Paper_Hanger’s Weblog
Performances, movies and book reviews …Archive for Movie Review
Last Chance Harvey
Warning: plot elements revealed
Warning: sad and often depressing
This film revolves around two characters: Harvey Shine (played by Dustin Hoffman) and Kate Walker (Emma Thompson). Harvey is someone who appears to have hit the dead-end of a long cul-du-sac. Kate, seems destined for something similar, though not as bad – due only to the fact she never married. This film is an exploration of their respective cul-du-sacs and how they help each other get their lifes moving forward. Not surprisingly, they end up moving forward together.
Harvey seems to being by-passed at work and being by-passed at his only daughter’s wedding. It looks like he will loose his job and his daughter. Little cues signal Harvey’s genearl uncoolness – the suit he brought for the wedding is the wrong colour and still has the anti-theft tag still attached! Dustin Hoffman does a great job making Harvey somone who is a little out of step with everyone and everthing. It is so sad to watch – every scene is flinch material.
Katie, is no so much by-passed by life, as not having really started. She seems to be in a very unglamorous job with no great prospects. Then there is the issue of her mother, coming off cancer and an ugly divorce, who keeps ring her up on the cellphone.
But it all ends well for everyone.
On the tissue box scale this is a one, maybe one-and-a-half, tissue box movie.
0.3
The Spiderwick Chronicles
The film apparently combines all five books of the same name by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi’s.
Three children move to the run-down Spiderwick Estate with their mother, played by Mary-Louise Parker, in the middle of the night. The twin brothers Jared and Simon Grace, played by Freddie Highmore, along with their sister Mallory, played by Sarah Bolger, are clearly not keen to be there. The mysterious disappearance of small knick-knacks soon lead to much stranger events – of greater import.
It is very convenient that Mallory is a fencing champion – a fairly ruthless one at that; she is willing to use one of her younger unskilled brothers for practise! Soon she is getting all practise she needs!
It turns out that the house has a secret and dark supernatural forces will stop at nothing to get their hands on it. The children have to defend the house and keep the secret out of the the hands of the dark forces.
The special effects are good and everyone puts in an honest effort. For a children’s film, some quite big issues are covered: the effect divorce has on children; good verses evil; whether the search of knowledge should override commonsense; family loyalty; the use of deadly force.
Overall, the film works, and entertains for its duration; but there were some moments when its flow hiccuped or skipped – perhaps the need to put five books into one movie put a strain on things. I also kept thinking ‘Weeds’ when Mary-Louise Parker appeared – the two roles were too similar. Still, worth the price of admission.
0.3
