Book review - "Best Possible Place, Worst Possible Time" by Barry Sonnenfeld

 Hugely entertaining second volume of memoirs, more fun than the first because it's just about movie stars and he doesn't go on as much about his wife (sorry to be blunt, it just gets wearying). 

Great stories about self hating Gene Hackman, fun but mercurial Will Smith, lazy John Travolta, difficult Walter Parkes. No punches pulled, it seems.

Book review - " Face to Face: The Art of Human Connection Book" by Brian Grazer

 Interesting to read, passionately conveyed, very Hollywood and touchy feely, but that's fine. I had the sense he would tell a story about saving someone's life and he did - Harrison Ford's daughter. You can see why Grazer's done so well, all that sincerity and conviction. Not a dig.

Movie review - "Aladdin" (2019) **1/2

Another live action remake which the public loved. It's heavy and bloated with some underwhelming actors but benefits from the strong original story, and good performances from Will Smith and Naomi Scott (Jasmine). There are bright colours and it's weird to see the Genie in a romance. It doesn't feel very Guy Ritchie.

Script review - "Bright" by Max Landis (2016)

I was curious to read this to see how closely it resembled the final film - it was pretty close, no "fairy lives don't matter today", the wife in the script is a bitter shrew, the structure and set up were the same.

I can see why people got into it - it's a simple idea, logically followed. The script contains the same problems I had with the film - I didn't buy how the cop went from casual observer to all on board by going and shooting a bunch of cops, and the ending felt like a deux ex machina ("oh he's a bright").

Movie review - "Bright" (2017) **

A film that copped a lot of hate from reviewers - it's not that bad. Maybe people were annoyed at the $3.5 million price tag on the script.

It's an amiable mash up of Alien Nation and Training Day - Will Smith as a cop with an orc partner (Joel Edgerton). The action takes place over the course of one night. Smith goes from a cop worried about his pension, assuring his wife and daughter he'll be safe, to taking a lot of risks - he blows away a bunch of cops (who want him to blame something on Edgerton) then sets about a reckless course of action.

The Macguffin is a wand - this is in a world where the Orcs are the underclass, the elves are the upper class, and the humans are kind of... the same, I guess. The mythology of the world feels a bit thin - I think you can tell it wasn't based on a book. Or maybe Max Landis had it all fleshed out and didn't have time.

I felt the film got a bit sillier as it went on - more and more mythology comes in (the Dark Lord, brights, orc culture). Will Smith is suddenly a "bright" - he has super powers.

The women characters barely talk. All the other character types are very familiar. The nihilism of David Ayer movies ("there's so much corruption in the LAPD") is now starting to get tired.

Movie review- "Suicide Squad" (2016) ** (warning: spoilers)

So many good things about it - the concept, the cast, the production design, the ideas. It's made by talented people. But it doesn't work. It was written too quickly. It doesn't click.

Like Batman vs Superman there's too much going on. The film should be relatively simple - bad guys get out of prison to get someone even badder. The Dirty Dozen did it well - establish the characters, give a few of them back story, spend act two having them bond (the training/war games sequence) then send them into battle for act three. Pick some to actually die to give it some stakes.

So we have Deadshot, Harley Quinn, El Diablo. That's all good. The Lee Marvin character is Amanda Waller - oh and also Rick Flagg. And now things get confusing because Flagg is in love with June Moone who is possessed by the Enchantress. The Enchantress wants to... rule the world I think.

Deadshot's motivation is clear - it's for his daughter. Harley is tormented by the Joker. I got Flagg's issue. I was confused by El Diablo.

The Flagg stuff is interesting - too interesting. It pulls focus from the Suicide Squad. I like the story - give it to the Suicide Squad people - El Diablo or someone. They would've been better off dumping Flagg and the Enchantress  - having Amanda Waller do the Lee Marvin role. And make the Joker the villain. That's right, the Joker is a supporting character - you could cut him out of the movie and it wouldn't affect anything.

Margot Robbie is amazing. Will Smith is good as is Viola Davis. Jared Leto isn't very good. I hope they get to do it right for the sequel.

Movie review - "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues" (2013) ***

Pretty good sequel, if not as funnier as the original - it also doesn't have as "fun" a story. The first movie was about a good thing happening in news history, i.e. women being allowed to anchor the news; this is about a bad thing happening in news history i.e. the dumbing down of news. The team of Ferrell and McKay often like to make sharp satirical points in their movies (something for which they never get enough credit for, I feel) - but here it's a bit depressing. (It's kind of like the two magazine war mini series in Australia - the first one was about women's sexual liberation the second one was about trash).

The satire is very strong and there are some excellent gangs. It's also got a nice "comedy of remarriage" plot between Will Ferrell and Christina Applegate, and their son, plus some excellent music (mostly soft rock). And the performances are all strong, not a weak link in the bunch.

On the down side, it's very long (almost two hours) and feels it; there are too many characters, some of whom feel entirely superfluous (why didn't they combine Meagan Good and Dylan Baker's characters) or ill-defined (Megan Good starts off tough, then is sort of evil, then sort of good). Steve Carrell gets a great romance with Kristen Wiig and Josh Lawson is an effective villain as a Junior Rupert Murdoch, but there's no subplot for Paul Rudd and David Koechner, which is a shame (it would have only taken an extra scene or two). And after a while all the cameos stop being fun and start being annoying.

Movie review – “I am Legend” (2007) ***

They still haven’t done justice to the novel, which is bewildering since it could be filmed so cheaply. This one cost a fortune, though to be fair a lot of it’s up on screen, with spectacular sets and heaps of extras during flashback sequences. But after a powerhouse first third it’s like the filmmakers lost their nerve or something and the film is closer to The Omega Man than the novel. On one level I guess I can understand – The Omega Man is a perfectly sound structure and offers greater hope at the end. It’s just a shame they haven’t used the “man killing vampires then realising he’s the vampire” option in the novel, which is really clever. Will Smith gives a good performance in a role which requires a decent actor (Arnie was connected with this project for a while and I wonder what he would have done with it).

Movie review - "Hitch" (2005) ***1/2

A real delight, a total charmer with Will Smith very relaxed as the date doctor who helps men get women. Eva Mendes is a revelation as his love interest, sexy and smart, and the script and handling are consistently fresh and lovely. It almost makes you believe Amber Valetta would go for Kevin James. Just a note on the film's false morality towards the end: Hitch goes "I didn't help you get those girls you did" - we've seen the movie, he did help them get those girls. Besides what he does isn't bad it's a nice service he's providing.

Movie review - "I, Robot" (2004) **

The most clunky product placement in modern cinema? Set in the future,so Will Smith is into retro gear, like old music and converse shoes.Well, I guess you gotta do what you gotta do. They still don't seem to have enough money left over from Smith's salary and the sfx bill to pay for a decent support cast. Bruce Greenwood was so excellent in 13 Days I thought he'd have a really strong career but he's been sidetracked into this ordinary villain roles. Bridget Monyahan is pretty to watch, but doesn't have much chemistry with Smith and we needed a few more interesting humans. Yes, there are the robots and boo-hoo isn't it sad the robots want feelings... but you know, what's going to happen when they start asserting themselves. Doesn't anyone remember The Terminator? And don't go pulling the "that's the same argument used to keep black people down" thing - black people are humans, robots are robots. So the ending gave me the creeps.

Movie review - "Jersey Girl" (2002) **

Kevin Smith moves into Hollywood country with a big sappy film based on that old sappy chestnut, the sexy widowed father who is recovering the learning to love again. He has the stars to do it too, with Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler and J Lo, but he himself doesn't quite have the smarts to match the best of Hollywood sap. After a promising beginning the film begins to misfire. 

It's amazing how selfish everyone is in this film: Affleck attacks the doctors who are trying to help his dead wife (he actually lunges at them - now granted its an emotional time and may be what some people do but it makes him seem like a wanker), Affleck's father (George Carlin) dumps the baby on him when Affleck has a big meeting ("to be a better dad" - way to ruin my career dad), then when the kid grows up she refuses to move from Jersey because she's selfish, too. It just makes the characters harder to be around. 

I understand Affleck gets fired for telling everyone to get rooted - but would he really be consigned to years in oblivion working on construction sites? If he was a good publicist, and it seems he was, then wouldn't he be able to get another publicist-related job? His wife died - I think people would understand. Smith often referred to Jerry Maguire when making this film, but that film has a lot more verisimilitude than this one - Cameron Crowe really did his research. Doesn't work here. 

On the DVD Smith talks incessantly about how the film's box office was ruined by the Bennefier backlash - he can't be blamed for using that tactic, to help save his career, but the fact is his own script didn't work.