The Full Monty Movie Review

I wanted to revisit The Full Monty because in my memory, it resides in a place where thruway, but well-made popular entertainments go to die. Every time I’ve considered its pace among five Oscar Best Picture nominees (competing against L.A. Confidential, Titanic, Good Will Hunting, and As Good as It Gets, it was the definition of “it’s an honor just to be nominated.”) Was it also a stroke of incredible good fortune to be nominated? Was it really that good or did it just tickle audiences the right way and have the right wards marketing team to help it fill a niche spot in the category often reserved for light quirky comedies that make a lot of money and get people talking? C.f. Four Weddings and a Funeral and Chocolat.

Short Cut Review: Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

A Short Cut Movie Review is normally less than 400 words, but in some cases may go slightly over. This is my attempt to keep writing about as many films as I see without getting bogged down with trying to find more to say. They are meant to be brief snapshots of my reaction to a movie without too much depth.

In Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, directed by Lasse Hallström from a Simon Beaufoy adaptation of the novel, a fisheries expert played by Ewan McGregor is enlisted to help a wealthy and eccentric sheikh realize his dream of bringing salmon fishing to the country of Yemen and an environment totally unsuited to the sport. Along the way he falls in love with Emily Blunt. It's a pleasant enough light romantic comedy that has occasional forays into more serious subject matter, most of which are easily forgivable. Beaufoy retains mere hints at the political satire that are the fore in the novel. It might have made for a more interesting film had been a more faithful adaptation in that respect.

127 Hours Movie Review: The First 126 Must Have Been a Cake Walk Compared to the Last

In watching a film about an adventurer who spent five days trapped in a canyon alone, you may ask yourself at the moment he becomes trapped how a dramatic narrative can be stretched for an additional hour and a quarter. Well, screenwriters Danny Boyle (who also directed) and Simon Beaufoy and actor James Franco have an answer for you in 127 Hours. They put together such a compelling force of drama you won’t easily divorce yourself from the tension played out on screen.

It shouldn’t be revealing too much to say that Aron Ralston (Franco), the main character – virtually the only character – survives. After all, the opening titles clearly tell us it is based on the book Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Ralston, who ventured into Blue John Canyon in Utah one day in April 2003 without telling a single person where he was going. What happened in that canyon would forever change him.