_Other-Casting
A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
It was a nightmare, all right… To save myself time, I’ll say that this had most of the same problems as the remake of The Karate Kid. The filmmakers stripped away the core elements that made the original so successful. See this wikiscreenplay website, particularly the “notes” at the end, for its wise dissection of [...]
She’s Out Of My League
This was a weird experience…I watched the movie with the same feeling from beginning to end- neutrality. I didn’t love any part and no part made me want to hit Stop. It just was. Obviously, that’s not a good thing… Casting Like There’s Something About Mary, this movie hinged on the actress playing the “perfect” [...]
The Informant
You don’t need a Hollywood informant to tell you that a great actor like Matt Damon and great director like Steven Soderbergh are not enough to make a successful flick. You must start with good material. Structure/Plot and Character In all fairness, by the end of the story some interesting elements were apparent, how Damon [...]
The Karate Kid 2010
It’s amazing that the filmmakers copied so much of the original and this was still so pale in comparison (and pale in its own right). I don’t know where to begin… Premise A twelve year-old (Jaden Smith looked even younger) is too young to experience the level of bullying Dre did, too young for most [...]
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
A good-enough movie considering the source. Structure / Plot When the King died because of the burning robe, I felt the middle brother immediately accusing Dastan, and the guards then chasing him a split second later, was a weak moment. Though the brother had a grudge, it would have been more realistic and dramatic to [...]
The Hangover
Character – Though he had some good parts throughout the movie, it was hard to truly like the Zach Galifianakis character when he was established as a pedophile of sorts. – I have no issue with a light comedy skimming the surface of character. Yet The Hangover did something rarely seen in even the most [...]
The Incredible Hulk
Starts slow, ends well. Structure Though Banner’s nature is that he’s on the run and in hiding, such a passive character grinds the movie. Thrillers often have the main character on the run for the first half of story, then the guy goes on the offensive in the second half. Here, Edward Norton/Bruce Banner/Hulk only [...]