Wednesday, August 19, 2009

August 18, 2009

The Last Tycoon (1976)
All right. I know that F. Scott Fitzgerald had a miserable, alcohol-soaked life and from that we as a culture got a whole lot of really great books, but what was so horrible that everything needs to end tragically? Although, this book technically doesn't end - he died before he could finish it. So besides the story being horribly depressing (like all of his stories), this movie is painfully slow. Its runtime in just about two hours, but it felt like twenty. It's an insider story about a Hollywood studio tycoon, but takes all of the glitz and glamour out of that Golden Age and focuses on the mundane and boring life of one guy. They throw in some stuff about the Red Scare and try to make the audience care about a love triangle, but none of it works. Robert De Niro looks like he's half-asleep through his performance. It does include a bit part by Jack Nicholson, though. I almost didn't finish it, but it was nominated for an Oscar and most of you know that someday I want to see everything that's ever been nominated. Two hours of my life that I won't get back.
My Netflix rating: 2 stars

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