Movies Matter
  • Blog
  • Steve Kaplan: Comedy's Necessity
  • Julie Salamon: The Devil's Candy Revisited
  • In-Theater Reviews
  • Jen Grisanti: The Wound That Drives Us
  • Claire Elizabeth Terry: Rocaberti Rockin'
  • Glenn Frankel: High Noon
  • Kathie Fong-Yoneda: Still rockin' with Rocaberti et al.
  • Review Archives
  • Contact & join mailing list!
  • William Linn: Mythosophia
  • Chris Vogler: 25th Anniversary Edition
  • John Badham: On Directing, 2nd Edition
  • Ken Lee: Singin' with Musicals
  • Ben Fritz: The Big Picture
  • Ken Miyamoto: Writing the ScreenCraft
  • Charles Ardai: Are Snakes Necessary?
  • Barry Eisler: All The Devils
  • Dave Watson: Walkabout Undone
  • Seger & Rainey: Great Dialogue
  • Pilar Alessandra: The Coffee Break Screenwriter
  • Greg Loftin: Writing for the Cut
  • Debra Eckerling: Your Goal Guide
  • Marilyn Atlas: Dating Your Character
  • Elaine Shannon: Hunting LeRoux
  • Heather Hale: Story$selling
  • Matthew Kalil: The Three Wells
  • Weiko Lin: Crazy Screenwriting Secrets
  • Books & Movies
  • Jason Starr: Fugitive Red
  • Duane Swierczynski
  • Victor Gischler: No Good Deed
  • Diane Bell: Shoot From The Heart
  • Kathie Fong Yoneda: The Future of Story
  • Deborah Patz: Write! Shoot! Edit!
  • Edwards & Skerbelis: Film Festivals
  • Ken Lee, UFVA
  • Geoff Carter: The P.S. Wars
  • Michael Lucker: Action films
  • Dr. Linda Seger: Script to Screen
  • Diamond & Weissman: Bulletproof Scripts
  • Interview: R.R. Campbell
  • Interview: Kristin Oakley
  • Interview: Rex Owens
  • Interview: Margaret Goss
  • Interview: John Bucher, The Oscars
  • Interview: Pamela Douglas
  • Interview: Scott Von Doviak
  • Interview: David Sonnenschein
  • Interview: Josh Friedman
  • Interview: Mike Olah
  • Interview: Stan Williams
  • Interview: Stephen Galloway
  • Interview: Maureen Ryan
  • Interview: Jon Fitzgerald
  • Interview: Ken Lee
  • The Oscars: Pamela Jaye Smith
  • Interview: Kim Adelman
  • Interview: Jeffrey Michael Bays
  • Pamela Jaye Smith: Romantic Movies
  • Interview: Jennifer Van Sijll
  • Interview: Adam Coplan
  • Interview: Shane Kuhn
  • Interview: Bucher and Casper
  • Interview: Troy Devolld
  • Interview: Simone Bartesaghi
  • Interview: The Shoot Like Series
  • Interview: Judith Weston
  • Interview: Pamela Douglas
  • Interview: Jennifer Dornbush
  • Interview: Peterson & Nicolosi
  • Interview: Sarah Beach
  • Interview: Jen Grisanti
  • Interview: Jacqueline Frost
  • Interview: Christopher Kenworthy
  • Interview: Joe Gilford
  • Interview: Richard Pepperman
  • Interview: Deborah Patz
  • Interview: Sam & Gifford Keen
  • Interview: Paul Chitlik
  • Interview: Christopher Vogler
  • Interview: Marx Pyle
  • Interview: Laurie Scheer
  • Interview: Todd Drezner
  • Interview: Tom Malloy
  • Interview: Brad Schreiber
  • Interview: Marilyn Atlas
  • Interview: Ken Miyamoto
  • Interview: Carole Kirschner
  • Interview: Lee Jessup
  • Interview: Jeffrey Michael Bays
  • Interview: Pamela Jaye Smith
  • Interview: John Schimmel
  • Interview: Christopher Riley
  • Interview: John Badham
  • Interview: John Bucher, The Oscars
  • Interview: Dr. Linda Seger
  • Interview: Pilar Alessandra
  • Interview: Steve Kaplan
  • Barry Eisler: the Killer Collective
  • Interview: Gil Bettman
  • Interview: Richard Dunn
  • Interview: Paul Dudbridge

Subscribe!

1/18/15

1/18/2015

0 Comments

 
The last three movies I've reviewed have received the same rating: three-and-a-half stars. This probably isn't a coincidence. Movies can be quite good and if just short of awesome, some re-evaluation could have been in order. Remember, people are paid big bucks to do this, and no one is perfect, though a few efforts, Psycho comes to mind, are just about there. It is so easy to pick apart a film and so hard to make one, yet you're not sure the filmmakers are sure what kind of story they have on their hands when the final cut begins. The Immitation Game, so strong for one hour and forty-five minutes, is one such film, that becomes an ode to its main character the last ten minutes when it's completely unnecessary. This isn't without admiration for what Morten Tyldum and Graham Moore, the director and writer, achieved; it's just that one wonders that if they looked back over the first ninety percent of what they did, they might have rethought how to finish this unassuming, compelling story. Then again, a writing instructor once said that finishing a manuscript is about the hardest thing you'll ever do. Was for me once. Maybe that's why movies and stories matter so much: we don't even know the ending to our own lives much less our daily lives.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.