FrankenScript :: Lee Gabel's Screenwriting Journal/Blog

This film slowly eats away at you as you learn more and more. Then it takes a right turn off the bridge, over the guardrail and into murky waters. Without giving too much away, complications arise without explanation. The last 30 minutes don’t make a whole lot of sense, and it made me angry. I [...]

I’ve often wondered about films that begin with a horrific incident, only to then step back in time and tell the story leading up to that point. If the incident is compelling enough, it’s a good hook. Sometimes it’s not needed, and here I think the story would have gained more power had that incident [...]

You won’t be disappointed watching this film with a big bowl of popcorn. The main character, played competently by Bradley Cooper, plays the “everyman” well and his decisions are logical, for the most part. The De Niro storyline seems placed only to give the film an impactful ending, because it’s the thug storyline that offers [...]

I’m sure everyone has had a moment where they have an immediate connection with someone, one so powerful it lingers in their memory for the rest of their days. I have. I’ve often wondered what would have happened to my life if I had pursued other people. To watch someone else act on that is [...]

My first question is why? Why press that red button? Why not just reintegrate with society covertly? Well, because if Hanna didn’t press that red button, then we’d have no film. The reason, of course, is to exact someone else’s revenge (her father’s) on someone she’s never met (Marissa). I guess it’s the setup that [...]

Yes, you have gadgets and the masks are back. So are the impossible stunts and characters that seem to be superhuman. The story is somewhat stale with the nefarious Russians out again with a dastardly plot to destroy the Earth. But the film is exhilarating due in part to shooting it in IMAX and using [...]