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sardonicme
Reviews
On the Edge (2001)
smart and perceptive
Here's a movie gets under your skin, but in a good way. Perceptive is the best word I can use to describe. It will connect with you emotionally,in many different directions, but never in a manipulative way. And the soundtrack could not be more perfectly chosen, as several other users have commented on. I'm staying general here because I want you to discover this gem on your own - if you already have an inclination that you're interested, just view it and come back here when you're finished. It's refreshing to know they still construct movies in this way. Girl Interrupted meets Good Will Hunting meets The Ice Storm. It's going to take a while to wash this one out of my short-term memory, but I think I'm fine with that, I'll welcome the residue.
Garden State (2004)
some promise but not consistent enough
*May contain spoilers* I didn't feel it would be fair to hold a grudge against Garden State until I watched it twice, so after a fair amount of distance I gave it a second try. Okay, returns are in. I'm still frustrated by it.
It's such a shame, this could have been a great movie. A lot of interesting themes to work with - guilt, medication, self discovery, forgiveness, being withdrawn from your past, or indifferent to it. Some of the humor is well-spotted and fits (the mom who's set on doing the real estate tapes, for example), but there's so much over-the-top shite - humping dogs, the retarded quarterback joke that's told over and over.
The long scene that ends in the quarry ("good luck in the infinite abyss") is contrived and poorly written, and the final scene in the airport is kinda trite as well. In the end, Braff's put forth a pretty good draft that could be morphed into a great movie. Unfortunately he found too many shortcuts in New Jersey and the end result is 110 minutes that annoy me more than anything else.
Empire Falls (2005)
did you ever expert more?
I'll admit up front that I gave "Empire Falls" the curse of very high expectations. How could I not, with that cast and that wonderful New England backdrop? But the final product didn't live up to what I had hoped it would.
Blessed with as much time as needed to do the story right, or words to that effect, the character development in Part 1 was still too overt for me, too heavy. Rather than let the themes meander in, we're hit over the head with them. Too much of the dialogue is filled with excess reflection - you can have some of this in a movie, but you can't live on it. It can't be in nearly every scene. There are other ways to gently develop your characters, especially when you're working with over three hours of screen time. Although the first day intrigued me enough to want to see the second part, I wasn't thrilled with how the table had been set.
I think things really unravel in Part 2, especially in the final 30 minutes or so. Black Hats go the way of Black Hats, White Hats go the way of White Hats. All of the older tragedies can't be fixed, of course, but every current character more or less is met with a fair resolution. And the underdog town, of course, rallies, makes a comeback, the rejuvenated Miles gets what he wanted all along, and basically the good townspeople find a sort of peace and tranquility. This isn't a conclusion, it's a trite New England greeting card.
Some of the acting is good, some of it very good. Ed Harris was great in the lead role of Miles Roby and does his best to save Empire Falls, or at least carry it. I don't think Max Roby was a hard character to pull off, but Paul Newman certainly did a capable job. Danielle Panabaker was solid as Tick Roby until the script lets her down at the end. For the most part, the scenes with Tick and Max were believable and well crafted. Aidan Quinn (David Roby) and Estelle Parsons (Bea Callahan) were good but underused. And oh, I'm not sure why this movie is considered partly a comedy, but Dennis Farina (Walt Comeau) was the only person who made me laugh the entire two days. He's perfectly cast.
Helen Hunt's work (Janine Roby) didn't do much for me, but I've never been a big fan of hers. It seemed like she had a bad New England accent for half of the screen time, and she lost it for half of the screen time - I never could break the tie. Phillip Seymour Hoffman's character (Charlie Mayne, because that's what it says) seemed cliché but I blame that on the script, not his performance. This might be the PSH character I most easily forget, though, and that's a big statement because I'm a huge fan. Joanne Woodward's Francine Whiting seemed much too overdone to me, but again, maybe the problem is on the page, not on the film.
And oh yes, the music was cheesy and borderline obtrusive, other than the song attached to the HBO ads ("Run" - Snow Patrol), which is fantastic.
I've written too much here. The bottom line with Empire Falls is that yes, I did expect more. No one could look at that cast and expect less. But the whole doesn't equal the sum of the parts here, not in my opinion anyway.
See it if you love Ed Harris, or New England, or both. But go in expecting less than I did.