06.13.08

Movies for Writers

Posted in Writing at 10:47 am by Bryan

A post for Crystal*

Stranger Than Fiction

What if you were a character in one of your novels? Or someone else’s? This is what Harold Crick begins to believe after he starts hearing the voice of a narrator. This movie is so interesting on so many levels that it’s almost a must-see for writers. I’m not a big Will Farrell fan, but I thought he did a great job in this movie. Emma Thompson is, well, Emma Thompson, what can I say. Queen Latifah also turns in a great performance. And I fell in love with Maggie Gyllenhaal. It took me a moment to realize that Maggie was the actress from Secretary, (as with many James Spader films, Secretary is not a film for children, and is likely to be a bit over the top for many adults too). All in all, Stranger Than Fiction is well worth watching.

Waitress

Waitress is tragic and hopeful all in one. It’s tragic not only because there are many women trapped in the life that Jenna (Keri Russell) has, but also, just before the film’s release, writer/director/actress Adrienne Shelly (she played Dawn in the film) was murdered. (A brief “political” point here: the construction worker who killed her turned out to be here illegally; ’nuff said) Each of the characters is flawed in some way, but each is also sympathetic to some degree… even the worst of the worst, Jenna’s husband. I originally watched this movie because Nathan Fillion (Firefly/Serenity) was in it, but I would watch a film for any of the other actors in the film now.

She’s Having a Baby

This is a John Hughes film from 1988, and for personal reasons I haven’t watched in years, but I bring it up because somehow it is brought to mind by Waitress. Kevin Bacon plays a newlywed wanna-be writer stuck in the Chicago advertising world. Elizabeth McGovern turns in a wonderful performance as his wife. The difficulty for me comes with the pregancy’s “complication” and a combination of real incidents from two of my prior relationships. Even though there is a happy ending, the end of the film is almost unbearable for me to watch. If you don’t have any phobias regarding pregnancy, I would highly recommend it.

So there you go.

Thanks, Crystal, for the little nudge.

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06.13.08

Movies for Writers