Citizen Rules...Cinemaesque Chat-n-Review

Director: Jack Plotnick
Cast: Patrick Wilson, Liv Tyler, Marisa Coughlan, Matt Bomer, Jerry O'Connell,Kali Rocha
Genre: Dark Comedy Drama, Sci-Fi
Length: 93 minutes

Premise: What would happen if people's culture, values and styles were permanently stuck in the mid 1970s and yet it was the future on some space station...what would that future look like?

Space Station 76 is not sci-fi. It might seem like sci-fi because it's set on a space station orbiting an alternative earth but that's the end of the sci-fi part. There's no CG, no lasers, no space battles. The entire movie takes place in a few rooms inside the station and it's about people and their neuroses.

The film is based on a stage play and like many play based films it's heavy on dialogue and characters. The director described the film as a dark comedy. Comedy really isn't the right word, it's more of an expose. This is not a Space Balls or Galaxy Quest type film. The 'comedy' is dry and subtle and comes out of examining the values and personalities of these people who are permanently stuck with 1970s lifestyles. Better yet, don't think of it as a comedy at all.

The decor and set design is all fabulously done up in 1970s style. There's a lot of detail that went into making this look like an alternative history. It's fun looking at the sets and spotting styling cues from the past. How many can you see in the photo?

Space Station 76 is a small budget indie film, which dares to be different. If you go into this film with no expectations you might just enjoy it as much as I did. It helps if you're familiar with the 1970s. There's no big story arch, no huge conflicts, just a bunch of chain smoking, pill popping, drinking people who can't seem to get their lives together.

Big Eyes (2014)

Director: Tim Burton
Cast: Amy Adams, Christoph Waltz, Danny Huston
Genre: Biography Drama

A biopic drama about painter Margaret Keane who painted the 'big eyes' paintings that became a huge commercial success in the 1960s. It follows her struggles with her husband who claimed that he had painted her paintings and kept her from telling the truth to the world.

Big Eyes?...Tim Burton? Sounds like an insane combination! But no Mr Burton shows great restraint and tells a straight forward story of a struggling artist, Margaret Keane (Amy Adams) and her emotional and legal battles with her smooth talking, slimy business minded husband (Christoph Waltz) who steals fame and respect from his wife by claiming the paintings are his work. He goes so far as to make her sign his name to the art and keeps his wife a virtual prisoner in her home. Even her own daughter from a first marriage is kept in the dark about the paintings.

What makes this movie work is, it's true! This is one of those 'stranger than fiction' events and it actually happened to Mrs Keane. In the 1960's her art work was famous. You couldn't walk into a room with out seeing a reproduction of her art on the wall. When I was a little kid one of her lithographs of a big eyed sad dog hung in my bedroom. Tim Burton is an advent collector of her art and a personally fan of Margret Keane and for that reason he sought to tell her story.

I really liked this film and so did my wife. It's easy to watch, not to fast, not to slow, nice pacing. Both Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz are talented actors and are excellent in this. They bring the characters to life...It's the uniqueness of the story itself that makes this worth watching.