frustration than a movie that doesn't know what it wants to be, and ends up being nothing. Sure, you can dabble into different genres, but the film needs something to ground it. If you're going for comedy, then go all comedy, or if you're going epic, the go full epic, but please don't go back and forth without being successful in either.
"Season of the Witch" tries to be a historical, epic and comedic movie all at the same time. Unfortunately, it fails at all three. Nick Cage and Ron Pearlman play super Templar Knights, who after killing 1,000 "infidel" villagers, gain a conscience and leave the the crusades. On their travels the run across a town that is infested with the plague, and believes the source of the affliction is a witch. So to avoid the death penalty they agreed to take the witch to some monks to have a "fair trial", which didn't really happen at the time. Historical accuracy failed.
The second act is where they tried to reach the epic levels of "Fellowship of the Ring". They walk for a good half-hour and nothing happens. The action picks up when they are attacked by a pack of wolves which, from what I heard, had more wolf punching than "The Gray". Unfortunately, this scene comes at the end of the travel. Honestly, the action ranged from terrible to ridiculous, especially the opening fight which had an over the top voice over attached. Epic, failed.
Now, we move on to the climax and the laughable third act. First, the predicable twist that the monks have all died from the plague, and then the girl is found to be possessed and not a witch. This transition into the moment in the movie where I laughed out loud alone in my house: the introduction of the "demon". I mean, seriously, it looked like the CG department took every B-movie devilish creature and morphed it into one. It had a deep voice, bat wings with talons, and the face looked almost exactly like photo of Lucifer from any classic painting, so it was created by 5th grader. Even its death was generic, which was your standard burn to death by the reading of a prayer. Comedic moments missed.
While the movie was ridiculous, the performances were exactly what you would expect from a movie starring Cage and Pearlman. Nick continues his current trend of overacting everything, and looks over matched in the action scenes. This is where Pearlman comes in. He tends to underact at times, but kicks ass in the action scenes, but neither helps make the movie good. The breakout performance was Claire Foy as she was equal parts creepy and mysterious, and did her best to keep you guessing whether or not she was a witch. She could definitely have a future in period films because she has a natural beauty, which is needed when lots of make-up is not an option.
For the first film of Nick Cage week, "Season of the Witch" is a good example of how far he has fallen since "Leaving Las Vegas" and "Raising Arizona". He has become an actor who is only going for a paycheck; I use the "Ghost Rider" sequel as an example. If this movie, would have stuck to one theme with others sprinkled in occasionally. This is a borderline B-movie that with small tweaks would have been could have been a solid adventure movie.
,
Rating: 4.5/10 -- A nice way to start off Nick Cage week, but it wasn't bad enough to be good. I hope this changes as the week progresses. Was wishing this could have gone into my Nick Cage guilty pleasure movie vault, but alas... ,
"Season of the Witch" tries to be a historical, epic and comedic movie all at the same time. Unfortunately, it fails at all three. Nick Cage and Ron Pearlman play super Templar Knights, who after killing 1,000 "infidel" villagers, gain a conscience and leave the the crusades. On their travels the run across a town that is infested with the plague, and believes the source of the affliction is a witch. So to avoid the death penalty they agreed to take the witch to some monks to have a "fair trial", which didn't really happen at the time. Historical accuracy failed.
The second act is where they tried to reach the epic levels of "Fellowship of the Ring". They walk for a good half-hour and nothing happens. The action picks up when they are attacked by a pack of wolves which, from what I heard, had more wolf punching than "The Gray". Unfortunately, this scene comes at the end of the travel. Honestly, the action ranged from terrible to ridiculous, especially the opening fight which had an over the top voice over attached. Epic, failed.
Now, we move on to the climax and the laughable third act. First, the predicable twist that the monks have all died from the plague, and then the girl is found to be possessed and not a witch. This transition into the moment in the movie where I laughed out loud alone in my house: the introduction of the "demon". I mean, seriously, it looked like the CG department took every B-movie devilish creature and morphed it into one. It had a deep voice, bat wings with talons, and the face looked almost exactly like photo of Lucifer from any classic painting, so it was created by 5th grader. Even its death was generic, which was your standard burn to death by the reading of a prayer. Comedic moments missed.
While the movie was ridiculous, the performances were exactly what you would expect from a movie starring Cage and Pearlman. Nick continues his current trend of overacting everything, and looks over matched in the action scenes. This is where Pearlman comes in. He tends to underact at times, but kicks ass in the action scenes, but neither helps make the movie good. The breakout performance was Claire Foy as she was equal parts creepy and mysterious, and did her best to keep you guessing whether or not she was a witch. She could definitely have a future in period films because she has a natural beauty, which is needed when lots of make-up is not an option.
For the first film of Nick Cage week, "Season of the Witch" is a good example of how far he has fallen since "Leaving Las Vegas" and "Raising Arizona". He has become an actor who is only going for a paycheck; I use the "Ghost Rider" sequel as an example. If this movie, would have stuck to one theme with others sprinkled in occasionally. This is a borderline B-movie that with small tweaks would have been could have been a solid adventure movie.
,
Rating: 4.5/10 -- A nice way to start off Nick Cage week, but it wasn't bad enough to be good. I hope this changes as the week progresses. Was wishing this could have gone into my Nick Cage guilty pleasure movie vault, but alas... ,
Monday, March 5, 2012
Day 53 -- Babel
Released: November 10th, 2006
Starring: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Gael Garcia Bernal
Writer/Director: Guierrmo Arriaga/Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Description: Tragedy strikes a married couple on vacation in the Moroccan desert, touching off an interlocking story involving four different families.
[Review may contain spoilers. Please watch movie before reading, unless you don't care. Most of these films have already been released for a while, so they should be readily available.]
***
It appears to be a recent phenomenon that movies should have interweaving storylines. It doesn't matter what genre it is, or what exactly the story is trying to get across. The writers and directors seem more interested in showing you how cleaver they are than creating a compelling story. It's a trend that can be intriguing but is getting progressively worse as time goes on.
"Babel" is one of the more well structured ones. They movie begins with an American tourist getting shot while on a tour, and this sets off a chain of events that involves four families in a very interesting way. By using a gun as the connection, it opens the story up for a lot of foreshadowing and call back.
What caught my attention was that three of the four segments were subtitled, and despite the need to read, the performances were really captivating. I especially enjoyed the Japan scenes with the deaf teen. The choice to make them really quiet was genius and helps you get in the mindset needed to understand that segment. But the way this is connected to the other stories is weak. This could have easily been a movie unto itself; really strong storytelling.
Pitt's performance as an American stuck in a small village with no way out was really good. He has gotten much better with age. After watching this, and recalling his breakout role in "Interview With the Vampire", you begin to notice how much more of a nuance he gained in his acting. The best example is the end of the movie when his is on the phone and he slowly begins to breakdown after the ordeal he went through. He doesn't show his emotion at finger-snapping speed, but rather, he went through a range of emotions very naturally and made you feel for him.
Pitt is only challenged by Rinko Kikuchi as Chieko Wataya, the deaf Japanese teen, who is beginning to blossom sexually. She had to be so strong with her physical acting because she could use the volume of her voice to convey emotion. It's a lot harder than it looks, and she completely deserved her Oscar nomination, and should have won against Jennifer Hudson.
"Babel" is a long movie that loses me in places but it's emotion is so raw that it is captivating. If more movies with interweaving storylines were more like this, then the over-saturation wouldn't be such a concern. The four locations were very distinctive, which is what you need when you're jumping back and forth from locations.
Rating: 7/10 -- If you can stay with it, you will be rewarded with a good ending. One of the few best picture nominees that truly deserved to be there, and got robbed in the best supporting category. One warning though, there's a lot of subtitles.
"Babel" is one of the more well structured ones. They movie begins with an American tourist getting shot while on a tour, and this sets off a chain of events that involves four families in a very interesting way. By using a gun as the connection, it opens the story up for a lot of foreshadowing and call back.
What caught my attention was that three of the four segments were subtitled, and despite the need to read, the performances were really captivating. I especially enjoyed the Japan scenes with the deaf teen. The choice to make them really quiet was genius and helps you get in the mindset needed to understand that segment. But the way this is connected to the other stories is weak. This could have easily been a movie unto itself; really strong storytelling.
Pitt's performance as an American stuck in a small village with no way out was really good. He has gotten much better with age. After watching this, and recalling his breakout role in "Interview With the Vampire", you begin to notice how much more of a nuance he gained in his acting. The best example is the end of the movie when his is on the phone and he slowly begins to breakdown after the ordeal he went through. He doesn't show his emotion at finger-snapping speed, but rather, he went through a range of emotions very naturally and made you feel for him.
Pitt is only challenged by Rinko Kikuchi as Chieko Wataya, the deaf Japanese teen, who is beginning to blossom sexually. She had to be so strong with her physical acting because she could use the volume of her voice to convey emotion. It's a lot harder than it looks, and she completely deserved her Oscar nomination, and should have won against Jennifer Hudson.
"Babel" is a long movie that loses me in places but it's emotion is so raw that it is captivating. If more movies with interweaving storylines were more like this, then the over-saturation wouldn't be such a concern. The four locations were very distinctive, which is what you need when you're jumping back and forth from locations.
Rating: 7/10 -- If you can stay with it, you will be rewarded with a good ending. One of the few best picture nominees that truly deserved to be there, and got robbed in the best supporting category. One warning though, there's a lot of subtitles.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Unneccessarily Disecting a Disney Movie
Welcome to our new podcast! We will (hopefully) be uploading a new one every week; most likely on Saturday or Sunday.
This week we introduce my older sister, Melanie, who has officially become part of the blog. She will be joining me on our American Idol performance reaction post, and hopefully in many ways as we move forward here. We discuss last week's reviews, Disney's Prom, American Idol, and Mel goes through the first interrogation. Here a rundown of the show:
Intro
Week-in-review
American Idol
Prom
Interrogation
Final thoughts
I apologize for the ums and uhs. This was the first one and I hope to improve that as time goes on. I hope you all enjoy it, and we look forward to bringing you more guest and content in the future. Thanks for listening!
This week we introduce my older sister, Melanie, who has officially become part of the blog. She will be joining me on our American Idol performance reaction post, and hopefully in many ways as we move forward here. We discuss last week's reviews, Disney's Prom, American Idol, and Mel goes through the first interrogation. Here a rundown of the show:
Intro
Week-in-review
American Idol
Prom
Interrogation
Final thoughts
I apologize for the ums and uhs. This was the first one and I hope to improve that as time goes on. I hope you all enjoy it, and we look forward to bringing you more guest and content in the future. Thanks for listening!
Day 52 -- Sex and Breakfast
Released: November 30th, 2007
Starring: Macaulay Culkin, Eliza Dushku, Alexis Dziena, Kuno Becker
Writer/Director: Miles Brandman
Description: Young couples experiment with anonymous group sex as a way to revitalize their troubled relationships.
[Review may contain spoilers. Please watch movie before reading, unless you don't care. Most of these films have already been released for a while, so they should be readily available.]
***
"Sex and Breakfast" had a curious cast to be attached to a movie with sex in the title, especially one that could easily be a skinemax classic. The two actresses, Dushku and Dziena, aren't notorious for their love of stripping on film, despite the latter's full-frontal scene in "Broken Flowers". So my preconceptions were all over the place: the title suggested there would be skin, but the actors involved said it would be unlikely. As I pushed play, I had no idea what I'd be in for: an average R-rated sex comedy (ugh), or an interesting take on sexuality.
Fortunately, it was the latter. The movie followed two couples who have two different problems in the bedroom, and plan to solve them with a group sex therepy. James (Culkin) and Heather (Dziena) are having trouble physically. Heather can't orgasm while having sex with James, even though she has previously. Renee (Dushku) and Ellis (Becker) have more of an emotional problem, and Renee feels they are getting boring and need to spice things up. While the stories themselves aren't very original, the way they are told is very mature and rare for the subject.
The issue with the film was that you only cared about one couple, so splitting the screen time between them, did not help the quality of the film. I place most of the blame on Becker as he did his best to make me hate him instead of root for him. Part of it was the writing of his character seemed off balanced, as I could not tell if he was homophobic or really loved Renee. Surprisingly, Dushku didn't help matters as it looked like she was trying to force the chemistry with Becker. Plus, Ellis looked like he owned multiple Ed Hardy t-shirts.
James and Heather, on the other hand, had the more heartbreaking arc. He loved her so much that he would try anything to make her happy, which would translate to her climaxing during sex. Heather's parents had an open relationship, so she was more experimental than James, who wanted sex to be private. Their conflict was more apparent and relatable.
As the movie reached the end of the second act, when the group sex session between the couples occured, the outcome for each couple seems obvious: One would be closer and the other would break up. But the twist wasn't telegraphed at all, as James and Heather -- who had the better post session night -- saw their relationship end. What I liked was that the conclusion to the movie was more show than tell: James and Heather left in different cars, and Renee committed to Ellis by pass up on possibly fulfilling her fantasy of having a lesbian experience. They were more realistic than a kiss in the rain or a screaming match outside an apartment, and that was refreshing.
"Sex and Breakfast" both, exceeded my expectations and fell way short of them. The mature way the relationships were written, especially with sexual problems as the main conflict, was nice to see. But when half of your movie is uninteresting and borderline boring, you lose all the emotional traction that Culkin and Dziena had provided with their performances.
When a certain word is in the title of a movie, there are situations that you subconsciously think will occur duing the film. Its a ploy, just like having a hot woman on the poster, to get people to watch the movie. I, like, every other heterosexual male fall for it every time, and this time it was no different.
"Sex and Breakfast" had a curious cast to be attached to a movie with sex in the title, especially one that could easily be a skinemax classic. The two actresses, Dushku and Dziena, aren't notorious for their love of stripping on film, despite the latter's full-frontal scene in "Broken Flowers". So my preconceptions were all over the place: the title suggested there would be skin, but the actors involved said it would be unlikely. As I pushed play, I had no idea what I'd be in for: an average R-rated sex comedy (ugh), or an interesting take on sexuality.
Fortunately, it was the latter. The movie followed two couples who have two different problems in the bedroom, and plan to solve them with a group sex therepy. James (Culkin) and Heather (Dziena) are having trouble physically. Heather can't orgasm while having sex with James, even though she has previously. Renee (Dushku) and Ellis (Becker) have more of an emotional problem, and Renee feels they are getting boring and need to spice things up. While the stories themselves aren't very original, the way they are told is very mature and rare for the subject.
The issue with the film was that you only cared about one couple, so splitting the screen time between them, did not help the quality of the film. I place most of the blame on Becker as he did his best to make me hate him instead of root for him. Part of it was the writing of his character seemed off balanced, as I could not tell if he was homophobic or really loved Renee. Surprisingly, Dushku didn't help matters as it looked like she was trying to force the chemistry with Becker. Plus, Ellis looked like he owned multiple Ed Hardy t-shirts.
James and Heather, on the other hand, had the more heartbreaking arc. He loved her so much that he would try anything to make her happy, which would translate to her climaxing during sex. Heather's parents had an open relationship, so she was more experimental than James, who wanted sex to be private. Their conflict was more apparent and relatable.
As the movie reached the end of the second act, when the group sex session between the couples occured, the outcome for each couple seems obvious: One would be closer and the other would break up. But the twist wasn't telegraphed at all, as James and Heather -- who had the better post session night -- saw their relationship end. What I liked was that the conclusion to the movie was more show than tell: James and Heather left in different cars, and Renee committed to Ellis by pass up on possibly fulfilling her fantasy of having a lesbian experience. They were more realistic than a kiss in the rain or a screaming match outside an apartment, and that was refreshing.
"Sex and Breakfast" both, exceeded my expectations and fell way short of them. The mature way the relationships were written, especially with sexual problems as the main conflict, was nice to see. But when half of your movie is uninteresting and borderline boring, you lose all the emotional traction that Culkin and Dziena had provided with their performances.
If a movie is going to focus on two couples and barely have any supporting characters -- the maybe-lesbian waitress and ex-boyfriend "Six-pack" don't count -- you better make sure each couple is equally strong. One can't be McAdams-Gosling from "The Notebook" and the other be Afleck-Lopez in "Gigli" because you lose all balance in the story.
Rating: 5/10 -- The writing and direction were fine, but they missed big time with the second male lead, who made up one-quarter of the screen time. Shows that sex can be discussed in a mature way without being raunchy. The 4-to-7 minutes of silence during the climax, and the minimal dialogue during the aftermath was beautifully done. It was right up there with the "Hush" episode of "Buffy", as the actors did a great job telling the story with glances and body language.
Rating: 5/10 -- The writing and direction were fine, but they missed big time with the second male lead, who made up one-quarter of the screen time. Shows that sex can be discussed in a mature way without being raunchy. The 4-to-7 minutes of silence during the climax, and the minimal dialogue during the aftermath was beautifully done. It was right up there with the "Hush" episode of "Buffy", as the actors did a great job telling the story with glances and body language.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Day 51 -- Little Monsters
Released: August 25th, 1989
Starring: Fred Savage, Howie Mandel, Ben Savage, Daniel Stern, Amber Barretto
Writer/Director: Terry Rossio and Ted Elliot
Description: A boy discovers an incredible and gruesome world of monsters under his bed.
[Review may contain spoilers. Please watch movie before reading, unless you don't care. Most of these films have already been released for a while, so they should be readily available.]
***
"Little Monsters" is one of the more forgotten kids movies of the time. It was Fred Savage's first movie after "Wonder Years" began airing. It was oddly meta because Savage's father in the film was the voice of grown up Kevin Arnold, Daniel Stern. I would be speaking out of turn if I said that this was the beginning of Stern's kid film fame, ending with "Rookie of the Year" in 1993 because I was not aware enough back then to know if people even remembered he was in this film.
The story was interesting, as it took an idea that kids have had for an eternity, and turned it into a compelling plot. Kids have always been afraid of "monsters" in the closet or under the bed; imaginations at that point of life are amazing. But what writers, Terry Rossio and Ted Elliot, did was create an entire world full of everything adolescents would dream of at night: Pranks, video games, candy, and no parents, you know everything a developing mind thinks is important.
The contrast between the "monster" world and the real world was well designed, and showed how quickly the fun and excitement of the underworld could become a nightmare quick. It was a staple of the genre that everything would be good and then would become nothing like the kid expected. In many ways, it stuck to your three-act structure religiously, but was still compelling enough that you didn't know the outcome. During the heyday, these films were a lot darker than they are today.
Savage, as Brian, fell into the trap most young actors do, he played the same character in everything he was in, which means you can't differentiate between Brian and Kevin. It is no fault of his own, but it becomes distracting after a while. Howie Mandel was the perfect choice at the time for Maurice because his stand up was still funny and he could embody the role of an overgrown child. Whether or not they were good individually, the most important thing was chemistry, and they had it in bucket loads.
The same couldn't be said for most of the supporting actors, except for Ben Savage, the future "teen icon" Corey Matthews held his own as little brother Eric. Usually this is okay for movies involving pre-teens, but for this genre, they needed to be better. I put this fully on the casting for not finding actors that worked well together. They can't all hit the jackpot like in "Goonies" where most of the actors were future regulars in Hollywood, and blended well together. For the movie to last decades, the supporting cast needs to be as good, and "Little Monster's" were sub-par.
"Little Monsters" never becomes too bogged down in its kids movie label, and the final action scenes are actually well staged. The writing is definitely good enough to keep parents and kids interested the whole time, but still falls short of some of the upper echelon movies of the genre.,
Rating: 5.5/10 -- Great family night movie, I'd highly recommend it over anything that released today even though it's on the second tier of kid adventure movies.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)