tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73277036644451199072009-11-12T12:48:41.288-08:00This blog is a screenwriter's review of story points in recently released films. I spent 70 grand on film school and no one's paying me for my opinion, so why not?ScreenwriterJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293592166234361404noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327703664445119907.post-52702523988830644872007-08-23T20:29:00.001-07:002007-08-23T20:31:41.758-07:00

Mmmm Matt.It can’t get better than Bourne 3, with 2 hours of watching Matt Damon run back and forth across the screen like pac-man in heat.OK, I liked it. Of course. Paul Greengrass is genius. That car scene is even better than Russia 2004.That said, I do have some notes. First off, this movie is non other than one long third act chase. The entire sequence of events really just builds on what we

ScreenwriterJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293592166234361404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327703664445119907.post-62464879604772778652007-07-23T19:13:00.000-07:002007-07-23T19:23:44.384-07:00

Catherine Zeta-Jones isn’t American but her sister and niece are. That doesn’t make sense to me, so, what could have been a lovely movie about a practically frigid woman discovering hot sauce in her own austere kitchen, turns out to be a blitz on the very genre it's trying to re-define.First of all, it's sad. Don't they know the first rule of Romantic Comedies? Keep death to the comedic moments.

ScreenwriterJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293592166234361404noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327703664445119907.post-62729281435246869342007-07-23T19:05:00.000-07:002007-07-23T19:26:10.319-07:00

It’s a musical and John Travolta dances. What more could you want from a movie? Not much… Except Queen Latifah and whole lot of rhythm. There’s not much to critique, except, well… a main character issue. (The following should not take away from the stellar performances by Latifa, Christopher Walken, Michelle Pfeiffer and especially the "Negro Singers." Truly marvelous! A must-see.) I assume the

ScreenwriterJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293592166234361404noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327703664445119907.post-62485552181141666672007-07-19T15:09:00.000-07:002007-07-19T15:26:56.765-07:00

In the business, they say, “To have a good hero, you’ve got to have a good villain.” And that can’t be more true in the classical sense than in “Talk to Me.” It’s a story of Petey Greene, played by Don Cheadle, the outrageous talk show host who “cons” his way into a job at an influential D.C. radio station during the Civil Rights Movement.Once there, Petey proves to be nothing short of a pain in

ScreenwriterJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293592166234361404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327703664445119907.post-24108361728843031232007-07-12T06:08:00.000-07:002007-07-19T15:17:02.244-07:00

It is, I will say this, without seeing the fall lineup or Labor Day surprises, the most well written film of the year. That said, this animation is for adults, not children. The poignant quest for lost dreams, a beautiful turnaround by a bitter critic (we all know that person, lingering deep inside, judging everything we do), and a stumbling garbage boy who just wants to run the place, are

ScreenwriterJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293592166234361404noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327703664445119907.post-45472303156263884962007-07-12T06:02:00.000-07:002007-07-12T06:08:23.933-07:00

This film is nothing but a string of jokes, folks, and all of them, to see how much pain we can inflict on Steve Carell.I know it’s no biblical replay of the pain and suffering Noah went through to build an arc against all doubt, but once you hint that the world might be flooded, well… we kind of want to see a flood. A giant one. Not just a trickle of water down a valley adjacent to Washington

ScreenwriterJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293592166234361404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327703664445119907.post-4085436474675815252007-06-29T05:42:00.000-07:002007-07-12T06:11:35.409-07:00

The action movie that doesn’t know it’s an action movie is a problem. This one gloats in its genre. Which do you prefer?Either way, here’s what happens when you become too self aware: 1. You forget why we loved you: The charm of Die Hard is its plea to the regular guy. John McClane is a New York City cop who gets into more trouble that he should be able to handle. We love seeing him get out of it

ScreenwriterJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293592166234361404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327703664445119907.post-69550203595482910542007-06-09T19:27:00.000-07:002007-06-10T05:38:43.924-07:00

I love George. I love Matt. And most of all, I love Brad.The biggest problem in a movie with this much star power should be where to put the key light.Fortunately for the audience, they had that figured out. It was the plot that needed the most positioning.The four cardinal elements of screenwriting, particularly in this kind of caper picture, were all disregarded, blatantly and boastfully by

ScreenwriterJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293592166234361404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327703664445119907.post-87591866514348869392007-06-05T06:51:00.000-07:002007-06-10T05:42:19.757-07:00

Knocked Up, the most recent comedic installation from Judd Apatow, employs his loose story-telling style, but fails to deliver on true visceral conflict.Sure, the jokes are funny, the dialog is hilarious, and the set up always pays off. But what 40-Year-Old Virgin had that Knocked Up lacks is depth in plot to elevate a simple story to a new height.Pot-smoking Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) wants to be

ScreenwriterJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293592166234361404noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327703664445119907.post-13052155010949236542007-05-31T06:15:00.000-07:002007-06-10T05:50:01.111-07:00

Underwater boats, end of the world cliff-hangers and Johnny Depp. It doesn’t get better for summer entertainment. This film is pure fantasy, the kind that Hollywood used to deliver in its golden days of epics, and finally, it’s back. It makes Spider-Man and Shrek look like product placement ads. I could go on about the set design, the ingenuity of the new lands -- Singapore, the pirates lair,

ScreenwriterJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293592166234361404noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327703664445119907.post-26128791346555992392007-05-19T07:28:00.000-07:002007-06-10T05:43:04.076-07:00

Maybe it’s because the writers of the Shrek movies seem to be so apparent in the their works that for the new Shrek, it really felt like there were three of us in the theater: the audience, the characters and the writers.Somehow, by the end of the film, we, the audience, took sides with the characters, feeling sorry they had to speak the words and act the actions of these writers.How did that

ScreenwriterJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293592166234361404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327703664445119907.post-11893705776654880002007-05-14T10:23:00.000-07:002007-06-10T05:45:11.229-07:00

I love you, Sam Raimi, and I love Spider-Man, but 3 was... Well, I don't have to say it. Here are my notes, if you care to listen.1. Too many characters. Either this is a story about Pete and Harry as the antagonist, or it's about the black suit. The Sandman should have been cut or held for four. I realize you needed him to enrage Peter into jealousy, and thus enhance the use of the suit and also

ScreenwriterJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293592166234361404noreply@blogger.com2