Movie Review Stolen Summer

Stolen Summer (2002) 

Directed by Pete Jones 

Written by Pete Jones 

Starring Aidan Quinn, Bonnie Hunt, Kevin Pollak, Brian Dennehy 

Release Date March 22nd, 2002 

Published November 14th, 2002 

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's Project Greenlight attempted to combine the reality TV genre with the art of filmmaking and the result was Pete Jones's childhood drama `` Stolen Summer. But was Project Greenlight a success?

The film stars previously unknown child actor Adiel Stein as Pete O'Malley, a misguided second grader who is concerned that he won't get into heaven. So Pete sets out on a quest and after he finds out that the Jewish people in his neighborhood weren't interested in being saved he sets about trying to convert them. Pete's theory is if he can help Jews get to heaven he can get himself in. So Pete sets up a lemonade stand outside the local synagogue to give away lemonade and talk about heaven. The Rabbi of the synagogue is Rabbi Jacobsen (Kevin Pollak) who finds Pete to be a little curious and after speaking to him takes to the odd little boy. Rather than being upset by the boy or trying in vain to explain the Jewish faith he simply accepts the kid's quest and figures he'll grow out of it.=

Aiden Quinn plays Pete's domineering father Joe who doesn't have time to keep track of what Pete's doing, with his job and seven other children. Pete's mother (Bonnie Hunt) is tolerant of it as long as he doesn't get in trouble. After a fire at the Jacobsen home where Joe saves the Rabbi's son Danny (MIke Weinberg), Pete strikes up a friendship with Danny while Rabbi Jacobsen seeks a way to repay Joe for saving his son. 

We quickly learn there is something wrong with Danny and it's revealed that he has leukemia, for Pete this means he has to find a quick way to get his friend into heaven. Since neither knows anything about religious conversion they agree on a series of athletic events, swimming, running and the like. Meanwhile Rabbi Jacobsen wants to pay back Joe's good deed by awarding Joe's oldest son Patrick (American Pie's Eddie Kaye Thomas) a college scholarship from the synagogue. Joe's pride however will not allow him to accept it to the great dismay of his son and his wife. Does Joe's pigheadedness come from anti-Semitism or just pride, we aren't certain.

So this is it, this is the best material of all the 7500 plus screenplays submitted. This is the one. It's not a bad screenplay, but it's not great either. The film has the feeling of a better than average TV movie. It is certainly not as interesting as the documentary of the film's creation which aired on HBO. The series Project Greenlight had all the best and worst elements of reality TV, short of having people voted off the set. The film Stolen Summer has none of that intrigue or passion. A production so fraught with drama should produce a better film than a movie that could fit easily into the wonderful world of Disney.

I will say this for Pete Jones and his crew, Stolen Summer is a technically solid film. The acting is sharp amongst the older actors, Pollak especially. Hunt and Quinn could do this material in their sleep, and to their credit they stay awake and give strong performances. Watching Aiden Quinn in Stolen Summer does make you long for the jerk he showed himself to be behind the scenes, the bravado, the backstabbing, the "why in the hell am I here?"

In the end the film is swallowed by the TV series and rather than watching Stolen Summer, audience members spend most of the film searching for the cracks in the armor that were obvious in the making of the documentary. We watched the film's one special effects scene to see if it turned out better than it did on TV. We watched the scene with the kids swimming knowing that it took forever to shoot and that the kids were freezing cold. The audience is unable to separate the film and its production and thus the film gets lost.

Movie Review Romeo and Juliet (1996)

Romeo + Juliet (1996)

Directed by Baz Luhrmann 

Written by Craig Pearce, Baz Luhrmann 

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes, John Leguizamo, Brian Dennehy, Paul Sorvino

Release Date November 1st, 1996 

Published November 1st, 2016 

It’s fair to call Baz Luhrmann’s modernized take on Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet a Romeo for the MTV generation. Though today such a pronouncement could seem insulting, in 1996 Luhrmann’s vision of the Bard’s work had everything that a great music video would including quick cut action, lots of colors, a pair of teen idol lead actors and an unbelievably good soundtrack.

Two Households at war 

It’s a tale told in fair Verona Beach or, in reality, Miami standing in for the Shakespearean city. Two households are at war, the Capulets lead by Fulgencio (Paul Sorvino) and the Montagues headed up by Ted (Brian Dennehy). No one seems exactly sure why there is war between them but as this story begins, thugs from both sides engage in a shootout that ends in a massive conflagration.

Captain Prince (Vondie Curtis Hall), the head of Verona law enforcement, has seen enough, he wants peace and is ready to take extreme measures. Meanwhile, young Romeo walks the beach in devastation, his beloved Rosalyne having forsaken him. Thankfully, his cousin Benvolio and best friend Mercutio (Harold Perrineau) have sport to cheer him.

What light through yonder window breaks

Mercutio has obtained tickets to a costume party at Capulet mansion and as long as everyone stays in their masks it should be a fine feast. At the party Romeo spies Juliet through the glass of a fish tank and is immediately smitten. He is already in love by the time he finds out that she is Juliet Capulet, the daughter of his family enemy. Juliet has also fallen for Romeo despite his name and the seal it with a dip in the Capulets pool and a kiss.

The following day the two decide to marry and Romeo’s friend Father Lawrence (Pete Postlethwaite thinks the wedding may be a chance to bring peace to the family and the un-civil war. He conducts the wedding but there is tragedy to come, one that will separate the young lovers and further complications involving a mislaid letter that could mean doom.

Stylistically jarring 

It’s a classic story and Baz Luhrmann’s telling it has a new, stylistically jarring life. The film begins with Shakespeare’s classic epilogue as told by a news reporter on TV. Then Pete Postlethwaite picks up the same dialogue in voice over and then in a bold move, the same words are incorporated into the film’s experimental score.

From there we are thrust down into the streets of Verona Beach where Shakespeare’s immortal words are spoken by common street thugs wielding Sword brand 9mm handguns. The Montagues and Capulets meet in combat in the urban setting of a Grand Theft Auto video game but all the while speaking with Shakespeare’s tongue.

Radiohead, Garbage and Prince 

It’s all quite jarring at first but when the music of Radiohead kicks in as we are introduced to Leonardo DiCaprio as Romeo, things begin to settle in and we are quickly invested in this highly unique retelling of a classic love story. There are times when the classic Shakespearean turns of phrase are incomprehensible to the modern ear but the meaning is well conveyed by the exemplary cast, as it would be if Luhrmann had not chosen to modernize the setting.

Leonardo DiCaprio had not yet become a global icon when he starred in Romeo +Juliet. He was less than a year from becoming ‘the King of the world’ as Jack Dawson in Titanic but his star was certainly on the rise. “Romeo + Juliet” was indeed the perfect table setter for his breakout in Titanic. Romeo offered just the right mix of serious acting and teen idol mooning needed for the establishment of global icon status.

Claire Danes has never found the stardom that DiCaprio has achieved since “Romeo + Juliet” but onscreen she is every bit the star DiCaprio is. With her wide expressive eyes, beautiful smile and delicate delivery, Danes was a marvelous Juliet and when Juliet takes hold of a gun as she does more than once during “Romeo + Juliet” it is a stunning counterpoint to her nuanced beauty.

The music of Romeo + Juliet acts as the third lead character in the film. Baz Luhrmann and his music team did yeoman’s work to mix movie score and pop songs in ways few had ever done before. While many will remember the hit song “Lovefool” by the Cardigans the stand out for me while watching the film this week was Des’ree’s haunting love theme “Kissing You.”

The hit soundtrack also includes music from popular 90’s rockers Everclear and Garbage and, as briefly mentioned earlier, experimental rockers Radiohead whose song “Talk Show Host” serves as Romeo’s theme. There are also, ever so brief, musical intrusions by Massive Attack and most famously a remix of Prince’s “When Doves Cry” sung beautifully by a church choir.

Romeo and Juliet for the MTV generation 

Yes, this was “Romeo + Juliet” for the MTV generation and as horrific as such pronouncement seems today; it was slightly less of an insult at the time. In 1996 MTV still had certain culture relevance then. In 1996 you could turn on MTV and actually watch a music video. It was before Britney and the Backstreet Boys took music back to the dark ages.

Connecting Shakespeare and the MTV generation was a stroke of genius on the part of Baz Luhrmann. He brought these two portions of world culture together in ways that no one thought possible. Baz Luhrmann made Shakespeare significant to an audience that otherwise might have thought his work was staid and dusty, something that teachers forced them to read but had no relevance to their lives.

A place in history lost

Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo + Juliet” somehow never gained the mainstream acceptance it so richly deserved. Though it was a worldwide hit, earning more than 140 million dollars on a budget of a paltry 14 million dollars, its place in pop culture history was quickly consumed by another re-telling of Shakespeare’s doomed lovers’ tale, James Cameron’s “Titanic.” 

Movie Review: The Next Three Days

The Next Three Days (2010) 

Directed by Paul Haggis 

Written by Paul Haggis 

Starring Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks, Brian Dennehy, Olivia Wilde, Liam Neeson 

Release Date November 19th, 2010 

Published November 18th, 2010 

Paul Haggis loves a story that examines fate and chance and the seeming randomness of life. Bringing order to the chaos of life was part of what made his “Crash” such a fascinating drama. It was messy in the ways it brought characters together, crashing them together emotionally and sometimes physically, yet there was fate seeming to shine down on each character and reveal that there may have been no other way for these things to happen.

”Crash” is a remarkable film filled with powerful performances and emotions that deepen with repeated viewings. It's the opposite experience of Mr. Haggis's latest film, “The Next Three Days.” Ostensibly a prison break thriller about a husband trying to save the life of his accused murderer wife by busting her out of jail, “The Next Three Days” is, in reality, a gutless exercise in thriller machinations and not the kind of emotional, thoughtful examination of fate that Haggis would like you to think it is. 

Russell Crowe stars in “The Next Three Days” as Community College English teacher John Brennen. John is a great dad to 3 year old Lucas and a loving husband to Lara (Elizabeth Banks), his workaholic wife who, when we meet her first at a dinner with John's brother and overly flirty fiancée, has just left a rather confrontational day at the office. Lara and her boss were seen to have a wild screaming match just before each left for the day. The next day, as John is getting his son breakfast and mom is leaving for work the police burst through the door and Lara is arrested, charged with murder. Lara's boss was found dead in the parking lot and Lara's car was seen leaving the scene and her fingerprints are on the murder weapon.

Three years later, John and Lara have exhausted her appeals. Lara is going to spend the rest of her life in prison unless John does something drastic. He could appeal to the Supreme Court but without new evidence that won't help. His only real option, once Lara has attempted suicide, is to break her out of prison and get her and Lucas out of the country. Oh, but how will an average, pudgy, College professor plan a prison break?

My plot description is limited to portions of the first act. The second act, featuring a stellar cameo by Liam Neeson, is where “The Next Three Days” moves from sad family drama to attempted thriller. Where Haggis's talent for examining fate through the actions of characters in extreme emotional distress, The Next Three Days becomes a boilerplate thriller with very little interest in examining the motivations of the characters or allowing them depth beyond the function they perform in the hackneyed thriller plot. 

This is not the fault of Russell Crowe who pulls off quite an acting challenge in “The Next Three Days.” Crowe first has to convince us that he is not an action hero and then turn John Brennen into enough of an average action hero that he can do the things needed to break Lara out of prison. Given Crowe's movie born reputation as a tough guy whose characters could easily be capable of attempting a prison break it is remarkable to see Crowe show such vulnerability and then morph that vulnerability into desperate necessity.

If only the rest of “The Next Three Days” had Crowe's determination. Sadly, director Paul Haggis lacks his star's nerve. Surrounding Crowe's tour de force performance is a soporific movie that cannot bear the ambiguity needed to really give the thriller stuff a charge. Never for a moment are you allowed to see John as anything but heroic nor are you allowed to wonder too much about Lara's guilt or innocence.

A more daring film would allow John to do things less than heroic in order to achieve his goal. A more daring film might have asked some more daring questions about Lara's guilt or innocence. Instead we get a scene at the movie's end that removes all doubt and lets the characters and the audience off the hook. Rather than pushing us to question what we would do in a similar situation Paul Haggis keeps his questions superficial and easy to answer.

“Crash” could be dismissed as superficial but Haggis introduced an idea behind the heavy emotions on display; the idea of fate and that of the randomness of life a destiny, for good or for ill, could emerge. There are few, if any, challenging ideas behind the facile thrills of “The Next Three Days” and the film suffers mightily for it.

In the end, “The Next Three Days” has the compromised feel of a very Hollywood production, the kind of market tested drivel that is meant to leave audiences reassured that there values haven’t been challenged. Were it not for Mr. Crowe, I would call it boring, but with him and his determined performance, “The Next Three Days” is merely a failure.