Movie Junction

After HBO’s “The Sopranos” series presented Italian mobsters like no other show, New Jersey formed an immediate association with crime, gangsters, and above all, a hub for organized, ethnic crimes. “The Sopranos” ended almost five-years ago, and now there is a new series from HBO, “Boardwalk Empire” set in Atlantic City, New Jersey, dealing with gangsters and corrupt politicians, yet again. After watching the first season of “Boardwalk Empire,” HBO, as always, continues to create some of the best TV shows, and show creators have succeeded in creating a series that is captivating and realistic in its representation of the tumultuous era of the 1920s, set in the midst of Prohibition and in the aftermath of the World War I. In the first season, the emphasis is on the five main characters: Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi), Jimmy (Michael Pitt), Margaret (Kelly Macdonald), Al Capone (Stephen Graham), and Van Alden (Michael Shannon). In the opening episode (“Boardwalk Empire”), di...

Wikipedia lists about 420 full-feature TV shows and films capturing the plays and life of Shakespeare, making him one of the most-filmed author of all time. So why is Shakespeare so important? And why do filmmakers feel compelled to adapt Shakespeare’s plays for the screen? The answer lies in Shakespeare’s brilliance in storytelling, and through his plays he was able to express human emotions eloquently in a prose like no one else; some of his passages have become very popular in English literature and are continually referenced by historians and students. In addition, Shakespeare had perfect command of the English language, and that enabled him to write stories of every kind: comedy, drama, history, and tragedy, and even mixes of different types of genres for a story. Being a multifaceted writer, he also concentrated on sketching out every component of his characters. This made Shakespearean characters compelling, complex, and often memorable, and some of his most-memorable char...

There is an interesting interview segment with Paul Schrader on the Blu-ray edition of “Tiny Furniture” (2010). In this interview, Schrader discusses how “Tiny Furniture” fits into a new form of indie filmmaking called the Mumblecore movement, started in 2002 with Andrew Bujalski’s “Funny Ha Ha” (2002). At its core, mumblecore films are shot with a miniscule budget, using handheld digital cameras and nonprofessional actors. However, one might question why mumblecore films are not associated with the regular indie genre; after all, mumblecore films on the surface are indie films. But as film theorists have rightly pointed out, mumblecore films mostly represent characters in their 20’s, set in a postcollege setting, often dealing with dislocation, identity crisis, relationship issues, among many other themes. Lena Dunham’s “Tiny Furniture” is the latest entry in the mumblecore genre. Contrary to what critics have to say, Dunham claims that “Tiny Furniture” doesn’t conform to the m...

A gangster, “A,” tells a person, “B,” that he is not happy with another gangster “C,” and that person, “C,” is not happy with a gangster “D.” The gangster “D” kills a gang member, “E,” and later finds out that person “E” works for the person “C.” Then gangster “C” orders his men to kill everyone in person “D’s” gang. Person “C’s” gang splits, and now a person “F,” working for gangster “C,” starts killing. Are you with me so far? If not, then you are not alone. Indeed, the plot of “Outrage” (2010) is utterly complex, and it is hard to keep track of gang members, their alliances, and their motives. A confusing plot, at times, can lead to a challenging narrative, if there is an expressive story and memorable characters. Unfortunately, “Outrage” is excessively stylized and often too complex for its own good, and that much of the story fails to make any impression. Director Takeshi Kitano fabricates another Yakuza story, giving emphasis to the inner workings of the Yakuza gangs...

A biopic is normally a tricky affair to produce. It is easy to get off track and lose sight of expected objectives. A biopic, the way I see it, represents a character study of a person who has left a deep impression on people’s lives, and whose own life, at some level, serves as an inspiration to others. But then there have been biopics about unpopular figures, too. Even if a biopic lacks inspirational elements, it should at the very least portray some facet of a person’s life that has never been learned before or rarely discussed; some of it can be driven solely from an educational perspective. The word “inspiration” is the key factor is determining if a biopic represents an “against-all-odds” story. There is a delicate balance that needs to be maintained in creating a biopic. Too much focus on either a person’s personal life or on a person’s professional life can lead to a story that fails to cover significant events shaping a person’s identity. It is this equation on which bi...