Butt in Seat: CITY ISLAND

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Butt in Seat: CITY ISLAND

CITY ISLAND





Wow and you think your family had secrets plus problems...Meet the Friggin Rizzos!!
The movie takes place in Da Bronx but on an island which isn't connected to the rest of the borrough
except by bridge. Now I saw this movie with my Butt in Seat which is what it shall be called (for now and maybe forever) when I see a movie in the theaters and not via my Tivo (which might almost always get the capital letter treatment as I love it so).






I also loved this movie about a prison guard that has aspirations of being
an actor like his hero, Marlon Brando. Last year I attended the
Tribeca Film Festival and this was on my see list but I never got to it
and it's nice that it had a theatrical release.

It's amazing to think that a film that has a 2-10 million dollar budget
plus has Andy Garcia, Julianna Margulies & Alan Arkin can be
considered low budget but when it compares to say Iron Man 2,
then yes it is. My films are expensive (for me) and they run between 10k and 20k
(no chump change!). So a film with money and names behind it still has
trouble getting seen and you need to go see it & support it.

This film has heart and brings the comedy plus everyone in it is great
including newcomer Steven Strait (he should be offered roles
after this, I'd work with him). Steven if you're out there
and can swing some pro bono acting work, I'll
write you something.

The main character reminds me of my friend Tony
that looks up to me and loves that I'm an actor.
He secretly would also like to try it and be like his
idol, Al Pacino (close to Brando).

Even all the weird things in this movie are enjoyable
and it's nice to see a film that can be about a
NYC family(shot beautifully too!) where the accents
don't bother me but add to the enjoyment of the film!
(For Comical Accents- See Brad Pitt in Sleepers & Devil's Own)

We need more films like this one that are about character & story
with a lot of substance. Sure the popcorn films are worth having but
plenty of films are plain awful..more of them usually are..
You will not only have a good time with this film but it'll
be something you'll talk about afterwards which means
CITY ISLAND, job well done!