Posts tagged walls
“The Intouchables” Is a Refreshing Comedy
Sep 16th
“Refreshing Comedy”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Intouchables is a French comedy with an unlikely subject: a wealthy man who is paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair hires a young black man from the projects in Paris to be his live-in nurse and take care of him.
One thing that is remarkable about this film is that when I saw the previews for it and all throughout watching it, I believed that Dustin Hoffman plays the quadriplegic, and I was impressed with how well he could speak French. Either that or else his lines were dubbed, and I didn’t quite believe that.
It wasn’t until I obtained the credits for the film that I learned that the actor isn’t Hoffman at all, nor is the actress playing one of the staff the American actress Amy Adams, which I believed.
When the movie opens, we see the rich man, Philippe, and the caretaker, Driss, speeding in Philippe’s Maserati, which Driss is driving. The police start chasing them, and Driss says, “Here they come–100 Euros says I can beat them.”
The scene has a funny ending, which is characteristic of the whole movie.
Then we see a flashback to when Driss interviewed for the job, which he didn’t even want at all, but just wanted a signature to prove that he had interviewed for a job so he could continue to receive his unemployment benefits.
However, something about Driss’s manner intrigues Philippe, and he says that Philippe is ready to try Driss out for a month, but he bets that Driss won’t last two weeks before he quits.
You see, most nurses leave the job after one week, because it is so demanding and requires such hard work.
Driss is impressed by the accommodations that he would live in, but the main reason for accepting the job might be Magalie, one of Philippe’s staff that Driss finds very attractive.
And so the rest of the movie consists of how these two unlikely men affect each other, Driss and his exuberance for life breaking through the walls of depression surrounding Philippe and Philippe’s money and status in life showing Driss that Driss’s previous life was going to lead him nowhere.
So, does Driss stay in the job longer than two weeks?
Does he get anywhere with Magalie?
The Intouchables is a very delightful and refreshing comedy.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshot.”
“Snow White and the Huntsman” an Expensive Piece of Nothing
Jun 9th
“Expensive Piece of Nothing”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Snow White and the Huntsman is the second movie about Snow White to come out in two months, and the title indicates that Hollywood is running out of variations on how to make each one different.
Instead, the filmmakers should be concerned about how to make each one better, because this one isn’t.
This time, the evil Queen is played by Charlize Theron, and she even gets a name, Ravenna.
The Huntsman is played by Chris Hemsworth, whom you will recognize as the actor playing Thor in some other action movies, but he doesn’t get a name, just a back story.
And the grownup Snow White is played by Kristen Stewart, whom you will recognize from a lot of other movies.
Once again, we see how it all began, and after Ravenna becomes the stepmother of young Snow White, Ravenna tells her, “I could never take your mother’s place.”
And once again, Snow White is placed in prison by the Queen, high up in the north tower of the castle.
My comment was “Boring!” even before the movie got one-third of the way through.
So, the variation this time is not that the Queen has the Huntsman take Snow White out into the woods to kill her, but Snow White escapes from the castle and the Queen has the Huntsman go into the woods to find Snow White and bring her back.
Now, Charlize Theron chews the scenery as Ravenna, the evil Queen, and that is not easy to do when the scenery is made out of stone walls.
By this time the movie has become a swords and sorcery story, and the woods contain all sorts of menacing things and even a monster.
Finally! About two-thirds of the way through, the dwarfs show up, but right away you notice that there is something strange about them, and the camera doesn’t stay on all of them long enough for you to count them.
Sure enough, you were right, and later in the story an explanation solves the mystery.
Another weird thing about the dwarfs, however, is that you get the nagging feeling that when they are shown in closeup, you think that you recognize the actors playing them, but those actors aren’t actual little people.
Snow White and the Huntsman is an expensive piece of a nothing movie.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”