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dlee-1037
Reviews
Celebrity (1998)
Typical Allen
To start with, I'm not a Woody Allen fan. In fact I can't stand him or his work so I would have passed on this had I known he was involved. I was focused on the cast and admired everyone there with the exception of Kenneth Branagh so again another disappointment, that out of all that talent, he had the major male role. Being committed I went ahead and tried to watch it but not surprisingly I gave up a third of the way through. It is so typical of an Allen film, especially those of his that are set in New York. If I didn't know better (I actually don't) I'd think that everybody in New York is neurotic and talks extremely fast which only means that Allen has written himself in to yet another role. Not a good idea for diversity but if a director must he ought to consider if his character is likable or not. The only Allen films I've liked were those that he wasn't in or had an Allen like character. Because I didn't finish the film I can't write a proper review but just a warning to those who are not fond of the Allen personality, and there are a lot of us, don't be fooled by the fact that Allen isn't listed as a cast member. He sent Branagh in his stead.
Paper Man (2009)
pleasantly surprised
The first time I played this movie I fell asleep right after it started and almost didn't replay it the next day because what little I remember of it wasn't too impressive. I would have missed one of the better movies I've seen in some time.
Like a lot of indie films it wasn't cookie cutter Hollywood but also unlike a lot of indie films it had some real acting talent. I had seen Emma Stone in Easy A for the first time and enjoyed her in that role but didn't see any exceptional talent so I was really amazed at the performance she gave in this movie as it was a much deeper and complicated role. You don't realize how good she is until you've seen the whole film and finally understand the undercurrent that has been present throughout. Jeff Daniels is a veteran actor and it was hard to tell at first if he was filling his role but as the film progresses you realize that Richard is a flawed man and has been for a very long time and it has reached a point where it can't continue and Daniels was Richard. The three remaining characters were really only set dressing but they were instrumental in helping flesh out who Richard and Abby really were.
Richard, a 40ish writer who has what appears to be writers block meets 17 year old Abby, a not too typical teen. There is an almost instant mutual attraction that develops into a unique friendship that is decidedly not sexual.How this friendship develops and how it affects the rest of the characters is what made this movie so enjoyable. See for yourself. Daniels and Stone were excellent together.
This film does require a little effort. There are no throw away scenes so if you don't stay with it and pay attention you will have wasted the effort that the writers and actors put into it and probably won't appreciate it. If you have a short attention span or are hooked on Hollywood then don't bother with this one.
Spread (2009)
Not worth the time.
Nothing new here. A story that happens ever day to people that you won't particularly care about.
The first half is slow moving soft porn and the second half is devoted to watching shallow people live shallow lives. People doing the same thing over and over again and yet somehow expecting different results.
If you can get past that everything else was adequate.I just don't see why they would assemble all those people and all that talent to tell us a story about people that were neither bad enough nor good enough for anybody to even take notice of.
Rent something else.