Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (2009)

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Rating 1


Directed by Peter Hyams

Written by Peter Hyams, based on the 1956 screenplay by Douglas Morrow

Starring Amber Tamblyn (Ella Crystal), Jesse Metcalfe (C J Nicholas), Michael Douglas (Mark Hunter), Joel David Moore (Corey Finley), Orlando Jones (Ben Nickerson) and Lawrence P Beron (Anthony Merchant)


An investigative news reporter looking for a story that will take his career to the next level suspects that the District Attorney, who is hotly tipped to be the next State Governor, has been deliberately planting evidence to secure convictions in high profile murder cases. To prove his suspicions, he deliberately fabricates circumstantial evidence against himself in an unsolved murder, but his plan goes horribly wrong.

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‘Beyond a Reasonable Doubt’ is a 2009 remake of a classic 1956 film with the same title. That film, starring Dana Andrews and Joan Fontaine, was the last American film directed by the legendary Austrian film director Fritz Lang, who was responsible for several landmark films including the 1927 German silent masterpiece ‘Metropolis’. This flat remake is anything but a classic.

Michael Douglas is reasonably effective as the smarmy District Attorney, but his character, like everything else in this film, is far too flimsy. Jesse Metcalfe gives the most charisma-free acting performance I have had the misfortune of viewing in a very long time and manages to bring down Amber Tamblyn, an intelligent and more than competent actress, with him. There is no on-screen chemistry with Metcalfe and her performance here is lifeless and uninvolving. She put me in mind of Sandra Bullock, without ever managing to project the spark that Bullock can bring to her performances, even in some of her more regrettable film choices.

The first 45 minutes or so are dire, killed by Metcalfe’s calamitous absence of presence. Matters do improve after that when Tamblyn takes centre-stage, but the climactic scenes are badly botched and the twist is so blatantly obvious, almost from the start and without needing to have any prior familiarity with the original film, that to say it’s an anti-climax would be a gross understatement. The film even manages to squeeze in a painfully dull and predictable car chase.

‘Beyond a Reasonable Doubt’ has a zero rating at Rotten Tomatoes from 22 reviews. I have no doubt it is not the only film to ever receive a zero rating, but it is the first one that I have come across.

Writer and director Peter Hyams has had a long career, which has produced a mixed bag of results, from interesting earlier outings like ‘Capricorn One’ and ‘Outland’ to the slightly more recent horror films ‘Relic’ and ‘End of Days’, with a couple of Jean-Claude Van Damme films in between. His past record suggests that he is a better director than this lame and hackneyed debacle would indicate.

Review posted 23 November 2009


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The Unusuals (season one overview)

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Rating 2½


Created by Noah Hawley

Written by Noah Hawley (three episodes), Alexi Hawley (one episode), Robert De Laurentiis (one episode), Sarah Watson (one episode), Gary Lennon (one episode), Treena Hancock (one episode), Melissa R Byer (one episode), Jorge Zamacona (one episode) and Danny Zuker (one episode

Directed by Stephen Hopkins (one episode), Constantine Makris (three episode), Jamie Babbit (one episode), Peter O’Fallon (one episode), Matt Earl Beesley (two episodes), Rosemary Rodriguez (one episode) and Edward Bianchi (one episode)

Starring Amber Tamblyn (Detective Casey Shraeger), Jeremy Renner (Detective Jason Walsh), Adam Goldberg (Detective Eric Delahoy), Harold Perrineau (Detective Leo Banks), Kai Lennox (Detective Eddie Alvarez), Joshua Close (Detective Henry Cole), Monique Gabriela Curnan (Detective Allison Beaumont), Terry Kinney (Sergeant Harvey Brown), Ian Kahn (Davis Nixon), Susan Parke (Dr Monica Crumb) and Kat Foster (Nicole Brandt)


Rookie police detective Casey Shraeger is pulled off Vice and transferred to the NYPD’s second Precinct to become the new partner of Detective Jason Walsh, on the same night that his old partner is murdered. Secretly, she is being recruited by Sergeant Harvey Brown to look for possible corruption within his team, each of the various detectives harbouring his or her own secrets.

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‘The Unusuals’ was made by Sony Pictures Television and broadcast on the ABC network between 8 April and 17 June 2009. Ten episodes in total were made. Viewing figures reached a high of 6.8 million for the pilot episode and a low of 2.9 million for episode eight. In was announced in May 2009 that it would not return for a second season. The show was created by Noah Hawley, a former staff writer on the Fox network show ‘Bones’ and was promoted as a comedy-drama, a police procedural in the style of ‘M*A*S*H’. The influence is evident from the very start, but ‘The Unusuals’ fails almost entirely to emulate the brilliance of that much lauded, multi award winning series.

‘The Unusuals’ had a likeable cast, but seemingly it never decided what it wanted to be. None of the characters progressed much beyond being the vaguest of sketchy outlines and the initial premise seemed to fizzle out before going anywhere in particular. Although there was some humour, it wasn’t a comedy, even though it clearly drew inspiration from ‘Barney Miller’, a much loved comedy series that ran for eight seasons and 168 episodes between 1974 and 1982.

Each character was given a quirk, but then very little was done with it. Casey Shraeger was the daughter of extremely rich and powerful society parents and had a multi-million-dollar trust fund, but she kept this secret, wanting to be treated like everyone else and live like a “real person”. After the first few episodes, we barely ever saw her parents and when, halfway through the season, she admitted her background to her colleagues it made no difference whatsoever. Eric Delahoy was suffering from a brain tumour that he kept secret. This storyline never went anywhere, much as his relationship with the medical examiner proved to be an inconclusive dead end. His partner Leo Banks had a germ phobia and was convinced of his impending death. This seemingly reached a head in the eighth episode (‘The Dentist’), which was modelled on the classic Alfred Hitchcock film ‘Rear Window’, but there was no sense of an epiphany or any consequence seen afterwards. The same desperate lack of focus and depth affected all the other regular lead characters.

Perhaps most inexplicable is the storyline involving Henry Cole, a born-again Christian who hides a criminal past. That seems to catch up with him and results in this partner being shot. He is also indirectly implicated in the death of the partner of Jason Walsh, but although Walsh discovers the truth, he seems perfectly ready to cover it up because the force always looks after its own. I thought this storyline was a mess that became increasingly unbelievable. More so than that, ultimately there simply did not seem to be any point to it, a problem that affected so many things in the show.

‘M*A*S*H’ worked so brilliantly because the characters were memorable and the show achieved a perfect mix between comedy and making a serious statement about the reality of war. In the ten episodes of ‘The Unusuals’ the characters didn’t go anywhere and the show had nothing much to say. This meant that the implausible nature of many of the cases investigated was brought into sharp relief and instead of being quirky and humorously idiosyncratic they just ended up being silly and too far-fetched. Of course, ten episodes is not long enough to really establish a great deal and perhaps had the show survived into a second season many of these early problems would have been resolved.

In its favour, ‘The Unusuals’ had a more than competent cast who made it very easy to watch. Adam Goldberg is always very watchable and Amber Tamblyn is surely one of the best actresses of her generation. There was the grain of a good idea here and it is quite possible the show could have ironed out some of the early flaws given more time. However, the nature of American network television these days means that very few shows are given more than a handful of episodes to prove themselves – we need only to think back to ‘Wonderfalls’, a show that premiered on the Fox network in March 2004 and was cancelled after just four episodes, even though it showed obvious promise.

I have been critical of it, but I enjoyed watching ‘The Unusuals’ and its early demise is disappointing, although not at all surprising and probably not unwarranted.

Review posted 21 June 2009



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Spring Breakdown

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Rating 1


Directed by Ryan Shiraki

Written by Ryan Shiraki, based on a story by Ryan Shiraki and Rachel Dratch

Starring Amy Poehler (Gayle), Parker Posey (Becky), Rachel Dratch (Judi), Amber Tamblyn (Ashley), Missi Pyle (Charlene), Sophie Monk (Mason), Sarah Hagan (Truvy), Mae Whitman (Lydia), Seth Myers (William), Jonathan Sadowski (Doug), Justin Hartley (Todd), Will Arnett (Ted), Loretta Devine (Dr Marguerite), Patrick Fabian (Kevin) and Jay Lynch (Kay Bee Hartmann)


Gayle, Becky and Judi have been best friends since high school, but in the fifteen years that have passed by since graduation they have never grown out of being geeks who are routinely trampled on by the world around them. When Gayle, who runs a dog obedience school, is knocked back by a blind client when she asks him to go to the Amy Grant concert with her and Judi breaks up with her fiancé William, when it finally dawns on her that he is gay, they join Becky on a trip to South Padre for a college spring break. Becky has been charged by her employer Senator Kay Bee Hartmann, who is the frontrunner to become the next Vice-President, to keep her daughter Ashley out of trouble.

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My decision to watch ‘Spring Breakdown’ was based entirely on the cast. I knew next to nothing about the film and did not check any reviews first, not that they would have affected my decision. From the very first scene onwards, showing the three main characters performing ‘True Colors’ at a school talent contest, I knew the film was in trouble. The cast alone probably makes it worth more than one star for me, but otherwise I think I am being very generous giving it that one star.

‘Spring Breakdown’ is a film that perpetually feels like it might and should, in different circumstances, have been side-splittingly funny, but, apart from a few isolated chuckles brought about by the efforts of a more than competent cast, it just doesn’t raise a laugh. This film manages to be resolutely unfunny from start to finish as we watch Gayle, Becky and Judi get involved in keg parties and wet t-shirt competitions and all manner of outrageous and equally uninteresting college student hi-jinks. This is a film about three very nice people who are constantly put-upon and “unlucky in love” for that very same reason who suddenly get to do all the things they missed out on in college, only to discover, eventually, that they like who they are.

One of the reviews I have read since watching the film makes a comparison to ‘The House Bunny’ and, by coincidence, all the way through the film I could not help but think of Anna Faris whenever Amy Poehler, who I do like, was on the screen. It brought home to me once again just how effortless Faris is at playing comedy and how she seems able to transcend her material.

Poehler, Rachel Dratch, who co-wrote the story that the screenplay is based on, Will Arnett and Seth Meyer are all best known for their work on Saturday Night Live and the hit-or-miss quality of that show equates here. Meyer is currently the head writer on SNL, taking over the role from Tina Fey. He is credited with writing the sketches involving Fey impersonating Sarah Palin during the 2008 presidential election.

‘Spring Breakdown’, which apparently had a production budget a little over $12 million (although this seems a rather unlikely figure to me), was premiered at the Sundance film festival, but was then announced for release direct to DVD.

Review posted 13 June 2009



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The Russell Girl

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Rating 3


Directed by Jeff Bleckner

Written by Jill E Blotevogal

Starring Amber Tamblyn (Sarah Russell), Jennifer Ehle (Lorainne Morrissey), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (Gayle Russell), Paul Wesley (Evan Carroll), Henry Czerny (Howard Morrissey), Tim DeKay (Tim Russell), Daniel Clark (Daniel Russell), Ben Lewis (Jon Morrissey) and Max Morrow (Rick Morrissey)


Sarah Russell, who is working and living in Chicago while she waits to hear the outcome of her application to study medicine, learns that she is suffering from an aggressive form of leukaemia. She returns home to the sleepy town where she grew up, but on arrival she discovers that her application has been successful and her parents Gayle and Tim have just received the news. They think she has come home to tell them this, treating her arrival as a cause for celebration, and she keeps her illness secret from them.

She still feels guilt following the death of the young daughter of Lorainne and Howard Morrissey, who live across the street, some six years previously. The death occurred while she was babysitting and she questions whether or not her illness is karma for what happened. The death destroyed her relationship with her former boyfriend Evan Carroll, who has also recently returned to town to care for his sick father, and, so her father believes, created an invisible barrier that has prevented the family from communicating properly ever since.

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‘The Russell Girl’ is a Hallmark Hall of Fame made-for-television film that was first broadcast in January 2008. It follows a pattern familiar from previous Hallmark films, incorporating the well-worn themes of serious illness, secrets hidden, recrimination, forgiveness and salvation. In its favour, the film is expertly handled and the acting is excellent, particularly the performances of Amber Tamblyn and Jennifer Ehle, whose characters largely carry the story.

On the downside, the progression of the story is predictable and rather too glib, presenting a chocolate-box version of small-town America and offering a resolution that is too neat and too easily reached. More so, the depiction of Sarah’s illness suggests that she is suffering from little more than a severe head cold; cancer still being an illness that we seem to shy away from really wanting to confront or understand.

This is, in many ways, all the more puzzling when one considers that the main theme of this film is the failure of the various characters to communicate, while the film itself somewhat fails to communicate the seriousness of the illness, apparently deciding that the word “leukaemia” itself will be enough to convey this. As it transpires, since Sarah is clearly in denial about the seriousness of her illness, this partially ends up working in the film’s favour in a round-a-bout way, but it could perhaps have benefitted from more to highlight the seriousness of the condition and what Sarah faces because of it.

The film does conform to a long established formula, but that should certainly not take away from its many merits. After all, it has a very specific target audience in mind. Despite my criticisms, I enjoyed it immensely.

Review posted 20 April 2009



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The Unusuals (pilot episode)

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Rating 3

Created by Noah Hawley

Written by Noah Hawley

Directed by Stephen Hopkins

Starring Amber Tamblyn, Jeremy Renner, Adam Goldberg, Harold Perrineau, Kai Lennox, Joshua Close, Monique Gabriela Curnan, Chris Sarandon and Terry Kinney

Detective Casey Shreager is pulled off Vice and assigned to the New York Homicide squad following the murder of a possibly crooked cop. She is teamed up with his former partner Detective Jason Walsh (Jeremy Renner).

She quickly discovers that the squad is made up of a collection of decidedly oddball characters; Walsh seems to operate a run-down diner as a sideline that he opens sporadically as the mood takes him. Detective Eric Dalahov (Adam Goldberg) has a brain tumour that he is keeping a secret. It might explain his tendency to cry constantly, his sudden outbursts of temper and his decision to give his moustache a name. It doesn’t explain why he seems to be impervious to danger – in this pilot episode he survives falling in front of a subway train and being shot at close range with both barrels of a shotgun. His partner Detective Leo Banks (Harold Perrineau) is obsessed with germs and convinced that death is waiting around the corner for him. He permanently wears a bullet-proof vest, even in bed. Detective Eddie Alvarez is an egotist who always refers to himself in the third person and is mocked by his colleagues. Detective Henry Cole (Joshua Close) is a born again Christian who hides a delinquent past. They all have something they seem to be hiding, including Casey Shreager, who is, in reality, a “Park Avenue Princess”.

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‘The Unusuals’ is a police procedural, promoted as a comedy-drama. This pilot episode was broadcast on 8 April 2009, the first of ten episodes commissioned by the ABC Network. The viewing figures, just 6.8 million, which seems very low for the opening episode of a brand new show, and the fact that ABC has only committed to ten episodes suggests that the series may well be doomed, even at this early stage.

It is being promoted as a kind of up-dated cousin of ‘MASH’ and the similarities are evident immediately, right down to the quirky tannoy announcements. It has an old-fashioned feel that put me in mind of ‘Hill Street Blues’ and ‘Cagney & Lacey’. The planned format will have a main investigation each episode, shadowed by a second quirkier one. In this pilot, Shreager and Walsh investigate the murder, a case that Alvarez is put in charge of, while Dalahov and Banks are assigned to investigate the killing of a cat and find themselves on the trail of a serial cat killer. Dalahov and Banks are, it would seem at this early stage, likely to become quickly established as particularly popular characters with viewers. Adam Goldberg and Harold Perrineau (who played Michael Dawson in seasons one, two and four of ‘Lost’) work very well together.

Amber Tamblyn is a favourite actress of mine and has been excellent in everything I have seen her in. She is the reason I first became aware of this show when it was being cast. However, as good as she is, I could not help but have a suspicion during the pilot episode that she might be miscast here. She doesn’t seem to be a perfect fit for the character, whether as a police detective working vice and homicide, or as the “spoilt princess” daughter of rich society parents. Time will tell if this becomes more or less apparent.

I think the pilot episode was trying too hard at times and some of the humour and quirkiness was rather too obviously forced. However, it was very enjoyable and this is clearly a show with promise, although it seems unlikely to be around long enough to have sufficient time to find its niche and iron out the crinkles.

Review posted 14 April 2009



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Blackout

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Rating 2


Directed by Rigoberto Castañeda

Written by Ed Dougherty

Starring Amber Tamblyn, Aiden Gillen, Armie Hammer, Katie Stuart, Kate Jennings Grant, Emma Prescott, Andrew Tarbet and Mabel Rivera


Three strangers, all in a hurry and all apparently harbouring a secret, find themselves trapped in an elevator in an otherwise empty building. As the hours pass by tensions bubble to the surface and the true nature of the three people slowly emerges.

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I had been looking forward to watching ‘Blackout’, in spite of the fact that the tiny-budget indie film had clearly died a death before ever getting a release and I have only ever seen one proper review of it. The main draw for me is that I have a lot of time for Amber Tamblyn, who has never been less than excellent in everything I have seen her in, and this was the follow-up film by the Mexican director Rigoberto Castañeda to ‘KM31’, a film not without its flaws that was nonetheless an interesting and diverting mix of Latin folklore and J-Horror influences.

Sadly, it proves to be something of a disappointment. Castañeda doesn’t tell the story particularly well and gets bogged down in unimpressive flashy editing that adds nothing to the story and is simply annoying from the start. This is a common blight that affects the American horror genre and although ‘Blackout’ is clearly not a horror film, that is how it has been promoted.

The set-up is not original by any stretch of the imagination, but while I am not expecting Castañeda to serve up Hitchcockian levels of suspense and filmmaking expertise it could have been much better than this. I would argue that longer should have been spent introducing us to the three main characters before they end up trapped in the elevator. We get a cursory look at them, but the characterisation is sketchy and clichéd. The claustrophobia of the main setting, the confined space they are trapped in, might have been used to better effect than it is here, but once again that would require stronger characterisation. It is not the setting as such that makes the impact, but the reaction of the various characters to it. The unfolding story of each of them really needed more substance and would have been better served had their stories been told without the irritating and off-putting editing and camerawork, which just annoys and deflects attention away from what we should be concentrating on. In the end, though, what is perhaps most disappointing is that it is blatantly obvious right from the start where the story is heading, which kills the suspense that should have kept the film interesting. These are three people going to hell in a bucket (or, in this case, an elevator), but the journey surely could have been less monotonous than this.

‘Blackout’ does have a few bright spots and occasional touches that suggest what might have been achieved with a slightly different approach and a stronger hand at the helm (but see my note below). The actors are okay, Tamblyn in particular. I didn’t entirely dislike the film, but it really could and should have been a whole lot better. Its short running time, barely 72 minutes, excluding the end credits, for the version I saw, means it doesn’t outstay its welcome, but it also indicates how flimsy it is.

‘Blackout’ was filmed in Barcelona, although this is not relevant to the story and apart from the architecture of the building that houses the elevator it would otherwise seem to be an anonymous American city setting (It’s an English-language film). It was given an “R” rating in the U.S., which is the kiss of death for a film like this, given the wholly stymied nature of American cinema these days. If the entry at IMDb is to be believed, the version of the film released in Germany and the European film market has a running time of 120 minutes. If that is true, it might go some way towards explaining my disappointment at what appears on the surface to be a very threadbare enterprise and suggests that Castañeda’s original film has been butchered.

The British filmmaker Asif Kapedia recently commented that making ‘The Return’ had been a real eye opener for him because having been hired to make the film he immediately became embroiled in Hollywood politics and was quickly pushed to one side in the creative process, leading to a film that bore little relation to his original vision. Perhaps Castañeda has suffered a similar fate.

By the by, I think the opening credits of ‘Blackout’ are appalling and this is something that usually does not bother me too much one way or the other.

Review posted 27 March 2009




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Spiral

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Rating 3½


Directed by Adam Green and Joel David Moore

Written by Jeremy Daniel Boreing and Joel David Moore

Starring Joel David Moore, Zachary Levi and Amber Tamblyn


Mason (Joel David Moore) is an aspiring artist and jazz enthusiast. He is also socially dysfunctional and borderline disturbed. He works for a telemarketing company, although he is clearly unsuitable for the job. His floor manager Berkeley (Zachary Levi) is the only person he is able to communicate with on any level. Mason’s life slowly begins to change when he meets Amber (Amber Tamblyn), a friendly but seemingly lonely young woman who has come to work at the company. Mason and Amber form a friendship and she starts to sit for him while he paints a series of portraits of her. They soon become lovers, but Mason is haunted by a recurring nightmare.

This is a mood piece, its theme established by the rainy setting of Portland, Oregon, and the effective use of jazz as the background music. Early shots of a street-corner diner immediately bring to mind Edward Hopper’s famous ‘Nighthawks at the Diner’ painting, with its lost and displaced figures. Although described by some as a horror film, presumably because Moore and his co-director Adam Green had previously worked together on the slasher movie ‘Hatchet’, it is no such thing. As has been pointed out elsewhere, it has more in common with Hitchcockian thrillers – for example, ‘Vertigo’ – although that is not to say it should be considered as a work in anyway comparable to the master filmmaker.

Critics were mixed in their reaction to the film. Some were favourable, but others were very hostile. The film critic Brian Orndorf referred to “poor actors” and a “rotten screenplay” and described the film as, “a low-budget cinematic learning curve that should’ve remained a private educational tool for two filmmakers in dire need of storytelling practice.”

Admittedly, the film is flawed and the eventual outcome all too obvious. Moore’s portrayal of Mason doesn’t so much take him to the edge of madness – he has long since jumped over into the void. It is not immediately clear why Amber trusts him so readily, unless perhaps we choose to suspect she is not all she seems, a suggestion the film does not obviously promote. The strange friendship between Mason and Berkeley and the bond that clearly holds them together should have been explored more deeply. Having said this, the film is about a person whose mind has fragmented and it is presented to us in a similarly fragmented way. Its faults accepted, the story is effectively told at a leisurely pace and the characters are interesting enough to hold our attention.

I liked it a lot.



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Normal Adolescent Behavior

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Rating 2½


Written and directed by Beth Schacter

Starring Amber Tamblyn, Kelli Garner, Ashton Holmes, Julie Garro, Edward Tournier, Steven Coletti, Raviv Ullman, Daryl Sabara, Hilarie Burton and Kelly Lynch


Wendy (Amber Tamblyn) lives in an affluent community and is a senior at a private high school where alternative teaching methods are employed. This is demonstrated in a scene in which a philosophy class is taking place out on the campus. Shaun (Ashton Holmes), a student newly arrived at the school, points out a factual error and is told by the teacher that mistakes are not corrected in the class. The teacher says, “We don’t correct. We add and we contribute. But everything said at the table has merit.”

Wendy is one of a group of friends, three female and three male, who have known each other since kindergarten and have formed a tight and insular clique, into which nobody else is allowed to encroach, protecting themselves and each other from the outside world. These six friends engage in regular group sex-sessions, taking a different partner from within the group each time, to establish that the collective is more important than the individual. Their credo is, “No secrets. No inhibitions. No apologies.” Outside of the group, the rest of the school community frequent wild parties at which the girls routinely perform fellatio on multiple partners, all served up with free-flowing alcohol, recreational drugs and wall-to-wall pornography.

Wendy and Shaun, who are neighbours, are attracted to one another, but Wendy attempts to back away from her growing feelings, telling him, “I don’t live in that world… of disposable girlfriends. Of blowjobs for bracelets. Of macking and hooking up and going down and text-messaging some asshole who will cum all over my shirt.” However, she does become his girlfriend, causing fractures and resentments in her relationship with her friends.

The teenagers not only think of nothing but sex, but also engage in it rampantly – cold, soulless, meaningless sex, in which the girls allow themselves to be unendingly used by the boys and disposed of at will. Through our fleeting glimpses of Shaun’s parents and Wendy’s mother it is suggested this social dysfunction is carried through into adult life. Wendy and her friends have created a bubble world to protect themselves and each other from the merry-go-round of misogynist cruelty, but their relationships with one another are equally as unhealthy and screwed up.

The film tells a thoroughly nasty and depressing story about the reality of teenage life and, with very few exceptions, the characters are not at all likeable. Most, in fact, are distinctly dislikeable, although it is easy to identify why they behave in this way. I did not find it an especially enjoyable film, not least because I have an extremely low tolerance for watching teenage sex before I become heartily sick of it, and the message it contains is distinctly disheartening. It was, at least, attempting to say something and I would recommend it with a degree of caution.

‘Normal Adolescent Behavior’ was the debut film of writer and director Beth Schacter. The editing is rather rough around the edges at times, perhaps betraying a certain degree of inexperience. In some quarters the film was dismissed as a rip-off of ‘Thirteen’. I have not seen that film as yet, so I cannot comment either way.

The film premiered at the TriBeCa Film Festival in 2007, but it failed to pick up a theatrical distributor and went to Lifetime Television. For reasons best known to themselves, New Line Cinema released the DVD with the title changed to ‘Normal Adolescent Behavior: Havoc 2’, even though it bears no relation whatsoever to the 2005 Anne Hathaway film ‘Havoc’.



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Stephanie Daley

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Rating 4


Written and directed by Hilary Brougher

Starring Tilda Swinton, Amber Tamblyn, Timothy Hutton, Halley Feiffer and Denis O’Hare


Tilda Swinton, who was also executive producer of this extraordinary film, plays Lydie Crane, a forensic psychologist who is brought in by the prosecutor’s office to conduct a series of interviews with Stephanie Daley, a sixteen-year-old girl, played by Amber Tamblyn, who is accused of the murder of her prematurely born child following a pregnancy she claims not to have even been aware of. Lydie Crane is 29 weeks pregnant when the interviews begin, having given birth to a stillborn baby the previous year after 23 weeks of pregnancy. Stephanie Daley gave birth to her baby in a toilet stall after 26 weeks.

The story takes place in a small, picturesque American town, in which the church, local community and high school all instil strong Christian values into Stephanie. She is also the product of parents who no longer seem able to communicate with one another and she bends to the peer-pressure of her best friend Rhana, played by Halley Feiffer - an actress who was previously very impressive in the film ‘The Squid and the Whale’.

As the interviews slowly unfold we learn more about Stephanie and how her journey also informs that of Lydie, who carries unspoken doubts about both her pregnancy and her marriage to Paul (played by the ever-reliable Timothy Hutton).

Hilary Brougher, the writer and director, has done a tremendous job. Her only previous film, a lesbian sci-fi romantic thriller called ‘The Sticky Fingers of Time’, was made seven years previously. Both films brought her excellent reviews - and with ‘Stephanie Daley’ several award nominations at prestigious film festivals.

Tilda Swinton gives a superb performance, which is perhaps not surprising. I cannot bring to mind an acting performance by her I have seen that is not noteworthy. However, the acting honours must go to Amber Tamblyn, if only for one particularly unsettling scene that I found quite harrowing. To say more about it would be to give away too much of the story, but suffice to say it is a scene that leaves a powerful impression.

The film tackles a difficult subject in a quiet, considered and thought-provoking way and I strongly recommend it.



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Joan of Arcadia

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Created by Barbara Hall

Starring Amber Tamblyn, Joe Mantegna, Mary Steenbergen, Jason Ritter, Michael Welch, Becky Wahlstrom and Chris Marquette


This show was cancelled at the end of its second season in April 2005 and I missed out on it when it was shown on, I believe, the Living channel in the UK. I’ve long wanted to see it, partly because of the cast, partly because of the comparison to the brilliant ‘Dead Like Me’, and partly because of the premise of the show and its take on faith, which sounded interesting. All I can say is, hoorah for R1 DVDs.

I haven’t made it into season two as yet, so my selection of the show as my discovery of 2007 from the past is based solely on the first season. It’s not just as good as I had hoped; it has exceeded my expectations. I can understand the comparisons to ‘Dead Like Me’, but like all of these shows the obvious influence is ‘My So-Called Life’. The supernatural element of the show might drive the narrative, but in some ways it is incidental to it. The relationship between the various characters is what really matters.

It’s sentimental and likes to resolve stories with a positive moral outcome, lacking the edge of ‘My So-Called Life’ in that respect, but these are not faults - and even if sometimes the resolutions are a little glib it is not a criticism.

The cast is great. I’ve yet to see Amber Tamblyn in anything where she has not impressed me. It’s been too long since I last saw Mary Steenbergen in anything and it has reminded me that I must check out her 1979 film ‘Time After Time’ again.

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God: “Hey kid, it’s me. You need proof? Fine. Sometimes you like to practice French kissing yourself on the mirror.”
Joan: “Why do you have to be so mean? Look, that was my dad who turned you off last night, so if there’s some kind of penalty, then I…”
God: “Fine. He shall spend all of eternity burning in Hell.”
Joan: “No! No… No… No! My dad’s a really great man.”
God: “I’m kidding. There’s no penalty for turning me off. Hey, just because I speak doesn’t mean anyone has to listen.”
Joan: “Really?”
God: “Yeah. Freewill is one of my better innovations. I give suggestions, not assignments.”
Joan: “I feel a suggestion coming on.”
God: “Stop squandering the potential I gave you. Stop under-achieving. Have some pride.”
Joan: “Wait… In what, like, school?”

The obvious shows that ‘Joan of Arcadia’ (CBS 26 September 2003 – 22 April 2005) might be compared with are ‘My So-Called Life’ (ABC 25 August 1994 – 26 January 1995), ‘Dead Like Me’ (Showtime 27 June 2003 – 31 October 2004) and, of course, ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ (WB/UPN 10 March 1997 – 20 May 2003).

Another show often mentioned is ‘Wonderfalls’ (Fox 12 March 2004 – 15 December 2004), which I have never seen.

The first thing to note about these various shows is that they all emanate from different networks and with the exception of ‘Buffy’ they were all cancelled prematurely.

The next thing to note is the importance of ‘My So-Called Life’, which clearly had a huge impact on all of the other shows mentioned – perhaps omitting ‘Wonderfalls’, which I am not qualified to comment on. However, I must avoid the trap of assuming that ‘My So-Called Life’ suddenly emerged out of a black hole, any more than ‘Buffy’ came into existence without influences and pre-existing source material.

‘The Wonder Years’ (ABC 15 March 1988 – 12 May 1993) comes to mind and even, for all of its very obvious faults, ‘Beverly Hills 90210’ (Fox 4 October 1990 – 17 May 2000). ‘Party of Five’ (Fox 12 September 1994 – 3 May 2000) also comes to mind – and also ‘The X Files’ (Fox 10 September 1993 – 19 May 2002), although the influence of this particular show is more abstract. What is most obvious about these last three shows mentioned is that they were all broadcast on FOX and it seems apparent that network has been desperately searching for replacement shows ever since – and adopting an increasingly trigger-happy cancellation policy as part of this search. It does have the ratings hits ‘House’ and ‘Bones’ these days, of course.


‘Joan of Arcadia’ tells the story of the Giradi family. Will Giradi (played by Joe Mantegna) and his wife Helen (Mary Steenburgen) move their family to Arcadia in Maryland (the external shots of the town were actually filmed in Wilmington, Delaware) to make a fresh start, eighteen months after an automobile accident that left their eldest son Kevin (Jason Ritter – the son of John Ritter) a bitter, wheelchair-bound paraplegic. The family is completed by middle child Joan (Amber Tamblyn), and Luke (Michael Welch), the youngest of the three children.

Will Giradi becomes the new Chief of Police, taking over a police department that has been hit by media allegations of incompetence and corruption. He demands strict adherence to procedural guidelines and this puts him into conflict with his officers and the local District Attorney’s office. Helen works part time in the administration office at the local high school Joan and Luke attend. The School Principal is a distant figure and the Deputy Principal is a destructive influence who constantly stifles the creative urges of his students.

Kevin was a star basketball player at his high school and had a sports scholarship to attend the University of Arizona prior to his accident. His once very close relationship with his father is now fraught and distant. He is angry and bitter, prone to feelings of self-pity. Joan shows little aptitude for academic study and is constantly sent to the Principal’s office for various minor misdemeanours. She finds it hard to make friends at her new school, especially when circumstances conspire to bring her together with Grace Polk (Becky Wahlstrom), an aggressively hostile loner, whose sexuality is a matter of constant discussion amongst other students, and Adam Rove (Christopher Marquette), a troubled teenager who agonises about the death of his mother. He is written off by the school system as a “stoner”, which he isn’t, although he might be a high-functioning autistic.

Luke Giradi is a science geek who has a crush on Grace.

Joan is visited by God in the guise of a variety of outwardly normal people and instructed to undertake various seemingly inconsequential tasks that create a butterfly effect, affecting those around her. The first time she sees God it is in the guise of a “cute boy” who she crushes on (played by Kris Lemche – a Canadian actor who starred in the films ‘Ginger Snaps’ and ‘Final Destination 3’). God comes to her again in this guise, but on other occasions it is as a small girl, a mime, a garbage collector, a chess master, a naval officer, a homeless person, a substitute teacher, a flight attendant and a security guard, amongst others.

Joan: “Who are you?”
Cute Boy: “I’ve known you since before you were born, Joan.”
Joan: “I’m going to ask you one more time.”
Cute Boy: “I am God.”
Joan: “You’re what?”
Cute Boy: “God.”
Joan: “Don’t. Ever. Talk. To. Me. Again.”

Joan: “And, I’m supposed to believe you… because?”
God: “Because you have a feeling.”
Joan: “No, I don’t.”
God: “How about you believe me if I agree to overlook that promise you didn’t keep.”
Joan: “What promise?”
God: “Let’s see, that you would study hard, stop talking back, clean your room, and even go to church, if I recall, if I let your brother live.”
Joan: “How did you know about that?”
God: “Omniscient! Look it up.”
Joan: “So… you let my brother live, and now you’re here to collect?”
God: “No. I don’t bargain. That would be cruel.”

No one knows that Joan speaks to God – and no one seems to notice her talking to the various people whose guises God apparently assumes.

Joan: “That was close. Why didn’t he see you?” (Referring to her brother Luke)
God: “Just didn’t notice me. That happens a lot.”

The story leads us to the conclusion that this really is God, but it allows room to speculate if these conversations with God are actually delusions or hallucinations, if we so wish.


Subjects tackled include a serial killer who targets teenage girls, rape, cheerleading, teenage pregnancy, police brutality and racism, and different kinds of prejudices, not always intended, against people with disabilities.

In the episode ‘Just Say No’ (s1 e4) a woman who was brutally raped discovers that her attacker will not be charged with the crime because on the night of the attack she was mistakenly breathalysed when she attempted to report what had happened to the police, the result indicating alcohol in her bloodstream, the equivalent of one glass of red wine, enough to sway a jury in favour of the accused, an outwardly articulate middle-class white man. A senior detective working on the case doctors the police report to remove the evidence of the breath test and the District Attorney makes plans to prosecute the case, but Will Giradi discovers the deception and fires the officer in question. In the same episode we learn that Helen Girardi was raped when she was a college student and her attacker was never apprehended, a traumatic event that has haunted both her and Will ever since – and, within this episode, leads to a breakdown of communications between Helen and Joan.

Nate Dushku, brother of Eliza, is featured in this episode.

In the episode ‘Bringeth It On’ (s1 e6), which deals with teenage pregnancy and the ostracisation of girls who become pregnant, Joan tries out to become a cheerleader, on instructions from God, and alienates Grace in the process.

CeeCee: “So, what do you feel most qualifies you to be a cheerleader?”
Joan: “Um, I saw Bring it On.”
CeeCee: “Oh My God! Bring It On is, like, the majorest of cheer films!”

For her initial tryout, Joan makes up her own cringe inducing on the spot “cheer”:

“Well, I can’t do any stunts
No… NO!
And how about jumps?
So-so
So why am I here?
Well, it’s really odd
But I’m here to cheer on a mission from God
So put me in the game or leave me on the bench
So you can go to heaven and I'll get out of French”

‘Joan of Arcadia’ was created by Barbara Hall, whose other credits include ‘Northern Exposure’ and ‘Judging Amy’. Hart Hanson was a writer on the show. His previous credits also includes ‘Judging Amy’ and he went on to create ‘Bones’.

I first came across Amber Tamblyn when she played Janice in the ‘Buffy’ episode ‘All The Way’ (2001). She was one of the two schoolgirls in the opening sequence of ‘The Ring’ (2002). She was one of the four leads in ‘The Sisterhood Of The Travelling Pants’ (2005), which grossed $39 million at the US box office, enough for a sequel, which is due for release sometime in 2008. She played the lead role in ‘The Grudge 2’ (2006).

Tamblyn is the daughter of the actor Russ Tamblyn.



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The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants

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Rating 3


Directed by Ken Kwapis

Written by Delia Ephron and Elizabeth Chandler, from the novel by Ann Brashares

Starring Amber Tamblyn, America Ferrera, Alexis Bledel, Blake Lively, Jenna Boyd, Bradley Whitford and Nancy Travis


I make no apologises for liking this film. Well, actually, by saying it I am doing just that. This is a film with a specific target audience in mind – and that is most definitely not an old cynic of considerable decrepitude, like me.

‘The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants’ is a coming-of-age story and in some ways it puts me in mind of the 1991 film ‘My Girl’. On this occasion the story concerns four teenage friends, telling their individual but interlocking tales during their summer vacation.

I must admit I found Bridget (Blake Lively) difficult to like until the very end of her story. Equally, the “Greek Tragedy” story of Lena (Alexis Bledel – probably best known for her role in the TV show ‘Gilmore Girls’) is a little bit too “chocolate box” and superficial for me, but that is probably just my in-built cynicism kicking in.

The story of Carmen (America Ferrara – now famous for the TV show ‘Ugly Betty’) works quite well. I must admit I find it hard to accept Bradley Whitford (‘The West Wing’ and ‘Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip’) as her father, but it’s nice to see Nancy Travis again. I like her very much, but it has been a long time since films like ‘The Vanishing’ and ‘I Married An Axe Murderer’.

My favourite story concerns Tibby, played by Amber Tamblyn. Is it actually possible not to like Tamblyn? I find it doubtful. She is a very engaging actor. I must also mention Jenna Boyd (who was just eleven-years-old at the time), in the role of Bailey. She gives a great performance and I have to admit this story left me with a tear in my eye.

The film is schmaltzy and overly sentimental, but it has a big heart, and it’s nice for a change to watch something that doesn’t give in to cynicism, something that is such a trap for us all so much of the time.



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The Ring

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Rating 3¾


Directed by Gore Verbinski

Written by Ehren Kruger, based on 'Ringu' written by Hiroshi Takahashi, based on the book by Koji Suzuki

Starring Naomi Watts, Brian Cox, Jane Alexander, Rachael Bella and Amber Tamblyn


J-Horror films, although I’ve always associated them with the influence of the famous Val Lewton RKO films of the 1940s and things like ‘The Spiral Staircase’, are a continuation of Japanese ghost stories and Yūrei, ghosts or spirits that have not gained entry into the afterlife. In particular, the films deal with Onryō, ghosts that are able to return to the physical world to seek vengeance. The physical appearance of Onryō, ghostly white make-up and long unkempt black hair, was established during the Edo period, between 1603 and 1868.

‘The Ring’, in keeping with all other American remakes of “overseas” films, has come in for some criticism, the assumption apparently being that American filmmakers are incapable of making films of the same artistic quality as European and, in the case of the recent glut of J-Horror films, Japanese and South Korean film-makers. However, this one faired much better than most. 166 reviews collected at Rotten Tomatoes result in a 71% fresh rating. The original Japanese film gets a 100% rating from 16 reviews. However, it is worth noting that the Japanese sequel, ‘Ringu 2’, ends up with an inexplicable 0% rating from 15 reviews.

‘The Ring’ achieved a worldwide box office gross of $249 million against a production budget a little under $50 million. It was this success that led to ‘The Grudge’ and the success of that film that opened the door to ‘Dark Water’ and ‘Pulse’.

The film uses a trick borrowed from ‘Scream’ (one that ‘Urban Legend’ also used) and opens with a lengthy sequence involving a peripheral character who will meet a grizzly end and not be seen again. In this case, it’s Amber Tamblyn, in a nicely judged scene with Rachael Bella that almost pays homage to slasher films and gives the false impression that what is about to follow is a teen horror movie.

Probably the most celebrated scene in the film takes place on the ferry during the rain storm when a horse goes mad, breaks out of its horsebox, chases Rachel, the main character, played by Naomi Watts, and leaps over the bow of the boat, plunging to its death into the stormy sea below.

The film’s greatest asset, the superb visual use of the landscapes to one side, is Naomi Watts, who is an actor of exceptional talent. Her very pale and expressive features are perfect for her role here. She also starred in the 2005 sequel, which was directed by Hideo Nakata, the Japanese director of ‘Ringu 2’ and ‘Honogurai Mizu No Soko Kara’, the original version of ‘Dark Water’. I seem to be one of the few people to actually like the sequel.

‘The Ring’ was directed by Gore Verbinski, who subsequently went on to direct the three parts of the hugely successful ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ trilogy.



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The Grudge 2

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Rating 2¾


Directed by Takashi Shimizu

Written by Stephen Susco

Starring Amber Tamblyn, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Arielle Kebbel, Jennifer Beals, Sarah Roemer and Edison Chen


It could be argued that having already made four Japanese-language versions of ‘Ju-on’, with a fifth one apparently in pre-production, as well as directing a Hollywood remake of ‘Ju-on: The Grudge’, there was really no need for Takashi Shimizu to make a sequel to that widely unloved American rewrite.

In the end, money talked loudest. ‘The Grudge’ was a very big box office hit and ‘The Grudge 2’ was inevitable. This one has nothing in common with ‘Ju-on: The Grudge 2’, whereas the first Hollywood film was a relatively faithful retelling of it’s original source material. Clearly, the intention here was to pave the way for a third film to be set in America. Indeed, a third film has been announced, although not this time with Takashi Shimizu at the helm.

‘The Grudge 2’ doesn’t break any new ground and there is nothing here that isn’t already present in the first film. Shimizu employs his usual technique of cutting up several seemingly unconnected strands and weaving them into an incoherent whole that employs a non-linear timeframe. The story takes precedence over the characters, who are largely reduced to ciphers. I’m not at all sure what purpose there is in making the mother of Karen and Aubrey so unpleasant – confining her love to the older daughter only and making it so obvious – but it doesn’t take up much of the plot.

I’ve watched the film three or four times now and while I don’t claim it is a great film by any means I have enjoyed it more on each occasion. It certainly benefits from the presence of Amber Tamblyn, who is a very likeable and guileless actress.



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