I think the reason Surveillance didn’t, “Do it for me,” was that it’s just so darned… vanilla. The film is well shot, it’s got an at least somewhat original idea going for it, but it’s not nearly as clever as it thinks it is. While the game changes as it approaches its finale and the last 20 minutes end up being more memorable than most everything else, when the credits rolled I didn’t really feel anything. This surprised me, as the final shot is rather picturesque and poetic. Enough even, that had I been fully hooked into the movie until then it would’ve made a much longer lasting impression. Lynch sets up and executes her plays without boxing herself into any logical corners, but minor faults nonetheless keep Surveillance from being something I can see myself returning to anytime soon.
Agents Anderson and Hallaway (Julia Ormond and Bill Pullman,...
Agents Anderson and Hallaway (Julia Ormond and Bill Pullman,...
- 8/19/2009
- by Saul Berenbaum
- JustPressPlay.net
DVD Playhouse—August 2009
By
Allen Gardner
Watchmen—Director’S Cut (Warner Bros.) Director Zack Snyder’s film of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ landmark graphic novel is as worthy an adaptation of a great book that has ever been filmed. In an alternative version of the year 1985, Richard Nixon is serving his third term as President and super heroes have been outlawed by a congressional act, in spite of the fact that two of the most high-profile “masks,” Dr. Manhattan (Billy Cruddup) and The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) helped the U.S. win the Vietnam War. When The Comedian is found murdered, many former heroes become concerned that a conspiracy is afoot to assassinate retired costumed crime fighters. Former masks Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson), Silk Spectre (Malin Akerman) and still-operating Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley, in an Oscar-worthy turn) launch an investigation of their own, all while the Pentagon’s “Doomsday...
By
Allen Gardner
Watchmen—Director’S Cut (Warner Bros.) Director Zack Snyder’s film of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ landmark graphic novel is as worthy an adaptation of a great book that has ever been filmed. In an alternative version of the year 1985, Richard Nixon is serving his third term as President and super heroes have been outlawed by a congressional act, in spite of the fact that two of the most high-profile “masks,” Dr. Manhattan (Billy Cruddup) and The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) helped the U.S. win the Vietnam War. When The Comedian is found murdered, many former heroes become concerned that a conspiracy is afoot to assassinate retired costumed crime fighters. Former masks Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson), Silk Spectre (Malin Akerman) and still-operating Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley, in an Oscar-worthy turn) launch an investigation of their own, all while the Pentagon’s “Doomsday...
- 8/10/2009
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
IFC Films gave Fango an update on when a quartet of its horror titles will debut as Blockbuster exclusives and then become available for retail via Mpi. Look for The Objective (at Blockbuster July 14) to retail on October 27; Pontypool (Blockbuster Oct. 13) to retail February 10, 2010; Dead Snow (Blockbuster Oct. 20) to retail January 26, 2010; and Dark Mirror (no Blockbuster date as of yet) to retail March 2010.
Meanwhile, the two Blu-ray set of the complete theatrical cut of the Weinstein Company’s Grindhouse (which we previously reported on here) has now been shifted to a street date of December 31 by Wal-Mart, which appears to be the only retailer offering it at the moment. That’s the slot the company has also set for a three-dvd Grindhouse edition—but since that’s a Thursday, and discs usually street on Tuesdays, could that just be a default date? (A few years back, the Weinsteins announced a...
Meanwhile, the two Blu-ray set of the complete theatrical cut of the Weinstein Company’s Grindhouse (which we previously reported on here) has now been shifted to a street date of December 31 by Wal-Mart, which appears to be the only retailer offering it at the moment. That’s the slot the company has also set for a three-dvd Grindhouse edition—but since that’s a Thursday, and discs usually street on Tuesdays, could that just be a default date? (A few years back, the Weinsteins announced a...
- 7/9/2009
- by no-reply@fangoria.com (Michael Gingold)
- Fangoria
A Massachusetts native and USC film school grad, writer-director Juliane Glantz shows much enthusiasm in her feature debut, charging ahead with an overwrought, genre-bending teen potboiler that has a fashionable, anything-goes agenda.
Screened recently at the Nortel Palm Springs International Film Festival, "Wilbur Falls" is headlined by Danny Aiello and Sally Kirkland as small-town eccentrics whose revenge-minded daughter (Shanee Edwards) vamps her way into serious trouble just before graduating high school.
The most honored and busy among her schoolmates, Renata (Edwards) never forgets her public humiliation as a freshman, when an erotic drawing of hers is reproduced and displayed by treacherous friends. Reduced to a hysterical mess and needing the comfort of her father Phillip (Aiello), the affable but overprotective town sheriff, Renata evolves into a noir virgin with a superior attitude.
Renata's mother (Kirkland) is a New Age floozy whom Phillip adores, but they are only two influences on Renata. Her best friend Arne (Jeff Daurey) encourages her to exact long-overdue payback from brainless stud Jeffrey (Charlie Newmark). Luring him to her favorite frog pond, Renata pulls a nasty prank resulting in Jeffrey's unintended demise.
When the body disappears, Renata and Arne keep mum as locals believe Jeffrey has disappeared. Alas, Phillip is no longer sheriff, and his replacement, T-Bone David Anthony Marshall), arrogantly and menacingly lurks while attempting to solve the mystery.
Complications set in when the deceased's pregnant girlfriend Jodi (Cherilyn Hayres) turns to Renata for help getting an abortion. They travel to the city and visit Renata's wild older sister Katherine (Suzanne Cryer), who has goo-goo eyes for slick gangster Johnny Handsome (Fred Stoller). Jodi and Renata talk about sex, with the former's enthusiasm turning on the latter, and they fall into bed together.
After the brief lesbian interlude, and because of newsworthy abortion protesters, they cause a panic back home, and Renata defiantly claims to have been pregnant with Jeffrey's child. From unused condoms by the pond to the surprise of what happened to Jeffrey's body, the film lurches into overheated melodrama as T-Bone and the state police begin looking for a murderer.
The performances are rarely subtle or convincing, though Edwards, Aiello, Kirkland and Hayres work hard. Glantz's scenario is too scattershot, and the combination of serious and satirical elements is handled clumsily.
WILBUR FALLS
Vexatious Films
Writer-director: Juliane Glantz
Producer: David L. Delman
Executive producers: David L. Delman, Joseph Pecoraro
Director of photography: Kurt Brabbee
Editors: John Gilbert, Duncan Burns
Costume designer: Kristen Anacher
Music: Jim Halfpenny
Color/stereo
Cast:
Renata: Shanee Edwards
Phillip: Danny Aiello
Roberta: Sally Kirkland
Katherine: Suzanne Cryer
Arne: Jeff Daurey
Jodi: Cherilyn Hayres
T-Bone: David Anthony Marshall
Johnny Handsome: Fred Stoller
Jeffrey: Charlie Newmark
Running time -- 97 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Screened recently at the Nortel Palm Springs International Film Festival, "Wilbur Falls" is headlined by Danny Aiello and Sally Kirkland as small-town eccentrics whose revenge-minded daughter (Shanee Edwards) vamps her way into serious trouble just before graduating high school.
The most honored and busy among her schoolmates, Renata (Edwards) never forgets her public humiliation as a freshman, when an erotic drawing of hers is reproduced and displayed by treacherous friends. Reduced to a hysterical mess and needing the comfort of her father Phillip (Aiello), the affable but overprotective town sheriff, Renata evolves into a noir virgin with a superior attitude.
Renata's mother (Kirkland) is a New Age floozy whom Phillip adores, but they are only two influences on Renata. Her best friend Arne (Jeff Daurey) encourages her to exact long-overdue payback from brainless stud Jeffrey (Charlie Newmark). Luring him to her favorite frog pond, Renata pulls a nasty prank resulting in Jeffrey's unintended demise.
When the body disappears, Renata and Arne keep mum as locals believe Jeffrey has disappeared. Alas, Phillip is no longer sheriff, and his replacement, T-Bone David Anthony Marshall), arrogantly and menacingly lurks while attempting to solve the mystery.
Complications set in when the deceased's pregnant girlfriend Jodi (Cherilyn Hayres) turns to Renata for help getting an abortion. They travel to the city and visit Renata's wild older sister Katherine (Suzanne Cryer), who has goo-goo eyes for slick gangster Johnny Handsome (Fred Stoller). Jodi and Renata talk about sex, with the former's enthusiasm turning on the latter, and they fall into bed together.
After the brief lesbian interlude, and because of newsworthy abortion protesters, they cause a panic back home, and Renata defiantly claims to have been pregnant with Jeffrey's child. From unused condoms by the pond to the surprise of what happened to Jeffrey's body, the film lurches into overheated melodrama as T-Bone and the state police begin looking for a murderer.
The performances are rarely subtle or convincing, though Edwards, Aiello, Kirkland and Hayres work hard. Glantz's scenario is too scattershot, and the combination of serious and satirical elements is handled clumsily.
WILBUR FALLS
Vexatious Films
Writer-director: Juliane Glantz
Producer: David L. Delman
Executive producers: David L. Delman, Joseph Pecoraro
Director of photography: Kurt Brabbee
Editors: John Gilbert, Duncan Burns
Costume designer: Kristen Anacher
Music: Jim Halfpenny
Color/stereo
Cast:
Renata: Shanee Edwards
Phillip: Danny Aiello
Roberta: Sally Kirkland
Katherine: Suzanne Cryer
Arne: Jeff Daurey
Jodi: Cherilyn Hayres
T-Bone: David Anthony Marshall
Johnny Handsome: Fred Stoller
Jeffrey: Charlie Newmark
Running time -- 97 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 2/25/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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