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Playing by Heart (1998)
Missed the mark this time, but keep an eye on these guys
I have to say right off that despite the problems with the storyline, I enjoyed this film. The production quality was great, the acting was very absorbing, and a lot of the dialogue was quite funny. A wonderful casting job.
I really enjoyed seeing Gillian Anderson giving some life and expression to her character. Maybe it's just that I'm so used to the fairly wooden FBI agent she portrays on The X-Files, but I was quite pleasantly surprised by her performance in what must have been a challenging role.
Congratulations to Angelina Jolie for keeping her clothes on and allowing us to focus on her acting, since it's the best part of the film. I absolutely loved the scenes where she quits drinking and when she hangs up the phone. Her reactions are such a pleasure to watch!
Ryan Phillippe was a great counterpoint for Jolie's up-tempo character. I don't think it would have hurt the film one bit if he had been sharing needles with his girlfriend. I didn't like his character being portrayed as a complete victim. His focus on sobriety would have made more sense too.
Jon Stewart is still struggling to define himself as an actor/comedian/whatever. He's talented and funny, I wish he'd stop trying so hard.
Dennis Quaid did a good job, but he might as well have been in an entirely different film for all the relevance it had to the plot. Anthony Edwards and Madeleine Stowe were utterly useless; that whole story line should have been dropped.
Connery, Rowlands and Burstyn provided the solid performances one might expect from that lot. It's two bad Carroll couldn't have cut those last two storylines and allowed them to provide a solid foundation to build up the Jolie/Phillippe and Stewart/Anderson relationships.
The scenes with a mother bonding with her dying son were moving, but does it always have to be AIDS? Gay people get cancer too. And sometimes even people who aren't gay have trouble connecting with their parents.
Even though I disliked "Short Cuts" because the content was so vile, I do respect it on the basis of artistic expression alone. I don't know how Carroll thought he was going to pull off so many storylines converging into such a tidy ending without seeming to pale in comparison.
And I know that this is trivial, but could Sean Connery and Gena Rowlands possibly have had three white kids that looked less like they are related than those three women? Phillippe would have been much more believable as their grandson than Jolie was as their daughter.
Ok, it could have been better in a lot of ways. But they really did accomplish a lot. First, it was upbeat without a sugary "Hollywood ex machina" ending--no small feat. It was emotionally moving without making you feel too used, unlike the work of some other directors (paging Mr. Spielberg?). Carroll had something to say, and although it's not the first movie ever to address love and difficult relationships, I think his heart was in the right place, and I have to give credit for that.
I believe that if they had addressed the plot issues this could have been an Oscar-worthy film. I will certainly look forward to the forthcoming efforts of all those involved.
Homegrown (1998)
Not a comedy for stoners--a drama about stoners.
After seeing the trailer it was an easy decision not to see this film. I mean, I don't care for stupid "stoner comedies." I'm sure it was also an easy choice for a lot of people to get together, smoke a bowl and go check out this flick with the guy from The Simpsons and some guy named "Billy Bob." Should have been a good time, but the film's just not that funny--too bad somebody had to go and bum their high.
Unfortunately, I found out that the trailer was misleading after it had already left the theaters, so I had to wait for the video. I really enjoyed it. Nice locations, quality production and excellent performances from the entire cast. Looking back at it, the plot twists weren't totally unexpected, but I didn't find it cumbersome because the premise was so engaging.
So why was this absorbing drama marketed as a comedy? Did something happen to the producer, leaving the associate producers to do the marketing by themselves?