Movie Review: Nancy Drew
In this post-Veronica Mars world, I was immediately drawn to Nancy Drew hoping to fill the now empty void. And as you might expect, the family comedy adaptation of the classic kids novel was not exactly what I was craving or even expecting. But that’s not a bad thing because Nancy Drew is one of the funnest family film I’ve seen in years, aside from may-be the Pixar flicks. Unlike other modern day teen adaptations, it doesn’t try to be “too-cool-for-school”, jam packing a soundtrack with hip new cover songs, and a cast of good looking model-level kids. Nancy Drew attempts to bring the crazy and absurd fun tone of the books on to the big screen, without dumbing it down, and without losing the good qualities in an attempt to make it more accessible to the target audience.
Nancy Drew and hew Batman-like purse of gadgets travel to Los Angeles to solve the mystery of movie star that disappeared 25 years ago. Drew is a modern day kid with the fashion and style of old, stuck in a world of ipods and cellphones. Running away from mysterious bad guys, defusing bombs without driving over the speed limit, Drew is Veronica Mars meets MacGyver without the sarcasm.
Director Andrew Fleming’s 1999 Watergate comedy Dick is underrated and unfortunately forgotten. Nancy Drew has the same unbelievable over the top tone that made that film so fun to watch. Emma Roberts is the next Anne Hathaway, and will surely find a career in Hollywood. Although I hope that enough people see this film to warrant a sequel. Nancy Drew deserves to be made into a franchise, either that or a television show. Or am I still trying to fill the Veronica void?
Rating: 7 out of 10
Movie Review: Because I Said So
Returning from Sundance is a shocking experience. For almost two weeks I got to see some of the best that independent cinema has to offer. And there were quite a few films this year I did not like. Because I Said So makes me think I may have been a little too hard on some of those films. I forgot what lows a Hollywood effort could reach.
And let me preface this by saying that I actually love Romantic Comedies. My friends chastise me, but it’s true. I also believe in the young woman named Mandy Moore. She glows on screen and has proven herself as an actress in many teen efforts. But even Mandy wasn’t enough to make Because I Said So watch-able. I wonder what the target audience of this film is. It seems to me that only a post mid-life crisis woman could possibly enjoy this film.
Diane Keaton plays an old single mother named Daphne, who can’t keep herself from meddling in her daughter’s non-existent love life. Mandy Moore plays Milly, a young woman who has the worst luck in the romance department. And we’re supposed to believe that someone who looks like Mandy Moore can’t find a faithful guy (yeah right). Daphne writes a personal ad in hopes of finding a good man for her daughter, and sets her up unknowingly. Milly suddenly becomes involved with two men, and she is unsure of which one she likes more. And we all know that the guys will eventually find out about each other, and Milly will eventually discover her Mother’s set-up. Havoc will ensure, everyone will have words. But fear not, in the end we’ll have a formulaic Jerry Maguire moment where the guy she wanted takes her back after a big fight in an impromptu group scene. Barf.
Because I Said So is filled to the brim with cliche sequences where women hang out and chat about life. Sometimes they are at the spa, sometimes they go shopping. Karen Leigh Hopkins’ sharp dialogue screams out “look at me, I’m so cute and clever.” Every scene is a movie cliche. If someone carries in a cake, you know where it’s going to end up.
A scene where Moore and Keaton discuss orgasms (do Mother and daughter really talk like this to each other?) is more disgusting than funny. Because I Said So should be avoided at all costs.
Directed by: Michael Lehmann
Written by: Karen Leigh Hopkins, Jessie Nelson
Starring: Diane Keaton, Mandy Moore, Gabriel Macht, Tom Everett Scott, Lauren Graham
Genres: Romantic Comedy (or so they claim)
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sexual content including dialogue, some mature thematic material and partial nudity.
Could We Be Sayin’ C-YA To The CW?
The fledgling network isn’t doing so hot! According to recent reports, viewership for The CW has DROPPED almost 22% in the last year alone. NOT GOOD!
The home of new hit “Gossip Girl” is in some SERIOUS trouble, and it needs your help! Stop spending so much time on the internet and watch more TV…
Not likely!
18 to 34 year olds, the network’s target audience, is down about 28% this season. We’re the reason why The CW was supposed to be destined for advertising greatness, because The Boys With Money like to spend the big bucks trying to get us to buy their shiz.
Advertisers eager to reach a young demographic initially clamored to sign on to the CW, but have since cooled to the network. Steven Kalb, director of broadcast media for media-buying firm MediaHub, owned by Interpublic Group, says there were high hopes for the network when last year’s lineup was unveiled. Now, he says, “It has collapsed.”
The network has another year to see if it can gain back some of its audience. If not, rumor has it that one of the network’s partners–either CBS Corp. or Time Warner–is going to walk away from the joint venture. It’s only been two years, guys!
With only three new shows set to air next season, including the “Beverly Hills, 90210″ 2.0 remake, UNcreatively titled “90210″, “Surviving the Filthy Rich,” a drama about rich kids in Palm Beach, and the reality show “Stylista”–all of which are trying to capitalize off of Girl’s success–it’s not looking good.
Well, even if The CW fails, I’m sure another network wouldn’t mind buying that cash cow!
Good luck next season… you’re going to need it!
Kim Delaney Biography
A willowy brunette who segued from soap star to primetime performer, Kim Delaney began her career as a model while still attending high school in her native Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After graduating, she headed to NYC to try her hand at a career and was signed by the prestigious Elite Modeling Agency. Soon, her face was decorating the covers of such popular magazines as Seventeen and Glamour. At the same time, Delaney was training for a crossover career in acting, studying with well-known NYC teacher William Esper. Her determination paid off when she landed the role of the virginal teen heroine Jenny Gardner on the long-running ABC daytime serial “All My Children” in 1981. Over the course of her three years on the show, her character, who was from the wrong side of the tracks, underwent numerous trials as she attempted to hook up with her true love, the all-American Greg Nelson (portrayed by Laurence Lau).
Not one to stay put for very long, Delaney was chafing under the confines of her contract and the rigors of working in daytime. Although she had appeared in the CBS movie “First Affair” in 1983 and earned a Daytime Emmy nod, the actress opted to walk away from “All My Children” while her character was at the height of her popularity. When Jenny was killed by a deranged stalker, fans mourned, but Delaney had already set her sights on feature films.
Delaney made an auspicious debut in Hollywood as the girl who comes between friends Emilio Estevez and Craig Sheffer in the teen drama “That Was Then … This Is Now” (1985) but the film proved only modestly intriguing to its target audience. Having been raised Catholic, it was perhaps not much of a stretch for her to play a nun in “The Delta Force” (1986; interestingly, her ex-husband Charles Grant also acted in the film). Like a lot of actresses, though, she had a hard time finding juicy roles, instead relegated to genre fare like the college comedy “Campus Man” (1987). Delaney did land one intriguing part, that of a woman who picks up a hitchhiker and after a night of passion, finds herself unable to be rid of him in the low-budget thriller “The Drifter” (1988).
Returning to the small screen, Delaney landed a 1987 recurring role on the hit NBC series “L.A. Law” in the first four episodes of the show’s second season. Several unexceptional TV-movies followed before the actress co-starred with Joe Cortese (who would become her second husband) in the NBC sci-fi miniseries “Something Is Out There” in 1988. The following year, she was hired for the recurring role of journalist Alex Devlin in the Vietnam-set drama “Tour of Duty” but left the series when she became pregnant with her son.
After time out for motherhood, Delaney was again cast as a reporter, this time one on the trail of a undercover agent suspected of murder in the short-lived spy drama “The Fifth Corner” (NBC, 1992). She offered a strong performance opposite Jimmy Smits in the based-on-fact drama “The Broken Cord” (ABC, 1992), about a couple who adopt a Native American child born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. She rounded out that year cast in the title role in the NBC miniseries adaptation of “Jackie Collins’ Lady Boss”.
Delaney then got sidetracked in number of subpar projects (like 1994’s direct-to-video “Temptress” and “Darkman II: The Return of Durant”). She caught a break landing the role of alcoholic cop Diane Russell in a four-episode arc on “NYPD Blue” in 1995. Again cast opposite Smits (as Det. Bobby Simone), the actress sizzled in the part and the producers made overtures to the actress to have the character return on a regular basis. While Delaney had been prone to walking away from success in the past, she made the commitment and joined the permanent cast of the popular police drama in the fall of 1995. Over the course of her six-year run on the drama, Russell coped with her relationship with Simone, his untimely death and other troubles. In 1997, she received the Emmy Award as Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. While working on the show, she managed to find time to appear in several telefilms, including “The Devil’s Child” (ABC, 1997), a spin on “Rosemary’s Baby” that marked her debut as a producer.
Producer Steven Bochco recognized that Delaney’s talents weren’t always being given a proper forum in an ensemble-driven series like “NYPD Blue”, so when she opted to leave at the end of her contract in 2001, he created the ABC legal drama “Philly” expressly for her. The role Bochco wrote was a dream part for any actress — a divorced woman juggling raising a son as well as maintaining a high-powered law practice. Delaney tore into her first series lead and proved more than capable of carrying a drama series. In 2002, she co-starred with David Caruso in the CBS crime series “CSI: Miami.”
- Born:
on 11/29/61 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Job Titles:
Actor, Model, Producer
Family
- Brother: Ed Delaney. older
- Brother: John Delaney. older
- Brother: Keith Delaney. younger
- Brother: Patrick Delaney. younger
- Father: Jack Delaney. retired head of United Auto Workers local
- Mother: Joan Delaney.
- Son: Jack Cortese. born in 1990; father, actor Joe Cortese
Significant Others
- Husband: Charles Grant. born in 1957; married in 1981; divorced in less than a year
- Husband: Joe Cortese. born in 1949; married in 1989; divorced in 1994
- Companion: Alan Barnette. met in 1992 when both worked on “The Broken Cord” (ABC); announced engagement in February 1997; has son Cameron (born c. 1989) from previous marriage
Education
- William Esper Studio, New York, New York, acting
- J.W. Hallahan Catholic Girls High School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Milestones
- 1981 Had regular role of the virginal Jenny Gardner on the ABC daytime serial “All My Children”; earned Daytime Emmy nomination in 1983
- 1981 Signed as client by the Elite Modeling Agency; appeared on covers of Seventeen and Glamour
- 1983 TV-movie debut in “First Affair” (CBS)
- 1985 Feature film debut in “That Was Then … This Is Now”
- 1986 Co-starred in “The Delta Force” playing a nun; first husband Charles Grant (then billed as Charles Floye) was also in the cast
- 1986 Made guest appearance on the CBS series “The Equalizer”
- 1987 Had recurring role on the popular NBC legal series “L.A. Law”; Jimmy Smits was featured in the cast
- 1987 Played female lead in “Campus Man”
- 1988 Joined cast of the CBS Vietnam-era series “Tour of Duty”, playing journalist Alex Devlin; left in 1989 when she became pregnant
- 1988 Starred opposite future second husband Joe Cortese in the NBC miniseries “Something Is Out There” (NBC)
- 1992 Acted opposite then-husband Joe Cortese in the NBC miniseries “Jackie Collins’ Lady Boss”
- 1992 Had regular role in the short-lived NBC spy drama “The Fifth Corner”
- 1992 Starred opposite Jimmy Smits in the fact-based ABC movie “The Broken Cord”, about fetal alcohol syndrome
- 1995 Had title role in the direct-to-video release “Temptress”
- 1995 Joined “NYPD Blue” in recurring role of Detective Diane Russell in spring; became regular as of the 1995-1996 season; teamed romantically onscreen with Smits; left show in spring 2001
- 1995 Starred in the USA Network thriller “Tall, Dark and Deadly”
- 1996 Portrayed a wheelchair-bound author in the Lifetime movie “Closer and Closer”
- 1997 Debut as co-executive producer on the ABC movie “The Devil’s Child”; also starred
- 2000 Had featured role in “Mission to Mars”
- 2001 Portrayed the wife of a naval officer who turns in her husband after discovering he was selling military secrets in the CBS drama “Love and Treason”
- 2001 Starred in the Steven Bochco-produced ABC legal drama “Philly”; debuted in fall; role of feisty lawyer Kathleen Maguire created for her by Bochco
- 2002 Co-starred in the CBS drama mystery “CSI: Miami.”; was dropped from the cast after shooting just 10 episodes. The network thought that Delaney’s character was becoming less integral to the series. Speculations that friction between Delaney and co-star David Caruso was the real cause of Delaney’s departure; also speculation circulated around Delaney’s use of alcohol in the wake of her 2002 DUI arrest
- 2003 Set to return to the “NYPD Blue” fold during May sweeps
- 2004 Starred in the NBC miniseries “10.5.”
- 2005 Will join the cast of “The O.C.” for at least five episodes in the 2004-2005 season
- Began modeling while still in high school
- Raised in the Roxborough area of Philadelphia
- Was a spokesperson for Revlon Ultima II cosmetics