Everybody more or less assumed that this was going to be a good and interesting movie, considering its subject and the approach to it, myself included. However, the end result is far from anything great or interesting, shockingly enough!

This movie is going for a realistic and insightful approach, only problem is that this never feels like a realistic or insightful movie. It feels like a telling of events but without any emotions or heart behind any of it. It instead feels like a very shallow movie, that isn't telling anything new or ever dares to go deep into things.

It feels very random with all of the people that it's following. It doesn't have one main character in it, so to speak and therefor it feels that it's lacking focus as well. Besides, are all of these people really worth following? Surely there were some far more interesting people to follow, on that fateful day when Kennedy was assassinated.

This really truly is a movie that still could have worked out but it's Peter Landesman's directing that prevents this movie from ever turning into anything good or interesting to watch. I'm sorry to say but the directing is quite horrible at times! For instance the way the Kennedy assassination itself was shown in this movie....my goodness, it felt like I was watching a bad comedy skit. It's all very obvious that this was Peter Landesman's directorial debut and he just didn't know how to set up, tell and show certain things. I really believe that a more experienced director still would have been able to make something good out of this movie and who knows, maybe Peter Landesman will turn out to be a great director someday but with this movie he really doesn't impress much yet.

It also really doesn't matter or changes much about this movie that it stars some big name actors in it. Sure, they are all still great actors (well, most of them) but none of them ever gets anything interesting to do and their characters, that are of course all based on real life persons, remain some very shallow ones, since we basically learn nothing about their lives or personalities, by watching them in this movie.

This is a pretty pointless movie in my opinion, made to impress and to provide some new insightful information, by telling things from different perspectives. But it completely misses the mark, by being a very flat movie instead, that never feels realistic, emotional or interesting enough for you to invest yourself in this movie.

4/10

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A recounting of the chaotic events that occurred at Dallas' Parkland Hospital on the day U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. From: IMDb.com

A recounting of the chaotic events that occurred at Dallas' Parkland Hospital on the day U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. From: IMDb.com

Alabama; 1969: The death of a clan's estranged wife and mother brings together two very different families. Do the scars of the past hide differences that will tear them apart, or expose truths that could lead to unexpected collisions? From: IMDb.com

A recounting of the chaotic events that occurred at Dallas' Parkland Hospital on the day U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. From: IMDb.com

Directed by: Peter Landesman

Starring: Zac Efron, Marcia Gay Harden, Tom Welling and others

Current release date: September 20, 2013

The drama is about two families from different countries whose cultures clash. The drama takes place in the 1960s. From: IMDb.com

Directed by: Billy Bob Thornton

Starring: Kevin Bacon, Ray Stevenson, Robert Patrick and others

Current release date: September 13, 2013

Bottom line is that this movie tries a bit too hard. It desperately wants to be a hip and Tarantino like gangster flick but it does so by featuring mostly extremely exaggerated and silly moments and characters in it. It doesn't exactly make this a likely movie and not all of it adds to its entertainment value either. Sometimes it only works against the movie and prevents it from becoming something truly great and creative.

Because of its humor it gets extremely hard to take the movie serious in any way. You could even say this is more of a comedy than anything else really, which means that the rawness and action of the movie doesn't ever come across as something that works out very well. There is never a really good balance between its different elements and sometimes you are not sure whether you were supposed to laugh or cringe at a certain bloody and violent scene.

I still feel that the movie could had worked out well, if only it had a more tight and involving script. First of all, it was a bit of a mistake for the movie to make its main characters such hardcore criminals, who kill, even innocent persons, within the blink of an eye and never feel sorry about anything and basically do anything for money. They are not really redeeming and likable enough characters, even though the movie still tries very hard to turn them into such characters.

But also the main story itself is far from involving enough. It's a bit too simplistic in its setup and the way everything plays out. I actually thought it was funny how similar it seemed to "Gigli", which is one of the most hated and bashed movies of recent years. I sincerely don't think this was intentional and all was a big coincidence but it should tell you something about how 'great' its story is.

Only thing that the movie still has going for it is its style. It still looks like a well made movie, even though in its core it really isn't. At least the movie is always nice to look at and besides has a good pace to it, so you're never really bored with anything. Who knows, maybe if the next time the director gets an higher budget and some different writers to work on his movie, he would be capable of delivering a good and entertaining enough flick. This movie just isn't quite it, though it still has some hints of a good and fun movie in it at times.

The biggest draw of this movie will probably be Billy Bob Thornton and Eva Longoria but don't be fooled people, they only play supporting roles in this and play roles that basically could had been played by anybody. Not really sure why they were involved anyway and it came across to me like they were doing someone a favor by attaching their names to this movie, without having to put too much time and effort into it.

It's not a complete disaster or terrible movie to watch but it's also far from a great movie really. It definitely failed at what it tried- and desperately wanted to be.

5/10

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When three redneck brothers agree to help a woman save her son from an abusive father, they become targets on the run from an odd cast of characters. From: IMDb.com

Directed by: Barry Battles

Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Eva Longoria, Thomas Brodie-Sangster and others

Current release date: 2013

(Review originally written at 30 December 2007)

This is one of those rare fairly recent movies in which everything just adds up perfectly. It also pleases me to see that you don't necessarily need a big budget to make a brilliant with these days and still have a great talented and acclaimed cast & crew involved in it.

This movie has always been compared a lot to "Fargo". And yes, there also are similarities; both movies involve a large sum of movie, both involve some odd but yet realistic character, both involve killings, both involve a seemingly good plan that goes from bad till worse and both involve snow. A lot of snow. "A Simple Plan" is also a very white looking movie, which provides the movie with a good- as well as beautiful looking settings and atmosphere. But perhaps the reason why this movie never really became a financial or critical big success was also "Fargo". This movie was made only 2 years after the brilliant "Fargo" and like always the majority of the public say this movie as a bad copy, trying to cash in after the success of "Fargo". And also like always, the movie is now, almost 10 years later, slowly gaining more credit and is better known and watched by more and more people.

What mainly makes "A Simple Plan" such a great movie is that it features ordinary everyday people. It makes the characters and therefor the movie as a whole, a very realistic feeling one to watch. It of course also helps that they are being played by some top-class actors. It's funny how Bill Paxton always basically plays the same guy but hey, he's good at it. Billy Bob Thornton is also always at his best playing these sort of simple minded characters. This is yet another wonderful performance by him and he rightfully so was also nominated for an Oscar for it.

This is not really the sort of movie you 1,2,3 would expect from a guy like Sam Raimi. There is also basically very little in this movie that can be described as 'typicaly Raimi'. Not even Ted Raimi is present in it! Everything indicates that his is just an in between little project for him, which all makes it sort of ironic that this is also one of his best movies.

It has a very effective story, that on top of all things is really well written and constructed. It's a character movie but also with lots of twists and turns in the actual plot. The story style reminds us of a good old fashioned film-noir. It's about ordinary people who get themselves into an ordinary situation. They form 'a simple plan' but almost immediately things start to go from bad till worse, without giving any spoilers. The story was written by Scott B. Smith, who based it on his own novel. The screenplay was even nominated for an Oscar as well.

A rare great movie, that is so great due to its realistic approach, performances and a well written and constructed story.

10/10

(Review originally written at 23 November 2006)

To be honest the movie was not as good as I had hoped and expected. Of course whenever you're watching a Coen movie, expectations are high. This movie however really was not a successful experiment of using old movie style and mixing them with trademark Coen brothers humor and characters. It's too Noir for a comedy and not serious enough for a Neo Noir. So for most part the movie is an unbalanced mix of different movie styles that don't really blend in well together. Still its the subtle touch from the Coen brothers that save this movie from being weird and failed cinematic film-making experiment. It keeps the movie always fun, pleasant and light to follow. This compensates a lot.

The ending (the last ten minutes or so) also saved a lot for me. It took some nice typical Noir twists and made it obvious that the Coen brothers know their classics and how to handle the genre.

The movie is well written and takes some typical Noir twists and turns. It features some of the classic ingredients which should make this movie a delight to watch for the genre fans. It's a real solid and interesting story, in which lots of things remain unpredictable, like you should expect from a genre movie like this one. Lots is happening in this movie and sure it's not always realistic or likely but it suits the Coen brothers style well and make this a perfectly good movie to watch. Not sure about its re-playability though. I'm not interested in re-watching it any time soon. The biggest strength of the movie is its story and I'll bet that the second time the story might not come across as powerful and interesting- and certainly not as surprising all anymore.

Also nothing wrong with the style of the movie. The movie is using some atmospheric cinematography that is really fitting for the genre. Cinematographer Roger Deakins and the Coen brothers always make beautiful things together. Also the sets and costumes help to set up the right mood of the movie- and the time period the story is set in.

The movie features lots of great and well developed characters, that mostly work out because they are being played by good and well known actors. I was not too fond of the main character (played by Billy Bob Thornton) of the movie that in my opinion never really was interesting enough. But still, I always like Billy Bob in any movie in any role. Not every characters is used to its potential such as the Frances McDormand one but than on the other hand there also were some characters played by actors that worked out quite surprising, namely Tony Shalhoub who was great. James Gandolfini always was great (as always) in his role and also Scarlett Johansson impressed in a small and early role for her.

I still missed some of the subtle, yet hilarious, Coen brothers humor in this movie. It of course was present but in this case not prominent enough, at least not to my taste. It's the reason why I still see this movie as a bit of a disappointing one from the Coen brothers. This is obviously not their best work but this in no way means that this movie is a totally bad one. Not at all. "The Man Who Wasn't There" is a perfectly pleasant to watch, light, fun and cleverly written movie with some impressive actors, that also truly uplift the movie.

Not the Coen brother's best and most successful experiment but certainly interesting and good enough to watch nevertheless.

8/10

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(Review originally written at 21 May 2006)

The best element of the movie is definitely the concept of the two main characters, who are being played by John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton, constantly fighting each other, even when one of them isn't even in the sequence itself. The constant battle between the two characters provides the movie with some good moments, however the entire story and setting of the rest of the movie is just OK. The rest of the movie is well made but it isn't always terribly interesting to follow.

The life of an air traffic controller is hectic. An old math teacher of mine actually used to be an air traffic controller at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and he often told us about the stress and difficult situations he got into. This movie however provides a better look into the life and average working days of an air traffic controller than any of those stories. They really did a good job there. However the story of the movie isn't terribly interesting or involving. The movie mainly relies on its two main characters, with as a direct result that the rest of the movie its story and characters gets muddled in. For instance the Angelina Jolie character gets totally uninteresting and at times even feels unnecessary, even though despite the fact that her character plays a quite important role in the movie its story.

All of the actors do a good job, especially of course the two main leads; John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton, who are great together or better said, great against each other. Both of their characters are also really good and strong. Cate Blanchett also did a great job and she impressed me in her role.

The movie is nicely made and constructed but it all just isn't that impressive or memorable all together. It's nothing more than an average comedy, from director Mike Newell.

This movie certainly does have its moments and it also is a perfectly fun watchable one but it at the same time also is a pretty forgettable one. There isn't much wrong with the movie, it's just not a very interesting or involving one to watch.

6/10

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