Venice Souvenir (Gaffin, 2013)
Comprised of dozens of short (one or two minute) vignettes, Venice Souvenir attempts to capture the unique flavor of the location that allegedly gets more tourists than Disney Land.
Comprised of dozens of short (one or two minute) vignettes, Venice Souvenir attempts to capture the unique flavor of the location that allegedly gets more tourists than Disney Land.
Between 1989 and 2003, Jim Sheridan was nominated for six Academy Awards. Three were for writing, two for directing. The last last was as the producer for a best picture… Continue reading "In America (Sheridan, 2003) — 10 Years Later"
The themes of surrendering to a self-torturing, illicit passion is rote, but the theme of struggling with a temptation to seize power for the greater good...well, okay, it's pretty rote, too.
In sublimating every other theme to it, he ends up repressing the film's potential greatness for too long, never fully exploring the deeper questions that transcend the idle narrative curiosity imposed by the artifically constructed mystery.
The older and more experienced I get, the more confidence I have in my own judgment. That's as it should be. When it comes to "family films," however, it feels as though each passing year allows me to drift further and further from any sort of critical consensus about what is desirable within the genre and what particular films meet the criteria for meriting praise.
Negative reviews or critically acclaimed movies are like exclamation points: one only gets an indeterminate but exhaustible number in life before people stop paying attention. Indifferent reviews are more like semi-colons: people begrudgingly admit you are correct but hate you anyway for being such a smarty-pants.
From column one select a famous name (historical or fictional). From column two select a mythical creature. From column three select a verb that is in the thesaurus as a synonym for "kill." Ready? Go. Winnie the Pooh: Mummy Exterminator. Ronald Reagan: Unicorn Euthanizer. Johnny Unitas: Mermaid Slayer. Jack and Jill: Mothra Extinguisher. Congratulations, you've just green lit the 2014 winter movie season.
The problem with Crossroad is not that it is Christian nor even that it is preachy. There is a market for this sort of film and those who approve of what the artists are attempting are historically more or less deaf to the cries of critics about how skillfully or artistically they are doing it.
The simple narrative and self-consciously "PG" script will no doubt prompt Lifetime movie comparisons from some (sarcastic) circles, but a strong cast and crew keep the film from succumbing to excessive bathos.
The North Carolina Film Critics Association (NCFCA) will announce its awards for the best films and performances of 2012 next week.