Shine (1996)
Directed by Scott Hicks
Pianist David Helfgott, driven by his father and teachers, has a breakdown. Years later he returns to the piano, to popular if not critical acclaim.
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What critics compared Shine to
Even before the opening credits for Ron Howard’s A Beautiful Mind roll, the extensive previews for the movie have roused echoes of Scott Hicks’ barely five-year-old Shine, the equally fictionalized-but-based-on-truth story of pianist, David Helfgott.
Some actors get to do both: Geoffrey Rush in “Shine,” for one, and Russell Crowe here.
Or better yet, ask Geoffrey Rush, whose character in 1996’s “Shine” had to overcome years of physical and emotional abuse before he could be recognized as a master musician.
(Geoffrey Rush + Shine = Oscar; Angelina Jolie + Girl, Interrupted = Oscar.)
…better than Shine and among the most affecting ever made about co-existing with mental demons.
Add cheerfully inclined director Ron Howard and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, responsible for mediocre Hollywood generica like “Batman and Robin” and “Practical Magic,” and you can almost be sure that the end product will be in the ghastly tradition of films like “Shine,” “Nell” and “Patch Adams,” with their bogus sympathy and showboating lead performances.
The ordeal of the drummer Andrew (Miles Teller) is similar to the anguish of Geoffrey Rush's music student in Shine as he was tortured through Rachmaninoff.
Mr. Simmons hurls orders, insults and obscenities like a cross between Armin Mueller-Stahl ’s tyrannical father from “Shine,” R. Lee Ermey’s drill sergeant from “Full Metal Jacket” and his own Aryan leader from “Oz.”
He’s a gregarious grouch (Brendan Gleeson) but darned if that sweet-mannered bear and his recipe for marmalade don’t win him and the diverse and brutishly whimsical prison population (Noah Taylor of “Shine” among them) over.
“The Upside,” breezily paced by director Neil Burger (“Divergent”), is actually a faithful remake of a 2011 French blockbuster inspired by the two men whose lives were first portrayed in a documentary.
There’s nothing technically remarkable about The Upside which is disappointing considering director Neil Burger’s (Divergent, Limitless, The Illusionist) varied filmography.
This latest film from Neil Burger (of "The Illusionist" and "Divergent" fame) crash lands into a relentless slog that shrugs off any real conflict.
On the downside, director Neil Burger ( Limitless , Divergent ) and writer Jon Hartmere have done little to transform the sappier and more problematic aspects of Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano’s box-office hit.
And yet Neil Burger’s (Limitless, Divergent) film already is a Hollywood movie, and with its overblown conflicts and protracted runtime, it’s been scrubbed so clean that there’s no more dirt to fight against.
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Other than Chris Barrie who makes his feature film debut and gets in a few amusing moments as the protective butler, Iain Glen ("Mountains of the Moon," "Gorillas in the Mist") and Daniel Craig ("Elizabeth," "I Dreamed of Africa") are completely flat as the one-dimensional villains and Noah Taylor ("Almost Famous," "Shine") can't do much with his limited techno guru part.
And there's no excusing the film's criminal underuse of Noah Taylor ("Shine," "Almost Famous") and Chris Barrie (the British TV comedies "Red Dwarf" and "The Brittas Empire"), wasted as Lara's tech-whiz sidekick and long-suffering butler, respectively.
Noah Taylor (the young David Helfgott in "Shine") is Lara's sidekick, Bryce, who is supposed to be some kind of techno-geek, but comes across as just a plain geek.
The actor�s work contains none of the feel good mannerisms of such likeable mentally challenged heroes as Geoffrey Rush�s turn in Shine or Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind.
This is the film that "Shine" and A Beautiful Mind could not be, a story about schizophrenia that doesnât neatly resolve its complex subject matter.
It’s a bit of a shame because there’s actually a really good cast hidden within this epic mess, including Gerard Butler (“The Phantom of the Opera,” “300”), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (“Game of Thrones”), and Academy Award winner Geoffrey Rush (“Shine,” “The King’s Speech”).
Charting a course of recovery that has implications politically and also domestically, the movie makes much the same direct, occasionally shameless appeal to its audience that one recalls from previous Oscar-winner Shine, the story of a prodigal talent facing his own hurdles whose star, Geoffrey Rush (pictured above right), proves invaluable to this latest film as well.
Firths monarch-to-be is a quietly fretful blueblood who, groomed to be a grand spokesman, literally cant get the royal words out -- that the Australian therapist hired to aid him is played by Geoffrey Rush (who in Shine had a speech disorder of his own to overcome) might be an in-joke, or maybe just another of the films friendly reminders to Academy Award voters.
Rush, who won the Best Actor Oscar for “Shine” (1997) is funny and inspiring as Lionel, a failed actor who has the temerity to tell the king: “My game, my turf, my rules” — and helps him force the words out by singing and swearing.
He conquers the big screen with this splendid movie based on the true story of King George VI (Colin Firth from “Love Actually” and “A Single Man”) and his unlikely friendship with maverick Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush from “Quills” and “Shine”).
Just ask Rush, an Oscar-winner for such a role in "Shine."
Rush (winner for Shine, 1996) can coach him in a great acceptance speech.
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The South Australian is unlikely to ever match the note-perfect success of 1996's Shine , but remains highly regarded for a no-nonsense, lyrical style that seeks to play to the audience's hand.
Director Scott Hicks (Shine, Snow Falling on Cedars and No Reservations) attempts to distract with pretty montages and long shots of orange sunrises and red sunsets over the bayou.
As directed by Scott Hicks (the Australian filmmaker Oscar nominated for Shine ), The Lucky One features all of the usual Sparks hallmarks yet is played out at a steady pace where its tender love story flourishes to make for engaging, albeit sappy viewing.
But instead, the producers hire people like Scott Hicks, a one-time Best Director nominee (for Shine), who will never be nominated, ever again.
Sparks has been fortunate over the years to see a handful of savvy directors take on his material, and director Scott Hicks (Oscar-nominated for 1997's Shine) does a decent job making The Lucky One pop with scenic illustrations.
Academy Award winner Geoffrey Rush ("Shine") plays a pelican, Oscar nominee Willem Dafoe ("Platoon") is an aquarium angelfish, and three-time Emmy winner Allison Janney ("The West Wing") sparkles as a starfish.