Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
I really want to see this film. I just have one of those feelings about it. Something in the trailer makes me think Siberling might have made something special and heartfelt here, and I want a peek at it as soon as possible. In the meantime, here’s Eye-Spy with his take on the very personal project...
Harry-
Eye-Spy here. Just wanted to drop you a quick snippet on the upcoming MOONLIGHT MILE which I was able to gander this week at the grand ol' El Capitan on Hollywood Blvd. - a great an venerable theater beautifully restored though sadly avoided due to uncle Walt/Mike's penchant for cheesy Disney post-screening costume shows and $18 dollar ticket prices - but I digress...
The Mouse pulled out all the stops for this shindig - popcorn, finger sandwiches, fondue - that's right, friggin' fondue - and a dessert table straight from candy-heaven. Major ass-kissing was being had, the audience was fed, watered and even presented with little purse-sized buckets of popcorn to snack on... Needless to say, I smelled a fondue-drenched rat. I had high hopes for this film from the trailers, but with this much fudge-snuffing, I resigned myself to the fact that this was about to be one big Oven Stuffer Roaster of a film.
H-man,I couldn't have been more wrong... I won't go into the story at all, since I assume you will have seen the trailer and are thus up on about 90% of the plot (gotta love movie marketing these days - I don't give a shit what Zemeckis says!), and because this is one of those unfortunately rare films where the characters are so real and vivid and present, that they take precedence over the plot.
The cast is great across the board. Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon are instantly believable as a married couple of 30 years, replete with all the tiny little mannerisms, annoyances and rituals that come with that much time crammed into the same life with another person. We expect nothing less of these two and they deliver like pros from Dover.
Jake Gyllenhall is really developing into one of the best of his generation. It's his film and he's right there along with Hoffman and Sarandon, even stealing a few scenes from the Oscar-winners.
Ellen Pompeo channels Renee Zellweger but delivers a solid and very likeable performance. She's definitely got that "man, I'd love to take care of this girl" thing going, though I only wish there was a take or two in which her tear ducts didn't look like they were about to flood the set.
Brad Silberling directed the film from his screenplay based on his own life. It's a great effort. He clearly got out of the way and let his cast speak for themselves, and yet this is a film with a clear director's stamp on it - though I did find at times that my heart-strings were in danger of being being stretched to Uncle Pecos levels, but they were thankfully few and brief.
Silberling and Hoffman followed the film with a great Q&A in which Hoffman put on a show, telling several dirty jokes and admitted his love of being in front of an audience (like we couldn't tell).
All in all a nice break from the typical sludge. Couple this with "Igby Goes Down" and you can have yourself a nice movie-weekend, fondue notwithstanding.
- Eye-Spy
And for all the inevitable "plant" screamers out there, as many at AICN know, I'm an indie-filmmaker with no ties and less than no love for the studios, just calling 'em like I see 'em.
Hope you’re right, man.
"Moriarty" out.
