I think when I first saw the trailers for Robert Redford’s (Quiz Show, A River Runs Through It) Lions for Lambs, I thought it was a movie I had to see. The previews made the film look exciting, and it featured an A-list cast. Well, when the movie’s commercials became 15-second clips after the first week, and it scored a whopping 27% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, the need to see it quickly waned. The movie earned just $15 million at the box office. Box office earnings don’t necessarily reflect a film’s quality, but this movie was expected to generate significant revenue. While the production costs of this movie were low (I’ll explain below), stars like Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise commanded high-dollar figures for their appearances. This wasn’t a little indie movie. MGM produced this movie. On top of a film that was received so poorly by critics was a plot (stories about the war in the Middle East, especially politically driven ones) that had consistently kept moviegoers away back in the early 2000s. Lions for Lambs was a decent movie, but certainly not a great one. And it was by no means as exciting or as drama-filled as the trailers made it out to be. Lions for Lambs is a dialogue-driven movie that succeeds because of its excellent cast.
Category Archives: Drama
North Face (Nordwand) (2010)
If I could describe the German-released movie North Face in just a single word, it would be the word horrific. Based on the true story of a competition to climb the most dangerous rock face in the Swiss Alps, the subtitled movie gets better and better with each passing frame. For those moviegoers who aren’t into subtitled movies, I can sympathize. I tend to groan when I know I’m about to embark on one of those, too. Subtitled movies are ones that you need to prepare for, and, unfortunately, when a subtitled movie is bad, it almost becomes twice as dreadful to trudge through. But, at the same time, I have seen some fantastic foreign-language movies, and North Face ranks right up there with them. And, as with any good subtitled movie, when you are truly engaged, you don’t even notice you are reading the words anymore. I don’t know how I came across this movie, other than the fact that I love a good adventure movie (I am one of those people who tend to separate the adventure genre from the action genre).
The Good Lie (2014)
“Inspired by true events” versus “this is a true story” are two very different things. The first could mean anything. It’s harder to get upset when you find out fact and fiction don’t always meet eye to eye. However, when told that what you are about to see is a true story, only to find out later that facts (both minor and major) have changed along the way, you have the right to get a bit more upset. Actual events inspire The Good Lie. And while they bring light to a critical issue, the character story was primarily fictional, as far as I can tell. Now, this brings up an interesting conversation. Would you rather see a strictly factual movie that doesn’t tell the most exciting story, or one based on an actual situation but with, for the most part, specific characters and conditions that are more fictionalized?
Southpaw (2015)
History will probably not remember this because he missed earning an Academy Award nomination for his first performance, and he may miss out on this one as well. Still, the physical transformation from Jake Gyllenhaal’s performance as sickly, twisted reporter Lou Bloom in 2014’s fantastically crafted Nightcrawler to the lean, mean, fighting machine Billy Hope in 2015’s Southpaw is remarkable. As people watch either or both of these movies in the future, they will likely forget that he filmed them back-to-back. But aside from how he changed the physical look of his body for each role, his acting in these films might be two of the best of his career, and they continue to hit all the right buttons, save for The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. I’ll start with Southpaw: the less you know, the better off I think you will be. If you haven’t seen it, I will list my overall score here. I suggest not reading any further until after you’ve seen the movie, or if the surprise factor isn’t something you are interested in. I’ll let you know when I add spoilers to this review. I would give Southpaw an overall score of 87.5/100.
Angela’s Ashes (1999)
A couple of months ago, I found an article in Entertainment Weekly listing the most depressing books ever written. And near the top of this list was Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes. So, along with a list of other books I wanted to read, I went to Barnes and Noble and searched for the book. I came up empty, which surprised me because I had long thought this book was a classic and one read in English classes in many high schools. And I could have downloaded it or read it on my Kindle, but I’m about 65% /% a hard-copy reader. I prefer reading my classics in hard copy. Fast-forward a month: I go to a different Barnes and Noble looking for the book, and again come up empty. I texted my friend Sarah, and she told me to check the biography section, not the fiction/classics section. Who knew? And there it was, along with about 20 other copies. So I read the book over two weeks and loved it. It’s my favorite book of 2015. And, yes, I do rank my books just like I do my movies. I don’t blog about it because I watch more movies than I read books.