I recently had the chance to participate in a roundtable session with the director and cast of The Ballad of Jack and Rose, who couldn’t have been a nicer group of people. They were very kind, open and affable, taking time to personally greet each of us, shaking our hands.
Daniel Day-Lewis and Camilla Belle in ‘The Ballad of Jack & Rose’
As I said in the Q&A with Camilla Belle and Rebecca Miller, I recently had the chance to participate in a roundtable session regarding the film, The Ballad of Jack and Rose, which opens today. Everyone was so kind, and after the interviews with them we had the opportunity to talk with Daniel Day-Lewis and Catherine Keener, two of the film’s stars.
Starring: Julie Benz, Monica Keena, Nicole Bilderback, Jonathan Brandis, Aaron Paul, Janet Leigh, Christopher Lloyd Director(s): John T. Kretchmer Writer(s): Screenplay by Robert Locash, Andrew Lane; Based upon the novel, “A Fate Totally Worse Than Death”, by Paul Fleischman
Cutthroat friends (l. to r.) Monica Keena, Julie Benz and Nicole Bilderback get deadly for the affections of the late Jonathan Brandis in ‘Bad Girls from Valley High’
Comedies are funny things, no pun intended. They can be funny and have you rolling in the aisles. Those are the ideal comedies, that cut through social and gender barriers and let the audience laugh and have a good time. Then there are those other comedies. Those comedies that try hard to be funny, but ultimately prove to be just plain stupid.
That’s the case for Bad Girls from Valley High.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed watching it, but I have a thing for watching bad movies. I love them. A good bad movie can be a joy to watch, and that’s what this film turns out to be. It’s so stupid, you gotta watch it until the end just to see how dumb it gets. And you may get a giggle every now and again.
[rating=3]Starring: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Levar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Alfre Woodard, James Cromwell, Alice Krige Director(s): Jonathan Frakes Writer(s): Story by Rick Berman, Brannon Bragga, Ronald D. Moore; Screenplay by Brannon Bragga, Ronald D. Moore
Patrick Stewart battles the Borg in ‘Star Trek: First Contact’
Of the four Star Trek: The Next Generation films that have been made, First Contact was the only one that was actually good. It’s not great, mind you, but fun. It also benefits from being far better than its immediate predecessor, Generations, and proves to outshine the ones that followed it, Insurrection and Nemesis.
It’s enjoyable because it has all the things that make Star Trek fun: action, humor and special effects. The story isn’t bad either, if a little simplistic. Although often considered a dark film, it really isn’t. It has some of the most blatantly comedic moments in anyTrek film, with the exception of Star Trek IV.
Sometimes meeting a celebrity seems intimidating. Not sure why, but it occasionally does. In the case of Samuel L. Jackson, it was pretty good until he entered the room, and he looked pissed. Suddenly, it seemed like this roundtable session wasn’t going to be particularly fun.
To follow up yesterday’s interview with John Boorman — which you can read here — today we’re featuring the roundtable session with Juliette Binoche, who plays Anna in In My Country, which opens in New York and Los Angeles this Friday, March 11th.
John Boorman with Samuel L. Jackson on the set of ‘In My Country’
This past week I was given the opportunity to participate in a collection roundtable sessions with John Boorman, director of the soon-to-be released In My Country, as well as its two stars, Juliette Binoche and Samuel L. Jackson. The first of these interviews I’ll be presenting this week is Boorman, the man behind such classics as Deliverance, Hope and Gloryand The General. And of course there’s Excaliber.
[rating=2]Starring: Christian Bale, Taye Diggs, Sean Bean, Emily Watson Director(s): Kurt Wimmer Writer(s): Kurt Wimmer
Christian Bale stars in ‘Equilibrium’
As a sci-fi action film, Equilibrium provides a lot of exciting Matrix-style action and visuals but falls a little too closely to its science fiction roots to be original or truly successful. Released directly to DVD, this $20 million film has interesting visuals, several exciting fight scenes, and some really enjoyable acting on the part of a fairly well known cast. However, Equilibrium’s concept too closely parallel that of Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 and does not have enough of a unique story or philosophy to make it really stand out. In the science fiction genre, exceptional ideas can almost be more important than execution or big name actors.