Jessie Nelson
24 connections found
Filmography
View:
Connections, in both directions
At first glance, Jessie Nelson's I Am Sam may seem like a sort of Rain Man part 2, investigating what would happen if a developmentally disabled person were to father a child.
To grasp the shameless, trolling-for-Oscars concept behind "I Am Sam," an insufferably mawkish, mentally-challenged melodrama of self-aggrandizing proportions, just imagine a tear-jerking "Rain Man" sequel with Dustin Hoffman in a custody battle over a button-cute 7-year-old daughter.
I Am Sam learned everything it knows about retardation from Rain Man and Charly.
Reminiscent of so many other films where normal people learn from the mentally-challenged, (Charly, The Second Sister, Rain Man, etc.) Pfeiffer becomes a calmer, more competent attorney and parent as a result of her relationship with the good-hearted Sam (Penn), who bugs her, of course, but ultimately charms her.
There are some who will simply dismiss Penn's phenomenal performance in the title role as just another "Rain Man" but they'll be forgetting that Dustin Hoffman's contributions to that film were actually rather good (as was the film itself).
His performance ranks with that of Dustin Hoffman in "Rain Man" and Leonardo DiCaprio in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape."
But it’s tired — the jig has been up on the Rain Man/Shine/I Am Sam stunt for years now, and parodied more bitingly on Mr. Show, South Park and elsewhere.
But Speedman went too far, like Sean Penn in the disastrous I am Sam.
The offense is taken at a plot point which has Stiller's Tugg Speedman, an action hero desperate to be taken seriously, playing a character in the mold of Sean Penn's in I Am Sam.
Apparently, doing so diminishes your chances of walking away with a golden statue, à la Sean Penn in “I Am Sam.” Satires, however, are the complete opposite.
After his character's speech about actors who don't get Oscars when they go "full retard," it's going to be really interesting when Robert Downey Jr. runs into "I Am Sam" star Sean Penn at the next Vanity Fair party.
Sean Penn gave the most professionally shameful, cruelly wrongheaded performance ever nominated for a Best Actor Oscar in 2001’s “I Am Sam” — a film that deserved the bullshit-calling buckshot fired its way by “Tropic Thunder.”
The character’s constant vulnerability sometimes forces Phoenix towards an affected delivery that recalls Sean Penn’s oft-lampooned performance in “I Am Sam”, but Phoenix’s ability to ground Theodore in an almost pathological openheartedness ensures that he’s never more pathetic than he is relatable.
The kind of performance Penn delivers in "I Am Sam," which may look hard, is easy, compared, say, to his amazing work in Woody Allen's "Sweet and Lowdown."
Despite eliciting unavoidable comparisons to Dustin Hoffman's performance in "Rain Man" - a decidedly different film in story and tone - Penn's ("Sweet and Lowdown," "Up at the Villa") take on his higher functioning character is quite impressive, but I can see why some viewers might have problems with it.
The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019)
Directed by Tyler Nilson
influenced by I Am Sam (2001)
Themes Characters
We are used to seeing developmentally-able actors playing developmentally-disabled characters, like Sean Penn in I Am Sam , Leonardo DiCaprio in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape , Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man , Juliette Lewis and Giovanni Ribisi in The Other Sister , and John Malkovich in Of Mice And Men , to name just a few.
It’s not a movie like I am Sam where the special needs characters are patronized to and treated like they have special magical powers.
Jon Voight in Coming Home , Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump , and Sean Penn in I Am Sam are just a few which come to mind.
Audiences who would have felt embarrassed about spilling tears at such (much better) testaments to the love of a mother like "Stella Dallas" or "Imitation of Life" could weep at this while feeling they were watching a picture "relevant" to their lives.
Audiences who would have felt embarrassed about spilling tears at such (much better) testaments to the love of a mother like "Stella Dallas" or "Imitation of Life" could weep at this while feeling they were watching a picture "relevant" to their lives.
Then a girl he knows walks in, and he stares at her like Sean Penn’s character in I Am Sam staring at his daughter, like nobody’s ever loved more purely.
With 2001’s I Am Sam reaching the zenith in terms of mental disability as depicted on screen, Adam treads on dangerous ground in its bid to not go –as Kirk Lazarus from Tropic Thunder would say - “full on retard” in order to be effective.
It is from Elio's perspective which the story is exclusively told, and Timothée Chalamet (2015's " Love the Coopers ") is remarkable in the role.
What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
Directed by Lasse Hallström
influenced I Am Sam (2001)
Characters
And whereas, on the surface, "I Am Sam" might simply be a shameless push by New Line Cinema to capture a Best Actor nomination in these closing For Your Consideration moments (in that "A Beautiful Mind"/"Forrest Gump"/"What's Eating Gilbert Grape" mold), underneath it's a well written, excellently acted, and perceptively directed drama.
His performance ranks with that of Dustin Hoffman in "Rain Man" and Leonardo DiCaprio in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape."
I think what really made me mad is that I thought the movie was over as Sam gave his Big Speech....BIG GODDAMN SPOILER ALERT! but it turns out to be the big speech from Kramer vs. Kramer.
Stealing the idea from 2001's " I Am Sam " (which did it better), "Imagine That" is filled with Beatles cover tunes (i.e.
(Also, remember Zwick produced I Am Sam, 2001).
It would be easy to praise only the action scenes of “Civil War,” of which there are many that are great: a chase scene through a tunnel that brings the Winter Soldier, Captain America, Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony Mackie, of “Love the Coopers” ), and Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman, of “Gods of Egypt” ) together; Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson, of “The Jungle Book” ) facing off against close friend Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner, of “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” ) on different sides of the Avengers divide; or the climactic final fight between Steve and Bucky, teaming up against Tony in a Siberian laboratory, in a scene where past traumas are brought to the present.
Skepticism over a third actor in the span of nine years portraying a new incarnation of Peter Parker/Spider-Man (following Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield) vanishes in an instant as the immensely likable, youthful, genuine Tom Holland (2012's " The Impossible ") walks onto the screen; he is fantastic, and so is Marisa Tomei (2015's " Love the Coopers ") in her brief appearance as Aunt May.
Maybe the blazingly talented Sean Penn has given a worse performance at some point in his film career, whether it was in “Shanghai Surprise” or even in “I Am Sam,” Oscar nomination for the latter notwithstanding.
(His lunatic willingness to go for it in I Am Sam reportedly inspired Simple Jack from Tropic Thunder.)
But even at its spottiest, “Radio” is eons beyond the ridiculous plot machinations of I Am Sam or The Other Sister.
In the years since Forrest Gump, films celebrating the triumph of the human spirit have trailed off into either self-parody or irrelevance, mere cannon fodder for cynics unable to keep their empathy down without a heaping spoonful of irony on the side.
And whereas, on the surface, "I Am Sam" might simply be a shameless push by New Line Cinema to capture a Best Actor nomination in these closing For Your Consideration moments (in that "A Beautiful Mind"/"Forrest Gump"/"What's Eating Gilbert Grape" mold), underneath it's a well written, excellently acted, and perceptively directed drama.
Yet unlike other actorly attempts to portray those with abnormal mental faculties – Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man , Sean Penn in I Am Sam – Hanks makes Forrest more than a collection of tics and mannerisms.
The most glaring is the annoying camera work of cinematographer Elliot Davis ("The Next Best Thing," "Out of Sight") under the direction of director Jessie Nelson ("Corrina, Corrina," co-writer of "The Story of Us" and "Stepmom").
Spiner played Data on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," and has appeared in a number of films, including "Independence Day." Chao was a regular on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," and has appeared in several films, including "What Dreams May Come."