‘Parkland’ misses the mark on DVD
Dallas. November 22, 1963. 12:38pm. Wounded President John F. Kennedy is rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where a frantic trauma team struggles in vain to save him. Precisely forty-eight hours later, the same personnel would attend to the President’s mortally wounded assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. Adapting Vincent Bugliosi’s acclaimed non-fiction book Four Days in November, first-time writer-director Peter Landesman gathers a star-studded cast (including Zac Efron, Paul Giamatti, and Academy Award-winners Billy Bob Thornton and Marcia Gay Harden) to deliver an ensemble based procedural drawn from the accounts of the medical staff, investigators, and the ordinary citizens who witnessed the world-changing events first-hand.
Now in stores on DVD, audiences will not find anything new or integral to the JFK Assassination in Parkland, this is not that film. Instead it remains content to merely play out and display the actions of the bystanders of that act. Parkland does manage to present better on the home screen though as the benefits of home viewing, being able to step away easily and pause when required, greatly helps the watchability of a film that felt dull and overlong in theaters. Not everything works though as the film features a story thread involving the secret service agent who originally interview Oswald months before that either needs to be more fleshed out or excised all together as it remains very underdeveloped and awkward. This is a straight procedural in every sense of the word, there is little character history or backstory that is explored, just the events of the 4 days are displayed.
TIFF 2013: Parkland
Dallas. November 22, 1963. 12:38pm. Wounded President John F. Kennedy is rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where a frantic trauma team struggles in vain to save him. Precisely forty-eight hours later, the same personnel would attend to the President’s mortally wounded assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. Adapting Vincent Bugliosi’s acclaimed non-fiction book Four Days in November, first-time writer-director Peter Landesman gathers a star-studded cast (including Zac Efron, Paul Giamatti, and Academy Award-winners Billy Bob Thornton and Marcia Gay Harden) to deliver an ensemble based procedural drawn from the accounts of the medical staff, investigators, and ordinary citizens who witnessed the world-changing events first-hand.
You will not find anything new or integral to the JFK Assassination in Parkland, this is not that film. Instead it remains content to merely play out and display the actions of the bystanders of that act. The film in many regards just sits there as it does little to draw the audience into the proceedings, other than what the audience brings to it. The film also features a failed story thread involving the secret service agent who originally interview Oswald months before that either needs to be more fleshed out or excised all together as it just sits hanging through most of the film as an afterthought.
The film features some decent performances, Paul Giammati, James Badge Dale and Marcia Gay Harden are all great, and one terribly unconvincing and terribly dull performance from Zac Efron. Sadly Efron is front and center here as one of JFK’s surgeons and in the midst of the other more seasoned performers sticks out like a sore thumb. And it’s that thumb that nearly ruins the whole experience.
‘The Lone Ranger’ arrives guns-a-blazin in theaters
New to theaters today is the latest action opus from the team behind the first 3 “Pirates of the Caribbean” films, director Gore Verbinski and his star Johnny Depp, and the animated “Rango”, “The Lone Ranger”. The iconic figure and his partner Tonto started off as the stars of their own radio show in the 1930’s which morphed to film serials and a TV show by the late 40’s. Now after decades away from any screen, Disney has opted to bring back the pair for a blockbuster summer tentpole release complete with dazzling action set pieces and a star studded cast.
The Lone Ranger
Starring Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer, William Fichter, Tom Wilkinson, Ruth Wilson, James Badge Dale, Barry Pepper and Helena Bonham Carter
Written by Justin Haythe, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio
Directed by Gore Verbinski
The Lone Ranger is bookend by a story in the 1930’s with a much older Native American spirit warrior Tonto (Depp) recounting the untold tale of the adventure that transformed John Reid (Hammer), a man of the law, into a legend of justice. In the late 1800’s , after his brother (Badge Dale) meets his untimely end at the hands of Butch Cavendish (Ficther), the presumed dead John Reid is nursed back to health by Tonto. Donning a mask to hide his identity, the duo set out upon a path of vengeance that ends up leading them to somewhere unexpected.
Brad Pitt’s ‘World War Z’ is a barely watchable mess with little bite
Brad Pitt teams with director Marc Forster to bring to life the Max Brooks novel “World War Z” to the big screen, at least in title. The film script bears little resemblance to the flashback laden, post war accounts that make up the book, and the infected ‘zombies’ here exhibit a pack mentality and bare a closer resemblance to the rage infected victims of “28 Days Later” than anything George Romero has ever created.
World War Z
Starring Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Daniella Kertesz, James Badge Dale, Matthew Fox., David Morse, Fana Mokoena, Peter Capaldi and Moritz Bleibtreu
Written by Matthew Michael Carnahan, Drew Goddard, Damon Lindelof and Michael Straczynski
Directed by Marc Forster
After barely escaping New Jersey alive after a daring rooftop helicopter rescue, former United Nations employee Gerry Lane (Pitt) traverses the world on behest of his former employers to stop a Zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatening to decimate humanity itself. (more…)
‘Iron Man 3’ starts the summer box office off on the right foot
On the heels of last year’s mega smash hit “The Avengers” Marvel Studios and Disney, in partnership with Paramount Pictures, brings us the newest installment of one of the Avenger’s key players, Iron Man 3. With this film, Robert Downey Jr. fulfills his Tony Stark contract quota and has fuelled speculation that he may be done donning the iron suit for good. Whether this is the case or not, it would be hard to argue that he has not left the character in a far better place than he started with it.
Iron Man 3
Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Ben Kingsley, Rebecca Hall, James Badge Dale, William Sadler and Jon Favreau
Written by Drew Pearce and Shane Black
Directed by Shane Black
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