Beautiful Girls (1996)
Directed by Ted Demme
During a snowy winter in the small fictional town of Knight's Ridge, Massachusetts, a group of lifelong buddies hang out, drink and struggle to connect with the women who affect their decisions, dreams and desires.
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What critics compared Beautiful Girls to
It takes a good 30 minutes to pick up the kind of momentum needed to drive a depressing character like Largeman through the finish line, but once Portman pops up as the cheerful love interest (reminiscent of her earlier work in “Beautiful Girls”), the film glides to its conclusion.
Braff has made no secret of the fact that he was influenced by such films as Harold & Maude and The Graduate (the use of Simon and Garfunkel on the soundtrack is a bit of a giveaway), but presumably, he also watched David Gordon Green’s movies and one would guess he’s seen Beautiful Girls (which also starred Natalie Portman) way too many more times than can be considered healthy.
Depending on your view, Shaun of the Dead is either a zombie flick masking as a comedy, or a comedy masking as a zombie flick, or Beautiful Girls masking as a zombie comedy.
As director, Braff elicits the most charismatic Natalie Portman performance since "Beautiful Girls" and, visually makes the most of many sight-gags, including the inherent lunacy of working as a knight at Medieval Times.
Portman, freed from George Lucas' shackles and back in Beautiful Girls territory (but blessedly minus that earlier film's creepy pedophiliac vibe), simply glows in a role that could easily have crossed over into lethal levels of life-affirming perkiness.
Andrew gets a jolt out of sub-Springsteen territory when he meets Sam (Natalie Portman, in her most playful role since the similarly toned Beautiful Girls), a local girl ably coping with epilepsy.
Portman's performance is a revelation from this actress who was a 13-year-old charmer in " Beautiful Girls " (1996).
Her first two major roles in The Professional and Beautiful Girls showcased a little girl well beyond her years in maturity.
Soon he's flying to Mexico in a 'borrowed' plane piloted by buddy Dulli (Max Perlich, "Beautiful Girls") and has created a small family living high off the hog.
"Blow" was directed by Ted Demme, whose uneven career includes the underrated "Beautiful Girls," one of the best-acted movies of recent years.
This is a question not easily answered in "Blow," a film by Ted Demme (1996's "Beautiful Girls") that is based on the true story of the rise and fall of George Jung, who was the largest provider of cocaine in the United States during the 1970s and '80s.
The film’s screenwriters, David McKenna and Nick Cassavetes, know enough to be tantalized by Jung’s flaws, but since Demme (“Beautiful Girls”), nephew of director Jonathan Demme, is still in search of a personal style, his film ultimately becomes less about its characters and more about mimicry--specifically, the mimicry of Martin Scorcese’s “Goodfellas” and “Casino.”
The problem with "Blow" is director Ted Demme ("Beautiful Girls," the underrated "Life"), who's certainly not on the same page as Depp, and scriptwriters Nick Cassavetes and David McKenna, who have rendered out of Bruce Porter's book a screenplay of accomplished idiocy.
His "Beautiful Girls" is quite insightful and uplifting (especially in the gutsy way it allows Timothy Hutton to have a crush on a 13 year old Nathalie Portman without making it cheap or creepy), but none of Demme's previous work could prepare you for the rpic scope of "Blow".
Considering Will and Abby’s fondness for 1990s cinema ( Pulp Fiction , Beautiful Girls and The Professional are all directly referenced), one can assume their romance and marriage takes place during that decade.
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It was nearly ten years ago since we had characters as perfectly realized as Andy, David, Cal and Jay when 1996 brought us both Beautiful Girls and Swingers.
Even when she played a thirteen year-old in "Beautiful Girls" a few years back, her role was bigger than her age, and she played it wonderfully.
She proves her range as an actress in a role that is the antithesis of the sweet quirky girl from Garden State or the "too smart for her age" neighbor from Beautiful Girls...she's "all growns-up".
At 17-years-old, she is already a near-veteran, popping onto the scene in 1994 with her heartbreaking performance in "The Professional," and carrying it over to what was a performance snubbed of an Oscar nomination, in 1996's "Beautiful Girls."
Depending on your view, Shaun of the Dead is either a zombie flick masking as a comedy, or a comedy masking as a zombie flick, or Beautiful Girls masking as a zombie comedy.
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Oh yes, and it’s also another May-December celluloid romance (after The Professional, Beautiful Girls and Closer) between Natalie Portman (as blossoming radical Evey) and an older, withdrawn gentleman (here Hugo Weaving’s ludicrous V, a Batman-Joker hybrid who wears a Guy Fawkes mask and advocates terror as the solution to terror).