Review of Five Easy Pieces (1970) by Diana S — 15 May 2008

Okay, round two for today.

[b]The Awful Truth[/b] wasn't terrible, nor was it good. Irene Dunne ("It Grows on Trees") and Cary Grant ("Walk Don't Run") have good chemistry and Grant is gorgeous as always, but I just didn't feel the repartee. The two star as a married couple who have suspicions about each other and so decide to get a divorce. Then they interfere into each other's new romantic attempts. It's a screwball comedy. And I've shown before that I don't always "get" this genre. And since it's 89% fresh here on RT, it probably is just me.

[b]Insatiable[/b] is an After Dark film and it represents on of the worst of the bunch. A really lame guy witnesses a hot vampire chick killing a homeless man. He becomes obsessed with her and attempts to capture her and teach her to feel. Boring. Poorly acted. Ludicrous plot. Please avoid.

[b]The Raven[/b] is a strange Roger Corman ("Searchers 2.0") film about warring wizards, starring Vincent Price ("Edward Scissorhands"). It's a B-movie in all its glory. There's overacting by Price and costars Peter Lorre ("The Patsy") and Boris Karloff ("The Fear Chamber"). The plot is silly. The dialogue too. The colors are over the top, and a very young Jack Nicholson ("The Bucket List") wanders around too. I quite enjoyed it. Plus, it has Price reading "The Raven" in that awesome voice.

[b]Five Easy Pieces[/b] stars Jack Nicholson ("The Bucket List") as an classical pianist who abandons his upper class life and starts working on an oil-rig. When he receives word that his father is ill, he goes to visit the life he left behind. Bringing along his somewhat trashy girlfriend, Rayette (Karen Black, "One Long Night"), he confronts his old life. This is definitely a character study, and a good one. Nicholson is very revealing as he wars between his desire to rebel and his talent. I need to see this again, but enjoyed this first viewing.

I took my four-year-old nephew to see [b]Nim's Island[/b] and he mostly enjoyed it. Though he got bored a few times, I think those were the times I was most interested. Jodie Foster ("The Brave One") plays an adventure writer afraid to leave her house. She receives a S.O.S. email from a young girl, Abigail Breslin ("Definitely, Maybe"), who thinks Foster is the hero from her books. Breslin is wounded and alone on a secluded island trying to survive storms and invading tourists. Foster tries to brave the world and save her. It was amusing, especially Foster's bits. And Breslin's interactions with the island animals were really sweet. Take the youngsters.