The new movie “Anaconda” is not a remake of the 1997 movie “Anaconda” that starred Jennifer Lopez, John Voight, and Ice Cube. This new version is about four people who are friends, who decide to make a “reboot” of the movie Anaconda, which means that this is a movie about making another movie that was released 28 years ago. There is no doubt that this is a new idea for a screenplay, but unfortunately, it is so idiotic, unfunny, and stupid that there is no way this film should have been greenlit and financed for $45 million dollars.
The most amazing thing about this bad movie is why Paul Rudd, Jack Black, Steve Zahn, and Thandiwe Newton could have read this script, agreed to fly to Australia for months of hardship to make a movie that is this so obviously bad. This film is supposed to be a parody or comedy of the original Anaconda movie, but there was not one laugh in the audience I was in, and almost no moment that was even slightly amusing. Ironically, the movie that was worse than this movie was the film the characters were trying to make inside of this idiotic mess. Then during this story, the four friends run into another production crew also trying to make another reboot of Anaconda. What level of drug use is required to think of this many bad ideas for one film?
The Rotten Tomatoes ratings for this bad movie is only 50%, with my rating 10% and a recommendation to “whatever you do, miss this disaster of movie making at all costs”.
The new movie “Song Sung Blue” is about the true story of Mike and Claire Sardina and their ongoing struggles to become “intermediate celebrities” in the Midwest as singer impersonators and interpreters. This story shines a light on facts that many already know: that trying to make it in show business is a nightmare, no-money grind that can last many years with no payoff for too many thousands of people who have a dream that is never realized.
Whenever I see a rare film like this, which is about the impossible dream of show business, I think of actors like George Clooney, who in 1982 moved to Hollywood at age 21, and had to beg people he knew to sleep on their couch for 5 years. Clooney begged them for money and was completely broke at 27. Clooney finally got his first big break at age 33 in 1994 when he was cast as a young doctor on ER. How many of us would ever have the courage and perseverance to live a life like this, even if they knew in advance that they would wind up like George Clooney, who at age 64 is now worth over 500 million dollars? The famous story about Clooney is that in 2013, he invited 14 longtime friends to dinner and gave each one a million dollars in cash, to thank them for the significant help they had provided him during those years of financial desperation.
The most amazing about George Clooney is not only how he survived these nightmare years but how he was able to find 14 friends who helped him during this impossible time in his life. This is the reality of following your dream in show business. We always know about the lucky few who make it, but rarely about the tens of thousands who are always on the “outside looking in”.
Mike Sardina is played by Hugh Jackman, who is perfectly suited for this role with solid acting and many scenes of singing either as a solo artist or with his wife Claire, played by Kate Hudson, who proves in this movie that she is a very good singer. Mike and Claire meet at a local fair and eventually marry, starting a group that tours local bars and small venues, calling themselves “Thunder and Lightning”, where Mike impersonates Neil Diamond and Clair impersonates Patsy Cline. The Neil Diamond songs are almost always dominated by his most popular hit, “Sweet Caroline,” and who knows how many thousands of times Diamond sang this song during his career.
Throughout this well-told story, Mike’s struggles to survive financially are well documented, as he takes odd jobs as a mechanic and carpenter just to be very close to financial ruin, always several mortgage payments behind in his below-average house that is right next to a major airport, where huge planes constantly fly over. Mike also has a severe ongoing heart problem that appears in several scenes, will eventually take his life.
Thunder and Lightning is a major hit in the Midwest, with the group eventually opening for the band Pearl Jam. Then real life takes over, and there is a tragedy that puts Mike and Claire’s success on hold for a long time, until there is an unlikely comeback, and a conclusion that is both tragic and expected.
Song Sung Blue includes actor Jim Belushi, who is very good in his role as the group’s travel agent, and Fisher Stevens, who is a close friend of Mike’s and eventually becomes a member of the group. This story does a very good job of showing the stark reality of trying to travel the United States and play broken-down bars to crowds as small as 25 people for very little money. It is no wonder that most people give up their dream after just a few years of trying to pursue an unlikely miracle.
The Rotten Tomatoes ratings for this movie are too low at 76% with my rating 85% for the true story, and the singing and acting of Jackman and Hudson. I give a strong recommendation to this story about pursuing your dreams, no matter what the cost. Below are the movie trailer and the documentary that inspired this movie.
The new movie “Marty Supreme” is yet another example of the latest type of Hollywood movie that focuses on being different rather than being good. This story is loosely based on a real table tennis player Marty Reisman (1930–2012) and is not a biography about his life. The sport of table tennis is not popular in the United States but is around the world, mostly in Japan, making this unlikely movie all the more unusual. Other attempts to make this story different are that it is way too loud, too long, too haphazard and most of all too weird.
Starting with the timeline starting in 1952, the unusual cast that includes Gwyneth Paltrow as a famous actress Kay Stone, Timothée Chalamet as Marty Mauser, the insane, broke, and constantly on the run table tenis player, x-NBA star player George Gervin of all people, Kevin O’Leary as the CEO of a pen company Milton Rockwell and angry husband of Kay Stone, who sponsors table tennis tournaments in Japan. Fran Drescher plays Marty’s mother, Rebecca Mauser.
Marty also has an on-again off off-again girlfriend, Rachel Mizler, played by Odessa A’zion, and their relationship includes scrounging for money, violence, and searching for a lost dog that later involved a gunfight. How this fits into a story about an overly ambitious table tennis player is anyone’s guess, with all these extra insane scenes making this entire 2-hour and 30-minute ride more difficult to sit through.
There is a scene with Milton Rockwell and Marty Mauser towards the end of this film that once again answers the question, “as an actor, how far are you willing to humiliate yourself to be a famous movie star, or to be an actor in a movie”? I could not believe this embarrassing scene with O’Leary and Chalamet, and I cannot believe the idiotic high ratings of 95% for this insane waste of two hours.
This movie is too long, too boring, too weird, and extremely loud. I am more than tired of all these crazy movies now becoming almost commonplace, released by Hollywood every year.
My rating for this movie is 50% only for some of Chalamet’s acting, who will probably be nominated for an Academy Award, and a recommendation to “miss this mess” at all costs.
A Screenwriters Perspective: Current and Past Movies. 