Tag: Griffin Dunne

  • Frasier (1993) s03e11 – The Friend

    It’s the first Kelsey Grammer-centric episode in a while, with Grammer realizing he doesn’t have any friends outside his family and ending up stuck with annoying new bestie Griffin Dunne, who Grammer can’t dump because Dunne’s in a wheelchair and what if Dunne thinks it’s about the wheelchair. Kind of wants to turn ableism inside…

  • Frasier (1993) s01e01 – The Good Son

    When it comes to the multi-cam sitcom, I can’t imagine a more efficient, effective pilot than “Frasier”’s The Good Son. David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee’s script is perfectly constructed, showcasing the cast while maintaining the focus on lead Kelsey Grammer. Since it’s a spin-off of a long-running sitcom, Grammer is the audience’s linchpin.…

  • Touched with Fire (2015, Paul Dalio)

    Somewhere early in Touched with Fire’s third act, it becomes clear there’s not going to be any performance potential from leads Luke Kirby and Katie Holmes. The movie doesn’t really want to be about them. Director (and writer) Dalio skips all the character development, leaving Holmes dulled and Kirby perpetually in between a Zach Braff…

  • An American Werewolf in London (1981, John Landis)

    There’s a lot of good stuff about An American Werewolf in London–for example, Landis doesn’t have a single joke fall flat–but something about it just doesn’t work. Something Landis doesn’t do, as a director. I can’t quite put a label on it, since he does so many things well. Like the English setting. With Robert…

  • Sounds from a Town I Love (2001, Woody Allen)

    Allen did Sounds from a Town I Love quickly, for the “Concert for New York City” benefit. It’s very short clips—about ten seconds—of (uncredited) people walking around New York on their cellphones. The snippets of conversation are all played for comedic effect, while still maintaining a mild sense of reality (some of the snippets are…

  • Head Over Heels (1979, Joan Micklin Silver), the director’s cut

    Chilly Scenes of Winter (the title of the 1981 director’s cut of Head Over Heels) painfully chronicles the year in a man’s life after he loses his girlfriend. Painfully is my chosen word for a couple reasons. First, because Joan Micklin Silver doesn’t disguise how messed up John Heard’s character is over the break-up and…