Tag: Jim Denault

MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 2 (2016)

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Directed By: Kirk Jones

Written By: Nia Vardalos

Cinematography: Jim Denault

Editor: Mark Czyzewski

Cast: Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Michael Constantine, Lainie Kazan, Andrea Martin, Elena Kampouris, Gia Carides, Louis Mandylor, Alex Wolff, Joey Fatone, Bess Meisler, Rita Wilson, John Stamos, Rob Riggle, Mark Margolis, Ian Gomez, Bruce Gray, Jayne Eastwood

Still working in her parents’ Greek restaurant, Toula Portokalos’ daughter, Paris, is growing up. She is getting ready to graduate high school and Toula and Ian are experiencing marital issues. When Toula’s parents find out they were never officially married, another wedding is in the works. Can this big, fat, Greek event help to bring the family together?

It could be the fact that before this film a few year earlier Nia Vardalos tried to turn this into a franchise with a follow up television series 

Considering they tried s sitcom after the first film this feels like they just took story threads or ideas from there and tried to make a movie with a framing device and theme

As this film feels all over the place, like it want the audience to be updated on the families notice after all these years with her other film Connie and Carla not doing well wanted a guaranteed hit

It’s a feel good film with no real stakes. so while it’s nice to see the characters again they are left with little to nothing to really do as we just enjoy and laugh at their antics

The fil m can be considered fun for those who l led the original

Though the first film was better content wise as it had a love story and a story of self Confidence. That was familiar and well structured and could be identifiable by mining a culture under represented and giving them representation even with it’s stereotypes that come off as loving

It might have been seen as a clash in as the audience for the first film has come of age and are dealing with their teenage children and the prospect of them leaving the nest. So again a bit updated and identifiable for that generation 

The problem is as familiar as the first film was; this one jsit feels generic. A script that tries to have a best of or greatest hits quality to it’s scenes the first film the characters came off as quirky here they come off more as caricatures of their former selves playing it more for laughs. 

You could say that this feels like a victory lap. While it keeps it’s innocence and a little charm. That keeps it safe 

Grade: C 

RIVER OF GRASS (1994)

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Written & Directed By: Kelly Reichardt
Story By: Jesse Hartman 
Cinematography: Jim Denault 
Editor: Larry Fessenden 

Cast: Lisa Bowman, Larry Fessenden, Dick Russell, Stan Kaplan, Michael Buscemi 

Cozy, a dissatisfied housewife, meets Lee at a bar. A drink turns into a home break-in, and a gunshot sends them on the run together, thinking they’ve committed murder.

This film is about a wanna Bonnie & Clyde. A makeshift couple on the run that is never romantic or lustful. 

The film starts off well and feels inventive and tells the story fast and vividly. Introducing us to the characters and their motivations. as even the small details help set up the main Characters and offer spontaneity in their day-to-day supposedly mundane lives. 

As it feels random at first. But the film catches up with that. As the story goes along we see how everything becomes connected and in this small town in Florida. They are literally passing by each other and not realizing they are the ones they are seeking.

A bored housewife seeks adventure in a loser would be a drifter and go on a crime spree of no regard though they think it is. As they go On the run. Not realizing no one is really looking. For them except for her. As her family wants to know why she has run away. Not to mention their crimes aren’t prosperous nor exciting. If anything they are more embarrassing but not in a broadly comedic way. They come off more as pathetic. As we watch the others their lives intersect with good ones.

Writer/Director Kelly Reichart films are very detail-oriented and more at the moment while we watch life and the characters move at a more day to day moment to moment pace. Her films are almost still Life may. They aren’t made with a broad canvas but are affecting if you are willing to watch and can take the slower pace and usually no frills.

This isn’t the first film Of her’s I have seen. Though this is one of her earlier ones and from the ones I have seen this is one of her quicker-paced and more conventional films.

This film shows an interest in a crime story. Where there is practically no crime. This was made before she went full-fledged into cinematic studies of life and characters At the moment.

NIGHT MOVES comes the closest of her later films where there seems to be some sort of action and offers more conventional entertainment.

In the end, this comes off as pathetic but a little soulful In its Eclecticness. So that it feels alive and free whenever offbeat 

GRADE: B-

BAD MOMS (2016)

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BADMOMS

Written & Directed By: Jon Lucas & Scott Moore
Cinematography By: Jim Denault
Editor: Emma E. Hickox &  James Thomas 


Cast: Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn, Christina Applegate, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Annie Mumolo, Jay Hernandez, Clark Duke, Wendell Pierce, Oona Laurence, Emjay Anthony, David Walton, Wanda Sykes

Amy has a seemingly perfect life – a great marriage, over-achieving kids, a beautiful home and a career. However, she’s overworked, over-committed and exhausted to the point that she’s about to snap. Fed up, she joins forces with two other over-stressed moms on a quest to liberate themselves from conventional responsibilities – going on a wild, un-mom-like binge of long overdue freedom, fun and self-indulgence – putting them on a collision course with PTA Queen Bee Gwendolyn and her clique of devoted perfect moms.

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