By Jacob Oller
These colors are washed-out and washed-up. he cinematography of most indie films values practicality over all else. Your budget is small, your schedule is hurried. You’re shooting for speed and efficiency. But there’s always room for art. Look at Napoleon Dynamite’s director of photography, Munn Powell. Powell created a pastel lookbook that shaped Urban Outfitters […]
The article The Thrift Store Palette of ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ appeared first on Film School Rejects.
These colors are washed-out and washed-up. he cinematography of most indie films values practicality over all else. Your budget is small, your schedule is hurried. You’re shooting for speed and efficiency. But there’s always room for art. Look at Napoleon Dynamite’s director of photography, Munn Powell. Powell created a pastel lookbook that shaped Urban Outfitters […]
The article The Thrift Store Palette of ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ appeared first on Film School Rejects.
- 12/4/2017
- by Jacob Oller
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Blu-ray Review
Gentlemen Broncos
Directed by: Jared Hess
Cast: Michael Angarano, Jemaine Clement, Jennifer Coolidge, Hector Jimenez, Sam Rockwell
Running Time: 1 hr 28 mins
Rating: PG-13
Due Out: March 2, 2010
Plot: A young writer of science-fiction (Angarano) has his story stolen by his idol (Clement). At the same time, he watches the same unpublished novel become bastardized by two wannabe filmmakers (Coolidge, Jimenez.)
Who’S It For?: The people who dug Napoleon Dynamite more than just as a fad will likely enjoy this film’s similar presentation. Narrowing that down, aspiring authors who write fan-fiction, especially science fiction stories, are the best bet.
Movie:
A tribute to geeks (a term used with zero percent condescension) and their sci-fi literature, Gentlemen Broncos is its own tiny moon in a universe of “Hollywood” productions. Its humor, which is acquired and therefore very sparse, is incredibly dry, with amused chuckles resulting from a smooth-operating character bumping into a table,...
Gentlemen Broncos
Directed by: Jared Hess
Cast: Michael Angarano, Jemaine Clement, Jennifer Coolidge, Hector Jimenez, Sam Rockwell
Running Time: 1 hr 28 mins
Rating: PG-13
Due Out: March 2, 2010
Plot: A young writer of science-fiction (Angarano) has his story stolen by his idol (Clement). At the same time, he watches the same unpublished novel become bastardized by two wannabe filmmakers (Coolidge, Jimenez.)
Who’S It For?: The people who dug Napoleon Dynamite more than just as a fad will likely enjoy this film’s similar presentation. Narrowing that down, aspiring authors who write fan-fiction, especially science fiction stories, are the best bet.
Movie:
A tribute to geeks (a term used with zero percent condescension) and their sci-fi literature, Gentlemen Broncos is its own tiny moon in a universe of “Hollywood” productions. Its humor, which is acquired and therefore very sparse, is incredibly dry, with amused chuckles resulting from a smooth-operating character bumping into a table,...
- 3/15/2010
- by Nick Allen
- The Scorecard Review
Sundance Film Festival
PARK CITY -- Jerry Lewis, meet Wes Anderson. "Napoleon Dynamite" from director/co-writer Jared Hess tries to marry Anderson's deadpan style of portraying oddball behavior with the goofy antics of a Lewis-like outsider/anti-hero. Set in Idaho, the film views all its characters as potato-heads with limited mental faculties.
It should be reported that Sundance audiences roared with laughter at these rustic rubes and Fox Searchlight acquired the film for $3 or $4.75 million depending on whom you asked. It should also be reported that Sundance audience of the past have roared with laughter at comedies that fall flat in domestic release. Whether such history repeats itself depends on how down market Fox Searchlight takes its promotion of this comedy. This is certainly not one of its prestige offerings.
The dim-witted, gawky protagonist, named Napoleon Dynamite," is a misfit's misfit. His red hair puffs up in a curly explosion above a face that wears the same quizzical, pained expression for the entire movie, no mean feat for a young, physically adroit, tall actor named Jon Heder. Napoleon is the kid everyone picks on and no one wants to play with.
He comes from a family of nerds and dolts. Brother Kip (Aaron Ruell) spends his days surfing Internet chat rooms searching for a soul mate. Uncle Rico (Jon Gries) spends his days bemoaning the 1982 high school football season, where he missed his shot at the pros, and selling plastic kitchen wear and herbal breast implants to bored housewives. When Grandma gets banged-up flipping her dune buggy on a date, the unwanted Uncle Rico moves in to "take care" of the family.
Then Napoleon's only friend, Pedro (Efren Ramirez), newly arrived from Mexico and nearly as dorky as Napoleon, impulsively decides to run for student body president against ever-popular though stuck-up Summer Wheatley (Haylie Duff). Napoleon tries to lend a hand along with the shiest girl in school, Deb (Tina Majorino).
The plot is mostly a collection of skits and bits all predicated on the daftness and klutziness of central characters that make the "Dumb and Dumber" pair look like slick operators. By hammering away at this single note, Hess does bludgeon laughs from the most reluctantly audience members. And Heder does have a knack with physical humor and eliciting audience sympathy when none should be forthcoming. But the joke is always the same, and even the most easily amused may grow weary of that sameness.
Hess' production crew drives home the point that the story takes place in the land of the lost. Munn Powell's cinematography emphasizes the flat horizontals and verticals of the Midwest landscape. Cory Lory Lorenzen's production design and Jerusha Hess' costumes -- she is also co-writer and wife to the filmmaker -- make clear that nobody here has any sense of style or taste.
NAPOLEON DYNAMITE
Fox Searchlight
Credits:
Director: Jared Hess
Writers: Jared Hess, Jerusha Hess
Producers: Jeremy Coon, Sean C. Covel, Chris Wyatt
Executive producer: Jeremy Coon, Jory Weitz
Director of photography: Munn Powell
Production designer: Cory Lorenzen
Music: John Swihart
Costume designer: Jerusha Hess
Editor: Jeremy Coon.
Cast: Napoleon Dynamite: Jon Heder
Uncle Rico: Jon Gries
Kip: Aaron Ruell
Pedro: Efren Ramirez
Deb: Tino Majorino
Rex: Diedrich Bader
Summer Wheatley: Halie Duff
Running time -- 86 minutes
No MPAA rating...
PARK CITY -- Jerry Lewis, meet Wes Anderson. "Napoleon Dynamite" from director/co-writer Jared Hess tries to marry Anderson's deadpan style of portraying oddball behavior with the goofy antics of a Lewis-like outsider/anti-hero. Set in Idaho, the film views all its characters as potato-heads with limited mental faculties.
It should be reported that Sundance audiences roared with laughter at these rustic rubes and Fox Searchlight acquired the film for $3 or $4.75 million depending on whom you asked. It should also be reported that Sundance audience of the past have roared with laughter at comedies that fall flat in domestic release. Whether such history repeats itself depends on how down market Fox Searchlight takes its promotion of this comedy. This is certainly not one of its prestige offerings.
The dim-witted, gawky protagonist, named Napoleon Dynamite," is a misfit's misfit. His red hair puffs up in a curly explosion above a face that wears the same quizzical, pained expression for the entire movie, no mean feat for a young, physically adroit, tall actor named Jon Heder. Napoleon is the kid everyone picks on and no one wants to play with.
He comes from a family of nerds and dolts. Brother Kip (Aaron Ruell) spends his days surfing Internet chat rooms searching for a soul mate. Uncle Rico (Jon Gries) spends his days bemoaning the 1982 high school football season, where he missed his shot at the pros, and selling plastic kitchen wear and herbal breast implants to bored housewives. When Grandma gets banged-up flipping her dune buggy on a date, the unwanted Uncle Rico moves in to "take care" of the family.
Then Napoleon's only friend, Pedro (Efren Ramirez), newly arrived from Mexico and nearly as dorky as Napoleon, impulsively decides to run for student body president against ever-popular though stuck-up Summer Wheatley (Haylie Duff). Napoleon tries to lend a hand along with the shiest girl in school, Deb (Tina Majorino).
The plot is mostly a collection of skits and bits all predicated on the daftness and klutziness of central characters that make the "Dumb and Dumber" pair look like slick operators. By hammering away at this single note, Hess does bludgeon laughs from the most reluctantly audience members. And Heder does have a knack with physical humor and eliciting audience sympathy when none should be forthcoming. But the joke is always the same, and even the most easily amused may grow weary of that sameness.
Hess' production crew drives home the point that the story takes place in the land of the lost. Munn Powell's cinematography emphasizes the flat horizontals and verticals of the Midwest landscape. Cory Lory Lorenzen's production design and Jerusha Hess' costumes -- she is also co-writer and wife to the filmmaker -- make clear that nobody here has any sense of style or taste.
NAPOLEON DYNAMITE
Fox Searchlight
Credits:
Director: Jared Hess
Writers: Jared Hess, Jerusha Hess
Producers: Jeremy Coon, Sean C. Covel, Chris Wyatt
Executive producer: Jeremy Coon, Jory Weitz
Director of photography: Munn Powell
Production designer: Cory Lorenzen
Music: John Swihart
Costume designer: Jerusha Hess
Editor: Jeremy Coon.
Cast: Napoleon Dynamite: Jon Heder
Uncle Rico: Jon Gries
Kip: Aaron Ruell
Pedro: Efren Ramirez
Deb: Tino Majorino
Rex: Diedrich Bader
Summer Wheatley: Halie Duff
Running time -- 86 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Sundance Film Festival
PARK CITY -- Jerry Lewis, meet Wes Anderson. "Napoleon Dynamite" from director/co-writer Jared Hess tries to marry Anderson's deadpan style of portraying oddball behavior with the goofy antics of a Lewis-like outsider/anti-hero. Set in Idaho, the film views all its characters as potato-heads with limited mental faculties.
It should be reported that Sundance audiences roared with laughter at these rustic rubes and Fox Searchlight acquired the film for $3 or $4.75 million depending on whom you asked. It should also be reported that Sundance audience of the past have roared with laughter at comedies that fall flat in domestic release. Whether such history repeats itself depends on how down market Fox Searchlight takes its promotion of this comedy. This is certainly not one of its prestige offerings.
The dim-witted, gawky protagonist, named Napoleon Dynamite," is a misfit's misfit. His red hair puffs up in a curly explosion above a face that wears the same quizzical, pained expression for the entire movie, no mean feat for a young, physically adroit, tall actor named Jon Heder. Napoleon is the kid everyone picks on and no one wants to play with.
He comes from a family of nerds and dolts. Brother Kip (Aaron Ruell) spends his days surfing Internet chat rooms searching for a soul mate. Uncle Rico (Jon Gries) spends his days bemoaning the 1982 high school football season, where he missed his shot at the pros, and selling plastic kitchen wear and herbal breast implants to bored housewives. When Grandma gets banged-up flipping her dune buggy on a date, the unwanted Uncle Rico moves in to "take care" of the family.
Then Napoleon's only friend, Pedro (Efren Ramirez), newly arrived from Mexico and nearly as dorky as Napoleon, impulsively decides to run for student body president against ever-popular though stuck-up Summer Wheatley (Haylie Duff). Napoleon tries to lend a hand along with the shiest girl in school, Deb (Tina Majorino).
The plot is mostly a collection of skits and bits all predicated on the daftness and klutziness of central characters that make the "Dumb and Dumber" pair look like slick operators. By hammering away at this single note, Hess does bludgeon laughs from the most reluctantly audience members. And Heder does have a knack with physical humor and eliciting audience sympathy when none should be forthcoming. But the joke is always the same, and even the most easily amused may grow weary of that sameness.
Hess' production crew drives home the point that the story takes place in the land of the lost. Munn Powell's cinematography emphasizes the flat horizontals and verticals of the Midwest landscape. Cory Lory Lorenzen's production design and Jerusha Hess' costumes -- she is also co-writer and wife to the filmmaker -- make clear that nobody here has any sense of style or taste.
NAPOLEON DYNAMITE
Fox Searchlight
Credits:
Director: Jared Hess
Writers: Jared Hess, Jerusha Hess
Producers: Jeremy Coon, Sean C. Covel, Chris Wyatt
Executive producer: Jeremy Coon, Jory Weitz
Director of photography: Munn Powell
Production designer: Cory Lorenzen
Music: John Swihart
Costume designer: Jerusha Hess
Editor: Jeremy Coon.
Cast: Napoleon Dynamite: Jon Heder
Uncle Rico: Jon Gries
Kip: Aaron Ruell
Pedro: Efren Ramirez
Deb: Tino Majorino
Rex: Diedrich Bader
Summer Wheatley: Halie Duff
Running time -- 86 minutes
No MPAA rating...
PARK CITY -- Jerry Lewis, meet Wes Anderson. "Napoleon Dynamite" from director/co-writer Jared Hess tries to marry Anderson's deadpan style of portraying oddball behavior with the goofy antics of a Lewis-like outsider/anti-hero. Set in Idaho, the film views all its characters as potato-heads with limited mental faculties.
It should be reported that Sundance audiences roared with laughter at these rustic rubes and Fox Searchlight acquired the film for $3 or $4.75 million depending on whom you asked. It should also be reported that Sundance audience of the past have roared with laughter at comedies that fall flat in domestic release. Whether such history repeats itself depends on how down market Fox Searchlight takes its promotion of this comedy. This is certainly not one of its prestige offerings.
The dim-witted, gawky protagonist, named Napoleon Dynamite," is a misfit's misfit. His red hair puffs up in a curly explosion above a face that wears the same quizzical, pained expression for the entire movie, no mean feat for a young, physically adroit, tall actor named Jon Heder. Napoleon is the kid everyone picks on and no one wants to play with.
He comes from a family of nerds and dolts. Brother Kip (Aaron Ruell) spends his days surfing Internet chat rooms searching for a soul mate. Uncle Rico (Jon Gries) spends his days bemoaning the 1982 high school football season, where he missed his shot at the pros, and selling plastic kitchen wear and herbal breast implants to bored housewives. When Grandma gets banged-up flipping her dune buggy on a date, the unwanted Uncle Rico moves in to "take care" of the family.
Then Napoleon's only friend, Pedro (Efren Ramirez), newly arrived from Mexico and nearly as dorky as Napoleon, impulsively decides to run for student body president against ever-popular though stuck-up Summer Wheatley (Haylie Duff). Napoleon tries to lend a hand along with the shiest girl in school, Deb (Tina Majorino).
The plot is mostly a collection of skits and bits all predicated on the daftness and klutziness of central characters that make the "Dumb and Dumber" pair look like slick operators. By hammering away at this single note, Hess does bludgeon laughs from the most reluctantly audience members. And Heder does have a knack with physical humor and eliciting audience sympathy when none should be forthcoming. But the joke is always the same, and even the most easily amused may grow weary of that sameness.
Hess' production crew drives home the point that the story takes place in the land of the lost. Munn Powell's cinematography emphasizes the flat horizontals and verticals of the Midwest landscape. Cory Lory Lorenzen's production design and Jerusha Hess' costumes -- she is also co-writer and wife to the filmmaker -- make clear that nobody here has any sense of style or taste.
NAPOLEON DYNAMITE
Fox Searchlight
Credits:
Director: Jared Hess
Writers: Jared Hess, Jerusha Hess
Producers: Jeremy Coon, Sean C. Covel, Chris Wyatt
Executive producer: Jeremy Coon, Jory Weitz
Director of photography: Munn Powell
Production designer: Cory Lorenzen
Music: John Swihart
Costume designer: Jerusha Hess
Editor: Jeremy Coon.
Cast: Napoleon Dynamite: Jon Heder
Uncle Rico: Jon Gries
Kip: Aaron Ruell
Pedro: Efren Ramirez
Deb: Tino Majorino
Rex: Diedrich Bader
Summer Wheatley: Halie Duff
Running time -- 86 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 1/23/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.