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A Canadian view of Johnson's SIMON BIRCH
Yet another voice heard from over Simon Birch. One thing for sure, any film that promotes as many reviews as we have received has to being doing something right, this movie does stir up the emotions.
I never really write to you guys, I figure I'm not enough of a movie
geek to merit ever being posted, I live in Calgary and I'm like 16 years
old so I'm kinda the last person in the world to get cool Hollywood
news.. but I just got back from seeing that sneak preview of Simon
Birch. Now I had no idea i was gonna see the movie today (my freind
calls me up 1 hour before the movie starts and i take a train halfway
across town and barely make it there in time) so I end up reading
Moriarty's review beforehand, which I woulda never done had I known I
was gonna see the movie. These things tend to influence me. So anyways,
I thought I'd share my thoughts seeing as the movie doesn't come out for
a while, trying to stay unbiased.
First off, Ian Michael Smith has this thing about him. In a good way. I
mean, I see this guy and I SEE the way Simon should be. I mean, it
doesn't hurt that the kid is 2 feet tall and wears a hearing aid and
glasses.... but the way he is is disconcerting. I read a thing about him
in Premiere a couple weeks back and wasn't sure what to think.... I mean
a magazine is not going to diss a handicapped kid so wasn't really
surprised when they put him on a pedestal the way he did. But everything
they said about this kid Harry, I mean everything, was fucking truthful.
Put aside that the script DID suck shit and hearing Simon say every five
minutes that he was a fucking hero from God or that kids love him had
all the emotional value of Howie Long in Firestorm... You have this kid
that's hilarious in his mannerisms and at the same time so pitiful you
wonder "What the hell?!"
Jim Carrey's little cameo/narration thing wasn't bad. I mean, of course
he needs to do stuff like that to further himself in his quest for the
"Robin Williams'-comedian-to-dramatic-actor" holy grail, but I mean, put
that aside and he's just your regular old joe doing a decent performance
where you won't point him out for being bad, but don't end up going "man
this guy is reading from a script" like Moriarty said. Although, I think
it was really decent of whoever was responsible for advertising Simon
Birch to not advertise Jim at all. Most of the posters and cardboard
standees don't even mention his name.
Ashley Judd and Joe Mazzello I couldn't give two shits about. Ashley
Judd's not exactly a woody and a half and her death was so overplayed.
Joe Mazzello... again I gotta disagree with Moriarty when he says that
he had some charm in Radio Flyer. I don't think he really did, it was
more just the fact that he himself had this innocence to him.. and that
coupled with that whole child abuse motif... That's what makes you feel
what you do. Put any babyfaced kid in Radio Flyer and have an abusive
alchoholic kick the shit out of him and you're gonna feel pain... He
didn't really stand out much, kinda a static character that you don't
feel anything for. you don't really root for him and you don't really
see where he's coming from half the time. Again, could be the really bad
script that did it.
Oliver Platt... now here's something weird. I've never liked this guy
that much. I think it's his sheer presence over his acting ability. I
mean most of the time he's just there to jump in and give the movie a
little flavor, as the guy who's always there to put in his little two
cents and whine or whatever. Bulworth, Dolittle, Beethoven.. Always like
that. But this movie, he was different. Could be the character he
played... but you really liked the guy. I tried seeing other people in
that role and couldn't really do it. I mean im sure if you put someone
else in he'd do a fine job, but after seeing him do the job, and do it
well, I couldn't see anyone else.
What I noticed about the movie as a whole is that you don't QUESTION
anything like I feel they want you to. The fact that they repeat that
"God's place" shit so many times... I guarantee you Mark Steven Johnson
could die a happy man if he heard someone coming out of the theatre
going "man, I wonder what's God's plan for me?"
Not gonna happen, Mark. You fucked it all up.
I didn't feel anything coming out of there. Boo Hoo, he's dead. He saved
a busload of children. If you want to make him a hero, quit repeating
every five seconds that he wants to be one and don't make it so fucking
obvious.
As for that whole father thing with Joe, not bad. Didn't really care but
that part where the Rev. and Oliver Platt are standing next to each
other and Joe goes "ill see you sunday rev." was kinda neat. They didn't
overplay that and it came out getting the message across pretty well.
Holding hands and walking down the hallways with the bright white sun
coming in through the window was slightly cheesy, but in context was
kinda neat.
And as for those damned tear-jerking scenes that any movie about handis
can't do without.... that one deathbed one was really really stupid. I
mean, talk about cliche. The guy is dying, but doesn't until he's on the
litle hospital bed and stays alive till Joe comes in the room.. Finally
joe comes, they talk, Joe starts breaking out into tears, and Simon says
one last one liner before slowly closing his eyes whereupon Joe breaks
into huge tears and cries louder.
Fade out.
Too much too much too much. I'll stick with "earn this" any day of the
week.
Now I haven't seen the Mighty but am looking foreward to seeing how it
holds up to this. The word Culkin in anything always throws me off going
into a movie... Father of the Bride "left foot right foot" my ass. But
like I said, Moriarty's talking about how good it is annd how good HE is
so I'm gonna take my chances.
All in all, not a terrible movie, something you'd probably wanna bring a
chick who ISNT a huge movie buff to.
That's my two cents, God
that movie kicked ass.
Suicide King
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+ Expand All
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I was an extra for this soon to be surprise hit of the fall season. I saw the sneak preview on Saturday night and in everyway was i biased towards it. But the 7 ohter people with me were not. 4 of which were weeping girls by the end of the movie. They all liked it. I personally thought the dialogue about Simon being God's insturment just a tad repetative but I was able to overlook it thanks to the consistant stream of one liners coming from his mouth. They shot the baseball scences where i live in Georgetown, Ontario about 45 minutes west of Toronto. Another 45 minutes west in a town called Guelph, they filmed the swimming scenes in a quarry. I almost drowned in there 3 weeks ago via a flip and a half from the top of the cliff. Where by braking a rib and receiving a bloody nose and a severe concussion. It was kinda funny, now. But back to the baseball scenes. The part where Ian makes contact with the baseball that kills Ms. Judd was shot for over 3 hours. They needed him to hit the ball but he couldn't do it. Finally after about 25 trys he hit it, barely. And everybody cheered. Even the parents of the extras (excuse me, background people) were cheering for Ian. But it wasn't a "thank god he hit the ball so now we can have lunch" cheer. It was a genuine "way to go" cheer. When I witnessed that I knew this movie would be a surprise hit, not only because it was Ashley Judd's first role since Kiss the Girls, or Jim Carrey's hot off the Truman Show or the ten consistant B-list actors, but the for the one remaining factor... people like Simon Birch. He's a likeable "little doll". If this movie is a hit it will be because Mark Steven Johnson pulled it off. He has let the first time actor Ian Michael Smith's innocence shine through the camera and onto the screen. In my honest opinion I liked this movie and i know it will be a hit thanks to good word of mouth. The producer, Laurence Mark (As Good As It Gets, The Object of My affection) is not stupid. That's why this weekend we were given the sneak preview. They know they've got a good movie that not a lot of people know about so he's wants to get the word out. He is very pleased with this movie and so he should be. And with the 20 million dollar budget i see it being a money maker for Disney
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WHAT A PISS - OFF! ATLEAST PUT A FUCKING SPOILER ALERT ON THAT SHIT, HARRY! YOU DIDN'T AND NOW I KNOW THE TWO KEY EVENTS THAT HAPPENED IN THE MOVIE! THE " SIMON BIRCH SAVING THE KIDS " AND " ASHLEY JUDD DYING "! FUCK YOU SUICIDE KING! I'M MA KILL YOU IF I EVER GET MY HANDS ON YOU! DIE A FUCKING AGONIZING, AGILE DEATH! I HATE YOU SO FUCKING MUCH!
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I couldn't have said it better myself. It's exactly like the book A Prayer For Owen Meany. Within the first few pages, you are told what will eventually happen.
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I don't actually have a comment; I just thought that subject line was funny.
-McCabe
P.S. I _did_ see Simon Birch, BTW. I thought it was cute, and I don't mean that in a good way. Johnson takes the big emotions -- love, death, friendship, God -- and reduces them to easily digestible Hallmark moments, with obvious heroes and villains. The film had no quirk, no funk. But I do forsee that a lot of people are going to love Simon Birch (those that see it ... I don't smell a hit here), because many Americans like their emotions pre-digested. (And I don't see anything wrong with that -- people have a right to like what they like). Also, I think the relationship between the two leads feels very genuine, and is pretty touching (though I got tired of hearing them say "balls" every ten minutes). I haven't read "Owen Meany." My history with John Irving goes like this -- read "Garp," loved it, read "Hotel New Hampshire," hated it, stopped reading Irving. I've had many friends tell me to pick up "Owen" and "Cider House," though, so maybe I will. I'm also _really_ looking forward to "The Mighty," since I liked "Hear My Song" and thought "Funny Bones" was a small masterpiece. -
I only wanted to tell people, even though I haven't seen this movie, the trailer for this film is a travesty to the whole concept of Owen. He is not handicapped beyond his small stature. In the book he is a strong motherfucker who plays football, gets laid, and doesn't die when he's twelve. Irving sold this script to pay for his pistachio nut habit. He believes noone could make his novel into a movie worthy of its title. I don't have to see this movie to know that it sucks!!! Furthermore, this movie should have no further comparison to the novel, it's libellous to the muse of creativity, dumbass!
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