Innerspace Written by Chip Proser and Jeffrey Boam Directed by Joe Dante USA, 1987 Science fiction is a genre in which anything is possible. Films in particular take advantage of this opportunity to transport its audience to new worlds and new ideas. In 1987, director Joe Dante and executive producer Steven Spielberg took us on …
The summer of 2001 was especially tense. Having just been through an unending presidential election, the U.S. seemed especially on edge. Even before the towers fell in September, the media was already pushing a large, unknown insurgency, it’s face gracing the cover of Time just a month before. The infamous “Summer of the Shark” cover is …
Ocean’s Twelve has a reputation that will always precede it; some have called it an anti-sequel, and publications like Entertainment Weekly have dubbed it one of the worst sequels of all time. Though both reactions are, perhaps, understandable, neither is remotely accurate. Ocean’s Twelve is an inherently self-aware sequel, possibly the most self-aware follow-up in modern history. What Steven Soderbergh, screenwriter George Nolfi (whose original script, Honor Among Thieves, was completely unrelated to Ocean’s Eleven and was sold initially before that remake had been released), and the slightly larger-than-before ensemble cast did was make a sequel to a critically and commercially lauded caper film that was wholly cognizant of the fact that it was a sequel to a critically and commercially lauded caper film. Ocean’s Twelve toys with audience expectations, because to cave into them would’ve promised something potentially more disturbing and commonplace than what many perceived to be an ambitious creative flop: something boring.
Three significant events have occurred in 2013 that lend credence to the claim sci-fi is on its death bed as far as mainstream moviemaking goes. Star Trek Into Darkness continued to drive its franchise further and further away from its ideological roots in pursuit of money spinning breakneck action with a loose plot better suited to the Mission: Impossible series; the announcement that Star Wars will be revamped under the tutelage of the very same J.J. Abrams shows that rather than create new iconic franchises the executives would rather bleed dry the old ones; and Avatar will be graced by three sequels, suggesting a lack of faith in fresh ideas on the part of James ‘Mr. Innovation’ Cameron.
At Any Price USA, 2012 Directed by Ramin Bahrani Written by Hallie Elizabeth Newton, Ramin Bahrani Established indie director Ramin Bahrani (Man Push Cart, Chop Shop and Goodbye Solo) sharply evokes layered complexity among character performances and ideologies in his new farming family drama, At Any Price. Co-written by Hallie Elizabeth Newton, the film tells …
The Words Directed by Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal Written by Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal USA, 2012 The effect of watching The Words is akin to hearing someone read a book report that’s based off the CliffsNotes of the CliffNotes of a popular book. The sheer laziness on display in this would-be character study/thriller …
The Parent Trap Directed by Nancy Meyers Written by David Swift, Nancy Meyers, and Charles Shyer Starring Lindsay Lohan, Dennis Quaid, Natasha Richardson Who is The Parent Trap for, really? The more I think about the plot structure of the 1961 and 1998 films from Walt Disney Pictures, it all starts to unravel. Not so …
Has it only been 14 years since Lindsay Lohan was a respectable child actor? Yes, friends, this week on Mousterpiece Cinema, Josh and Gabe move past the 1961 version of The Parent Trap all the way to its 1998 remake, directed by Nancy Meyers and featuring the first major role from Ms. Lohan. In this …