Tony Goldwyn's The Last Kiss marks Paul Haggis' latest attempt at writing a meaningful screenplay. Considering the attempt's result, I think he has obviously and yet again failed miserably. Dialogue is awkward, reality is at many points inconceivable, the entire thing is unbalanced, and gratuitous nudity - how much does one really need? Thus, it is now the unswerving opinion of myself (and likely many others) that the ability, purported of Mr. Haggis, to deftly stroke by pen the intricacies of humanity is itself a fiction, through and through. And a counterargument, that the flaws of the screenplay enhance the uncertain nature of the characters and the story, is just compensatory and ludicrous. The rambling scenes that appear mired in (purposeful?) confusion inarguably lack luster; the other scenes, fraught with a dangerous level of acuity in dialogue, blanche the film with an in-your-face clarity that is as contrived as are the supposedly realistic lives of the script's characters. (Mr. Goldwyn's mediocre direction does little to help this fact.)
Indeed, the only redeeming and interesting parts of this film were those parts played by Zach Braff, Blythe Danner, and (occasionally) Jacinda Barrett. Ms. Barrett, while being for much of the beginning of the film a (too) dull figure, emerges from this stupour later, to deliver wonderfully gutturally an otherwise hackneyed line in a key argument scene as well as to bring elsewhere much needed life into her character, though such life does continue to be dappled in its brilliance. As for Ms. Danner, the subtleties in her crafting of her small, yet evidently supporting, part exemplify her as a gifted actress, and I am sorry for that her talents had to be wasted by this bizarrely written screenplay. The same praise could well be said for Mr. Braff and, in addition, that one hopes that he, due to role he played and to the deservedly wild acclaim the role him garnered as progenitour of the marvelous Garden State, not be typecast into characters of this now popular nature (e. g., of late-youthful malaise and uncertainty, of emotional incongruities). Mr. Braff, I eagerly await the next film you yourself helm.
The Last Kiss, however, I could have done without.
Grade: C
17 September 2006
Review: The Last Kiss
02 September 2006
Discover (Not) Snicket
For those of you, bloggers out there, who have not yet had the misfortune of being exposed to the 12 books in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, consider yourselves lucky. The truly terribly and awfully ghastly details that these books contain are almost certainly too much for your feeble minds and, er, emotions to bear without a severing strain. Thus unbroken, you, I recommend, should absolutlely not dare to visit this following site, which provides a disturbingly accurate and alluring description of the last, 13th, book in the repulsive series: do not click here.
31 August 2006
Discover Sondre
In the spirit of my last post, which I feel has broken through the former presentiments of this blog, I am inspired to post now, without any hesitation, about one of my very favorite artists, the glorious Sondre Lerche, coincidentally whose new single, Phantom Punch, is about to be released. Mr. Lerche, much like OK Go - at least to my eyes - has stayed dismayingly below the popular radar, despite some obviously burgeoning and brilliant talents. Yet, with a style most swanky, a repertoire more varied, and a genuine appeal to be aspired for, Lerche far outdoes any perceived competition. I give him my highest esteem: 100% smooth and kick-ass. :)
Perfeito!
Discover OK Go
So, I just had to post the link to this video, because 1) OK Go is amazing, 2) the video is so genius (in the best etymological sense of the word), and 3) I'm so happy that they just pulled it off live at the MTV VMAs. So, go and watch it.
Hot.
24 August 2006
Films for the Fall
New Site!
Yay! A new location for my blog has been established, thanks to Google! I expect this new site to be even better than the last one (A Year in Film) and to definitely look a little nicer. Perhaps I may even expand the blog's purpose a bit. Who knows? Anything's possible. Stay tuned, bloggers - there's a lot more film-ing to do. :)
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