Movie Reviews

I review the following movies and their story structure:

• Groundhog Day
• The Usual Suspects
• Sleepless in Seattle
• Last Action Hero
• Toto le hero
• Die Hard
• Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
• Lethal Weapon
• Stargate
• L.A. Story
• A Room with a View
• Chinatown, Part One
• Chinatown, Part Two
• L. A. Confidential
• Seven, Part One
• Seven, Part Two
• Body Heat
• Shawshank Redemption

The following are columns originally written for Screentalk, the International Magazine of Screenwriting.

• From Simplicity to Complexity

A review of Mulholland Drive that explores how this complex story was built on a foundation of simple ideas.

• Conscious Storytelling

A review of the structure of Memento and how going back in time can advance a story.

• Throwing Your Characters Over the Edge

A review of The Sweet Hereafter, The Five Senses, and Last Night that explores how stripping characters of a familar world can set a story into motion.

• Writing from the Inside Out

A review of You Can Count on Me.

• The Cascade Effect

A review of Mystery Science Theater's Pod People and the effect of obscurity.

• Writing Pain

A review of A Simple Plan.

• Creating Fulfillment

A review of the Sixth Sense and Stir of Echoes.

• Give Me A Dramatic Truth or Give Me Death!

A review of After Life, a Japanese film about the choices that need to be made at death before proceeding to an after life.

• Embedding Story Ideas in Action

Notes on The Limey, One Fine Day, Pitch Black and other movies to explore how story ideas are embedded in the action.

• Book of Revelations
A review of Run, Lola, Run.
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