Gone with the Wind, Is Not Gone Yet

Title

Gone with the Wind (1939)

Directed by

Victor Fleming

Writing Credits

Margaret Mitchell (novel)
Sidney Howard (screenplay)

Selected Cast

Clark Gable .... Rhett Butler
Vivien Leigh .... Scarlett O'Hara
Leslie Howard .... Ashley Wilkes
Olivia de Havilland .... Melanie Hamilton
Thomas Mitchell .... Gerald O'Hara
Barbara O'Neil .... Ellen O'Hara (as Barbara O'Neill)
Evelyn Keyes .... Suellen O'Hara
Ann Rutherford .... Carreen O'Hara
George Reeves .... Stuart Tarleton
Fred Crane .... Brent Tarleton
Hattie McDaniel .... Mammy
Oscar Polk .... Pork
Butterfly McQueen .... Prissy

Review

Gone with the Wind, one of the most successful films of all time, is the story of a young manipulative Georgia woman searching for happiness during the Civil War.

Gone with the Wind is an excellent epic with bold characters and powerful dialog. This film shows the Civil War from an unusual perspective by focusing on the lives of people who really did not want to be involved with the war but could not escape its wrath.

Gone with the Wind contrasts the elegance of the Old South with the horrors of war. Furthermore, Gone with the Wind shows us what true love is by showing us what it is not.

The film’s main weakness is that it is unnecessarily long, but the unusually strong character development allows this weakness to be forgiven.

There is no mystery why Gone with the Wind has endured for more than half a century. This is a classic that everyone should see at least once.

Rating (1-10)

9

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Serenity Now! - It’s All Hype

Title

Serenity (2005)

Selected Cast

Nathan Fillion .... Mal
Gina Torres .... Zoe
Alan Tudyk .... Wash
Morena Baccarin .... Inara
Adam Baldwin .... Jayne
Jewel Staite .... Kaylee
Sean Maher .... Simon
Summer Glau .... River
Ron Glass .... Shepherd Book

Review

Serenity is the futuristic story of a ragtag band of adventurers protecting a girl with mysterious powers from those who want to kill her.

Serenity’s roots in television are apparent, because this film just feels like a made-for-TV movie. The pacing is slow, the acting is weak, and the scenes drive toward big one-liners that are meant to get good laughs right before the commercial breaks (that never arrive).

The strangest thing about Serenity is the dialog. The script was written with a lot of Texas and Deep South lingo, but the characters delivering these lines have California and New England accents. The words just do not seem to match the characters, and this awkward delivery is distracting.

The biggest problem with Serenity is that the plot does not flow. A lot of things just seem to happen without any cause or reason. It seems that the director was pushing to get through each plot point without caring to solidify the story with proper details or transitions.

Serenity is somewhat entertaining. It has some good special effects, the opening sequence is very strong, and the overall concept is interesting, but this movie just doesn’t live up to all of the hype it has been getting from an intensely loyal fan base and the financial backers.

Rating (1-10)

4

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The Island Is a Thrilling Trip into the Future

Title

The Island (2005)

Selected Cast

Ewan McGregor .... Lincoln Six Echo/Tom Lincoln
Scarlett Johansson .... Jordan Two Delta/Sarah Jordan
Djimon Hounsou .... Albert Laurent
Sean Bean .... Merrick
Steve Buscemi .... McCord
Michael Clarke Duncan .... Starkweather
Ethan Phillips .... Jones Three Echo

Review

The Island, in the tradition of Brave New World, is a cautionary tale about the hidden dangers of abusing technology at the expense of humanity.

Lincoln (Ewan McGregor) and his friend, Jordan (Scarlett Johansson), find themselves in a community of clones who have been isolated from the outside world and live only for the promise of a trip to a magnificent paradise known as The Island. Of course, The Island is not all that it is said to be.

I went into this film with fairly low expectations, but I was pleasantly surprised. The film is an excellent marriage of action and sci-fi, and it has a fairly interesting plot. The Island goes beyond typical movies of this genre by exploring the meaning of humanity and the many ethical concerns of cloning technology.

The movie seemed a little long, but the action and the story managed to hold my interest all of the way to the end. This is a very entertaining film that will give you a few things to think about when the credits roll.

Rating (1-10)

8

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Happy Endings Massages Your Intelligence

Title

Happy Endings (2005)

Selected Cast

Lisa Kudrow .... Miriam 'Mamie' Toll
Steve Coogan .... Charley Peppitone
Jesse Bradford .... Nicky Kunitz
Bobby Cannavale .... Javier Duran
Maggie Gyllenhaal .... Jude
Jason Ritter .... Otis McKee
Tom Arnold .... Frank McKee
David Sutcliffe .... Gilbert 'Gil' Palmer
Sarah Clarke .... Diane
Laura Dern .... Pam Ferris

Review

Happy Endings is a collection of interwoven tales about several people in L.A. struggling with theirs pasts and trying to find some sort of contentment in life.

The acting is solid, and the characters are believable. The strongest element of this film, however, is the writing. The script is spectacular. The dialog is funny, witty, and real. The story is very complicated, but in the end, it all makes perfect sense.

This is an artsy film, and it moves a little slowly in parts, but the dialog alone makes the film worth seeing.

Rating (1-10)

8

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Fantastic Four Is Not So Fantastic

Title

Fantastic Four (2005)

Selected Cast

Ioan Gruffudd .... Reed Richards
Jessica Alba .... Sue Storm
Chris Evans .... Johnny Storm
Michael Chiklis .... Ben Grimm
Julian McMahon .... Victor Von Doom
Hamish Linklater .... Leonard
Kerry Washington .... Alicia Masters
Laurie Holden .... Debbie McIlvane
David Parker .... Ernie
Kevin McNulty .... Jimmy O'Hoolihan
Maria Menounos .... Sexy Nurse

Review

Fantastic Four is the story of how a group of astronauts/scientists gain superpowers and learn to deal with the implications of being fantastically extraordinary.

The special effects of this film are excellent, and the stunts are good. The dialog is fairly decent and contains a lot of funny, subtle, and well-timed puns and one-liners.

The main problem with this film is that the plot does not really go anywhere. Watching Fantastic Four was kind of like watching only the first half of an X-Men movie. The characters get their powers, learn to deal with them, and not too much happens beyond that. This flim could have been much better if there had been more of plot.

Rating (1-10)

6

Note: Treat yourself to The Fantastic Four from 1994. Supposedly, this version was made just to maintain the movie rights and was never supposed to be seen by the public. Regardless, it is one of the worst films ever made. The 1994 version is bad to the point of being hilarious.

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