Change Your Image
davidstockman-01393
Reviews
Collateral (2004)
Unforgivable
The plot, although unlikely, keeps the action going and Foxx steals every scene he's in. Cruise seemed a bit mismatched for this part and his acting seemed wooden. The unforgivable part was one line of dialog by Beattie, the script writer, who used two words, "Barcolounger" and "television", a rip off from the famous men's room scene in "Runaway Jury" which was released the previous year. Sure it's a great line, but come on, it wasn't Beattie's to use again! Tsk, tsk. They lost a couple of stars for that.
It was also sad that Jada Smith and Mark Ruffalo were used so little in the film. There acting was stellar and I'd have loved a little more out of them.
So many scenes in nightclubs became a little tedious and the settings could have been a bit more diverse. But they did cover a nice gamut of racial inclusion by having Hispanic, Asian, and Black nightclubs.
The editing was not clipped to jarring shots to keep the pace going which was appreciated. The only scene that bothered me was when Ruffalo's character and his partner meets the FBI agent in the video room. It confused me at first as to who was whom.
Overall a nice story to watch.
Licorice Pizza (2021)
Profoundly Unbelievable
If you love Hollywood genre settings. You'll love this movie. For everyone else, it's a waste of more than 2 hrs. Of your time. Anderson's script is full of stereotypical tropes that exude banality in an endless mishmash of 70s-era scenes following no general plot or even a novel conclusion. The characters might appeal to some teens, since they are self-centered, spoiled, and horrible self-indulgent. The cameos of a number of leading actors only further disappoint as their roles are exaggerated sexist, hedonist, or racist portrayals. The viewer wades through unrelated and inconsequential scenes as the protagonists hop from one uninventive doomed career to another and ridiculously contrived sequences (arrested for murder and within two minutes is set free?) Nothing about the characters is appealing except for how unappealing they are and their love for one another is based on, well, it's really, really hard to figure out. The acting is fine, the script is awful. How this was up for an academy award says loads about how Hollywood sees itself and what they consider important. Quite sad.
Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)
Oh! Those nasty holes.
Oh My God! (I'll take the time to write out OMG it is so important.) This script is a swiss cheese with so many holes and poor editing! The acting by Aubrey Plaza, Jake Johnson, Mark Duplass, Karan Soni, et al was delightful. But so much time is wasted in irrelevant and illogical scenes where more character relationships could have been inserted. Overall, the movie moves along nicely until speed-bumps jar your attention to the plot. For instance, in the beginning, the trio arrive at the inventor's doorstep and he isn't concerned how they discovered his residence although his want ad only referenced a P. O. box number. Then, the journalist's (Jeff's) real reason for going to the town was to reconnect with his old girlfriend. But by the end of the movie it fizzles in a final (and forced) breakup scene. Why include this waste of film time at all? They should have cut the girlfriend scenario and simply used the reason as to write a story. This may have given more development time to give weight to the FBI agents who seem superfluous in the film.
Near the end of the movie, Kenneth, the inventor, states that his old girlfriend being alive is proof his invention works. But if she was still alive, then he wouldn't have needed to invent the time machine. You can't have it both ways in time travel. Once something is changed, that time line prevails and you're on it.
Other illogical reactions slip in to the script that cause a double take which should have been corrected with reshoots or in editing. For instance, why was the time machine on a boat? When put into action the boat didn't move and simply disappeared. Did Derek Connolly (screenplay writer) think all time machines must move as in Back To The Furture? Why didn't the inventor simply build it in his shed?
In the climax of the film, the ending seemed abrupt with no gentle letdown or consequences. Everyone just stood around with their mouths open, go to black. Writing 101 states that endings should fade out gently with a moral, epilogue, or some tying-up-the-loose-ends scene.
Had the director, Colin Trevorrow spent a bit more time on his script and in final edits, he could have gotten better reviews. Yet, the movie is cute, touching, and moves along. But it could have been so much more.