Me and Orson Welles (2009) PG-13

This type of film isn't usually my cup of tea, but I heard nothing but good things about it, so here we are. It stars teen heartthrob Zac Efron (Charlie St. Cloud, 17 Again). He's your typical 1930's teenager who wants a taste of the big city life of New York City. This film is directed by Richard Linklater (A Scanner Darkly, The School of Rock). Linklater has proven that he can direct absolutely anything.

Efron plays 17-year-old Richard Samuels. After school he often takes the train into the big city. He stumbles into record stores, museums, and theaters. He meets a young aspiring writer named Gretta (Zoe Kazan). They become friends as they both try to hit it big in the Big Apple. Richard is hanging outside a prestigious theater when Orson Welles (Christian McKay) makes an appearance. Richard makes a good impression on Orson and gets cast in Orson's new production of Julius Caesar. His role is small but he's excited nonetheless.

He meets the beautiful Sonja (Claire Danes). She works at the theater and he instantly falls in love with her. They become friends almost immediately. The Julius Caesar cast includes Ben Chaplin (The Thin Red Line), Kelly Reilly (Sherlock Holmes), James Tupper, and Leo Bill (28 Days Later). The plays producer is Eddie Marsan (Sherlock Holmes, V For Vendetta). They all adore young Richard.

Orson takes Richard under his wing because he sees something in him. But Orson is an egotistical, self-centered, cold-hearted excuse of a human being. But, he's also a genius when it comes to theater, film, and radio. Orson cheats on his wife, verbally abuses everyone he knows, and fires people who contradict him.

Things seem to be going along well, especially after Richard and Sonja become more than friends after a few dates. But Orson soon becomes aware of their friendship and uses his power to take Sonja from Richard. That's when things start to snowball for Richard. He calls out Orson and all his faults. So, Orson fires him on the spot. Can Richard get his dream job and dream girl back? Or is Orson and his ulterior motives a lost cause?

McKay (You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger) is absolutely fantastic as Orson Welles. It's as if you're watching the real Welles on that stage. Claire Danes (Brokedown Palace, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines) and Zac Efron are effective enough to keep you interested. It's a decent storyline, which is loosely based on actual events. The ending is a bit of a shock, which was a nice touch I thought. Overall, it's a fun ride, with some very good performances. This film could be called a 'chick flick', but I think everyone should find something they like about this film.
C+

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Top 100 Actors

60. Gael Garcia Bernal One of the best Spanish actors out there. But the kicker is he can speak fluid English. He steals every scene he's in. -The Science of Sleep -Amores Perros -Y tu mamá también 59. Casey Affleck Well, we have our first Affleck. Casey has really come into his own in the past five years. He's terrific in The Assassination of Jesse James, opposite Brad Pitt. -The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford -The Killer Inside Me -Gone Baby Gone 58. Cillian Murphy He has great relationships with directors Christopher Nolan and Danny Boyle. Two of the best directors alive know what Murphy is capable of. -28 Days Later... -Sunshine -Batman Begins 57. Tobey Maguire His defining role was in 2009's chilling film Brothers. The Spider-Man films launched his dying career. Now that those films are long gone, I'm eager to see what he latches onto next. -Brothers -Spider-Man -Spider-Man 2 56. Mel Gibson Gibson hadn't appeared in a film in five years
Read more

Top 25 Films of the 1990's

Image
I was royally bored this afternoon so I did some good old fashioned research, and came up with a list of my favorite films of the 90's. It was very difficult to narrow it down to 25. I tried to get a good balance of comedy, drama, action, horror, etc. films into the list. I would love to hear some feedback. This was a great decade for movies. A lot of these films I grew up watching over and over. I'm not going to get into too many details. I will try and give reasons for some films. Please enjoy! 25. Happy Gilmore (1996) - Directed by Dennis Dugan. Starring Adam Sandler. I don't have to explain myself here. There are one-liners in this film that I still use to this very day. 24. The Firm (1993) - Directed by Sydney Pollack. Starring Tom Cruise. This was a huge decade for Tom Cruise. His films have gotten a little shady lately, but he was a machine in the 90's, and this is a fantastic film. 23. The Truman Show (1998) - Directed by Peter Weir. Starring Jim Carrey. This
Read more

Now on DVD

In this segment I will cover the films that I've seen recently but haven't reviewed. All of these films are now available on DVD. There are only a handful of films (worth my attention) from 2010 that I haven't seen. So we can now start to focus on 2011. My top 50 films of 2010 are listed on the left side of the page, as well as every other 2010 film that I reviewed. I will give my thoughts on each film below, so if you're thinking about renting any of these films then please read. It's been a rough run of films in 2011, but some of the 2010 films mentioned below are quite good. Enjoy. 2010: The Next Three Days : While Russell Crowe (Cinderella Man, Gladiator) seems kind of out of his comfort zone here, this film has a good pulse from start to finish. It takes quite a bit before things start to get exciting, but it's worth it. This film isn't anything new, but it's a good popcorn action flick with some decent performances. (B-) Conviction : This was one o
Read more