James-Rebhorn Movie Reviews
Pullman perfect, HBO sells him short
Raw Deal
This Is A Mistrail.
Pullman perfect, HBO sells him short
Raw Deal
This Is A Mistrail.
Off its BeatIn his attempt to create a decidedly off-beat romantic comedy, director/writer/actor Schaeffer has forgotten the basic rules of creating a well structured, engaging plot.
"If Lucy Fell" has hilarious -- perhaps even side-splitting moments. But that's all the film has -- a series of disconnected moments, some funny, some just odd -- all lacking in any real cohesiveness.
The relationship between Sarah Jessica Parker and Eric Schaeffer's characters is marked by a cold sterility. They are completely without chemistry. What seems to be the director's attempt at creating a friendship beyond words has succeeded only in creating a friendship that loses our interest and causes us to send the remote careening toward our television. In addition, Schaeffer himself is gross and unappealing. We are almost embarassed to watch him desecrate his own attempt at a character.
The story's culmination -- the realization of these friends' romantic feelings for one another -- is ridiculous and unearned. The revelation comes out of nowhere, both figuratively and literally. The film's most glaring example of poor writing occurs in a scene where Sarah Jessica Parker's Lucy engages in a monologue -- the movie's only monologue -- in which she suddenly and quite randomly comes to the conclusion that she has always been in love with Schaeffer's character. This event is not influenced by the film's other events, as it would be in any tightly constructed narrative, but materializes out of thin air.
The result is an audience left feeling bored and confused.
This is a movie w/ great comedic potential. It is too bad the story is far too inaccessible for this potential to be realized.
WHEN JOE MET LUCY
For the oddball romantic comedy lover,
Off its BeatIn his attempt to create a decidedly off-beat romantic comedy, director/writer/actor Schaeffer has forgotten the basic rules of creating a well structured, engaging plot.
"If Lucy Fell" has hilarious -- perhaps even side-splitting moments. But that's all the film has -- a series of disconnected moments, some funny, some just odd -- all lacking in any real cohesiveness.
The relationship between Sarah Jessica Parker and Eric Schaeffer's characters is marked by a cold sterility. They are completely without chemistry. What seems to be the director's attempt at creating a friendship beyond words has succeeded only in creating a friendship that loses our interest and causes us to send the remote careening toward our television. In addition, Schaeffer himself is gross and unappealing. We are almost embarassed to watch him desecrate his own attempt at a character.
The story's culmination -- the realization of these friends' romantic feelings for one another -- is ridiculous and unearned. The revelation comes out of nowhere, both figuratively and literally. The film's most glaring example of poor writing occurs in a scene where Sarah Jessica Parker's Lucy engages in a monologue -- the movie's only monologue -- in which she suddenly and quite randomly comes to the conclusion that she has always been in love with Schaeffer's character. This event is not influenced by the film's other events, as it would be in any tightly constructed narrative, but materializes out of thin air.
The result is an audience left feeling bored and confused.
This is a movie w/ great comedic potential. It is too bad the story is far too inaccessible for this potential to be realized.
WHEN JOE MET LUCY
For the oddball romantic comedy lover,
Off its BeatIn his attempt to create a decidedly off-beat romantic comedy, director/writer/actor Schaeffer has forgotten the basic rules of creating a well structured, engaging plot.
"If Lucy Fell" has hilarious -- perhaps even side-splitting moments. But that's all the film has -- a series of disconnected moments, some funny, some just odd -- all lacking in any real cohesiveness.
The relationship between Sarah Jessica Parker and Eric Schaeffer's characters is marked by a cold sterility. They are completely without chemistry. What seems to be the director's attempt at creating a friendship beyond words has succeeded only in creating a friendship that loses our interest and causes us to send the remote careening toward our television. In addition, Schaeffer himself is gross and unappealing. We are almost embarassed to watch him desecrate his own attempt at a character.
The story's culmination -- the realization of these friends' romantic feelings for one another -- is ridiculous and unearned. The revelation comes out of nowhere, both figuratively and literally. The film's most glaring example of poor writing occurs in a scene where Sarah Jessica Parker's Lucy engages in a monologue -- the movie's only monologue -- in which she suddenly and quite randomly comes to the conclusion that she has always been in love with Schaeffer's character. This event is not influenced by the film's other events, as it would be in any tightly constructed narrative, but materializes out of thin air.
The result is an audience left feeling bored and confused.
This is a movie w/ great comedic potential. It is too bad the story is far too inaccessible for this potential to be realized.
WHEN JOE MET LUCY
For the oddball romantic comedy lover,
Off its BeatIn his attempt to create a decidedly off-beat romantic comedy, director/writer/actor Schaeffer has forgotten the basic rules of creating a well structured, engaging plot.
"If Lucy Fell" has hilarious -- perhaps even side-splitting moments. But that's all the film has -- a series of disconnected moments, some funny, some just odd -- all lacking in any real cohesiveness.
The relationship between Sarah Jessica Parker and Eric Schaeffer's characters is marked by a cold sterility. They are completely without chemistry. What seems to be the director's attempt at creating a friendship beyond words has succeeded only in creating a friendship that loses our interest and causes us to send the remote careening toward our television. In addition, Schaeffer himself is gross and unappealing. We are almost embarassed to watch him desecrate his own attempt at a character.
The story's culmination -- the realization of these friends' romantic feelings for one another -- is ridiculous and unearned. The revelation comes out of nowhere, both figuratively and literally. The film's most glaring example of poor writing occurs in a scene where Sarah Jessica Parker's Lucy engages in a monologue -- the movie's only monologue -- in which she suddenly and quite randomly comes to the conclusion that she has always been in love with Schaeffer's character. This event is not influenced by the film's other events, as it would be in any tightly constructed narrative, but materializes out of thin air.
The result is an audience left feeling bored and confused.
This is a movie w/ great comedic potential. It is too bad the story is far too inaccessible for this potential to be realized.
WHEN JOE MET LUCY
For the oddball romantic comedy lover,
Hollywood goes Independent!
You want Fries with that dagger ?This was a movie well worth the money. It was funny from one end to the other. It reminded me of the comment that Kissinger once said about academia "The Politics are especially vicious because the stakes are so small". In this film we see that even the smallest kingdom is sometimes worth fighting for.
McMacbeth
In a murky, seriously deranged cityscape only a studio art department could create, a giant bald strangler (Michael Kirby) is going around killing people with piano wire. The authorities are powerless (though he stomps about freely, occasionally declaiming speeches), so vigilante posses start roving the streets. For some reason, they dragoon a noisy nebbish named Kleinman (Allen) to assist them. So Kleinman goes into the fog, kvetching, and meets Irmy (Mia Farrow), a circus sword swallower (no double-entendres, please) whose clown of a husband (John Malkovich) is two-timing her with the strongman's wife (Madonna). Add an "et cetera" here, because the big, mostly wasted cast also includes Kenneth Mars as the strongman, Donald Pleasence as a philosophical coroner, John Cusack as a student who mistakes Irmy for a prostitute, and Kathy Bates, Jodie Foster, and Lily Tomlin as the real prostitutes in whose company she happens to be at the time. None of this adds up, and the whole thing moves and feels less like a film than one of Allen's oddball New Yorker sketches. Still, as the fever dream of an art-house addict, it has its moments. --Richard T. Jameson
A movie about vision
Woody Allen's "Shadows and Fog" lifts the spirits.
Allen's Secret Masterpiece
In a murky, seriously deranged cityscape only a studio art department could create, a giant bald strangler (Michael Kirby) is going around killing people with piano wire. The authorities are powerless (though he stomps about freely, occasionally declaiming speeches), so vigilante posses start roving the streets. For some reason, they dragoon a noisy nebbish named Kleinman (Allen) to assist them. So Kleinman goes into the fog, kvetching, and meets Irmy (Mia Farrow), a circus sword swallower (no double-entendres, please) whose clown of a husband (John Malkovich) is two-timing her with the strongman's wife (Madonna). Add an "et cetera" here, because the big, mostly wasted cast also includes Kenneth Mars as the strongman, Donald Pleasence as a philosophical coroner, John Cusack as a student who mistakes Irmy for a prostitute, and Kathy Bates, Jodie Foster, and Lily Tomlin as the real prostitutes in whose company she happens to be at the time. None of this adds up, and the whole thing moves and feels less like a film than one of Allen's oddball New Yorker sketches. Still, as the fever dream of an art-house addict, it has its moments. --Richard T. Jameson
A movie about vision
Woody Allen's "Shadows and Fog" lifts the spirits.
Allen's Secret Masterpiece
"plain" describes this book very well.
A poetic story about love and family"Sarah" is a story told in the first-person by Anna, a young farm girl who lives with her widowed father and younger brother, Caleb. Anna's father sends by mail for a prospective new wife: Sarah, a woman from the Maine seacoast. As the story unfolds, Sarah arrives on the farm and gets to know the family.
MacLachlan writes in a simple but poetic style that expertly conveys the emotions of her characters. MacLachlan is wonderful at catching the details of farm life, which the reader discovers along with Sarah. I also like the way MacLachlan evokes the Maine coastal landscape through Sarah's dialogue. There is a subtle suspense to the story: will Sarah decide to stay and become a part of the story?
I won't give away the ending. But I will say that "Sara" is a gentle and compassionate book for readers of all ages.
sarah,plain and tallThis was a really touching story in chapter book form.sarah misses the sea in her state and cries about it. Her first main emotion was her love for the sea and second was her love for the children. She can't choose if she will go home or stay. My favorite parts are when Maggy their neighbor comes over to help Sarah with her problems of homesickness. Everyone gets homesickness now and then. My second favorite is when it's raining and everyone runs into the barn. Sarah puts her picture in the window and they all stare at it, wondering what's missing.
It was a really good book even though it had black and white drawings and you needed a lot of clues to get the lesson. I recommend this book to children with problems in their families, children whose relatives passed away, adopted children, and interested readers. It won the Newbery Honor Award. But don't take my word for it, you should read it your self!!!!!!!!