Leonard Maltin's 151 Best Movies You've Never Seen - Maltin, Leonard [109]
Having been properly introduced to the game, we are ready to meet the cast of characters, including a recently divorced dad (Tim Robbins), and his sons, ten-year-old Walter and six-year-old Danny. Like most kids they want their dad’s nonstop attention, but he has to go off one afternoon and leaves them in their roomy, Craftsman-style house with their big sister (Kristen Stewart) to babysit.
The brothers fight, annoy each other, and get along in roughly equal measure; their sister wants as little to do with them as possible, and vice versa. While she is upstairs preening in the bathroom, they try out the ancient board game Danny has found in the basement. Very soon they discover that this is no ordinary game: whatever is written on the fortune card dispensed after every turn actually comes to pass. Before long, their house is propelled into outer space, their sister is frozen, and they are visited by a U.S. astronaut (Dax Shepard), whose experience comes in handy as they try to fend off an attack from hostile aliens called Zorgons!
The boys never know what’s going to happen next, and neither do we: that’s what’s so much fun, especially in a film where nothing is impossible. (What’s more, Favreau didn’t want to rely completely on computer-generated effects, so he built a full-size house set on a soundstage that could be hoisted in midair, tilted, and shaken. He sought to make the experience as tangible for us in the audience as it must have been for his young actors.)
Only a parent can determine whether this anything-goes adventure yarn is too intense for his or her children. But if you’re a big kid, like me, I think you’ll have a good time.
About the Author
LEONARD MALTIN is a respected film critic and historian, perhaps best known for his annual paperback reference Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide, which was first published in 1969. He lives with his wife and daughter in Los Angeles and teaches at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
www.leonardmaltin.com
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ALSO BY LEONARD MALTIN
Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide (annual)
Leonard Maltin’s Classic Movie Guide
Leonard Maltin’s Movie Encyclopedia
Leonard Maltin’s Family Film Guide
Leonard Maltin’s Movie Crazy
Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons
The Great Movie Shorts (Selected Short Subjects)
The Art of the Cinematographer
The Disney Films
The Great American Broadcast: A Celebration of Radio’s Golden Age
The Great Movie Comedians
The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang (with Richard W. Burns)
Copyright
LEONARD MALTIN’S 151 BEST MOVIES YOU’VE NEVER SEEN. Copyright © 2010 by Leonard Maltin. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Maltin, Leonard.
Leonard Maltin’s 151 best movies you’ve never seen / by Leonard Maltin.—1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-06-173234-8 (pbk.)
1. Motion pictures—Catalogs. I. Title. II. Title: Leonard Maltin’s one hundred fifty-one best movies you’ve never seen. III. Title: One hundred fifty-one best movies you’ve never seen.
PN1998.M275 2010
791.43'75—dc22
2009043098
EPub Edition © January 2010 ISBN: 978-0-06-198781-6
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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