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CINDERELLA MAN gets a quick jab to the ribs by this reviewer!
SPOILER ALERT !!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with an early review of Ron Howard's CINDERELLA MAN. Now this review isn't all too positive, but it's also not all too negative either. To me that seems to be the danger with having a writer like Akiva Goldsman. He can write some decent stuff like A TIME TO KILL, but he can also go over the hump and shoot out turds like LOST IN SPACE and BATMAN & ROBIN. I'd say most of his stuff is in a middle ground... not too bad, but not too great either... THE CLIENT, I ROBOT, A BEAUTIFUL MIND, etc. I'm pulling for CINDERELLA MAN to work as I like most involved. For a look at what this below reviewer thought worked and didn't work, give a read below. He goes into spoilers towards the end, but I'll make sure to alert ya' in red before then!
Harry!
All my life I've wanted to write you with some sort of scoop. At last the day has come. I was privy to a special-circumstance preview screening of "Cinderella Man" If I divulged more particulars, people would be set upon with thumb-screws by the powers that be... but trust me on this - it's the real deal.
We were told off the top that this was in fact the FINAL CUT of the film. Well, there's still some time till release... I mean, who's to say someone doesn't change their mind a bit? Anyway, the film cut we saw was fully polished - ie. complete film with all scenes, all final vfx, sound, music, titles...
It's l..o..n..g...... it's about 140 min.
I won't waste your time (nor readers') with plot details. Yes, yes, our boy Russ plays Jim Braddock, Depression era boxer who beats Max Baer for world title circa 1933...
In a nutshell:
Good things about this movie:
*Renee
*Giamatti
*cinematography
*production design
Bad things about this movie:
*Crowe
*screenplay
*Ron Howard and Co.
*Craig Bierko
I'll now elaborate a bit:
Russ is just phoning this one in. No Maximus here. No Beautiful Mind stuff. No "Horatio Hornblower" - he's gone back to basics on this one. And by that, I mean "Virtuosity." While he looks in semi-decent shape, you can spot the body double in a number of takes - he's actually the guy playing one of the boxers killed by Baer in a flashback sequence who is noted to be similar to Braddock... okay, so let's have the body double play that part... makes sense... I think to sum it up, Braddock doesn't really have an "edge" that makes you want to root for him. At one point, he points out to the press that he's fighting for "milk." Well, that's about as edgy as it gets, folks. The character shows a lot of restraint. A LOT.
Renee surprised me big-time. You think you're going to get that mousey waif we've seen her do countless times or maybe the zany Cold Mountain hick chick with lots of moxie. Well, this is better than Cold Mountain, folks - you don't recognize her at all - Meryl Streep, eat your heart out! Believe it or not, Renee kept me watching. What does that say about this movie?
Giamatti - well, he's fighting the urge to do a "Burgess Meredith"... he's good and he really holds his own to Crowe - he might get the ol' "compensation" nod by the Academy in recognition of being slighted for Sideways...
This is paint by numbers Ron Howard stuff. He's trying hard to do a "Frank Capra" I think. Actually, thinking of Russ trying to do a "Jimmy Stewart" is a good way to describe it... He's so pure of heart, so wholesome... so is Renee... so is Paul, who sells off all his furniture to happily give Russ an advance so he can train properly... you get the drift, I hope...
Bottom line: while it is in fact the team behind "Beautiful Mind," more importantly, it's the team that brought you "The Missing."
The cinematography went a long way working hand-in-hand with the production design to really sell you on the idea that you're watching events unfold in 1933 New Jersey. The sets are elaborate and you really think you're watching something actually filmed in that period - sort of like Angela's Ashes or Chariots of Fire - you buy it. The "look" is a bit desaturated, lots of Depression-era earth tones (see trailer) and almost like they picked an "older" filmstock type from the '70's to help give it a bit of that 1930's texture/grain...
You'd think since Akiva Goldsman et al. were penning this, it would be shoe-in. Trouble is, it's not. There's too much in the first half confined to the Braddock homestead, with too many repeated scenes of Russ holding Renee's hands and saying how they'll "get through this" and shedding some tears and looking at each other wondering how the heck they're going to get through this. Okay. We get the point after the first one. 'Nuff already. There's a tiny subplot involving Braddock's dock chum Mike but it's so underdeveloped and so barely delved in to...
Not enough time is spent showing Braddock living the regimine he'd have to follow to get in shape for Baer a la Million Dollar Baby... In fact, at one point, Giamatti asks his "padewan" how he managed to beat an opponent by going south-paw. Russ explains that back in the day when his right hand was mush, he took the job at the docks and learned to compensate having been forced to do everything with his left... well, it's a real good thing he TOLD us...
Craig Bierko, as much as he rocked in "Thirteenth Floor" is simply ridiculous as Max Baer. They keep trying to emphasize during the build-up that Baer killed two fighters in the ring. He's a chauvinist pig. Renee is afraid of him. But never, ever, ever do you for a second think that Russ has any doubts about the outcome - and therein lies perhaps the film's biggest weakness - you know they're trying to create a sense of tension: but you just don't buy it... Max Baer trying to look "tuff" is actually pretty funny. Kinda looks like one of the Marx Bros. The penultimate fight with Lasky was actually more suspenseful and dire... you just know Russ is gonna whallop Bierko...
Spoiler alert:
there's no knock-out punch at the end - Braddock ends up by winning by scorecard decision. The fact that he didn't get k.o.'d by Baer in Round 1 and actually went the distance is the "victory." Well, I guess that's the thing about doing a biopic...
The sappy attempt at sentimentalism really got to me. The final scenes when the Baer fight draws to a close really overdid this - the judges take extra time to come to their decision and that gives Howard time to recap all the "locations" that have tuned in to catch the big fight. Russ's family is listening to a radio at home. A bunch of parishioners have gathered in church to listen as well. Of course, the pub where Russ hangs out is filled to the rafters with tailgaters ordering drinks by the fistful, catching the big game on the 1930's equivalent to a big screen t.v. When the decision is FINALLY announced, all the locations go ballistic - picture the final scene in Return of the Jedi when the fireworks go off all over the Galaxy after the Empire is defeated and you'll catch my drift...
All in all, I don't get why this movie is being released now in the summer during Blockbuster season. It's slow and drab - Dr. Zhivago is a romantic comedy compared to this. It's really a late fall or Christmas kind of movie.
Howard employs some interesting devices at key moments: a Fincher-esque x-ray pov of Braddock's ribs getting cracked during the final slugfest and also when Russ is watching a newsreel of Baer killing those fighters, he steps close to the screen and it's like he can see Baer as if he was actually right there - Baer looks into the camera in slow-motion menace that I guess is intended to spook us and make us think he's dangerous...
Okay Harry, it's late - I wanted to get this to you while it was still "fresh."
All the best - great work!
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I think this will be good. Crowe is such a powerful actor he can pull a poor movie through by sheer force of his performance, and Howard while no Spielberg is a solid effective director
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Which is to say, not a heck of a lot.
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gets you a place in hell bitch.
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When looking him up onIMDb, found he did a pilot of a US version of Red Dwarf. Never knew that happened.
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Apr 20, 2005 5:13:46 AM CDT
If you have no idea why this film is being released in the Summe
by lordenigma
Ever since Road to Perdition, they have been putting one potential Oscar/drama heavy flick in the middle of the Summer. This has worked well, but last year not so much (so much so, that I cannot even remember the adult flick last Summer. Accursed memory. It will piss me off more. If I like this movie). So they throw these films out there to give the adults something to see, and the studios are trying to create another spot from Oscar fare.
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Collateral. That worked well for
Dreamworks, but the Award nominations just did not pan out. Mann always deserves better. -
He's a middle of the road hack with no true artistic vision.
Being a child star with contacts seems to be a stand-in for actual talent.
Mind you - even if it skipped his generation his daughter shows a lot of promise. -
Also Renee better than in Cold Mountain, not particularly hard.
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True story, from the makers of a previous winner (Beautiful Mind) and all that crap. For some reason this is - for me - the least exciting movie this year.
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Maybe not a film for the usual denizens of this site. However, Howard is far from a hack. The scale and scope of the films he directs are quite ambitious - Apollo 13 comes to mind - sure, he's a little dramatic and emotional, but he certainly not without talent and skill.
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Apr 20, 2005 9:41:59 AM CDT
Why is this guy confusing Akiva Goldman with a good screenwriter
by johngalt2005
Isn't he the same man who wrote "Lost in Space", "Batman and Robin" and the dreadful "A Beautiful Mind"? Of course, Paul Giamatti will be good. Can't see much else of a reason to see this hokum. Ron Howard, just keep narrating "Arrested Development"...
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Wasn't that one script-doctored by Christopher "Usual Suspects" McQuarrie?
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What I wanna know is why wasn't Max Baer Jr. in this?
And second, if the supporting performances are as strong as this guy says they are, then he should give props to Crowe for not overshadowing them. In fact, if you look at Crowe's work, you'll see he's an amazing generous and supportive actor. So bacdacfuckup. -
Sounds exactly like it. The poor fighter who has no choice but to fight. Just wanting to go the distance against the champ. The mousy but secretly strong wife who is also a saint.
I think I'll just watch that again instead. -
prodessed white bread is to nutrition. Bland, easily digestable, but ultimately without any real value. I like the man, his movies are just really bland...like the man. Imagine that!
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He and Brian Grazer have produced some terrific TV shows: From the Earth to the Moon, Sports Night, 24, Arrested Development, and the upcoming Tim Minear series The Inside.
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...should have been about 5 million. It doesn't make sense, in today's market, to do massive budget character pieces. The market won't support it. Nor is it even nessesary. It's a movie about a boxer, not the captain of a spaceship.
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Apr 20, 2005 4:52:57 PM CDT
Believe it or not, Renee kept me watching. What does that say ab
by hamo455
It says I will avoid it like the plague. It's bad enough that she's even in it.
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the biggest fuckup in recent oscar history was giamatti being snubbed of an oscar nomination. it would've been hard to beat jamie foxx, but hey, at least REKONIZE!!! instead, the old bitches give it to DEPP! DEPP!!!
OH... and dont even get me started on million dollar baby taking best director and best picture. crapola. -
Howard makes good movies, Crowe is a great actor, and Giamatti is the most underrated performer in film. Could be three Oscar noms right there, along with Rene and anything else.
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Apr 20, 2005 10:26:57 PM CDT
Since everyone involved in this movie (sans Giamatti) already ha
by osmosis jones
...this film won't get nominated for *anything* come January. Plus, coming on the heels of another boxing flick, Million Dollar Baby, which raking in the awards, Cinderella Man doesn't stand a chance. It might do Seabiscuit/Road To Perdition-level box office ($90-$100 million), but it will soon be forgotten.
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While this picture looks decent, perhaps a bit on the sentimental side, ill be there opening day for renee. she is so beautiful, espcially with dark hair
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Apr 21, 2005 6:46:40 AM CDT
Mr. Voice: When America was on its knees......He brought it t
by windowlicker74
from academy award winning director Ron Howard, with academy award winner Russell Crowe and academy award winner Ren
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Apr 21, 2005 8:02:56 AM CDT
I am surprised they're doing a summer release, without the oscar
by minderbinder
And I'm glad someone else on here recognizes ABM for the piece of shit it was. I still don't get why people love that turd.
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BLAND, tasteless, no color, no emotion ... Opie Cunningham IS Captain Vanilla Whitebread ... and no amount of acting talent is gonna save him from making another boring movie that MOST people will rave over! (Least common denominator IS a valid "artistic" choice ... just not a very satisfying one.) P.S. My first post ever! Happy to be here!
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Apr 21, 2005 4:42:33 PM CDT
Ransom, Apollo 13, Parenthood, Willow, Coccoon, Nighshift...
by tv casualty
... let's not be TOO quick to bash Opie. He's got some brilliant stuff.
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Talk about whipping a dead horse. Giamatti's "spot" at the Oscars was taken by Clint. GET OVER IT!
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