Yes, "Captain America: Winter Soldier" stormed onto screens last week, "shattering April records." That's because the summer season has crept into April for about the last five years. It'll be gone in a month, probably. It also dwarfed "Divergent," proving that, based on reviews, good writing and direction can supercede a legion of middle and high school fans who've read the book, indeed the series, with three more Divergent movies on the way. And then, and this is what I love about the film world, Errol Morris releases his new documentary, "The Unknown Known," where he interviews Donald Rumsfeld. These three movies side by side appear so different, yet similarities are there.
Upon seeing "Draft Day" open to mediocre reviews, one also has the flashback to Kevin Costner's sports movies "Bull Durham" and "Tin Cup," both written and directed by Ron Shelton. Which comes back to the writing. "Draft Day" gets caught between being "too inside baseball" says Brian Tallerico on rogerebert.com and not character-driven-enough. Shelton's "Bull Durham" chose one side of that path from a very personal story, and won big in the summer of 1988. Then you wonder, what was Ivan Reitman, director of "Ghostbusters," "Stripes," and other comedy classics, up to with this football movie? Does he know? If he's showing you what is, personalize it, and have quotable lines. Ah, the writing again.
Upon seeing "Draft Day" open to mediocre reviews, one also has the flashback to Kevin Costner's sports movies "Bull Durham" and "Tin Cup," both written and directed by Ron Shelton. Which comes back to the writing. "Draft Day" gets caught between being "too inside baseball" says Brian Tallerico on rogerebert.com and not character-driven-enough. Shelton's "Bull Durham" chose one side of that path from a very personal story, and won big in the summer of 1988. Then you wonder, what was Ivan Reitman, director of "Ghostbusters," "Stripes," and other comedy classics, up to with this football movie? Does he know? If he's showing you what is, personalize it, and have quotable lines. Ah, the writing again.
