Herry here, just going through the motions of life pondering what all this text means. Languishing here on Earth till the 13th of December. Praying for a quick rotation of the planet Earth... Move you bitch move!
Hey, Harry. I'll begin this email the same way everyone begins an email to you: "This is the first time I'm writing you, although I've been a big fan of the site for a long time." You rock, Harry Knowles, as I'm sure you know.
Now that I've completed the standard waxing of your car.... I just saw MIRAMAX's annual Lasse Hallstrom-helmed Oscar hopeful, THE SHIPPING NEWS. And while its definitely superior to Hallstrom's previous two pieces of crap (CIDER HOUSE RULES and CHOCOLAT), its still not all that great. Actually, its kind of the definition of "good, but not great."
The script itself is pretty impressive actually. There are some really unexpected twists that you wouldn't expect to find in "this type of movie" (Cate Blanchett is killed five minutes into the movie, but not before selling her daughter for $60 on the black market... Judi Dench is rapped by her brother..... A corpse randomly comes back from the dead). But by the end, it all becomes alot of hokey garbage.
The movie's biggest draw are the performances of Spacey, Moore, and Blanchett. Kevin Spacey rocks- creating a COMPLETELY different character than we're used to seeing from him. And Julianne Moore just maintains her reputation as the greatest actress working today. Her role doesn't even give her that much to do and she's still UNBELIEVEABLE. (Although there is one scene where show throws a frying pan full of eggs across the room). And Cate Blanchett is really great, too... even though she only gets five minutes of screen time TOPS.
Alot of the problem is definitely Lasse Hallstrom... He doesn't handle the actors well.... Everything seems so "polite" and "reserved." There's some really powerful emtional stuff going on here, and when ever someone really starts to get worked up, he cuts away... (In one scene, Julianne Moore begins to sob, and Hallstrom only stays with her for about three seconds.... Anyone who's seen Moore in the PTA movies knows NOT to fucking cut away she's about to embark on a cry.) So, Mirimax will surely buy a shit load of Oscar nominations for the SHIPPING NEWS, just like they did for Chocolat. But I can't seeing TSN actually winning anything- its just not that powerful.... And a lot of people have been saying that Judi Dench or Cate Blanchett could be up in the supporting categories, but Dench literally does NOTHING, and Blanchett's role is just too small. The only person I could see being nominated is Kevin Spacey, who is quite deserving.
The best part of the whole thing, though, was getting to stay for the "audience talk back" at the end, and receiving ten dollars from the Mirimax representive. I love a good payoff at the end of a mediocre movie.
-Rupert Pupkin
