Movie Review: Sacrine Hits the Big Screen

Don't be fooled, this isn't Twilight. In fact, this couldn't be further from it. Mary Stuart Masterson's directorial debut, The Cake Eaters, a small budget family drama, managed to snag Kristen Stewart three years ago, long before Twilight and all the chaos that followed. Due to poor guidance, lack of funds and other misfortunes, The Cake Eaters, long after its filming, is releasing only to a very small number of art houses and special screenings, than straight to DVD. Fortunately for Masterson though, Stewart's new wide range appeal has helped cull an audience she would not have otherwise had. Unfortunately, The Cake Eaters left a bad taste in my mouth (bad pun, sorry). Masterson is better known to most as Joon in Benny and Joon, Watts in Some Kind of Wonderful, and perhaps most famously as Idgie in Fried Green Tomatoes. At the Q&A after the screening, she spoke modestly about these incredibly memorable roles and her turn in the Director's seat, and showed that onscreen and off, she's both beautiful and humble. But as much as I enjoyed meeting Masterson, and hearing all she had to say about making The Cake Eaters, the film did exactly what she and I hoped it wouldn't... it turned into a movie of the week. Without knowing quite where to place the blame, Cake Eaters has that "tv movie" feel to it, and no matter how hard I tried all I could hear was Jim Gaffigan's voice in my head saying "Lifetime, television for women." .

Masterson struggles to give all of the many story lines equal footing, but clearly ends up favoring certain characters over others. The film is set in a small Pennsylvanian town (however it was filmed somewhere in upstate NY), and here we meet two families. There are the women in one, and the men in the other, a convenient backdrop for romantic scenarios. There is Easy (Bruce Dern), Beagle (Aaron Stanford), and Guy (Jayce Bartok), 3 bachelors united by the loss of their matriarch, and struggling without her presence. Dern's Easy is one of the only brilliant things in the film, shining comically and sweetly as the the elderly father/butcher harboring a secret. As hard as Dern tries to hold up the entire film with his credible acting talent, on the flip side of the coin we have Stanford and Bartok, who

seemingly have a very difficult time figuring out how they're supposed to play their parts. Bartok, a man who's inability to make believable facial expressions is astounding, enters the film as a returning rock n' rolla who's been gone for three years, and left not only his family behind, but also a fiance, Stephanie (played by Miriam Shor). Their story line seems to pretty much get cut except for a few scenes, but I'm not complaining. Anymore screen time for the two of them, and I might have left the theater. Then there's Stanford, who gained a lot of notice back in the day for his role as precocious Oscar Grubman in Tadpole, and more recently tried to go mainstream as Pryo in the X-Men franchise. As quiet Beagle, Stanford has a few moments of aww shucks sweetness that actually resonate, and even a few comedic gold stars, but primarily he wasn't given very clear direction on what kind of person Beagle is, or what his back story includes. He has personality quirks that just don't fit, and feel forced. It probably also doesn't help that his 20 something character ends up getting sexually involved with a 15 year old dying girl. Georgia, played by Stewart, is ill with a rare mental/muscular disease that I cannot remember the name of because they kept saying it too fast. This disease causes her to speak with slurred speech and makes her unable to walk without assistance, a difficult role for Stewart to play convincingly. I have to give her credit for taking on such a physically demanding part, and in this way she did a phenomenal job, unfortunately at its core, she's still playing the same part of the girl batting her eyelashes and looking forlorn. It was a earnest, but still unsuccessful attempt by her to break out into a new kind of role. When Beagle and Georgia meet for the first time, it's clear that she is looking for looking for someone willing to do the deed with her, and his loneliness mixed with attraction makes him a prime target. They have some sweet moments, but on the whole their relationship doesn't make sense, and is uncomfortable to watch. Even though they look the same age, the fact that she's 15 and he's 22 is disturbing no matter how you slice it.

Then there's Georgia's cigarette smoking, bourbon guzzling, free spirit grandmother, played by Elizabeth Ashley who is a the female counterpart to Dern's Easy. Together they do their best to bring the film to a higher level, but are brought down hard by a poor screenplay, poor direction, and immature actors. Ashley takes a character that could have easily stayed one dimensional throughout the whole of the film and brings her to life. I truly wish we could have seen these characters in another film with a better everything, but alas, they were stuck in The Cake Eaters. Too many scenes feel misguided, too many characters feel unfinished, and just too many things are wrong with this movie. However, all that being said, I cannot say enough good things about Masterson herself.

Many of the Q&A's I attend can feel hackneyed, but Masterson's was refreshing and truly enjoyable. One of my favorite moments was when she spoke about her hesitance to get involved with John Hughes, because she wanted to be an "artist," and how their pairing led to one of her most frequently played films of all time, Some Kind of Wonderful. An audience member asked if was really a recluse, and she laughed saying "probably, I haven't seen him since the film." She was funny, natural and endearing. Her insights into the making of the film explained a lot and even helped to change some of my views, but unfortunately she can't be there to explain away the movie's problems to every person that sees it. Like I said earlier, all the blame cannot be placed entirely on her shoulders. I think that she invested a lot of time into a script that wasn't the best to begin with, so it's possible with better starting material that she could prove to be a stronger director, but I'm not sure. She is very sweet, laid back and unassuming as a person, qualities which may or may not make for the best head of a movie set. But in ant event, the whole experience made me respect her all the more, despite my feelings about the film. She tried something, and made some bad decisions, but that doesn't mean she won't learn from them. Masterson said Dern told her "don't be afraid of sweet," a nice sentiment coming from the old curmudgeon (her words, not mine), but the film ODed on Splenda, so I think she may have taken that advice a little too literally.

Short and Sweet

Better luck next time. The Cake Eaters was just too sweet for me.

Fav Quotes

"You've always been my dream girl."

-Easy

The Cake Eaters Trailer

Dakota Goes Punk, and Develops a Taste for Blood

Floria Sigismondi’s upcoming biopic about 70’s all girl rocker group, The Runaways, now has precocious Dakota Fanning aboard. Fanning is set to play 15 year old Cherie Currie who became best known for her over-sexualized look and drug abuse beginning at a young age. The home schooled starlet first came on the map as the adorable daughter to Sean Penn in I AM SAM, and has since taken off in ways even I couldn’t have forseen. Now she’s 15, and all grown up… maybe even a little too fast. We can expect that this is just phase one of Fanning’s “prove to Hollywood I’m a real actress” plan. Next thing you know she’ll be doing a movie with a rape scene…. oh wait. Fanning will be co-starring in The Runaways with Kristen Stewart, who’ll star as Joan Jett. 

Rumors have officially been confirmed by EW that Fanning and Stewart will team up again in New Moon of the Twilight Saga with Fanning taking on the role of young vampire Jane. After some time mulling over this casting decision, I've decided it's pretty perfect.

Movie Review: I loved Twilight and I don't care who knows it!

Even if you've been crouching under a subway to avoid the stampedes of teenage girls headed to theaters, you've still heard the deep sighs about Twilight. After reading a ton of the reviews, blogs, and fan outcries, the general consensus is that Twilight doesn't quite make the grade. I've heard it all, "they can't act," "the special effects were laughable," "it was camp beyond camp," and the worst, "they murdered the book." In a situation like this, it would be easy to go along with the crowd and laugh off the movie like most people are doing, but I'm not one to sit idly by while people trash something I love. And love Twilight, I did. It's not that I don't see any truth in the criticism, I just refuse to let it alter the amazing movie-going experience I had. A year ago my friend Aleena and I made a pact that our love for the Twilight book series would bring us together for the epic film premiere (no matter where in the world we were). Luckily, New York and Boston aren't too far apart, and I made the journey to join my college bestie for our Twilight reunion. Our theater was overflowing with estrogen (as well as a few dragged boyfriends), and as the lights began to dim, piercing shrills echoed throughout the city of Boston; Twilight had begun. The story centers around a seventeen year old girl who moves from Phoenix, Arizona to Forks, Washington, the rainiest, cloudiest place on earth. She moves in with her father and begins a typical boring life at a new school, only to discover that Forks is far from normal. She meets a "boy" named Edward, and the rest is history (literally). Twilight is a four book series, and even though the story gets increasingly complicated as the books go on, at its core, it's a very classic love story (even sappy at times). 

During the months leading up to its release, fansites have been posting up-to-the-minute news on the film's stars and what Twilight had in store the Twihards (female versions of Trekkies). Stephenie Meyer followers eagerly awaited what I'm sure they fully anticipated to be the best night of their lives. But the excitement felt upon entering the theater was sucked dry by the end (c'mon I had to make one vampire pun...). Aleena and I shot each other knowing glances from our seats, and without a word understood that as soon as the movie was over, we had to brave the Boston cold and escape the congregations of disappointed Twihards to fully communicate our undying (ok, last pun I swear) love for the film.

Seeing one of my favorite book series come to life was amazing. I won't do what everyone else is doing and compare it Harry Potter, but I will just say that not all HP fans loved the movies when they first came out either. When you love a book series that much, it's hard for anything to be good enough since the expectations are so astronomically high. It's also good to keep in mind that the HP movies got better with time, and now that Summit has officially greenlit a New Moon sequel, the franchise has the chance to do it all over again. Hopefully some of the fans disappointed with Twilight will come back to see the sequel and give the movies a second chance. But, like I said, I personally was ecstatic with the film and would only change a few minor things: take out the flashback sequences, pump up the special effects a bit with a bigger budget, and add more Edward/Bella dialogue. Despite these desired changes, the key elements were there.

Numero uno under requirements was good chemistry between the two leads, and I give the casting dept. an A++ on this. Kristin Stewart (Panic Room) as Bella Swan and Robert Pattinson (HP&The Goblet of Fire) as Edward Cullen, look like a real couple (both on screen and in the tabloids). Both actors spoke about their instant connection during the audition process and how much their relationship developed on set. It's already been well reported that Pattinson not only greatly admired Stewart, but repeatedly proposed marriage to her (Kristin of course, just laughed it off). Both actors has been described as "on the cusp of stardom," and it was widely expected that Twilight would be the film to rocket them into a new super-stardom realm. In spite of the movie's questionable reviews, Twilight has, in fact, put these talented people on the map. They both still have a long way to go before Oscar noms, but I think they both have the potential to get there. Edward and Bella's romance is what holds the books together, and for me, it is what held the fragile movie together as well. As long as I could believe that the two main characters wanted and needed each other as badly as the books convey, than I knew I would love the movie, come hell or high water. While I have been less then thrilled with actor's public antics (floppy hair and less than eloquent ramblings about being an actor), they were believable as the characters and for a rather simple love story, that's all you need. Another plus for the film was their shooting location. Shooting in Portland, Oregon was about as close to Forks as one could get. The scenery was unbelievably beautiful (soaring tree tops and plunging waterfalls), even under all that cloud cover. The last piece of the puzzle was the film's direction. Summit's choice to go with well-known indie director Catherine Hardwicke (best known for her teenage hit Thirteen) over a blockbuster director, was a smart one. While parts of the film still looked a little slick for my tastes, her overall feel was more handheld and intimate, focusing on close-ups of the actors rather than distant shots. Through all of her interviews, it's easy to see that Hardwicke loves this series and was thrilled to bring her vision of it to the screen. I agree with some of the criticism that Hardwicke didn't quite grasp all elements of the both the plot and the characters (for instance, they don't brood throughout the entire book, but they basically do the whole movie). But I think she garnered all of the most important components, and did the best she could with the budget given. I would love to see her direct the sequel, but it could also be very interesting to see someone else have a shot (maybe a foreign director?).

The rest of the cast is also enjoyable. Particular standouts include Charlie Swan (Bella's dad) and Carlisle Cullen (Edwards "dad") played by Billy Burke and Peter Facinelli. Both men were able to encompass exactly what I had envisioned for their characters both in looks and characterization. Cam Gigandet, as the ruthless tracker, James, is also good in his role, although probably not given enough screen time to be as terrifying as he should have been. Obviously in order to adapt a 544 page book into a 2 hour movie, a lot needs to get cut, but everything I remembered best and loved most about the book was present in the film. The infamous ballet studio scene was also much better than I had expected. Hardwicke really proved that she can do a good action sequence. I could go into more detail on other scenes, but I don't want to give too much away. Though it's been several days now since I saw the movie, I am still coming back and remembering little details that I loved. All this being said, if you have never read the books nor had any interest in reading them, I would warn you against seeing the movie. It was really made for the fans and therefore, an outsider would have a very difficult time enjoying some of the humor and private jokes. But, if you feel brave, I always encourage seeing a movie for yourself and making up your own mind.

Short and Sweet

I loved the film, but not everyone else will. It's got it's fair share of flaws, but for me they failed to affect how happy the overall experience was. The leads have INCREDIBLE chemistry and are worth watching for any romantic. Don't go in with exorbitant expectations. If you haven't read the books, CAUTION, you may not get some of the film's hidden parts for fans. And finally, if you have read the books, please see it with an open mind, and you might be surprised how much you enjoy it!

Fav Quotes

"Yeah. Um... I had an adrenaline rush. It's very common. You can Google it." 

-Edward Cullen

"You better hold on tight spidermonkey." -Edward Cullen

"Is she even Italian?" "Her name is Bella!" -Rosalie Hale and Emmett Cullen