ScreenCrave.com » Harry Connick Jr

Dolphin Tale: Movie Review

Mali Elfman — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 01:30:48 +0000

Dolphin Tale hits theaters this weekend with a bit of a splash, though possibly a little too much splash and not enough rippling. The stories tells the remarkable tale about the true-to-life dolphin “Winter” who lost her tail in a a fisherman’s net and was saved by the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida, which was not only represented in the film, but where they actually show the film. In the triumphet story, not only does “Winter” re-learn how to swim, but she also helped pioneer new technologies for amputees and give hope to all of mankind. Her story is an inspiration for us all and her tale (pun intended) is one that easily tugs at ones heartstrings. The film seems like an easy sell, but despite its extremely positive message it’s not without its problems, the first of which is that they forgot the heart of the story.

The Players:

Director: Charles Martin Smith
Writers: Karen Janszen, Noam Dromi
Actors: Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd, Nathan Gamble, Kris Kristofferson, Cozi Zuehlsdorff, Morgan Freeman, Austin Stowell

The Plot:

“Winter” a wild dolphin gets trapped in a fisherman’s net that causes he to have to have her tail amputated. With the help of her new-human friends and one wacky scientist, they’re able to help her find a way to swim again.

The Good:

The Messages: From paying attention the lessons that life teaches us if you let it, to following your heart, to helping others, to kids communicating with your parents, there are a number of solid messages that parents should be proud to show to their kids. Yes, people can argue them, but at the heart of the film, is the belief “do good to others” and “fight for what’s good” and honestly, there’s nothing more important to teach our youth.
The Documentary Footage: For me, the documentary footage that they showed after the film was one of the most compelling and emotional parts. There’s something about the true grittiness without the Hollywood shine that really gives the story it’s impact. If only we could have had more or they would have embodided it into the whole movie we could have had something truly amazing.
The Little Girl: Will be an amazing actress once she stops pushing and trying so hard. There’s a lot of raw talent there and it will be exciting to see her hipefully discover it as her career continues. This film definitely shows that he’s packed with potential
The Heart: The filmmakers set out to make a film with heart, and though I have my complaints, I think they succeeded in creating a very sweet, touching film, with a beautifully positive message

The Bad:

Unnecessary CGI/3D: As previously stated, the documentary footage and the real shots of “Winter” bonding with the children is what sells this film. The CGI, which is rarely used, should have been never-used. It’s unnatural and jumps out at you in a distracting and ineffectual way.
Drama/Length: They fabricated a lot of unnecessary dramatic devices, which distract from the true interest of the story and leaves the film with a runtime that few young ones will be able to sit still through — despite the fact that they should because of the beautiful messages this film teaches. There’s no was a 6-year-old will be able to sit still through this film, it’s long, very long.
Focus: They focused too much on trying to hype up the story and missed out on the truly entertaining part, a boy and his dolphin. They didn’t need all the excess drama (Ex: Free Will), such as the hurricane and toy airplane, and CGI dolphin jumps and pelican eyes. None of that really enhanced the story and that’s because there was such a strong center to it. It felt like they didn’t have full faith in the concept itself and someone let someone convince them that by adding more they would get something greater, but instead the just got a longer runtime with less heart.

Overall:

This film is a success because it’s one of the first kids films in a long time that I feel deals with some truly positive messages and morality tales for kids and even adults. “Winter” is beautiful to watch on screen, there are a number of charming moments, interesting characters (human and non-human), and at the heart of it there is a truly inspiring story that teaches one to love and accept those around them and never give up on one another. I can’t bash a film that delivers a message like this — I just wish they could have told it a bit faster and with a bit LESS of a splash.

Rating: 6/10

Dolphin Tale hits theaters September 23rd!

Interview: Harry Connick Jr. on Dolphin Tale and Being a Working Actor

Mali Elfman — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 20:21:35 +0000

It’s never a bad day when you get to sit down with Harry Connick Jr., there is quite possibly not a more humble, sweet and charming actor to interview. We had the privilege of being able to pick Mr. Connick’s brain on his upcoming release Dolphin Tale and a number of other topics such as his up and coming role on Broadway and his greatest fears. Connick comes off like an open book, ready to talk about everything from the joy of working on a film with a happy ending to the hard times in his career when he was searching for answers in the never-ending struggle as an artist…

When did you fall in love with Winter?

Harry Connick Jr.: When I found out she was real. I read the script and I thought it was great. It looked like a project I really wanted to do and it was relatively far into the process that I realized it was a true story. At least her part was true. I just couldn’t get over that, I just couldn’t believe it. And then I came down here and I met her and I just found that so fascinating. I thought it was so cool because with human amputees, for the most part, if they are a certain age, they have – there’s some kind of interaction, I think it’s some kind of therapy – psychotherapy that they could go through to help deal, interaction with other people. With Winter this is what we’re going to do to you and if you live that’s great and if not, we really tried. The fact that she survived that and she was so young and to see how she interacts with people is really incredible to see.

Do you think she could more easily bond with humans at this point?

HCJ: I think so, in a way, only because she’s been so socialized with humans, but on the other hand I’m a loud person, I’m a physical person and we couldn’t do any of that around her. We had to ask permission before we went into the pool, we had to ask permission before we excited the pool. When we were around her we had to speak like this. In some ways she was very sensitive to us in a way that we had to change out behavior, but when you were in the pool with her you really got the sense that she was human-like in some ways. That sounds crazy, right? But it’s true, it really is true.

Sounds like she taught you a few things?

HCJ: Well she taught me how to be quite, which my wife was thrilled about.

You said you had to ask permission, how did you do that?

HCJ: Oh, we would go to the staff.

It sounded like you had to ask her.

HCJ: No, no. The staff. We would go out to the staff and say, “May I go into the pool?” And she would be exhibiting some behavior that was evident to them, that we were not privy to and we’d be – there was a platform like two or three feet down so the water would be say up to your waist and the scene would be over and I want to get out of the pool and I would turn to put my foot on the latter and Abby or Elena, one of the staffers, would tell me not yet.

Did you get to learn some of the cues that you needed to watch for?

HCJ: No. I didn’t learn any of that. They were there all the time. I got nervous when we had to apply the prosthetic to her, and given the guy that I was doing that in real life, I wanted to make it real and there’s a certain amount of force that you have to use, but on the other hand it’s hard to imagine how sensitive she is and her stump. There’s a little caution that you have – like a human amputee, they say put your hand on my knee and there’s no lower leg there, you’d be a little sensitive to that. It’s the same thing with her, we don’t really want to touch her, but they taught us how to manipulate the gel and to put the prosthetic on. It’s like being around a horse when you’re putting the saddle on him, you kind of have to trust what they tell you and trust that it’s going to be cool because she was a big animal.

Did working with the actual people change your performance?

HCJ: Oh yeah. These people don’t seem to get wound up about much, they don’t get really upset, the get profoundly upset about the condition that the animal is in, but they are very calm people. I saw the movie with my wife and there were a couple of scenes when I thought I could have been a bit more explosive and a bit more outwardly emotional, and I thought my performance was borderline boring a couple of times and she said, “No, that’s the way this type of people is.” When you’re around them they are very very calm. You would have to be. I think about these folks and every day, since I’ve been gone I’ve done another movie and I’ve done this and that, their still with that dolphin every single day. It’s incredible the calm that they have so there’s that. That definitely changed my approach. They get the job done without being too emotional about it.

The part when you play the saxophone, was that in the script or did you just do that?

HCJ: That came after, Charlie (Martin Smith), our director, said, what do you think about playing the saxophone? I said, “I don’t know how to play man.” He said there’s a song “Everything Happens To Me.” It’s a great song. “I can play a game of golf and you can bet your life it rains. I tried to throw a party and the guy upstairs complains. I guess I go through life just catching colds and missing trains. Everything happens to me.” It’s exactly what this guy is going through and Charlie asked me to play it on the tenor so fortunately I know a few good musicians, and I called my friend Brandford and said I needed a tenor and her got me hooked up with this tenor and I just practiced and practiced and practiced so I could play a little bit. I didn’t think they would use my playing, but they did. I was flattered, but when Brandford goes to see the movie I don’t think he’s going to be too happy about my performance.

You said you were worried whether you were boring or not. Are you still pretty self-critical of yourself?

HCJ: I’m critical about music. I hear myself on piano recordings and it’s like how many times do you have to go down that road before you realize not to do it anymore. You still make the same mistakes and you think, “Why did I do that?” I was watching some football game, what’s the Denver’s quarterback’s name? Kyle Orton. He put his hand back and the ball just fell out of his hand and you think, this is an NFL quarterback, that’s a mistake that I would make and I see myself on film and I hear myself singing and I think, you idiot. It’s like it never ends.

That’s a good thing, because I know – my friend Winton, we were talking about – this is too heavy for a press junket about Dolphin Tale and we probably don’t need to go into this, but I’ll just give you a quick little thing – I was depressed artistically I was at a place like in a plateau which most artists go, most humans go through that. I said, “Well what should I do?” he said, “You need to think of yourself as an older man and as an old man and how you want to be perceived,” and he mentioned two musical artists, the one who he doesn’t respect (I won’t mention his name), he said, “Look at Willy Nelson, he’s constantly trying to change and struggling with his artistic process. This other guy, he’s just repeating the same stuff. How do you want to be?” I wanted to be 80 and constantly be dissatisfied with my work, maybe occasionaly have something that you’re really proud of but constantly struggling. I feel it all the time.

Speaking of Willy Nelson, what was it like working with Kris Kristofferson?

HCJ: You know what’s really weird? Kris Kristofferson played my dad in this movie and two months later I did this movie and Kris Kristofferson played my dad again. What the hell is going on here? It was really weird. I started to think he was my dad. Kris is just incredible. It’s very humbling being around him. He’s a helicopter pilot, he’s a road scholar, he’s a boxer, he’s a songwriter, he’s an actor. He’s incredible to be around. That’s cool, when you see a guy who’s really, really rich and he drives around a crappy car, that’s what Kris is like intellectually. You talk to the guy and he makes you feel so at ease but he’s so brilliant and he has so much experience it’s really cool being around him. Those were great days.

What was the second movie?

HCJ: It’s called When Angels Sing. It’s a Christmas movie, I don’t think it’s coming out this Christmas, maybe next Christmas. That was really weird though. They tell me, “Guess who’s playing your dad?” “Who?” “It’s Kris Kristofferson.” “What? He just played my dad.”

And what point in your film career, did you feel like this is something you could spend a lot of time with, it’s not just going to be an occasional thing, I can actually devote a lot of time and still continue the music career?

HCJ: I did my first movie when I was like 20, and it took three months and I loved it. I thought it was similar to the artistic decisions I was making on the bandstand. I thought it was the same type of artistic challenge. I thought I could do both. Why not? Do a sitcom or Broadway show? I’m an entertainer. I think of it like that.

It works the same muscles?

HCJ: I think so. Maybe that’s prevented me from making better decisions sometimes but it’s just feels very natural to do these things. I don’t feel like a musician when I’m on set. Like when I was doing Dolphin Tale, I didn’t think about that at all. I really love the process. When I go to bed at night, I feel the same fulfillment and exhaustion after any other type of en-devour.

How do you get any sense of satisfaction? When you walk offstage, are you happy then?

HCJ: I think hindsight is what gives you the prospective of being not satisfied. In the moment, I’ve never said, that wasn’t a full-on effort. I’ve tried 100% every single time. Sometimes that effort is more subtle than other times. When I’m onstage it’s a physical emotion. If I’m shooting a scene with Winter and I have to put on a prosthetic, it’s a different kind of intensity, but I never finish the day saying, I didn’t try. When you go back and you look at the project, you think, if I had that chance now I would do that differently. The day I wake up when I say, that was a brilliant record, that record I did five years ago, it’s not going to get better than that. That’s when I think I’ll panic because I want to, got to keep growing.

Is it nice to do a movie that is about kind humans and has a happy ending?

HCJ: It’s really great. I was so honored so be around people at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. I really was. They make you examine your own existence. And you think, what am I doing, and I don’t want to come across like I hate myself. I’m a really happy guy. I’m really proud. And by the way, coming off stage like at the Hollywood Bowl, and I say this as objectively as I can, I think, okay you try it. To anybody, you come and follow that. I change you to come follow that. There’s huge amounts of ego and confidence that go into it. I think it’s balanced out by the desire to get better. I got to pat myself on the back a little bit. It’s great when you think about these folks and how dedicated they are. It makes you examine, in my eyes, am I that dedicated to what I do, can I possibly have an effect on people that would be positive like that? It was a great project to be a part of.

What’s coming up next for you? You mentioned the Kris thing.

HCJ: I have a Broadway show that I’m doing. I start next month. It’s called “On A Clear Day You Can See Forever”. I’m really excited about that. A little tense getting ready for it only because it’s a lot of work. That’s a whole different animal, Broadway.

Who’s your leading lady?

HCJ: Oh man, I’m so excited about this lady. Her name is Jesse Muller. Never heard of her before. She came from Chicago. She’s 27. She’s never done anything in New York and we auditioned a bunch of people. They were all extraordinary but she came in and we were ford by her.

She sings a great part.

It’s a great part. Our show’s very different. It’s very different than the original so the girl that Barbra Streisand played in the movie, that the doctor hypnotizes in the movie , is now a gay guy and he channels – it’s taken a very different approach. I think there were a lot of problems in the original script and I think they’ve been resolved here. They did a good job.

What about dancing? If it’s a musical, you have to dance.

HCJ: I would do what they told me to do. I love to sing and I’m singing all the time. Dancing is something that I need to be taught to be. I don’t dance in the way that its usually presented in musicals. I’m very physical and I dance a certain way onstage, but that’s street thing. Like for this play, “On a Clear Day”, it’s choreographed.

Do you think this role will get casting directors to hire you for a future movie musical?

HCJ: Not really. Only because I did it before and nothing happened. That’s okay. I’m okay with that. I was talking to Harvey Weinstein and I said, “Dude I’m a singer and an actor, why don’t you ever call me to be in a musical?” And it’s tongue-in-cheek, he’s a friend and I don’t really mean it because I’m okay with my life, I’ve been really lucky and I’m very satisfied, but he’s said, You have to stay on Broadway, you have to let these people come and see that’s what you do.” I’m like, I’m not going to do a show for five years, there’s just too much other stuff I want to do. So if a casting director happens to come in that six months window, man that’d be great, but if not, I’m all good to go. And I’m actually very content. [laughs]

Check out Dolphin Tale in theaters September 23rd!

A Dolphin’s Tale Trailer

Damon Houx — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 19:39:49 +0000

It’s been nearly a decade since Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd made a movie together, but the two are back at it, this time in A Dolphin’s Tale, which opens September 23. The film also stars Harry Connick Jr. and Kris Kristofferson, and is directed by Charles Martin Smith. The trailer has just come out for this 3-D movie, check it out…

The words family and friendly come to mind. The film is based on the true story of a dolphin named Winter, who had a prosthetic tail made for her so she could survive after being mutilated by crab nets. The film seems to tie that in with other people who’ve lost limbs, likely to give the film more of a human story to tell.

Children’s films are interesting when it comes to subjects like this, as more so than most the narratives seem predetermined. “The Simpsons” had a great joke about the alternative ending to Free Willy, where it ended in tragedy. That’s obviously not going to be the case here either as Winter is alive and (ugh) flipping in her home in Clearwater, Florida.

Warner Brothers is targeting September, which means they’re looking for an off-season hit, but Ashley Judd has had some of her most successful films come out in the early fall period.

Would see a film about a Dolphin?

Morgan Freeman, Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd Up for 3D Dolphin Film

Mali Elfman — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 20:54:12 +0000

Time to save the dolphins! No? I mean, time to watch a fictional story about dolphins… in 3D! Why not? 3D is not just for action or horror films anymore, now it’s so that you can feel like you’re swimming alongside Flipper! The idea has managed to snare a number of top tier talent into the project, Morgan Freeman, Harry Connick Jr. and Ashley Judd are all in negotiations to star in Alcon Entertainment’s 3D family film Dolphin Tale.

Charles Martin Smith, the director you may know from Air Bud (hmmm…) will be directing the film. Seems like he’s your man who does animal films that will make you cry! The film was penned by Karen Janszen who you may know from A Walk to Remember. Sounds like a crier if you ask me! The script seems to have a lot of hands in it. Revisions were made on Janszen’s work by Smith and Jordan Roberts based on an original treatment by Noam Dromi.

The film “centers on a young dolphin that loses her tail in a crab trap and an introverted 11-year-old boy who rallies friends and family to save it by persuading a doctor to create a prosthetic attachment to restore the dolphin’s ability to swim. Winter will play herself in the movie.”

Freeman will portray the doctor and Connick a marine biologist who rescues the mammal and takes it to the facility he runs. Judd will play the boy’s mother.

They seem to be getting a move on the project. They’re beginning principal photography as early as Sept. 27 in Clearwater, Florise and hopefully shooting will begin not long after that. The film will be released by Warner Bros. through Alcon’s output deal.

Who’s excited to for another dolphin film!?

Who Should Play Frank Sinatra, Depp, Clooney or DiCaprio?

Krystal Clark — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:59:28 +0000

Earlier this spring, May to be exact, news broke that award winning director Martin Scorsese was planning to helm a biopic centering on the life of Frank Sinatra. With this announcement came several casting possibilities, and at the time Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Harry Connick Jr. were all mentioned for the role. Now, several reports are suggesting that George Clooney may also be in the running to play ‘old blue eyes.’

All of these actors are talented in their own right, but that doesn’t automatically make them perfect for this part. Out of Depp, DiCaprio, Connick, and Clooney who do you think should play Frank Sinatra in the Scorsese biopic?

Here’s the scoop, according to The Gaurdian, Universal is pushing for Depp to play Sinatra due to his impressive performance as John Dillinger in Public Enemies. Sinatra’s own daughter, Nancy thinks Clooney would be the perfect man to play her father, which conflicts with Scorsese’s vision. Apparently, the director wants to show the darker side of the singer, similar to what he did with Howard Hughes in The Aviator, and Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull. Nancy on the other hand, wants the world to see a gentler Frank, with the majority of the focus being on his music.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

As for casting, let’s stop it with the games. I love all four of these guys, but if I was forced to choose, Clooney wouldn’t even be involved. He needs to go find a writer that can produce a good Cary Grant biopic that he can work himself into. He knows that’s the role he was born to play. As for the other three, I’d have to go with Connick. My biggest question is, what era of Sinatra are they covering, because young Frank and older Frank look pretty different.

Who do you think should star as Frank Sinatra in Scorsese’s biopic?

Roundup of the Week’s Funniest Videos

Kara — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 01:07:58 +0000

This week in funny videos, we have some painfully tasteless footage courtesy of a game show in Australia, some classic Jimmy Fallon back in the day when he was fantastic, one of Andy Samberg‘s many digital shorts, and a parody video of Nicole Eggert reliving her Baywatch days.

Check it out…

Apparently on Australian talent shows, Black face, Michael Jackson skits are all the rage. Unfortunately for the performers, Harry Connick, Jr. didn’t feel quite the same way. His reaction to their Jackson 5 performance was confusion with a side of disgust. [Movieline]

Do you remember when Jimmy Fallon was amazing on SNL? What happened to him over the years? This is just proof that he should have stayed on the show a little longer. Here’s a video of Jimmy from the good old days. [Unreality Mag]

It’s always a little sad when celebrities put on weight. After that the only way to defend themselves is to pose in a bathing suit on the cover of People to claim they really are okay with themselves. Actress Nicole Eggert handled it much better. Instead, she just made a Baywatch parody video in a bikini. [Funny or Die]

It feels like we are doing more SNL-related videos than normal. That probably has to do with the fact that the new season just started, but here is a taste of one the funniest Adam Samberg ‘digital shorts‘ from the series. [Popeater]

Could Johnny Depp or Harry Connick Jr. be Frank Sinatra?

Krystal Clark — Thu, 14 May 2009 23:15:07 +0000

Yesterday it was announced that Martin Scorsese would direct the biopic of the late great performer, Frank Sinatra. The feature is simply entitled Sinatra, and is being produced by Universal Pictures. In a rare Hollywood occurrence Sinatra’s family actually approves of the film being made, and stands by the studio and the director. With their blessing and the legal tape out of the way, there’s only thing left to do, find the perfect man to play old blue eyes.

Who could do it?

According to Cinematical, Johnny Depp’s name has popped up as a possible candidate to star as Sinatra. Apparently the studio wants him in the role, and it’s obvious why. He’s ridiculously talented, he has the dark and brooding good looks, plus we know he can carry a tune. Another superficial reason is his ability to put asses in the theater seats. He brings in the big bucks, and is liked by men, women, and children alike. Even though he’s not a spitting image of the singer/actor, I wouldn’t be surprised if the studio tells him to pop in some blue contacts and call it a day.

Another possibility for the role is Harry Connick Jr. He slightly favors Sinatra in the looks department, he’s an decent actor, but most of all he’s a trained musician! He can play the piano, and understands what his songs are all about. Even though Sinatra was an acclaimed actor, in the end his heart belonged to music. Most of us weren’t around when he won his Oscar for From Here to Eternity to watch his acceptance speech, but he graciously stated that he was a “song and dance man,” so he had no idea how he won such a prestigious acting award.

Overall it’s still early and plenty of names will get thrown into the hat before this thing starts production. All we can do is listen and hope that someone with legitimate talent get’s hired to play the man.

Do you think Depp or Connick, Jr. could play Sinatra? Is it too soon to tell? Who would you like to see in the role?

ScreenCrave.com » Harry Connick Jr

Dolphin Tale: Movie Review

The Players:

The Plot:

The Good:

The Bad:

Overall:

Rating: 6/10

Related Posts

Interview: Harry Connick Jr. on Dolphin Tale and Being a Working Actor

Related Posts

A Dolphin’s Tale Trailer

Related Posts

Morgan Freeman, Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd Up for 3D Dolphin Film

Related Posts

Who Should Play Frank Sinatra, Depp, Clooney or DiCaprio?

Related Posts

Roundup of the Week’s Funniest Videos

Related Posts

Could Johnny Depp or Harry Connick Jr. be Frank Sinatra?

Related Posts