Mercifully Short Review by Jonathan Empson

Jesse (Josh Radnor) is 35 and lives in New York, where he reads continuously and is admired from afar by a woman with a large forehead. But Jesse still yearns for college, the only place where “you can tell people you’re a poet and not get punched in the face”. So when he’s invited back to his leafy Ohio campus for his professor’s retirement dinner, he burns rubber to attend. There, he meets 19-year-old student Zibby (Elizabeth Olsen), and despite her name and slightly undersized forehead, they’re instantly attracted (hmm, rubber). But the perpetually earnest Jesse is racked with guilt over their difference in age (and possibly forehead size). This well-observed and amusing comedy-drama covers all the bases on the theme of wanting to wind the clock back – or forward. Try to ignore the fact that the writer/director/star also appears in How I Drained the Joy From Your Mother.

8/10

Released October 11, 2012.

Jonathan Empson’s TV script Chromewas nominated for an AWGIE in 2010.

His recently completed historical drama-comedy feature Leonardo’s War is in circulation, and his black comedy-thriller Get Out of Here has been optioned.

He is represented by Rick Raftos Management.

Mercifully Short Review by Jonathan Empson

Six-year-old Hushpuppy lives in cheerful squalor in a close-knit, alcohol- and seafood-fuelled community called the Bathtub, in the Louisiana bayou. A levee and a whole different world view  separate these fringe-dwellers from ‘civilised’ society.

Hushpuppy’s father Wink provides basic care but withholds his affection in the hope of toughening her up, to prepare her for life without him: he’s dying. When, on top of that, a storm floods the Bathtub, it seems Hushpuppy’s way of life will change forever.

Seen through Hushpuppy’s eyes and punctuated by her fantasies of ancient threatening beasts, this dreamlike film is as unstructured as Hushpuppy’s life. But it hooks you in with its resonant portrayal of a ‘primitive’ society determined to survive in the face of powerful forces of conformity.

7/10

Released September 13, 2012.

Jonathan Empson’s TV script Chrome was nominated for an AWGIE in 2010.

His recently completed historical drama-comedy feature Leonardo’s War is in circulation, and his black comedy-thriller Get Out of Here has been optioned.

He is represented by Rick Raftos Management.

]]> https://www.thestorydepartment.com/mini-review-beasts-of-the-southern-wild/feed/ 0 24925 https://www.thestorydepartment.com/best-of-the-web-26th-aug/ https://www.thestorydepartment.com/best-of-the-web-26th-aug/#respond Sun, 26 Aug 2012 04:52:51 +0000 https://thestorydepartment.com/?p=24699 Read more]]> Story & Structure

:: Without a successful movie under your belt, DON’T attempt to write multi-protag.
:: Why write a movie?
:: Dispatch from The Quest: Ben Odgren on subtext use in ‘Jaws’ 
:: TGB Breakdown Ep 7: Lynch’s Mulholland Dr. (Guest: Film Crit Hulk)
:: No stakes and no surprises, please
:: Tony Scott on Directing: Artistic Style, Concept, Casting Choices, and Story Decisions
:: Charlie Kaufman’s 70-Minute Screenwriting Lecture Podcast

Script Perfection

:: “Where dialogue is concerned, sometimes what you don’t say is just as important as what you do”  ::
:: Screenwriting Tip #1080 – Don’t let your characters off easy
:: Clarity, The Most Overlooked Mistake In Screenwriting
:: How to Tell from a Pilot if a TV Show is Going to be Any Good
:: Screenplay Review – Trouble With The Curve [Worth the read]
:: Video interview between Quint and JAWS screenwriter Carl Gottlieb!

Pitching & Selling

:: Watch: Orson Welles’ ‘Original’ Studio Pitch Meeting for ‘Citizen Kane’
:: Scriptcat’s 20 Steps to Follow After You Type: FADE OUT – THE END… 

Best of the Rest

:: Director Tony Scott commits suicide from Vincent Thomas Bridge
:: The 6 Most Certifiably Insane Acts of Writing
:: New Plot Details for Monsters University (Pixar)
:: ‘Ruin’ Director Wes Ball Lands ‘The Maze Runner’ Directing Gig at Fox
:: The Avengers deleted scene featuring a post-Hulk Bruce Banner
:: Your favourite character was almost this actor – 8 Actors Who Almost Played Famous Roles
:: To Kill A Mockingbird: Behind the scenes
:: New Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera Footage Hits the Net
_______________________________

With thanks to Jamie Campbell and Brooke Trezise.

Enjoy!

Karel

Mercifully Short Review by Jonathan Empson

A short guy  with a medium-sized penis (you can judge for yourself) drives around Paris in a limo for a series of ‘appointments’ playing various roles – banker, street beggar, motion-capture artist, irritable father, thug. Perpetrator, victim.

It’s like a feature-length series of performance-art pieces, which would normally shit me completely. Performance art is a bit like being shouted at in a foreign language: sure, you get the emotion, but if you don’t understand the meaning, what’s the point?

Luckily, Holy Motors has subtitles, and it seems to be about the roles we make ourselves play in our own lives, or how we too often passively spectate. Though I may be wrong.

There are flashes of weird humour, cinematic beauty and, well, Kylie Minogue, who does OK but doesn’t add much to the plot or message.

7/10

Released August 23, 2012.

Jonathan Empson’s TV script Chrome was nominated for an AWGIE in 2010.

His recently completed historical drama-comedy feature Leonardo’s War is in circulation, and his black comedy-thriller Get Out of Here has been optioned.

He is represented by Rick Raftos Management.

Mercifully Short Review
by Jonathan Empson

We meet genetically enhanced assassin Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner) as he survives the Alaskan wilderness. Meanwhile, CIA bigwigs shout across tables at Edward Norton, who runs the whole super-assassin program, which is so secret that the CIA doesn’t know about it, or even how he got in the building.

Jeremy survives the wilderness a bit more. Edward has more meetings. Because Jason Bourne has gone rogue, and he needs to shut the program down. By killing everyone involved in dramatic, public ways, as obviously this will draw less attention.

Geneticist Rachel Weisz is one of those targeted, but Aaron saves her and they’re soon on the run. At some point, off camera, they must get the Bourne trilogy out on DVD to see how he did it, because this film offers nothing new, and much less character development. Renner and Weisz are good, though. 7/10

7/10

Released August 15, 2012.

Jonathan Empson’s TV script Chromewas nominated for an AWGIE in 2010.

His recently completed historical drama-comedy feature Leonardo’s War is in circulation, and his black comedy-thriller Get Out of Here has been optioned.

He is represented by Rick Raftos Management.

Mercifully Short Review
by Jonathan Empson

Max and Therese move into a suburban house. They’re nice. There are nice neighbours… on one side. On the other is the drug-fried, weak-willed King (Gary Waddell, perfect), whose house is used by his aggressive, ice-fuelled ‘friends’ for all-night parties.

Max and Therese get burgled – twice – and the cops aren’t much help, so they plot ways to get their peace back. So far, so ‘relatable’, as the Americans say. At (long, long,) long last, M&T take action.

I respect writer/director Rolf de Heer (Bad Boy Bubby, Ten Canoes) , but I get annoyed when indie filmmakers try to make ‘mainstream’ movies without studying their rules. Clear protagonist, internal goal, strong antagonist, stakes, urgency. And genre: this is a little bit black comedy, a little bit thriller and a little bit Neighbours. C’mon, Rolf de Harris: do you know what it is yet?

A good premise let down by a sluggish and messy plot.

5/10

Released July 12, 2012.

Jonathan Empson’s TV script Chrome was nominated for an AWGIE in 2010.

His recently completed historical drama-comedy feature Leonardo’s War is in circulation, and his black comedy-thriller Get Out of Here has been optioned.

He is represented by Rick Raftos Management.

Mercifully Short Review
by Jonathan Empson

“How the hell would I know? I’ve got a sheet over my head”

In Snow White and the Huntsman and the Witch and the Fetching Wardrobe, an evil queen steals the plots of various other fantasy tales and bungs them into the Tolkienator to produce this fairytale mash-up.

Snow White is a princess who, having survived a never-ending prologue about how she ended up with a witch, Ravenna, for a stepmum, is then locked in a tower for several years. She doesn’t spend the time developing an interesting personality, but does finally escape into the Dark Wood. Ravenna hires a huntsman (not of the spider variety) to track her down, despite his bad Scottish accent. He switches sides. Various skirmishes ensue for the next hour or so. Snowy encounters eight dwarves (hmm, do you think they’ll all make it?).

Overlong, derivative and with some truly bland dialogue, this does offer a few good visual effects. But it all feels a bit retrodden.

5/10

Released June 21, 2012.

Jonathan Empson’s TV script Chrome was nominated for an AWGIE in 2010.

His recently completed historical drama-comedy feature Leonardo’s War is in circulation, and his black comedy-thriller Get Out of Here has been optioned.

He is represented by Rick Raftos Management.

Mercifully Short Review
by Jonathan Empson

Original title: Comme un chef

Mercifully Short Review
by Jonathan Empson

Original title: La guerre est déclarée