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Reviews
Man in the Chair (2007)
Inspiring film about those forgotten
Just got a chance to see this at the Heartland Film Festival. This is a wonderful film. You can read the synopsis for more detailed account of the movie, but for me, it's a reminder to live life together. Plummer's character is a gruff old gaffer that hasn't had many friends and lives in his former glory. But now near the end of his life, he meets a kid that wants to learn about how to shoot a film. At first, he's resistant, but eventually warms up to the idea and then enlists the help of many other former craftsmen in the field. It's a touching story. Plummer is awesome in the film. There are some effects that get a little jarring after a while, but don't detract from the film overall. It feels a bit like Finding Forrester at times, but hey, all the great story's have been done, and this is an awesome variation on that theme. A definite must see...especially film buffs.
Bella (2006)
Great characters, good story, and then...
Got a chance to see this at the Heartland Film festival. The movie builds some nice suspense early on. The characters are richly developed. The cinematography was beautiful and engaging. You get a real feel for the anguish of Jose and Nina. And the visit with Jose's family is a wonderful picture of a passionate and loving family. The film makers do a nice job weaving several time lines together. All of this is going along well, slowly developing and unfolding, good story, and then out of nowhere it ends abruptly with a confusing and disjointed ending that really doesn't make any sense. I don't get it, everyone spoke of this movie with such high regard, but a story with a lousy ending kind of kills it for me. Too bad, nice film other than the last 10 minutes.