Word: written
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...this bold attempt to adapt complex issues of death and mourning from the written page to the stage, the talents of director Ryan McGee and the cast of The Mourning After triumph over the difficulties and confusion created by such an ambitious undertaking. At times, the viewer who is unfamiliar with the works of Phelan and Kushner may feel lost, but the skill McGee employs in producing such a complex work, the talent of the actors and the universal themes of mourning effected through the bold monologues make seeing this play very worth while...
...handed sermon and history lesson. While Fire may be a more brilliantly produced film, dismissing Earth as irrelevant would be an egregious error. A moving depiction of nationalism gone horribly wrong, Earth is richly filmed and extremely well-acted, a film worth seeing by anyone who enjoys a well-written, heart-wrenchingly beautiful story of lost innocence and passionate love destroyed by ignorance and fear. The recent confrontation between India and Pakistan involving nuclear weapons shows the continuing relevance of an event that happened over half a century ago. Furthermore, Earth offers frightening insight into the tragedy and violence that...
...which is based on the actual journey made by 73-year-old Alvin Straight (Richard Farnsworth), seems right up Lynch's alley---quirky and Midwestern, with a lawnmower thrown in for good measure. Interestingly enough, Lynch was initially opposed to directing The Straight Story. But after reading the screenplay written by Mary Sweeney and John Roach, Lynch was won over: "[I] wasn't interested in it. I never thought I would make this story, but the screenplay turned me around. I loved...
...film gives its human characters only cursory recognition. They are thinly veiled stereotypes giving stereotyped reactions in scenes that have been written a thousand times before, in a thousand better ways. The bats produce only laughter rather than gasps of fear as they crawl gargoyle-like across the screen. Casper and Kimsey are flat and undeveloped. In fact, the sole target audience that will not be disappointed by Bats would appear to be the masochists. Although quite honestly, the same affect could be achieved by banging one's head against the wall for an hour and a half...
...plot of the film is largely incidental. It appears pieced-together haphazardly, as though the script were written after the bat attack scenes were filmed, to add human faces a the cast of winged mammals. Although compared to the wooden performances of Lou Diamond Phillips and Dina Meyer, the bats are surprisingly human. Bats is so painfully unaware of its own ridiculousness that it qualifies for a place in the annals of camp classics.Yet, there is nothing tongue-in-cheek about this film. It is marketed as a thriller, in the tradition of Hitchcock's classic The Birds. Bats totally...