#jon avnet

Fried Green Tomatoes (1991). Evelyn, an ordinary housewife, visits a nursing home and befriends the old lady Ninny. Together, they bond over stories from the past about two intrepid women of Whistle Stop Cafe.

A trama de “Tomates Verdes Fritos”, assinada por Jon Avnet, desdobra-se a partir de um encontro improvável em um asilo. Evelyn Couch, uma dona de casa em crise existencial na Geórgia dos anos 80, conhece a octogenária Ninny Threadgoode. É nos relatos vívidos de Ninny que o filme ganha sua coloração mais rica, transportando o espectador para Whistle Stop, Alabama, nos anos 30, um cenário marcado…

Robert De Niro. Al Pacino. Two legends of the screen, together at last. Oh, The Godfather Part II doesn't count, they don't share any scenes. Oh, Heat barely counts, that's just a single scene. This has them together for the whole movie. Yeah, I remember when this came out they were trying to make a big deal out of the boys being in the same movie, but the fact that they were leaning so hard on a technicality kinda gave away the game, not to mention that Jon Avnet was not exactly Francis Ford Coppola or Michael Mann.

Anyway, if you didn't already know that De Niro is one of the greatest actors of all time, you'd think this was a vanity project he directed himself in. He refuses to emote with anything other than a scowl, plays his outbursts like his coupons have been turned down at the grocery store, and has multiple sex scenes with Carla Gugino. I'd say this is career worst work for him, but the fact is he's been making even worse looking movies for more than a decade after this so I'm sure there's plenty of competition.

I will say that while Pacino isn't knocking it out of the park either, he at least seems to be awake, or at least his version of phoning it in is more watchable than De Niro's. He does a lot of sticking his tongue out while chuckling, so I assume he was having some fun, or at least enjoying the craft services table. Actually, most of the other actors are putting in decent work, including 50 Cent, who somehow manages to outact De Niro. He's credited under his real name so I assume he was taking this role somewhat seriously.

Anyway, if you're hoping De Niro's shittiness or the decent supporting work would make this watchable, Avnet's direction manages to ruin the rhythm of every single dialogue scene through totally indifferent cutting, and makes this a chore to look at with its drunk on a sidewalk aesthetic, with every frame looking like piss stained concrete. Also, this is borderline spoiler territory, but... do you care if I spoil Righteous Kill? Okay, I'll tread lightly. This fills its runtime with a flash forward structure that manages to sap the tension out of the proceedings, but also manages to retroactively be a huge waste of time once the super obvious twist is revealed. I'm not gonna give away the ending, but this might be the only time in the history of cinema that I wished Michael Winner had directed a movie because he would have gotten some kinda charge, however pungent, out of the material here.

Neal McDonough co-writes and stars in The Last Rodeo, co-written and directed by Jon Avnet. When retired bull rider Joe Wainright (McDonough) learns his grandson is in a medical crisis, he returns to the competition with the help of his long time friend Charlie Williams (Mykelti Williamson). Black Girl Nerds had the opportunity to converse with Mykelti Williamson about his role in the film. This…