Empire Falls
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Movie Reviews of Empire Falls
Movie Review: Excellent Movie
Summary: 5 Stars
Came in a timely manner and in Excellent condition. Very please with purchase. Thank You.Movie Review: Great cast, good story.....but ?.
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm scratching my head, wondering what was lacking in this DVD for me. The cast could not be better---each actor was wonderul, and Ed Harris, the lead certainly held my interest. The story was interesting and worth telling, and it seemed good that they took their time in telling it---not trying to crowd a novel into a two hour movie.
The closest I can come to for an explanation of my lack of real enthusiasm for it is the tone. It really tells a very dark story and although it's nice to enter into it with all the ordinariness of small town life, but it doesn't adequately prepare us for the really terrible revelations that occur later in the film. I left it with the impression of all the nice folks together eating donuts at the Empire grill. Perhaps it was the cinematograpy---just too much light and shots of the pretty New England town. It was too uniformly sunny...for the dark subject matter. The development of the character depended on his digging into the darkness of his past and this was not adequately represented in the style of the film.
The main idea of the film was the development of the emotionally watered down grill owner (Ed Harris) who is obviously an underachiever. We hear he got straight A's in school and went to college, which was unusual in that town, and yet here he is, working for the town Tyrant (Woodward) managing the small restaurant for the last twenty years with no end in sight. He's great looking and charming but his wife left him for an obvious bozo. His daughter begs him to stand up and stop the marriage but he's so nice and easy going that he just makes her promise to be a bridesmaid. Perhaps, as another reviewer suggested, Harris is just too naturally virile and macho to play such a wimpy character. (I loved him in History of Violence)
When he finally breaks out, he's not convincing either. The fight with the cop is good and it's satisfying to hear him tell off the town witch but he still seems rather sappy to me....spending an awful lot of time hugging his daughter. (If the characters in this story spent more time hugging their mates rather than their kids, they might all have been better off.)
The ending was not clear to me. Does he go back to his really drippy ex-wife (Helen Hunt)? and go into business with his mother-in-law? (I'd hoped he would steal the cute blond waitress away from his step-brother.)
Another thought: maybe it was the enormous joy that Paul Newman obviously took in playing his character that sort of spoiled the darkness of the film. Shame on you, Paul!
Movie Review: Small Town Chicanery After the Boom Years Fade
Summary: 4 Stars
The subtitle to this film is more pertinent than most: "Every small town has a big story." That reveals a lot more about this two-part HBO film than does the title, although that also works hard by doing double duty as both the town name and the hint of a parable in play. Having grown up in a small town whose factories and industry went through considerable down years, as most of America's have, I can say that Russo has captured much of the interaction between lifelong residents of a once prosperous, now stagnant town very well.
If you love Richard Russo's storytelling, as I do, you'll feel that in this film from the very beginning. If you're not familiar with him, though, it may at first come off as slow. Russo, who wrote the screenplay based on his book, takes his time to paint the picture of what Empire Falls was before and is now, so enjoy the light humor and the local in-fighting, but also pay attention. The details Russo sprinkles into this mosaic upfront will show up again later, as things tend to do between people and families in small towns.
The cast is incredible for such a small film. Ed Harris is perfect as Miles Roby, the local guy who is so smart that everyone in town always wonders why he still lives there. As Roby's cantankerous father, Max, Paul Newman is the perfect blend of hilariously cantankerous and forever beaten down by life. I also really liked Helen Hunt in this, specifically because her character is so unlikeable - an unusual role for her. Dennis Farina is also good, as always, this time as the town phony who always acts surprised that anyone would think he's a phony. And Mrs. Newman, Joanne Woodward, is just terrific in the only "bitch from hell" role I've ever see her play.
I also think that how much you enjoy "Empire Falls" will be influenced by what you expect going into it. It IS long - a two-parter on two DVDs - so make time, perhaps over two nights. The humor is subtle, but funny, and does depend on listening to the dialogue, of which there is a lot. The story seems straightforward, but then takes some unexpected turns, as it should. But, overall, this film is about people and how they interact and struggle with others they've known their entire lives -- and will still be surrounded by tomorrow -- whether they like it or not.
Finally, the DVDs themselves also have a lot of extras that are worth a look. Interviews with cast members, the director, and, best of all, with Richard Russo himself. If you have the time, this is a very enjoyable way to spend it.
Movie Review: SLOW START BUT WORTH THE TIME
Summary: 4 Stars
EMPIRE FALLS is the HBO-produced version of the Pulitzer-Prize winning novel by Richard Russo. It boasts a star-studded cast for a TV production (Ed Harris, Paul Newman, Helen Hunt and Joanne Woodward) but then some of HBO's products exhibit better acting than many big-screen releases. I like EMPIRE FALLS. The first chapter or two dragged a little and I was debating whether to turn it off. But I hung in there, wanting, I guess, to see what happens to the characters, espectially Miles Roby (Ed Harris) who apparently has been stalled in life by some traumatic events experienced as a boy. As a result, he seems unable to get unstuck from managing the Empire Grill for the towns's richest citizen (Joannne Woodward). There is a bit of class struggle here (why is the "evil" character always the rich one?), but all-in-all it dealt with life in a small New England town fairly even-handedly. You may want to impatiently nudge Miles out of his funk as his friends do but his character is also symbolic of how many of us find ourselves stuck in life without an impetus for change. We all just don't have a powerful rich woman holding us in psychological thrall as an excuse. There is a fistfight between Miles and another character that is one of the most realistic fights I've seen on film: they actually hold their hands in pain after hitting each other on the head, which is almost never done in other film fights. That kind of attention to detail is exhibited throughout the film and can be credited to director Fred Schepisi. Mr. Russo wrote the screenplay. Paul Newman is a delight as Mile's undependable father(see him in NOBODY'S FOOL, another Russo book-to-film) and Helen Hunt is fine as Mile's soon-to-be-ex-wife. Recommended.Movie Review: One Of The Better Film Adaptations
Summary: 4 Stars
So, I finally caved and bought the DVD version of Empire Falls based off Richard Ruso's novel. And the first thing I have to say is that it was good. Not as good as the novel, but still good. I actually didn't know that Russo himself had written the screenplay. If I had known that earlier, I would've watched it a while back.
Fred Schepisi does a wonderful job putting the pieces together in the small New England town of Empire Falls. Almost every actor was dead-on portraying the characters from the book. Although, Francince Whiting didn't seem quite as evil in the film adaptation. I was especially in awe of Paul Newman's performance of Max Roby. He was by far the funniest (and the saddest when he needed to be) character in the film.
There seems to be something missing from the adaptation though. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's there. I guess that's what you get from any film in which you've already read the book. It's lacking some of the little details that one can only explain in words.
Nevertheless, the film was wonderful. A young movie and book buff like myself can only hope for more film adaptations like this one in the future. By far, one of the best adaptations you can get your hands on.