“Bad Santa” is crude, disgusting, violent, graphic, and has a lot of unsuitable content I wouldn’t recommend for a family out on Christmas, but it’s a great piece of comedy filmmaking by director Terry Zwigoff. There is a lot to like in this excellent character study, especially the two main characters Thurman and Willie, both of whom are opposites in every form of the word. Though their dichotomous relationship becomes something to watch with the highest regard allowing for comedy and warm moments.
Tag Archives: Romance
50 First Dates (2004)
Big Fish (2004)
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.
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.
Species III (2004)
After the sequel to Species, the army is now transporting her body to the morgue for testing, but discovers she’s not exactly dead and has given birth to two offspring. Sil, the original species (cameo by Natasha Henstridge) is killed, but not before she gives birth to a child which is stolen by a soldier and taken in. The name of the child is Sara a brand new species/half-breed. Sara is played by the beautiful and angelic Sunny Mabrey, who pulls in a good performance as the new creature forced to discover the world. She presents the same sexual appeal predecessor Henstridge did, and is just as threatening.
The Station Agent (2004)
The reason why I love independent movies and prefer them over any big-budget event movie is simply for that reason: independent movies are movies, and not events, thus they do not become gimmicks. Independent movies have the advantage of having a low budget because a low budget helps separate the men from the boys. With an independent movie you learn whether the writers and directors shouldn’t even be in Hollywood or have created a work of art. Like someone once said, “just because you can work a film camera, doesn’t mean you should be behind one”, and that’s exactly it. With Indies you either have a pretentious work of crap, a work of schlock, or a work of art; low budget productions help cut through the bullshit and expose real actors, real filmmaking and real writing. Our story “The Station Agent” is all of the above: a real work of art, real filmmaking, real writing, all with real acting.