Actor Sam Rockwell (The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford) has revealed he will star in a new basketball drama from director James C. Strouse (Grace Is Gone). Not much is known about the film, except that Rockwell will play the alcoholic coach of a high school's girl's basketball team, and that he described the movie as cross between The Bad News Bears, Half Nelson, and Hoosiers.

I unfortunately missed Grace Is Gone in theaters, but it is widely believed to be one of last year's best movies. Sam Rockwell will next be seen alongside Anjelica Huston (Martian Child) and Kelly Macdonald (No Country For Old Men) in Choke, based on a novel by Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club), which will be the directing debut for actor Clark Gregg (the When A Stranger Calls remake)

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Poignant.

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That's usually the word critics use to describe well-made dramatic movies that tug at the heart strings and leave behind a lasting impression.

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James C. Strouse's Grace is Gone is one such wonderful film. It tells the story of one Stanley Philipps (John Cusack), a working father whose wife is deployed in the Iraq war. When he is told that his wife was killed in action, he decides to take his daughters to an amusement park all the way in Florida instead of telling them what happened. The road trip is what makes the bulk of the movie, and it is where we see the roller coaster of emotions that engulf Stanley and the two children.

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While I am no fan of dramatic movies, I initially found myself drawn to this one mainly because it was John Cusack in the starring role (and somebody gave me the dvd haha). When I popped in the DVD, i was greatly surprised to see a completely different Cusack. Gone was the witty, sarcastic and fast-talking character that Cusack was known for and in its place was a character out of touch with his own children. Impressive and inspiring, Cusack managed to show that he had the ability to take on different types of roles and pull them off convincingly. 

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I may not know much about how the US-Iraq war affects American families, but I do know a thing or two about familial relationships. Absence and distance may make the heart grow fonder, but it is always a struggle to cope when you're desperately missing a loved one. The movie captures that struggle and you can't help but empathize with the characters.

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Grace is Gone is, hands down, a heart-wrenchingly beautiful film. Maybe it's not for the tough guys, but it still is worth a watch. =)

 There is something about grief that affects people in many different ways.  Grace is Gone ( 2007) is about a father who just found out his soldier wife has been killed in Iraq. It follows the effect of that traumatic news on him, especially has tries to tell his young daughters about their mother’s death. 

John Cusack plays the role of the dad. He turns in one of the best dramatic performances of his career as a man who obviously loves his wife and is patriotic to the core about the war. His struggle and guilt over not meeting the criteria to serve his country, while his wife ends up making the ultimate sacrifice, is palpable throughout the movie.

 Also, the story shows how this father tries to give his daughters a perfect day by taking them on a spontaneous road trip to a big amusement park as he struggles to tell them about their mother’s death.  He is always at the verge of an emotional breakdown but pulls himself together for his girls. The daughters played by  Shélan O'Keefe  and by Gracie Bednarczyk are perfectly matched to Cusack and believable as a family.

A moving scene that is actually repeated in the movie is how Cusack’s character calls back into his home answering machine just to simulate conversations with his wife when he needs helps with how to deal with his children.

I recommend the film.  It touches on the subject of death and the impact  on a family. It is especially poignant because it also focuses on the casualties of the Iraq war without being preachy. It is more about the personal side of the story that we do not see portrayed as often in the general media.

I ran smack into this personal interpretation a number of years ago when I displayed a piece I had woven in an art show.  The weaving, a two-sided, reversible, green and white fabric, shows what in my mind is a soul - any old soul, not a particular one.  When the piece was on display, a woman pointed to it and said to me, "Oh, it's Jesus!"  Well, um, no.  Jesus wasn't on my mind while I was creating it, but then I realized that her interpretation was exactly right for her and gave her an emotional investment in my art.  The art no longer solely belonged to me.  And I was okay with that.

"Grace Is Gone" no longer solely belongs to the Dave Matthews Band.  Too many people have been inspired and affected by the song for the band to stake this claim.  I, for example, have used the song as inspiration for one of the stories in Greenville, and Grace is no longer a state, she's a woman, which is what I pictured when I first heard the song.  (Young Son #2, however, took Grace to be a state.)

All of this mulling over the song brought me to a vision of book manuscripts sitting quietly in drawers, unpublished and unread.  I wonder if part of the reason they remain in drawers is so that their creators can hang onto them, to keep them from entering the wider world and thus risk "misinterpretation" from the perspective of their creators.  Because, once your creation is "out there," it's not yours anymore.

This film is about a Home Store manager (is that a real store?), Stanley Philipps, who learns his wife passes away in the war in Iraq.  They are meant to represent real middle-America.  The average family.  But with a twist in that it is the wife who is the soldier, not the father.  I kept wondering if he was going to go totally wacko and do something really stupid.  But he keeps it together and ends up proving himself a great father to his 2 daughters.  It was funny (but also painful to see him going through the humiliation) seeing him at a support group of people with spouses fighing in Iraq.  He, of course, was the only man. 

One weak point in the plot was about the older daughter, who is 12.  She and her younger sister of 8 are constantaly worried about their mother.  They know she is in the far and that people are dying there.  And she knows something is wrong when her father starts to act irratically.  And she's not a dumb girl.  So why doesn't she ask her father if something is wrong and if it has something to do with their mother?  If I were a girl of 12 that is what I would do!

Yes, yet another Hollywood anti-war/anti-government statement, but more than that.  It was about a man's/father's struggle in a time of great loss and crisis and how he deals with it.  This one gets 8 out of 10.

Regia: James C. Strouse

Cast: John Cusack, Shélan O’Keefe, Gracie Bednarczyk,
Alessandro Nivola, Doug Dearth, Doug James, Zachary Gray,
Dana Lynne Gilhooley

Distribuzione: 01 Distribution, USA, 2007

Guarda il trailer

Stanley Phillips (John Cusack) lavora in un negozio di articoli per la casa e ha due bambine che adora: Heidi (Shélan O’Keefe) di 12 anni e Dawn (Gracie Bednarczyk) di 8.  Sua moglie Grace, che è nei marines, è stata inviata a combattere in Iraq e così è lui, che non ha potuto farlo a causa di un indebolimento della vista, che si occupa delle bambine. Una mattina, mentre sta per recarsi a lavoro, arriva la terribile notizia: Grace è morta nel corso di un'azione militare. Stanley è sconvolto e incredulo, ma alla fine decide di non dire nulla alle bambine e anzi parte con loro verso gli Enchanted Gardens, un grande parco di divertimenti in Florida. Il dolore e il vuoto interiore sono immensi, ma come fare a guardare negli occhi le proprie piccole e a raccontare loro questa terribile verità?

Stanley Phillips è un conservatore doc, un uomo che considera giusto e doveroso servire il proprio Paese. Avrebbe voluto farlo lui stesso, e per questo soffre decisamente per il fatto che sia la moglie e non lui a partire. Lui gestisce la casa e si occupa delle figlie, ma è decisamente imbranato e le bambine sentono molto la mancanza della  madre. Quando giunge la terribile notizia si sente smarrito...Come farà ad andare avanti senza Grace? Ma la cosa più penosa e immediata sarà comunicarlo alle figlie...Quando tornano da scuola e le guarda negli occhi, capisce che non può farlo...Deve prendere tempo, deve trovare un modo più soft per farlo...Improvvisamente propone loro di partire insieme per qualche giorno, verso una meta a loro scelta, che si rivelerà un parco giochi in Florida, proposto da Dawn.

Il film si svolge prevalentemente on the road, con lunghi dialoghi e altrettanto lunghi silenzi in macchina, con pause in hotel e aree di servizio.

John Cusack è il protagonista assoluto: il suo Stanley è l'unico che sa, e soffre in silenzio e si sfoga nei pochi momenti di solitudine a sua disposizione. Nei suoi occhi e nelle espressioni del suo volto si legge tutto il dolore represso e la fatica che ciò comporta. Si tratta di una prova importante e impegnativa che l'attore americano supera in maniera eccellente. Ottime anche le giovanissime Shélan O'Keefe e Gracie Bednarczyk.

In definitiva una pellicola nella quale James C. Strouse celebra, con molta sensibilità e delicatezza, il coraggio di chi è al fronte e rischia la vita ogni giorno, ma anche e forse soprattutto il coraggio di chi resta a casa ad attendere il ritorno delle persone care e, in molti casi, ad affrontare la loro morte...

Il film si è aggiudicato il Premio del Pubblico e il Premio per la Migliore Sceneggiatura al Sundance Film Festival 2007.

Conclusione: Assolutamente consigliato.

Voto: 9

When I located Little Fugitive on the Internet Movie Database, to create a link, I was struck silly by the five films that the IMDB was recommending to me. Right there, as plain as day the site states - If you enjoyed this title, our database also recommends:

The Warriors, City by the Sea, Grace is Gone, Jaws 2, Fahrenheit 9/11

What exactly are they assuming I enjoyed about Little Fugitive? And, what exactly do these films have in common with Little Fugitive?

I consider Little Fugitive to be a cornerstone of American independent cinema. It is a small miracle; a wonderfully crafted, touching example of how a small idea working well within its limitations can make a huge impact.

So, why recommend Jaws 2? Why not the first Jaws? Last I recall, the shark was prowling the coast of Amity not Coney Island. I am sure the Coney Island connection may explain why The Warriors gets suggested, but I can think of ten other films, more in the spirit of Little Fugitive that also have scenes at Coney Island. I don't think City by the Sea has anything to do with eight year old runaway or Coney Island. I never saw it, but I think it had something to do with Atlantic City and Al Pacino or was it Deniro. Does it matter? Grace is Gone is another film I haven't seen, but I know it has something to do with John Cusack taking his kid's on a road trip before telling them their mom died in the war on terrorism. So, perhaps there are issues of innocence at play in each film. I give that one a pass. I guess I am also supposed to give Fahrenheit 9/11 a pass because it was a hugely successful independent film and so was Little Fugitive. However, if that was the standard for a recommendation, why not the Blair WItch Project? At least that was fictional and about lost youngsters.

I only wish one could do a reverse recommendation. I want a way to see what films would point me to Little Fugitive. Would Under the Rainbow send me to Little Fugitive or would Natural Born Killers recommend Little Fugitive to me?

Speaking of Natural Born Killers, a young man here in Milwaukee just killed his girlfriend. His excuse? He had watched Natural Born Killers one too many times and something snapped inside of him. The victim was slated to be an art student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee this fall. Now, I just know that somewhere, probably even on the campus of UWM, some professor has shown or is showing their class Natural Born Killers and treating that piece of garbage like a piece of art. While Little Fugitive does not even get mentioned or shown. Here is a film that re-affirms the joy of life and instead we have instructors who would rather teach classes on Tarantino, Stone, or torture and violence in films. Why teach that when its obvious that so many young adults need to be reminded about the value of life? Is it easier? Is it cooler?

imdb puanı :6.9/10
Yapım :2007, ABD
Tür :Dram
Yönetmen James C. Strouse
Senaryo :James C. Strouse

Oyuncular :John Cusack, Michael Thomas Dunn, Brian Patrick Farrell, Andrea Frisby, Zach Gray, Suzanne Lang
Yapımcı :John Cusack, Grace Loh, Galt Niederhoffer, Daniela Taplin Lundberg
Görüntü Yönetmeni :Jean-Louis Bompoint
Müzik :Clint Eastwood

Stanley eşini Irak Savaşı’nda kaybettikten sonra, bunu çocuklarına nasıl söyleyeceğini düşünmeye başlar. Bunu erkek kardeşine açtığında, kafası daha da karışır. Annelerinin ölümünü kaldıramayacağını düşünen Stanley çocukları ile birlikte seyahat etmeye karar verir. Erkek kardeşini de yanına alan Stanley, çocukları eğlence parkına götürecektir. Ancak bu yolculuk onların beklediği gibi gelişmez.

bölüm 1

bölüm 2

Réalisé et scénarisé par : James C. Strouse
Avec : John Cusack, Shélan O'Keefe , Doug Dearth

Un homme affronte la mort de sa femme, soldat tué en service en Irak. Comment annoncer la nouvelle à ses deux filles? Il repousse ce moment et part pour la Floride avec les enfants, direction un parc d'attractions. Les souffrances et la solitude des familles des soldats dans un film intimiste. Un homme affronte la mort de sa femme, soldat tué en service en Irak. Comment annoncer la nouvelle à ses deux filles? Il repousse ce moment et part pour la Floride avec les enfants, direction un parc d'attractions. Les souffrances et la solitude des familles des soldats dans un film intimiste.

Grace is Gone incarne pile le cinéma indépendant que je trouve ennuyeux. À trop vouloir en faire, on tue tout le reste. Ici, les acteurs sont impeccables, l'histoire est propice à donner le jour à un bon film, mais le tout est plombé par un scénario lourd et une réalisation plate. L'atmosphère pesante est digne de ce cinéma, tuant toute possibilité de ressentie. C'est étouffant et ennuyant.
Le temps ne défile alors pas bien vite. Il s'agit ici d'un road-movie maigre en rencontres, où tout se déroule surtout entre le père et ses deux filles. Le manque d'interaction avec l'extérieur développe l'intimité tout en embourbant les protagonistes dans un cercle vicieux et qui peut apparaître répétitif. Pas de fraicheur, même les moments où la tension ne devrait pas être forte sont là. Le point de vue enfantin ne ressort quasiment pas. Pourtant, elles ne sont pas au courant de la mort de leur mère, alors pourquoi ne pas, à l'occasion, offrir un peu plus qu'un sourire, ne serait-ce qu'un rire qui se transmet au spectateur ? Il y a une certaine complicité qui se créée entre le père et ses enfants qui est intéressants, et les éléments qui auraient pu sauver le film sont intégrés bien trop tard dans l'histoire.

Grace is Gone, malgré son sujet, laisse complètement froid.

Just saw this movie. It is by far one of the best anti-war movies I have seen in my life. With all the news out there about Iraq and Israel, we often forget what is the human cost of war. This movie will not let you forget it. Go and see it. It is a must!

Titulo: La Vida Sin Grace

Titulo Original: Grace Is Gone

Género: Drama

Nacionalidad: USA

Año: 2007

Director: James C. Strouse

Guion: James C. Strouse

Reparto: John Cusack, Gracie Bednarczyk, Shélan O'Keefe, Alessandro Nivola, Doug Dearth, Michael Thomas Dunn, Brian Patrick Farrell

Sinopsis: Hubo un tiempo en el que Stanley Phillips tenía claro cómo sería su vida: soñaba con alistarse y estaba destinado a hacer carrera en el ejército. Su sueño estuvo cerca de cumplirse, pero se vio truncado debido a su miopía. Ahora atiende a los clientes de una tienda de productos del hogar mientras que su mujer, sargento, combate en la guerra.
Igual de torpe en casa que en el trabajo, Stanley se encarga de sus hijas, Heidi y Dawn, de 12 y 8 años. Aunque las quiere, es incapaz de asumir un papel más afectivo y las niñas echan mucho de menos a su madre.
Mientras soporta su trabajo y se pelea con la paternidad, recibe la noticia de la muerte de su mujer. Él mismo no sabe cómo afrontarlo y se ve incapaz de contárselo a sus hijas. Desesperado por retrasar el momento de decírselo, se embarca con ellas en un viaje improvisado por carretera para darles sus últimos momentos de inocencia. Stanley revela su lado más dulce mientras viajan al destino escogido por Dawn, el parque de atracciones Jardines Encantados.
Cuanto más se alejan de casa, más se estrecha su relación, pero Stanley sabe que tiene que enfrentarse a la tarea inevitable de cambiar sus vidas para siempre.

I'm a big fan of 80s teen angst films, of which John Hughes is the recognized guru, but the non-Hughes films that Cusack did are among my very favorite. They include, Better Off Dead, a great dark comedy about teen suicide, Say Anything, one of the best teen angst movies of all time, and One Crazy Summer, which features a young Demi Moorer, pre-Bruce Willis and pre-boob job.

The article also mentions another recent film by Cusack, Grace is Gone, which I've also yet to see but currently have on hold hear at the libary where I work. Along with War Inc., the piece marks this as a sort of political activist phase for Cusack, but it points out that his kind of activism is different from those Tim Robbins ilk.

 The article also compares Cusack, as an actor, to Tom Hanks but with interesting differences. Check it:

Writing about Grace Is Gone in the New York Times, Stephen Holden called Cusack "Hollywood's second most reliable nice guy, after Tom Hanks," and while it's indisputable that sheer likeability is essential to both actors' personae, there's something about the comparison that seems off. Maybe it's that Hanks seems so solid, a bastion of family values and Hollywood bona fides, while the never-married, Chicago-based Cusack has a mercurial, off-kilter quality; fast-talking and fidgety, he always appears to be halfway out the door but eager to get in one last point before he goes.

The article concludes with the author speculating that Cusack would likely begin writing more of his own scripts, offering links to couple examples of the actor's writing abilities. Such a move on Cusack's part would be all to the good, as far as I am concerned.

For you consideration, John Cusack as Lloyd Dobler, reciting his career aspiration, a very GenX moment in movies:

I used to know this little speech verbatim and would recite it when asked about career aspirations.

And, Cusack as Lane Meyer, in Better Off Dead. the burger scene:

Great animation, eh.

For those of you who don't reconginze the fat fuck boss, he's from the Porky's movies.

Finally, finally I was able to see it once it came out on DVD and get that monkey off my back. It's not superb, but it is better than many of the other War on Terror films that came out in late 2007 like In the Valley of Elah and Rendition. It keeps the story narrowly focused on Cusack's Stanley Phillips, a man who loses his soldier wife in Iraq. There are no flashbacks, mysteries, or battle sequences- just a solid dose of understated anguish. Faced with telling his two daughters of their mother's death, he cracks and instead takes them on an impromptu road trip to a Disney World-style resort in Florida.

Yes the tears flowed a little throughout, but there's a line between earned emotion and manipulation and Grace Is Gone likes to meander back and forth across the line. Some of the execution comes off clumsy with some of the characterizations, particularly Stanley's, coming off too broadly-drawn. He's a little too simplistically pro-war in a way that suggests to me that writer/director James Strouse doesn't quite understand the personal nuances of this type of middle American. Stanley is conveniently balanced with a liberal brother that comes off more as a plot tool than a real person. When the two have a confrontation over Stanley avoiding the truth, the brother makes the point that the girls are going to remember this forever and hate him for it. It's a superb point, but the execution feels significantly off. (Another thing that always made me painfully aware I was watching a movie: the family's car doesn't have headrests. It was just obvious enough to always bother me. Just an example of a touch that pulled me out of the realism.)

The real strength of the film, and it's a considerable strength, is the relationship between Stanley and his eldest daughter, Heidi, played by Paul Dano's eerie female doppelganger, Shélan O'Keefe. Heidi's 12, already at an awkward age, and growing up a little too quickly with her mother away. She and her dad regard each other with mutual confusion but also love and respect. Much of the film involves her coming to an understanding that something dreadful has happened but avoiding trying to actually find out what.

Eventually the family makes it to its amusement park, which, by the way, is the LAMEST amusement park ever. It's like a cross between a Six Flags and a botanical gardens. The thing even has a museum about evolution in it. I can't believe they drove to Florida for THAT. They even see the whole thing and leave before sunset. But on the way back, something clicks in Stanley and he pulls off onto a beach to finally break the news to his daughters. The dialogue fades to music, followed by a short eulogy. The ending works very well and avoids the clumsiness of other parts of the movie. It's just loss, family, and love without politics or plot devices and the emotion is well-earned. I'll admit the whole sequence killed me.

Clint Eastwood wrote the score, which made me think the Academy would still find a way to nominate him for something. But the music suffers from the increasingly irritating indie cliche of Twangy Guitar Music. Can't afford real music? Have someone pluck a guitar for a while and pretend it imparts mood. I did enjoy the Best Song-eligible, Eastwood-penned Jamie Cullum title song. I don't particularly care about Cusack's exclusion and I look forward to more from O'Keefe.

I heart John Cusack. So, naturally I'm incredibly biased towards the man. Besides my other favourite paramour Robert Downey Jr, Cusack just acts a storm. I simply like everything he's done (Grosse Pointe Blank being my absolute favourite next to 1408), so when I saw Grace is Gone at my local, uh, supplier, I got it without a second thought.

Cusack plays Stanley Phillips, a sombre, serious man whose wife is serving in Iraq. He is a dedicated worker at work, and a strict but responsible father at home. He hangs on to the hope that his wife Grace will return. But she doesn't.

In a tense and emotional scene which just highlighted Cusack's acting ability, Stanley is told about his wife's demise, and you can see the myriad of emotions that crosses his face. He waits for his two daughters to return, and when they do, he sits them down ... and just can't tell them.

Instead he takes them on a sudden and long road trip to a theme park in Florida, wondering all the way when and how he can tell them about their mother.

Cusack usually plays the sarcastic but adorable guy with a hidden, troubled core. His turn as Stanley - who is as far away from his usual roles as George Bush is to Barack Obama - was simply impressive. I remember thinking in the first ten minutes of the film: Hey. I don't really like this dad. He's such a drag. And I usually love Cusack's characters from the get go!

But it's thanks to Cusack's skill that we end up caring for the stodgy and stern Republican (as the movie pointedly tells us). Cusack is the most emotive I've seen him, and in a heart-rending scene where he collapses on a bed and finally weeps, I sniffed and wiped away tears as he wept alone, safe from the eyes of his family, who depend on him to be unshakeable.

The movie is a small, simple movie about grief and a father's journey to finally connect with his daughters. Thanks to Cusack, you can't tear your eyes away from it.

Rating: 4 stars

Check these numbers that would make most distributors have nightmares: On May 23^rd “War, Inc.” opened on only two screens in New York and two screens in LA. This film, about the first War to be outsourced to private enterprise, got fair reviews. One reviewer did said it wanted to be “Dr Strangelove” and another said it was “Grosse Pointe Blank” set in Iraq.

Yet the audience showed up in LA & New York and now the independent First Look Studios says will expand the film release. The original cities will get 10 more screens and “War, Inc.” will also now open in Austin, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Texas and Washington D.C.

Cusack’s credits for “War, Inc.” are multiple; not only does he star in the film, he’s listed as co-writer and as one of the producers.

Many of the films on the subject of Iraq don’t really seem to be at the top of the audience must see list. Case in point, in addition to this dark comedy Cusack was in James Strouse’s 2007 Iraq war film “Grace Is Gone.” Last weekend, “War, Inc.” made more than “Grace is Gone” made in its entire run.

“War, Inc.” also stars: Hilary Duff, Marisa Tomei, Joan Cusack, Ben Kingsley and Dan Aykroyd

More Info:

Watch the “War, Inc.” trailer here.

Official “War, Inc.” site here.

Reviews from NY Times, LA Times, Slate

PG-13, 84 minutes, The Weinstein Company

Throughout the entire winter season for cinema in 2007, (which happened to be a mighty fantastic one!) the James C. Strouse film, Grace Is Gone, was always in my top five most anticipated. The performance by John Cusack, in which he plays a father of two girls who learns of his wife's death in Iraq and must find a way to break the news to them, garnered a nice little bit of attention in the fall with even some talk of a possible first-time Oscar nomination for the tremendous actor. That buzz, coupled with the fact that it received both the Waldo Salt Screenwriting and Audience Award's at Sundance a few months earlier, made me think that it would easily find its way across at least Arts theaters in the US. Sadly, that never happened. It received about as limited of a run as a movie with a solid lead actor and award talk could get, never opening anywhere near here and ultimately totaling box-office numbers that were hard-pressed to topple $50,000. To add to the pain of waiting, the video release was rather long compared to most of the swift-paced rush to shelves for most films nowadays, with about six months of time from theater to DVD player. Nevertheless, on May 27th I finally had no more reason to nag and complain, for Grace Is Gone was here. It is a film, and in particular a performance, that I will never forget.

Cusack plays Stanley Phillips, a middle-aged man whose face blatantly shows a dissatisfaction with himself, some disappointment because he is not the family member who is strapped up in military gear and fighting in Iraq. Due to limitations in his eyesight, Stanley was denied from serving at a very early age. But his wife, Grace, with whom he married after meeting in the military continues to serve, which leaves Stanley at not only a feeling of guilt but in the position of raising not only two children, but two girls, and by himself. There is no questioning the love he has for his family, it's just the level of confidence he lacks in himself that's what stopping him from handling the regular parenting things the way he could. Each day that Grace is absent from their lives is another day the girls grow older, and it becomes more difficult for Stanley to get a grasp on the entire situation. But he is doing his best, which is all he can hope to do until she comes back. When he is approached at his doorstep by two men who inform him of his wife's death in battle, Stanley enters an understandable state of shock. When his children come home he attempts to find the right way to tell them, but instead reverts to spontaneous propositions that they're not accustomed to seeing from him, in particular asking if they want to take a sudden road trip to a popular amusement park, Enchanted Gardens. There are devastating emotions in the most subtle of facial expressions as his mind races faster and faster, through countless ways to find it in himself to let his children know that their mother is gone.

The road trip itself is like a coming-of-age-quickly excursion for Stanley and a chance, albeit under the most unfortunate of circumstances, to come closer to his girls, especially with his oldest, Heidi, played by Shelan O'Keefe in one of the best adolescent performances in recent memory. Strouse has created a simple and straight-forward screenplay that is very good, but in finding the right lead actor it becomes memorable and near fantastic. This is one of those movies that can find a level ground with everyone who views it, even those who disagree about the many directions and actions American government have taken on the war, because it doesn't act like it has answers for anything. Strouse chooses to simply tell the story of how it all affects our regular families and those who extend from there on out. Cusack digs deep as Stanley, creating a character that can certainly be added among the most impressive in a career filled with outstanding performances. There are moments in this film, especially near the finale that will stay with you forever if you have any sort of feelings inside. Clint Eastwood was so impressed by an early cut of the film, that he agreed to do the score for it, which turned out to be a wonderful companion piece. Stanley was prevented from serving in the military and thus destroying his aspirations of becoming an identifiable American hero, but he still has time to realize that he can be a good, caring father, which in the eye's of two children can be seen as heroic as anything anyone's ever done on a battlefield.

]]> http://popcornmafia.wordpress.com/?p=17 Mon, 02 Jun 2008 07:36:14 +0000 popcornmafia http://popcornmafia.pt.wordpress.com/2008/06/02/guys-in-hammer-pants-vs-guys-in-leather-fedoras/ Screenwriter, Director, Proud Parent, and self-proclaimed Decent Husband Robert T. Magness joins G² this week. The universe has sent the trio a message that we graciously relay to you, dear listener: THIS PODCAST SAVES LIVES. And although Rob was saved, and then donated his time to discuss Indy and The Fall with them, Grae still calls his youngest kid a loser and Gariana insinuates that his wife is a whore. Rob counters with an uncomfortable but strong love for Lee Pace. Go fig.

Watch out for discussions about Baghead, Igor, Grace is Gone, and Gariana's history of punching children at the El Capitan theater in Hollywood.

Click here to listen!

Indiana’s been in the news the last couple weeks. First there’s the new Indiana Jones film that’s on top at the box office, there was the Indy 500 this past weekend, and then I saw the front page of New York Times yesterday morning and learned that director and Indiana native Sydney Pollack died Monday.

It seems like a fitting time to take a road trip to the Hoosier State. Though Pollack was not a screenwriter it’s worth paying tribute to this giant of a filmmaker who knew how to tell a story.

Before he headed to New York after high school in South Bend to study acting with Sanford Meisner he had spent his life in Indiana.  From acting in theater, to directing TV shows, to directing over 40 feature films Pollack was unusually gifted. I was a long time fan of Pollack’s and he directed some of my favorite films:

They Don’t Shoot Horses, Do They? The Way We Were Jeremiah Johnson Three Days of the Condor The Electric Horseman Absence of Malice Tootsie Out of Africa The Firm Sketches of Frank Gehry 

He was a two time Oscar winner (Out of Africa & Tootsie) both of which films also won Best Picture Oscars.  Another Indiana native producer/director Robert Wise also had won two best director Oscars for his films West Side Story & The Sound of Music. He also won two more Best Picture Oscars for producing both movies.

And to challenge Nebraska’s cool actor category (which produced both Montgomery Clift and Marlon Brando), Indiana lays claim to Steve McQueen and James Dean. The list of entertainment icons from Indiana also includes Karl Malden (On the Waterfront), comedian Red Skelton, song writer Cole Porter, and TV host David Letterman.

Moving to the writing side, Kurt Vonnegut was born and raised in Indianapolis. Glenn Berggoetz writes, "It was at Shortridge High School in Indianapolis that Vonnegut gained his first writing experience. During his last two years there he wrote for and was one of the editors of the Shortridge Daily Echo, which was the first high school daily newspaper in the country. At this young age Vonnegut learned to write for a wide audience that would give him immediate feedback, rather than just writing for an audience of one in the form of a teacher." (Note also that Vonnegut also honed his skills at the Iowa Writers Workshop.) 

Theodore Dreiser from Terre Haute wrote the novel An American Tragedy that was made twice made into a film including the 1951 George Stevens' version (A Place in the Sun) staring Elizabeth Taylor that won 6 Academy Awards. It is a film that Mike Nichols (director of The Graduate) said if you wanted to learn how to direct you should watch 50 times.

To counter Dreiser’s somber look at the dark side of America let’s look at another film with Indiana roots. Playwright and screenwriter Steve Tesich was born in Yugoslavia, raised in Chicago and graduated from Indiana University. He won an Oscar for his screenplay Breaking Away based and filmed in Bloomington, Indiana and that became the 1979 sleeper hit staring Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern, Chrisopher Plummer and James Earle Haley.

Tesich’s script came at a time before we were jaded by sports stories and was released just three years after Rocky. The film captures much of what I’m trying to write about in Screenwriting from Iowa. That is that there are stories to tell beyond Hollywood, and people all over the world need encouragement to tell those stories.

Frank Deford reviewed Breaking Away for Sports Illustrated in 1979:

"It is the rare film that has understood the essence of sport so well as Breaking Away; or understood summer or growing up; or, for that matter, America and Americana. This joyous story about four young A&P cowboys and a bicycle race in Bloomington, Ind. cost a measly $2.4 million to make but it is better by far than all the ballyhooed, star-studded epics. Steve Teisch's screenplay is impeccable; Peter Yates' direction is nearly magic in its command and sensitivity; and the cast is perfectly chosen, an ensemble always in character. And if all this were not enough, Breaking Away also evokes a spirit these times yearn for.

"I'm sure that Teisch and Yates didn't set out to wave the flag, but there is something special here... the wonderful thing about Breaking Away is that you leave the theater very proud that America has both an Indiana and a Hollywood."

TV and film director David Anspaugh was born in Decatur, Indiana and also studied at Indiana University before going on to win two Emmy’s producing and directing Hill Street Blues and the quintessential Indiana film Hoosiers.

Matt Williams from Evansville, Indiana is best known as the creator and executive producer of Roseanne and co-creator of Home Improvement. But he also wrote for The Cosby Show and produced the Mel Gibson film What Women Want. He graduated with a theater degree from the University of Evansville and was awarded an honorary doctorate from there in 2003.

And the newest up and coming writer/ director from Indiana is James C. Strouse (from Goshen, Indiana) whose latest film Grace is Gone won the critics awards at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. His first film Lonesome Jim starred Casey Affleck and was directed by Steve Busemi. 

But I can’t pass up the opportunity to mention John Mellencamp from Seymour, Indiana who seems to embody a Midwestern spirit in everything he does. Going way back into the early 80’s with prefect sing-a-long songs Jack & Diana (“Two American kids growing up in the Heartland”), Pink Houses and Small Town to his classic thought-provoking album Scarecrow that addressed the farm crisis in the 80’s, to his more recent Our Country. Mellencamp embraced his Midwestern roots and we were better for it.

While his film connections are usually on the soundtracks of films he did star and direct the 1992 film Falling from Grace. Mellencamp was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Indiana University awarded him an honorary doctorate of Musical Arts.

On Sunday I spent a several hours driving on the Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinenental highway in the country. (It goes through both Iowa and Indiana. And paid my first ever $4.+ per gallon for gas.) It's hard for me to make that kind of trip and not think of Mellencamp's lyrics, "Ain't that America Something to See."

It's something to write about, too.

P.S. Did you know that in the original Indy script that it was Indiana Smith? Doesn't have the same ring does it?  (Spielberg thought it sounded to much like Nevada Smith, a 1966 Steve McQueen film.) And isn't it hard to see Tom Selleck as Indy, who Spielberg originally wanted but couldn't get because of Selleck's commitment to Magnum P.I.?

Copyright ©2008 Scott W. Smith

Screenjabber has the first review of the new Futurama movie.

The Observer interviews Chuck D prior to Public Enemy's Don't Look Back for It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.

Charlie Brooker kneels at the altar of Gladiators.

John Cusack is going to war... with films about Iraq despite box-offices.

Death Cab are casting themselves as a career rock band.

Woody is banking on his beauties for a career revival in Cannes.

Lykke Li is coming for us, UK!

Jason Pierce talks to The Times about his songs and his health.

Sasha Frere-Jones talks American Idol.

PopMatters has an interview with Peter Gallagher.

Is the new show from the Arrested Development folks going to be any good?

I'm sure many of you have already indulged in this lunacy. What a couple!

Harp profiles desert-rockin' champs Howlin' Rain.

Mark Ruffalo and Amy Adams will be in the next Noah Baumbach film.

Speaking of Ruffalo, here's a Cannes review of Blindness.

One of the most ignored films that focuses on an inevitable result of war and terrorism, death, is one of the only ones that really matters. What many of the anti-Iraq war themed films did was show how the war is damaging the United State’s image and global status. Even if they were toned down by implementing plot points consisting of families or relationships in crisis because of the war, such as in “Rendition” or “In the Valley of Elah,” the overall message was that of political ethics. The impact of the war is not affecting the politicians who sit in their comfortable offices in the White House but it is affecting those American families who have to face the consequences of their involvement in the war. The war they feel is their patriotic duty to be involved in, the war that is sending their loved ones home in body bags.

In Grace is Gone, the effects of a casualty of the war in terms of a small, ordinary family is gracefully explored, excuse the pun. The casualty is that of a woman, not a man, and this woman is primarily a mother. Her name is Grace and she has two young girls and is married to Stanley (John Cusack) whom she met while in training for the army. Stanley was sent home from duty when it became known that he had terrible eyesight. He had to take up a real job while his wife continued her involvement in the military. When Grace is called to war, Stanley has to stay at home and take care of his two daughters. He lives in the shadow of his wife, and feels pathetic. He is a quiet, introverted man with a strong sense of ideals and a conservative outlook on life. The typical “mother” and “father” roles are switched and Stanley does not like it but he would never dare say so. He is horribly in denial but denial is a harmless coping mechanism for him.

When Grace is killed in combat, Stanley is grief stricken. His simple life with his ordinary children in his modest home is destroyed and whatever denial he had no longer has a place in his life. He now has to be both a mother, so to speak, and a father to his daughters, with whom he has never quite connected. Dawn (Gracie Bednarczyk), is very much like the idea we are given of what Grace was; funny, loud and spontaneous and Heidi (Shelan O'Keefe), is very much like her father, level headed and serious to the point of seeming cynical. Stanley avoids telling the girls the news and is not sure how to deal with the situation in that moment, so he panics. He would rather protect them from the truth while he can and he loses all the common sense that used to define him.

He decides to take his daughters on a road trip, wherever they would like to go. He is channelling the kind of attitude that Grace would have had and attempts to connect with the girls the way they could with their mother, and to do that he would need to relax more and shed his cynicism. This road trip takes Stanley out of his comfort zones and into something far more profound. He has to hide his own sorrow but his daughters can tell something is wrong. The rest of the film focuses on this journey as Stanley tries to communicate with his girls and bond with them in a way he never had to before. It provides an intimate examination of a man, a father, in crisis and how he must deal with life and his family now that Grace is gone. The film's title is both literal and metaphoric. The family may have lost their mother but at the same time, they have lost their livelihood, their hope and the grace that once filled their souls.

Director James C. Strouse is able to do what a lot of first time directors cannot, he is able to take a situation that could easily become melodramatic but simplifies it. Ironically, by doing so he is able to amplify what is going underneath it all. He does not try to neatly tie everything up and pretend that everything will be okay. His observations of human behaviour and emotion are right on target and he offers no easy solutions but rather real anguish that translates as nothing less than satisfyingly humane. John Cusack’s intense and powerful performance as Stanley is one of the most honest portrayals in recent cinema. Staying true to Strouse’s vision, he bottles everything up and represses his emotional distress but by doing so, he conveys a panic and pain that is undeniably hypnotic.

When the heart-rending film, a little slow at times, comes to an inevitable and predictable conclusion, you are just glad you saw something that came with a lot of sensitivity and good intentions and without a political agenda.

Fatac Rating: ***½

Grace is Gone. Written and Directed by James C. Strouse. Music by Clint Eastwood. Cinematography by Jean-Louis Bompoint. Starring: John Cusack, Gracie Bednarczyk, Shelan O’Keefe, Natalie Berg, Alessandro Nivola and Dana Lynne Gilhooley. Running Time: 85 minutes. Age Restriction: PG L. USA 2007. Rating out of five stars.

See any white rabbits recently?

Being a connoisseur of the modern media as I am, I am frequently amazed at the shit people are willing to watch. Most films are completely insipid, a mutant orgy of second-hand storylines, choppy pacing, and walking clichés. (Yes, that last one is supposed to be taken ironically, you spazzwank.) This means that any film you see is liable to be a slow burn of mediocrity that, if you’re patient, will gradually reveal its ruthless derivativeness. But being a bit of a hater, I have a strong reaction to anything I watch, and there is often one moment where I can tell whether I’m going to love or hate it: The moment on the shrimp boat in Forrest Gump where you realize that Oliver Stone already made this film, back when it was called Born On the Fourth of July, with Tom Cruise of all people in the role of the disabled Vietnam vet, and you realize that you’d rather see a Tom Cruise movie than the crap you’re currently watching. The first time Roberto Benigni’s character decides to turn the holocaust into a game to keep his son occupied, rather than just strangling the annoying shit like a more considerate person would do. (It may take an entire village – or concentration camp – to raise a child, but it takes only one adult to put them out of our misery.)

Not even Jesus likes Tom Hanks.

These moments don’t always arrive at the same time in the film, of course. Many films prevaricate about whether they’re going to be “the shit” or “just shit”. Or they try to dissemble quality (henceforth known as “Oscar-baiting”), and sometimes they even succeed – with some people, anyway, or for long enough to collect an airplane-carrier’s worth of awards. The gritty realism™ of the battle scene at the start of Saving Private Ryan, for example, was enough to convince everyone that the rest of the movie was not just a pile of pandering, sentimentalised horseshit (a Spielberg specialty). Of course the effect was soon lifted, at least for me, by the desperately dreadful/dreadfully desperate scene where the army find out, sniff-sniff, that a whole bunch of brothers have just died. (Think about that. It’s okay for millions of people to die, as long as they’re not related? And does that mean you get to avoid the whole war business if you’re an only child, or are you fucked by the system, like Christ?)

So whether it’s because they’re trying to fool you into liking the film, or because you’re reserving judgment (henceforth known as “suspending your disbelief”), you may find yourself initially tolerating an unworthy movie. But you know those films where you know right off the bat that you're going to hate them? In Moulin Rouge, for example, the decisive moment came thankfully early, in the opening scene, when Ewan McGregor sits snivelling at his typewriter, alone in an empty flat. I knew instantly that I would not care for a single fucking character, frame, or song in the whole miserable abortion, because the film would practically be sucking my cock to get me to like it, and I fucking despise desperation. Let’s get something clear: just because your protagonist is crying doesn’t mean your audience is. I can’t remember a film where I was less invested in the characters where the words “Michael Bay” didn’t appear in the credits.

Another, more recent film that was relatively upfront in flashing the audience its unsurprising lack of balls was The Spiderwick Chronicles, a film that I got dragged to by our good friend pinvictor, possibly out of some secret grudge he holds against me. I got to see it for free, but I still want my money back. Each of the people responsible for this regurgitative turdfest owe me a blow-job, or a beer. Anyone who makes a film with two Freddie Highmores for the price of one obviously has no problem with the idea of cynically exploiting the masses. (Turn-around being fair play and all, they deserve to be stoned to death with copies of Chinese Harry Potter rip-offs.)

Helmut “Spider” Wick, World War II fighter ace, takes to the skies once more in the fight against honest human emotion.

Be that as it may, the significant moment of crapitude came via the aforementioned two-time Prepubescent Twit of the week, in the immortal line, “It has that old-person smell – not a judgment, just an observation”. Um, yeah. A 9-year-old would actually say that? It’s exactly the kind of phoney dialogue that would get you banned from a creative writing class, or beaten up on the playground. Even the kids eating paint would scoff at your ignorance. Appropriately enough, they hired one actor for two roles but only gave them enough character for a half a person each. (You do the math.) My suspicions about the film were confirmed shortly afterwards, thanks to one of the least convincing family scenes outside of The King of Queens, with characters who could take lessons in genuine human emotion from the robots in AI: Artificial Intelligence. Hell, they could take lessons from Steven Seagal. (He, in turn, could be tutored by a plaster cast of the dog on Frasier’s shit.) My advice is to avoid this movie unless you're a senile old fuck or a toddler. Either way you're probably producing better shit on your own this very instant than the crap that these bastards scraped together.

Those are the moments that I remember later, in the theatre and afterwards, when I laugh at Nicole Kidman’s ridiculous death scene in Moulin Rouge (whoo-hoo! Death to bad acting! Die, die!), or beat up a friend for suggesting that Tom Hanks is not the poster-boy for evil. It is those moments I cling to when everyone around me starts worshipping at the altar of Robert Zemeckis, or hallucinating that Batman Begins is even half as good as a single scene from Hulk. It’s what makes the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie better than either of its sequels, and The Emperor Strikes Back superior to all three prequels combined. It’s why Some Like It Hot and Modern Times are comedy classics, and Failure to Launch is, well, as memorable as the last time you brushed your teeth. (Note to film executives: If your movie’s best joke is its title, you should probably reconsider the whole affair.)

Spoiler alert: Contains Tom Cruise.

Some films even advertise their mediocrity in their trailers, for example by including the words “Tom Cruise”, “Uwe Boll”, or “Based on a True Story” in the credits. One of the best examples from recent years was the trailer for Flyboys, a dreadfully trite war pic which seemed to be a discount Pearl Harbor rip-off. Yes, Pearl Harbor – a film which reeked of Michael Bay’s faecal matter, sort of a Memphis Belle-meets-Titanic monstrosity – has been remade. Badly. By fucking morons. Ever see Memphis Belle? It’s the masterpiece that gave us the memorable line, “Sir, if they found out they'd put my hot dog in a bun and chow down.” Yep, that’s another movie guaranteed to make it to the top of the shitpile in film hell. And the true tragedy of the Titanic sinking wasn’t the death of all those people, but the fact that we ever had to watch the soggy cinematic excrement named after it.

Now, just to be clear: there are some films that I absolutely love, and the aforementioned rule applies to them as much as anything. The opening lines from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The moment in Being There when Peter Sellers’ character leaves the house for the first time, to the sound of Thus Spoke Zarathushtra, funked up as a pièce of 70s synth-pop résistance. The scene in Evil Dead 2 where Bruce Campbell jams the chainsaw onto the stump of his arm. All of these mark the instant you sit up and realize that what you’re watching might actually be worth staying awake for.

Unfortunately, not all movies are as forthcoming about their relative merits. So whether they’re masking their insights into human nature behind tiresome “This is the way life really works” bullshit (Grace Is Gone, The Savages) or simply trying to serve their staggering craptitude as a gourmet meal, people need to be warned about what they’re going to be subjected to. This is why we have film critics: not to tell us what is good, or bad, or indifferent, but to give us an idea of what to expect.

Another cunt I rather like.

So without further ado – or the tiresome acceptance speeches of an awards show – here is your abbreviated guide to the films now on circuit, courtesy of Yours Truly Asshole.

BEST MUSIC VIDEO OF 2008: There Will Be Blood. Although this is mostly an instrumental film, they’ve done some amazing things with the visuals for this. Fortunately for discerning music-lovers everywhere, the songs don’t feature any lyrics, which automatically puts it miles ahead of other musicals. (If any lyrics were recorded, the sound engineer wisely tuned down this track in the mix, possibly in a deliberate attempt to improve the film in a way that leaves room for plausible deniability. Daniel Day-Lewis is an alright-enough actor, but him singing? I’d rather have someone rape my eardrums with one of Celine Dion’s fake nails, or any of the songs from Dreamgirls. Ugh.) Worst music video: Sweeney Todd. An opportunity squandered, due to a total lack of any good tunes whatsoever. (Again, as with Mast(urbat)ers of the Universe, you’d think someone would have noticed before spending this much money on it.) Ironically, the film contains more blood than There Will Be Blood, which in turn features better lyrics. Runner-up for worst music video: Love in the Time of Cholera. How do I know this is going to suck? Because it says so right on the marquee: “Music by Shakira”. It’s so obviously a bad idea that its sheer blandness robbed it of the award in this category. See at your own risk.

ISSUE-MOVIE ISSUE OF THE YEAR: Forget the war, forget big corporations and corruption, forget the sick and elderly – this year’s big winner is pregnancy. Is that because Juno and Knocked Up are better than Grace Is Gone, Michael Clayton, or Sicko/The Savages? No, it’s because pregnant women are physically much larger, and therefore more eye-catching than sick people or yuppies, and closer than Iraq (therefore, easier to spot in a crowd). Also, as I’ve no doubt has been mentioned elsewhere in the media, pregnancy seems to be the accessory of the year. Anyone not giving birth to a baby is adopting one, or importing it from a foreign country because outsourcing is cheaper. Synergy has never been this barfaliciously rewarding, morally and commercially.

EXPLOITATION MOVIE OF 2008: Neither Death Proof nor its superior sibling, Planet Terror, manage to secure this award. (Since when does Robert “Spy Kids” Rodriguez make better films than Quentin Tarantino?) No, this award goes to Grace Is Gone, a not-so-heartwarming mixture of “true-to-life” filmmaking and shameless exploitation. For the price of a movie ticket, you get a total asshole for a main character, accompanied by child actors who are either annoyingly “cute” or too mature for their age but who we’re supposed to like because they’re so real, y’know. It only improves towards the end, and only by abandoning all the dubious realism of the first act, thereby making the entire thing pointless and shitting on the audience’s patience for good measure.

WORST IDEA FOR A FILM THAT SUPPOSEDLY TURNED OUT WELL BUT WHICH I PROBABLY WON’T SEE ANYWAY: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. I haven’t bothered to see it, but any movie whose protagonist has all the mobility of an eyelid is in trouble from the get-go. Based on reports, the filmmakers managed to get around that little hurdle, but somehow I’d rather watch a home video of a Charlie Kaufman doodle, or that film about flowers the arty scriptwriter in Adaptation was writing.

NOVEL ADAPTATION OF THE WEEK: Again, Love in the Time of Cholera gets beaten to this award, this time by Atonement. Other contenders included The Kite Runner and Into the Wild. I read a lot, but I’ve read none of these books and I haven’t seen any of these films. You begin to wonder why any executives would greenlight this shit. (Oi! Why don’t you fucking movie executives read this column?) Also, the title indicates that the filmmakers realize they have something to apologize for. But if this film is what they’re doing to apologize, they need to have something explained to them, preferably using a heavy mallet and several metres of barbed wire.

“ACTOR’S SHOWCASE” MOVIE MOST EAGER TO PLEASE THE ACADEMY AND TAKE HOME ALL THOSE PRECIOUS AWARDS: The Savages. The Savages. The Savages. The Savages. To the makers of this film, I have only one thing to say: give it up. The Academy gave the award to Tom Hanks for Forrest Gump in the same year that Sam L. Jackson was a god in Pulp Fiction. They are not worthy and their praise means nothing.

MOST RECENT GEORGE CLOONEY VEHICLE HIJACKED BY BETTER ACTORS IN SMALLER ROLES: Michael Clayton, obviously. It’s only an ensemble piece if no-one likes your acting, George. Still, you can take solace in the fact that your movie didn’t win ...

PRESTIGIOUS ENSEMBLE FILM MOST LIABLE TO INDUCE PROJECTILE VOMITING IN ’08, which goes to Charlie Wilson’s War, starring Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks, the two actors most liable to bring about the apocalypse if they ever copulate.

MOVIE MOST WORTH SEEING DESPITE HAVING A SHITTY TRAILER: No Country for Old Men is apparently a well-written and well-acted addition to the Coen brother’s filmography, but you wouldn’t know this from the trailer, which makes it look like a bad TV movie by hacks who’re too high on crack to come up with more than one camera angle or watch anyone else’s movies, ever.

And finally…

FILM FESTIVAL OF THE WEEK: The X-Fest at the Labia. Not, as you might think, an uninterrupted screening of all twelve seasons of The X-Files or soft-porn classics, but a celebration of the violent, the tasteless, and the extreme in film. You can see why I would recommend this, seeing as how I like most any film that waves its private parts in the faces of the moral majority (cinematically speaking). But I would urge you to give this serious consideration as an educational tour for the kids. Heed the dangers of sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll in the Reefer Madness! Witness the moral turpitude of perverts, porn stars, and punk-rock! Learn about the miracle of the human body from Bob Flanagan, who nails himself to a cross for your moral improvement in Sick! (Bet you The Passion of the Christ didn’t include free poetry readings.) You also get to attend a double-showing of the runners-up for exploitation movie of the year (see above).

There; hopefully this informative example of my critical genius will help you to avoid unhappy experiences while filming. Now if only we could do something about that homicidal maniac who goes around killing people while dressed in a jolly red suit and giant beard.

[Originally posted on www.africans.co.za, Tuesday, March 25, 2008.]

Vantage Point.

It's a possibility. (Did you all think we just ruined the surprise for you? You totally did. Awh heck yeah, that was funny.) But its just one of many possibilities that seem to be doing the rounds at the moment. Judging from previous entries, including but exclusive to The Jacket, Starsky & Hutch, 300, The Mexican, Heartbreakers, The Squid & The Whale, its fair to assume that there are no set rules to what its going to be. Except that its going to be either a high end not-quite-blockbuster that'll make loads of money when it comes out eventually, or an high end not-quite-indie that'll get loads of critical attention when it comes out eventually. But all the films to date can be classified as "fun" (whether or not you actually enjoyed them is something else entirely) or at the very least, not very serious, which leads us to believe that the other big guess thats doing the rounds probably won't materialize:

Grace Is Gone. Has been on every festival in the last year, and was greeted with a collective Irish gasp ("Lig Cnead!") when it wasn't on the JDIFF listings. And it still doesn't have a solid Irish release date. But considering the material its dealing with, its probably too heavy to be in with a chance. And third place in the guessing game goes to:

10,000 B.C. Kinda suits all the criteria. Big-ish Blockbuster? Check. Arty-leanings? Check. (well, it is basically Apocalypto in English, and compared to The Day After Tomorrow and Independence Day, its practically Todd Solondz-esque). Out not too long after the festival ends? Check. "Fun"? Check Check Double Check. But a bit too much like last years surprise, 300? Sadly, check.

So it is pretty much wide open at this point. Although we here at CORRECT OPINION have used our super secret sleuthing skills, and pretty much got as close to a solid answer as is possible to get from some soon-to-be-released torture victims Festival insiders. And you know what? We like it. But we don't want to spoil. So if you'd like a clue, leave a comment.....

Grace is Gone

Previous war-on-terror dramas this year have fallen short by putting their heads before their hearts. Not "Grace Is Gone."

It's stirring, even gut-wrenching, on the strength of John Cusack's terrifically restrained performance as a husband in denial over the death of his wife in Iraq.

This is a film that provoked a full-on case of the weepies among crowds at its Sundance Film Festival premiere last January, so unless you've had your tear ducts removed, bring along some tissue.

The debut film from writer-director James C. Strouse, "Grace Is Gone" might be shamefully manipulative if not for the naturalistic interplay and awkward empathy Cusack creates with the two young actresses playing his daughters.

Read the entire article at: www.cinema-pedia.com