John Ford once said, “If you have to choose between the fact or the legend, choose the legend”, and our hero of the tale, Edward Bloom, seemingly prefers legend over his own life. Perhaps it’s to cover his own boring, uneventful, or miserable existence, perhaps it’s to continue invoking imagination like a child until he dies, or maybe… it all really happened. Who knows, really? And I say, “Who Cares?” Because, Big Fish succeeds in one truly grand thing, it stirs the imagination rather well in the Capra-esque sense, something I take great joy in, not only as a person who loves to have his imagination stimulated, but also as a storyteller and aspiring writer. I take pride in attempting to tell good stories, and “Big Fish” is a damn good story of epic proportions.
Category Archives: Movie Reviews
The I Inside (2004)
Granted, I’ve never been much of a fan of Ryan Phillipe and his movies, I was very skeptical on whether or not I’d enjoy this. Based on the play by Michael Cooney, and directed by Roland Suso Richter, “The I Inside” was created around the same time as “Butterfly Effect”, but then it was held back, and then dumped on cable television premiering on a channel not a lot of people have. If you’ve seen this movie yet, you’ll notice it’s not like a lot of cable movies. Great cast of great actors and an above par production quality. So why was this treated so badly upon its release?
The Terminal (2004)
Anyone who knows me or has even an inkling of what my reviews are like know I love almost everything Spielberg does, and Spielberg manages, through “The Terminal” to create a sense of something that all comedies lack: humanity, and through its humanity, comedy that is all so amusing and likable (I laughed aloud whenever Navorski looked into the surveillance cameras). Spielberg creates a film in the Capra-esque sensibility and it creates human characters that people can love and or feel sorry for in the process. Viktor Navorski is now a man without a country after his beloved country of Krakozhia engages in a coup and war breaks loose. His passport, visa, and anything else he owns are now deemed confederate dollar rendered basically useless. The problem is he can not step foot in America, and he can not go back home, so now he’s marooned in the airport.
Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (2004)
Tad Hamilton is a big star with the ladies, and after he’s caught doing some naughty things with a lady friend, he’s pressured into re-invigorating his career with a contest for a lucky girl. Rosalee just happens to be that girl. A young wide-eyed fan, she and Tad for an instant friendship, but her friend Pete doesn’t trust him. Ah, the old “Sixteen Candles” formula that has undoubtedly been used before over and over again, and this time around it’s a good variation. Bosworth, a beautiful girl who literally glows whenever she’s on-screen plays Rosalee with much affection and is a great leading character here. She’s someone to root for. While “Win a Date!” doesn’t proceed with originality it accomplishes great characters.
Owning Mahowny (2003)
He’s a bank manager; Dan Mahowny is one of the most hardworking and respected bank managers in the country. He approaches every meeting, every transaction, and every merger with confidence and the same gutsy know how of a bull storming into the office with the same old undersized suit he wears daily, but deep within himself few people know about the secret Dan Mahowny, the gambling addict fueled by losing which never staggers or stifles him, only keeps him coming back for more.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
I suspect one of the reasons why “Sky Captain” failed to bring in any money and make any profits was because a movie such as this only appeals to a certain audience. Director-writer Kerry Conran is a lover of old serials and comic books, so when he created Sky Captain in 1998, he had in mind only a certain audience for the movie. Also, it was poorly advertised, but aside from that, there’s an exclusive audience who loves pulp novels and serials, and yes, I’m one of them. I love it all; serials, pulp superheroes, comic books, and anyone who loves either of these genres will appreciate “Sky Captain” as I did. Taking nearly ten years to make, this was a personal project for Conran who hit a basic luck streak casting people such as Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow on its bill. But great casting is only one of this film’s main achievements.
Mean Creek (2004)
If you could snap your fingers and make your school bully disappear, would you? That is the question posed here in this chilling tale of revenge called “Mean Creek”. Sam is beaten by the school bully George one time too many, and now Sam’s brother and his friends are intent on seeking revenge on George by luring him out to the river and playing a nasty prank on him, but things go horribly wrong. Much like “Deliverance” being a tale of paranoia and the mind becoming the worst enemy after a tragedy, “Mean Creek” is a younger more contemporary tale of an incident spawning a tragedy which has dire consequences.