Riding in cars with boys, 2001

Riding in Cars with Boys, 2001
Director: Penny Marshall
Cast: Drew Barrymore, Steve Zahn, Adam Garcia, Brittany Murphy



Stage: Home TV selection, late Sunday night.


Riding in short: Seriocomic story based on the memoir by Beverly Donofrio, the movie follows a young woman who finds her life radically altered by an event from her teen years. Born in 1950, Beverly grew up bright and ambitious in a working-class neighborhood in Connecticut; her father was a tough but good-hearted cop who listened to his daughter's problems, and her mother was a nervous woman eager to imagine the worst. From an early age, Beverly displays a keen intelligence and an interest in literature, and dreams of going to college in New York and becoming a writer. However, she also develops an early interest in boys, and at 15 finds herself madly in love with a boy from her high school. However, an attempt to get his attention leads to an embarassing incident at a party, and Ray, a sweet but thick-headed 18-year-old, steps forward to defend her. Beverly and Ray end up making out, and after one thing leads to another...



Preps: Hm. Drew Barrymore, Brittany Murphy. I am interested. Plus, seeing the trailer, kinda draggs my attention. I would like to see someone in a role of a "single mum", making on her own.



Reality: Well, the movie has a strong message. Don't get pregnant at 15 if you don't have any means to support your family. It happens to two best friends, each one with a different background, hence, different Chances to succeed in life. To marry because you are obliged to due to a child seems nonsense, however, in some environments or time, the only thing possible.

I personalize with the movie, because I am a child deriving from the same environment. My two got married because of the pregnancy, disregarding the fact they weren't meant to last (which they knew when they got hitched), anyhow, it ended up in a divorce and me being the only child with a single and very poor mother. Somehow very similar to this storyline, depicted here. In some sense, I believe people with a similar story, will find this one to be extremely deep and filled with emotions, without any possible escape to live up her dreams, as Drew Barrymore (Beverly) so intensively wants to. The difference is that having a child and making a decision when you are 15 (when you almost completely depend on the parents) is one thing. My mother in this case was fully adult and way beyond 18 when this happened. The point is, that no matter when it happens, it's never a walk in the park, if you don't have the financial backup and are a single mother (or father for that matter).

In some sense, the movie wouldn't be as emotional if the roles were given to a single father. I believe the target audience for this piece to be women, beyond 30, possibly with a child. So you can easily interact and depict yourself in the same situation.
I must confess I wanted to stop watching the movie after 20 minutes. It didn't have any energy, I thought the dialogues were awful. As if the movie was from 1980, not 2000. The characters were lame, Drew or Murphy were awful. I thought this would be a painful experience, I hated the scenes, found the words outspoken, stupid as hell.
Then something changed. When the couple decides to have a baby despite the youth and get married, I am suddenly interested, whether they would make it and how the flow is going to continue. Hence, I didn't stop watching, and was deeply rewarded for this. The movie directly reminded me of my deceased mother and was indeed painful, however in true dramatic sense. I was amazed by the way this mother and her child handled everyday truth and challenges, and how one or another made everything revolve around them, disregarding the world around. As I saw the wreck that the father became, it also reminded me on my own situation and my own feelings when I was just in my early twenties.

In any case, for me the piece brought some interactions with my history and therefore I liked it. I wouldn't disregard my first feeling about it. I think most of the audience, that cannot connect on this level, won't find it attractive enough to watch it to its end.





My personal rating: 7,0 (The movie was something personal to me, as I could personalize with the characters, the situation and I could see my mum carrying the same burden for my complete childhood)


Riding in cars with boys on IMDB

Don't say a word, 2001

Don't say a word, 2001
Director:Gary Fleder
Cast: Michael Douglas, Sean Bean, Brittany Murphy, Famke Janssen


Don't say a word in short: When the daughter of a psychiatrist is kidnapped, he's horrified to discover that the abductors' demand is that he break through to a post traumatic stress disorder suffering young woman who knows a secret...


Stage: Home TV selection
Preps: None in perticular. The movie catches my eye while lying down after a hard day. It seems familiar, although I cannot verify seeing it yet.


Reality: I am a deep fan of the genre, in its best it fits the needs of my curious soul. The kidnapping of a child and combining it with a psychologist as a father and Douglas's energy seems like a good recipe for victory, from the director's perspective. It doesn't go too deep into revealing the secrets that the kidnapper have, however it maintains a thin red line between the beginning and the end - the precious jewel that the kidnapper wants to take his hands on.

The story inbetween (Douglas chasing his daughter) is just some sort of filling. The real thing lies in the revealing of a secret of a psychotic young woman (brilliantly played by Brittany Murphy) and finally the turnover at the end, when you think that everything is won by the dark side.

The kidnapping part seems much more harder to believe (and the means to getting to the young woman with a secret by Douglas)than the mere idea of getting the stone and not thinking of the means used on the path to get it. The movie is a decent replica of many of the kind (or more accurately, one decent in a line of many decent movies in this topic, like Taken, for instance).

A lot of action, changes of scenery. Some dialogues put very poorly together, the monitoring of the wife of the shrink put to perfection (in this sense, not very believable). A good Saturday evening choice, to my opinion. It will set your feelings on tension until its very end.




My personal rating: 6,5 (a pretty decent psychological drama, just adequate to fit the needs of a good evening. Douglas in his best age and act)



Don't say a word on IMDB

Deadline, 2009

Deadline, 2009
Director: Sean McCornville
Cast: Thora Birch, Brittany Murphy, Marc Blucas


Deadline in short: Alice, 32, a writer recovering from a psychological breakdown retreats to a remote Victorian house to convalesce and focus on completing her screenplay in time for a fast approaching deadline. Shortly after her arrival, mysterious noises and strange happenings cause her imagination to run wild, sending her on a twisting and terrifying pursuit to find out what is behind the endless mind games.




Stage: Home theatre, the third one in the row. Had to be brilliant at least to catch my attention


Preps: Also a movie I don't have a clue about. I just got it somewhere and it was in a row of all those that seek my attention.


Reality: It drags my attention, as the cast shows up. Murphy, isn't this the girl that died just a few months ago, young and healthy? Well, the history proves that the work of someone that just died, can trigger interest or more interest than ever. I am inspired right away. The story is somehow good, the house is old and the saying - Old houses are like old people, they cry in pain, I love it. And it's the perfect scene for a horror.

Pursuing the original thought, I await anxiously to see something HItchock - like or even close. This one isn't even close. But it has some good turnovers and some good changes of the time and space. You float from reality (Brittany) to the past (Thora) and I love the way Brittany finally takes over the role that Thora Birch (Lucy) had in the past. Even has her dress and wears her jewelery.

Apart from the psychological aspect, the movie can be a bit boring, it loses my attention in the middle, but gains and repays in the end. Not a bad attempt, although a very american and Hollywood - praiser.

The idea, that loneliness drives you mad is perticulary highlighted in the movie. It reminds me of The Others (see it, a very good one!), The Shining (even more brilliant - Jack Nicholson's one of the best ones). I couldn't agree with it more, here it isn't evolved in a way I would buy it. And it turns out the horror is in flesh and bones. I would prefer it in a ghost shape :)



My personal rating: 7,5 (yes, a re-make. Yes, an attempt of horror. But I love the ending. Made me doubt about the whole essence and think about it all over again. And yes, it proves that music or lack of it makes the horror, not the actors or act itself.)

Deadline on IMDB
Official (Myspace) Site
Britt on Wiki