Steven Zaillian
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Pawn Sacrifice (2015)
Directed by Edward Zwick
influenced by Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)
Themes
My knowledge of the man was always miniscule: a footnote to a 1980s film I watched religiously called Searching for Bobby Fischer.
Pawn Sacrifice lacks the humanity of the Steven Zaillian film, Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993).
"Searching for Bobby Fischer" may be the best look at what growing up with such incredible chess skill can do to a child's psyche.
Chess may not seem like a terribly dramatic sport, but Fischer's operatic life and the innovative, unwaveringly focused way he played the game has inspired several excellent films, including Steve Zaillian's underappreciated "Searching for Bobby Fischer" and Liz Garbus' completely fascinating documentary, "Bobby Fischer Against the World."
Erin Brockovich (2000)
Directed by Steven Soderbergh
influenced by A Civil Action (1998)
Plot Themes
"Erin Brockovich" is " Silkwood " ( Meryl Streep fighting nuclear wastes) crossed with " A Civil Action " ( John Travolta against pollution) plus Julia Roberts in a plunging neckline.
With a plot hook that was almost identically seen in 1998's "A Civil Action," yet focuses more on the central character than the former did on John Travolta, "Erin Brockovich," for all of its attributes, lacks urgency.
It bears a striking resemblance to another similarly-themed 1998 courtroom flick "A Civil Action".
Like 1998's A Civil Action , which traversed similar territory, Erin Brockovich is based on an actual case - a fact that makes the basic storyline all the more discomforting.
Plotwise, Erin Brockovich covers familiar territory: We’ve seen small underdog law firms take on the amoral practices of giant corporations in such movies as A Civil Action, starring John Travolta and also based on a true story, and The Rainmaker, starring Matt Damon and based on a John Grisham novel.
A little over a year ago, John Travolta starred in A Civil Action , a film based on a true story about a lawyer's long-shot crusade against a big business guilty of contaminating a small town's water supply.
This tale of political compromise is something that we've all pretty much seen before, starting with Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, speeding through my high school classroom screenings of The Candidate, and lasting all the way up through the remake of All the King's Men.
…if you are a parent who favors thrillers or legal dramas like “A Civil Action” (1998), “Erin Brockovich” (2000) or “Dark Waters” (2019), you will love it.
Following the blueprint of legal dramas such as A Civil Action and Erin Brockovich, but by way of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Coyote vs Acme is an entertaining and surprisingly heartfelt family comedy.
Black Swan (2010)
Directed by Darren Aronofsky
influenced by Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)
Themes
We've seen the pursuit of perfection personified in films like Searching for Bobby Fischer and The Natural, but in those films the excellence of seeker was placed right up front.
Talia Balsam (2006's "All the King's Men," AMC's "Mad Men") is a good match as his Mrs.
Michael Clayton (2007)
Directed by Tony Gilroy
influenced by A Civil Action (1998)
Themes Characters
Not since Steven Zaillian's underrated A Civil Action has a mainstream film about a corporate-legal ethical crusade fessed up to how little the most gratifying ending might actually impact the lives of average people.
Gilroy has a sardonic, rather than a melodramatic, view of life: Michael will never be an anti-pollution crusader like Julia Roberts’s Erin Brockovich or John Travolta’s lawyer in “A Civil Action.”
He also starred in other films like “Get Shorty,” “In The Loop'' and “All The King's Men.”
He also starred in other films like “Get Shorty,” “In The Loop'' and “All The King's Men.”
He also starred in other films like “Get Shorty,” “In The Loop'' and “All The King's Men.”
Years later, in 2006, he would executive-produce a remake of "All the King's Men," which was shot in New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
The villains, while correctly cartoonish, don't fare quite as well with Alan Cumming ("Company Man," "Get Carter") playing an odd sort of Captain Kangaroo mixed with Pee Wee Herman role, Tony Shalhoub ("Galaxy Quest," "A Civil Action") embodying his appropriately titled minion, and Robert Patrick ("All the Pretty Horses," "Terminator 2: Judgement Day") as the head villain.
Meanwhile, the classic stand-alone films “All the King’s Men” and “A Face in the Crowd” succeed by narrowing their focus to megalomaniacs in high places.
Murder on the Orient Express (2017)
Directed by Kenneth Branagh
influenced by All the King's Men (2006)
Visuals
Branagh as a director wants the film to feel big and boisterous a la “Hugo” but ends up feeling minuscule like “All the King’s Men” (the remake).
With Vice, McKay does his own manic, disturbing version of All the King’s Men, with Cheney as his Willie Stark.
He also starred in other films like “Get Shorty,” “In The Loop'' and “All The King's Men.”
This is not to say that there’s no place for politics in narrative storytelling — there are an abundance of examples to the contrary, from The Great Dictator to All the King’s Men to Good Night and Good Luck, in which Damon’s friend (and even more outspoken liberal) George Clooney used historical fact as a Crucible-style framework for modern commentary.
Screenwriter Steven Zaillian (“Schindler’s List,” “Searching for Bobby Fischer”), the go-to writer for microclimates of mood and nuance and man, adapted the book, and does he ever deliver.
In the tedious remake of All the King’s Men, Penn went in for Method-y pauses in the scenes of Willie Stark finding his soapbox voice: He seemed too inward an actor to play a natural rabble-rouser.
He exhibits a transparency missing from his last go at a speechifying political role e_SEmD Willie Stark, in 2006’s gassy All the King’s Men — and a playfulness that harks all the way back to Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
(And far removed from his portrayal of another assassinated politician, the corrupt Willie Stark of the 2006 All the King's Men.) Milk's personality is a force of nature, scooping us up and sweeping us along, as if we, too, are marching right beside him, protesting intolerance.
In recent years, Sean Penn has been condensing into a black hole of an actor—his performances in Mystic River and All the King's Men were so studiedly "powerful" that they swallowed up the surrounding movie.
Good Will Hunting (1997)
Directed by Gus Van Sant
influenced by Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)
Themes
Teaming up with director Gus Van Sant (Drugstore Cowboy, To Die For), the two have forged a fitfully engaging saintly-misfit fable glazed with Hollywood-therapeutic ''sensitivity'': It's Searching for Bobby Fischer meets Ordinary People as reimagined by Oliver Sacks.