Script Reviews | myPDFscripts

Sheridan Reviews: Motor City

As of late, I’ve been in a bit of a revenge/kick-a-lot-of-ass mood (must be something to do with the former day job), and J.C. suggested I add this script to my “read pile.” So, around a couple months ago, I took a couple hours out of a slow afternoon and kicked back with this screenplay and a cup of coffee, and I’ll be damned if I didn’t get around to even a sip of that coffee. Uh-huh, this roller coaster had me hooked from page one. Why? Because this f*****g thing lunges at your jugular and it just doesn’t let go until the words: FADE TO BLACK. What’s more, it doesn’t play ball like the other guys. No, this script’s

Robert Grant Reviews: Let Me In

Logline: A 12 year old boy forms a tentative and uneasy relationship with a mysterious girl that moves in next door and little by little they come to realise that their destinies are inexorably intertwined. I haven’t read the original 2004 novel but I have seen the 2008 film, Let The Right One In, that this is a remake of and I’m assuming that this adaptation is based on that film, not the book, but either way it is one of the most original takes on the vampire myth that has come along in a very long time in that it centres around two 12 years olds, Abby, the vampire and Owen the boy who becomes her friend. We

Matthew Klekner Reviews: Battleship

Premise: 200 million dollar plus adaptation of the Hasbro game Battleship, where the US Navy defends Hawaii from an alien invasion (sounds just like the game). About: Universal’s adaptation just began filming in Hawaii. Project stars Liam Neeson, Brooklyn Decker, Taylor Kitsch, Alexander Skarsgaard and Rihanna. It is directed by Peter Berg (Hancock, The Kingdom). This is the first Universal/Hasbro partnership since signing a five picture deal. Genre: Summer Blockbuster
Writers: Jon and Erich Hoeber (of the upcoming RED comic adaptation) with revisions by Paul Gross & John Krizanc and current revision by Peter Berg. Details: May 5th 2010 draft – 114 pages
Plot: Alien Invasion
Theme: Survival
Dialogue: Laughable
Character Development: There is none.
Concept: Worthless

Matthew Klekner Reviews: All You Need is Kill

Premise: Mysterious creatures called ‘Mimics’ have laid siege to Earth. The storyline puts a Groundhog Day plot device into a futuristic alien invasion storyline as a young inexperienced private gets killed in action only to be reborn the day before to suffer the same fate. Eventually, he becomes a better warrior and that other circumstances are changing, which might be the key to altering the outcome. Genre: Science Fiction
Writer: Dante Harper
Details: 4/1/10 – first draft – 118 pages About: Warner Bros paid low-7 figures against a purchase price near $3 million for a Dante Harper-scripted adaptation of All You Need is Kill, a Japanese novel by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. Warner’s execs Jon Berg and production president Greg Silverman

jkap Reviews: I.C.U.

Logline: A Doctor finds herself taken hostage in a hospital and forced to follow orders of a murderous group out for revenge. Christmas in Chicago. JACK PEARCE walks his German shepherd. As he’s crossing the street, a BMW comes around the corner and hits him. The man goes sprawling. Just as the onlookers rush to help, the BMW reverses and runs him over, breaking his leg. MT. SINAI MEDICAL CENTER – overcrowded and understaffed. We meet DR. CLAIRE HASKINS – 30. ELLIE FISHER – 30 – working her residency. We learn about the Hanson case – there’s a review hearing. Something went wrong. Ellie has been called in for questioning. Claire was the treating physician. DANIELLE PEARCE – 30′s –

jkap Reviews: Oil Cowboys

Logline: Four Americans steal a cargo ship holding 180 tons of oil which they hope to sell for $100 million bucks. We open in Al-Basrah, Iraq. Ten MASKED GUNMEN lead by KHALED hijack two oil tankers. COLE DAUGHTRY – Army Staff Sergeant and his crew come to the rescue working with the Iraqi police. Cole thwarts the hijacking and arrests Khaled. Fearing incarceration, Khaled tries to make a deal with Cole. Khaled knows where there’s 180 tons of oil worth more than $100 million dollars. It’s aboard a rusty cargo ship named EL DORADO. He shows Cole a photo of the ship. Khaled will give Cole El Dorado’s location in exchange for his freedom. Cole gets the location from Khaled

Matthew Klekner Reviews: Safe House

Premise: The action-espionage-thriller tells the story of a YOUNG CIA agent who becomes the only survivor after a CIA safe house attack, and must help a dangerous prisoner avoid being killed as they escape to a second safe house, “outmaneuvering various forces that want them both dead.” About: Universal purchased David Guggenheim’s spec SAFE HOUSE for $600k against $900k, winning out against two other movie studios in a bidding war. He’s the brother of two other Hollywood players and would seem he’s making his own name for himself. He just sold PUZZLE PALACE to Summit for similar money and also has another project with McG titled, MEDALLION. Universal nabbed the spec after a multi-studio bidding war. Scott Stuber (THE WOLFMAN)

Matthew Klekner Reviews: Win Win

Premise: A rough-and-tumble runaway changes the lives of a suburban New Jersey family and turns around the luck of a high school wrestling team. About: McCarthy is that rare working actor, director, and screenwriter. He was nominated for the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for his work on Pixar’s UP. McCarthy also directed the indies THE STATION AGENT and THE VISITOR, the latter of which got Richard Jenkins a Best Actor Oscar nomination. McCarthy also starred in the final season of HBO’s THE WIRE, playing that overambitious Sun reporter who wins the Pulitzer by fabricating information for his stories. WIN WIN is set up at Fox Searchlight, set to star McCarthy, Amy Ryan and Paul Giamatti. It’s being produced by Mary

jkap Reviews: Minimum Wage

LOGLINE: A Corporate Exec, known for firing workers, is convicted of fraud and sentenced to spend a year working for minimum wage. JIM SEAVER, 30′s. Corporate finance director of OMNICORP. He’s gotten the nickname “Seaver the Cleaver” because he slashes and burns companies to boost Omnicorp’s bottom line. Everything’s going for Jim. He’s rich, has a gorgeous fiancee (PENNY) and obtains all the perks life has to offer. In his office, we watch Jim on the phone, shutting down a factory in Mars, Pennsylvania. He could care less about the workers there. After an expensive lunch, Jim and his Boss (TED) go back to Omnicorp only to find it being raided by the FBI. The Chief Operations Officer is led

Robert Grant Reviews: Fashion Beast

Logline: A young woman is plucked from obscurity to become the muse of the worlds greatest fashion designer. The world is at war and staring down the barrel of a long nuclear winter with jobs, food and money all hard to come by. Fashion, with it’s obvious ostentation and sexual freedom, are frowned upon, even punished, and clothes are being torn from peoples bodies on the streets and burned for fear of radiation poisoning. With conscription about to be brought in society is crumbling and folk’ll do whatever it takes to get by. DOLL, who everyone believes is a transvestite, works at a nightclub as a coat-check girl. It’s not much but it’s something and she’s good at her job

jkap Reviews: The Thirteenth Hour

Nick Quinn travels back in time in one-hour increments to stop his wife’s murder but finds his actions have disastrous consequences. I don’t know about you but lately it seems every other script I read has a time-travel plot. SOURCE CODE, THE DAYS BEFORE, YEAR 12. And why not? I mean don’t we all stare at our miserable pathetic lives and wish every single day for a chance to go back in time to undo all the godforsaken choices we’ve made……….or is that just me??? Okay, so the scripts opens and we meet NICK QUINN, 30 and his pretty wife JULIA. They’re happily married and successful. Life is good. Julia’s flying out on business today. Nick works at home in

jkap Reviews: Year 12

Logline: Aliens have taken over Earth. This is year 12 of the occupation. OPENING – we meet TYLER KIRKLAND, 35. Wakes up next to KRISTEN. They don’t know each other’s names. Just a casual one-night stand. Tyler and Kristen look out the window of his apartment and we see New York City has been utterly destroyed a long time ago. And that’s exactly how you grab your audience. WHAM! It’s startling. It’s sudden. It’s totally unexpected. Here, we’re thinking we might be in the beginning of a romantic comedy and BAM! The horror of the situation hits and we’re only on Page 3. The beauty of the scene is, we still don’t know what’s going on. We just know we’re

CM Houghton Reviews: Comic Con

Logline: To save their beloved neighborhood comic shop, a justice league of comic geeks must plan and execute a daring heist at Comic-Con. Background: The script’s writers met while both attended Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Despite making the Black List, a list of ‘hot’ screenplays (not necessarily a best-of list), this film doesn’t look to be in any imminent danger of being produced. Although this project doesn’t have any recent news on it, the script was hot and the buzz had gotten the scribes work over at Warner Brothers. In August the scribes had been signed to pen an updated version of “Brewster’s Millions”, the 1902 novel had been last on screen in Richard Pryor’s 1985 take on it.

jkap Reviews: The Vatican Tapes

For two thousand years, the Catholic Church has investigated cases of alleged demonic possession, taping their findings. These tapes are housed in the Vatican. Now, we get to a glimpse at what they’ve found. Fresh on the heels of “THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT,” “CLOVERFIELD” and “PARANORMAL ACTIVITY,” we get a look at “actual” tapes of demonic possession. We open in Poland. FATHER ANTONIO, 50′s has traveled here to investigate a case. He brings with him FATHER MATT, African-American, 30′s. Father Matt videotapes the proceedings. They are met at the airport by FATHER KARL JAWORSKI , Polish, 20′s. There is a demon here. Father Matt and Father Antonio have come on behalf of the Vatican. Father Antonio is the skeptic –

jkap Reviews: The Gunslinger

Logline: A Texas Ranger hunts down the killer who murdered his brother. OPENING – We’re in a crime scene. A Texas Ranger named DANIEL HENSLEY is found murdered/tortured in a house. He’s tied to a chair and is practically decapitated. Onto the scene comes SAM LEE HENSLEY – Daniel’s brother. Sam is the baddest of the bad. Martin Riggs, the Terminator and Clint Eastwood all rolled into one. Let’s just say he doesn’t take the news gladly. Sam finds out the house belongs to BILLY FLIP. Sam tracks Billy down in a bar. Sam’s not above using excessive force to obtain information. Billy states the house really belongs to a guy named DIEGO DELA. Sam goes in search of Diego

jkap Reviews: Legion

I decided to read “LEGION” based on the trailer because in my humble opinion, the trailer simply…..KICKED ASS! C’mon, it’s hardcore. The evil granny! The angel sent to save us! The unlucky humans trapped in the diner! I’m buying. Throw in the hellacious action as God’s army battles over an unborn child while the fate of mankind as we know it hangs in the balance and I’m thinking, “We’ve got a cult classic on our hands here!” I mean really people, I ask you, what more do you want out of a movie?? However, sad to say, the script does not live up to the greatness the trailer hints at. In fact, the script is so bad, I now look

Kevin Jackson Reviews: The Girl with the Red Riding Hood

The Girl with the Red Riding Hood by David Leslie Johnson (a 120 page revised first draft) is a horror and romance Gothic reimagining of the classic fairy tale in which a young woman is confronted by a werewolf. This time a teenage love triangle is at its center. SYNOPISIS
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We are in rural France in the year 1324. ISABELLE’S, 17, boyfriend, PETER, 21, confronts her about being engaged to be married to HENRI SMITH, 18. She thinks he is joking but her father told him the news; it’s an arrangement to settle a debt. Peter ends up breaking-up with Isabelle. Isabelle’s mother SUZETTE, late 30’s, explains to Isabelle: “…you have adult responsibilities now. That means putting your family’s

Kevin Jackson Reviews: The Vatican Tapes

The Vatican Tapes (79 pages) by Christopher Borrelli is a horror about a documented account of an exorcism. A priest flies into a rural American town to do an exorcism. After a long a trial-some effort, the girl/exorcist wins, killing the priest. SYNOPISIS COMMENTARY
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In lieu of the synopsis I have some commentary. The logline that caught my attention and made me want to read this was: “In a highly secured vault deep within the walls of Vatican City, the Catholic Church holds thousands of old films and video footage documenting exorcisms/supposed exorcisms and other unexplained religious phenomena they feel the world is not ready to see. This is the first tape – Case 83-G – stolen from these

CM Houghton Reviews: A Walk Among the Tombstones

Short Summary: Based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Lawrence Block, unlicensed private detective Matthew Scudder is hired by a drug dealer, Kenny Kristo, to find the people who kidnapped and brutally murdered his wife, Carrie. She was returned to him literally in pieces and Kenny wants his revenge, but when the feds start sniffing around the case Matt decides to quit. Then the teenage daughter of another drug dealer gets kidnapped by the same guys who’d butchered Carrie. Matt gets pulled back in to negotiate the ransom and make sure the girl doesn’t share the same fate as Kenny’s wife. Background: Originally produced by Universal, along with Danny Devito’s Jersey Films, the project was going to

Thomas Lawler Reviews: Underage

LOGLINE: A 20-something ladies man has a drunken one-night stand with a girl who turns out to be an underage high school student and is blackmailed into being her boyfriend. KEY BACKGROUND INFO: Screenwriting team Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber (500 Days of Summer (their first spec script!) and The Pink Panther 2) have already sold Underage to Ivan Reitman’s Montecito Pictures (I Love You, Man). Named by Variety as one of 2008’s “10 Screenwriters to Watch.” PLOT SYNOPSIS: Act I:
When ANDY, a callous, directionless 20-something ladies man meets a mysterious girl, BRADEN, at a bar his string of uncomplicated one-night stands comes to a sudden halt when he finds out the next day

Kevin Jackson Reviews: Wedding Banned

Wedding Banned, 115 pages, is written by Jack Amiel & Michael Begler. It’s a comedy about a long since divorced couple kidnapping their daughter on her wedding day to keep her from making the mistake of her life. The divorced parents rekindle their relationship as they elude cops and the angry groom. SYNOPISIS ZOE FISCHER, 26, an attorney, after work, is getting ice cream and meets CYRUS, they chat and he tosses a Bomb Pop to Zoe, but she looks away for a split second and it hits her in the face. She goes down. Cyrus rushes to her side, taking the Bomb Pop and gently putting it on her bruised check. Zoe looks up at him. He returns her

jkap Reviews: Real Steel

In the near-future, robots have replaced humans as boxers. Story of Charlie Kenton, a down-on-his-luck boxer and his shot at redemption when he unexpectedly finds himself in custody of his 11-year old son, Max. This is what it’s come down to. Charlie Kenton is dragging his boxer, SUPERNOVA, off to some out-of-the-way fair to fight a…200lb steer! Worse, when Charlie arrives he finds out they’re actually fighting a 2,000lb bull. Times are hard for Charlie. He lives in his truck. His future is non-existent. He’s barely hanging on. That’s why he agrees to fight the 2,000lb bull and even bets $10,000 that Supernova will win. RICKY, the boxing promoter, warns Charlie that he will beat Charlie to within an inch

Kevin Jackson Reviews: Poltergeist

I invite you to read my first screenplay review for MyPDFScripts of Poltergeist, a 102 page, first draft, by Juliet Snowden & Stiles White. It is a fantasy/horror about a young family haunted by spirits in their home. The spirits kidnap their youngest daughter and the parents take a visit to another dimension to save her. SYNOPISIS
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Present Day Suburbia, USA, BRYNN, 15, CASE, 9, and MELANIE HAYES, mom, are all asleep in their perspective bedrooms. Moving boxes are around the rooms, while SOPHIE, 6, is downstairs playing in the dark. Melanie wakes up and takes Sophie back to her bedroom. Sophie doesn’t want to go and tells her mom “If you wait and be real quiet you can

jkap Reviews: Poltergeist

LOGLINE – A family experiences ghostly attacks in their new home. To me, the rule of thumb regarding remakes is: If you can’t improve upon the original, leave it alone. Unfortunately, the writers chose to disregard my rule. Not only does this script falls woefully short of the original, it doesn’t even come close to the terrible sequels that film spawned. We’re in a brand new neighborhood. A designed community. The HAYES family lives here. MELANIE HAYES – designer/matriarch BRYNN – 15 – teenager with all the angst that accompanies that age. CASE – 9 – kid that sits around playing videogames because he doesn’t really have any friends SOPHIE – 6 – precocious It’s late at night. Melanie goes

Mike Breiburg Reviews: Hack/Slash

Almost two weeks ago, I read a brief review of the HACK/SLASH script over at Shock Till You Drop’s Twitterfeed: @STYDNews:
Read the HACK/SLASH screenplay. True to the spirit of slasher films and the comic. Which pretty much made it a must read for me. Slasher films? Comics? I had to check it out. The title alone was enough of a hook. A slasher film with the word slash in its title, it could be as post-modern as the title promises it to be. Plus, I’m all about creative punctuation in titles, something I was hoping we’d see more of after “FACE/OFF.” Up for review is the 7.11.08 dated draft of HACK/SLASH – by Martin Schenk & Todd Lincoln, based on

Robert Grant Reviews: Akira Part One

Logline: In a post-apocalyptic city members of a bike gang get involved in a battle between the mysterious psychic forces that are connected to the initial destruction of the city, the military government, and rebel forces. Akira is one of those anime that truly polarises people. On the one hand there are those that see it as a masterpiece of the genre and couldn’t countenance the idea of a remake, and on the other hand there are those, like me, who simply enjoyed it for what it was – another epic manga, butchered to make it palatable for moviegoing audiences – good, but certainly no masterpiece. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not one of those ‘the movies are never

jkap Reviews: Last Stand

Earlier this week, I went home excited to read a hot property that was about to blow up overnight, especially with everyone gushing over the premise. And once again, I fell victim to the Hollywood hype machine. Halfway through, I began to suspect that someone had given me the wrong script. There’s no way this spec could be generating that kind of heat. And then came Monday’s announcement by The Hollywood Reporter trumpeting the fact that Lionsgate picked it up. Go figure. LAST STAND by Andrew Knauer Logline: Cops in a tiny border town are the only thing standing in the way of an escaped prisoner, protected by hardcore gangbangers, trying to make it across to Mexico. OPENING – We

jkap Reviews: Fuckbuddies

Logline: A guy and a girl struggle to have an exclusively sexual relationship as they both come to realize they want much more. Story’s about EMMA FRANKLIN and ADAM KURTZMAN. We open on them in bed as they discuss alternate terms for “f**k buddies.” We cut back to 1994 – summer camp in Northern Michigan. 12-yr old Adam spots 12-yr old Emma at a dance – there’s an immediate connection – they make out. Unfortunately, this romance is short-lived since camp is ending. We then cut to 2001 – Adam and Emma meet up again at a Frat Party. Emma tries to screw Adam in a car but Adam stops her because he can’t cheat on his girlfriend – we

jkap Reviews: Kristy

Logline: A female college sophomore finds herself trapped on a deserted campus as four mask-wearing strangers try to kill her. OPENING – We’re on a small college campus. A security guard walks through the aftermath of bedlam: buildings broken into, a car is on fire, a light pole has fallen and…a dead body. We immediately CUT TO: 14 HOURS AGO SET UP – JUSTINE WILLS (LEAD) 19-year old sophomore is in her dorm room with AARON, her 20-year old boyfriend. It’s Thanksgiving weekend. The campus is deserted. Aaron leaves to spend the holidays with his family. Justine doesn’t want to go. There’s tension in this decision – some turmoil just underneath the surface. Justine plans to stay on campus and

Vern Reviews: Hot Tub Time Machine

The T.A.R.D.I.S. The Omni. The Quantum Accelerator. A Flux-Capacitor enhanced DeLorean. A Phone Booth. The Time Tunnel. The Hot Tub. The Hot Tub? You read that right, Hot Tub. Revolves around a group of frustrated friends who hit a hot tub at the ski resort where they partied as teens — and get transported back to 1987. Tired premise, but a unique idea for a time machine. And John Cusack is going to star. Buddy Comedy Checklist:
The handsome leading man? Check
The unbelievably hot, sexy girlfriend? Check
The token black friend? Check
The henpecked husband? Check
The insecure, angry, fat bald man? Check.
The hip, young friend? Check.
The younger brother who never really knew his older brother and

Wizdoc Reviews: The Expendables

In short – it’s a mess. Sylvester Stallone’s follow up to the mean and lean actioner Rambo tries to be many things at once. A buddy movie, a political thriller about issues ripped straight from today’s headlines, and a throwback to the irreverent shoot ‘em ups of the 80′s. It doesn’t really work on any level. The Expendables is about a group of mercenaries called, you guessed it, The Expendables, led by a gruff no-nonsense leader Barney Ross. After a short opening action scene where the mercs take down a group of Somali pirates holding some French hostages (and get into a scuffle with one their own, a more unstable member of the team), Ross and his merry band

Sheridan Reviews: Ghost Rider by David S. Goyer

Days before the original version of pdfscreenplays imploded, I traversed to my mailbox to find a large envelope with no return address. Intrigued, I opened it, hoping its contents didn’t contain anthrax or some other form of congratulatory thank you in response to the site. Relieved I didn’t die or explode or hemorrhage upon tearing into its contents, I found that it simply held the 117 page April 11, 2001 first draft of Ghost Rider by David S. Goyer. Oh my, I thought. Shortly thereafter, the site imploded and I got busy with other things, like life. And then I decided to move, so the script eventually ended up at the bottom of a box, in a closet,

PitchPatch Reviews: Kane & Lynch

Kyle Ward. Strap on your kevlar. Because I’m gunning for you, motherfrakker. Kane & Lynch was a fun, frantic, flawed game. I played it to completion (both endings). It was touted as the closest you’ll get to being in a Michael Mann movie, and on that level it delivered. That’s not something I give away easily. Heat‘s bank robbery and botched getaway are stamped into my subconscious from many, many viewings with the surround cranked to eleven. But Kane & Lynch (the game) manages to recreate that feeling, the sweat, the streaming hot bullet casings, the mayhem, the carnage wrought against metal and flesh. And the Tokyo club scene. Wow. So. The screenplay. By Kyle Ward. How many pages

Riosushi Reviews: Roundtable

I think I’ve fallen profoundly in love with Brian K. Vaughan. I was never really big on his comic work, except for the brilliant Ex Machina, but this script is a real treat to read. He writes exactly how I tend to write, only better. I’m just happy to see that you CAN get away with all those lovely asides and still have a wonderful script. I’ve always thought that asides help to engage the reader with the story and bring them into the head of the writer. Roundtable is the story of Merlin’s Knights coming together to defeat Morgana La Fey… in modern day England. Oh and Sir Michael Caine plays himself. And Merlin’s a brit-turned-american that plays