I can’t decide what moment of The Crossing Guard is my favorite. I have it narrowed down to two. It’s either the (louder) one at the end, where Jack Nicholson realizes where he is and how he got there, or it’s when I realized Anjelica Huston–who starts the film in a support group–has never spoken […]
Entries Tagged as 'Jack Nicholson'
Blood and Wine (1996, Bob Rafelson)
March 17th, 2009 · No Comments
Boiling them down, three things ruin Blood and Wine. Stephen Dorff, the script and the approach. The last two are complicated, because it’s hard to see determine where the script and the approach differ. Blood and Wine was, at the time of its release, promoted as the conclusion of an informal trilogy for Rafelson and […]
Tagged: Alison Cross· Bob Rafelson· Fox Searchlight Pictures· Harold Perrineau· Jack Nicholson· Michael Caine· Nick Villiers· ★
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981, Bob Rafelson)
March 6th, 2009 · No Comments
I’d heard–read, actually, but maybe heard as well–the 1981 Postman Always Rings Twice was terrible. If I knew Rafelson directed it, I’d forgotten. I did remember David Mamet wrote it. For some reason, I always thought it was an in name only remake, not at all based on the Cain novel.
The film opens with a loud […]
Tagged: Bob Rafelson· David Mamet· Jack Nicholson· James M. Cain· Jessica Lange· Lorimar Film Entertainment· ⓏⒺⓇⓄ
Five Easy Pieces (1970, Bob Rafelson)
February 24th, 2009 · 1 Comment
About half way into Five Easy Pieces, the film really hasn’t given any clue as to what it’s going to be. It’s an incredibly complex character study, both in its approach to the narrative and in terms of Jack Nicholson’s protagonist. The beginning of the film, set in the oil fields of Southern California, ends […]
Tagged: Bob Rafelson· Carole Eastman· Columbia Pictures· Jack Nicholson· ★★★★
Batman (1989, Tim Burton)
December 25th, 2008 · 1 Comment
Batman’s an odd success. It has almost constant problems–Kim Basinger’s bad, Jack Nicholson’s phoning it in (but never contemptuous of the material, which makes it a peculiar performance) and the movie never really finishes the story it starts in the first act–but it’s also got constant greatness. Tim Burton’s direction is fantastic–the only scenes he […]
Tagged: Billy Dee Williams· Bob Kane· Jack Nicholson· Michael Keaton· Sam Hamm· Tim Burton· Warner Bros.· Warren Skaaren· ★★½
As Good as It Gets (1997, James L. Brooks)
March 10th, 2008 · 1 Comment
As I recall, there were lots of production issues with As Good as It Gets, specifically in terms of boosting Cuba Gooding Jr.‘s role (after winning his Oscar) and maybe shortening Skeet Ulrich’s. It all shows, as does the uneasy rewrite Brooks did of Mark Andrus’s script. I have no idea what Andrus’s original script […]
Tagged: Greg Kinnear· Harold Ramis· Jack Nicholson· James L. Brooks· Mark Andrus· Tri-Star Pictures· ★★
The Departed (2006, Martin Scorsese)
December 14th, 2007 · 1 Comment
It’s hilarious, of course, Scorsese finally won an Oscar for the film least like his work. The Departed is the really serious movie Mel Gibson and Richard Donner never got around to making in the late 1990s… but Scorsese–I don’t know if Scorsese adds something to the mix or if he just knew how to […]
Tagged: Alec Baldwin· Felix Chong· Jack Nicholson· Mak Siu-fai· Martin Scorsese· Matt Damon· Ray Winstone· Warner Bros.· William Monahan· ★★★★
