Day: February 4, 2004

Butterfly Effect

Writer guy

I was looking for a good psychological thriller, and Butterfly Effect delivered. As simple as the plot is, it’s complex and deep without being needlessly complicated. A lot of films drop the ball when they try and deviate from a non linear story line, using flashbacks – forward flashes – and in the case of Butterfly Effect – sideways flashes. Never fear, not only does this tale work as it unfolds before you, the ending works too without making you want to throw your bag of popcorn at the screen and curse out the clerk who sold you the ticket.

This is a breakout performance for Ashton Kutcher. Forget what you thought you knew about him, he’s different in this film. I liked that I didn’t recogniaze any of the cast except the lead They should make more movies like that. I’m also impressed they did this movie for such a small amount of money ( the rumor is around 13 million ). Every penny went to good use here.

Timing, delivery, supporting cast? All good. It’s got the right amount of suspense with a creepy edge, dark edge.

Butterfly Effect now occupies my favorite movie of 2004 slot.

50 First Dates

Writer guy

There’s a horde of romantic comedies descending on the scene running loose in the theaters right now, and this flick is one of them. And thats a good thing. It’s pretty decent concept. The man who can’t commit meets the one girl he wants to commit to only to discover she can’t possibly reciprocate because of an isolated and very localized tramatic brain injury that affects short term memory. You know, a simple little tale.

Drew, if I weren’t married, I’d stalking you. Oh, was that my outside voice? Ahem. Kudos to Drew Barrymore’s performance, she’s believable and cute at the same time. I think it’s cool to see how far she’s come in the last decade. Just think, ten years ago we were suffering through projects like the Amy Fisher story and Doppleganger. By Drew’s own account it’s better to poke your eyes out than watch Doppleganger.

Adamn Sandler is also a hero of mine, because he plays that regular guy who woke up in the center of comedy stardoom so well. He’s a regular guy it seems. Coolness. His timing is superb and so is his flair for the jokes. He keeps both rolling here.

I liked this film, you can’t go wrong watching it, so go see it. It was number one two weeks in a row for a reason.

In Tyler we trust

Writer guy

At last I settled on a title for book number two. I gave this new title a lot of thought, avoiding commitment at all costs. However since I thought the existence of a second book in progress was worth mentioning in the query letter, I had to decide.

Here’s the original working title of book number two: 23 Seconds. Why? Two reasons – I like the number 23 and I was going for a sense of urgency, like a clock running down. Editor person saw through my ruse from the start and told me so with the grace of a diplomat.

Editor person: I hate the new title. Hate it.
sam: But it ties into the plot.
Editor person: Picture the review – Sam Hilliard – 23 Seconds – about how long you want to read this book. 23 Seconds – how long his career will last.
sam: It seemed like a good idea before.
Editor person: You get good ideas sometimes. This is not one of them.

So, in the sense of conveying the idea of momentum and progress, I settled on….

You didn’t think I was going to make it that easy, did you? Check back next Wednesday and the secret will be revealed. 🙂

UPDATE 3/7/2004: Editor person objected at the use of the word ain’t that I attributed to them in a previous version of this blog. Apologies to Editor person. This has been removed.