FilmJerk Favorites

A group of unique directors and the essential works that you've got to see.

||| Elia Kazan |||
Elia Kazan

Known for his creative direction and controversial story choices, Kazan was not only a great proponent of “method acting” and one of the founders of the Actors' Studio, but he used the style to its greatest effect, working with actors to capture unforgettable moments that bore his unique signature.

Under Kazan's potent direction Andy Griffith gives a stunning portrayal of a Southern itinerant singer catapulted to fame, with dehumanizing effects, in this early look at the power and corruptibility of television celebrity.

Gregory Peck is a humble and idealistic magazine writer who researches an article on anti-Semitism and learns first-hand about prejudice when he poses as a Jew. The film is unique in its ability to be quietly strong and subtly powerful while remaining constantly engaging.

Winner of eight Academy Awards, this powerful and brilliantly performed saga focuses on the dreams, despair and corruption of New York City longshoremen, Marlon Brando as he struggles over the choices of right and wrong and what that means to his brother, corrupt union officials, his priest, and his girlfriend.

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Hotel for Dogs

By BrianOrndorf

January 16th, 2009

If someone would've told me a year ago that the top box office draws over the last few months would be dogs and Clint Eastwood, I would've laughed the laugh of kings (and then cried).

Hotel for Dogs

Now, “Hotel for Dogs” doesn’t feature Dirty Harry in any type of supporting role, but it certainly has plenty of dogs, making it unquestionably irresistible to young audiences everywhere.

Struggling to remain together while bouncing around foster homes, siblings Andi (Emma Roberts) and Bruce (Jake T. Austin) are forced to commit petty crimes to make sure their clandestine pet dog Friday is properly taken care of. Finding an abandoned hotel, the kids discover a perfect space to hide Friday away from animal control officers, stumbling upon a ragtag group of strays in the process. With the help of a pet store clerk (Johnny Simmons), Andi and Bruce build an elaborate oasis for abandoned canines of all shapes and sizes, yet trouble soon arrives when the kids raise the curiosity of their deadbeat foster parents (Lisa Kudrow and Kevin Dillon), threatening the safety of the hotel and inviting the worry of a kindly social services agent (Don Cheadle).

“Hotel for Dogs” is strictly mild sauce for family audiences looking to ooh and ahh over highly trained canine actors, sent directly through a cinematic obstacle course of pranks and bodily functions. Though billed a comedy, there’s nothing explicitly funny about the picture, which resembles a mid-70s Disney throwaway production, intended only to babysit, not thrill.

For the less demanding, I could see “Hotel for Dogs” filling a small void in the now red-hot cute dog genre, as this picture is overflowing with all canines great and small. Director Thor Freudenthal deserves a medal for simply surviving the shoot, as he orchestrates the emotions of a plethora of professional pooches, who often swarm the frame. Thankfully, the seams rarely show, though the director doesn’t find enough visual oddity to backdrop the hotel residents once the kids get the place up and running.

Of course, finding fault with a film that encourages proper dog caretaking seems cruel, but the screenplay for “Hotel for Dogs” is such a flavorless, unfunny piece of writing that doesn’t aspire to be anything but obvious, which begins to fatigue the picture after the first five minutes. Sluggish stabs at tween romance, wicked dog catchers, and neglectful foster parents end up a bore, leaving the animals with the burden to keep the film passably engrossing, if you can get past the picture’s unnerving urine and poop fixation, the dogs carry the film appropriately, perhaps even outacting their human costars. Especially Cheadle, who should really have a long conversation with his agent about his future in worthwhile film roles.

My rating: C-