Written and directed by Michael Crichton, Westworld is the story revolving around an amusement park for adults where they pretend to be in the American West and have fun until some androids malfunction and kill off some guests. It’s a film about the dangers of technology and what happens when the fantasy turns against the individual trying to live that fantasy. Starring Richard Benjamin, James Brolin, and Yul Brenner. Westworld is an intriguing and thrilling film from Michael Crichton.
The film is the story of a couple of guys who go to this theme park for adults where they can delve into any fantasy world they want to be a part in whether it’s the age of the Romans, medieval times, or the American West where they can do whatever they want with the androids they encounter. Yet, something goes wrong during this vacation where guests pay $1000 a day for their own desires to be fulfilled where the androids suddenly go rogue due to some malfunction. Michael Crichton’s screenplay has a very simple structure yet it slowly plays into the moments everything goes wrong where it also shows what is happening behind the scenes as the people who created the androids suddenly have no control of what is happening. Though the objective of the park is giving people a chance to play fantasy and be unharmed, that fantasy becomes reality once everything else goes to shit.
Crichton’s direction is very simple as it starts off with this ad about this amusement park and the people who have returned as the announcer says “Boy, have we got a vacation waiting for you”. Then it cuts from being a small TV aspect ratio ad into a full-on widescreen experience as it play into what these two men are about to go into as one of them had been to the park. Many of Crichton’s compositions are simple as it pays homage to films set in the American West and medieval times with some stylistic elements that includes some slow-motion action for the former. There are also some chilling and suspenseful moments once it reaches the second half involving the character of the gunslinger (Yul Brenner) where Crichton shows exactly what he sees as it is one of the very first moments in film that uses digital image processing as it adds to the film’s climax where a protagonist has to deal with the gunslinger without any tricks. Overall, Crichton creates an engaging and whimsical film about a theme park for adults that goes horribly wrong.
Cinematographer Gene Polito does excellent work with the cinematography as it is very straightforward with its gorgeous lighting and moods for some of the interior scenes at night as well as in the rooms where the scientists work at. Editor David Bretherton does terrific work with the editing as it has some elements of style in some slow-motion cutting as well as some jump-cuts. Art director Herman A. Blumenthal and set decorator John P. Austin do fantastic work with the set design as it play into the different areas of the park such as the look of the castle interiors in the medieval times area and the look of the American west in the western area. The special effects work of Charles Schulthies is wonderful for the look of what the androids see from their perspective as well as in some of the look of the androids in what they look like from the inside. The sound work of Richard S. Church and Harry W. Tetrick is superb for the sounds of gunfire and other objects that play into the worlds that the characters are in as well as the technological sounds in the computer rooms. The film’s music by Fred Karlin is wonderful for its mixture of musical styles that play into the different worlds with some orchestral pieces to play into its suspenseful moments.
The casting by Leonard Murphy is great as it include some notable small roles from Anne Randall as a medieval servant named Daphne, Terry Wilson as a sheriff, Victoria Shaw as the medieval queen, Linda Scott as a French prostitute, Michael Mikler as the black knight, Majel Barrett as a brothel madam, Norman Bartold as a man pretending to be a medieval knight for his fantasy, and Alan Oppenheimer as the supervisor watching over everything in the park as he tries to figure out what is going on with androids. Dick Van Patten is superb as a banker who goes into the west in the hopes he can become a cowboy where he is quite funny in his attempts to become a sheriff.
James Brolin is excellent as John Blane as a guest who had visited the park as he guides his friend into what goes on while becoming aware that something isn’t right. Richard Benjamin is brilliant as Peter Martin as John’s friend who is new to the experience at the park where he would have fun until he too becomes aware that something isn’t right. Finally, there’s Yul Brenner in an amazing performance as the gunslinger as it’s a variation of the character he played in The Magnificent Seven where even though it is a supporting role. It’s a performance that is just unforgettable in how menacing his presence is as he becomes the one android that goes completely rogue.
Westworld is a remarkable film from Michael Crichton. Featuring a great cast and a fascinating premise that blends all sorts of genres. It’s a film that definitely showcases what happens when a theme park for adults become a nightmare when the robots suddenly go rogue. In the end, Westworld is a marvelous film from Michael Crichton.
© thevoid99 2017
Based on the novel Sammy’s Hill by Kristen Gore, Accidental Love is the story of a waitress whose life changes after accidentally being shot in the head by a nail gun where she receives brain damage and the attention of a congressman who would exploit her. Directed by David O. Russell, under the pseudonym of Stephen Greene, and screenplay by Russell (under the Greene pseudonym), Gore, Dave Jeser, and Matt Silverstein, the film that was originally supposed to be called Nailed is a look into a woman looking for support due to her lack of health insurance as she turns to the government for help. Starring Jessica Biel, Jake Gyllenhaal, James Marsden, Catherine Keener, Tracy Morgan, Beverly D’Angelo, and James Brolin. Accidental Love is a messy and nonsensical film from Stephen Greene.
The film is a simple story of a waitress who goes to Washington D.C. to get a bill created so that she and several other ordinary people can get health insurance following an incident where she was shot in the head by a nail gun. It’s a film that has an intriguing premise where this young waitress tries to fight for herself and friends in getting the health insurance they need since they can’t afford to get surgery to fix themselves. Yet, something definitely went wrong as it relates the story where it wants to be this political crusade film where an ordinary woman wants to fight for something yet it is also this weird romantic comedy between this woman and a young congressman who would exploit her for his own means. The script not only creates moments that are ridiculous but also has no clear identity in what it wants to be or how to balance the genre. The script that was originally written by David O. Russell and Kristen Gore seemed to have ideas of a political and social satire but that seemed lost due to those who were involved in the re-writes as it would try to be all things for all people.
Yet, it’s not the script that is entirely at fault but also the direction where it looked like there was a good film somewhere from Russell. Unfortunately, it seems like he was trying to go for something that was bit more unconventional in his approach to humor only to delve too much into conventional humor. While Russell would create a lot of straightforward compositions and moments that seem to aim for elements of political satire. It is clear that the film was lost in the post-production where it became something very different from what Russell wanted as it’s probably among the many reasons why he chose to not take credit for it. Anyone not familiar with Russell’s work would probably be confused in what the film wants to be as there’s a lot of people over-acting or moments that feels like it belongs in another film. For those who are familiar with Russell’s work as a filmmaker would definitely see that there was a lot in the film that had the potential to be funny as well as provide some insight into how politics work.
Yet, there were a lot that had happened during the film’s production that said a lot about why Russell left the film and later disown it. The film’s production began in 2008 where it got shut down frequently due in part to the 2008 financial collapse where several cast and crew members walked out of the film at times where re-shoots occurred in 2010 without Russell’s involvement who did leave the film. Through the post-production with the aid of cinematographer Max Malkin, editors Mark Bourgeois and Robert K. Lambert, and sound mixer Jeffree Bloomer, the film is given a look and tone that is best described as bland. Malkin’s photography looks under-lit in some spots and has elements of grain in some spots while the editing feels very jarring and nonsensical at times. Even the sound doesn’t do much in the way the film is presented as says a lot into what was happening in the post production. Overall, the film is just a really bad movie handled by people behind the scenes who really just created something that is just bland and lacks any real heart to a story that could’ve been so much more.
Production designer Judy Becker, with set decorator Vera Mills and art director Dennis Bradford, does fantastic work with the look of the diner that the protagonist Alice worked with as well as the restaurant where she would get shot in the head with a nail. Costume designer Marie-Sylvie Deveau does nice work with the costumes as it‘s mostly casual with a bit of style in the clothes that Alice wears. Visual effects supervisor Travis Baumann does OK work with the visual effects as it is essentially set-dressing but it never does anything for the film visually. The film’s music John Swihart is just hokey at best where it tries to playful with its mixture of orchestral music and pop but never stands out at all while music supervisor Susan Jacobs doesn’t create a soundtrack that is memorable as it consists of pop and soul music.
The film’s cast features a large collective of great talent but unfortunately, no one is given much to do. Notable small roles from Beverly d’Angelo and Steve Boles as Alice’s parents, Kirstie Alley as Alice’s veterinarian aunt Rita, Bill Hader as a surgeon, Jenny Gulley as Alice’s friend/fellow waitress Brenda, Malinda Williams as a security guard named Rakeesha that Alice’s friend Keyshawn falls for, David Ramsay as representative Harshtone who helps out congresswoman Hendrickson, Kurt Fuller as the Reverend Norm who helps Alice out by going to Washington D.C. with her as he has an untreatable injury, and Paul Reubens as Hendrickson’s aide Edwin never really get anything to do as it’s clear that either whatever material they’re working didn’t do them any favors. In a very brief performance, James Brolin is awful as House Speaker Buck McCoy who is just there as a plot-point in the film where he chokes on a fucking cookie during a meeting with Alice and her friends with Hendrickson in the same room along with girl scouts.
Tracy Morgan is alright as Keyshawn where he tries very hard to be funny but it never clicks while he also show a few moments that he can do more but the script’s shortcomings never gives him to rise above. James Marsden is just bland as Alice’s boyfriend Scott as a state trooper who would propose to her but has trouble adjusting to her mood swings where he breaks it off only to return to help her in the most convoluted way. Catherine Keener is terrible as congresswoman Pam Hendrickson as this former astronaut-turned-politician that is so eager to have a moon base created on the moon while wanting to be House Speaker as she just looks ridiculous as well as that bad haircut. Jake Gyllenhaal is just horrible as congressman Howard Birdwell as this young representative that wants to do good and help Alice only to exploit her for his own means where it’s a performance that tries to be funny but feels forced and unnatural. Finally, there’s Jessica Biel in a decent but underwhelming performance as Alice Eckle where Biel does try to make her character engaging but the shortcomings in the script as well as all of these quirks in her behavior from unexpected moments of rage to speaking in Portuguese makes the character more of a caricature than a real person to root for.
Accidental Love is just a horrendous film that doesn’t just waste a lot of talent but also showcase what happens when a film with some potential just goes to shit. Fans of David O. Russell no doubt will see this as just something they wish never existed while audiences who want to see a romantic comedy will pretty much be confused by a lot of what is happening. In the end, Accidental Love is a film that just really fucking sucks.
David O. Russell Films: Spanking the Monkey - Flirting with Disaster - Three Kings - I Heart Huckabees - The Fighter - Silver Linings Playbook - American Hustle - Joy (2015 film) - The Auteurs #70: David O. Russell
© thevoid99 2016
Based on the book by Frank Abagnale and Stan Redding, Catch Me If You Can is the story about a young Abagnale who manages to concoct several successful cons before the age of 19 as he’s often in pursuit by a FBI agent. Directed by Steven Spielberg and screenplay by Jeff Nathanson, the film is a quirky comedy of sorts where a young man forges checks to create elaborate cons as he deals with being pursued by a FBI agent who refuses to give up as Leonardo diCaprio plays Frank Abagnale and Tom Hanks in the role of FBI agent Carl Hanratty. Also starring Nathalie Baye, Martin Sheen, Amy Adams, Jennifer Garner, James Brolin, and Christopher Walken. Catch Me If You Can is a witty yet adventurous film from Steven Spielberg.
The film revolves around the life of a young man who decides to forge checks in order to con banks out of their money as his actions get the attention of a FBI agent who would chase him for several years. It’s a film that plays into two men involved in this cat-and-mouse game where there is a bit of mutual respect between the two even though Frank Abagnale is a criminal and Carl Hanratty is a FBI agent. Though Hanratty’s motivations is to capture Abagnale and retrieve all of the money that was stolen, it is Abagnale’s motivation that is clearly far more interesting. Especially as he is doing these schemes on banks as an act of revenge when his father Frank Sr. (Christopher Walken) was turned down by banks for a loan due to various things involving the IRS. By pretending to be a Pan Am pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer, Abagnale does whatever it takes to survive but things eventually get out of control which forces Abagnale to get more desperate in order to evade the FBI.
Jeff Nathanson’s screenplay does have a unique narrative as it’s told in a reflective style where Abagnale is returning to the U.S. from France as he’s accompanied by Hanratty. While the film does have a traditional structure, it is more about Abagnale’s motivations as he once lived a good life with his parents until money issues and his French mother Paula (Nathalie Baye) having an affair with a friend of his father in Jack Barnes (James Brolin) which lead to the end of the life that Abagnale had. The divorce of his parents would lead Abagnale to run away and use his mastery to con people would provide him as a means of survival where he would live well and woo women. All of this gets the attention of authorities where Carl Hanratty would be the one chasing him throughout the years as it’s all set during the 1960s while the scenes of Abagnale and Hanratty coming home to the U.S. is set in the 1970s.
While the presentation of the story is comical as the chases does have Hanratty in a series of humiliating moments. It is still a drama at heart where there’s these conversations from a pay phone that Abagnale would have with Hanratty on Christmas Day where it is about these two men getting to know each other as an act of respect between two opponents. Even as Abagnale would have thoughts of giving up his criminal schemes where an encounter with a young pregnant nurse named Brenda (Amy Adams) would raise those thoughts. While it’s third act plays more into what Abagnale would endure as a captured criminal and what he would have to do to avoid spending more time in prison where the roles of Abagnale and Hanratty would sort of change in terms of who gets humiliated. Still, it is about a sense of one-upmanship as well as how Abagnale would use his skills into this new life and find some fulfillment in his life.
Steven Spielberg’s direction is very stylish as it plays up this vibrant world of the 1960s as well as creating something that feels upbeat and lively. Especially in the way he definitely mimics films of those time while creating something that feels intimate with the compositions he creates. Some that intimacy with its use of close-ups and medium shots play into the life that the young Abagnale had with his family including the scenes between Abagnale and his father which expresses Abagnale’s desire and loyalty to his father. It’s among these smaller moments that Spielberg creates that is quite magical while having airs of sentimentality since it showcases Abagnale’s willingness to make his father proud. The direction also has Spielberg use some unique compositions to play into the phone conversations between Abagnale and Hanratty where Spielberg uses a few wide shots to play into the loneliness that looms in Hanratty as he is never seen not working.
The scenes where Spielberg plays into the chase scenes have these intricate steadicam shots play into the frenzy of Hanratty’s desperation to capture Abagnale. Even as Spielberg infuses some style with some tracking shots as well as scenes that play into some of the chases along with an extravagant scene where Abagnale hires women to pretend to be stewardesses. There is a sense of extravagance in these moments but it plays to how elaborate Abagnale’s schemes are as things do slow down in the third act. Yet, Spielberg does manage infuse some style in his compositions as well as in creating the conflicts in Abagnale in what he has to do in the third act. Overall, Spielberg creates a very compelling yet whimsical film about a cat-and-mouse game between a FBI agent and a young con artist.
Cinematographer Janusz Kaminski does brilliant work with the film‘s photography with its array of stylish approach to interior lightings for the scenes set in the bars and restaurants as well as some of its nighttime exteriors in the U.S. and parts of France. Editor Michael Kahn does fantastic work with the editing with its rhythmic approach to humor that includes the chase scenes along with some straightforward cuts to play into the drama. Production designer Jeannine Oppewall, with art director Sarah Knowles and set decorators Claudette Didul and Leslie A. Pope, does amazing work with the set design from the look of the hotel rooms and places that Abagnale stayed in to the FBI office building where Hanratty is at in his job.
Costume designer Mary Zophres does excellent work with the design of the Pan Am pilot uniforms and stewardess costumes as well as some of the clothes Abagnale wears to play into the sunny world of the 1960s. Visual effects supervisors Nathan McGuinness and Patrice Mugnier do nice work with some of the minimal visual effects which plays more as set-dressing in some sequences in the film. Sound editors Charles L. Campbell and John A. Larsen do terrific work with the sound to play into some of the machines that Abagnale would use later in his cons as well as the planes and location scenes to play into the world that the characters are in. The film’s music by John Williams is incredible as it is this nice mix of jazz textures and lush orchestral music to play into the humor and drama as the soundtrack features music from Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Nat King Cole, Dusty Springfield, and the trio of Antonio Carlos Jobim, Stan Getz, and Joao Gilberto.
The casting by Debra Zane is phenomenal as it features some notable small roles from Elizabeth Banks and Ellen Pompeo as women that Abagnale would woo in his adventures, Brian Howe, Chris Ellis, and Frank John Hughes as a trio of FBI agents who work with Hanratty as they’re often seen as bumbling fools, the real Frank Abagnale as a French policeman who would arrest Abagnale in France, Jennifer Garner as a call girl Abagnale would woo during one of his schemes, and Nancy Lenehan as Brenda’s mother who definitely takes a liking to Frank as she is excited that Brenda found a good man. James Brolin is terrific as Jack Barnes as a man who was a friend of Abagnale’s father who would betray him by sleeping with Abagnale’s mother and later marry her. Martin Sheen is excellent as Brenda’s father Roger Strong who is a bit suspicious of Abagnale yet takes him under his wing when Abagnale thinks about becoming a lawyer.
Amy Adams is fantastic as Brenda Strong as this young nurse who falls for Frank as she comes to him thinking he’s a doctor about having an abortion as the two fall in love where Adams exudes a sense of innocence to her role. Nathalie Baye is superb as Abagnale’s French mother who met Abagnale’s father when she was 18 and would marry him as she is really an interesting character as a woman that wanted a different life as she has no clue into how bad she hurt her son. Christopher Walken is brilliant as Frank Abagnale Sr. as the man that the young Frank idolizes as Walken has this sense of charm and warmth into his role as a man who wants to do what is best for his family while he would learn exactly what his son has been doing.
Tom Hanks is amazing as Carl Hanratty as the FBI agent who would be chasing Abagnale for several years as he tries to figure out how he does his schemes and such where there’s a bit of admiration in the character as well as some humor as Hanks manages to create a character that is fun to watch despite some shaky moments in his New English accent. Finally, there’s Leonardo diCaprio in a remarkable performance as Frank Abagnale as this young man who would start his cons at the age of 16 in an act of rebellion against the banks that cheated his father as diCaprio brings a lot of charm and wit to his role as well an energy and anguish into someone that wants to make his father proud as it’s one of diCaprio’s finest performances.
Catch Me If You Can is a sensational and fun film from Steven Spielberg. Armed with a great cast led by Leonardo diCaprio and Tom Hanks as well as very exciting premise that is told with such style. The film is definitely one of Spielberg’s most entertaining films as well as one of his funniest. In the end, Catch Me If You Can is a marvelous film from Steven Spielberg.
Steven Spielberg Films: (Duel (1971 film)) - (The Sugarland Express) - (Jaws) - (Close Encounters of the Third Kind) - (1941) - (Raiders of the Lost Ark) - (E.T. the Extraterrestrial) - (Twilight Zone: the Movie-Kick the Can) - (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom) - (The Color Purple) - (Empire of the Sun) - (Always) - (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) - (Hook) - (Jurassic Park) - Schindler’s List - (The Lost World: Jurassic Park) - (Amistad) - Saving Private Ryan - (A.I. Artificial Intelligence) - (Minority Report) - (The Terminal) - (War of the Worlds (2005 film)) - (Munich) - (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) - (The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn) - (War Horse) - (Lincoln) - (Bridge of Spies) - (The BFG)
© thevoid99 2014
