FrankenScript :: Lee Gabel's Screenwriting Journal/Blog

Just finished a most graphic and harrowing read: “Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member”. While the writing style did not appeal to me, the content was as fascinating as it was heartbreaking. It really did feel like I was right there, like a fly on the wall. I was exposed to a whole [...]

Why go to couples counseling when you can patch up your marriage by killing the hitman who’s pursuing you. I don’t ever remember this getting a theatrical release, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t. This is a paint-by-numbers crime drama. It’s amazing how many good actors are wasted in this, in more ways [...]

I’ll admit to liking a lot of romantic dramas, but this one… Ugh. This film is a whole lot of little clichés wrapped up in one big cliché. The plot is so contrived and formulaic that you can predict important moments approaching simply by noticing the running time of the film. Plus the twist at [...]

This is a pretty formulaic story with no surprises. Simon Pegg and Thandie Newton have no chemistry. I could not believe that her character would want to marry Pegg’s character. Plus it was very hard to feel any kind of sympathy toward Pegg’s character. No amount of quirky characters can pull a movie out of [...]

A good film, not because of the story, but because of the performances. The story is unfortunately quite predictable, but Mickey Rourke’s performance is outstanding, probably because of his life experience of being a failed boxer for ten years. Rourke just played himself, someone he knows all too well. Strong supporting performances from Marissa Tomei [...]

I wasn’t expecting much from this film, and was pleasantly surprised. It’s an entertaining and cheesy B-movie, which is not what the filmmakers were intending I’m sure. But this extremely low budget horror film does offer a lot of entertainment value, mostly from the tight integration of real animals in miniature sets with actors in [...]