Citizen Rules...Cinemaesque Chat-n-Review

I know I liked Andrea Martin on SCTV and as Quark's mother on Deep Space Nine, but she's soooo annoying in this movie. I did watch a fun 1950s Debbie Reynolds movie that I bet you've seen. I'll be reviewing it soon.

Directors: Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert
Writers: Daniel Scheinert, Dan Kwan
Cast: Paul Dano, Daniel Radcliffe, Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy

About: A lonely man (Paul Dano) who's been marooned on a deserted island with no food and no hope...One day he discovers a person laying on the beach (Daniel Radcliffe). Thinking that the man on the beach is alive, he rushes over to him and starts CPR. Much to his surprise he finds the body is dead....or maybe not....or maybe it doesn't really matter to him. He needs a friend, he's alone in the world and the body makes a good companion and a real good listener. Thus starts their strange odyssey to get back to civilization.


Review: Weird, but likable. You will believe a dead man can be a best friend. Or at least I did. And that's thanks to an imaginative script that thinks outside of the box. Directors Dan Kwan & Daniel Scheinert team up and write and direct one of 2016's more interesting movies.

It takes a special type of actor to pull off such an outlandish idea and make us actually care about him. Paul Dano does just that. He creates a sympathetic character who has his share of foibles and is steeped in neurosis. And yet he is likeable. I cheered for him, I wanted him and his dead companion to make it back home.


Speaking of the dead man, Daniel Radcliffe is equally good at playing dead! At first glance all he does is lay there, not much of an acting challenge. But as the story progresses and he seems to be able to communicate, we see just how good of an actor he is. He looked like a corpse, especially with the eye thing he does. And yet he too gives us a reason to care for him.


The story is wildly creative and being filmed in the deep woods it was a very cool setting too. I loved the popcorn scene and the song that went with it.

Attachments

       

I think I need to watch Swiss Army Man. People keep posting about it, and it sounds pretty entertaining.

__________________

Do it! If I can like it, anyone can!...It's funny, weird, but most importantly it made me think about life and was touching too.

I definitely plan to. I'm trying to watch some good movies from 2016 (mostly for the MoFo Film Awards), and I have a good feeling about this one now.

I'm going to try that, I like Paul Dano.

I didn't look it up but I bet it was filmed on Vancouver Island. At least the forest scenes looked like Vancouver. Have you been there before?

There's some Cricket style humor in there that I think you'll like! I'm a big fan of Paul Dano. I was just thinking about finding another of his movies to watch.

Just poking me nose in to say I'm still keeping up with the thread CR - just can't comment on anything of late

Hey Chyp, always good to see you. I guess I'll have to try and watch something you've seen I do have 2 other reviews to write, but I just haven't felt like it. Maybe you seen one of those.

Radcliffe looks like hell here...

A lot of things are filmed in Vancouver. You can thank subsidies from the Canadian government for that haha.

I haven't been further West than eastern Ontario. It's actually quicker to fly to the UK from here than it is to fly to Vancouver haha. I'd like to travel there sometime, but I don't have any family or friends on the West Coast, so it would probably be too expensive to visit.

Swiss Army Man sounds like a new take on "Wilson"!

Since I love survival films, quirky psychological movies and Mary Elizabeth Winstead it sounds like a film I'd really like to see!

Yup, that's the idea, he's a dead body.

Vancouver Island is beautiful, especially when you get to the norther part of it. If I was to move out of country, that's where I would go.

Ha! that's funny, because I said the same thing when watching it. It was like they took the Wilson idea from Castaway and ran with it. It works too.
I'd never seen Mary Elizabeth Winstead before, she's not made up to be hot...but in doing the review I found some pics of her that were hot!

Being a comic geek, I loved the movie Sky High (2005) - where I first noticed Mary Elizabeth Winstead!

Being a new member around here and digging up some older messages I can honestly agree with what you wrote.

Through movies we identify ourselves with the main character who suffers immensely or who burst of joy. We identify ourselves with the plot, with all its characters and twists, we not only see what they see but feel with they feel, all the injustice done to the good guys, whenever the bad guys win the ladies heart, when good things go wrong and bad things end up being the best, it makes our empathy arise and let's us wonder through imaginationland, wondering inside all this scenarios, forgetting our daily life as boring or busy as it may be. Such a mix of powerful elements from all the other arts like Literature and Music and all the Visual Elements. It is indeed the greatest pleasure of mankind.

Not pretending to be cheesy but hey, that's something we all have in common, this passion for the 7th art.

Exactly what I thought. For what they write it seems like a good one. I'll give it a shot

Well said! I like what you wrote. You're always welcomed on my thread to chat anytime

Been away from here FAR TOO LONG--

sorry to hear/read that greek wedding 2 was a bit of a failure - big fan of the first one

and great write up on Swiss Army Man. Excellent movie. VERY quirky but VERY touching as well. A crazy, but very beautiful mix that truly worked.

__________________
What I actually said to win MovieGal's heart:
- I might not be a real King of Kinkiness, but I make good pancakes

~Mr Minio

Hey Ed, always happy to see you her....Heck, I'm happy to see anyone here at my little review thread

I wonder if Swiss Army Man will receive any Oscar nominations?

If I could nominate it I would say: Best Screenplay, Best Music Score...and I wouldn't complain if Paul Dano picked up a best lead actor nom and Daniel Radcliffe best supporting actor nom

definitely for screenplay and music score