The Writer's Poke

On the surface, Match Point seems like it's going to replay the Crimes and Misdemeanors script. Chris (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is a semi-pro tennis player who has decided he can't make it on touring circuit. As a result, he becomes a tennis instructor for the well-to-do at a London club. When we first see him, I think we're supposed to get the idea that he's playing the game -- not tennis, but social climbing. With a little luck, he can get in with a wealthy family. That's what ends up happening. He marries the sister, Chloe (Emily Mortimer), of one of his tennis club students, Tom (Matthew Goode). Does he love Chloe? Or does he simply accept that marrying into the family is what he needs to do to move up in the world? Chloe seems like a nice enough woman. She's by no means ugly, but I'm sure we're supposed to see her as plain, especially when she's compared to Nola (Scarlett Johanson). Nola is really the woman that Chris lusts after, but her problem ...

A lot can happen in one summer in Barcelona.  If you're two young American women, perhaps visiting Europe takes you out of your day-to-day routines. This may give you a chance to see yourself and your life from a new perspective.  Vicky (Rebecca Hall) wasn't the type to get swept up in romance and fantasy. She had her normal life planned out. She was getting married to an average, successful man. He will provide for her economically, as her 2-carat engagement ring testifies.  Christina (Scarlett Johansson) was the type that didn't know what she wanted. She only knew what she didn't want. She was much more open to experimentation and didn't feel the need to conform to society's box. If a strange Spanish man invites her to go away for the weekend, she will be open to the offer.  When they meet Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), a "bohemian" painter, Christina is immediately attracted. He seems dangerous, maybe a little intoxicating. Romantic. Vicky sees him a...

Compared to Castle in the Sky (1986), Howl's Moving Castle feels like Hayao Miyazaki at his full power. What makes the film for me is the characters, in particular, Calcifer (the fire) and Turnip Head (the Scarecrow). Good English voice casting, too, if you like listening to the English audio: Billy Crystal as Calcifer -- my favorite line: "She likes my spark!" (very Mike Wazowski-like in delivery) --, Christian Bale as Howl, Lauren Bacall as the Witch of the Waste, Jean Simmons as the old Sophie, etc.  Sophie is an interesting character. She's supposed to be a little Jane Eyre-like, plain and unlovable. But she's cursed by the Witch of the Waste even so. None of that matters. Howl is still her true love, and even though she kisses a Prince (under a spell) in the end, she still ends up with Howl. That's a little odd, as the Prince promises he will be back later because she is his true love, and he knows how love is capricious -- in other words, he's nice a...

The movie is a little different: It has 5 strong female leads. Name another movie with 5 strong female leads. Katherine Ann (Julia Roberts) is the last-minute hire at a snobbish northeastern Women's College. She doesn't belong there, and the administration and students make sure she knows it. At the same time, Amanda (Juliet Stevenson) has somehow managed to be a lesbian and maintain her employment there for years... so if you don't quite fit in, you can stay. You just have to remain invisible and a non-problem. In Amanda's case, be a lesbian, but don't distribute birth control.  At first, it feels like Katerine Ann will likely try to "do things her way" while staying under the radar. She can teach to the syllabus AND add outside content. She can teach them what they need to know, as well as what she thinks they need to know. Basically, she can teach them how to think for themselves.  Throughout the movie, maybe she's still trying to figure out how to ...

If you watched Mary and Max and then watched Memoir of a Snail (2024), I wonder if you would know everything you need to know about the creative force behind these films, Adam Elliot. I like both films, and they're both quite similar -- the visual world, the characters, the humor. If Snail was a "brown" film, then so is this one. It's obviously a sad film. Mary and Max do have more people to call friends than just one another. They each have neighbors. Mary even marries her neighbor. Does he leave her? Sure, but he's not depicted as being a bad guy for it. Max's neighbor, too, comes off as a real friend, but if Max and Mary "dream" about each other and ignore other examples of human contact, maybe Elliot is commenting on the nature of distance, and how distance sometimes helps people open up in ways they don't to those around them.  What a fun experiment, to just pick a name at random and develop a friendship with a total stranger who lives thous...

Briony (Saoirse Ronan) is a rather unlikable 13-year-old child. She's known Robbie (James McAvoy) her entire life. In fact, not that much earlier before the "events" of the film unfold, Robbie saved her life, and she told him that she would be "eternally grateful" to him. It seems she had a crush on him... but Robbie, of course didn't know that. She was too young, and he loved her older sister. Robbie was the family servant, but Briony's father liked him enough that he put him through Cambridge and was willing to continue putting him through medical school. Unfortunately, Briony walks in on Robbie and Ceilia (Keira Knightley) having sex in the library. Notice how the film repeats "shocking" events that Cecilia witnesses, at least between Robbie and Celicia. The first is when Cee strips to her underwear to jump into the fountain to retrieve a broken piece of porcelain. The second time is when she sees them in the library. Just prior to that mome...

But what if Quasimodo could find love? That had to be the question screenwriters worked with when they pitched and wrote the sequel. When we watched this film last night, my daughter said, "Who asked for this sequel to be made?" I think it's a fair question. All of the voice actors, for whatever reason, came back. But the budget is clearly no longer $100 million. The songs are weaker. The animation is weaker. And, while I don't actually mind the storyline that much (except for the ending), it's weaker as well. Esmerlda and Phoebus are married. They have a son, but neither they nor the goat look any older. They haven't aged at all. Nor have their characters developed in any noticeable way. Quasimodo does seem a little more social. He goes out and about, and none of the people run from him or throw rotten vegetables at him. Everyone seems to get along. Enter this movie's "gypsies" -- the circus people. The whole plot centers around the Madellaine (...

The more movies I watch, the more I'm amazed at the number of movies that I somehow have never heard of. Movies come and go so quicky, and it seems like if they don't latch on and make an impression quickly, they are sometimes never discovered. The Golden Compass seems to be one of those forgotten films, even though it received a 4/4 rating from Roger Ebert when it was first released. (Maybe there's a reason some films are forgotten... see below.) The basic premise is pretty cool. We live in a multiverse, but there's no real way to "prove" it, let alone travel to parallel universes. In the movie, people's souls live in "spirit animals" that travel with them outside their bodies. The spirit animals of children have the ability to change, only locking into one specific form upon adulthood. Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig) has a plan to prove the existence of parallel universes, and even to travel to one. The Powers That Be would rather this not happen. A...

This is one of those movies I've never heard of, but I caught enough of a trailer for the film when watching another film on DVD that I thought I'd give it a watch. It also stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who I just watched and enjoyed in Don Jon (2013), so I was curious to see what he was up to in an earlier work.  When I first started watching, I noticed the artificial sound to the dialogue. No one talks like that. It's sort of like 21st century high school kids talking like 1940s gangsters. So, I listened a little bit more. Were they speaking in some sort of high school or generational slang that I wasn't used to? No, I don't think that's it. I think it was an intentional choice made by writer/director to have these high school kids sound like 1940s gangsters.  This choice doesn't work for me. I think it's a gimmick, and I wonder what the film would be like if they just talked normally. I have a feeling that maybe the story wouldn't be strong enough t...

Joel (Jim Carrey) isn't impulsive, but as the film begins, he cuts work and writes in his diary about his sudden urge to visit the beach in winter. It's his first entry in two years and he notices ripped out pages. He doesn't remember ripping them out. Clementine (Kate Winslet) and Joel start chatting on the train to the beach. They're attracted to each other, and she feels like she's seen him before. She has blue hair and starts talking about her hair color obsessions. She doesn't stay one color for long. Joel listens, but there's some sort of awkward tension between them. Clementine almost gives up chatting with Joel, but then maybe she decides to try again. She comes on as aggressive; Joel is more passive. He wants to meet a woman, he writes in his diary, but he can't talk to women. He's better at sharing his thoughts in his diary. She gives him a punch goodbye, but then Joel decides to give her a ride and a second chance. Just an odd way to star...

  "You could learn me." -- Tessa asking Justin to marry her. What a line! And over the course of the film he does, telling her spirit that he has finally learned all of her secrets. Justin (Ralph Fiennes) and Tessa (Rachel Weisz) end up in bed together so quickly, I thought I was watching a porno for a second. But that's before. The movie starts with the "end," I suppose, with "everything" before happening in flashback. The opening shot focuses on the backs of Justin, Tessa, and Arnold. Tessa turns around briefly to say goodbye. She touches Arnold's arm briefly, and but everything feels detached and unexplained. At this moment, we don't know who these people are, or what's about to happen. We've landed at this specific moment, and it's not in the linear timeline. Justin is a very polite, very reserved British diplomat. Tessa is a woman who wants to make a difference in the world. When she asks to go to Africa with Justin, she offers...

Keep in mind this film's premise: It is written. This isn't a film about "luck" or "chance." I think if you watch it that way, you have a right to criticize and even dislike the film. But if you watch it like a modern-day fable, how can you not view this film as a contemporary classic? As far as I recall, I've only watched this film one time previously -- more or less when it originally came out on DVD. But the film has always stayed with me. Few films are like that. Films that I "feel" I know long after I've forgotten all the plot details. Films like Shawshank Redemption (1994), Memento (2000), and maybe a handful of others. Films that "speak" to me on some "deeper" level. I've been wanting to re-watch Slumdog Millionaire for a long time now, to see if it's as good as I remember it to be -- to see if it was worth the feeling the memory of watching it has given me.  And yes, it is that good.  Jamal (Dev Patel) is...

Surely Kate Winslet has been in a few duds, but if so, what are they? I usually feel like it's a mistake to watch a film just because an actor is in it. I mean, I do, but I'm often disappointed. I often wonder: Why on earth did they pick THAT role? Why did they agree to be in THAT movie? It reminds me of actors like Bruce Willis who, at least at the end of his career, signed up to be in any movie that came his way. Granted, I get why Willis made that decision, but Winslet has never had to make that choice. She's always been able to pick provocative roles in good movies. And this is a really good movie. I did find myself saying "No... no... no..." when I realized that the film was about to end and the characters were all starting to make weird decisions. I don't believe, for example, that Sarah (Winslet) would go over to the child molester in the park late at night to see if he is okay. I don't believe that Brad (Patrick Wilson) would stop to do skating tri...

At the end of the movie, we see the words The End crossed out with the words The Beginning. Since I know three additional Bridget Jones movies have now been made, I take that to mean that they had at least planned for one additional Bridget Jones film, if not a full franchise. (I have no current plan to watch the sequels, but I have read the IMDb summaries, and so I know, in summary, how the following years of Jones's life have gone. Usually, I wouldn't count that against the original movie, but I feel like it's difficult with this one, as this movie is a Romance with a Romantic ending, and yet, I know "the rest of the story.") A simple love triangle. There's Daniel (Hugh Grant), a womanizing prick she knows better than to get involved with... but once he shows the least bit of interest in her, she immediately gets involved with him. Then there's Mark (Colin Firth). He's like a real man, the one she was "destined" to be with, but she can'...

Amir (Khalid Abdalla) learns a secret about his father after his father (Baba) is dead. Basically, even the best people are hypocrites. They believe one thing and do another. Baba wasn't a fanatic, but the film also shows how even the "most religious" people will base their beliefs on "God's Word," and then follow or enforce those beliefs selectively.  I thought about this during the "halftime show" that Amir watches as an adult. The Taliban bring out a couple found guilty of adultery. The penalty, the leader says, is death by stoning. It's the punishment God requires. And so, they carry out the punishment on the woman, stoning her to death. The man is right there next to her, but we never see them carry out the punishment on him. I'm guessing they let him live. Maybe they thought it was punishment enough being brought out in front of the crowd and shamed (not to mention having his lover killed without being able to do anything about it). I...

"My sister hit and killed a deer. My mother sees through this euphemism, for it is a euphemism. Everything that happens in this city is a euphemism. Mother understands in a second what this deer blood and fur means. And somehow, she's right. She can read our family and our civic secrets, our desire and our shame, as easily as she can read a newspaper." -- Guy Maddin (narrator) In July 2015, I spent the night in Winnipeg. I had the free time to stay longer, but one night was enough. Even in the warmer months, Winnipeg somehow managed to maintain its gloomy winter exterior. I would like to go back some day to see if it's actually like I remember it, but who knows it I will. Even though I live in Minnesota, it's still an eight-hour drive, plus the time spent crossing the border. But today I went back to Winnipeg with Guy Maddin as my tour guide. I need Maddin in my life. So many films are predictable, cut-by-numbers affairs. They're supposed to be. That's wh...

Nancy M. Pimental wrote this one. From 1998-2001, she was a staff writer on South Park, which kind of gives you a sense of the humor likely to be used in this movie. She's also credited with writing 25 episodes of Shameless (TV series with 134 episodes, 2011-2021 and a current IMDb rating of 8.5). I include this because it would be so easy to write-off The Sweetest Thing as juvenile and stupid. And yes, it probably is juvenile and stupid, but in a Harold and Kumar (2004) way. That's the film that immediately came to mind as I started watching this. And yet, Sweetest Thing has a 5.2 IMDb rating, and Harold and Kumar has a 7.0 IMDb rating. I don't think that's fair. Is it just because this film features women being crude, whereas we're more accepting of crudeness from men? Roger Ebert, for example, rated Sweetest Thing a Thumbs Down (1.5/4 stars). In his assessment, he admitted that he loved watching the three female leads, admiring how committed and into their roles ...

Will Ferrell is not the most subtle or understated actor out there, but the movie does have nice attention to small details, and I can appreciate the "craftsmanship" of his writing. One of my favorite scenes is when Ron and his crew are attacked "Guys and Dolls" style by the #2 news team. That would have been a good scene, but then the #3 news team shows up. Then the PBS news team. Then the Spanish news team. It's that kind of thing that makes this film a little better than average for me. Another scene that I liked is when Ron's dog survives the dropkick attack from the motorcyclist Ron hits with a burrito (Jack Black). We see the dog again as Ron and Veronica are trapped in the Bear exhibit at the San Diego Zoo. It's the dog who is able to communicate with the bears, securing their release. The dog's dialogue is pure Will Ferrell. I haven't watched any other Will Ferrell films. At least not on purpose. When he was on SNL, I was a big fan. Certa...

Did I watch this last night, or was it a fever dream? I guess I've discovered I want to know what kind of story I'm watching. I expected this one to be something of a comedy. Sometimes I will cheat a little and scroll through Letterboxd reviews or critic reviews. If they write stuff like "dark comedy," then I will expect some sort of comedy element.  I wasn't really seeing that as I watched. I mean, sure, I get that some of it is "dark" and perhaps somewhat absurd/comedic, but I was trying to fit this movie into neo-noir. Ultimately, that's what I think it is. You have Frank (Steve Martin), a dentist with a successful practice, fall for a Susan (Helena Bonham Carter), a drug addict. Is this plausible? Is she really that much more seductive and attractive than Jean (Laura Dern), fiancée and a dental associate that works in his clinic? Does Susan fulfill some sort of fantasy? Does Frank really fall for her just because she will have sex with him in the...

This is Robert DeNiro's second film as director, and he does a fine job. Nothing "signature" about his style, but quality work throughout. Good ensemble cast, but the main focus is on Matt Damon who plays Edward. So, what makes Edward a good shepherd? When he was a young boy, his dad committed suicide. Edward stole the suicide letter before anyone else entered the room, and then he told everyone the shooting was an accident. He admitted that secret at his Skull and Bones initiation, but that was years later. He kept the suicide note, but he didn't read it until decades later. That note turned out to be a simple apology. His father apologized for being a coward, and in the part he wrote to Edward, he encouraged him to fight for the life he wanted. Did Edward end up living the life he wanted, or did he live the life that was expected of him? In the end, was he okay with that? Edward doesn't reveal much. He has learned that to reveal is to expose vulnerabilities, and...