Little Tony DeFranco
03-15-2004, 07:08 AM
http://www.browntownjohnny.com/modu...ist_revs&cid=10
If you've seen more than 5 Stephen King movies, you know they start to have the same plot staples. Either it's a few kids walking along a backroad or a writer in a secluded spot, or someone with kinetic powers. "Secret Window" is very familiar to "The Shining", a writer with writers block going paranoid. Mort Rainey is alone in a cabin by the lake in upstate New England and he is visited by John Shooter, a tall man in a Billy Jack hat who claims "you stole mah story" and presents Mort with a manuscript that is the same. Shooter wants "justice", and tells Mort to put back the ending that he had originally intended or there would be hell to pay. It comes to no surprise that Mort's life is now in trouble, but he is in even worse shape than he wants to know. His wife Amy ran away with an asshole named Ted, his dog is stabbed and his wife's house is torched. Mort needs some help!
This is one of those movies that borrows from about 6 films, mostly from "Cape Fear" (this is about plagiarism, and King does this a lot). Director/ writer David Koepp (Stir of Echoes was great) makes it more a black comedy than a thriller and Johnny Depp once again makes the whole film enjoyable because Depp's Mort Rainey is the ultimate man in the middle (usually Michael Douglas gets these parts), sarcastic and tired of everyone and everything. At one point in the movie he puts a full glass of water on the counter with the glass hanging off the edge (wow that's good symbolism). Koeep even rewrites his famous scene from "Spiderman" (yes he wrote that too) having Mort talk to the mirror. The third act is choppy and predictable but Depp has a fun time. Maria Bello (The Cooler) is good as his unfaithful wife, and Timothy Hutton is the scumbag who screwed her (Rubbernecker!) and John Turturro is a hoot as the cracker Shooter.
The joke at the ending is familiar to those who needed to know what 'REDRUM" meant from "Shining". I liked this movie for the camera work and Depp's bright performance but this road is the same as yesterday.
Heartbeat is a Love Beat
If you've seen more than 5 Stephen King movies, you know they start to have the same plot staples. Either it's a few kids walking along a backroad or a writer in a secluded spot, or someone with kinetic powers. "Secret Window" is very familiar to "The Shining", a writer with writers block going paranoid. Mort Rainey is alone in a cabin by the lake in upstate New England and he is visited by John Shooter, a tall man in a Billy Jack hat who claims "you stole mah story" and presents Mort with a manuscript that is the same. Shooter wants "justice", and tells Mort to put back the ending that he had originally intended or there would be hell to pay. It comes to no surprise that Mort's life is now in trouble, but he is in even worse shape than he wants to know. His wife Amy ran away with an asshole named Ted, his dog is stabbed and his wife's house is torched. Mort needs some help!
This is one of those movies that borrows from about 6 films, mostly from "Cape Fear" (this is about plagiarism, and King does this a lot). Director/ writer David Koepp (Stir of Echoes was great) makes it more a black comedy than a thriller and Johnny Depp once again makes the whole film enjoyable because Depp's Mort Rainey is the ultimate man in the middle (usually Michael Douglas gets these parts), sarcastic and tired of everyone and everything. At one point in the movie he puts a full glass of water on the counter with the glass hanging off the edge (wow that's good symbolism). Koeep even rewrites his famous scene from "Spiderman" (yes he wrote that too) having Mort talk to the mirror. The third act is choppy and predictable but Depp has a fun time. Maria Bello (The Cooler) is good as his unfaithful wife, and Timothy Hutton is the scumbag who screwed her (Rubbernecker!) and John Turturro is a hoot as the cracker Shooter.
The joke at the ending is familiar to those who needed to know what 'REDRUM" meant from "Shining". I liked this movie for the camera work and Depp's bright performance but this road is the same as yesterday.
Heartbeat is a Love Beat