GENE HACKMAN MAKING AND BREAKING 'THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVF1SaAknZPbsMooda_vzqbkObuK6hhAWqKl2gHeG8WaSKRUyAaUFLKO9_t_7xW1xnHTJBLCTZslGNhlRHFPNGBbjvrGemgGfBkdxHE2tBwqONeU08AzuyfrNLW_b81uoPw_iYctS2TA8qrtu7d4MCkj-oxKIsf2ii44mxQZiQERXeDmCEpj0Q7FH5sopA/s1918/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-03%20at%203.57.31%20AM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1026" data-original-width="1918" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVF1SaAknZPbsMooda_vzqbkObuK6hhAWqKl2gHeG8WaSKRUyAaUFLKO9_t_7xW1xnHTJBLCTZslGNhlRHFPNGBbjvrGemgGfBkdxHE2tBwqONeU08AzuyfrNLW_b81uoPw_iYctS2TA8qrtu7d4MCkj-oxKIsf2ii44mxQZiQERXeDmCEpj0Q7FH5sopA/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-03%20at%203.57.31%20AM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Gene Hackman in THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS Year: 2001 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>It's not so ironic that Gene Hackman was extremely (infamously) difficult to director Wes Anderson working on THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS because his character, the tremendously flawed patriarch of an eccentric New York City family, is the one person who brings the deliberately offbeat movie down to a relatably grounded level... <br><br>In Anderson's breakout indie RUSHMORE, Bill Murray did the same thing, sort of... but not so most of the characters couldn't stand him, and spend almost the entire story battling his vices that, in Hackman's case as Royal Tenenbaum, led to the family breaking up early on... opening with child prodigy's setting the stage, creatively coddled by newly single mother Angelica Huston as Etheline...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

angelica huston, article, bill murray, danny glover, dark comedy, gene hackman, gwyneth paltrow, luke wilson, memorial, owen wilson, wes anderson, zeroes

GENE HACKMAN MAKING AND BREAKING 'THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS'

Gene Hackman in THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS Year: 2001 Rating: ****1/2 It's not so ironic that Gene Hackman was extremely (infamously) difficul...

REVIEW OF THE SKELETON TWINS

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaYLZSaU7BZub645VdwOrYHMqMdYVBSMA3T8dCYprqLx3fSl0XKyXTmlA3yuyWmYDkXy72yx5AWsVK_k0PWh-r4t7TMCxHWapyY_ye-DkaWCYm395B573DBX5qVkxFnt3SZ73FUKaV4o0/s1600/11179342_800.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaYLZSaU7BZub645VdwOrYHMqMdYVBSMA3T8dCYprqLx3fSl0XKyXTmlA3yuyWmYDkXy72yx5AWsVK_k0PWh-r4t7TMCxHWapyY_ye-DkaWCYm395B573DBX5qVkxFnt3SZ73FUKaV4o0/s320/11179342_800.jpg" width="208" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2014 rating: **1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> Begins somewhat like LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE without the little miss, and not much sunshine as Bill Hader’s Milo, a gay melancholy Los Angeles "actor", attempts suicide in his bathtub… <br /> <br /> He winds up living in New York with his twin sister Maggie, played by fellow ex SNL alumni Kristin Wiig, who, after gaining immense cinematic popularity in BRIDESMAIDS, has been doing the quirky/indie shuffle ever since.<br /> <br /> THE SKELETON TWINS reverses what used to be the jovially cliché homosexual character, and makes the straight guy more of the smiley cookie cutter. Although Luke Wilson’s abysmally average Lance, married to Maggie, is peripheral to the story of the siblings, either discussing their gloomy childhood or dealing with present doldrums.<br /> <br /> Hader and Wiig are far more interesting than the breezy script, gift-wrapping manic depression for a sophisticated date flick audience. And while it’s not funny enough to be a comedy, and not serious enough for a drama dealing with loneliness and suicide, there’s a genuine heart beneath the surface: where both TWINS remain despite a cursed depth plaguing them.

2014, bill hader, indie, kristen wiig, luke wilson, quirky

REVIEW OF THE SKELETON TWINS

2014 rating: **1/2 Begins somewhat like LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE without the little miss, and not much sunshine as Bill Hader’s Milo, a gay ...

3:10 TO YUMA

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj00H8DQNzyiHqqJ7W9mBqQeAI10Af2ZBIFu20y-lSnJkuqiIC83F0bhuEbYkP2LXtx13KfFV1qlprQ3er2jduwU8UePf5jBG1qOftfNfXdiS8aJH1Oe8KlHtNfudLdqFX-D79abdDr3vZW/s1600/310_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj00H8DQNzyiHqqJ7W9mBqQeAI10Af2ZBIFu20y-lSnJkuqiIC83F0bhuEbYkP2LXtx13KfFV1qlprQ3er2jduwU8UePf5jBG1qOftfNfXdiS8aJH1Oe8KlHtNfudLdqFX-D79abdDr3vZW/s1600/310_l.jpg" /></a></div><b>title: </b>3:10 TO YUMA<br /> <b>year:</b> 2007<br /> <b>cast: </b>Russell Crowe, Christian Bale<br /> <b>rating: </b>***1/2<br /> <br /> Hurray, they got a modern Western right while treating an Elmore Leonard cowboy flick with the grim gusto of his source novel. Full of twists and bloody gunfights, this is a suspenseful tale of an injured debt-burdened rancher Dan Evans who witnesses a massacre involving an outlaw, Ben Wade, and his gang of seedy, stage coach robbing thugs. Christian Bale as Evans exudes the right amount slowburn pathos for a burdened protagonist, allowing Russell Crowe’s Wade, a cross between Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Hannibal Lector, to steal the show. While in transit to a small town where a 3:10 train will take the captured Wade to Yuma prison, the lawmen have to keep the Bible-reciting villain out of their heads. He can play with any mind if you let him, and cut throats too. Crowe displays a cool murky charm, especially in conversations with Stevens and his young son, who aren’t sure if a heart resides beneath that iron skin. There’s a constant feeling that anything can happen, and the best scenes occur before arriving at the town where, holed up in a hotel, Wade’s men (including an ultraviolent Ben Foster) arrive to free their boss in a somewhat typical showdown. But it’s all pretty great "Neo Noir Western" stuff from start to finish.

christian bale, elmore leonard, logan lerman, luke wilson, peter fonda, russell crowe, western, zeroes

3:10 TO YUMA

title: 3:10 TO YUMA year: 2007 cast: Russell Crowe, Christian Bale rating: ***1/2 Hurray, they got a modern Western right while treati...