A Lot to Talk About VII

Some thoughts on tonight's On the Lot...

Mateen, while making his best work yet, deserved to go home simply because he pushed the envelope too far. Or, more to the point, ignored it all together. Instead it was Shira-Lee who had this one minor hick-up and was punished for it despite her strong body of work to date. Yet another female filmmaker gone. It's a shame.

There was a theme tonight--films that didn't fulfill their promise and yet were enjoyable nonetheless.

Zach's Time Upon a Once was, as usual, ambitious. I must say, it was delightful even while falling a bit flat for me. My least favorite of all his films, it didn't live up to my expectations and yet charmed me regardless.

Hilary's The Legend of Donkey Tale Willie was ridiculous and also completely charming. More than any other contestant, Hilary is the most improved. Based on her early work, I would have never predicted such a change for the better.

Will's Spaghetti western looked great but was ultimately silly. He wrote some good dialogue though, and the performances were great.

Shalini's First Sight seemed pretentious at first glance, grew on me as the minutes passed and by the final line, totally sold me. Message films are always dangerous and usually go too far--as this one, admittedly, did--but I still liked it. Still, her moralizing might doom her next week.

Greed figures again in Adam's Worldly Possessions. It was clever, funny, and goofy. I can't say I loved it, but I certainly liked it. In some ways, it felt more like Zach's work--which is a compliment.

Two voted off next week, huh? I predict we lose our final ladies, Shalini and Hilary.

I'm concerned about next week's action films--the previews looked terrible. Besides, America already voted off the best man for that job--Marty Martin.