Posts tagged independent film
“Smashed” about Wasted People
Dec 15th
“Wasted”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Smashed is just another in a long line of films about alcoholics going back at least to the 1945 The Lost Weekend with Ray Milland and the 1962 Days of Wine and Roses with Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick, and the only thing different is that this time the lead alcoholic character is a woman.
You’ve come a long way, Baby.
Also, it is an independent film that was shot in only 19 days; so don’t expect too much in the way of production values.
And the only message in films about the fall and more falling of an alcoholic is “Don’t do this,” which leaves only great acting, marvelous settings, or compelling story to see a movie like this, none of which are contained in this movie.
Kate is played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and she is married to Charlie, played by Aaron Paul. Kate is a first-grade schoolteacher, and Charlie stays at home and writes music, although we find out later that Charlie has wealthy parents who support them.
In fact, when they wake up one morning after another night of binge drinking, Kate makes a reference to the fact that Charlie stays home and writes, and Charlie says, “Yeah, but my real job is to change the sheets.”
Kate even takes a drink from a flask in her car on the way to work, and then when she is in the classroom teaching her students, she throws up into a wastebasket because she is so hung over.
This prompts one of the students to ask Kate if she is pregnant, because the kid’s mother does that when she is pregnant.
So, Kate lies and says yes, which just leads to an embarrassing chain of events when Kate’s principal and other teachers find out.
Well, Kate keeps drinking, Charlie keeps drinking, and Charlie’s brother and their friends keep drinking, too. Eventually Kate admits that she has a problem, and she agrees to attend a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous with another teacher in the school, played by Nick Offerman.
However, a few meetings don’t do the trick, and Kate keeps drinking and worse.
Matters become aggravated between Kate and Charlie, too, even though he makes a half-hearted attempt to stop drinking along with Kate’s attempts.
Smashed is about wasted people, and don’t waste your money on it.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Your Sister’s Sister” with The Lady or the Tiger? Ending
Jul 23rd
“The Lady or the Tiger? Ending”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Your Sister’s Sister is a pleasant little independent film with a simple story, only three main characters, but a gimmicky ending reminiscent of the ending to a famous 1882 short story known as “The Lady or the Tiger?”
Of course, these days what does an ending matter when so many movies come out on DVD with alternate endings after a movie has a theatrical run with only one ending to it?
Now, the short story was written by Frank R. Stockton, and it was the most famous story that CENTURY MAGAZINE ever published. In it, a young man falls in love with the king’s daughter, and he is condemned by the king and forced to choose between two doors in a giant arena.
Behind one door is a beautiful maiden who would be given to him in marriage, and behind the other door is a ravenous tiger. The princess learns the secret of the doors and signals the young man to open the door on the right, but the story ends by asking Who comes out, the lady or the tiger?
I will explain how this non-ending is reminiscent of the ending to this movie at the end of the review.
The movie begins at a party and eulogy for Tom a year after Tom’s death. Jack, played by Mark Duplass, was Tom’s brother, and he says some nasty things about Tom.
Iris, played by Emily Blunt, had dated Tom, but she left him before Tom died. She also happens to be Jack’s best friend, but there is nothing romantic between them.
Iris goes up to Jack after his speech about Tom, and she says, “You just need some head space, okay?”
Iris offers to let Jack use her family’s vacation cabin on a nearby island for a week and says that he will have the greatest time doing nothing.
So, Jack bicycles to the ferry that takes him to the island, and he manages to find the cabin late at night.
However, a woman named Hannah, played by Rosemarie DeWitt, is staying in the cabin. She is Iris’s sister, and she is trying to get over her recent breakup with another woman after a seven-year relationship.
And then the next day Iris herself shows up unexpectedly and surprises them both.
Your Sister’s Sister ends after more story.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Win Win” Winner Winner
May 4th
“Winner Winner”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Win Win is the third film written and directed by Tom McCarthy, after the 2003 The Station Agent and the 2007 The Visitor, and if you saw those two films, you have a good idea of how excellent this one is, also.
You might not have seen those films, because low-budget, independent films don’t have extended runs in theaters, no matter how excellent they are.
So, see this one as soon as you can.
Paul Giamatti stars as Mike Flaherty. He is a husband and father of two girls, but the twist is that he is a struggling lawyer in New Jersey and the coach of a high-school wrestling team that, for lack of a better word, is awful.
Mike is struggling with problems in all aspects of his life, starting at home with a dead tree in the front yard. His wife, Jackie, makes him promise to call someone about it, because she says, “I don’t want it coming down on the house.”
But when Mike gets to his office in an old residential house, he has other problems to worry about. He is going to need $6,000 to replace the boiler in the basement even though it was repaired three months ago.
Also, one of his clients, Leo Poplar, is in the early stages of dementia, and a judge wants to appoint a guardian for him. So, Mike volunteers to be Leo’s guardian, even though Leo wants to live in his own house, and he hasn’t seen his daughter in over 20 years.
However, Mike tells Leo that the court has ordered Leo to live in a retirement home, puts him in one, and then pockets the money that Leo gets every month.
Complicated, right? And maybe even illegal.
But wait. There is more. Leo’s 16-year-old grandson, Kyle, suddenly shows up, having run away from home in Ohio and wanting to live with Leo, because his mother is in a drug-treatment program and they don’t get along at all.
So, Jackie takes pity on Kyle and invites him to stay with them.
But, wait, there is still more. Kyle is an excellent wrestler, which solves one of Mike’s problems, but then Kyle’s mother shows up, which causes even more problems.
Win Win brings to mind “Winner Winner, chicken dinner,” as the kids like to say.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”