State and Main
|
List Price: Our Price: $2.00 You Save: $17.98 (90%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Canada
Movie Reviews of State and Main
Movie Review: Sweet, charming, and delightfully satirical
Summary: 4 Stars
This warm, homey, satirical comedy is David Mamet's homage to the filmmaking industry. It's a story about purity - the unforced, unpretentious timeless simplicity of a quiet New England town populated by just plain folks, and the age-old heroic struggle of the artist trying to share his vision with the world. But it's also a story about second chances, even if it's only the opportunity to make the same mistake twice. And certainly it's a story about money, too, but enough with generalities...The ensemble cast features some of Mamet's favorite actors, including the wonderful William Macy as the smooth-talking director who is determined to get his movie made no matter what, and the always-quirky Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the sensitive author who struggles to keep up with the ever-changing demands that reality makes on his screenplay. Sarah Jessica Parker plays the leading lady brilliantly, showing us a woman with beauty and charm and animal grace who can scarcely speak a complete sentence unless she's reading it from a script.... Alec Baldwin's performance is less notable; he never really seems to take on the character of the film's skirt-chasing star, but seems to be merely playing himself.
The real standout is the terrific performance by Rebecca Pidgeon whose luminous presence really steals the film and makes her character's romance with the writer the main plot focus. She's a bookseller, and like most of the people in this small, out of the way town, is much smarter than anyone in the production company (or for that matter watching the movie) expects them to be. Her dialogues with Hoffman are intimate, artful, creative, and ultimately rather unrealistic, but then, this isn't a very realistic film, and if the illusion of real life is important to you, you might give this one a miss. If you're willing to concede Mamet his artifice, this sweet, charming story should delight the small-town intellectual in everyone.
Movie Review: Lights! Camera! Action!......Get Ready To Laugh!...
Summary: 4 Stars
This review refers to the New Line Home Entertainment DVD of "State and Main".......There's trouble with a capitol "T" brewing in Waterford, Vermont as a Hollywood film crew descends on this folksy little town, where everybody knows your name.But who's running the show is the question? Find out in this hilarious story that has one of the best casts ever assembled.
Written and Directed by David Mamet, a small town discovers they are to be the location of a big budget film. The crew arrives and immediatly takes over the hotel, and the main streets of town. The Hollywood types from the quirky director(William H Macy) to the lecherous movie star(Alec Baldwin)are in a take charge frame of mind. But wait...The townfolk also want in on the action.You'll laugh your way through, as you meet the actress(Sarah Jessica Parker) who has second thoughts on her provacative scenes, the writer(Philip Seymour Hoffman) who finds love and scruples in the small town,the teenage girl(Julia Stiles)who causes a scandal and a lawsuit, and the Producer(David Paymner) who will stop at nothing to get this film made. The cast also includes Charles Durning, Patti Lupone and Rebecca Pidgeon.They will all have you laughing.And if you stay through the credits you'll be treated to some very funny stuff.
The DVD may be viewed in either the widescreen 2.35:1 aspect or a standard format if you prefer. The picture is clear and sharp with vibrant colors. The 5.1 Surround sound is great and you can watch the film with commentary by some of the stars if you choose. The DVD also has DVD-ROM. There are English subtitles if needed.
This tounge-in-cheek humor gets better with each viewing..go for it....Laurie
Movie Review: Side-splittingly funny Hollywood satire
Summary: 4 Stars
A film crew goes to a small town in Vermont (they were previously in a small town in New Hampshire, but had to move due to the male star's penchant for underage girls) to film a movie called "The Old Mill". The problem is that the old mill burned down in 1960, part of a spate of "unexplained fires". And that's just one of the funny set pieces of David Mamet's latest movie.There is the overly tense, carbohydrate-hating director, played to perfection by William H. Macy. The male star, played with swagger by Alec Baldwin. The female star, who refuses to go topless (despite having committed to it in her contract) unless the production company pays her additional money, played by Sarah Jessica Parker. And the hapless writer, who now must find a substitute for the mill, played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman.
Unlike most Mamet-written or -directed films, this is a gentle comedy, without most of the raw language of his plays. But the dialogue is no less sharp and no less funny. There isn't a weak link in the cast, and the laughs keep coming as Bob (Baldwin) gets into trouble with yet another teenage girl (Julia Stiles, who makes it unclear whether she is the seducer or the seducee), Joseph (Hoffman) struggles to keep up with the demanded rewrites, and a town prosecutor vindictively (and then justifiably) goes after the film company for what is happening to the town.
Filmed in a picturesque little hamlet, the complications of the plot seem all the funnier for occurring in this bucolic atmosphere.
Very, very funny and highly recommended.
Movie Review: Cool Satire, Not Quite Perfect
Summary: 4 Stars
William H. Macy absolutely steals the show as the harried director of "The Old Mill", a movie within the movie that's behind schedule and out of money and got run out of its last location shoot for reasons never quite stated but easily deduced from dialogue clues. David Paymer is his near-equal as the film's producer, who can go from charming to threatening and back again in the flex of a facial muscle and the click of a cell-phone key. Philip Seymour Harris as the film's writer is goofy but strangely likeable, and has a nice counterpart in Rebecca Pidgeon as the town's bookstore owner and head of the local drama club. Alec Baldwin is, as usual, better than his material and seems to have found a new career as a character actor by sending up his former glamorous leading man persona, this time playing the film's star actor who has a thing for young (read: TOO YOUNG) girls. Sarah Jessica Parker does a decent as his leading lady, a bimbo hired for her body who thinks that "The Old Mill" will give her the chance to do more. The supporting cast is filled with charming performances, clever visuals fill the screen, and snappy dialogue keeps the pace moving reasonably well until about 30 minutes from the end. But even with the slip, the ending recovers nicely and you'll find yourself laughing out loud at the denouement, which caught me completely by surprise.Movie Review: "GO HUSKIES!"
Summary: 4 Stars
It sure sounds familiar. A Hollywood film crew causes havoc in a small American town while filming a movie. It seems they were kicked out of a previous small town due to the lead actor's (Alec Baldwin), penchant for young teenage girls. And it's deja vu all over again.
What I liked about "State and Main" is it's treatment of the small town locals as being as sophisticated, savvy, and in the case ot the young teenage girl, promiscuous as the blindsided big city moviemakers, while never abandoning it's Rockwellian small town charm, or it's big city smarts. It's a perfect marriage of the two cultures clashing, never wallwoing in the expected morales and pathos of its conflict.
The ensemble cast takes David Mamet's witty and clever script and flesh out the characters to sharp edged precision and humor. William H. Macy is perfectly and forgivingly corrupt as the film's director, (he'd kill a horse to make a dead horse scene look real), and Rebecca Pidgeon radiates a secure small town confidence as the local book store owner forced to abandon her plans for a community play, while setting her sights on the film's morally conflicted writer.