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“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.”
“Changling” Disturbing to Think About
Nov 6th
Disturbing to Think About
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
CHANGELING is the latest film directed by Clint Eastwood, which stars Angtelina Jolie, and it should not be confused with the 1979 THE CHANGELING, which starred George C. Scott.
The earlier film was a ghost story, and this one is more of a horror story, but not in the way you might think. It is based on actual events.
The time is 1928, the place is Los Angeles, and Jolie plays Christine Collins, a single mother of a nine-year-old boy named Walter.
Christine is a supervisor of the massive switchboard operation at the local telephone company, which requires her to wear roller skates and glide back and forth behind the long line of operators.
One Saturday morning, Christine is called in to work, and she is forced to leave Walter alone in the house they live in.
Walter assures his mother that he will be all right by himself, saying, “I can take care of myself. I’m not afraid of the dark. I’m not afraid of anything.”
However, when Christine comes back home that evening, Walter is gone and she cannot find him anywhere. She calls the police and is told that they won’t even begin looking for him until he has been missing for 24 hours.
So, Christine keeps calling, the police keep investigating, and Walter remains missing.
Finally, five months later, the police inform Christine that Walter has been found in Illinois, and he is being brought home. However, after Christine, the police, and the local reporters all wait at the train station for Walter’s arrival, when he gets off the train, Christine says, “He’s not my son.”
The police find themselves in an awkward situation, they insist that he is, the boy agrees, and Christine is told to take him home on a “trial basis.”
She is told that she is the boy’s mother and therefore in no position to be objective.
Then John Malkovich shows up as the Reverend Gustav Briegleb, who has made it his mission in life to expose the Los Angeles Police Department and all its corruption. He tells Christine that the police don’t want public dissent, contradiction, or embarrassment.
Because Christine represents all three to them, Christine is forcibly admitted to the Psychopathic Ward of the General Hospital solely on the captain’s signature.
CHANGELING is gruesome to watch and disturbing to think about.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
Changling – Movie Trailer
Oct 24th
Los Angeles, 1928: On a Saturday morning in a working-class suburb, Christine said goodbye to her son, Walter, and left for work. When she came home, she discovered he had vanished. A fruitless search ensues, and months later, a boy claiming to be the nine-year-old is returned. Dazed by the swirl of cops, reporters and her conflicted emotions, Christine allows him to stay overnight. But, in her heart, she knows he is not Walter. As she pushes authorities to keep looking, she learns that in Prohibition-era L.A., women don’t challenge the system and live to tell their story. Slandered as delusional and unfit, Christine finds an ally in activist Reverend Briegleb, who helps her fight the city to look for her missing boy.