The Royal Tenenbaums

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

Directed by Wes Anderson

Screenplay by Wes Anderson & Owen Wilson

Stars: Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston,  Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Bill Murray, Danny Glover and Alec Baldwin

Let's get this out of the way. I am not the biggest fan of Wes Anderson's films to say the least. I did not have that many options so I tried to sit through this movie. Even though this movie was nominated for a Best Original Screenplay Oscar, I was over the movie when it started.

Alec Baldwin narrates the tale of the Tenenbaum family where Etheline (Huston) asks her husband Royal (Hackman) to leave. He checks into a hotel for 22 years and he is being kicked out. So he tries to get sympathy by insinuating that he is dying. His grown kids, the business mogul Chas (Stiller), genius playwright adopted daughter Margot (Paltrow) and tennis champ Richie (L. Wilson) are in a slump. Some other stuff happened. Who cares!

The quirkiness of Anderson's movies really bother me to no end. The only anomaly was Fantastic Mr. Fox. This is why I cannot watch Moonrise Kingdom. I want to have something different from Mr. Anderson. I watched this movie to get something written on here. I could not care less about this film. Everybody being so emo and all that shit. Whatever.

My Rating

Glengarry Glen Ross

Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)

Directed by James Foley

Screenplay by David Mamet

Based on his play of the same name

Stars: Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, Kevin Spacey, Jonathan Pryce and Alec Baldwin

I have seen a couple of David Mamet penned movies and sometimes I feel like the movies are just his plays on the big screen. The translation does not go as smoothly as it should. I have only heard about Glengarry Glen Ross from watching the Tonys. The film got its sole Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Al Pacino. The film is good, but it does suffer from David Mamet Translation Syndrome.

Set in the world a real estate brokers, the movie tells the story of the hardworking at a brokerage firm. Times have been tough on the men without selling much property. Their supervisor, John Williamson (Spacey) has a speaker come in to light the fire under their asses, Blake (Baldwin). Blake makes an ultimatum for everybody to sale, sale, sale. The incentive is first place: a brand new car, second place: a set of steak knives and third place: a pink slip. The lacking of quality leads, Shelley Levene (Lemmon), Gary Moss (Harris), George Aaronow (Arkin) and Ricky Roma (Pacino) are trying to save their jobs by any means necessary. Their world changes when the office was robbed. Who did it?

The movie is enjoyable to watch. The acting were fairly solid. I loved the monologues some of the actors gave that were really good. The problem I had with the movie is that Mamet's dialogue doesn't translate that well to the big screen. Who actually says these words? The exchanges between some of the characters felt stiff like the one with Ed Harris and Alan Arkin. Their exchanges felt like they didn't have enough rehearsal time, especially Arkin.

I can understand why Al Pacino was nominated for his role here. Ricky Roma is a character that is very driven and wants to get that great sale. He lives and breathes sales. He will do anything to get that sale, even if he has to lie to a client like James Lingk (Pryce).

My Rating

Running With Scissors

Running With Scissors (2006)

Directed and Written by Ryan Murphy

Based on the memoir by Augusten Burroughs

Stars: Joseph Cross, Annette Bening, Brian Cox, Joseph Fiennes, Alec Baldwin, Gwyneth Paltrow, Evan Rachel Wood, Jill Clayburgh, Gabrielle Union and Patrick Wilson

It has been awhile since I have seen a movie or else being able to review it. Since my job can be mind-numbing amounts of boredom, I have been reading a lot of book lately. I have read the book "Running With Scissors" for almost a decade now. Recently re-reading it, I would to watch the movie based on it. I have seen the movie once before and hating it, but I decided to give it another chance. My opinion has changed, but not as much.

A teen-aged Burroughs (Cross) chronicled his unorthodox childhood when his mentally unstable mother, Deidre (Bening) gave him away to his kooky shrink that looks like Santa Claus, Dr. Finch (Cox). Augusten is quickly introduced to the rebellious daughter, Natalie (Wood), the stuck up daughter, Hope (Paltrow), the haggard mother, Agnes (Clayburgh) and the 30-something adoption son that he has a relationship with Bookman (Finnes). Augusten is trying to find his way in the world that has no rules. How can he cope?

The last time I saw this movie when in 2007 and I hated the ending of the movie. Looking at the movie now, I still think it was a shitty ending, because it was a cop out. Let me say that I love the book. It is hilarious, horrifying with its graphic details that may or may not happen.

The movie stayed true to the dialogue of the book, but I felt like the movie was soulless. I didn't care about the characters. Scenes were added that didn't need to be. I understood that they couldn't show the sexual romps of Augusten and Bookman or the Dr. Finches bowel moments being displayed on a picnic table in the backyard. The ending seemed to be straight out of an after school special. Urgh!

My rating: