O Nerd Vai à Guerra

This is a great little film, about 1000 times better than anyone could have

expected, given the tumultuous "Project Greenlight" backstory and the fact that it was written and directed by novices. The concerns of being too melodramatic

were obviously addressed and taken seriously, given the fact that many scenes -- including the brick wall scene with the father, the group hug and Shia's crying in the hospital -- were all mercifully absent from the version I saw last night at the Arclight, where the filmmakers were in attendance to answer questions.

Also contributing to the film's success were good camerawork, excellent editing, a brisk pace, and a score that, while instrumentally reminiscent of "American Beauty" (in both its use of tablas and quiet piano notes during the romantic

scenes) helped tremendously in conveying teenage angst and confusion.

"Project Greenlight" may seem a rare and wonderful treat for struggling

filmmakers, but it also must be an ungodly ordeal, given not only the media

attention, but the difficulty of the assignment itself (Pete Jones managed, also remarkably, to come through relatively unscathed last year, though his film was not as good as this one).

So whatever you want to say about these guys (and there seems to be quite a

bit of animosity and, understandably, jealousy), the bottom line is they survived making a first feature without going insane, and did it while a documentary crew followed their every move, publicly recording their best and worst moments. To me, that alone is a remarkable achievement, and as a filmmaker myself, I can

guarantee that most moments on a low budget first feature are far less than

great.

As I told them last night before the Q and A, they should be extremely proud of what they accomplished, no matter how the film came out. The fact that it's a funny, entertaining and -- in my view, well-directed -- entry into the coming-of- age genre is merely icing on the cake, and LA and New York Times critics can

be damned -- because they've never made a film, and never will.

Kyle, Efram and Erica, I congratulate you, and wish you the best of luck.

THE BATTLE OF SHAKER HEIGHTS (2003) ** Shia LaBeouf, Amy Smart, Elden Henson, Kathleen Quinlan, William Sadler, Shiri Appleby, Ray Wise, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson. Sophomoric entry (in more ways than one) of the Project Greenlight experiment continues its ill-advised decision to make another predictable coming-of-age dramedy this time with LaBeouf (a combination of Dustin 'Screech' Diamond and Mark Linn-Baker) as a twerpy, sarcastic Ohio teen whose only outlet of creativity inexplicably is as a WWII recreation participant who faces his daily battles in high school by his wits while harboring resentment towards his well-meaning, yet flaky and damaged (i.e. mom's a latent hippie; dad a recovering druggie cum charity worker) folks. When he is befriended by a preppie (a seemingly miscast Henson who eerily resemble a cross between an adolescent JFK and Alan Hale) he meets his sister (the sadly underused hottie Smart) whose impending nuptials further adds insult to injury. The film suffers in many plot holes, a too-cutesy-Aren't-I-Witty main character, strange choices (Wise as the father of Smart and Henson is a collector of odd-ball items to the point he includes a nicknamed nick knack on their answering machine???!!!) and a shockingly short running time that begs to question where is the meat of the so-called 'incredible' script by Erica Beeney that scored the win in the contest and the lugubrious directorial debut by the not-so-dynamic duo of Efram Potelle and Kyle Rankin (where is the drama?!) LaBeouf manages (barely) to make the rather annoying faux intellectualistic Salingeresque protagonist a few moments of humor and his puberty blues underlie some of his bankrupt rebellion. What's lost in translation is clearly a lack of communication by all involved. A real shame for something that apparently had a slim change of being worthwhile (if you can go by the HBO series).

I'm an easy-2-please kind of a person. With all the crap coming out of Hollywood, all I ask these days is that movies DON'T SUCK. I don't ask that they be good. This movie fails to meet even that low standard I've set. Hollywood crap would be better.

Various reviews below pointed out the movie failed because of this or that. Whatever the reason, it isn't even a half-decent after-school special.

Flaw #0: The movie just drags. If this weren't a HBO's Project Green Ligh (PGL) production I would have changed the channel after 15 minutes (30 minutes max).

Flaw #1: I guess the main point of using "new" directors is to get a fresh look and style that studio films lack. The standard studio look and style would have been a plus. The "look" couldn't be blander, boring even.

Flaw #2: The main character (Kelly) is an unlikable smart-mouth / smart-a**.

I think they were trying to portray Kelly as quick-witted tortured soul but failed miserably. Sometimes there's that kid in every high school who is going through some undeserved hardship and you sympathize with him/her. But then there's that smart-mouth a**hole who deserve all the trouble he/she bring onto themselves. Kelly is that a**hole. Why would I care for his troubles?

Flaw #3: the climax of the film (where he is kissed by an older woman and then eventually emotionally hurt by her) is so short and thin I almost missed it.

Flaw #4: there's nothing new. Style is... no style. The main character (Kelly) is in conflict with his parents. Kelly gets into trouble at school because he is an outsider. He loves a girl/woman who is out of his league. Kelly is tormented by a school bully. Kelly takes revenge on the bully via some "smart", unique and a clever way. Another girl has a crush on Kelly but he doesn't seem to notice her. Yada, yada, yada...

Flaw #5: the story is told in such a way that I can't identify with anybody's pains. Not the main character (Kelly), the older woman who's marrying a man she doesn't love, the mother who is troubled by the schism between the father and the son, the father who might be dying, the friend who's life is already planned out by his father, more Yada, yada, yada...

Flaw #6: The actor Shia (Kelly) over acts every scene. I read in other review how good his acting is in this film, but I strongly disagree. His over acting isn't obvious as the cheesy double takes in a comedy, but still bad. Compare his acting with the young actors in "Stand by me" and you'll agree that it is bad.

=== If you look at other reviews below, there is a large cluster of positive reviews early in the movie's release. I suspect these are people who:

(1) are fans of PGL,

(2) are fellow filmmakers who sympathize with the difficulty of directing a film,

(3) were expecting a train-wreak like the first PGL's "Stolen Summer" but got something "better",

(4) got caught up in the PGL's "opening night" fanfare.

Almost all later reviews are very negative, in contrast. Go do the math.

Even if you get a chance to see this movie on cable TV "for free"... don't bother. It is a complete waste of your 1.5 hours.

Oh, how I tried to love this movie. I was so emotionally invested in Project Greenlight, and although the directors seemed like idiots, they weren't evil idiots.

It turned out to be an okay movie, which is almost worse than being awful. There were a few laughs, but for the most part I didn't care about the characters in the movie nearly as much as the "characters" in Project Greenlight, and that is the problem that I have with it. If someone has to see Project Greenlight in order to care about the movie, then the movie failed.

For a first time effort for writer and director(s) this was a fine little movie. Million dollar budget, no time, documentary cameras. . . . I think they did just fine. Besides, who else is giving people a shot at getting started in this business? Ben Affleck and Matt Damon could probably avoid a lot of grief if they turned their backs on this whole thing, but they're trying something no one else in Hollywood is right now. Why are the knives out for this movie more than My Bosses Daughter?

Shia is a great actor who probably saved the film in many ways. I enjoyed it. The theatre I was in was full, and people were laughing. I wouldn't buy the DVD, but I certainly think it was worth my time and money. I hope Project Greenlight continues, and maybe they pick directors by asking them to do a scene from their favorite script. Then we might find people who are more comfortable with the material.