Ranking Every Film I've Written for LRF...Again! (Part 1)
Two years ago, I posted a ranking of every film I had written for Last Resort Films up to that point. It was a fun way to celebrate all the hard work I had put into the studio during this time and I was satisfied with how it all turned out. This year marks the fourth anniversary of my joining the studio and let me tell you, it has been a journey. I've made many new friends and learned a lot about the art of film-writing from being a member of this community. It's also been fun letting my imagination run wild with some of the movies I've written.
On that note, there have been quite a bit more movies released since I posted the original list and as a result, a lot has changed. Given this, I've decided to revisit this topic and touch upon every move I've released. Given there's 35 films in total, I've decided to divide it into three parts. Today, I'll be sharing the bottom 10. As we get closer to the season's end, I'll introduce the middle 15. Once Round 10 hits, I'll showcase my top 10 movies that I've written. Be warned, there will be some controversial takes and rankings. I'll do my best to explain where I placed each movie so hopefully you'll understand why I put each movie in that placement.
Without further adieu, let's begin!
#35. Rookie's Road
(As always, a shoutout to Dolan for providing us with these fantastic film posters!)
I'm of the belief that you should always try to give each film a chance as, even if you don't like the film, unless the film fails on every conceivable level, there may be some redeeming features regarding it. But I'm sorry, Rookie's Road is straight-up terrible. This is a film that straight-up doesn't know what it wants to be. Does it want to take itself seriously as a war film? Does it want to be a raunchy comedy? Does it want to be a kickass action film about soldiers fighting in the Middle East? It takes elements from each ideas and as a result, we have a movie that is scattered and episodic.
One thing you'll notice is that my Achilles heel has been my inconsistent tone when it comes to films. This is the shift at its absolute worst in my opinion as the movie constantly shifts between comedic, dramatic, and action-filled, sometimes all at once. It's not just in the story, either. The casting has the same issue. You've got buff action studs like Dwayne Johnson and John Cena teaming up with dramatic thespians like Adam Driver, Dylan Schmid, Nick Robinson, Mena Massoud, and Michelle Williams. The vast majority of them clash with one another badly, especially regarding the main leads.
In my defense, I picked Adam Driver to be in this movie because he himself has a military background and thus, would fit well for the movie. With that said, his character was supposed to be a senior sergeant and Adam did not fit that role.
And then, there's the ending. I telegraphed that from a mile away. The guy who is interested in middle-eastern culture turns out to be the guy responsible for the terrorist attack. Next, you'll tell me that the tooth fairy isn't real. It's perfectly fine to have your endings be predictable, in fact, sometimes it may be for the best, but this was insanely obvious. If I were to have written the ending again, I would have made Mena's character, Rami, the true villain and have 'Fresh Eyes' be the one that uncovers it. While yes, it would be stereotypical, it would at least have provided a sort of twist that can be worked off of.
In the end, that wouldn't have saved the movie. Rookie's Road was a movie that needed a rewrite or two before it could be sent off and it showed. A story muddled in its own scatterbrained nonsense complete with a cast of non-meshing personalities leads to a total mishmash of ideas and concepts that just don't work well together and it's for that reason, I place it dead last on this list.
...I will say this though, Cena and Dwayne singing Elton John's Don't Go Breakin' My Heart would be a cool visual.
FUN FACT: Rookie's Road was originally entitled Warhorse, but was changed to Rookie's Road to prevent confusion with Steven Spielberg's movie of the same name.
#34. Sunny Days
It was between this and our next film for this spot, but in the end, I decided that Sunny Days was a little worse. Admittedly, this comes with some bias as I'm not particularly fond of writing biopics. The problem is that in order for it to work, you have to walk a fine line between interesting and informative, something that can be an issue with me. It helps if you choose something that interests you (such as professional wrestling) or discuss a historical topic or figure. I chose, ultimately, to write a film regarding WWE Hall of Famer Tammy 'Sunny' Lynch. You would think then the movie would be interesting, right?
No, actually. It was rather boring.
What ultimately dooms this movie is that nothing really interesting happens. Our main leads Sunny and Chris are simply too bland, a damning crime given Sunny is one of the most controversial performers of her generation. I think the problem is that I played it too safe when it came to Sunny's antics. I should have touched on her affairs with the locker room more, especially her rendezvous with Shawn Michaels. I also should've gone further into her struggles with drug abuse, particularly after her time in WWE, really make you feel for her as a person.
Sunny Days was, simply put, a misfire. Well-intentioned as it may be, it fell far short of how a biopic should be written and it's a shame, given this was my first film based on pro-wrestling. I do hope to write another film on the industry someday as it is something I have followed for a decade now and love with every fiber of my being. It's just a shame it wasn't put to good use here.
#33. Corndog:
I personally consider Season 18 to be my worst in terms of a professional standpoint. As you might've noticed, my mental state was not the best during that time. Thankfully, I'm doing much better now but that's something to keep a note of regarding Corndog as I felt this was the cherry on top of the crap sundae that was my output that season. Now, in the spirit of fairness, let's start with the things that worked about this movie:
1. The supporting cast saves this movie just like it saved Sunny Days from being a total disaster. Each character is relatively likable and fun to watch, with Noah Centineo being the highlight. He served this movie well as its brash power-hitter and has a good dynamic with Chloe Grave Moretz's girl-next-door type character.
2. For all the film's faults regarding its plot, I do believe the actual romance between the main romantic leads was handled well. It felt believable for the most part and led to some of the cuter moments in the film. It also played into Chris and Damien's conflict as both are vastly differing personalities.
Speaking of Chris.
1. Alex Wolff as the ace of the future may well be the single worst casting decision I have ever made for the studio.
Take a good look at this man. Does he look anything like a fire-throwing pitcher? No, he doesn't. Wolff looks more like the meek, shy kid you met in high school who ultimately grew up to be a hipster musician. The kind you see playing in coffee shops. That one casting choice single-handedly destroyed any chance this movie had of being good.
2. The rules of baseball in this film are kind of wonky. I hadn't been following the sport nearly as much as I used to when I was younger, so admittedly, I was a little rusty going into this film so the rules regarding baseball aren't nearly as crisp as I would have wanted them to be. It especially gets bad near the end of the film. Here are two points that illustrate this:
"The Divisional playoff game arrives and a much more refreshed Chris takes the mound, dominating hitters with his fastball and slider. Despite this, Damien's hangover causes him to have an uncharacteristically off day. The sixth inning comes, Chris looks around the stadium and finds Anna with the cheerleaders, jumping up and down and energizing the fans. Lovestruck, Chris floats a ball down the hitter's zone, causing him to give up a home run and tying the game at two apiece. Chris continues to struggle with his emotions for Anna and ends up giving up more hits, including one that gives Surf the lead. Jackson heads over to the mound, benching Chris for the night and putting up Sam Kronke in his stead.
In the dugout, Chris admires Anna from afar, something that doesn't go unnoticed by Damien. He uses the pent-up rage to crush the next ball he sees, a two-run bomb that puts the Slingers back up 4-3. The lead holds for the rest of the game and cements a trip to the Evergreen Championship, their first since the 80s."
"The Divisional playoff game arrives and a much more refreshed Chris takes the mound, dominating hitters with his fastball and slider. Despite this, Damien's hangover causes him to have an uncharacteristically off day. The sixth inning comes, Chris looks around the stadium and finds Anna with the cheerleaders, jumping up and down and energizing the fans. Lovestruck, Chris floats a ball down the hitter's zone, causing him to give up a home run and tying the game at two apiece. Chris continues to struggle with his emotions for Anna and ends up giving up more hits, including one that gives Surf the lead. Jackson heads over to the mound, benching Chris for the night and putting up Sam Kronke in his stead.
In the dugout, Chris admires Anna from afar, something that doesn't go unnoticed by Damien. He uses the pent-up rage to crush the next ball he sees, a two-run bomb that puts the Slingers back up 4-3. The lead holds for the rest of the game and cements a trip to the Evergreen Championship, their first since the 80s."
"The game proves to be a struggle as Chris appears flustered and makes several mental errors. Natalie stays by the stands, cheering for him, only baffling everyone. Nonetheless, he does well enough to make the 7th inning stretch where the cheerleading squad announces a dance-off to anyone in the stands. Natalie is picked from the big screen and makes her seductive walk to the field eyeing Anna. The two take turns, showing off their dance moves before Natalie stops, gesturing for Chris to join her on the mound. Puzzled, he gets on the mound and is immediately struck with a kiss."
Same issue as before.
It's never made clear what team they're facing.
"Damien doesn’t come to practice for the next few days, leaving teammates worried. Even Anna doesn’t know what’s going on as the team prepares to go up against the Oak League champions, Los Angeles Naturals. The big game comes, Jackson letting Chris give the speech. He admits that things have been crazy as of late, but that even without Damien, they’re still the finest team in the Evergreen League, listing out some of the great things he’s seen this season and rallying the troops to perform like never before. Energized, the team heads out to the Naturals field where they await for the arrival of the Oak League champions. Sure enough, the Naturals come forward, receiving a standing ovation when Chris sees Damien wearing a Naturals uniform. Shocked, Chris asks Jackson what happened. Jackson reveals that he find a loophole in the ABL rulebook and convinced the commissioner to trade him to the Naturals."
This is the big one. You cannot trade a player during the playoffs, regarding of what loopholes you think you can find. In the latter half of the season, there is a trade deadline. Once that happens, you can't make any further trades.
Admittedly, the baseball stuff is mostly minor, but you can see how this would irritate hardcore fans of the sport. Honestly, had the film tightened itself up on the rules, or gotten a better lead to play Chris, we could've had a cute rom-com about two baseball players fighting for the love of a cheerleader. That didn't happen, unfortunately, and it's for that reason I have to rank Corndog so low on this list.
#32. INFINITY
The good news is that Corndog is the last film I don't like. The bad news is that it doesn't make Infinity a good movie. In fact, this film is incredibly flawed when you look at the script. But before we get to that, let's get the obvious out of the way. This movie almost ruined Tom Cruise's perfect streak in the box office, no doubt because he wasn't in the movie that much to begin with and it cost a fortune to make in the first place. To have Tom Cruise in your film and not utilize him to his fullest potential is inexcusable, and it's unfortunate that this was our first film together.
The biggest problem with the script is that it's ridiculous, and not the good kind of ridiculous as we'll see later on in the countdown. I'm talking the kind of ridiculous that leaves you wondering if the writer was taking something during production (I was not, thankfully). I'm sorry, but when you have numerical digits exiting computers and childrens' books going on a rampage across the world and being led by a computer virus who is the number no one can count to, you're going to be asking where the logic is in all this. Short answer: There is none. You'll be lucky to find even a sliver of it in this film.
With that said, it's not all bad. For as silly as the premise is, there are some nice moments during the film. Infinity's reveal and the plot twist surrounding it was actually pretty good and was something not many people would've expected and the villain herself does a great job throughout the film, thanks in large part to Anne Hathaway's performance. There's also a sort of 70s/80s charm to it all, when people knew very little of the capabilities of technology and its impact on society. If you view the movie from those lenses, it's actually not a bad film.
The best part of the movie however is not from the film, but during production of the film. As I've written before, Tom Cruise helped with casting for the film and one of the recommendations for Jenna Lawrence's character was Tessa Thompson. While I ultimately went with Hayley Atwell, I was very impressed with her resume and opted to give her a movie of her own. In a round-about way, INFINITY gave birth to Arizona. It gave me a great deal of respect for Cruise and his casting decisions, especially since he made this possible.
INFINITY is a cheesy thriller with an outdated premise, but with Tom's sturdy hand and great cast, combined with the fact this movie led to another film we'll see later in the countdown? That's more than enough to consider this at least worth a watch, provided you turn your brain off.
FUN FACT: This film was supposed to kick off a franchise of movies. Given the small box office profit it produced, those plans were shelved.
#31. AGOS: A Game of Survival
With AGOS, we go from a movie with an unusual premise to a film with a rather mundane (if not played out) one with a cool twist. Before I go any further, let me list some of the biggest names on this cast. Dwayne Johnson, Chadwick Boseman, Nicholas Hoult, Gemma Arterton, Megan Fox, Suki Waterhouse, Michael Bay. These are all big names in Hollywood, some even in Last Resort Films. So what happens when we put them all together?
A box-office bomb, apparently. I blame it on the choice of genre. Action/Drama clearly wasn't the right way to go about it. Action/Adventure would've ensured a box office profit in my opinion.
But even if the movie had been profitable, it wouldn't have changed the fact that this movie is unoriginal as sin. It's probably my most creatively bankrupt film to date and that's saying something. Let's look at the story here. The main characters live in a dystopian society and are chosen to take part in a game that will change their very lives forever (as well as end multiple others). It also leads to an allegory about the world and how we can change it for the better. I wonder where I've heard this before?
With that said, there are some cool elements to try and at least make the film stand out from others. For one thing, AGOS is treated like a reality show, complete with a sadistic host. We also have a cash prize and even some flaming lions (which by default makes this movie better than the others on this list). It's also really nice to see the characters interact with each other and develop as the story goes on. It helps that the cast overall puts on a very strong showing. Dwayne Johnson is great as the charismatic ex of Kelsey, Nicholas Hoult is solid as the humble everyman Jay, Chadwick Boseman is borderline sadistic as Omar (even though, yes, the character is very stereotypical looking back) and John DeLancie (who I believe is criminally underrated) is right at home as the scheming 'Grand Master'.
Every actor gets at least one scene to shine, whether it's Ashley's mental breakdown caused by Omar, Trevor trying desperately to soldier own, Raven sacrificing herself to save her friend Kelsey, Gail and Malerie's foolish deaths or Jay's final battle with Omar, it is an acting tour-de-force from start to finish (except Tom Green). Unfortunately, it does not distract from the fact that this is for the most part an unoriginal movie trying to capitalize on a medium that's already been taken. If you're looking for something to watch, AGOS: A Game of Survival is a decent enough film. But as far as action films go, there are better options.
But seriously, flaming lions is both a terrifying and yet awesome visual. I'm glad I put that in.
#30. Odette
On the surface, Odette is not a bad film. It's a film that tells the story of Swan Lake from the swan's point of view. That alone sounds like an intriguing premise, and for the most part, the film delivers on that idea. The story is smooth and faithful to the story, even adding in a scene that provides justification for some of the things occurring, John DeLancie is right at home as the evil sorcerer Rothbart, Ian McKellan and Julie Christie also fill their roles immaculately as the king and queen of their kingdom while Patty Jenkins does an excellent work directing. Odette should've been quite solid to watch.
But then you have the rest of the casting. Oh lord. This might be some of the worst castings I've ever done, and that's including Alex Wolff as the leading man of Corndog. The two biggest offenders here are Natalie Dormer and Elijah Wood. In what world is either a beautiful princess or a handsome prince? Dormer is more of a fighter type of character, getting actively involved in conflicts in some way, shape or form. Elijah Wood is even worse. You mean to tell me that the guy who starred in The Hobbit is going to make a convincing prince? Don't make me laugh.
It's a shame because there are some people that are in the right place for this film, I just went over them too. The problem is that I whiffed on the two leads that badly. Jeff Stockton in his Top 3 piece on the movie pondered what the movie would've been had Mia Wasikowska had been the main lead over Natalie Dormer. I genuinely think that much would have saved the film from some critical derision, especially since this would be the last film she'd star in for over ten seasons. It's not like she was doing bad either, she was in the Booster Gold series. Booster Gold! One of the most profitable franchises in Last Resort Films history!
Odette is a cautionary tale of what can happen if you don't measure your cast properly. A great story will ultimately be doomed if you don't have the right actors and sadly, this film is a prime example of it. It's by no means a bad film, but it's a film that should have been much more than what it was.
#29. Story of Sade
I think this may be the first controversial ranking on this countdown. As you may know, Story of Sade is my worst-reviewed film, standing at a dismal 28 on Metascore. When you watch this film, you'll find that the criticism is justified. For one, the story makes very little sense. Why is this middle-aged woman going to live with a bunch of younger women? Second, why are they living together in the first place? Is this a sororiety? Are these Christians? Are they roommates that can barely stand each other? That's never explained. The other issue? The characters themselves are, to be blunt, horrid.
Sade isn't just an obnoxious, over-the-top, overly aggressive, and unlikeable protagonist, she is also a nasty stereotype of black women in general. This film was made was I was much lesser aware of the role race and systematic racism play in everyday life in America. I'll admit that as a white guy, I'm never going to fully relate to the struggles people of color go through on daily basis. But I should at least shown some decency when writing this character and it's for that reason, I apologize for bringing Sade to this world.
Sade is not the only bad character in this film, Chloe is just as painful to get through, and unlike Tiffany Haddish, Charlotte McKinney doesn't have the acting chops to make something of the role. Chloe is just this mean, catty, horrible woman who everyone just doesn't like (for obvious reasons). She is about as mean and nasty as they come and not even the end of the film makes you like her cause she's done all this awful stuff to her roommates. I also made the wise decision to cast Trisha Paytas of all people in a movie. The moral of this story is that you should never take casting advice from me.
However, I do think Story of Sade's heart was in the right place. It wanted to tell the story of a woman of faith who changed the lives of others for the better. The execution of it was way off, however. That said, there are some funny lines that do crack a smile out of me. Here are some of my favorites:
“Crazy bastard. Always making me run around doing his errands. That’s why I love him.”
"In narration, Sade states that while she watched Chloe fail in her quest to make a sandwich; she noticed two things. One: Her ass was gorgeous and Two: Deep down the girl must’ve felt horrible about herself. And it was at that moment she realized what she had to do."
"Brie explains that all her life she’s never really gotten to know people for who they are and only from what they’ve seen and in turn it’s made her feel...like a virgin (she’s listened to a lot of Madonna)."
"The other thing Sade notices is that her body is almost ungodly when she dances and the way she swings her hips gets Sade going, almost as if the devil is urging her to be a pitbull wanting meat."
"Sade says, her classy, sophisticated demeanor could take no more and like a Batman out of fucks to give decided to join Chloe and Josh in the dancing and begins to dance provocatively close to Chloe much to her shock and confusion and the amusement and bewilderment of others. It all ends when Sade admits out loud that she wants to fuck Chloe’s beautiful body and french-kisses her on the lips. This provokes a full-on brawl between the two parties that Josh tries and fails miserably to break up. Eventually, the two are thrown out by a bouncer."
"Sade chuckles to herself admitting that after re-watching this several times that it was the most fun she had in her life. Guess who didn’t find it so fun though?"
“It was the proudest moment of my life. Prouder than the day I got my first period.”
There are some genuinely funny moments in this movie, thanks in large part to Tiffany Haddish being game enough to make them work. Someone that goes unnoticed here, however, is Emma Watson. The straight-laced Emma Watson puts on the second-best performance as Gail, the snooty college student with a love for classical music. Selena Gomez plays also by far the most likable character as Brie. Plus, the soundtrack, upon further glance is actually pretty solid and has an eccentric array of songs from each decade.
Story of Sade is almost lovably pathetic in how it's written and presented, but it's also extremely important in that a lot of the growing pains are most notable here. Most of them have been ironed out in due time (pacing is still a major issue I have though), but if you're willing to look past how aggressive and mean-spirited it can be and focus on some of the comedic timing, by God, you might actually find some enjoyment out of this movie.
I almost want to rewrite this film in some shape or form, as I think I could do a much better job with the plot now. Perhaps I'll revisit that idea someday.
#28. The Oil Slick
The Oil Slick is an improvement over Sunny Days, though that isn’t too hard to do, unfortunately. It follows more captivating characters and intriguing setups with an eclectic cast (for the most part), it introduced me to the glory that is Cameron Britton and while yes, it didn’t fare well at the box office, it still holds a soft spot in my heart as a football fan. Especially since this was inspired by watching UrinatingTree’s video on the topic.
This is why I feel the need to say this movie could have been more than what it was.
The biggest issue people had regarding this movie is that it didn't focus on the characters so much as it did the facts and they're right. I didn't do nearly enough, if anything at all, to show the arc of each character, especially Kevin Gilbride and Buddy Ryan, and how the season changed them as people and coaches. There's a lot out there regarding the characters I should have touched on. How did Warren Moon feel prior to his benching? Why was Buddy Ryan convinced that the run-and-shoot offense didn't work? Why did team owner Bud Adams make the decisions he made? These are all important questions that should've been answered, but because I only focused on the facts on the field, they didn't.
It's a fatal error on my part, and it's what holds the movie back from fully realizing its potential. Which is too bad because James Franco and Tim Robbins were excellent in their roles. They worked well together as the bickering duo manning the tumultuous Oilers team. But they're not the stars of the show. The real star comes from a man named Cameron Britton. I hadn't heard of him until this film, but when I saw Jeff Stockton give him a grade of A+ in his cast review thread, I needed to learn more. I'm happy I did. Cameron Britton is a very talented actor who has found success on TV, Hollywood, and now Last Resort Films, and I can tell you now, we will work together again in the future. I don't know when, but that's a promise I'm willing to keep for as long as I'm in the studio.
And really, that's what raises The Oil Slick's profile. As it stands, its a decent film that could've been more, but when you find an actor that has all the talent in the world and you decide to invest further in him, that's when you know you did your job. Sometimes, it really is the little things.
#27. The Youngest Hart
Ah yes, The Youngest Hart. You know my mental breakdown from the movie. We’re not going to revisit that. This was the first film I really hyped up to be a masterpiece. I considered it the best film I ever wrote and felt it was going to make waves in the Golden Reel Awards. Everyone was going to love it, it was about as perfect a film as I would-
And it failed at the box office. And the reception was more mixed. And Reese Witherspoon’s character was insanely over-the-top. It’s not all bad though! She did receive a Golden Reel Awards nomination. Still, for a movie that had GRA ambitions, this was quite disappointing. Thinking about it now? This movie had several huge flaws.
Let's get the elephant in the room out of the way: Claudia Hart is such a horrifyingly over-the-top villain, she almost plays out like a caricature of abusive parents. It's almost disturbing to know how much I cranked up her abusiveness of her. Frankly, I'm stunned people even considered her worthy to be a nominee for Best Villain because frankly, it's a disgrace knowing how I botched it. The older sister, Selena, isn't much better, but at least she gets some form of redemption. If I had toned down their contempt for Bradie, or at least made Selena the violent one, it could've been received much better.
So why didn't I catch it? Simple, I was blinded by hubris. I was so certain that this was this perfect film, the film that could take me to the next level that I didn't notice it's glaring flaws. It's not just the main antagonist, the court stuff was a bit suspect as well. There was a court case between Claudia and her ex-husband Jack which was supposed to be regarding the custody of Bradie. Admittedly, I don't know what the big issue was regarding it, but if I had to guess, it's got something to do with Claudia being sentenced to life in prison? Let me know if I'm wrong, though.
The Youngest Hart is another cautionary tale, this time of what happens when you let your own hype and ego cloud your judgment and fail to see the issues with your film. There's no easy way of putting it, I fucked up. And I learned a valuable lesson from it.
Now, that's enough ripping on The Youngest Hart (and myself), let's get to what saves this movie. Forrest Whittaker and Casey Affleck. I've heard of the former's ability to dive headfirst in a character and what makes them tick and this was no different. Forrest put together a soft, yet stern and disciplined performance as Mr. Hoyer and put his best foot forward all film. He's not alone, Casey Affleck did a solid job as the principal who secretly has a relationship with Claudia in spite of his claims of wanting to help Bradie. Honestly, he may be the best character of the movie and it makes me wonder what could've been had I written Claudia to be more like that.
The Youngest Hart will forever my biggest 'what-if', but also the movie that taught me the most. It told me to always check and double-check what you're writing and to keep yourself grounded when writing so you don't shield yourself from its faults. These lessons as well as the work of Forrest Whittaker and Casey Affleck (and his character in general) make this movie an important one, though one I won't always look fondly on.
...Though if we were ranking all the movies based on film posters alone, this would be number 1 hands down, it's insanely good. Captures the mood of the film and still gives me chills to this day.
FUN FACT: There were a lot of big names I considered for this movie.
Bradie Hart: Mackenzie Foy
Mr. Hoyer: Will Smith and Denzel Washington
Claudia Hart: Elizabeth Banks and Angelina Jolie
Mr. Carson: Adam Sandler
Selena Hart: Brie Larson
Jack Hart: John Cena
Judge Briscoe: Nicholas Cage
#26. Gathering of the Wolves
Gathering of the Wolves is in the same boat as The Youngest Hart, but also not really. You see, this was another movie I really hyped up to be a major hit. It was going to be a force in the GRA Awards and be a major player for its season. From a technical standpoint, Gathering of the Wolves is good. It’s got an interesting take on the wolf genre, it suits Tim Burton’s style beautifully, its soundtrack is solid, and the casting is great, on paper, this film should’ve been successful. And it was! Critics liked it, the box office liked it and it even got nominated for the Golden Reel Awards. All in all, a success.
So is it okay if I admitted that the movie is kind of overrated looking back? That’s not to say it’s a bad film. There are just a few issues I had regarding it.
The biggest issue and I admit that this is a me thing, the film feels unbelievably pretentious at times. Some of the scenes feel really self-indulgent and frankly unnecessary. The most notable scene is where Preston and Andrea are looking at the moon and discussing how beautiful it is. Not only does it not add anything to the plot, it just sounds like you want to flaunt your movie's style and make a 'poignant' statement about something. Now, to prevent myself from sounding hypocritical, yes, there was a scene where Jeremy Irons's character Alpha explains his secret wolves society which does sound rather high and mighty, but at least it served a purpose. To introduce Andrea to the Wolves of Justice.
This has been an issue in the past with me writing scenes or movies that are too full of themselves or take themselves more seriously than they should. I myself am not a pretentious person (at least, I hope I'm not), but this is something I need to watch for more often.
The other issue is, well, it's just too long. The movie clocks in 3118 words. That clocks in at over 2 hours if I remember correctly. For a story of this manner, and for dramas in general, you want to aim anywhere from 2500 to 3000 words, preferably in that middle. It doesn't help that there are a number of scenes that really could've been shortened or cut out entirely. Rhea's first scene, the previously mentioned Preston and Andrea scene, the opening scene introducing the main characters, and perhaps other scenes I haven't mentioned or known about. This film could've easily been at most around 2700 words and still given you the same story.
Now, on the positive side, what we do have in terms of a story is very good and something I don't think has ever been tried in the werewolf genre of films. Instead of painting wolves as these savage creatures that come out when the full moon is out, I presented a world where a group of people is able to transform into them as a way of spreading awareness of them as animals. There's a real-life explanation for this, this film was inspired by learning that wolves were banned from England and the reasons why. It got me thinking "What if there was a group of people that tried to bring awareness to them?"
The rest is history.
It also helps that when the movie focuses on the story, it's very gripping. You have clear protagonists and antagonists, all who believe that what they're doing is right, an excellent final battle, and a creative and intriguing explanation for the entire plot and how everything happens. It's not perfect, but a lot of the actual story is handled very well. I also like the relationship between Andrea and Damien. These are two people who genuinely care for each other and will stand for one another regardless of who they are. They feel authentic in a sense, and that's thanks in part to Chris Pine and Anne Hathway meshing well together. The chemistry they share is just natural and it really heightens their scenes.
Another thing I want to highlight are the antagonists of this movie, Sandra and Erick. Whereas The Youngest Hart's biggest Achilles was its antagonist, I'd argue that this movie's biggest strength is them, played by Catherine O'Hara and Kevin Costner. By all accounts, these are good people who simply wished to protect Andrea, but since they don't fully understand the Wolves with Justice and see them are savage creatures, they felt it is their duty to protect their daughter and the town from them. Sometimes, the most compelling villains are the ones whose actions you can understand and this is another example of it.
The rest of the cast is also very solid. This is easily the most 'Tim Burton' like movie I've made with Tim Burton and it shows in the magical yet also gloomy tone the film takes. We also have Shailene Woodley as Andrea's best friend, Jeremy Irons as Alpha, the ringmaster of the Wolves of Justice, and his son Max as Preston/Visus. It's also home to in my opinion, one of the best soundtracks I've written. This is full-blown classical movie city and each song really fits the mood of the film (though honestly, having Blue Danube Waltz be the final song that ends the film is kind of cheesy. Could've chosen something better. That's me nitpicking though).
Honestly, get rid of all the dumb, overly pretentious stuff, and this movie cracks the top ten. The heart and intentions are there, the casting works, the director is in his wheelhouse, and the story has all the pieces. It just needed to be shorter and more concise.
Until next time, this is Jacob signing off!
Comments
Post a Comment