kammm Reviews

Things We Lost in the Fire (2007)

Amazing Script Destroyed

[3/10 · 31 October 2007]

I read this script and was moved in the same way that Alvin Sargent moved me in "Ordinary People" years ago. It's the same quiet drama about humans coping with extraordinary life change and was written as deftly. However, unlike "Ordinary People", "Things" was directed like a music video or a druggie movie with lots of smash cuts, hand held camera movements, and extreme close ups of eyeballs which distracted from the drama rather than trusting it and enhancing it. What a shame. A lovely script about people is made so rarely and then they give it to someone that cuts to an eyeball as a reaction shot? This must have been a heart break for Allan Loeb, the writer. I know it would have been for me...

The Jane Austen Book Club (2007)

Nice moments but whole doesn't satisfy

[5/10 · 25 September 2007]

The acting was great but there were many false moments originating from the script.

I didn't believe the lesbian...she was inconsistent, angry and then happy and I never understood what she wanted.

I didn't believe Sylvia taking back her husband without so much as a discussion about his infidelity.

I didn't believe Maria Bello pushing away a great guy because she prefers dogs...

I did believe every moment of Prudies dilemma. This was the character and story line that was most developed. We understood her disappointment in her husband and attraction to the hot kid.

Isuspect in the book these plot points are more fully motivated because here, most of them just don't work. Given what the actors had to work with, I give them a big A+...especially Emily Blunt.

Into the Wild (2007)

Stunning...a masterpiece

[10/10 · 19 September 2007]

I saw this first at Telluride, then again at a screening in L.A. and have to say it only got better, deeper, and richer the second time around.

"Into The Wild" is a tour de force from Penn. The cinematography, acting, and sound track are flawless. But what makes it transcendent, and sure to be one of the few films that lasts decades, is the theme that Penn added. He said it was something he got from the book, but I read the book twice and it's not there. Somehow, this came from Penn himself. It's a theme about God's love and forgiveness and gives the episodic structure it's spine and cohesiveness. The end blew me away. A tragic ending, but beautiful and profound at the same time.

From Sean Penn...who knew??

Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)

Visually Stunning But Not Emotionally Deep (Spoilers)

[4/10 · 21 December 2005]

This is an intimate story about an oppressed woman who longs for one man most of her life. But instead of bringing us into her world, we are shown the sparkle and dazzle of her life but not the heart. For ex, the film doesn't explain what a Geisha is. Is she a prostitute? No? Then why is she sold for the highest bidder? The audience needs to know these things to hook into Sayura and let her story become ours. Instead we get to see the beautiful costumes, sets, make up, dances. A great movie is an emotional as well as a visual experience. I think Rob Marshall was the wrong choice. He is great at musicals and show, but not at bringing us into the heart of a woman's longing. The third act, which is the most important, is about four minutes long, unmotivated (why did The Chairman change his mind and tell her now?), and unsatisfying (oh I get the love of my life but not really?)...This movie is a mile wide and an inch deep. Save your money unless you just want to see pretty pictures move across the screen.

Independent Lens: Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005) Season 8, Episode 22

Yes, Virginia, this documentary is biased

[7/10 · 5 May 2005]

While this is a well done and interesting examination of the Enron debacle, it alludes to some of the company's downfall in sweeping statements that better documentaries actually explore. Enron: The Smartest Guys in The Room doesn't take it's point of view from the book: that it was hubris and arrogance that were at fault here, rather the director places the blame squarely on the feet of capitalism and deregulation. The answer isn't more regulation. Where was the SEC while all this deception was occurring??

The theater I went to (in Los Angeles) had some guy with a clip board gathering signatures to pull what little deregulation is left here. The California "deregulation" wasn't deregulation at all, in fact, it was the worst of both worlds. The rules (signed off by both a democrat and a republican: Davis and Wilson) forced the highest bidder of the day to set the price for all energy sales, and yet still provided no accountability for the power plants. That's why when Enron called and said shut down, they said "oh okay." FYI: that doesn't happen in a real marketplace. If a trader called Sony and told them not to release any movies next month, they'd tell them to stuff it. Like most "solutions," the partial deregulation in California was begging for someone to come in and manipulate pricing and supply--but it took a company comprised of individuals who seemed to have absolutely NO moral fiber to not only do it but to squeeze it dry. Gray Davis is portrayed as a victim, he wanted the Feds to sweep in and save him when someone like Arnold would have had a bevy of analysts look at what was happening, and then taken the first plane to Houston.

The other part of the movie that other commentaries here have completely missed is that it *does* suggest the Bush's turned a blind eye to both Enron and California's difficulties for political reasons. Now, by my math, at least eight of those fifteen years of raping and pillaging a Dem was in the White House. But no mention of the fact Enron contributed to Clinton's campaign, and/or there was probably a relationship with that administration also. Does this director really think things would have been different had Gore won in 2000?

The movie is good, definitely worth seeing, but needed more of what "regulators" around Enron failed to do: look at the details. I think by doing that, it would have been more balanced, ultimately truthful and pushed itself into the category of "great."

Burning Annie (2004)

Witty script, weak production

[6/10 · 18 March 2005]

**Warning spoilers** If made for a bigger budget by a more experienced director, this would have been a hit. As it is, the technical aspects are weak. It was shot on HD and it shows. The lighting is off in many scenes, and the angles oft times don't match. The acting is great though. Sara Downing and Lundy are wonderful. As others have said, it is very true to college life; the insecurities, the quirky friends, awkward moments and odd couplings. However, I didn't think the character Julie was like Annie Hall at all, which was a plot point that wasn't well supported by the script or the acting.

Anyway, "Burning Annie" is enjoyable. The script is the star. You won't regret renting it.