Celluloid Heroes

This is the epic tale of Alexander the Great, and it truly is epic, mostly in length. The movie clocks in at just under three hours, and it feels at least that long. Much of the length comes in because of the style of the telling. The tale is told by jumping back and forth through clips, presumably in order to hold some sort of mystique.

Unfortunately, it's a style that is used more and more frequently these days, and it's getting worse all the time. While linear storytelling appears to be going out of vogue, and directors want to maintain a sense of mystery as long as they can, they really need to learn to tell their stories first. That's not the case here.

We follow Alexander at various points in his life, but we see him as a very young boy as his mother, Olympias (Angelina Jolie) as she is attacked by Alexander's father, Philip (Val Kilmer). Strangely, the young boy is in the bed as this is happening, and presumably it does a lot to shape his world view, though he is likely too young to make sense of it right then.

Read All of "Alexander (2004) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on October 7, 2006 in Drama

This is actually like two movies in one.

The first is fairly typical Adam Sandler fare: It's what you're used to seeing if you've ever seen, well, any of his movies. It's also what you're likely to think of if you actually saw the trailer for the movie.

Dad's too busy for the family, he heads out for a universal remote, gets a truly universal remote, and can control anything. Hilarity ensues. He uses it to walk the dog faster, watch the girl in the short shorts run slower, make the jerk next door look stupid, that sort of thing. There is absolutely nothing surprising about any of this.

What is surprising is that somewhere in all of that, they completely forgot to mention that it's (maybe) half the movie.

Read All of "Click (2006) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on October 7, 2006 in Drama

This is the epic tale of Alexander the Great, and it truly is epic, mostly in length. The movie clocks in at just under three hours, and it feels at least that long. Much of the length comes in because of the style of the telling. The tale is told by jumping back and forth through clips, presumably in order to hold some sort of mystique.

Unfortunately, it's a style that is used more and more frequently these days, and it's getting worse all the time. While linear storytelling appears to be going out of vogue, and directors want to maintain a sense of mystery as long as they can, they really need to learn to tell their stories first. That's not the case here.

We follow Alexander at various points in his life, but we see him as a very young boy as his mother, Olympias (Angelina Jolie) as she is attacked by Alexander's father, Philip (Val Kilmer). Strangely, the young boy is in the bed as this is happening, and presumably it does a lot to shape his world view, though he is likely too young to make sense of it right then.

Read All of "Alexander (2004) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on October 7, 2006 in Drama

This is actually like two movies in one.

The first is fairly typical Adam Sandler fare: It's what you're used to seeing if you've ever seen, well, any of his movies. It's also what you're likely to think of if you actually saw the trailer for the movie.

Dad's too busy for the family, he heads out for a universal remote, gets a truly universal remote, and can control anything. Hilarity ensues. He uses it to walk the dog faster, watch the girl in the short shorts run slower, make the jerk next door look stupid, that sort of thing. There is absolutely nothing surprising about any of this.

What is surprising is that somewhere in all of that, they completely forgot to mention that it's (maybe) half the movie.

Read All of "Click (2006) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on October 7, 2006 in Drama