Posts tagged Bill Irwin
Interstellar “Too Much, Too Little”
Nov 19th
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
INTERSTELLAR is the very epitome of a big movie: big production values, big cast, big story, big ideas, but in the end it just might have a small impact on the audience.
When the movie begins, it is the near future, and the Earth is in trouble, because cities have been abandoned, food production is practically the only industry, and yet blights have wiped out almost all of the crops, and dust storms cause life to be suspended while people are forced to take shelter inside.
Michael McConaughey stars as Cooper, a former pilot for NASA who is now a struggling farmer trying to provide a living for his family, which consists of his daughter Murphy, his son Tom, and his dead wife’s father, who is played by John Lithgow.
The reason Cooper is no longer a pilot for NASA is that science has been abandoned for being too expensive and unncecessary, NASA has gone underground, and children in school are being told that Americans never landed on the moon.
One day Cooper and Murphy stumble into a secret NASA compound, where they learn that NASA is still involved in space exploration, only now as a solution to the world’s problems by searching for a planet in another solar system where humanity can travel to live and survive.
The program is being led by Professor Brand, played by Michael Caine, and he tells Cooper, “We need a pilot, and this is the mission you were trained for.”
Professor Brand’s daughter, Amelia, played by Anne Hathaway, is also a scientist, and she will be accompanying Cooper on the mission, which consists of traveling to the planet Saturn, going through a wormhole that is known to exist there, and emerging at another solar system, where they are to find a planet that will be hospitable to humans.
But wait! The story gets even more preposterous.
A black hole is involved in the journey, and because time will be slowed down for Cooper and his crew, they will age much more slowly than the people on Earth.
Thus, Murphy grows up while Cooper is gone, she is now played by Jessica Chastain, and she also becomes a scientist working with Professor Brand.
INTERSTELLAR goes on way too long, it contains too much technobabble, and the loud sound covers up the dialogue.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
Interstellar – Movie Trailer
Nov 17th
With our time on Earth coming to an end, a team of explorers undertakes the most important mission in human history; traveling beyond this galaxy to discover whether mankind has a future among the stars.
“Rachel Getting Married” Kym Ruining a Lovely Weekend
Nov 20th
Kym Ruining a Lovely Weekend
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
RACHEL GETTING MARRIED is a disturbing movie for a number of reasons, any one of which can ruin it for the audience.
First, the title doesn’t reflect the story. Yes, there is a character named Rachel, and she does get married at the climax of the weekend over which the story takes place, but she is not the main character and the story is not so much about her getting married as it is about her sister, Kym.
Second, Kym is played by Anne Hathaway, a stunningly beautiful actress, but here she has a short, unattractive hairdo, and she plays a drug addict who is allowed to leave her drug-rehab facility for the weekend in order to attend her sister’s wedding, but because she is a narcissistic addict, she is compelled to turn every conversation to be about her and to take over every gathering of people she intrudes upon.
Third, Rachel’s and Kym’s father is played by Bill Irwin, who had a previous career as an annoying mime, and everybody hates mimes. So, whenever he is on-screen, my eyes were immediately drawn to him, and I caught him always mugging for the camera, even when he had no lines and the scene isn’t about him.
Fourth, Kym did something in the past that tragically affected her family, and before we learn what it was, we get a teasing reference to it when she stops in a convenience store on the way home and the clerk says to her, “Hey, didn’t I see you on ‘Cops’?”
Fifth, every scene gives the impression that it could have been cut shorter and ended up better, particularly the one that consists of a competition on how best to load a dishwasher, which doesn’t seem to have any point at all until the very end of the scene.
Sixth, the musicians for the wedding ceremony are there for the entire weekend rehearsing their music, which the audience has to hear, too, and it just gets to be annoying.
Seventh, Debra Winger plays the mother of Kym and Rachel, she hasn’t made a movie for a number of years, and you might get a shock at how old she looks now.
And finally, the movie gives weddings a bad name.
RACHEL GETTING MARRIED would be more accurate as KYM RUINING A LOVELY WEEKEND.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”