Tim McCanlies
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Filmography
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Connections, in both directions
This film is a reminder of Diane Keaton's largely forgotten, but more emotionally true "Unstrung Heroes," another tale of a young boy left with two eccentric uncles.
Watching the movie, I was reminded of " Unstrung Heroes " (1995), the Diane Keaton film about a young boy who goes to live with his uncles, who are world-class eccentrics.
An Unfinished Life (2005)
Directed by Lasse Hallström
influenced by Secondhand Lions (2003)
Characters
Both shine as only truly gifted performers can, in roles reminiscent of, yet better developed than, those portrayed by Robert Duvall and Michael Caine in Secondhand Lions.
Also fun are effusive character actor J.K. Simmons ("Spider-Man 2") as Naylor's boss BR and Robert Duvall ("Open Range," "Secondhand Lions") as the Captain, the titan of the tobacco industry (although he could have borrowed a page from Gene Hackman's inveterate smoker in "Heartbreakers").
These swashbuckling adventures are recounted in flashbacks that recall "The Princess Bride" or "Holes."
Director Tim McCanlies struggles with the contemporary (circa 1960) melodrama, but in flashbacks he achieves a campiness worthy of The Princess Bride.
Set in the early Sixties (just around the time of Joe Danteâs equally nostalgic but ultimately noisy Matinee) Secondhand Lions casts Haley Joel Osment as 14-year-old Walter, who finds himself unceremoniously dumped at the dilapidated rural Texas home of his eccentric uncles Garth (Caine) and Hub (Duvall) when his mother (Sedgwick) heads up to Dallas to learn "court reporting."
Written and directed by Richie Mehta, the film stars Haley Joel Osment (2003's " Secondhand Lions ") as 21-year-old Erol Whyte, an MIT hopeful whose father, Gabe (Rufus Sewell), vanished without a trace during a business trip twelve years earlier.
I swear, I could watch Robert Duvall read the Bible (and I think I did in "The Apostle") and still be captivated by the actor's talents.
The film features some gorgeous cinematography from Jack N. Green (Unforgiven) and a script by its director Tim McCanlies, who wrote the charmingly clever animated adaptation of The Iron Giant.
McCanlies (who co-wrote "The Iron Giant") is not quite an experienced enough director to draw a strong moral from such whimsical material, and he also has a hard time establishing his era: It's never clear if his story is taking place in the '50s, '60s or even the '70s.
I was convinced that this was a studio demand after test screenings, but after finding out that the movie was written by Tim McCanlies -- the man behind the best animated film ever made, The Iron Giant -- I knew that it was Tim, once again, who couldn't resist revealing the man behind the curtain.
His screenplay for 1999's animated gem The Iron Giant shows he's got it in him.
McCanliesâ previous project was the flawless script for The Iron Giant, for my money the best animated film of at least the past quarter-century.
Written and directed by Tim McCanlies (who wrote The Iron Giant), the film opens in the present day and cartoonist Walter (Josh Lucas) gets a call saying his two Crazy Uncles have carked it in a bi-plane accident.
Joaquin Phoenix (“Walk the Line”), stars as Bobby Grusinsky, son of the New York Deputy Chief of Police, Burt Grusinsky (Robert Duvall of “Secondhand Lions”) and brother to a decorated policeman, Joseph Grusinsky (Mark Wahlberg of “The Departed”).
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Directed by George Roy Hill
influenced Secondhand Lions (2003)
Plot
I was especially tickled by the brainstorm that this could be a sequel to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid .
It starts out like an old-fashioned family drama with some comic moments; then it gets a bit slapstick and segues into fantasy-style segments that seem lifted from action films like The Mummy or Indiana Jones.
The last time Haley Joel Osment and Michael Caine met was at the Academy Awards when Caine triumphed as Best Supporting Actor for “The Cider House Rules” over Osment’s groundbreaking performance in “The Sixth Sense.”
It makes you feel good the way that “Forrest Gump” made you feel good, as if the filmmakers were seriously trying to make a fun, wholesome, entertaining movie without taking on the industry with a moral agenda.
Overlooked in "Pay It Forward" and wasted in "A.I.," Osment proves that he can do more than just play cute.
As Walter grows fonder of his uncles, Osment imparts a confidence and swagger that was only hinted at in such post- Sixth Sense offerings as Pay It Forward and A.I. Artificial Intelligence .
He may not be the cute little boy we loved and worried about in The Sixth Sense , but he's still a major acting talent.
The nephew's name is Walter, and he is played by Haley Joel Osment , the child actor from " The Sixth Sense " and "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence," now on the edge of adolescence but still with that clear-eyed directness that cuts right to the heart of a scene.
It should appeal to those who like to see two great veteran actors like Michael Caine and Robert Duvall and a young potential great actor Haley Joel Osment (star of "The Sixth Sense"), who is 14 when the film was shot but is now 15, mix it up together.
With his performances in The Sixth Sense and A.I. (Artificial Intelligence), Haley Joel Osment proved he can access deep reservoirs of emotion playing complex heroes in a cruel world.
Then again, if he’s planning to stop making films like The Sixth Sense and A.I. Artificial Intelligence and transition to shallow, manipulative kid stuff like Secondhand Lions, perhaps I should wish for something better, like a pet lizard.