Just because a film has the revered Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network, Steve Jobs, The American President, Charlie Wilson’s War, Moneyball) attached to it as a screenwriter doesn’t mean we should automatically assume it will be a hit. The screenwriter has hit some home runs on the big screen. He’s the mastermind behind a few of the most revered television shows (The West Wing, Sports Night, The Newsroom) of the last 25 years. But that doesn’t mean that everything he touches will turn to pure gold. Venturing into just his second movie as a director (Molly’s Game), The Trial of the Chicago 7 is far from a film that should receive a Best Picture nomination. Sadly, it could very well win the top prize for 2020. Of the eight Best Picture nominated movies for 2020, only three finished in my top ten. In other years, I don’t think any of the three would have found a spot in my end-of-the-year list. 2020 was not a great year in the history of the world. The year in film was no exception.
Category Archives: Frank Langella
All Good Things (2010)
Based loosely on the true story of one of the most prolonged missing person cases in New York, Andrew Jarecki’s (Capturing the Friedmans) All Good Things tries hard to tell a story but ultimately fails to form anything meaningful or lasting. I say it is based “loosely” on a true story because this case is still an open case. As a result, this story is a wishy-washy mess based upon a jumble of fact, rumor, conjecture, and psychoanalysis. By the end of the movie, you could care less about what happens to each of the characters. You would rather just have some logical conclusion. Unfortunately, that’s not what you get. I felt myself wanting and wanting to like this movie, but I grew increasingly frustrated as the movie dragged toward its unsatisfying conclusion.