102 DALMATIONS (2000)

 

Directed By: Kevin Lima 

Written By: Kristen Buckley, Brian Regan, Bob Tzudiker and Noni White 

Story By: Kristen Buckley and Brian Regan

Based on the Novel “THE ONE HUNDRED AND ONE DALMATIONS” By: Dodie Smith 

Cinematography: Adrian Biddle and Roger Pratt

Editor: Gregory Perler 

Cast: Glenn Close, Gerard Depardieu, Ioan Gruffund, Alice Evans, Eric Idle, Tim McInnerny, Ian Richardson, Jim Carter, Ron Cook

After a spot of therapy, Cruella De Vil is released from prison a changed woman. Devoted to dogs and good causes, she is delighted that Chloe, her parole officer, has a dalmatian family and connections with a dog charity. But the sound of Big Ben can reverse the treatment so it is only a matter of time before Ms DeVille is back to her incredibly ghastly ways, using her new-found connections with Chloe and friends.

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One can remember  this trailer making the rounds in the year of its release and the trailer actually looked funny and captivating. It took me all this time to finally watch this film and say the trailer held more promise and humor. 

take this review with a pinch of salt as obviously if you like this film already, I’m not gonna change your mind and you’re just going to think that I am a hater and I will freely admit. This is not usually my type of film, but I was hoping it would be something fun and charming and it’s neither

it took me a while to watch this film. I remember when it came out and all the brew ha ha over 101 Dalmatians and then then making a sequel live action sequel with 102 Dalmatians and I decided to give the film a chance. 

Watching it clearly is not for me. This is a film, purely for children because it’s silly joyful with a little hint of darkness, but I’d rather feels like a straight to Dvd home video TV type of production as it just seems kind of cheap and unmemorable and there are a bunch of gags, but they don’t really seem to work. 

The only good thing or promising aspect of this film is Glenn Close reprising her role as Cruella Deville and she’s fun and campy is all hell but also the weakness of the film is that it More keeps her as a supporting character.

whereas we focus on the characters played by Ioan Gruffund and Alice Evans. Who don’t even feel like real characters they feel like plat points and they’re truly is no fun when most of the movie is centered around them and the dogs as they have no chemistry and they’re not even that interesting as characters so while the film does have the basic requirements and trying to pretty much do the same thing as a 101 Dalmatians only now with Cruella supposedly being rehab and liking dogs and then halfway through the film, the rehab doesn’t work or backfires and having her go back, this is just the first film all over again with less star filled Cast.

One might be a particularly disappointed because this film is directed by Kevin Lima, who also directed A GOOFY MOVIE which was animated in which I love so I thought that he would be able to handle a live action film with the same care and touch and while it’s a film, that children will obviously adore it lacks any real nuance or any real fun so personally for me, and that just adds to the disappointment of the whole endeavor. As he has shown, he can offer up emotional yet funny material for an audience of all ages and here, even though it might be a little more skewed it’s very hard to believe that even the audience it’s aimed that will find this enjoyable or unforgettable. Then again he can only work with what he has in the script, even if Glenn Clouse shines above it all.

Though you usually know you are in trouble when a film introduces a talking animal for its comedic relief, but also shows who this film was more made for. 

So that the rest of the film feels silly familiar and just tired. It just feels like no one really had any new ideas or really any passion for this film and and it ended up just being more of the same only with lower production values and again Glenn Close is clearly having fun and truly earning her paycheck as the over the top supporting villain, but she is the only thing of note in this otherwise forgettable film.

At least the fashions through out are ridiculously over the top and leaves some room For campy humor. 

Grade: D

THE CHUMSCRUBBER (2005)

 

Directed By: Arie Posen 

Story By: Arie Posen and Zac Stanford 

Written By: Zac Stanford

Cinematography: Lawrence Sher 

Editor: William Scharf And Arthur Schmidt 

Cast: Jamie Bell, Camilla Belle, Justin Chatwin, Lou Taylor Pucci, Rory Culkin, Glenn Close, Carrie Anne Moss, Ralph Fiennes, Jason Isaacs, Lauren Holly, Caroline Goodall, William Fichtner, John Heard, Allison Janney, Rita Wilson 

a dark comedy about the lives of people who live in upper-class suburbia. It all begins when Dean Stiffle finds the body of his friend, Troy. He doesn't bother telling any of the adults because he knows they won't care. Everyone in town is too self-consumed to worry about anything else than themselves. And everybody is on some form of drug just to get themselves through the day. After Troy's death, local drug dealers at the school run out of their stash. They convince Dean to get Troy's stash or they are going to kill his brother that they kidnapped, but they grabbed the wrong kid.

REVERSAL OF FORTUNE (1990)

Directed By: Barbet Schroeder 
Written By: Nicholas Kazan 
Based on the book By: Alan Dershowitz 
Cinematography By: Luciano Tovoli 
Editor: Lee Percy 


Cast: Jeremy Irons, Ron Silver, Glenn Close, Annabella Sciorra, Uta Hagen, Christine Baranski, Julie Hagerty, Fisher Stevens, Jack Gilpin, Felicity Huffman, Bill Camp, Lisa Gay Hamilton 


Alan Dershowitz a brilliant professor of law is hired by wealthy socialite Claus von Bulow to attempt to overturn his two convictions for attempted murder of his extremely wealthy wife. Based on a true story the film concentrates not on the trial like other legal thrillers, but on the preparatory work that Dershowitz and his students put in as they attempt to disprove the prosecution's case and achieve the Reversal of Fortune of the title.

THE STEPFORD WIVES (2004)

Directed By: Frank Oz 
Written By: Paul Rudnick 
Based On The Book By: Ira Levin 
Cinematography By: Rob Hahn 
Editor: Jay Rabinowitz 


Cast: Nicole Kidman, Bette Midler, Roger Bart, Matthew Broderick, Glenn Close, Christopher Walken, Faith Hill, Matt Malloy, David Marshall Grant, Jon Lovitz, Kadee Strickland 


Joanna Eberhart, a wildly successful president of a TV Network, after a series of shocking events, suffers a nervous breakdown and is moved by her milquetoast of a husband, Walter, from Manhattan to the chic, upper-class, and very modern planned community of Stepford, Connecticut. Once there, she makes good friends with the acerbic Bobbie Markowitz, a Jewish writer who's also a recovering alcoholic. Together they find out, much to their growing stupor and-then horror, that all the housewives in town are strangely blissful and, somehow... doomed. What is going on behind the closed doors of the Stepford Men's Association and the Stepford Day Spa? Why is everything perfect here? Will it be too late for Joanna and Bobbie when they finally find out?

THE GREAT GILLY HOPKINS (2015)

Directed By: Stephen Herek 
Written By: David Paterson 
Based on the Book By: Katherine Paterson 
Cinematography By: David M. Dunlap 
Editor: David Leonard 


Cast: Sophie Nelisse, Kathy Bates, Octavia Spencer, Bill Cobbs, Julia Stiles, Glenn Close, Billy Magnussen, Zachary Hernandez 


A feisty foster kid's outrageous scheme to be reunited with her birth mother has unintended consequences in The Great Gilly Hopkins, an entertaining film for the entire family. Gilly Hopkins has seen more than her share of foster homes and has outwitted every family she has lived with. In an effort to escape her new foster mother Maime Trotter's endless loving care, Gilly concocts a plan that she believes will bring her mother running to her rescue. But when the ploy blows up in Gilly's face it threatens to ruin the only chance she's ever had to be part of a real family.

THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS (2017)

Directed By: Colm McCarthy 
Written By: Mike Carey (Based on His own Novel) 
Cinematography By: Simon Dennis 
Editor: Matthew Cannings 


Cast: Sennia Nanua, Gemma Arterton, Paddy Considine, Glenn Close, Dominique Tipper, Fasiyo Akinade, Anamaria Marinca, Anthony Welsh 


In a dystopian near future, humanity has been ravaged by a mysterious fungal disease. The afflicted are robbed of all free will and turned into flesh-eating 'hungries'. Humankind's only hope is a small group of hybrid children who crave human flesh but retain the ability to think and feel. The children go to school at an army base in rural Britain, where they're subjected to cruel experiments by Dr. Caroline Caldwell. School teacher Helen Justineau grows particularly close to an exceptional girl named Melanie, thus forming a special bond. But when the base is invaded, the trio escape with the assistance of Sgt. Eddie Parks and embark on a perilous journey of survival, during which Melanie must come to terms with who she is.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (2014)

Directed By: James Gunn 
Written By: James Gunn & Nicole Perlman 
Based on the Comic-Book By: Andy Lanning & Dan Adnett 
Cinematography By: Ben Davis 
Editor: Fred Raskin, Craig Wood & Hughes Winborne 
Music By Tyler Bates 

Cast: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Lee Pace, Dijmon Hounsou Michael Rooker, Benecio Del Toro, Karen Gillan, Glenn Close, John C. Reilly, Vin Diesel (Voice Only), Bradley Cooper (Voice Only), Sean Gunn, Peter Serafinowicz, Gregg Henry

ALBERT NOBBS (2011)

Directed By: Rodrigo Garcia 
Written By: Glenn Close, John Banville & Gabriella Prekop 
Based On The Novella (THE SINGULAR LIFE OF ALBERT NOBBS) By: George Moore Screen Story Written By: Istvan Szabo 
Cinematography By: Michael McDonough 
Editor: Steven Weisberg 

Cast: Glenn Close, Janet McTeer, Mia Wasikowska, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Brendan Gleeson, Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Phyllida Law, Jonathan Rhys-Myers, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brenda Fricker