Archives for posts with tag: Tess Harper

Whenever I hear about Hollywood executives forcing a movie to re-shoot its ending, I roll my eyes. Can’t they just let the filmmakers’ vision unfold and not worry about whether a focus group thinks an ending is sufficiently upbeat? But then I saw “No Country for Old Men” (2007), which could have been re-titled “No Payoff For Patient Moviegoers.” I mean, you spend two hours immersed in mesmerizing acting and brilliant dialogue as drug money leaves a bloody trail across West Texas. And then Tommy Lee Jones tells a story about a dream he had. The end. Seriously? Seriously? WTF?

 

It’s tough watching a spy thriller like “The Jackal” (1997) 16 years after it comes out. You lose interest in the ripped-from-yesterday’s-headlines espionage and focus on oddball crap that isn’t central to the plot. Russian mafia, Irish Republican Army, blah, blah, blah. But dude, did you see Jack Black? Bruce Willis totally blows his arm off! It was so gross, yet so cool! And what about Richard Gere’s Irish accent? It’s weird hearing a bad actor sound so awesome. And what about Sidney Poitier’s voice? Does he always sound all Shakespearean like that, even when he’s ordering at the drive-thru?