FrankenScript :: Lee Gabel's Screenwriting Journal/Blog

If my son wasn’t a fan of Star Wars, I would have never gone to see this in 3D. But he is a fan, due of course to me sharing parts 4, 5 and 6 (the only good Star Wars films) with him. I, of course, was one of the millions who saw Phantom Menace [...]

I like Kristen Bell. She’s talented, looks great and has great comedic timing. Much of the cast does as well. However the script they were given was just weak and rife with cliche. First of all, you know going in that it’s going to be a happy ending. That’s no spoiler. How about something different [...]

Damn. As a fan of Stephen King, I wanted to like this film/mini series. A lot. But when I lost count of the number of horror clichés used in the first 15 minutes, I resigned with a heavy heart that this was going to be a long, hard haul. In fact, I only stuck through [...]

Everything that made the first two chapters of this trilogy are missing from this weak, paint-by-numbers effort. Every attempt to destroy the Damien Thorne is thwarted effortlessly… but the movie has to end, right? That means the last attempt will succeed. But it’s not so much that he’s so powerful, it’s that I didn’t believe [...]

Right from the very beginning you feel something’s wrong. By the time I found out the “twist”, I just didn’t care anymore. The characters were not compelling, and I had a hard time believing that a man would go through all that trouble “after the fact” to make another’s life hell. It’s silly. There’s no [...]

Predictable, formulaic, illogical and syrupy sweet at times, but I can see the appeal. Miley Cyrus can sing and perform. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t watch it alone. That would be wrong. Watching it with the family is the only way to go. And going into this film, we as a family had never [...]