I wasn’t a big fan of the original 1966 film starring the great Michael Caine. About a year prior to the release of the remake, I decided to give “Alfie” a watch, and really wasn’t impressed. For all whom aren’t familiar with the original, “Alfie” takes place in London, and not in New York, and it’s much darker and colder than the remake. Though, as always, movie fans will be divided with both versions, I just had to pick the remake. Granted, neither of them are masterpieces, nor are the rip-offs, but the modern “Alfie” is much more enjoyable in the long run.
Tag Archives: Romance
The Cooler (2003)
Ultimately, I love the underdog story, I love to see the little guy accomplish and conquer their goals and beat the odds, and “The Cooler” is the ultimate under dog story. William H. Macy, an actor who I always enjoy watching plays Bernie Lootz an always down on his luck sad sack who works everyday as a “Cooler” in the Las Vegas casinos under Shelly Kaplow’s dollar. His bad luck is a surefire repellent for winning and though he hates the job, he does it because he’s good at it. That is until he meets Natalie, a waitress at the casino. The two begin to hit it off and quickly his luck begins improving, and money begins getting lost.
The Weather Man (2005)
Okay, loyal readers, here’s an unofficial list. Signs you know you’re watching a Nicolas Cage film:
1. There’s a surefire melancholy score of upbeat tempos, and downbeats.
2. There’s always a dim filter on the lens, usually with varying shades of gray or blue.
3. Cage is likely playing a glum, and or sad character; you can usually tell by looking at his frown plastered on his face throughout the film.
4. There’s narration, narration, narration, and plenty of it. Not useful narration either, but just to spell out every single action that can easily be dictated through competent editing and direction.
5. There’s usually a slow motion sequence here or there.
6. There’s always a character revelation.
7. His character usually has bad hair, only to accentuate his feeling of inferiority.
Dear Frankie (2004)
What would you do to protect your child? Now, before you view what the mom in “Dear Frankie” does, keep asking yourself. What would you do to protect your child? What lengths are you willing to go to to see that they’re not emotionally shattered, or ruined by reality? The answer is always the same. While not original, and bound to give you a cavity afterwards, “Dear Frankie” is a simple and dreamy family flick about a single mom named Lizzie who lives with her young deaf son Frankie in their flat.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
Director Garth Jennings mimics Ivan Reitman’s style, and sick humor down to every particular inch, and until I read up on this film, I’d convinced myself Reitman directed this. For a film that starts off with a musical number involving fleeing Dolphins singing “So long and thanks for all the fish!”, it’s obvious you’re going to get something new. I thought the dolphins would be CGI and animated, but having the song play while stock footage of Dolphins run on a loop is further proof of that not taking itself too seriously hypotheses. And its hard to hate something that sports a cast like John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Mos Def, Zooey Deschanel, and Alan Rickman, it’s hard to go wrong, and I had fun.
Evelyn: The Cutest Evil Dead Girl (2002)
Imagine if Dr. Seuss combined genius with Edgar Allan Poe, with Tim Burton bouncing ideas off of them, and what do you get? Well, if you’re lucky you’d get Evelyn, the cutest evil dead girl, a demented fairytale with the mood and color you never get in films anymore, the mood and color that’s missing from the horror genre today. Many call this basically a rip from “Lenore the Living Dead Girl” comic book, and perhaps that’s true, but “Evelyn” is such a sick and demented short film I had so much fun watching that I didn’t really care.
The Squid and the Whale (2005)
Yet another Oscar contender I’ve been aching to see before it was even an Oscar contender, “The Squid and the Whale” presents and upper middle class family of intellectuals and prominent athletes at war with one another. At the beginning of the film, I was rather worried this would become yet another “Ice Storm” rip-off except set in New York, but “The Squid and the Whale” is a simple but engrossing parable of a family set in half, and their children having to choose sides. “The Squid and the Whale” is a basic tale of two parents so at odds with one another that it follows down to their children whom are also at war and don’t even seem to realize it. Noah Baumbach’s writing is very enlightening with this simple slice of life of a family at war, and really doesn’t depict anyone as a villain, though the story does veer to certain directions here and there.