reviewId int64 363k 588k | userId int64 33.9k 15.9M | itemId int64 1 1.42M | rating float64 1 10 | title stringlengths 1 10.9k ⌀ | content stringlengths 81 11.6k ⌀ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
510,614 | 453,068 | 1,007,028 | 7 | funny , gooey , predictable , outrageous , gleeful , nostalgic , warm , romantic . . . did I say gooey ? | These are some words I would describe for Kevin Smith's latest film not quite from his ' Viewaskewniverse ' ( if that's really a word ) , only this time out of New Jersey and in Pittsburgh ( acually , the Dawn of the Dead cit Monroeville home of the Monroeville mall , an hockey of course ) . It is in all basic terms about the title character doing what it says . . . doing it , and filming it and filming other people doing it with a little camcorder in the place where the two intrepid 20-somethings ( Zack , Seth Rogen , Miri , Eizabeth Banks ) work . But it is also about Kevin Smith , making a very ridiculous and profane and occasionally ( appropriately ) gross movie while at the same time also delivering something , well , personal . He gets to have his cake and eat it , while also indulging towards the end in some more romantic-type stuff to fill out the ending . Not that we don't want to see these two characters falling in love and spending together together - on paper . On screen , however , Smith is cribbing ( as maybe too many critics have noted ) from the Judd Apatow school of comedy . And it's not simply with the casting of Rogen , one of Apatow's sacred bunch of super-talented average-Joe funny-men . It's in what is , t me , something of a sitcom-type of conceit with a man like Rogen , who is not bad looking or ugly but approximately what he appears to be , and pairing him with a very attractive blonde - first , Katheine Heigl , now Elizabeth Banks . One could go on about wanting to see more of a realistic scenario , with Miri not being a super-hot girl but more . . . s , ' realistic . ' How cruel that may or may not sound I don't know , but by the third act , which does contain some of Smith's most ( succesful ) romantic dialog since Chasing Amy , doesn't carry the same weight if just because of that notion of a funny / chubby shlub together with a . . . well , Elizabeth Banks . And yet , for its predictability and moments of pure schmaltz , Zack and Miri Make a Porno is a funny movie , sometimes incredibly funny movie , because Smith has it in him to know what works for not just his own skills as a filmmaker but for his audience . He is , as others have also noted , a kind of Woody Allen for his time , in a sense , which is that Kevin Smith likes to live the life of Kevin Smith and make Kevin Smith movies . Not many can write with both wit and crudeness equally and make it work ; sometimes only one on its own will do . But just watch , in a slight throwback to Clerks , the montage of Zack and Mirir trying to come up with porno-movie title names , leading up to ' Star Whores ' . Or what makes for half of the flat-out most uproarious scene in the whole running time with Justin Long and Brandon Rouths ' characters ( Long especially shows how brilliant he can be in the right setting ) . Or even throwaway scenes with Jason Mewes - yes , he can play someone other than Jay , very well . It's all , in any approximation , good stuff . At the least , for the first half , before it becomes more or less emphasized with romance and conflict of the variety one isn't unfamiliar with in Chasing Amy territory ( if only slightly less mature and a tidy ending ) . It isn't one of the best of Smith's now 8 films since Clerks , but as far as Smith movies go it's true and fun and occasionally deep , which is what counts with a Gen-X auteur like him . |
510,931 | 453,068 | 120,863 | 7 | Great Example of a war picture | Thin Red Line is a great example of what a war film can be . Unlike 1998's Saving Private Ryan ( which I thought was the best film of 1998 ) , this film doesn't have a plot with a big beginning and ending ( even though that would be nice ) . It just chronicles a group of soldiers and their battle in the South Pacific , and with themselves . Good character study , and some good monologues by Sean Penn don't make this the best war film ever , but it isn't bad either . Pretty good effort by writer / director Terreence Mallick who returns to the screen after a 20 year absence . Big screen cast includes Penn , Jim Chazviel , George Clooney , John Travolta , Woody Harrelson , Shawn Hatosy , Elias Koetas and Nick Nolte as a powerful General . |
510,048 | 453,068 | 805,570 | 7 | Come on ride the train , come ride it . . . | Before you start asking - no , it's not porn , gay or otherwise , though those were the first words out of my mother's mouth when I told her I would be going to see this now cult-ish horror movie . This is another example of Lion's Gate acting nefarious with their distribution . They probably aren't as ' wtf'-like as Fox at the moment , but while they bask in their self-imposed glow of Saw flicks and Jason Statham vehicles , they dumped Midnight Meat Train in a manner not unlike ( speaking of Fox ) Idiocracy . The film was technically released in about a handful of ( i . e . 100 ) theaters this summer , practically all of them in 1-dollar joints in towns I've never heard of and nowhere near my digs in North NJ / NYC . It's made $34 , 000 in its theatrical run , which is somewhat impressive considering a ) the total lack of any real advertising , either around the " from the mind of Clive Barker " angle or just that it's a kick-ass-looking horror flick about a guy killing people on trains , and b ) it opened in 1-dollar theaters for a very limited run . So suffice to say it's a bittersweet coda to this dumped-on movie from Lion's Gate that it finally screened for two aptly scheduled Midnight screenings at a theater in Manhattan - ironically costing us all about 8 or 9 dollars MORE than it did those lucky dozen or so that caught it a couple of months ago - and at the same time , thankfully , is a worthwhile midnight-movie . Kitamura's adaptation of the Barker story ( un-read by me ) is a slight throwback to grisly 80s serial killer flicks ( while I couldn't think of one after it ended , with a friend of mine repeatedly stating " it's like Saw , only good " which I could understand , I'm sure there are suggestions open to comparison ) as it unapologetically takes its time showing us unnecessary killing scenes with lots of blood , gore , meat and Vinnie Jones as the killer . It is , in all actuality , a definite must see for every geeky horror buff you might have ever come across , or are yourself . It's about an aspiring photographer ( Bradley Cooper ) who is trying to impress a chic , artsy curator ( Brooke Shields ) with his photographs , but she wants more - more of the actual blood and guts and other things that he hasn't captured yet . After clicking at the right time and right place with a model almost being attacked and raped , she's finally impressed - but she wants more . This leads Cooper to finding a subject coming out of the subway one night : a man in a business suit , crew-cut , and a stare that could cut glass . This is Vinnie Jones , uttering only one word in his entire performance and thus making it perhaps his most bad-ass yet ( which considering that it's " I'm the Juggernaut , Bitch ! " , it's saying something ) . Now , saying that this is a kick-ass genre flick doesn't exactly mean it's a very good movie . It's not . It's got some pretty blah dialog , the characters are only interesting when serving the ( bleeped ) - up nature of the plot , and there's even some poorly shot CGI of the trains moving through the tunnels . You'll also be saying " wtf " every few seconds in the final act , though that's a big part of the fun . It's not for the squeamish : this contains countless bodies strung up by meat-hooks , blood flowing so much that people usually end up slipping hilariously in the train , and even some whacked-out creatures reminiscent of The Descent . . . only , of course , these wait for their flesh in a slightly different manner , and end up raising some questions for the viewer once it ends . Midnight Meat Train is kick-ass for all the reasons that people love pointlessly violent horror movies that occasionally feature the likes of Ted Raimi getting beaten to a bloody pulp with a hook . If you are that kind of horror fan , who wanted something aside from complete unintentional hilarity and abhorrent contrivance with the Saw movies and harkon longingly back to crazy butcher-themed flicks ( and , perhaps , are looking for some influence of Blowup from time to time ) , this is for you . It's certainly , at the least , one of the most overlooked movies in years . |
509,332 | 453,068 | 913,958 | 7 | mostly a ' fly-on-the-wall ' approach to the former President . . . | . . . but despite some of Jonathan Demme's techniques to making Man from Plains , which are either interesting ( the skewed camera on the television screens , the title cards listed in big font above the locations in some scenes ) or off-putting ( the usage of music is overbearing ) , his movie should be called the proverbial ' fair and balanced . ' There are few issues in the world that ignites the firestorm of debate like Israel and Palestine land and peace talks ( the abortion issue is right up there ) . Jimmy Carter placed himself into the pit of controversy a year and a half ago with his book " Palestine : Peace , Not Apartheid " , and director Demme does his best to reveal not simply Carter defending his points on various interview shows and programs , but to get the other side's voice as well . Carter isn't let off very easily , and rightfully so . But had Demme gone too far either way in depicting the reaction to the book , then the documentary would get damaged by the effect . This might make Man From Plains seem slightly ' safe ' , but its strongest points are just revealing , without pushing a whole lot of stylistic fervor in the way , this man in his complexity , conflicts , resolve , and in his comfortable position as about as well-respected a ex-President one could ask for . He has a lot to boast about with some of his past accomplishments ( some which we might forget as what he might have not done ) , but a lot of his output and speeches and very concise answers are based on experience . It's easy to pin down Carter as he's labeled - anti-Semitic , plagiarist - without either reading his book ( s ) or seeing what is really going on past the veneer of the media's depiction . Just seeing the interviewees ( with some exceptions ) repeating the named " apartheid " for incisive affect is enough to see what can be taken out of context . Does this mean that Man From Plains reveals everything that could be about Carter on this book tour with the amount of depth one might hope for with an ex-president ? Maybe not . But for what it's worth , Demme delivers two hours of potent coverage , and even creates a narrative around his detractors / protesters ( i . e . rabbis / Dershowitz / Brandeis ) that adds a little weight to what would otherwise be Demme's equivalent to Moore's the Big One . As a portrait and a compact look at a hot-button issue , it's very good if not mind-expanding . |
508,466 | 453,068 | 359,203 | 7 | tough call | A documentary like Easy Riders , Raging Bulls should be the kind of documentary I should like more . It is chock full of interviews and choice information about the time period ( 60's-70's ) in American cinema that changed everything , for a lot better and some for not . But there are a couple of problems that become inherent . If you have read the book which spurred on the documentary by Peter Biskind ( also author of Down and Dirty Pictures , a book about the 90's independent film movement ) , it's kind of like reading a masterpiece in the trashiest sense . There is a lot more in-depth information in the book , however much of it at the personal expense of the filmmakers , writers , producers , and others that are written about ( a good deal with gossip , interestingly enough on the special features of the DVD some of the interviewees speak out against the falsities in the book , Paul Schrader being one of them ) . The other problem is that the same year this documentary was released on Spike TV ( then later to DVD , which is where I saw it ) , there was the great documentary in the similar , more satisfying vein , A Decade Under the Influence . It might be unfair to compare the two , however if one were wanting in the first place to get a video history - by way of movie clips and interviews - about the years that changed movies a generation before , I would go for ' Decade ' due to it's more obscure film clips , and a few more revealing and insightful interviews . In fact , over half of the people in one documentary are also in the other , like Dennis Hopper , Paul Schrader , Peter Bogdanovich , Ellen Burstyn , Roger Corman , and Monte Hellman among others . It's not that this documentary in and of itself is not insubstantial . On a base level you get the lowdown , about how as Hollywood's studio system was on the decline , filmmakers who were coming up in Corman's enclave ( Coppola , Hopper , Bogdanovich , even Scorsese ) , along with some other key outsiders , infused European ideals into their personal statements , making great art and some money in the process . On the level of just giving forth the information , it's not a bad telling of tales , and has a couple of interviews I wasn't expecting . But , again , my sense of proportion was out of place ; I could sense that the doc , much like the book , was more interested in some of the more ' seedy ' details ( i . e . the stuff about Julia Phillips , or Bogdanovich , which is practically a quarter of the book ) than in the actual cinema-contexts of the work . You also don't hear as much about the power of the influence on the filmmakers , which was an appeal of ' Decade ' . It's not too tough a call to make , and if you've seen ' Decade ' before ' Easy Riders Raging Bulls ' you may agree . I liked it , but it's not saying much when the book , which itself was readable mostly for the sake of history ( some worthwhile , some not ) , was better . |
509,037 | 453,068 | 75,376 | 7 | Hmm , Rosebud ! I'll get to the bottom of this yet ! Russ Meyer makes his films , when they're at their best or most brilliantly deranged , like the dream of some sexually charged sixteen year old who's seen his share of pornos and 70's era exploitation films . They're crazy visions of women with ( usually ) nothing lower than 36-C cups , men with third legs ( wink wink , nudge nudge , say no more ) , and enough fornication to blow the head gasket of any puritan viewer . That being said , Meyer isn't exactly a real porno director . He makes sex films in the same way that Robert Rodriguez makes wild action or horror or kids films : as a do-it-yourself-auteur ( i . e . writes , directs , produces , edits , DP's , even camera operates ) , he's all about getting a pulpy sensibility of what would otherwise be typical trashy material . Meyer also is gifted with a wonderfully cringe-worthy sense of humor . To give just a brief example - and maybe as one of the quintessential scenes in any exploitation flick - the scene where two completely naked women , one Eva Braun Jr with a knife and screaming maniacally about the fall of Nazism and the plight of his ' father ' , run after one another trying to kill each other in the woods . So Up ! is in another in a whole body of works where Meyer turns the conventions of the usual in movie-making , like a kooky member of National Lampoon , but at the same time I'm not sure it's one of his very best . It's a little scatter-shot in the story , if there is one closely to even follow with the Greek Chrous ( Kitten Navidad ) where in every time whatever semblance of a story is taking shape we're led off by this narrator and Meyers's editing which takes us into a strange loop of sequencing of events and images ( which in and of themselves are good , but distracting ) . But when Up ! does click , it works very well . Mostly this involves the early scenes with Adolph Schwartz ( ho-ho ) , who gets masochistic sex from a dominatrix and a man with a huge thing , and then gets killed mysteriously in his bathtub . Then we're thrust into some backwoods group , including a shifty but well-intentioned sheriff ( Monty Bane ) , a big , uproarious homunculus in Rafe ( Bob Schott ) , and of course Meyer's ' harem ' of girls . It's fun , in all basic intentions , to see these girls have fun and go into exuberant glee doing their scenes , as opposed to the more degrading XXX features that get pretty boring after a while . This is where the dream facet comes in , where everything is just so surreal ( the frolicking sex out in the open , wherever it is , the Nazi stuff right out of a typical exploitation flick from Europe , the double-climax that combines sex AND violence ) , that you just have to go along for the ride and laugh with all the craziness . What helps is Meyer's great cinematic eye - yes , great - as he shoots and edits as though every image has to be just next to perfect . While the actual content is sometimes all over the place , like with Rafe's rape scenes , where he turns into a true drunken gorilla , the actual quality of the film-making is nearly flawless . Which is to Meyers's credit , as what is in Up ! could be the makings of a much more lewd and crude effort . Hard to find ( had to look deep on line ) and not without little dips in real strength in the comedy , Up ! demonstrates some great Meyers ' product : beautiful , voluptuous , and mostly funny women ( loved the one woman who's voice sounded out of femme fatale noir ) , total horn-dogs and beasts in men , and a bit of vicious satire to boot . More beer !
509541 453068 120902 7.0 not the best X-Files has to offer , maybe , but quite watchable I don't profess to be an avid watcher of the X-Files ( i . e . I don't own the DVD box-sets and know details involving episode 3 . 14 or whichever ) , but when it is on it reminds me of what constituted memorable television back in the 90's . The show , which here is transferred into big-budget Hollywood form for the big-screens , has a good lot of its credit in due to its main characters , Mulder and Scully ( David Duchovney and Gillian Anderson ) , who are of course professional , more often than not slightly paranoid , and occasionally amusing in their straight-forward way . That they have a good connection as actors and play off each other like its second nature goes a long way to help make many of the strange oddities and sometimes more off-beat stories seem fairly credible . It's basically like the Silence of the Lambs as a TV show , only substituting the disturbing gore and violence for stories somewhere in the Twilight Zone area . In short , pulp entertainment with an intelligent twist . If the movie may not match up to the best episodes , or if it does depending on how much or how little you watch the show ( it could go either way , and I speak as a little more than a casual viewer ) , it might be due to the grander scope given to the story , how ideas and character traits maybe are taken a little over the edge here . It may not be much of a spoiler to say here that , yes , you do see aliens , and other interesting , if not 100 % successful , suspense sequences . It's also one of the most ' wordy ' of the late 1990's sci-fi summer blockbusters . A problem though in maybe not knowing enough , or likewise knowing too much , are that the supporting characters are not given enough background . That much has to be explained in the film for non-fans that has already been explained on the show ties up certain things in the story as well . But certain gripes aside , the X-Files film , even during some scenes with some weak dialog , does provide a story that is involving , and doesn't coattail to the Independence Day crowd . Mulder and Scully this time are on the trail of a mystery following a mysterious hole is un-earthed in North Texas , meanwhile as a building explodes in Dallas . Certain evidence leads the two into a cover-up involving a virus , entailing a huge room full of bees , a run through a corn-field , and finally a trip to the frozen tundra for an amazing discovery . If some of this already sounds routine , it really isn't a lot of time . Martin Landau , for example , has a good , small role as an undercover author who meets up with Mulder , giving little points of Governmental paranoia . The scenes inside the ' Dallas ' building combine the tense prospects of a Hollywood action scene and some cleverness behind it . Only the climax in the tundra , ironically , is no too satisfying . Apparently , the film is connected in-between two of the seasons of the X-Files that were running at the time . Would it be better to see those last episodes of the season before and first of the season after for guidance ? Is this really just a big-studio pumped TV movie ? I'm not sure to either one ( maybe more of a yes to the second one ) . But I didn't feel too cheated , unlike other blockbusters of the time .
510050 453068 296774 7.0 good look at some semi-obscure and well-known Hardcore-punk acts , but not the definitive one Frank Pavich has directed a fairly absorbing document on what is , in small part , the New York Hardcore scene . It was around and in NYC , as well as parts of New Jersey , that Hardcore ( as we learn here a mix of Metal and Hip-Hop ) is a way of life " that also by nature includes punk to a certain extended extent . While I would probably recommend pictures that include more ' true ' music and wider perspective like American Hardcore , or just plain better craftsmanship like Decline of Western Civilization , it's certainly not a waste for the people looking for something new ( or rather semi-new , it just got released on 10th anniversary DVD ) and a couple of acts that might seem either obscure or just strange . Bands like Madball are not unknown to me , and I might have even watched or listened to them in the past ( I'm not a huge hardcore fan so most bands in this film are new to me - sometimes , frankly , perhaps for the better ) . It's a fascinating mix of ridiculously tattooed lead singers , black guitarists who have real ' street cred ' that has probably left them scarred , and even a Hare Krishna who thinks Hardcore will soon open up more doors for Christian ideology ( ! ) The actual musical performances range depending on your taste in hardcore : we got one vocal out of a bear cave , another that is quick and energetic , another remorse and more in line with a Staind group , or with just plain attitude to burn . More often than not the interviews give more to offer than the actual bits of music on stage , which is probably a disappointment , but for all its minor faults its still a small time-capsule type of window into what was remaining of that dedicated Hardcore scene in NYC following its big explosion in the early 80s ( we mostly hear from Roger Merit's little brother as opposed to actual Agnostic Front themselves ) . | null |
509,596 | 453,068 | 66,601 | 7 | An Italian in California : a technical masterpiece with sub-par substance | There aren't too many times when I see a film and go , " huh , what ? " , but this was one of them . Maybe after seeing Zabriskie Point I felt much the same way Woody Allen felt after seeing 2001 - he only liked the film after seeing it three times over a two year period , realizing the filmmaker was ahead of him in what was going on . Michelangelo Antonioni , in one of his few tries at making films inside of the US ( after Red Desert , he did Blow-Up , this film , China , and The Passenger , all filmed outside his native Italy ) , I could sense he almost tried to learn about the ways of the country through his own mastery of the medium . The results show that he doesn't lack the means to present images , feelings , tones , colors , sounds , and a visual representation of this era . " A director's job is to see " , Antonioni once stated . Whatever that means , he doesn't disappoint for the admirer of his post-fifties work ( I say post-fifties since I've yet to see any of his films from before L'Avventura ) . What he does lack is a point , at least the kind of point that he could bring in Blow-Up and The Eclipse . You get the feeling of what is around these characters , what the themes are bringing forth to their consciousness , however in this case the characters and the actors don't bring much conviction or purpose . Antonioni , coming from the school of hard-knocks , neo-realistic film-making , does do what he can with his mostly non-professional cast ( those who look most like real actors are subjugated to the roles of the corporate characters ) , but the two stars Mark Frechette and Daria Halprin seem as if Antonioni's under-directing them . Perhaps that was the point . The story's split into three acts , thankfully not too confusing , as Mark escapes his existence around the boiling , dangerous campus life going on in the circa late 60's LA area , and Daria is sent out from LA to drive to Phoenix for some business meeting . They meet by chance as Mark's plane ( how does he know how to drive , maybe a little background info there ? ) and Daria's car meet up , and they spend some time together in an existential kind of groove out in the desert . Aside from a stylistically mesmerizing if bizarre sex scene , much of this act isn't terribly interesting . The two leads are fair enough to look at , but what exactly draws them to each other outside of curiosity ? The ideas that come forth ( in part from a screenplay co-written by Sam Shepard ) aren't too revealing , except for one brief instant where drugs vs . reality is brought up . Then the film heads towards the third act , as Mark decides to do the right thing , under disastrous circumstances , and Daria arrives at her boss ' place , only to be in full disillusionment ( not taking into account the infamous last five minutes or so of the film ) . Although the film took its time telling its story , I didn't have as much of a problem with that as I did that the story only engages a certain kind of viewer . I understand and empathize with the feelings and doubts and fears as well as the self-confidence of the " anti-establishment " , but maybe Antonioni isn't entirely fully aware of it himself . In some scenes he as director and editor ( and the often astounding cinematography by Alfio Contini ) find the scenery and backgrounds more enlightening and fixating than the people in the foreground . Not to say the technical side of Zabriskie Point isn't involving to a degree ( this may make some feel drowsy , as Antonioni is probably far greater as a documentary filmmaker as he is a theatrical director like say Francis Ford Coppola is ) . The deserts , skies , city , and even the faces in close-ups are filmed with the eye of a filmmaker in love with the art of getting things in the frame , bringing us in . The soundtrack is equally compelling , with a master stroke including a sweet Rolling Stones song at one point , and then a crushing , surreal Pink Floyd song ( re-titled from ' Careful with that Axe Eugene , one of their best pre-Dark Side ) in the explosion sequence . If only the performances weren't so one-sided I might find this to be on par with Blow-Up or The Eclipse . It's an unconventional stroke of genius on one hand , and on the other a boring take on what was the hippie / radical movement of the late 60's . But hey , what may be boring for an American such as myself born in the eighties may not be to others outside the US , such as say , Italy . And it does ask to not be discarded right away after one viewing . |
509,003 | 453,068 | 120,913 | 7 | Good animated entertainment ; not as good as I remember it | : : RE-EDIT : : I recall I wrote this line in a review for Titan AE back when it first came out : " I love films that add or have computer animation ( especially when the film itself is animated ) . . . Great stuff here to see . For any one , kid , animation lover , etc . " Comments like these should make me put a paper bag over my head in shame for their ineptitude and naiveté , and my only excuse was that I didn't know much better . Seeing the film again , I'm still impressed by a good lot of the animation , and the story still works almost in spite of the very thin story . The voice work is also top-notch , which helps , especially with an unlikely villain in Nathan Lane . Unfortunately , it's nowhere near the level of quality and artistry that Don Bluth had with his 80s movies , and if it is his last movie as director it wouldn't quite be the best note to go out on . And yet , if you have a kid , or are one , and are browsing through the video store for something visually appetizing once all the PIXAR and other Dreamworks CGI movies are swallowed up , this one can suffice . |
508,366 | 453,068 | 48,182 | 7 | has the good old B-noir spirit of Fuller , with a couple of flaws | I had fun through most of House of Bamboo , Samuel Fuller's second widescreen , first filmed out-of-the-US picture , even as I knew at the end it wasn't too special . It's got some memorable scenes with the two male leads , the kind of seemingly hard-boiled actors that probably wouldn't shake much if you hit them with some punches . And the whole plot line of the American crime ring in Tokyo in 1955 gives enough room for Fuller to realize some of the acting , camera and editing possibilities at his big-studio disposal . Robert Stack is in one of his best early parts as a would-be big crook undercover for the US army who infiltrates Robert Ryan's ' organization ' , where its tightly run to the point where Ryan's ready and willing to kill his own if wounded in the moment of crime . On top of this , Stack falls for a ' kimono ' who was married to a late-member of the crime team . But will the deceiving remain ? The majority of the film works under the crime parts of the story , where in some scenes ( maybe or maybe not in the new cinema-scope style ) Fuller just keeps the camera on the scene without cutting . This room and space and time does create the right tension - and occasional humor - in the right spots . And Ryan is also up to task as the cold antagonist . Yet if there are parts of the film that are lesser than the bulk of it I'd say it would be with the ' Kimono ' Mauriko , played by Shirley Yamaguchi . Her part in the story is mandatory to be sure , but it is just so-so in the writing and delivery , as far as such a formula would allow . And it is probably more of the writer's fault and even on Yamaguchi's end , arguably , than Fuller's . There are also some typical , dated bits of ' lost in translation ' moments that may be part of the deal in making the very first Hollywood movie filmed entirely in Tokyo - they're of doing the job for the entertaining parts of the picture . Nonetheless , House of Bamboo is a more than decent example of what can be done with other material from one setting into another ( both from a 40's noir , Street with No Name , and from US to Japan ) . There is also a sweet , if not greatly paced , climax in a wheel machine on a roof . It's gritty machismo with fun , with enough pure Fuller to suffice the studio standards . |
509,489 | 453,068 | 365,748 | 7 | slightly genre-confused , but still a good comedy / horror show | Shaun of the Dead has of the most ingenious British comedy of 2004 , or for that matter the past several years , and even has that appeal that romantic comedies only wish they could achieve in their timing and believable characters , however slacker-ish they are here . Then there's something interesting that goes on as Edgar Wright gets enveloped in making a pure zombie movie , and , for me , odd as it sounds , it doesn't totally work . I could understand why the shift comes , as danger looms in with the un-dead taking over the British village Pegg and Frost have to defend at all costs . At the same time , it's not quite as fulfilling as the razor-sharp satire and visual wackiness that went on in the main chunk of the picture . This being said , it's the kind of " cult " movie that works at its best because it feeds off of said previous " cult " movies like a flesh-eater on an intestinal tract ; it knows how stupid it would be , however entertaining in an abstract way , if the un-dead started to rise and took over a little town or suburb or other . " Let's go to the pub " isn't too far of a stretch for these guys as the mall was in Dawn of the Dead . As it stands , from having seen the film quite a while ago , it stays fresh in your mind for a while , for what works wonderfully in its violent and absent-minded glory ( hmm , what's really going on here , is the tone for the first part ) , as well as a plum supporting role from Bill Nighy , and from what doesn't quite work . The last section , unfortunately , doesn't quite strike up the same level of delirious humor that it should , and ironically compared to the original Dawn of the Dead's last section , it's dead-pan without being hilarious , and just a straight-forward horror-fest . Which is fine , but the shift is sort of jarring and something that I didn't think quite recovered by the end of the film , albeit with the nice wink in the final shot . It's the kind of good British comedy that works best with a bunch of friends and a totally tuned-in sense of humor . . . or , perhaps , just someone looking for a different level of social satire with their zombie movie . |
508,098 | 453,068 | 365,737 | 7 | gets better if you see it more than once ( the old saying , but it's true ) | I don't know if I'll ever think Syriana is a masterpiece or great film or worthy on a top 10 list or other . But it's something that sucks me in when it comes up on TV , and after seeing bits and pieces - following already seeing it twice in the theater - I have a grasp on it , firmly . It's a political drama / thriller about big oil and terrorism and lobbyists and behind-closed-doors negotiating and death and torture and so on and so on . It's confusing , but it's really not so if you pay attention . It's just that Stephen Gaghan's script is so dense that you're bound to loose yourself in the specifics of what's happening when or why or through what channel or whatever ( Jeffrey Wright's character's story , arguably , goes through the most to try and get the thinking viewer to pay close watch ) . But there's also some strong dramatic connections going on , things that bring out the humanity , or the suppression there-of through bigger-than-life business and murder and sadism , that make it worthwhile . Particularly the strongest asset is George Clooney , which he got the Oscar for ( albeit as a possible sympathy vote for ditching him on his other two Oscar noms for Good Night and Good Luck ) ; his portrayal is calm and with an underlying sorrow that's crushing at times . This guy's seen so much , and knows likely too much , for him to be kept around long in a government that will sell out anyone for the price of big oil . To see him go through a small scene like that with his character's son , or to see him in a dark movie theater sharing a secret with William Hurt's character , or being tortured , or going for broke in the climax , is exhilarating ; his scenes probably ground the film , at best , for the audience . It's everything else that you'll need to try and keep an eye on : the tragedy of Matt Damon's character , a market-watcher in Europe who's transferred to the mideast , and that of Wright's professional who gets in deeper and deeper in corruption , are a little trickier to navigate . And it's frustrating in that , unlike Traffic , it's a more challenging script than that of direction and storytelling ; we're never too sure where it's going at times in the mid-section , but to keep engaged is the tricky part even as the script dazzles with its spot-on , mature dialog and little subtle twists ( the king's son who doesn't want the power , and then explains to Damon's character why , very good scene ) . The best thing to do is to go in knowing what to expect , and then take it on the terms of how it goes : an intentionally confounding take on the biggest , most incredulous industry in the world . You might wonder if the " addiction to oil " even means anything . " Corruption , " Tim Blake Nelson's character says , very directly and dishearteningly to the point , " is why we win . " |
510,448 | 453,068 | 478,338 | 7 | captivating as a subject , so-so as documentary | I got introduced to Slavoj Zizek through his under-seen Lacan-style analysis of cinema called the Pervert's Guide to Cinema , and was immediately taken in by his very sharp mind , oddball sense of humor , and dead-on analysis of the nature of cinema and the Freudian psychology . This little documentary by first-time director Astra Taylor basically follows Zizek around , usually without much control visually ( her main tactic is to get her in close-up , which isn't smart since he's always animated , if still controlled ) , but always obtaining what Zizek is all about . He gets a person's mind moving about so many subjects : the super-ego and it's ties to capitalism , the need to associate oneself with ideology and the dangers with that , how to use philosophical ideas meaningfully , and what belief plays a role in politics and psychological interpretations . Not limited to these topics are all on Zizek's mind , and all of his points reveal him as a man with unlimited intelligence , even as his mind goes so fast it becomes something of a task to keep up with him . Little moments Taylor captures add idiosyncrasies one might not expect from someone as such a Marxist and Lacan-follower ( however NOT a Dogmatic Lacan-follower as he says ) , including showing off his son's toys , and shopping for movies at Kim's Video in New York City , or how he tries to look for a restaurant . But for the most part , Zizek ! at it's best - and it's best to look at for its substance , not its style - brings to mind the nature of philosophy for the individual , how politics ends up feeding into the public's consciousness by way of wanting more " enjoyment " , or what enjoyment really means . It's almost TOO short , and one who becomes fascinated by Zizek's theories and very straightforward interpretations of subjects that should be more complicated by how he describes them sees that sometimes he gets cut off from what is such a long and amazing description or drawn-out thought . But if one is interested already in the man , it should provide some fun and food-for-thought seeing the man in down-to-earth form for the cameras , and newcomers may or may not take to the man's theories . Like Pervert's Guide , some things will fly over your head , but what sticks makes for some of the most insightful commentary in recent years . |
510,226 | 453,068 | 374,526 | 7 | I'll say it - it's a fan-boy movie , no more no less . as a short shot of guilty pleasure , not bad | I saw this online recently and it was not quite what I had expected . First off , the production quality is , if nothing else , rather , surprisingly top-notch . It obviously would have to go through a lot of arbitration and legal wrangling to legitimately be shown anywhere ( think of what Warner brothers and Fox would do in order to get this out there , which might not be much since they already protect their own franchises ) . But there was a good deal of money put into it , and it looks terrific in terms of the creature design , location , technical aspects on all various fronts . It certainly isn't some kids with Party City costumes floating around with a camcorder on a street . That being said , lets call a spade a spade : it's a fan-boy movie . It starts off with a heated one-on-one with Batman and Joker ( not bad actor playing the dark knight , though the one playing Joker , dare I say it , goes a little over the top too much ) . Then an alien from the FOX comes along and kills joker , and then Predator from FOX also comes along to fight Batman , and this is what ends up mostly being the short . It's action packed and with , well , lots and lots of predators as the film goes on . In the sense of being a guilty pleasure , of watching it and enjoying it even as the better sensibility says that it's pretty stupid , it's really not that bad . But it's definitely not what some people have put on such a high pedestal , which is that it's better than ANY other Batman-related feature ever created . Nice try , but there needs to be a STORY , not just a bunch of crazy franchise-cross-pollinating . |
509,670 | 453,068 | 421,073 | 7 | sometimes kind of ridiculous , but it holds the attention and stirs the pot a little | I didn't go into Street Kings expecting a masterpiece , and I didn't get one . What I did expect is what I got , more or less : a competently made corrupt cops drama that throws on some heap-loads of stereotypes ( not just racially or ethnically but just movie stereotypes , which may possibly be true to form them ) , and even crazy hysterics . If there is any significant achievement it's in taking the cop movie into such depraved depths it's like looking at a very entertaining infected boil : you know it'll pop any minute , and the pus might just run out a little bit here and there till there's more to squeeze out . There's almost an underlying current of hopelessness that gives the movie some intellectual lift , but at the same time it's such a time-waster that unless you're hardcore fans of the actors it's just about worth a rental . Keanu Reeves goes from wooden to soggy-bottom wood as a cop who has been doing some dirty tricks to catch the bad guys lately ( like setting up two Koreans - who are bad dudes for sure - by having them jack his car and then catching up with them to pop caps in their behinds ) , and he might be ratted out by his former partner . But when his partner is killed in very conspicuous circumstances , he goes to investigate it further while on a quasi-probation for even being at the scene of the crime ( the crime , by the way , has one of the cheesiest " don't die on me " moments I've ever seen , laughably bad in how it's executed , no pun intended ) . Now , the conclusion shouldn't be at ANY surprise to anyone in the audience who's at least seen ONE other work by James Ellroy , the film's co-writer . What does give it just a bit of extra lift is the extreme quality of the conclusion , how things seem so ridiculous that in any other hands this would be total nonsense . David Ayer , the director ( and writer of Training Day , the perennial new millennium corrupt-cop saga ) , does have a good handle on the material though , even with ham-bone performance ; Forest Whitaker is one of them , sadly , as he basically retreads his persona from The Last King of Scotland as the " King " of the corrupt cops . There is some not too shabby work , like a nearly phoned-in-from-House performance from Hugh Laurie ( not unappreciated if you are a House fan ) , but it's mostly from supporting players like Jay Mohr in odd mustache and Common , the rapper , as one of the ' thugs ' . It all kind of blends together as a pulpy orange of a B movie , good for something to not ponder too long over , but not as horrible as you might expect for a genre piece . It's a flavor of the season . |
509,119 | 453,068 | 59,903 | 7 | a Woody Allen scripted screwball sex comedy , and it works | This swinging ' 60s comedy of crazy manners was Woody Allen's first screenplay produced - with himself playing a role that he definitely wrote specifically for himself - and it shows how a writer can pour out all idea into one form and make it work , sort of . It's all over the place and not altogether successful , but I liked it . It's a screwball farce about a perpetual womanizer ( Peter O'Toole ) who can't keep one woman walking on another let alone one woman alone . Therapy doesn't help either , as his therapist ( Peter Seller , hilarious in a stupid haircut ) is as addicted as he is . Soon it's all out blitzkrieg of women , from one end to another , and it's a laugh ( almost ) a minute . It does veer on becoming more than a tad confusing - which woman is which ? Maybe one can tell the difference on repeat viewings , on who O'Toole is surprised to see next , who may ( or may not ) be the one who wants to marry him , and who he may pick up at random in night , with or without Sellers's unconventional doctor , and spend the night with . Some jokes just fly over one's head , as they're meant to be fast as hell with the dialog and a little strange with the physical movements . O'Toole , in an odd way , is even more apt at playing a clumsy yet successful womanizer than he was at playing an epic hero in Lawrence of Arabia . Sellers , donning an accent similar to that of his Dr . Strangelove character , is dependably nutty as the doctor who tries his best to help out his patients , but is almost too desperate - i . e . suicide attempt - and finally comes around back to the screwball fold . There's not much of a plot , but it doesn't matter ; as long as you know what to expect - O'Toole and company ( including a first-timer klutz Allen who gets one woman to fall asleep on him with the drink he fixes her ! ) are up to the challenge of making a silly farce that has aged only somewhat decently . It's not really a ' must-see ' , but for fans of the actors , specifically Sellers and Allen ( who share a great scene on a riverbank ) , it's worth the while of a couple of hours with a few drinks . |
508,726 | 453,068 | 377,092 | 7 | has a satirical appeal that isn't razor sharp , but good enough ; Lohan's best starring role to date | Looking past all the media hoopla , maybe not as deserved at all as some people might think , to the star Lindsay Lohan , she does have enough talent past the sweet-natured personality and beautiful looks . And for her skills she is put to very good use in the film Mean Girls , not as vicious and confused as its 80's comparison Heathers , but with a much more clever view comedy wise on high school life - particularly among teenage girls - than any given teen comedy of the past half decade . Screenwriter Tina Fey is most to credit here , as she is able to take adapt this tale into something that can be appealing to more , possibly , than the typical just-teen-crowd . Does it reach even further into other satire of life like Election ? Not as much as one might think . It's a little too goofy for that , and it is this that also gives Lohan and the good supporting cast some room to make some laughs . It's a look at a class system in the high-schools of the movies , where the teen-girl upper class ' click ' ( called the Plastics ) are what Lohan's character wants to take down alongside her new friends . But much as in a kind of corporate environment , she gets involved deep undercover becoming a ' plastic ' , and its inevitable wretched side involving a ' burn book ' . Some of the steam that's built up in the first half of the film starts to fizzle out towards the end , even as there is a hysterically funny moment involving Rachel McAdam's character on a road outside of the high school . And , without a doubt , some of the jokes fall flat . But Lohan herself is a big part of the success of the movie , as her personality , with all the appeal of the better teen-girl stars of the post-modern age ( a little more sultry than the John Hughes girl but with a certain fresh side as well ) . There's also a perfect scene involving the plastics at a talent show , in complete Santa-suit regalia . It's a fun little drip of a teen comedy that I've watched a couple of times on TV since it was released two years back , nothing special but certainly not forgettable either . |
508,002 | 453,068 | 86,383 | 7 | lacking in some ways and stronger in others , it's a good - if mixed - Eastwood bag | It's a strange thing to see a film where some scenes work rather weakly ( if only in comparison to other films in its legacy ) , and others in a ' sub-plot ' or supporting story are surprisingly provocative and strong . Sudden Impact is one of those cases , where Clint Eastwood as star / producer / director shows when he can be at his best , or at his lessor of times when dealing with a crime / mystery / detective story in his Dirty Harry fame . We get that ' make my day ' line , and un-like in the first film where his ' do I feel lucky ' speech was playful and cool the first time and the second time at the end tough as nails , here it's switched around . He gets into another shamble with the department , as usual , when he tries to fight crime ' his ' way , in particular with a diner robbery ( inspiration for Pulp Fiction ? ) and with a high speed pursuit with a senior citizen bus . He's told to ' take a vacation ' , and that's the last thing on his mind . This whole main plot isn't very convincing aside from the expectancy of the story and lines , which just adds to the frustration . But soon his story merges with the sub-plot that Eastwood develops from the start . Enter Sandra Locke's character , Jennifer Spencer , whom we soon learn after some ( appropriately ) mysterious scenes that she and her shy sister were victims of a cruel , unjust sexual assault ( err , outright rape ) , and is sleekly , undercover-like , getting revenge . Her scenes and story are the strongest parts of the film , the most intense , and finally when it goes into Callahan's storyline ( he's getting facts in the same small town she's in on a murder ) , the film finally finds a focus between Eastwood's classic form of clearly defined good vs . evil ( though sometimes blurred , to be sure ) . Eastwood films the flashbacks , not to say too much about them , expertly , in a fresh , experimental style ; the trademark Lalo Schifrin score is totally atmospheric in these scenes and in others . It almost seems like a couple of times an art-house sensibility has crept into Eastwood's firmly straightforward storytelling style , which helps make the film watchable . It's a shame , though , that in the end it goes more for the expectable ( or maybe not expectable ) points , and until the third act Callahan doesn't have much to do except his usual ' it's smith . . . Wesson . . . and me ' shtick . However , with Locke he gets out of her a very good performance ( more subtle and touching than the one in the Gauntlet ) and an exciting climax at an amusement park . In a way I do and don't agree with Ebert's remark that it's like a ' music video ' in Eastwood's style here . I admit there is comparisons with the simplicity of both , the directness , but the scenes where Eastwood does break form are superior to those of any music video . It's cheesy , it's hard-edged , it's not up to par with the first two ' Harry ' pictures , but hey , there could be worse ways to spend a couple hours with the master of the . 44 . |
509,413 | 453,068 | 66,732 | 7 | this is quite something , and whatever it is the Mothers might be able to say what it is . . . | I need to watch this again . That's something of a compliment , I think . Maybe I shouldn't think regarding a movie - so called - like 200 Motels . It's the kind of picture where the term ' freewheeling rock & roll comedy ' would pop up as an example in the dictionary . As I recall there's nothing by way of plot to describe , except that the ' Mothers ' , Frank Zappa's band that he had early on his career , have to deal with the stress and issues of the road . This is interspersed with live musical performances ( not just music played and then with other music dubbed over it , but live on film , er videotape ) , and some other odd little tidbits . But to use the word ' odd ' with 200 Motels is too kind , and in fact just too bland . Maybe for some fans of experimental cinema it's still too rooted in trying to be funny to really accomplish anything truly groundbreaking . And to others it might just seem like Zappa is whackin it cinematically onto videotape . But it's hard to discount the ' period ' value of the movie too , and I did have quite a few good laughs at some of the ( as a given ) random stuff that occurred throughout . There's even a spot-on cool turn by Ringo Starr as the " fake " Frank Zappa . Also , the music , which is what many will seek out 200 Motels for - not least of which Zappa's fans , of which I am more or less depending on the album - is pretty awesome and delightfully whacked out , even if it's a little much into the ' riffs ' as opposed to Zappa's more well known tracks like Nanook and Montana . The Royal Symphony Orchestra accompaniment allows for Zappa to go ambitious with what he intends , which is not hard at all for him really considering that he IS more of a composer than a typical rock n roll guitarist . If I can't recommend the movie as much as I might want to though it's because it is the kind of experimental 60s-70s ' lets-go-wild-with-style ' picture that does meander in spots , or rather because of its lack of sense if not in the right frame of mind ( possibly one not under stimulants ) it'll seem like trash . I do need to see it again to completely take in what specifically I liked in what scenes . Yet if you happen to come across this by chance in your video store or in some other markets , just read the back and you'll get an idea . If you take the chance and watch it , you might find that it's got some of the most bizarre , deranged , kooky and just plain weird fun type scenes in any non-traditional rock movie ever . That Zappa was a fervent anti-drug musician makes some of this all the more unique , or stupid , or both . This may also put off some of Zappa's fans who like the music but can't stand visuals and gags almost stuck in a time capsule . I dug it though , and I hope to ' dig it ' again . |
508,641 | 453,068 | 48,545 | 7 | not my favorite Nick Ray film by far , but it's worth viewing as a " essential " from the 50s | I put quotations around the words " essential " in that one line because , really , I'm not totally sure what essential means really when it comes to seeing films from that decade . The general consensus - on which one might dub a film like Rebel Without a Cause overrated - is that this film is THE film on teenage angst and dislocation from the adults of the period , and that it's essential because of James Dean , or that it might be considered director Nicholas Ray's best film . For me though , " essential " is a very subjective term , and one person's essential being this film is another one's essential being Bigger Than Life or In a Lonely Place , films that get some notice in the film circles but not enough when placed against a film like the one here . It's the kind of picture I end up recommending , but not exactly under the terminology of how I would find it to be essential or not , because I don't really . It's not a sort of seminal , staggeringly entertaining and artistically satisfying work about being an outsider in the 50s like On the Waterfront or even one most people wouldn't think of like Ikiru . From a historical perspective , however , and for the significance of James Dean , it is worth a viewing , at least once , if you want to know at least what the industry leaned towards in the 50s . Now , on to the actual film - it's the story of Jim Stark , who is disaffected and with a sort of glow about him ( if glow is the word , maybe just , um , malaise ) , and its more of a reflection on his parents ( Jim Backus , who is actually quite good here , and Ann Doran as his mother ) than on society as a whole . Not that society doesn't have a part in Jim's emotional downward spiral . He's a kid who ends up getting connected to violence ( ' Don't call me chicken ' is coined famously , and maybe unintentionally amusingly , by Dean in this film ) , and all the while Dean plays him very calmly and coolly , with his big emotional bursts strong and piercing . But as I've yet to see his other two big cinematic roles in East of Eden or Giant , I can't compare one to the other or not . On its own , his turn today almost borders on being too melodramatic , even too stuck in the period ( Brando , as mentioned before , had the ' normalcy of detachment and cool ' down to a T unlike Dean here who is good if not great ) . He's followed along by compelling supporting work by Sal Mineo and Natalie Wood , as equally disaffected youth , but in different ways that end up clinging the three of them together . The story , as much as it tries to , isn't really as convincing as it tries to be , and unfortunately to me doesn't hold up like it should . The convincing bits are still there , and some scenes are revelatory into the little things about teenagers , like the trip inside the planetarium - no matter how tough they think they are or act or anything , they can still be amazed by some things , the unknown that is . And the fight that happens after-wards - along with the ' chickie ' drag race at night that leads to a tragic turn of events - are classic Ray-directed moments . But the classically trained style of film-making by Ray , with the level of subversion still there under the surface of the immediate context , isn't as fulfilling when given to the story and characters and acting . Some characters are just outright silly or so one-dimensional that you can't believe someone like Dean's character would have to deal with them at all . Even an emotionally complex scene like the " it's tearing me apart " speech doesn't hit quite as hard as it might have in 1955 . By the end of it all , I knew Rebel Without a Cause was worth viewing , but as an immediate masterwork of the Hollywood system ? I'm not really sure on that , and certainly not if one's talking about essentials from the director . |
509,160 | 453,068 | 421,239 | 7 | Hitchcockian in ( most of ) the ways that matter ; predictable , but entertaining | Wes Craven's had an interesting year in 2005 , among a handful of directors that are ( perhaps unintentionally ) having two films released in one year . And both films are homages , or at least linked somehow to another style of film-making . His Cursed , the flawed but satisfying B-werewolf movie was one , and his Red-Eye is another . I mention Hitchcock because 1 ) Craven acknowledges Hitchcock's major influence in a doc on the ' master ' ( so it's not like his style in the film is out of thin air ) , and 2 ) it is something of note to finding the success of the film . For an hour and a half , Craven puts the audience on a thrill ride that actually delivers the goods , and even in the last fifteen minutes when the plot goes into average Hollywood-chase / action mode , it's still doesn't go for the easy shots in the formula . In fact , there is much that is linked with the kind of thrillers that made Hitchcock world renown . He presents us with our stars : the woman being beautiful , intelligent , on her feet but not above showing her vulnerability ( Rachel McAdams ) , and the man being charming , alluring , and above all very dangerous in a realistic , if theatrical , way ( Cilian Murphy ) . Both are perfectly cast as the story unfolds - the heroine's father ( Brian Cox ) is in the cross-hairs of an assassination plot , being partly orchestrated by Murphy's character . The two of them are seated next to each other on a plane , where the tenseness of these scenes are upped by not just the claustrophobia of the location , but by the choices of close-ups on the characters . In a way Craven tries to leap off on methods and angles in Hitchcock's films and make it his own , and he does , usually for good results . Another aspect to the film that kept it entertaining , as would be in a ' master's ' film , are the supporting players , the kind of swell of humanity that is on the plane ( the little old lady with the Dr . Phil book ; the two kids with a pen missing ; a very smart little girl ) that helps to give a full feeling of the real suspense . Although Craven ( and the writing ) aren't as keen with the sense of humor - which was one of the flaws of the film for me - the parts all seem to fit when it has to , and by the end I knew I didn't have to take it too seriously . It is slightly different territory from the crazy horror films that made Craven go from a cult hero to a Hollywood star director , but nothing is too out of place , and for a Saturday matinée serial I could have done a lot worse considering this summer's selection . It's a short ( maybe too short ) , effective genre film that should also work for those in the audience who have no idea whom Craven is tipping the hat to . For fans of the ' master ' , it's not a cheap knock-off style-wise , either . |
508,014 | 453,068 | 94,963 | 7 | even the lesser of Harry's is substantial as B-action fare | The biggest liability for me with the Dead Pool is that there isn't , at least for me , the kind of balance between the savage wit / irony and the hard-boiled drama and action of the earlier films . There are some laughs of course , in particular with a young Jim Carrey as a rock star ( also , likely the only time you'll see him as a junkie on film ) , and with some good jabs at Harry's ' kung-fu ' style partner . But sometimes the humor isn't as sporadic ; anytime Liam Neeson tries to be amusing , he isn't , and his curiously is not one of his better performances . The story has some interest : Harry , as usual against the system and more and more against the scum of San Francisco , is up against a ' dead pool ' of names of celebrities picked to die , him one of them . This brings on a series of scenes , and not without the cohesion of the previous films , but something sort of missing or replaced in shape of it . There aren't any real compelling underlying statements about society , aside from the movie business stuff , which isn't as striking as say corruption in the police ( Magnum Force ) or a woman's own sense of justice ( Sudden Impact ) . The highlight , however , is definitely worth watching for the film - a car chase that involves the most clever little car ever devised for an action film of this sort ( the direction , surprisingly , is of a much higher quality in this sequence than in the rest of the film , aside from the music video shoot perhaps ) . Sturdy enough of a film , but far from greatness . |
508,601 | 453,068 | 438,575 | 7 | amiable enough skewering of the Israeli / Palestinian conflict with fast food and singing | Strange that West Bank Story didn't live up completely to my expectations , but then again I only knew about the film - and anticipated it - from the five second clip shown during the Oscars ( right before it won ) , with a high crane shot showing a bunch of Israelis and Palestinians dancing in the street . It was something out of left field among the nominees , and it gave me and those watching the Oscars a big belly laugh . Unfortunately the actual 22 minute short film only contains some scattered laughs , and doesn't go so much for outrageous political satire as much as lighter skewering of the two sides in a simple context : fast-food . West Bank Story gives us the two chains - Hummus Hut and Kosher King - each with their own wacky decorum ( Hummus Hut with their kebab-hats , and the one employee at Kosher King in a large menorah costume , the latter being maybe the funniest sight gag ) , and equal hatred for the other . A plot is hatched by Kosher King to build a wall ( " Jews in construction ? " is the Hummus Hut's response ) , while the other plots to simply burn down their opponent . But meanwhile , the sister-employee of the head of Hummus Hut falls for an Israeli soldier , and the two of them try to get the two sides to stop fighting . Sprinkled throughout this short are some funny moments of cultural lampooning , like hummus being confused with Hamas , and a split-screen during a musical number with Kosher King and Hummus Hut ending in an argument between which side is encroaching on the other . But overall trhe only criticism , however a significant one , is that it's so brief that only so much can be done with the material , and yet the director Sandel and the writers only go after a few specific things , leaving out more scathing possibilities , ala Mel Brooks or other , to go for the jugular with a touchy topic . It's a safe little comedy , but worth watching at least once , with some catchy songs and small winks to the original Wise / Robbins classic . |
508,724 | 453,068 | 430,922 | 7 | a bleepin ' funny movie . . . the kind that might make you say bleep a lot , or join LAIR | There's a joy to watching smart writing with totally tasteless dialog , and Role Models fulfills that joy even while staying fairly predictable with most recent comedies . Anybody familiar with the " Apatow formula " ( in quotes since there isn't really one unless you've not watched many comedies ever ) knows the shlubs or outsider characters put into an extraordinary ( or untenable or just strange ) set of circumstances , there's some bonding or growing closer romantically or just emotionally , the third-act kicks off with a conflict that is understandable but all connected with the plot mechanics , and everything ends pretty close to a purity of ' tidy ' . Luckily , the director , David Wain , has his own way of doing things , not too dissimilar to Apatow's bunch , which is to fill in these plot points with fantastic comic actors and enough improvisation to impress the Upright Citizens convention . So , in short , the movie is very funny , sometimes so much so that you'll laugh for several seconds just about what you just laughed at ( the Marvin Hamlisch line in this instance was one of those , plus anything having to do with KISS ) , and features Paul Rudd in another good disaffected-character turn and Seann William Scott's funniest in so long as I can remember . The premise , which is slightly thin but fine nevertheless , is that Rudd and Scott play kind-of friends working for an energy drink company ( the truck itself is a larf aimed at the Minotaur ) and after a particularly bad day Rudd drives the truck through a horse statue and the two of them get sent to community service looking after awkward / deviant children . Then , as want to happen , they bond with the kids ( one a curse-a-second black kid and a young teen dork with his obsession being LAIRE role-playing ala D & D ) and one or two lessons are learned on love and friendship and so on . This premise could work with just Rudd and Scott , who are capable actors , but the minor genius here is to surround themselves with funnier or just go-for-broke people . Jane Lynch , for example , not only steals every scene she's in but threatens to steal the entire movie as the ex-coke head manager of the ' Wings ' center for the kids , as she has replaced all of her drugs and " BS " for , well , the children . On top of this is also Superbad's McLovin ( Mintz-Plasse ) as Auggie , the role-playing nerd who brings out the best ( or just the un-tapped de-cynical ) in Rudd , and the newcomer ( Thompson ) who plays the young kid with the libido of a 20 year old ( or would-be libido ) and the mouth of a two-ton sailor . For the latter , he almost becomes a little wearisome with a kind of " shtick " of the kid saying ( insert f bomb or crazy insult ) every few seconds - and yet , this , as with the LAIRE fighting and the gratuitous sex stuff ( there's an Ambien joke that kind of rocks , plus a quick one-liner about a child sex-trade that's a bleeping winner , scuse the language ) , doesn't get too irksome of corny or whatever . If you need to watch a dirty comedy with kids and crazy nerd stuff and fake medieval fighting and another good Paul Rudd performance - ye turn here . |
509,048 | 453,068 | 82,357 | 7 | great on imagery , but some of the actual story is . . . lost on me | For sixteen minutes Czech animator and filmmaker Jan Svankmajer does his job well with getting a real terror and doom and gloom and deconstruction of the house of Usher , one of those quintessential spots of horror of Poe . In just watching the images go by and the stop-motion utilized in creative and unexpected ways involving the house and walls and pools of water and mud , it's amazing work . But the problem for me was in the actual translation of the story itself . Perhaps it's being only most familiar with English , so with the DVD subtitles going by at a quick clip that it's hard to keep up with keeping an eye on all of these dark visions put on the screen . That there's also a complete lack of any actors ( unless one counts a sole raven among the cast ) is also a deterrent since the story features all of these characters decomposing along with the damned house itself . It's an expressionist experiment , somewhat reminiscent of parts of Last Year at Marienbad , but it's only successful in part because of the director's dedication to the imagery . It's great pictures put to a so-so execution of " story " if there is much of one at all ; maybe I'll learn Czech one say and it'll appear better . |
509,110 | 453,068 | 491,587 | 7 | goes from being really stupid to some kind of brilliance . . . and then stupidity again | If you asked me what compelled R Kelly to make Trapped in the Closet , I wouldn't the foggiest clue . Maybe it was a call from Jesus , or some higher power that only comes to people whilst on the heaviest of psychotropics . But whatever it was , this is a work where you can never be completely sure whether or not Kelly was serious or not with what he was going ( in some interviews he takes himself perhaps far too seriously than someone with his reputation ever should ) . He absurdly takes the angle of infidelity to one crazy step after another , until we're met with a very scary notion of a midget in a cop's cabinet . Did I mention the music ? Yes , there is , of course , God awful music that doesn't vary in the slightest for the entire 45 minute running time ( filled with sounds of droplets and , well , you'll have to hear it for yourself in all cringe-worthy glory ) . Everything is sung by Kelly , playing over all the parts , and it becomes clear very quickly this is some kind of vanity project taken to a whole other level . First we have the man himself , played by Kelly , trapped in a closet of his mistresses , then there's the mistress's husband comes home , THEN the husband's man mistress , followed by R's wife , then . . . Should I keep going on , or will it kill the suspense ? How much you enjoy this series , basically , depends on how much you can take R Kelly singing out a wretched soap opera , like some Z-grade director with aspirations to be legit , and at times the circumstances not making any sense whatsoever . In fact , I probably did deep down really dislike this series , but somehow I couldn't stop watching , and laughing my dumbfounded head off . I applaud R Kelly for this achievement , but against all my better reasoning . |
510,683 | 453,068 | 116,791 | 7 | HR Giger as creative consultant , hmm . . | Killer Condom is the kind of movie that goes below the belt of B-movie ( though above the Z-movies that Troma usually churns out like butter ) , and somehow through its German-made / set in New York ways it's actually watchable . Or , to put it another way , it's what the VH1 channel might dub as ' awesomely bad ' . You know the kind of awesomely bad movie - it's when something is up on screen that is really despicable and horrid and , as others have pointed out , trashy , but at the same time it's also done unpretentiously in its quasi German art-house sect . I'd almost imagine if Wim Wenders had to fill a quota for Lloyd Kaufman by gun-point this might be it . Or maybe not . Maybe it's just an idea for a movie that gets cross-bled with a gay love-story involving a cop - Udo Samuel as Luigi Mackeroni ( yeah , the only Italian-name pun that has surpassed what Nintendo did for Mario ) - who in the midst of investigating multiple cases of a certain creature of the picture's title taking away genitalia , is in the cross-hairs of not only a male love-triangle with Bob ( err , Bebette ) , but also a random guy that always calls him ' Cop ' . That he stills pines for Sicily doesn't help matters , especially with something personal of his , which I dare not reveal , that he loses early on in a very inane , odd way . Director Martin Walz is adapting from a comic book apparently , but I wondered when watching it if how much was taken from the book and how much he just threw in on his own cognizance . It's a stupid movie , when you think about it , but it's the kind of stupidity that I actually don't mind watching , at least in 80 minute doses . And at times individual scenes take on a kind of brilliant absurdism that's a combination of just seeing the condom go to town ( and just move around in general ) , the reactions from those around it with either disbelief or malaise that no one really gets what's going on , and the Gay material that goes past making fun of itself and almost becomes endearing in its all-too-what-the-hell ways . Don't look for logic here , is what I'm saying , particularly in the last twenty minutes as the filmmakers go to lengths to explain how the killer condom phenomena occurred , even as it comes closest to justifying Giger's involvement in the project ( there is an uncanny relation to this and some of the Alien movies , particularly with what's almost a ' Queen Condom ' ) . Killer Condom is many things , but great art likely wont be one of them . But unlike some other horror movies that have terrific titles , this one wasn't as much of a disappointment as it could have been . At the least Samel is consistent with his character's tough but sort of sensitive character , and what's laughably dumb about it goes alongside the director's more lofty visual ambitions . As it says on the front cover , it's both a Troma video release AND an entry into the Berlin Film Festival . |
508,541 | 453,068 | 425,061 | 7 | this works because of two things : Steve Carell , and Mel Brooks inspired zaniness , among some minor factors | Get Smart is fun stuff , and a lot of it can be credited to its star , Steve Carell . If you find this guy funny , you'll like the movie , it's about that close to simplicity . What's great about what he does in the role is that he doesn't so some retread of the original character on the old Get Smart TV show , but makes it all his own . ' His own ' in that he injects what many of us love about him on the Office ; this is basically Michael Scott as a secret spy running missions across the world . This means that he's not exactly bumbling , or even too stupid , on the contrary he's actually usually pretty smart and surprises everybody ( mostly Agent 99 played by sexy Anne Hathaway ) with his intelligence . He's not a simple buffoon , but someone who keeps fouling up along the way but somehow staying oddly lovable in his tomfoolery and one-liners . Carell's a master at this stuff . The director Peter Segal , however , works with a predictable work-plan . Get Smart doesn't have that ingenious of a plot , and matter of fact pretty much all of the plot twists are predictable . Get Smart doesn't work for plot but for character and over-exaggeration , and for a certain zaniness that we can all thank to the Godfather of modern spoof comedy , Mel Brooks . While he was only the co-creator of the original series ( and a " consultant " credited alongside Buck Henry ) , his influence can be felt in the best parts of Get Smart . Aside from certain bits of comedy that are simply raunchy and crazy ( to list all would go on too long for this review ) , there are just things like certain names ( the one that stuck with me was Nudnuk Shpilkis , which is hilarious if you can get the Yiddish present ) , or in possible one-liners delivered with deadpan accuracy ( I fell on the floor laughing at an Alan Arkin line regarding a swordfish through a windshield ) . What Segal might lack in direction then , the actors and the spirit , if not the body and mind , of Brooks come to the rescue for the proceedings . It's always amusing if not laugh-out-loud stuff , and the spirits are always high and cool even when things could get sluggish with the story . Bottom line , when you get Bill Murray in a bit part as an lonely agent working out of a tree , you know you're in good hands . |
509,026 | 453,068 | 1,205,489 | 7 | the memorable Golden Years of Walt Kowalski | Seeing Clint Eastwood now is like looking at a face weathered away on a mountain ridge . The crevices go so deep on his face that one has to put that right alongside the voice , which is now so growl-like ( indeed Eastwood's Walt Kowalski does growl in some scenes ) that he would be a dead-ringer to play Batman if Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns ever got adapted ( yeah , he's in his 50s in the comic book , it's not a stretch really for Clint when you think about it ) . At 78 , you wouldn't want to cross his path down a dark alley , or even just in a diner , without paying some proper respects . It's his presence , if nothing else , that makes Gran Torino compulsively watchable . It may be flawed with some of its dialog and plotting , as well as some key performances . But it's Clint Eastwood directing and Clint Eastwood the star acting in a near perfect two-dimensional performance ( it works best as that , anything too much explained actually defeats the strengths of Kowalski for the audience ) , which makes it a minor must-see . But there's more . Gran Torino showcases , in some scenes that have blistering comic effect , a rarity in movies : a drama about racism that focuses on a main character who is a kind of dying breed of pre-Baby-Boomer era racist blue-collar white workers who love drinking their beer , cursing out minorities ( sometimes just kidding around or what amounts to kidding around , sometimes definitely not ) . It is in that sense kind of like a Dirty Harry picture , in that Eastwood's character is an equal opportunity offender . But he also is wearing a similar hat to his Million Dollar Baby persona , complete with a pestering Priest and a protégé in Thao ( Bee Vang ) . He's a curmudgeon , and the kind that audience's eat up . At first , indeed , it's instantly comical , like a more parody-like take on the old-man Eastwood persona , grumbling around during his deceased wife's after-funeral dinner and while , well , sitting on his porch chugging Pabst Blue Ribbon and getting his shotgun out at those punk Asian gang-bangers having fights on his lawn . This leads to the obvious point that what Eastwood does as an actor makes it so watchable because it's layered : we get the " Get off my lawn ! " line that made the trailer look as funny as it is - this is , at least for a good half of the movie , a kind of comical Eastwood performance without ever breaking a sweat - and as a soul who can't seem to figure on knowing how to live since knowing death is kind of easy as a veteran . And yet , for all of the joy in watching an icon like him on screen , and for some of the memorable scenes that make it enjoyable ( oddly enough , since it's not as good a film as it , more enjoyable conventionally than Changeling from just two months ago ) , its not up to snuff with what Eastwood's done this decade at his best . In his 70s he's been more or less on a roll , making masterpieces like Mystic River and Letters from Iwo Jima and even near-excellent pics like Million Dollar Baby . Gran Torino , sadly , isn't one of them ; for everything that Eastwood has going for him as star of the picture , he doesn't cast the bulk of the supporting parts well : Vang is actually dead-flat or just flubbing a lot of this character of Thao , and his sister Sue ( Her ) doesn't far much better . The Father ( Carley ) is decent but ineffective , and these kinds of average pieces of acting surrounding Eastwood magnify some of the phoned-in qualities in the script . While it goes without saying Gran Torino is nowhere near as hackneyed as Crash or lame as Guess Who's Coming to Dinner , for every powerful scene dealing with racism in the picture there's another that's just a little too tidy . It works best to see Kowalski not changing much by the picture's end , being still pretty true to who he is as a good person and a mean SOB , as opposed to silly scenes with the Korean gang who are gone for very long chunks of time from the story . For everything that doesn't work with the picture though it's just a lot of fun seeing Eastwood as this character . I'm not sure it is his last performance , as I hope it wouldn't be ( as an optimist I'd hope he could find just one more icon-defining-and-redefining role before he moves on or retires ) , but it's not at all a sucker's way out of his iconic place . That's the way Clint , like Walt , would like it . |
509,092 | 453,068 | 48,605 | 7 | Not a top-shelf work of Wilder's , despite an iconic image and good dialog | Billy Wilder , as a Hollywood director , has done better than the Seven Year Itch , though I could think of worse ways to spend a Saturday afternoon with this film on TV . Perhaps one goes into the film with a misconception that it will be squarely a Marilyn Monroe film . But aside from a couple of small , enlightened appearances early on , this is really the Tom Ewell show as the star of the film . It's an extremely tongue-in-cheek , widescreen 50's comedy about a middle aged man who maybe has , much as he reads over a few times , " the repressive urge in the middle aged man " . Despite having a usual wife and plucky kid , who are off on vacation , his urges perhaps get the better of him with new neighbor Monroe living in the same apartment building . Aside from that iconic image that almost everyone familiar with Monroe knows - the shot of Monroe walking on the sidewalk and getting her dress blown up from the smoke below ( a sexual image that hasn't dated TOO much ) - this is more of a sexual comedy that has less laughs then it thinks . The problem is that unlike some of Wilder's other films , the script here just isn't as sharp as it might like to be . It's a little too ' audience-friendly ' in some respects , and despite some really funny bits as Ewell's character has his out-loud dialog going on by himself ( with his images of himself as a would-be ladies man ) , it isn't as successful as it might have been back in Hollywood-code era 1955 . This is the kind of role that would've been perfect for an actor like Jack Lemmon , not totally fulfilled as it is . Still , it's a good example of the appeal of Monroe , and some of the likability of Ewell . Just don't go into it expecting a masterpiece of 50's Hollywood , rather a sturdy , amusing piece of memorabilia as it might be . |
510,151 | 453,068 | 343,737 | 7 | has the makings of something greater , but it's too under-stated and secretive to really let a viewer in | I really wanted to love the Good Shepherd , but maybe like the main character of Edward Wilson it's a hard one to love even if one can admire / respect it in some ways . It's a film cluttered by being both too long and too short , where the pace feels plodding at times and with some unnecessary beats , and at the same time not developing quite enough on the points that could be more interesting . It's one of those films about a government agency ( in this case it's inception ) that I ended up liking more for what good things I saw than for the overall whole bang of the picture . I do have to give credit where it's due , however . Matt Damon , on a roll it seems after Syriana and the Departed , is at his most under-stated ( and rightfully so , probably taking cues from Robert De Niro , a man who has under-stated sometimes as his bread & butter ) in the role of Wilson , a man who sacrifices his own sense of truth for the honor of protecting the country , even if it means putting his own family into complete doubt about his character . Psychologically I was always in tune with what was going on , and like last year's Munich there's a good sense of demystification that goes on with how an organization is run / starts up . And De Niro has assembled such a top-notch cast it's hard to complain on that front ( with great character actors like John Tuturro , Michael Gambon , Alec Baldwin , Billy Crudup , William Hurt , Joe Pesci ) . What ended up tugging me away from seeing this as a better film was the storytelling , or the sort of pull from really feeling connected with the material . Things diverge around in sub-plots , and sometimes it's gripping ( like the torture scene with the Russian where LSD is used to try and reveal his name ) , but sometimes not so much , as with Wilson's affair with another woman . This side of it is a little murky for me - Angelina Jolie's character has an interesting start , with her practically jumping all over him when they meet , and once they marry and have a kid she becomes the dour note of his existence , even as he loves his son . I would've liked to have seen more about her , why she decided to be with him in the first place aside from the ultra-ambiguous " you look like husband material " line . It's also saddening , on the character-actor front , to see Joe Pesci ( who hasn't acted in 8 years ) in such a thankless part ; I thought he would be there for more scenes , but it seemed like De Niro added him in as an afterthought . What is compelling , however , does show De Niro as a very smart director with enough class to not spoon-feed the audience ' things ' that happen . It's got a main part to it that is worthwhile to tell , which is Wilson's connection to his son , and Wilson's connection to a Russian counterpart to his CIA operative as a Russian operative nicknamed Ulysses ( there's one scene I love that involved a violin , I won't say which ) . A lot of what the Good Shepherd brings makes for some good talk after it ends , but more so about what didn't work then what did . It has the makings to be one of the finest epics ever made in this decade , but sometimes even someone like Damon almost becomes TOO understated in his part - bordering on wooden - in being secret to the point of inertia . In the end , the Good Shepherd gives enough to subvert the spy film specifically on choices of mood and character , but it's also confused in how it decides to spend its time getting to the story that really counts . |
509,007 | 453,068 | 82,186 | 7 | solid fantasy for kids and Greek-God buffs , OK for everyone else | If you notice the credits listing , the film is directed by Desmond Davis and written by Beverley Cross - both pretty competent at directing and writing duties respectively - but if mentioning Clash of the Titans to someone , it would be most likely recommendable as a Ray Harryhausen picture . While he was only co-producer and creature of the special effects and creatures , its his mark that is most indelible and , frankly , the best reason to see the movie . If you're already big into learning and loving Greek mythology ( Zeus , Aprhodite , Medusa , Poseidon , and Zeus's son Perseus ) , then it should have some appeal as a mix-and-match of stories and lore strung together . It's about how Perseus has to save his future wife Andromeda from the Krakken ( not from Greek mythology , but it'll do ) , and has to get Medusa's head ! Luckily , he has the help of a little mechanical owl from the Gods , but he also has to contend with the monster son of Thetis , Calibos , and the ultimate task at hand . To say the least , it's one-dimensional acting and plotting and characterization , which maybe is accurate to the form of storytelling in the Greek days . Zeus is acted by Olivier as if it's a walk in the park , Maggie Smith is there for some OK work as a mad-God-mother who sets the story off , Harry Hamlin has the charm of a log , and Judi Bowker is beautiful as can be ; only Bugess Meredith injects a little life here and there as the poet / playwright Ammon . And yet , even with this , Clash of the Titans is entertaining as a fairly well directed adventure film that had I seen it for the first time as a kid I would've been impressed ( and yes , parents , show it to your CGI-addled tots and see their eyes light up at the cute and awesome owl and the terrifying Medusa ) . Most of all , it's another triumph for Harryhausen , where with clever editing , lots of dedication and craft , he makes these creatures and setting come alive in a kind of reality of fantasy , if that makes sense , that wouldn't be possible to capture in computer animation . Is it a little dated ? Sure , no argument there ; it was a kind of last hurrah for Harryhausen with this brand of sweeping mythological epic film-making , though it would still be another 10 years before T2 and Jurassic Park changed everything . But for what it's worth , it's rollicking fun for a Saturday morning . |
508,951 | 453,068 | 920,628 | 8 | the Making of Breathless , seen 33 years later by something of a " fan " | Hosted by French TV personality Claude Ventura , Chambre 12 , Hotel de Suede at first concerns the host / co-director staying at the same hotel and the same hotel room where Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg stayed at in one of those quintessential man / woman in hotel room scenes in movies in Breathless . Then it goes into what it's really about : finding people to talk about how one of the most revolutionary films made in is time got made , the clashes , the little triumphs , the sense that " something " was happening even as the film got a bad reputation even before it got released and blew almost all people who saw it away . It's filmed by Ventura and a co-director in black and white , mimicking exact shots from Breathless ( to be fair , he is a geek for this stuff and shows it which is fine ) and including clips , perhaps pretentiously , on a little hand-held TV set . Some of the narration bits where Ventura continues to contemplate the " challenge " from Jean-Luc Godard , when he talked to him for 15 seconds on the phone and told him " Dream on " when he asked if he could ask questions about Breathless , don't stick entirely well . But thankfully this is only intermittently , and enough for Ventura to do what he's really good at which are the interviews . He gets Claude Chabrol , who was a " technical adviser " who actually didn't really do nothing much except give name power for Godard , Raoul Coutard , who reveals there was some pretty tight friction on the set , Jean-Paul Belmondo , who says there wasn't from Godard but admits the film didn't get the best reputation before it was released ( i . e . erratic shooting schedule , angry but fair producer de Beauregard , no sound shot during filming , weird editing process ) , and some minor players like Roger Hanin and even an old friend of Godard's from Geneva who admits that many little things in the film , character names and gestures are taken right from Godard's time in the Swiss city . A lot of this information is useful and entertaining if you're the kind of film buff who loves to watch documentaries on a making of a film where the people behind it don't hold much back ( especially in something as retrospective as a film made 33 years before ) . But even those who come across the doc who have just seen the film or are just getting into Godard and picked it up with the Criterion DVD will dig it . It gets to why Breathless was made at a real crossroads of the French film industry , and what made it so different from most films around ( even Truffaut and Chabrol's first films , which immediately preceded Godard ) . It's no A . K . or Lost in La Mancha as far as " making-of " docs go , but it's pretty good . |
508,819 | 453,068 | 44,000 | 8 | I think I may agree with the notion . . . | . . . that Federico Fellini , one of the most gifted and visually wild Italian directors of the 20th century , blossomed out until with his masterpiece 8 ( which , by the time he got to , as Martin Scorsese once said , " he was on Mars " ) . With his first solo effort , parting ways with Rossellini but not entirely from neo-realism , he went back to one of his passions - comic-book writing . Los Sciecco Bianco ( The White Shiek ) is likely one of Fellini's funniest works , and it shows him gearing up his visual sense of space , and with his trademark characters ( set , which is his usual , in Rome ) . The story is quite simple and , for the novice to Fellini's daring feats of the 60's , entertaining and accessible . A man with a level of pride in his family's connections in bureaucracy and religion in Rome ( played by Leopoldo Triste , with perfect usage of wide eyes ) , is married to a young woman , Wanda ( Brunella Bovo ) . She loves him , but finds him perhaps a little un-easy to be around for a day . So , she sneaks off for what she thinks is just a momentary call for fandom - she's a big fan of ' the white sheik ' , the star of the kinds of comics being printed in Italy ( mostly for women , as said on the DVD , they were still photos as opposed to drawings , with pulp / love stories ) . But , in a Fellinian twist , Wanda gets whisked away by the shooting crew of the series , and Ivan ( Triste ) is stuck in one of those text-book comic situations , where everything is " under control " . The results are rather funny , if also intriguing . The little characters are also what makes the film fun , aside from our lead couple , and with this film we get the white sheik himself , Fernando Rivoli ( Alberto Sordi , who finds that line between a stealthily romantic type and hopelessly dim ) , and the crew , filled with their little comments . Plus , there is a late-night visit to Ivan in a despairing state , from Cabiria ( later to appear in one of Masina / Fellini's best combinations , Nights of Cabiria ) , involving a flame shooter . And as the film unravels , it becomes key to the fun - we know things will turn out right somehow , but how is what makes the film work ( unlike Fellini , some might think , as many of his other films are the opposite , with flights of fantastical comedy in hopeless tragedies ) . It's not a great film , there are some inconsistencies , and at a couple of points the pace loses its strength . But if this was a place to evolve from for the director , it's not a bad place in the slightest . That there are wonderful turns for Trieste , Bovo , Marchio , and legendary composer Nina Rota , is another reason to watch it . |
510,850 | 453,068 | 73,822 | 8 | an uncommonly heartwarming film from Ingmar Bergman , splendid music and footage | The Magic Flute is a special kind of movie that may work better for fans of Mozart , or work better for fans of Bergman . And in general if you like opera it might hit your ' wow ' button as being something different . Before getting to it , I was almost taken aback as I watched it , as I thought perhaps Bergman had picked this opera due it being incredibly tragic or emotionally draining ( as I didn't know much about the opera aside from it being a Mozart one ) . It turns out this might be one of the only operas - maybe THE only - one I would consider ever watching again , or even hearing . As I'm not that big a fan of the kind of music ( unless it's being done by Visconti on film or Woody's Match Point ) , it was a pleasant surprise to see Bergman make the opera right on the stage , putting all the artifice where it belongs . The very beginning of the film is particularly striking and interesting , with all of the close-ups suggesting this could be something different than it is - maybe something more ' heavy ' - as it is once again lensed by Sven Nyvkist . But it isn't ; this , along with Smiles of a Summer Night , are the most light-hearted films ever made by the usually tragic and introspective filmmaker . Mozart's tale is that of any given fairy tale , the kind that you either give yourself completely to as when you were a kid or not much at all . Sometimes one of the problems that comes when I try and watch an opera is really ' getting ' a story out of it when I'm more focused on the singing and pageantry . But Mozart's story is simple enough - about a man ( Tamino , played by Josef Kostlinger ) trying to find a woman ( Pamina played by Irma Urrilla ) who has been offered to her by her mother the Queen , even as a bird hunter follows him . It could be a possible deterrent , too , with having the opera in total Swedish ( sometimes glancing down at the words , all simple to a level little children might sign at ) , but I didn't mind that much either after a while . This is partly due to Bergman and Nykvist ( and the production design and costumes and such , all lending to the more wonderful theatrical productions that Bergman was always capable of ) keeping a good , lush hold on the production values and mood . But it's also due to the performers being rather good in their archetypal roles . Along with this , Bergman incorporates this as being a production going on by once in a while going backstage as the opera goes through its motions , more or less , with ease . It's a nice send-up to have that , as Bergman recognizes that through all of the cheesy bits of sets and lights , the actors are really what counts . And , of course , the filmmaker also shows a genuine affection for the music , and it becomes one of Mozart's most memorable , lively pieces at different points , providing moving melodies and songs , and even some doses of comedy with the couple Papageno and Papagena . It might not be for those who just can't take opera or classical music , and it might be strange for some Bergman fans to see right after Cries and Whispers or Shame . But if you give yourself to the material , and realize how beautiful escapist it can be , Bergman still kicks in his own style , without too much getting in the way , and it often fits together without conflict . |
507,920 | 453,068 | 65,063 | 8 | Not one of Woody's best , but still . . . | Woody Allen has some misfires in this film and the documentary style might not always be perfect in this for a comedy ( then again , it is a Woody Allen finding his legs , with his short story and other writings being the most prominent kind of humor . But ( and a big but ) , there are various gags with Allen that are definitely some of the funniest from his early films . One involving him having to play cello in a marching band , another with a gag in jail , and his best scene , the " gub : stick-up scene which ranks among the funniest scenes not just for a Woody Allen film but possibly in just any modern comedy in the lengths it stretches to . Images like his parents in the sunny glasses and nose get-up is silly , but hard not to at least giggle at . And the sprinklings of the awkward Allen of countless other romantic comedies is present here , in a kind of amusing , rough-sketch form . So that's the thing with Allen's first movie , as long as you don't take it too seriously , it is quite memorable in the bits that do hit you . |
509,524 | 453,068 | 126,250 | 8 | rather sweet ; left me with a smile when I first saw it | One might call Cookie's Fortune a ' minor ' effort from Robert Altman , a filmmaker who once commented that each film " is all part of the same picture " , or rather one long movie with bits and pieces making up a career whole . But it has enough going for it through its very competent cast and interesting script to keep it afloat from being the kind of small film little old ladies might watch on TV during the day . In that sense it isn't as ' heavy ' as some of Altman's other work . It is also cool enough to treat the subject of a mystery around a suicide with enough humanity to make some scenes smile-worthy . Considering some of the darker elements in the script , Altman depicts this to the point where - get this - Cookie's Fortune is sometimes shown on the HBO family channel ! Is it really a kid's film ? I'm not sure , but it isn't work for only one age group - its appeal from its cast of a collective of small towners is appealing to most in the audience . That the cast - Glenn Close , Liv Tyler , ( especially ) Charles S . Dutton , even Chris O'Donnell - gels and plays some of the dialog sincerely even when its meant to not be taken seriously at all , is a credit to the filmmaker . That it also might not be quite as memorable as some of the director's major films is and is not a fault . It is a fault because the subject matter is sort of stuck in a certain genre realm . It is not because the subject mater is also very much more intelligent than would be expected at times . I was also fond of certain scenes and interactions with the actors , the rhythm of it all , like early on with Dutton and the actress Patricia Neal who plays the old lady . I also really like the climax . So it's a good work about the rumblings and eccentricities of a small town , the good in people as well as the lesser parts , and parts of greed and death seen through a light that is not aiming for anything ' cheap ' , so to speak . |
507,931 | 453,068 | 95,715 | 8 | would be a masterwork of pure fantasy cinema except for a repetitive flaw ( and a minor complaint ) | Jan Svankmajer is certainly one of the most imaginative minds to ever touch stop-motion animation . He puts his mark with such a distinctive presence , with such a fever-dream aspect of nightmares of the child-like and bizarre , that he can certainly have the ' one-of-a-kind ' stamp on his lapel . Alice is an example of his virtuosity and ingenuity , even if , sad to say , it's not overall a great film . It definitely reaches for greatness , the kind which only a select few who go into animation and surrealistic film-making can hope to achieve . His take on Alice in Wonderland is warped and lacking the kind of verbal punch of the original Disney cartoon . But at its best it's a lot like a pure disturbingly poetic cinematic expression , like someone's own interpretation that goes off into many different fields visually while never straying from the intent of the source . In this case - and of course it's already on a silver platter - it's through the looking glass . Alice does what we know she'll do , which is to follow the white rabbit , who appears at first nailed to a piece of wood and then puts on his clothes ( with some very chilling eyes and teeth like some demented doll ) , and then follows along through the various portals , growing big and shrinking small ( in this case for the latter as a doll ) , and then finally on trial by the king and queen of hearts . This is all handled in a dazzling production design ( sorry , got to use ' dazzling ' for this one ) , where things feel cramped and ethereal and always , always strange and coming out of some organic method or something almost un-dead ( i . e . the skeleton creatures coming out of the eggs ) . It's both very funny and also very frightening , and if you watch as a child it's about as unsettling as anything imaginable in stop-motion . This is the days before CGI ; everything is build and molded to exact construction . The only big problems for me were in a method of narrative devices Svankmajer chose and omitting a crucial character . For the former , every time Alice thinks something or another character says something he cuts to an extreme close-up angle of Alice's lips ( you know , Rocky Horror opening credits style ) and Alice says " said the white rabbit " or " thought Alice . " It's a major detraction from what should be seamless narrative ; it doesn't help as well that on the most current DVD release in America there are no options for other languages or subtitles , and we're left with a very poorly dubbed English girl's voice . Had Svankmajer gone for broke and not had any character said a word ( well , then again , " why is a raven like a writing desk " is the best line exchange in the text ) , it might have been a really brave step . On top of this , the Cheshire Cat , an iconic piece of the story , is regrettably missing , which not only would have been an ample opportunity for Svankmajer to up the ante on the surreal approach and horrific craftsman approach to the characters , but it would've given a beat to breathe between all the crazy action between Alice and the white rabbit . And yet , Alice remains 20 years later a near masterwork , a film brimming with invention and visual wit , and has at least a few images I'm sure might return to me out of nowhere in a dream . |
507,956 | 453,068 | 316,654 | 8 | Better than the first - Sam Raimi proves his cool knack for balancing elements of action , drama and comedy | Spider-man 2 , at least , accomplishes one thing above all else - this time , when the Spidey flings himself through the air , it doesn't look as fake as it did in the first film . If anything , this time I did feel the exhilaration that the filmmakers intended . They , being the team at Edge FX , have taken the huge lot of profit from the first film , which became the smash of smashes in the comic-book movie genre , and on that end the film is a success . But even on the human front with characterization the film is a bit of an improvement , which is always tricky for a sequel to do . Two major action sequences involving Spider-man ( Tobey Maguire ) and his nemesis , Doctor Octopus ( Alfred Molina , in a compelling turn ) , are shot and edited to a wonderful , creative impact . And , in an interesting bit when Doc Ock escapes a hospital , echoes of Raimi's Evil Dead comes through with subtle , if grin-inducing touches . The work done on the villain as well as the hero shows , and it helps that Ock is a sleeker , more threatening presence with his mechanical arms than the weird madman in Willem Dafoe's performance . There are also other factors that give Spider-Man 2 it's worth of entertainment , even as if follows story turns that we as the audience have seen in plenty of other movies ( comic-book or otherwise ) from Hollywood . There's a nice dosage of humor to tip the scale on the romantic / non-romantic drama , courtesy of J . K . Simmons ' added time as the over the top newspaper editor , and as well to a few bits of business in dealing with the problems of being a guy in a costume ( plus , there are a couple of fun cameos from some Raimi regulars ) . The performances aren't bad by the leads , but they haven't improved too well , and with the script that they're given some of the lines don't work as well as they should . Some are appropriate in their corny quality , some aren't . One of the key performances that comes through is Rosemary Harris ' Aunt May , who's the most effective of the dramatic parts to the story . So , is Spider-man 2 as great as everyone's saying , that it's one of the great sequels and comic-book films of all time ? To me , almost - it actually gets even more engrossing and interesting in its comic-book atmosphere on repeat viewings . It has a fresh appeal as a mainstream , thoughtful action film and , like Raimi's Evil Dead trilogy in the horror genre , it will live on when other superhero movies bite the dust in the video market . |
509,441 | 453,068 | 35,279 | 8 | American quasi-remake of the 39 Steps with a few twists , not least of which the Statue of Liberty | It goes without saying that Alfred Hitchcock repeats himself , and he wouldn't want it any other way . Like some great big old rock band that goes out on tour and lays the same songs with only minute variations in the set-list , Hitchcock's films carry so many similarities - not least of which the running " Wrong Man " theme , which was even a title of one film in the 50s - that it's easy to point out how much Saboteur resembles the 39 Steps for good chunks of time . Even more-so than North by Northwest , which I was sure was the next-generation knock-off of 39 Steps , Saboteur posits the everyman hero , played by Robert Cummings , being set-up to take the fall for a murder , and all authorities are on the alert for his presence . He somehow narrowly gets away from a car while in handcuffs and gets through a river , holds up very briefly in someone else's cabin out in rural area , hitches along with an unlikely blonde beauty ( Priscilla Lane ) who wants nothing better than to turn him in , and then finally the two become both the heroes . Sound familiar ? That's mostly the set-up for Saboteur , and it's sad to say that even with a bigger budget , Selznick and Universal studios backing , and some minor star power , the 39 Steps is still better overall in this variation on a solid Hitchcock tempo . In Saboteur , despite the changes made for war-time pride and the enemies being dangerous threats ( i . e . tantamount to terrorists ) and very well-acted threats by Otto Kruger and particularly Norman Lloyd , Hitchcock relies a lot on strange supporting turns to keep things interesting on the cross-country trip from Los Angeles to New York . Sometimes this is interesting like with the blind cabin owner , who's also Lane's father . Sometimes it's just ho-hum like with the truck driver ( charicature at best ) . And while Cummings and Lane make a good , typically Hitchcockian couple , Cummings is no Robert Donat , and is only good in that conventional wrong-man hero kind of way ( to be fair , it also wasn't Hitch's first choice ) . A couple of short monologues about war-time pride also feel a little dated , also sadly . This all said , when Saboteur works , and it often does , it displays its director going to town on expressing his " camera logic " , as Norman Lloyd quoted Hitchcock in an interview . Which is to say that everything makes so much sense with the style here , with how to tell the story , that it becomes a wonderful surprise to see how much Hitchcock does experiment , making things just a little more abstract like with the fire near the start of the picture ( that shot of the black smoke rolling in on the background is just fantastic ) , or how he deals with Frank Frye reaching for and finally touching the button and setting off the explosion at the docks . But , without a doubt , it's the last fifteen minutes or so of the movie - from right after the explosion , through Radio City and the dueling gun battle on screen and in the theater , to the ferry to the Statue of Liberty , and then that wildly successful sequence up at the top and clinging on for dear life - that make it something close to a must-see for just cinema lovers in general . Somehow , Hitchcock has a way with making quintessential sequences like the Liberty Statue , and it even found its way into North by Northwest being close to a collection of the hits . Saying Saboteur isn't one of Hitchcock's best films is taking into account the picture from start to finish as it does have a derivative story and characters , even for the Master . But this also goes without saying that it does contain some of the sharpest direction , and some of the most stunning even-for-21st-century " how did they do that " suspense , in the director's career . |
508,259 | 453,068 | 73,778 | 8 | Now I know why this is a Rolling Thunder re-release , , , | Switchblade Sisters , apart of the more or less dozen films in Tarantino's Rolling Thunder pictures collection ( re-released exploitation flicks and foreign films ) , was worth the watch for a past midnight time of viewing . It might even be Jack Hill's most entertaining movie ( though I haven't seen Coffy in a while ) . There are really a few things that he gets really right , amid the obvious camp that comes with a movie like this . He uses some tough , interesting B-actresses for the parts of the Debs-turned-Jezebelles , with Robbie Lee and Joanne Nail and Monica Gayle as the main three ladies of the bunch all turning in cool , un-restrained performances ( one thing they don't lack , aside from some sex appeal , is spunk ) . Another thing that makes the film really work is that , more often than not ( which was also the case with Hill's Pam Grier pictures ) is that it's very , very funny . Sometimes it was just by some unexpected stuff ( the guy in the elevator early in the film , or stuff during the climactic battle in the streets ) , or just by some of the creative dialog . But really what helped make the film work for me was that it had a great marriage of ' exploitation ' ideals ( just look at the prison scenes ) with spots of realism , or at least things that seem realistic in the Roger Corman school of writing . These may be larger-than-life character , but that's part of the fun in it , that it's an action fantasy where we can root for the rough , take-no-prisoners gals of action , who also aren't completely in-human . Hill , who has mentioned in interviews how part of his film-making comes from being a musician , knows the rhythms of scenes and dialog ( as stupid as it can get at times ) , and even has a little style to show off amid the patently 70's times . That , in the end , it's really a lot of fun helps out during some of the more ' dramatic ' parts . And what an awesome last line ! |
509,784 | 453,068 | 118,548 | 8 | just slick enough , just well-acted enough , just with that hint of good vs bad that make it work well | There probably isn't anything too groundbreaking in Absolute Power , and maybe it's all the better for it . It's an above-average by-the-book thriller ( not by the numbers , there's sort of a difference I'd rather not prattle on here ) , and it's more than suitable that Clint Eastwood is director . He takes a handle of William Goldman's good if predictable screenplay by casting very well and making a point about how simply ruthless the world of the cover-up is as well as the double-cross . There doesn't need to be much else said since so many other movies and books have done better , so as a " well-oiled " machine , as it were , it functions like amazing brain candy . We get Clint as an aging thief who lives off his disability money from fighting in Korea but still likes the thrill and just the process of planning for a heist . But the place he heists from , unfortunately , is the home of a very old man ( EG Marshall ) who happened to get the President of the US elected ( Hackman ) who proceeds to interrupt Eastwood's robbery with a girl , gets into a big nasty physical fight with her , and the secret service kills her . That's when the ball of wax begins to ferment and un-bend . Now , granted , if you've read your share of books to read on an airplane it's nothing new . Yet this is a sort of challenge that Eastwood takes on , in a sense . Meaning , if you're thinking what you'll get is something too generic that you'll just want to tune out of , stick with it . . . the film goes into a very sturdy structure , one that allows for a few good surprises and twists , contingent on Eastwood's Luther being a cunning criminal mastermind who can slip into disguises and copy signatures and send trinkets like , say , the murdered girl's necklace to the Chief of Staff as a " present " from the president . It wont blow your mind with these twists ( though the final one with Marshall and Hackman is classic , and fitting final note for Marhsall as an actor ) , and it's fine with what it is . Also a big help is the cast , filled with either real stars like Eastwood and Hackman or just great character actors like Linney , Scott Glenn , Dennis Haysbert , even Ed Harris to a degree as a character actor is very good . This is suspense film-making for those too bored to usually bother late at night or watching some channel like TNT . It's good , very good , as long as you know what it is . |
507,984 | 453,068 | 361,243 | 8 | a little crazy and manic , but a very satisfying detour for SW fans , and animations fans probably too | Gene Tartakovsky's style with drawing characters had me a little apprehensive from the outset to watch the series he had directed ; the characters on the surface have the immediate appearance of not looking very rough-edged and more appropriate for a kids show . Upon finally giving in and watching the series , it becomes all the more apparent that this an assumption that's not totally true . The style actually has a little more than a bit to owe as part of a tradition in the small but captivating realm of Star Wars animation ( most specifically from the Boba Fett segment from the much maligned Star Wars Holiday Special ) , and so Clone Wars can be seen as a kind of logical continuation of back-story getting a good hit of invention and visual surprise . Here we're submerged into the details of the clone wars , that time alluded to in the original trilogy and basically is the filler between episode 2 and 3 . Characteristics remains pretty similar ( Anakin's arrogance , Obi-Wan's total control and lack of ego , Count Dookoo's duplicitous nature , Yoda's total wisdom , and , elaborated on , Mace Windu's total ' bad-ass ' appeal ) , but what's changed slightly is that the use of animation - which is already bountiful in the prequels as most of what's usually around the actors to one degree or another - is put to a potential that makes things move even faster , allowing for more imagination to flourish . One can't help but start laughing at times with how it's almost too hyperactive , like a big battle scene where Mace Windu faces off against an entire army of destroyers . There is a feeling that things are all too closely aligned with Cartoon Network animation , which isn't a detraction per-say as much as it is something that has to be taken with a grain of salt . This isn't Heavy Metal we're dealing with here . At the same time , the battles , in space with the many , many , many ships , and the awesomely dynamic light-saber duels , get an extra boost from their being no limits to what can be done with the characters , masters of the light and dark sides of the force , facing off in the height of Jedi folklore ( we even see what happens during a battle in rain ) . There's even a creative tinge of anime - maybe more than a tinge sometimes depending on the movement of a sequence - in the proceedings . History and lineage , albeit par for the course in pleasing the " geeks " with Star Wars , is also paid good attention to , creating some cool new characters ( a dastard apprentice of the Sith as one of Anakin's fiercest foes also makes a mark of character development ) , and some recognizable ones ( General Grievous's story is a little amusing and also even more dangerous than seen in the third film ) . So , how does it play out ? It may depend on what the attitude is towards the animation , but if one gets into it long enough , its brief appeal as a short-lived series can be appreciated even by casual fans of the franchise . It's fun and sometimes thrilling , and the work that's done calls for better things to come in the animated SW world . |
508,045 | 453,068 | 70,518 | 8 | a laconic , sometimes-great take on iconic Western figures | Sam Peckinpah really is not the full problem or liability with Pat Garret & Billy the Kid , though he's not totally innocent in what shortcomings come with the film . The story by Rudy Wurlizter provides a mix of extraordinary scenes and some all-too laid-back ones or scenes that don't feel like there is any real dramatic pull or total interest in the dialog . The other great scenes , which make up the most memorable bits of the film , provide Peckinpah with enough to put his distinctive visual style and subversive approach to character dynamics and conventions of the Western genre , but the parts end up becoming greater than the whole . The version I saw , the 2005 cut , doesn't seem like it would do any more or less better with fine tuning , and it does feel like a Peckinpah movie more often than not . The story is simple , and has been told more times than one could try to count unless in historical context of the genre : Billy the Kid is a murderous criminal out on the lam , and Pat Garret , the sheriff , is out to get him by hook or by crook . The twist that Peckinpah provides at the core is that it's not a completely intense thriller with a lot of chases , but more of a journey where the two men - who before becoming Dead-or-Alive Wanted-man and newly appointed Sheriff were sort of on friendly terms ( as first scene shows well and clear ) - are not in a big rush to meet their fates , even if the whole experience is starting to make things all the more embittered . Pat Garret & Billy the Kid does provide , at the very least , some very great scenes throughout - some of the best I've seen in any Peckinpah film - and is a reminder of why the director was an important figure , and remains as such , in American cinema . Scenes like the river-side bit where Pat Garret shoots at the same bottle floating in the river as the guy with his family on the river-raft does ; the astoundingly dead-pan shooting scene between Billy ( Kris Kristofferson ) and Alamosa ( Jack Elam ) where they sit down for a peaceful meal and go to it without much of a fuss in front of Alamosa's family ; the scene with Garret getting the man to drink in the bar too much as Alias ( Bob Dylan ) reads off the products on the other side of the room in order to shoot him down ; the scenes ( in the 2005 cut that seem fairly important ) showing Garret and his attitude towards women , either with his wife or with the prostitutes . It's a shame then that after the first twenty minutes or so , which includes that unforgettable shoot-out ( one of the best in Peckinpah's Westerns ) as Garret first corners Billy at the hide-out and drags him off to a not-quite jail before his escape , it then goes sort of up and down in full interest . It's not that I wouldn't recommend Pat Garret & Billy the Kid , far from it , and especially for fans of the genre looking for a grim turn of the screws on one of those old-time mythic Western stories . The only main issue is that , in an odd way , the other side of the coin that Peckinpah and his writer are working with here - subversion - has the side of almost being too at ease with itself , of being too comfortable just rolling along . This might be in part due to the leads themselves ; Coburn , to be sure , is a pro as always and is especially good in the almost anti-climax at the Fort , but Kristofferson is not very well-rounded , and comes off as being sort of all grins and smiles when he should be living up a little more to his reputation . It's so against-the-grain of the old-west that it comes close ( though it doesn't , contrary to what Ebert said in his review ) to being dull . Luckily , Peckinpah never lets it get too uninteresting , and there's always something to look forward to , like the touching , actually poetic final scene with Slim Pickens , and seeing the likes of Stanton , Elam and Robards in various roles . Dylan , on the other hand , is sort of a double-edged sword here . The music that he provides for the film , which includes guitar segways , lyricism and some classic songs ( with ' Knockin ' on Heaven's Door ' just the right effect when used ) , is one of the very best things about the movie . But his presence as " Alias " is not as good . He seems to be there more for the sake of being in a Western , or a Peckinpah movie , and taking aside his shtick about feeling like he was a character here in a previous life or whatever , he's almost a non-entity , and alongside the seasoned character actors and old pros at doing this it doesn't feel quite right . This being said , he's not too much of a deterrent , and it's great having the music put to scenes that wouldn't be the same without it all . And , of course , it's Peckinpah all the way , with the men in a sort of damned state of affairs , knowing deep down that the chosen paths are not very easily traveled , and always surrounded by the most distinct , brutal and realistic violence possible . It's the kind of Western I probably wouldn't pass up if it came on TV and I had a good shot of whiskey , though it doesn't reach the level of practical perfection like the Wild Bunch . |
508,016 | 453,068 | 73,768 | 8 | this awesomely bad sexploitation flick may have the ' Id ' down more than any other film of the 70s | Russ Meyer loves breasts , and he's a filmmaker , but it's mostly the breast thing . That doesn't mean that he's not good at what he does , which is making raucous comedies where there's a dumb , well-hung klutz ( Charles Pitts , in thankfully his only significant point in his career as Clint Ramsey ) , the dual role of the schizo-girlfriend ( SuperAngel ) and later her re-incarnation as a gas station attendant ( SuperVixen ) , and the enemy of the film , the diabolical , totally evil Harry Sledge ( Charles Napier , a classic part in a long character actor career ) . Much of this is just silly , very silly , and strange , deranged , illogical , and probably would be seen on the surface as sexist . But looking past the fact that there are a lot of naked women who continually throw themselves at Clint , there is something more to Meyer's psychology here . It would probably be something of a big point had the film been used in Zizek's The Pervert's Guide to Cinema : it's like a classic farce - yet still a somewhat truthful farce - about male desire . Take the fact that while Clint is on his ' journey ' - running from the scene of a crime he didn't commit , which was the murder and burning down of the dig that SuperAngel was living in - he continually gets into situations where the women present want to desperately ride him till Tuesday . . . but then there's always another man . There's a fascinating push-and-pull ( no pun intended . . . maybe a little ) to how the men treat the women in the picture . Until Clint agrees to stay with SuperVixen and take care of the gas station does he finally seem to relax , as before with the guy in the car , the farmer , the motel owner , all had women as their next of kin or significant others that were persona non grata . Behind the hilarity that ensues as Clint gets practically raped in a hayloft by a German girl , or when a mute / deaf black chick tries to get Clint to have his way with her in a desert , there is subtext - desire is defined by property . By the time Clint gets to SuperVixen , and finds out her man ran out on her weeks ago , it's like they're suddenly whisked away to the Garden of Eden ( rather , in Arizona , as is one of the funniest sections of the flick ) , as they run around naked in ecstasy . Freud would have a field-day . But one must not forget the Harry Sledge character who , like Hopper in Blue Velvet or Bobby Peru in Wild at Heart , is as Zizek described a larger-than-life , absurdist figure of man's libido . Maybe it was subconscious or not , but there's a lot to do in Supervixens with the idea of potency , or impotency . Harry can't get it up , the truth of it , and it becomes a sudden turn to see Harry suddenly stomp SuperAngel ( albeit , in one of the most illogical scenes I've ever seen in any movie , taunts him for five minutes while locked in a bathroom following a bad sexual experience ) and burn the place down as a means of compensation , an inherent lack of drive leading to the demise of anyone around him . While this seems to go overboard in the last twenty minutes of the film , when he returns in and becomes an ultimate terror upon Clint and SuperVixen , there's probably more one could read into in terms of symbolism than your average Bunuel movie : the dynamite shooting out of a chute , the one stick next to SuperVixen's most private of private spots , and all raised to the level of delirium . The more I thought about it after the movie ended , the more it seemed to make sense , the idea of the ID blown-up in , of all things , a Russ Meyer movie . But this will be moot to most viewers who are just looking for what it there in a Meyer movie - sex and craziness , usually at the same time . As the first of his films I've seen , it's already apparent how equally proficient and tacky he can be : he's a master at editing , and casts his actors like it's a slight step above Z-grade porn . Which , of course , adds to its hysterical attitude , as we see one of the worst male actors of the 20th century play off of girls who rarely have a dirty smile off of their faces ( save for when they're taunting Sledge , or getting caught by their daddies or husbands ) . And because Meyer , in the Mel Brooks sense , rises below vulgarity , his picture works so well even as it shouldn't . It deserves to be shown in grindhouse theaters and be found in the dirty sections of video stores . That it's an unlikely classic to be found in either of those places is hard to deny . |
508,782 | 453,068 | 420,457 | 8 | Tanner Revisited , now with more meta-film stuff ! | Robert Altman and Garry Trudeau didn't quite hit it out of the park on Tanner on Tanner , but that's mostly in trying to compare it to the sprawling brilliance of the original Tanner 88 . Maybe part of that is because the ensemble nature ( as a given for almost any Altman production ) is broken down a little more and we're left mostly on the trail of Tanner's daughter , Alex , who is a documentary filmmaker - cum - documentary - film professor who is making " My Candidate " , a doc on her father's failed 88 campaign . In a strange way it works almost in spite of how the character comes off ; Alex Tanner can stand up right alongside Miranda on Sex and the City as the two ( can't say it on IMDb ) " B-word " - iest characters Cynthia Nixon has ever portrayed . The difference this time , I think , is in a consistency with the character's trials and tribulations as a " Mad Filmmaker " and how it's a logical extension of her original role in the mini-series . Nixon is very good in the role , even when we just want to scream " stop whining , you're at the Democratic Convention ! " As with Tanner 88 , we get a whole host of cameos ( my favorites being Martin Scorsese , Chris Matthews , Mario Cuomo , Al Franken and Ronald Regan Jr all for various reasons ) , and some familiar faces like Pamela Reed as TJ . But what's really fascinating about the TV special ( not exactly a mini-series , but not a TV movie quite either ) is how Altman digs about as deep into the psychology of film-making as he did in the Player - this time with a more hands-on approach . There's once again the young observer , quiet and with a curious eye almost akin to Altman's , filming all of the little things as Alex tries to shoot her movie , and there ends up being a scene , a great one in fact , where two women named Alex and both daughters of democratic hopeful candidates ( one Kerry one Tanner ) schedule an interview with Regan Jr , only to find they have to conduct it at the same time . This , on top of another scene where Alex's crew runs into a documentary film crew doing a documentary on documentaries , makes it about as close to " Factories in Chicago making miniature models of factories " from Austin Powers as comically possible without overstating the message . There's also some topical stuff thrown throughout , and some uncomfortable bits and some nice foreshadowing watching it four years later ( i . e . Kerry's " if he wins Tanner may become this and that " plot points , and Obama's key-note address shown as the event it was ) , and Altman and Trudeau are able to convey , often vividly , how to create a layering effect of politics , media , film-making , family and creative strife , and the pure and cruelly paradoxical nature of the political machine . If it's not quite as focused all the time , or always with a clear story arc , as in Tanner 88 it makes up for its faults with superb performances - as if sliding back into comfortable slippers - and a few bitingly satirical surprises ( Robert Redford anyone ? ) |
509,340 | 453,068 | 78,111 | 8 | the kind of film that probably couldn't be made today , at least in how Malle does it | I wouldn't say that Pretty Baby , directed by Louis Malle , has the overall audacity of the main art-house European-directed sexual trip of the 70s , Last Tango in Paris , but it comes close , very close . It's a scathing , unflinching look at the downtrodden women of a 1920s whorehouse in New Orleans . What's most shocking of all , and what Malle understands about such subject matter , is that the best approach with this material is truthful , and to not be exploitive in the sense of manipulative characters ( situations are another thing ) . There's really not much in way of it going through anything specific in being stylized . If anything , as I recall , Malle's style here is to try and not seem apparent much , if that's possible , with a very controlled sense of pacing and how scenes should move . The implications raised in the picture are the sort that would probably get shot down in flames by the ' Religious Right , though mostly around the Brooke Shields character . To say that it's not perhaps a masterpiece is not off the mark . But it's an important work nonetheless , and one that is really hard to forget or ignore once finished . Shields plays the daughter of a working-prostitute , played by Susan Sarandon with total class and southern finesse with the men , but never too un-wise around her daughter . It's the time of jazz , at least jazz coming into a much greater bloom , and sex and general decadence is right there for the taking in such an environment that the ' pretty baby ' of the title resides . She's used to it all though , and Shields plays this character with total bravery - I almost wonder how much she was told of it all , and what she brought as intuition or having to just know the state of mind of her all-too-young character . Malle doesn't keep things totally helpless , as he has a photographer , played by Keith Carradine . He's probably the most level-headed and right-minded of any of the male characters ( aside maybe from the band members who just don't take part in any shenanigans ) . But then comes the problem of morals - Sarandon isn't the one who falls for Carradine , but Shields really . But is it really love , or affection , or just the possibility of leaving he house ? The most controversial part of all of this comes down to this really - underage sex , or rather a form of twisted , really non-consensual sex that ends up just skimming the line of bad taste . But it is in bad taste to show subject matter like this ? It's a tale of perversion , and how psychology ends up getting right into the cross-hairs of it , so such material should be up on the storyline . What's interesting is to see the ' breaking the virgin ' part takes time to unfold , and how it does , and how ugly it all becomes the further it goes along . Shields plays it right though , and her range of emotions for the character is actually stunning , and almost makes Sarandon keep up with what's going on . There's a heap load of nudity overall , including a hot bit with Sarandon and Carradine , but really Malle is after the whole insulated world of this whorehouse , and how being true to oneself ends up clashing with the un-yielding mind-set of those coming in with a wad of bills and a set goal . It skids with being cringe-worthy , and I have a very distinct memory of probably cringing at one point . It's not great , but it's really memorable in the ways that matter . |
509,470 | 453,068 | 233,298 | 8 | the Return of the Joker - better than the ' Beyond ' series , almost as good as Phantasm ! | The first thing that stands out about Batman Beyond : The Return of the Joker is its structure . Unlike some of the other animated Batman movies ( SubZero , Mystery of the Matwoman ) , this one comes closer to the likes of Mask of the Phantasm to actually feeling , however in short running time , like a real feature-length movie and not simply four episodes strung together . This is important since we can get wrapped up in the mystery behind the re-emergence of the Joker and it feels fluid and without a cliffhanger-type end every several minutes . The second thing that marks this as above-average animated Batman fare is the quality of the history of two series , original animated and Beyond , and how sharp the writing and voice performances go along with the ( PG-13 ) action and cartoon violence . The filmmakers could've just thrown in old characters like Joker and Harley Quinn and Barbara Gordon and Tim Drake just for the hell of it . But it all fits a story that's worth telling , if only for the fans looking for that awesome coda to the first series . It's hard to try and not spoil how the Joker , fifty years into the future , re-appears with his gang the Jokerz when Bruce Wayne is now an old man and Terry McGinnis is the new young Batman . Without saying too much , the Jokerz are stealing some high-tech equipment , and something smells fishy on top of the conniving Jordan Price possibly double-crossing Wayne , who is taking back control over Wayne enterprises . But when the Joker himself crashes Wayne's party , McGinnis and Wayne try and investigate what's going on - who he really is , since he's supposed to be killed - and where he'll strike next . The writing and crafting of the mystery , and the eventual truth , is told creatively and with the kind of absorption Batman fans crave ( it IS Detective Comics after all ) , but also impressive is the animation done mostly with computers and not skimping on making the action fairly intense ( the subtraction of a good deal of the blah heavy metal music from the show is a plus here ) . And lest not forget Conroy as Bruce Wayne , always a sturdy presence , and Mark Hamill as the Joker . They're probably two of the most iconic voice actors of their time just on the basis of their work in the Batman animated saga ; Hamill especially gives it his all , and even puts in double-time on the voice of Jordon Price ( which for a little while begs the question of him being involved in the crimes ) , as the clown prince of crime and mayhem . It's such a good performance that it makes up for some standard work by other voice actors ( however fine ) by Dean Stockwell and Angie Harmon . With just his voice he projects this iconic villain for all its worth , and ranks up there with Nicholson and ( now ) Ledger as the wonderful if varied versions . Somehow , even in the drama , Hamill manages to get a couple of laughs out of the audience with this Joker . Funny , since it's one of the most dramatic Batman stories yet . |
510,450 | 453,068 | 118,771 | 8 | It could happen to you , the tag-line reads : not quite , but it is a white-knuckled ride all the way | Jonathan Mostow , before he went on to helm the big-budget U-571 and the even bigger budgeted Terminator 3 , brought out this taut little thriller and cemented a reputation he's yet to really live up to ( though some would disagree about that ) . His film has that tag-line , but it's not entirely accurate , even though it has a very familiar and eerily recognizable threat at the core : the outsiders coming in to a territory that is very close knit and practically inbred , where one wrong step could cost you and / or your loved ones lives . In this case , Kurt Russell and Kathleen Quinlan are the married couple caught in the cross-hairs of kidnapping , blackmail , and ultimately vengeance . They're moving from Massachusets to San Diego , and driving on through the desert they get side-swiped by a car , then later on after a near-altercation at a pit-stop , they move on only for the couple's car to breakdown . Help comes in the form of a trucker , who offers help for to drive the wife to get a tow-truck . No need for the truck , anyway , because the car didn't have much wrong with it . . . but what about the wife , Amy ? From there on in , Mostow takes Breakdown into the realm of paranoid thriller , then into just full-on chase / action / revenge / chase again picture . One might wonder if there could be a more noirish quality to it if the wife actually left for a reason other than abduction , though the path that Mostow takes the story is fine as it is . He keeps things simple in the story sense , with elements of the Western thrown in , but also makes it very much character-based as well . Russell's performance as Jeff Taylor is kind of the opposite of his recent turn as Stuntman Mike in Grindhouse : starting off as the average-Joe who tries to be polite , albeit from a yuppie background , he gets put to the test by the enormity of the situation , and finally becomes a real take-no-prisoners hero . Towards the very end it almost reaches the point of being TOO much of hitting over the head with payback , and there are little things regarding the nature of Red Barr ( JT Walsh , great villainous presence in a real sinister , calm way ) and his ties to the town as to whether or not things are really as controlling as they might be ( i . e . the bank scene , which is perfectly acted , though not entirely feasible in the paranoid sense ) . But all this aside , what Breakdown remains ten years after is a competent , un-pretentious thrill-ride where the dialog is never too heavy , the action is packed with real stunts and few special effects , and some of the brighter moments for Russell in recent years ( or rather , the last ten ) . It knows what it is , and has the professional temerity of a cult effort . |
509,044 | 453,068 | 66,214 | 8 | rock stars , gangsters , sex , drugs , suits , blood , psychedelia - all in a day's work | To say Performance is " dated " is about on the mark , if not understating it . It's a psychedelic trip into the two bellies of the underworld : organized crime ( not the Italian kind , more-so the rough Anglo-Saxon father of the likes in Guy Ritchie's movies ) and the swinging , rock ' n ' roll drug-addled bunch that first saw proper cinematic light in Blowup . But somehow Douglas Cammell and Nicholas Roeg pull off what should be just weird poppycock as only derelicts from Andy Warhol and Tim Leary's bunch could concoct into a piece of half pop art and half just , I don't know what . Roeg , I think , hovers more over the production than Cammell , which is just an assumption based solely on Roeg's other films , which , in fact , bear a great deal of resemblance to Performance's impressionistic take on time and setting and mood and a rhythm that seems to be all inside of his head . Whatever happened in the two years this was shelved by Warners in the editing room was probably all for the better ( or for the worse depending on your perspective ) . It's certainly a helluva lot more substantial than your common hippie-exploitation flick . The story runs not very deep , which is fine . Chas ( James Fox , perfect for this slightly cool , slightly psycho part ) is a full-time gangster running for an a-hole of a boss who thinks Chas goes too far with the execution of his duties ( i . e . shaving a guy to make a point while burning his car ) . When Chas gets paid a visit by some dudes looking to rough him up , the bloke has got to split fast so as to not get the in the wrath . He hears about a pad that could be a good bet to hold up in , not a hotel but just a room in the basement level of a ' flat ' . In it are Turner ( Mick Jagger ) , and a couple of ladies who live with this retired pop-star who's surrounded himself with a host of psychedelic paraphernalia and regalia : Eastern design , incense and candles , and of course the drugs . Soon Chas gets into this scene , albeit it's not in a form of exploiting the subject matter like " hey , you're square , join us , drop some acid , get high , expand your mind , etc " . On the contrary , there's almost a tone to the proceedings that is somewhat critical of this place and time , where there's total abandon of the rest of civilization and a total adherence to a controlled chaos and escapism ( or enlightenment , take your pick ) with drugs . This almost in spite of the style of the picture , Roeg's superlative camera-work as he makes his compositions into forms that look like they're not of this common movie world : close-ups merge into wide-shots , the folds of menace coming around like the cutaways to the trial early in the picture where shots seem subliminal , deranged , even satirical . But nothing beats how the editing works , which aside from Woodstock was the best editing in a movie in 1970 . Even for Roeg , who's reputation is built by his stand as an iconoclast in this arena , he makes this structure like one sees memory , association with images , thoughts , moods , colors , beauty and horrors and other madness , all through cuts and such ( just watch how he splices in the gangsters splashing the room with blood , or the mushroom shots , which seem like they influenced some shots in Magnolia ) . And let's not forget Jagger , shall we ? He goes between actually delivering a performance , so to speak , and being what one imagines Jagger , from his outlandish and sensationalized persona in the Rolling Stones , to be just regularly . He's not worried about looking glammed , or even like he's a girly with his long hair and makeup and sensual attitude , but any moment he's on screen , alongside an already good Fox and fellow cut and luscious ladies , it's hard to take his eyes off him . This goes without saying his character is sort of meant to create a lot of strange mischief , and sometimes he trails the film off further from any coherency than it already has as some experimental piece of would-be agitprop . But damned it all to bloody hell if it isn't a showstopper when as if in the midst of some Big Lebowski hallucination he becomes clean-cut ( or as clean-cut as Jagger can get ) , and ' performs ' " Turner's Song " , with an incredible beat like a lost Stones track , put to a scene filmed still in step with the rest of the movie , but great as a stand-alone effort . As mentioned , it IS dated , even with its stylistic influence on future film and filmmakers . This is its only main drawback from what is otherwise a daring act of avant-garde treatment of would-be genre material ( gangster holding up after a botched job , other gangsters on his trail , et all ) . It is , at least , a happening , and it freaks me out ! |
508,153 | 453,068 | 409,459 | 8 | the super comic-book movie event exists - and it's very good , impressive , not a masterpiece or a failure | It was called the classic " unfilmable " line , but Alan Moore and David Gibbons ' Watchmen was film-able , and oddly enough after over 20 years of directors from Terry Gilliam to Darren Aronofsky to Paul Greengrass taking the possible helm the most commercial choice imaginable , Zack Snyder , made it film-able , and indeed a very good movie . How he accomplishes this is fairly straightforward : compress as much as possible of a 12-issue comic book series into a 2 hour running time , cut off certain pieces of fat ( most notably the Black Freighter story which will be on DVD soon anyway as a bonus ) , and keep the structure and character development and stories 90 % of the same . Also , make it about as accessible as possible to a mainstream audience without , possibly , insulting intelligences much . Indeed this is an incredibly faithful adaptation all things considered - " things " being the fact that after reading the book , still ( and I'll sound cliché like many others ) the most compelling and daring and magnum-opus-of-all-time works from Moore and in the form itself , most of the details save for a reasonably crucial bit in the climax were left intact . Snyder knew to not get too much in the way of the story and characters would be a wise move , and it is in the sense that if a work is as rich and satirical and dark and violent and sometimes warped sometimes lucid and fairly tragic like the Watchmen it's best not to get in its way as it goes along . For what it's worth , this is the best Watchmen film that we can expect from Zack Snyder , touted as a ' visionary ' in the ads based on two good but definitely not great films Dawn of the Dead and 300 . Because when he does not let the story well enough alone and puts his " signature " directorial touches on the proceedings , which is mostly slow motion , repeatedly , sometimes in annoying quick bursts that don't add anything of worth to the hyper-realism portrayed , it screams too much ! But , again , this thankfully doesn't happen with the kind of regularity and overbearing force of 300 , and he can sometimes direct action really well . I'd even go as far as to say he's improved as a filmmaker , mounting such an impressive production with a cast of primarily character actors ( matter of fact no real BIG stars ) , by taking the story where it needs to go both for those familiar and / or in love with the book , and for those looking for some solid entertainment . I haven't described the plot yet . Here it is in a sentence , if I can try : it's 1985 , Richard Nixon is still president ( and Vietnam was a victory ) , America is at a close possible WW3 scenario with Russia , and superheroes are outlawed - and one of them , the Comedian , has been bumped off possibly , as masked psycho / bad-ass Rorscach thinks , by a killer of superheroes , leading to an investigation by him and other drama unfolding with the actual " American Superman " Dr . Manhattan and his sort of love interest Silk Spectre . If that's barely scratching the surface of it all then so be it , since this is even in the framework of the film ( and I mean this as a compliment ) dense with detail and motivation and dramas of the personal and big-time Earth scale . Since the storytelling itself , with some of the exceptions I mentioned up before ( another being a different twist done from the book for Veidt's plan ) , is solid and cunning and even featuring a more-than decent selection of songs , what about the cast ? It's a mixed bag , frankly , but one that is at the least inoffensive and at best truly inspired , if perhaps as givens . Jackie Earl Haley , Billy Crudup and Jeffrey Dean Morgan go totally into their characters of Rorscah , Dr . Manhattan and the Comedian , making us feel for them just as we did in reading the text . Outside of that , for non-readers of the book , they're still fabulous performances , particularly for Crudup's very subtle touches in inflection ( perfectly near-noticeable ) and Haley as a tortured soul who sees fit to strike fear into anyone that might cut him down just a single peg ( and , unlike Bale's Batman , I really believed Haley doing a super grunty voice for his character ) . If nothing else , the back-stories with Manhattan and Rorscach , and to a slightly lesser extent Comedian , are little great shorts in the midst of the epic running time , and are supported by these actors bringing their characters full of life and sorrow and so-black-it-stings humor . Goode , Wilson and the actress playing Silk Spectre are not quite as good , and maybe just fall totally flat maybe as the point but are still nowhere near as convincing as the three big guns . Even an unreasonably funny scene like Night Owl and Spectre making love isn't totally convincing because of the acting . In closing . . . Watchmen , worth seeing ? Yes , very much so , especially if you're a fan already , but maybe so as well if going in blind . A masterpiece of a blockbuster ? No . It's got some problems in a few scenes such as with the BAM BAM kind of style that if I were a crankier old critic I'd use as an example of the music video age destroying movies ( it doesn't bother that much , but it still does subjectively ) . It was , happy to say , worth some of the tremendous hype . This being said , if you haven't read the book , do yourself a favor and read it first . Then see the movie . It's an excellent movie to talk about . |
508,367 | 453,068 | 52,713 | 8 | has that crackling , off-key appeal of Fuller in his prime | If you can , and it would definitely be as rare a chance as I had recently , try and see Samuel Fuller's The Crimson Kimono on the big screen , preferably with a packed audience . True , some of the dialog and mannerisms of the characters end up forty-seven years later coming off as being too funny for its own good . But then again , Fuller's style here , as in the films that would follow in the 60's ( and linked of course to his 50's work ) , is that of sensationalism yet not in a way that feels too dishonest . It's got a sharp cast of professionals , with Glenn Corbett and James Shigetta as the leads playing Detective partners who are investigating a case that somehow leads to a sort of love triangle with a witness Victoria Shaw . And Fuller is able to make the film quite entertaining with at least a few memorable moments almost in spite of the low-budget of things . The opening sequence is , naturally for Fuller , part of the excitement and close-to-exploitation B-movie-ness of it all , as a stripper gets gunned down running away from her dressing room . Even before this we get the opening titles popping out at the screen , almost being too obvious . But to say that the film is at times leaning towards tongue-in-cheek is more of an observation than a criticism . It fits the style that some of the dialog bits are really sharp and , indeed , well-written , and that as such the actors take it not too seriously as to make it heavy-handed but not too over the top to have the audience lose interest . Indeed , one of the more interesting scenes is when Shaw and Shigeta get to talking while Corbett is out doing work , as they become connected in a way that is different than how earlier Shaw and Corbett flirted around in a cool though ' movie ' kind of way . All through this Fuller pumps up the melodrama with well-shot action ( the big Korean guy getting tackled down by the detectives was maybe my favorite scene on a shamelessly enjoyable level ) and enough of a kind of mix of psychology and sociology in this cross section of Japan and America . And it's interesting how he slightly improves in flipping the situation from House of Bamboo where the Japanese atmosphere wasn't as convincing . It's probably a tough find for most , and of course even rarer to get on the big-screen depending on where you're at , but it might be one of Fuller's better ' quickie ' kind of movies where its 80 minute running time does just enough to make it very worthwhile in not overstaying its welcome . It's funny , thoughtful , and assured film-noir . |
507,851 | 453,068 | 95,489 | 8 | if you were born in the 80s , before The Lion King there was The Land Before Time | Like other 80s babies , so to speak , if you were born in that era before the Disney movies of the 90s - which did almost reach a mini-renaissance before plummeting towards the end of the decade - you first saw the animated films of Don Bluth more than Disney . This was one of them , and it is a film that , for a certain sort of kid ( such as myself ) can be watched countless times . It's short , maybe too short as one of its flaws ( Bluth didn't retain final cut with Spielberg and Lucas in the background ) , as it only develops this epic tale of kiddie dinosaurs going through a harsh , dangerous journey to reach the oasis , the Great Valley . There aren't any time for songs , which is a plus , as Bluth gets in more time for some very realistic - for what is available at the time - animation of the environment . The kiddie dinosaurs themselves , Littlefoot the main protagonist ( who also loses his mother , in the Bambi and Lion King vein though here even more of a shock to kids as its from nature and not from some other being to grasp ) , Cera , Petrie , Ducky and Spike , each have their own personalities ranging from heroic to goofy to scared and even stuck-up . This gives something that kids can hang on to , very simple characterizations that change only through the often used but not too tiresome ideal of friendship and group-work , etc etc . Some of these scenes , the sillier ones , do end up making it more of a movie that holds more for the kids than the adults . That years later it doesn't lose much of its power visually , however , is a real credit to Bluth and his team , who along with An American Tail here make children's movies that know what they are , but make them in brilliant uses of the medium . The Tyrannasorus Rex - Sharptooth - is an immensely imposing presence with it saying never a word , as if it was pulled right out of the sequence from Fantasia . The design of the film is also extremely well laid , in a kind of dying world that like all fairy tales becomes all the more compelling in relation to what is the final paradise-type goal . It could almost be said that it might be much for wee little ones ( younger than 5 ) could take , but it really wasn't as I remember it from first seeing it . It balances its look with its characters , making it a near-classic film of its time . Alternately cute and violent , poetic and kitschy . |
508,432 | 453,068 | 91,187 | 8 | straightforward war pic and damn proud ( and good ) of it | For anyone thinking of checking out John Wayne's the Green Berets . . . don't . Instead , go to Heartbreak Ridge . You might ask if it will have the same kind of action , since one is Grenada ( where it took all of about a day or two , give or take a few minutes ) and the other is Vietnam ( which , you know the story ) . Doesn't really matter , since it all comes down to taste and execution . Perhaps if you're a hardcore John Wayne fan you'll dig that piece of military propaganda , but even casual Clint Eastwood fans will find something enjoyable about Heartbreak Ridge , which embraces the Marines while also taking a good long snap at bureaucratic BS and people who get in the way of someone who is perpetually a hard-ass who gets everything right in his place . Or , to put it another way , Ridge provides us with the Dirty Harry of the Marine corp , which is enough to make it something interesting on its own . Why the comparison anyway ? Because they're two examples of gung-ho military Americana made for the masses . But , and this is the biggest but , Eastwood is the more confident filmmaker and star , and with his film as a star vehicle as well as straightforward Recon - man - whips - men - into - shape - for - battle story he takes charge with plenty of good , witty lines and a sense of camaraderie with the male characters . Hightower is Eastwood's character , someone who must have been somewhat easy to play but also a lot of fun , the only real conflict for him coming in trying to recconect with his former girl ( Mason ) and in rubbing up against the even harder-ass Major . Around Hightower are a cast of near-classic misfits and complainers - chief among them the " Ayatollah of Rock-and-rolla " played with total glee by Mario Van Peebles in one of his best roles - and off they go in getting ready for a battle which takes place so quickly it fits just neatly ( and awesomely ) enough into the last half hour of the film . It's a given to see much of Eastwood's style as no nonsense . The most we get from Eastwood trying to " show-off " as it were would be a tracking shot following two guys , or maybe a close-up or too . It's so unfussy that one almost wishes Eastwood might try something that might POP off the screen or give the final battle something to chew on . But it is what it is and it's great to see it that way , since the technique doesn't change what's already worth while in the script . While the story itself isn't without a couple of flaws - the romantic relationship subplot doesn't really work well past the " hey , we have problems that go way back . . . and it starts to get better just because it's convenient to the plot " deal - anything with Eastwood barking and quipping lines at and with his men , just some of Eastwood's classic facial expressions we know and have seen many times , make Heartbreak Ridge a fine achievement for him . It's not as devastating a portrait of the marines as say Full Metal Jacket or Jarhead , but it doesn't need to be . For Eastwood this is a chance to make a Clint Eastwood picture out of the marine corp , and it's very entertaining to see him do when it's at its best . And , unlike the Green Berets , it doesn't paint way unrealistically what it's like to go into the " LZ " . In fact , there may be a few watching who might want to join up just because someone like Clint may be a Recon leader . Crazy to say ? Just watch . |
508,038 | 453,068 | 213,536 | 8 | a brilliant , if all-too-brief , collaboration between Bakshi and Dr . Seuss | Who would've thought that one of the very best adaptations from book to screen - albeit small screen - in the Dr . Seuss realm would be by underground animated filmmaker Ralph Bakshi . By then , Bakshi had gone on from the more personal work of the 70s , trademarked with rough pencil and inking with wild color combos in unconventional stories , to more sci-fi / fantasy fare like Wizards , Fire and Ice , and even a hit and miss attempt at Lord of the Rings . This short work that he produced and directed , probably as a way to make ends meet as much as an artistic statement , is probably one of his most obscure works , but it might be one of his better works because he keeps his ambitions low and his targets simple enough to accomplish completely . What we have here is a story that has a level of appeal for children and adults , and like the recent Happy Feet it will mean different things for different audiences . For either age group , child or parent ( or those who are out to seek any and all works by Bakshi ) , there's some appeal . For kids , it's a bright story of what it means to have a job to do , however petty or ridiculous it might seem . The Yooks and the Zooks are two different kinds of , well , Seuss characters , who each have their own way of spreading butter on bread , one side up , the other side down . Soon there are goofy attempts by a hired Grandfather Yook ( voiced by Charles Durning ) to take on the task of stopping the Zooks from continuing on their bottom-buttered path . There are also some whimsical songs , and even some random moments of strange humor , as can only come out of Seuss . But for the older ones , those who might have any kind of political awareness , Seuss and Bakshi have a simple message to go on , which is the notion of wars being started on the most petty but fastidiously held points of merit . And , as escalating tactics go , pretty soon it's less about the actual butter itself than the point of one side being too different enough - separated by a ' great-wall ' kind of wall barrier - to ever have any kind of peace . There's details like how grandfather , however incompetent he might be to swart the Zooks , gets promoted to general , or how intricate a bomb can be made : and how it's just as easy for the other side to get the same power . It's not only how sharply and aptly Bakshi is in having Seuss's words have their impact , and the wit as scathing as it is poke-in-the-ribs playful and fairly hilarious ( I loved the ending , which I won't reveal , but has its suddenness as a point of absurdity and satirical merit ) , but in fusing in his own methods of style that make this a success . Bakshi , taking a break from rotoscoping , makes the Seuss cartoonish world come to life , and in a manner that presents it not totally smooth and finely tuned but a little scratchy and messy and with the colors usually of the lighter-primary side ( the exception , and a great scene at that , is when grandfather ventures down the staircase to the bomb-making lava-pool area ) . There's something very much alive to how Baskhi gets the Yoots and Zoots moving along , how they use oddball weaponry or machines , and how the timing is less out of Looney Tunes than out of his background as a satirist of culture . He even gets Seuss's songs , which are by turns silly and inane , as entertaining little notes in the story . If you can find this for your kids , if they happen to be Dr . Seuss fans anyway , it's a sure bet to get them into a lesser known but still worthwhile work . It's smart , vibrant , and almost cheerfully discomforting ; second only to Chuck Jones's How the Grinch Stole Christmas as the best animated adaptation of a Seuss work . |
510,209 | 453,068 | 307,901 | 8 | does't work quite as well as one might hope , but a lot of it sticks with you , well after it's over | 25th Hour right in the title speaks to what could , or should , or would , be done in that time left or not really used in the day that a person finds beneficial , or revelatory . This 25th Hour may be shown in this film as in the end sequence , as Brian Cox describes to Edward Norton a dream-life , which becomes wrenchingly bittersweet as the real situation is sitting in the backseat of a car . But for the bulk of the picture , Spike Lee and writer David Benioff draw out a series of machismo-driven conversations , a little moments of drug-fueled bits of malaise and discontent ( and all connected to the whole existential notion at work with Edward Norton's Monty ) , and with one of the great sequences Lee has ever done stuck in the middle . Norton plays Monty with the purest kind of strength that we've seen in the best of Norton , particularly in American History X . Here his decisions that lead him to a jail sentence are not race-driven but by way of Rockerfeller drug laws in New York City . Over one night , before heading out , he will have talks , make peace , and discuss things with friends Barry Pepper and Philip Seymour Hoffman , with a girl ( Anna Paquin ) and father Cox , in the background . It's been a little while since I've seen 25th Hour , but that so much of it still sticks out long after its theatrical release and screenings on TV , is a credit to the trio at work here - star Norton , writer Benioff , and director Lee . Some shots may end up lingering to the point of exhaustion , though perhaps that might be the point ; Lee strikes up in the immediate post world a couple of really striking images that are always in the background for these guys , that something much more horrifying and delirious is at work aside from their well paying jobs ( legal or not ) and their possibly crumbling friendships . In a way it's a lot more like pulp material than Lee might really call it out as . But it still rings more or less like vintage Lee . The sequence mentioned before as the great scene , which invariably echoes moments from his masterwork Do the Right Thing , is when Norton talks to a mirror , the ' f-you ' speech , where the hate is not exclusive , but all-inclusive , including himself . Such a topic is only touched upon for so long , which is why the focus of the film - slightly scattered - for me keeps it from being as spectacular as it COULD be , as opposed to just being a very good movie . Still , out of the big cannon of work that Lee has produced in twenty years , which amounts to over two dozen films and TV specials , I'd recommend this quite highly out of the lot of em . Having Cox as the father , for example , is a very special bet , as his talents as a bona-fide character come in handy when dealing with someone who is well-rounded , to compliment the full , complex and tortured dimensions of Norton's caring - for - dog - but - not - of - much - else Monty . Pepper and Hoffman are also dependable , with Paquin sort of drifting in and out as the E'd up girl who is least likely to know what she'll want even after she snaps out of her drugged state . To go alongside that ' f-you ' speech in visceral terms , is the key moment in the morning for the three friends in the park , which I wont mention here , but attains a power that is comparable cinematically to Scorsese . In the end , Lee has with the 25th Hour a compendium of ultimate loss , combined with a city in loss , and then disillusioned hope and despair . Not very cheerful , and it almost makes it the director's bleakest film . But it's still quite memorable years down the line . ( ) |
508,147 | 453,068 | 929,425 | 8 | a story of real people in the mafia , with parts greater than the whole | In Gomorra we get several stories , or just paths followed with characters , set in Naples , Italy , and focused on the stranglehold of the mafia . Let's use that word again , mafia , since it is what it is there , and it's such a cold and desolate and grimy environment that it makes the Godfather look like a sunny day . It takes it view on these events and characters and their not-too-sudden slip down to oblivion with such an eye for realism , so unflinching , that it's a shame then that I did not find myself fuller pulled in than I was . It's got an incredibly powerful message , one that is never really uttered above a whisper or sometimes given full weight on the audience , and that is this is an entirely corrupted society where no one can really get out , only choose sides . It's got powerful things about it , and the director Matteo Garrone doesn't make it too easy or too hip a digestion , but it's not the clearest told story , jumping around with occasional dull parts or just scenes that contain some beautifully tragic images ( be it the decrepit architecture to just some of the faces seen in quietly desperate close-up ) or something vivid and strangely affecting like the kids in their underwear firing off guns . If there's anything uniformly strong about the picture it's that the balance of young vs . old is depicted as honestly as possible : the very young like Toto are swept up in it as just something to do as work , the young adults like Pasquale want to be big-shots and gain in the ranks without having a particular boss , and the old timers ( or relatively old ones ) see a war brewing and try and just steer clear of the crossfire . Perhaps I feel like criticizing the movie more because it has such a powerful grasp on the reality of this place , of the filmmaker's concern for the real people that are more than likely living in the tenements and houses where they filmed . So , many small scenes work - the tailor having to ride in the trunk with the Chinese and seeing their sweat-shopping at work ; the scene where Toto has to bring out the woman to be killed ; when the Don brings the kids around to drive the trucks when no one else will drive them around to dump the waste . The performances range from good to just OK , and if there is something emotionally that works in its favor it's a slight feeling of numbness - the characters are almost totally desensitized that it takes a BIG surprise or something out of nowhere to shock . When one lives in a crime-infested area it becomes part of the norm , though with pockets that just leave the scars deeper and deeper . If that was the intention of the filmmaker , to heighten this numbness in the viewer watching with these people feeling the same , then he succeeded . Gomorra is a film anyone who thinks that they need an extra shot of the documentary approach in a crime movie ( or even one about an organization running like a rickety , frightening engine ) , or just to see a very good Italian film . It's not quite as great as the majority of critics have been hailing it , but it serves as a potent , flawed challenge in 21st century cinema . |
508,251 | 453,068 | 186,566 | 8 | quite the wheezy little entertaining comedy / thriller | Clint Eastwood's Space Cowboys is a good project . Not great , but hey ( as the character Eastwood plays says ) , " the clock is ticking , and I'm only getting older . " The characters are played so well , the few ( if any ) plot flaws are just forgotten . These characters are joined back together after a 40 year absence , when they were a air space team . There are 4 of them - Clint Eastwood , Donald Sutherland , James Garner , and Tommy Lee Jones . All of these guys are good at what they do and they show off they're acting skills here . Like Unforgiven , this film shows about people who come out of retirement to do something good . Eastwood hits the marks just right as a thriller in space and as a endearing drama . Not to mention comedy here and there ( the best is a one liner by Sutherland that he makes on the Jay Leno show ) . Fun for young and old alike , not to be taken too seriously , but also shouldn't be forgotten ( just like the actors and they're performances ) like some of Eastwood's lessor 80s projects . |
509,494 | 453,068 | 112,688 | 8 | gritty , truthful crime drama that takes formula and makes it gripping and incendiary | I was glad to see on the special edition DVD of Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing to see how he answered the question asked at Cannes as to why there weren't drugs portrayed in the film ; his answer , simply , was that there wasn't enough space dramatically , that it would be too much to fit drugs into a story already loaded with racism in a small neighborhood . But , as he followed , he could use what it means to have drugs in an urban environment , and what it does to the people , and have that as a stand-alone movie . He followed this up , in part , with the Samuel L . Jackson storyline in Jungle Fever , and thanks to Richard Price's novel and original script , he has here what might be his answer to that question . It's not a very great movie , perhaps , because by this time Spike Lee has so much invested in the style of his cinematic theatrics , of how the nature of the camera itself related to those of the characters , that it comes close to going over substance . But it's is a worthy attempt at putting into context , via the conventions of genre going back to the 40s , as to what makes or breaks the ties between drug dealers and their workers , and how the workers ( or ' Clockers ' as per the title of the movie ) go about their business in the streets . Clockers has a main plot that pushes along , as the murder by multiple gun-shots of a Darryl , black fast-food worker , who was also apart of the crew of Rodney ( Delroy Lindo ) , call into question who might have done it . At first , it seems pretty open and shut , as Victor ( Isaiah Washington ) comes forth and admits he did it in self-defense . Rocco Klein ( Harvey Keitel ) doesn't buy it , seems too easy , so he asks around , digs deeper , and sees that his brother , Strike ( Mekhi Pfeifer ) seems to be much more of the guilty party , by way of how he handles himself in the streets , his repore with Rodney , and as having more motive to kill Darryl . It's through this that Lee then branches it out to make it as much as character as about plot , where the ties between certain characters , like Strike and Tyrone , a pre-teen who looks up to Strike like a surrogate father , are mostly defined by how the neighborhood works out in the open . The clockers are bunch of would-be gang-bangers who talk a lot of talk , but haven't walked nearly as much as Earle , best friend of Rodney's and psychopathic murder , or Rodney himself , who has that veneer of being like the one you can trust the most - half surrogate father as well and half good cop / bad cop boss - until he gets crossed . Although Price's material , which comes through with the energy and occasional wit , is noticeable throughout , it's really Spike Lee as director and many of the actors who make this a consistently watchable movie . Lee is never one to be too subtle with the camera , and he has variations with how he deals with the material to make it very observant but also subjective . Early on , for example , we see the clockers making their deals in the park in long-shot , shaky , as if Lee's filming it far away for a reality TV show . But then we also see the 360 degree camera moves as Klein questions Strike . There's many camera moves that are practically trademark Lee shots , especially with the lighting , as Klein questions Tyrone , or when we see a flashback to Victor having to deal with some clockers . It's all very flamboyant and meant to call attention to the material , and aside from a few unneeded music choices ( it's the only time you'll hear Seal in a drug dealer crime movie ) , he's on top of things . Meanwhile , the performances are all top-notch , usually , as Keitel and particularly Lindo play their characters so well by pretty much being how we think the actors ' really ' are , even though they're not . Pfeifer has a little trickier a time with his performance , because he usually is on a very similar note : I didn't do nothing , is his usual beat . His character also has the intriguing qualities that mark him as something of an outsider however in he might be : his stomach virus , which is never resolved but always looming over him , and his love of electric train-sets . And all the while , Clockers succeeds in presenting a time and place where there should be little to no hope , and it makes the cops and criminals both pretty well-rounded when compared to other genre films . The cops are meant to be the good guys , but there's also a steady conflict between Klein and his partner : why should Klein care so much as to who did it or why ( Strike also asks this question towards the end , in one of the best scenes in the film ) ? And Strike and Rodney are not cut-outs from black exploitation flicks , but with more of a push and pull tie that is always a threat , never a comfort . There are little details that help make Lee's film interesting when it veers into being like a television serial ; the white yuppies who get entangled in the case ; the over-protective but very smart cop ( Keith David , always a pro ) who also tries to play surrogate father to Tyrone , albeit without the same care , however negative , as Strike has ; the brief shots of the drug addicts with their habits on display , as we only need to see it for less than a minute to get the nature of the bottom of the food chain , which is total despair . Lee's film , however , isn't really disparaging as it has moments of hope , yet a hope meant to be in understanding that there's no easy way out of all of this . |
510,968 | 453,068 | 167,190 | 8 | Guillermo Del-Toro's exciting , fun tribute to the flamboyantly cool powers of comic books | Hellboy is self-conscious , perhaps , but in the best ways possible . Actually , it's more due to writer / director Toro being very aware of what makes up the conventional bits to every sense character-wise to the world of a comic-book , but also what can be entertaining as well , than it is just to having it being a Hellboy movie where the comic-book Hellboy already exists IN this world ( guy sees the Hellboy comic , looks up , it's Hellboy ! ) . We get the tough-as-nails , dryly witty , and possibly ticking-time-bomb hero in Hellboy , a deadly serious villain in Rasputin ( yes , Rasputin , with a blonde Nazi as his evil side-kick no less ) , the young apprentice to the hero ( Ruper Evans as John Meyers ) , the hero's love interest ( Liz Sherman played by Selma Blair ) , the father figure ( John Hurt's Professor ) , and the reluctant ' boss ' ( Jeffrey Tambor ) , not to mention the plucky side mutant in Abraham ( Doug Jones ) AND a magnificent creature in that hard-ass slug . They're all there , bright as day ( or dark , depending on point of view ) , and it all works wonderfully due to Toro running with it all head on . It's not done in a way that's meant to pander to the audience , either , but just to have fun with the conventions , to see what makes them all crackle and pop under big-time special effects . It's not quite a guilty pleasure because Toro is also a smart craftsman . And craftsman just as much as director , he crafts this world where the creatures ( which were and still are Toro's forte ) are fierce and radically charged , whether they're crucial to the picture like Rasputin's rabid , rapidly hatching slug-monsters that can only be killed one or two ways , or if it's just a minor creature like the zombie Russian corpse that leads a little of the way when Hellboy and his crew are in the main hideout of the villains ( " I was better off dead ! " ) . Toro is sensitive to the characters alongside this , and makes them all pretty believable - and I say pretty cause it's all a little simple , yet effective , in the main thrust of Hellboy's emotional core being about Liz and if she may or may not go for John over him - and doesn't dumb it down too much or contrive the relationships for the audience . It's a good balance , because there is A LOT of action in Hellboy , in fact probably at least a 60 % allotment to either Hellboy fighting the monsters after him ( usually in the subway , or in the Russian castle ) , or with the possibly un-dead assassin in the mask and leather who marks as one of the fiercest forces in comic book movies . So , fan-boys rejoice , because Hellboy should , and hopefully will , have everything one looks for in a brawny , high-octane entertainment where humor isn't confused with cheesiness ( Perlman is too well focused as a possible anti-hero to get into any of that , as he makes that hugely built red lug a very real being ) , and the action isn't over-done with a tongue-in-cheek . Not that Toro doesn't flirt with having goofy things in his picture , like a moment where Hellboy has to save a box of kittens from the grasp of the slug-monster . But they're earned moments among a very tightly constructed story where human evils in history and the bizarre in what is in the facts ( Hitler into the occult , Rasputin's very long death ) into a comfortably understood framework of comic-book clichés that never get too old when done right . Bottom line , can't wait for number 2 ! |
508,984 | 453,068 | 307,987 | 8 | It took two viewings to really get into it - and really laugh my head off | The first time I saw Terry Zwigoff's latest effort ( co-executive produced by the Coen brothers ) Bad Santa , I didn't know whether I was watching a comedy that had astonishingly funny and madcap moments , or if it was a really bad movie . At times the script felt like it was under the penmanship of demented cretins off loan of some low-rent porno company . But there were scenes and moments with good old Billy Bob Thornton that had me laughing uncontrollably , so I decided to see it again recently . Now I understand it - this is a dig-in nails , ribald , hardcore satirical look at one ( un-kept is a term used loosely ) man in the midst of Americana during Christmas time . This man is Willie , played by Billy Bob , as something of a loser , low-self esteem , boozing , cursing , and a thief , though only at Christmas time . In a sense he's a modern day pirate without a shave , though with a yearly plan to rob a large store in a given mall he's given a job at with his co-patriot Marcus ( Tony Cox , whom you may recall from uproarious bit parts in Friday and Me , Myself , and Irene ) . In one season , however , he meets a Kid ( Brent Kelly ) , who for some reason looks up to this con-man in a red suit , giving him a place to stay in turn ( never asked for ) for some advice and help with bullies and self-esteem . On the first viewing of Bad Santa , along with not knowing whether I was seeing a good or bad film , I didn't know whether Billy Bob was pushing the ' rotten-dude ' envelope over the top or just right . This may be a problem for most viewers going to see it once and not thinking of seeing it again . But I think Bad Santa is one of those movies that merits a repeat viewing - you may laugh less or harder at certain jokes and moments of outrageousness , some may fly over your head completely or make you go " eww " . Yet I think the brilliant aspect about Bad Santa is it never takes itself a bit too seriously . Even in the denouement , when we are sort of assured things will turn out alright ; it's like a denouement on a South Park episode . In fact , that's something that can be said about Bad Santa , is that it feels like a work in the vein of Parker and Stone , but since it's from the director of Ghost World it comes off a little fresher , with an appeal all its own . |
511,051 | 453,068 | 83,944 | 8 | cool , slick action-movie danger and excitement , if a wee bit preachy | Sylvester Stallone , when in the right context , can hold together an action film like it's nobody's business . First Blood , for the most part , is a terrific example of a man doing what a man does when put to his limitations - that is , when the man is a Green Beret with plenty of torturous , bullet-strewn skeletons in the closet . When it does come time to make its point as a " MESSAGE " movie ( message in CAPS for a reason ) , it doesn't quite make it's mark - it's also slightly disappointing , in a campy-sense , that the new DVDs lack the awesome quality of the audio as Stallone originally mumbled through the final monologue , now pristine and obviously dubbed - as far as " Vietnam scarred me and nobody at home helped . " It also isn't very nice to end the film with a sappy song of mourning for Rambo's semi-tragic end . But up until then , it's a near 80s action movie classic , a kind of pre-Predator chase movie where Stallone is , in a sense , both Schwarzenegger and Predator , attacking and evading foes like it's some kind of absurdist set of skills . Rambo gets picked up for somewhat sticking it to the Man , so to speak , in a small town up in the Northwest by a hard-ass cop ( Brian Denehey ) who doesn't like him from the start , pegging him as a drifter even though he's just in town to see a friend ( who , by the way , is no longer living , which he never mentions save to the Colonel , but I digress ) . He's mishandled by the cops , sees a razor to shave him , freaks out , and beats to a pulp his way out of prison , onto a motorcycle , etc etc , till he's in the woods kicking tail and taking names . And , overall , the picture works as hard-hitting entertainment . The direction is pretty clear and unpretentious , the music hits home the notes of an ironic pro-military war movie , and Stallone flips the switch on an image he had by that time semi-established . Instead of inspirational Rocky it's pure anti-hero Rambo , who breaks the law , kills and goes nuts in destroying the town , but possibly ( in argument only ) in self-defense . At the end you don't stand up and cheer for the guy , but scratch your head and wonder how he got to this point . If the actual dramatics of the movie don't manipulate as well as Rocky for an emotional response it should be a given with the so-so delivery of the message ( and , as well , Rocky has an obvious bit more warmth as an inspirational tale ) . But as a tome of a genuine tough guy , crazy but formidable , facing the elements , it's an example to follow in the genre . |
508,311 | 453,068 | 122,689 | 8 | underrated and flawed , hard-rocking & blues-filled highlights , and sideshow acts | I can't totally understand why the Rolling Stones were embarrassed by their performance here in their TV special Rock & Roll Circus . Sure , everything else you've heard about the Who outshining them is not far from the truth ( it's definitely one of the Who's finest hours with Keith Moon ) . But they're no slackers here either ( sans Brian Jones , who was on the decline and except for No Exceptions does nothing significant here with the band ) , and hearing them perform Jumpin Jack Flash and Parachutte Woman - the latter a fantastic blues tune from Beggars Banquet - is a fine delight from late 60s rock & roll . They also make sure to end the special on two high notes : Sympathy for the Devil makes for a powerful punch of music that rocks the socks off everyone in attendance and without Jagger's preening to the camera ( only to the camera is it annoying , everything else is a given with him ) , it's one of the very best performances of that song , and there's a fine little ending with Salt of the Earth . It's nothing to be ashamed of on their end . Then again , the acts that surround them both outshine and lack the punch of their performances , so maybe at the time of their heights ( and the sentimental factor of Brian Jones's departure and death from the band soon after ) contributed to the decision to keep it from the public . As mentioned , the Who are in the great ' maximum R & B ' tradition with A Quick One ( While He's Away ) , which has as thunderous momentum matched with a wicked sense of humor . Other notable acts are Jethro Tull ( featuring a slightly dazed Tony Iommi on guitar ) , Taj Mahal ( a musician I never heard before but was blown away by ) , and a one-night-only type of grouping with Lennon , Clapton , Richards and Mitch Mitchell doing Yer Blues , which actually comes very close to topping the Who's performance - it's that awesome a rendition of the song . The low-points , however , are like thorns on the side of the show , which are Marianne Faithful , who though very pretty sings like a pretty little goat , and the 2nd song by the Lennon group features one plus ( violin ) and one heavy minus ( Yoko Ono's singing , which is like nails on a chalkboard ) . There's also the creepy sense that the audience looks like it's awaiting the 2nd coming , so to speak . But it's always a lot of fun , the circus acts look cool in a kitsch kind of way , and there's a truly lively spirit going through all the performances . It's far from perfect , but it's a lot better than I expected , and will have a good place in my collection . |
509,192 | 453,068 | 400,525 | 8 | Harlold Ramis proves he can cook up a well-directed neo-noir . . | I didn't walk out of The Ice Harvest feeling like I had been illuminated to something in art that I hadn't seen before , like it was any sort of great film . But I did know that I saw a work by a typically above-the-belt genre director , Harold Ramis , and that it served its purpose well . I didn't quite know what I'd get with the film , walking in thinking it was a dark comedy . It was , however I also realized that if the cursing and nudity / sex and ( some ) stylized violence were cut out ( and filmed in black and white of course ) this could've filled a double bill with This Gun For Hire . As it is the film takes a couple of cool twists and turns , and stays true to its sometimes cynical but not very manipulative ideals . The story takes some of the boiled down notes from those hard-edged , stylistically shot films of the 40's and 50's . John Cusack being the " average Joe " down on his luck , looking for a way out with some stolen money ( albeit with a conflicted past ) . Billy Bob Thornton as his partner in crime . Connie Nielson as the ' femme fatale ' of the story . And with others like Oliver Platt as the brash comic relief , and solid character actors like Mike Starr and Randy Quaid as roughnecks . They're given a good script with some occasionally odd dialog and scenes , but work up well the atmosphere of a cold , wet Christmas Eve , with strip clubs , booze , with a violent undercurrent . I almost wonder if the novel the film is based on has the ' old-school ' illustration on the cover like pulp noir paperbacks . Along with Ramis delivering some unobtrusive direction , and sometimes flourishes of style that marks him better than others in his field , he has a cast playing to their types ( or against ? ) without much in the way . Cusack at times under-plays , or plays without a mis-step , with his paranoia and conflicting personality in tow ; Thornton gives a couple of really big laughs at times ( of course in the darkest ways possible ) with his shady character . And whenever Nielson came on the screen , with the light pointed at the eye level mostly , she filled in her role in fine standing within her traditional kind of archetype . It is a bit of a bleak film at times , with a rather peculiar way to make its catharsis ( and happily unconventionally so , I think ) . But that it remains entertaining up until near the end ( and quite a nifty little ending , albeit knowable ) is a credit to that this kind of movie exists right now in the theaters . It's definitely the antidote to all this already brimming ' holiday cheer ' . In short , as a pre-Christmas Christmas movie , it's best out there now ( at least for a particular moviegoer ) . |
507,905 | 453,068 | 77,928 | 8 | as a story and emotional experience in and of itself , it's depressing , manipulative , and highly charged drama | I've never been to Turkey , or Istanbul , and I can hold no claims as to what it must be like for a person , American or otherwise , to endure time in one of their country's prisons . But the job of the filmmaker is not necessarily to get the facts down pat and present them as such . It's to present a story and make it appropriate for the dramatization . Oliver Stone , who wrote the script for this and went on to controversy in bringing the true story of Jim Garrison's trial of Clayshaw , Morrison's life with the Doors , and the late president Nixon , knew at 31 that taking what was in the source and bringing it to a life that any audience could understand emotionally was what was important . And he , along with director Alan Parker , deliver this with conviction , if not greatness . The story of William Hayes is ugly , as depicted in the film , and despite the fact that the real Hayes has said the depiction of some of the characters in the film is not as it was , it does not deter it for myself in the pure emotional intake . The story at first does not sound like it will have a happy outcome - Hayes ( Davis , a shattering , torn performance ) tries to smuggle Hash for friends back on long island , gets caught , and is thrown in jail ' as an example ' among others in a Turkish prison . He's abused , and witnesses multiples abuses of prisoners young and old , and once he realizes he won't get out nearly as soon as he thought , he and a couple of other prisoners ( Randy Quaid and John Hurt , both superb in supporting roles ) , plan to escape , or rather ' take the midnight express ' . What occurs from there is what makes up the bulk of the drama , the hurt , and a ' version ' of the truth in the Turskish prison system . The thing to keep in mind in dealing with a film like Midnight Express , is that in cinematic terms , Parker and Stone pull off their goals whether or not they depict the ' truth ' to its fullest extent . They follow the book , and on that count they try their best to bring an adaptation . From that end , I found that it was compelling , if at times almost too heavy and , oddly enough , masochistic . But what comes through strongest , after the outright point of view of the script , are the performances . Hurt is one of only several truly convincing screen junkies in movie history . The actor that plays the burly guard in the prison is absolutely terrifying . And Quaid and Hayes fill their roles finitely . The music , ironically to me , is the one Oscar-winning drag , which sometimes adds pre-80's sounding music that doesn't fit as maybe it could've . But besides that , Midnight Express is overall a work of concentrated drama , that tries to not affect just the American collective conscious , but the world's as well . Years from now , people who have no idea what the prison system in that country or others was like , can at least have an idea , if not altogether to the truth . |
510,329 | 453,068 | 100,998 | 8 | not one of the best of the ' sensai's ' films , but it has many moments that are really magnificent | Dreams is not a really easy film to review , as it is an episodic bundle of various dreams from throughout Akira Kurosawa's life . So watching it is like going from one to another without a fully connecting thread . Thus , each one is like a perfectly contained short film where the director's awesome gifts of his painter's eye is put to the main test . Even when a ' dream ' isn't totally working or memorable , or if there's just something not really engaging enough with it ( even within the ' logic ' of a dream ) , it's never tiring to look at . At this point in Kurosawa's career , following the towering masterwork Ran , here his mood is more reflective , dark , occasionally brooding , happy , and hopeful in equal measures . In fact , this might be at the least a superlative example of Kurosawa's knack for color . For a man who worked more than of his career on black and white films , Dreams displays such a particular , distinctive look and measured quality for each segment it's never less than breathtaking . The opening segment Sun through the Rain , for example , which isn't necessarily one of my favorites segments in the film ( it almost looks like something , with the fox wedding , that would be more appropriate in a Miyazaki anime film ) , the shots with the child walking through the flowers is about as sumptuous as color film can make it . My favorite segments are the Blizzard , which hearkens back to the intense , silent-film-like power of Dersu Uzala ( this time with a great blue tint ) , as men try and break through a blizzard as one of them is visited by some kind of angel ; if this was the only dream it would be perfect . I also enjoyed - even if it has been criticized more often than not - the Crows segment where a man goes through Van Gogh paintings and even meets the man played with a tight , amusing turn of words and facial expressions by Scorsese . It's a little silly , but it reminds me of a dream I might have had . Sometimes , if there is anything that didn't really catch me as much , is that the subject matter almost becomes a little less than dreamlike and more didactic in nature . The last segment , for example , which does feature a pretty sweet funeral sequence , is mostly just an old man ( a 103 year old man at that ) going on about nature becoming destroyed . Indeed , some of these segments that punctuate the ' bad dreams ' become the real hit or miss parts of Dreams . For example , the segment where radiation threatens to squash a group of people is not used to the better abilities of Industrial Light & Magic ( who did the special / visual effects in the film ) where the seamless quality comes a little lost in the brief , totally bleak nature of the segment . And the dead soldiers segment , Tunnel , is only really interesting for its look of the soldiers and the dark areas . The pacing , which is fairly laconic , is not at all the weakest part of the film . If sometimes it doesn't quite connect , it's not a problem , as Kurosawa's eye for the environments never truly wanes . It's self-indulgent , true , as it is not really speaking to the powerful storytelling talents his samurai films or dramas have . But it's unique nature overall makes up for anything lost on me . In the end , I was quite pleased that I saw Dreams , as it does go to show how much a master filmmaker can be creative even when not really ' awake ' , as it were , and it probably might provide more to look for or take in on repeat viewings . |
509,264 | 453,068 | 39,402 | 8 | down in Mexico | It's been written somewhere that the cruelest thing you can say to an artist is that his work is flawless . John Ford thought of the Fugitive as , despite not being a box-office success , a perfect film and one of his very favorites . It's perhaps more than prudent then to point out some of the criticisms one would have of the film ( which , perhaps , is moot since he's been dead for decades ) . As a fan of the Ford work I've seen there are some times when he's touched perfection ( Grapes of Wrath and the Searchers are it for me ) , and sometimes not so much , which goes without saying he directed many films . With the Fugitive it's recognizable to me why it's split its audience : some hail it as being totally underrated and a brilliant depiction of religious allegory and suffering , and some say that it's a total crock for being far too heavy-handed and acted over-the-top . Both sides have their right points ; it is an underrated picture , if only for its technical feats of cinematography ( Gabriel Figueroa is just right for this kind of material for Ford ) and Ford's usual talents as a basic storyteller with a tendency for pure cinema expression ( i . e . lack of dialog is a plus with the emotion expressed through the camera and actors . But it is also not well-acted in a couple of instances , notably the beautiful but overbearing Delores Del-Rio as the woman living in the town who's baby is baptized by the Priest played by Henry Fonda . For Fonda , it should be said , he at least gives all he can for a performance that possibly other actors could have played with more magnificence . In fact it's for him that some of the picture is most watchable , as he flexes his emotional chops for a scene where it's required for complexity like when he misses the boat and is asked to bless someone dying only to realize there is no wine and must go to ask from a vulgarian for wine ( which , as it turns out , is drunken with brandy and all by him ) . While it might not be the Fonda we all know and love from Grapes of Wrath or My Darling Clementine he does what he can with the part , and it's a tribute to him and Ford that they make it engrossing on a very simple level that carries some complex connotations . When focusing on the actual chase and flight from the Mexican police it works very well ( particularly with a hammy but effective informer played by J . Carrol Nash ) . It's just when Ford over-indulges in the spiritual aspect of the picture , which is only made clearer towards the end , that it loses its footing . Indeed the start of the picture kind of threw me off for a little bit as Fonda comes in with the Christ-like symbolism highlighted on the wall , and the townspeople come in with tears in their eyes and a somber song to sing and Fonda blesses and baptizes others . I wondered : is this a little TOO much in the way of what Ford does best , which is telling the story ? He can be brilliant in throwing in his deep-rooted Catholic ideas as pure visions on the screen , and once or twice in the Fugitive he does . . . and then other times it falls flat or goes too high where it starts to become a full-blown religious picture as opposed to a societal thriller . Should Ford fans see it ? Of course ; even a lessor Ford picture will have something interesting . Will everyone like it ? Surely not . Yet it is usually fine , traditional work and shouldn't be completely dismissed . |
509,157 | 453,068 | 405,422 | 8 | a healthy reminder that sex jokes can be well crafted ; Carrell is genius | Something about the 40 Year Old Virgin and the other comedy hit of the summer , Wedding Crashers , is similar , but they are two different films in some respects . Both are romantic comedies that have that kind of over-the-top , crazy sensibility that keeps the teens and guys in their 20's along with the usual dating crowd to go see the films . Both have some sort of formula to the stories as well . But by the end of the 40 Year Old Virgin , I think I found overall it was more satisfying than ' Crashers ' . Although one can guess where the relationship story with Steve Carrell's character Andy and Catherine Keener's character Trish will go to , it isn't too basic for one to figure out like with Crashers , and the characters both leading and supporting are realistic , more rounded than most of the one-dimensional or unexplained people in the other . And , perhaps , it may also depend on how much you identify ( or just find the lunacy ) in both . The thing is some people may go into The 40 Year Old Virgin not knowing Steve Carrell as well as Owen Wilson or Vince Vaughn , as Carrell has built up his cult status on The Daily Show ( one of my favorite shows on now ) and in small but unforgettably riotous roles in Anchorman and Bruce Almighty . This is his first starring role , but it's not treated like some third rate vehicle . He and co-writer / director Judd Apatow treat the character of Andy with a certain level of sincerity that keeps the audience on his side all the way , even early on as he talks to his action figures while re-painting them . It's also a tricky line to walk on - in lessor hands this could be no more or less entertaining than the Lackluster 40 Days and 40 Nights with Josh Hartnett ( also about sexual dysfunction ) . As the title suggests , Andy is the 40 year old who is like the nice guy friend with still a little Pee-Wee Herman in him ( the opening over the credits of his his apartment is hilarious , a good sign ) . So , his friends ( among them Paul Rudd , Romany Mancoy , Seth Rogen , all very good comic foils ) try and devise different strategies and tips to finally break the sort of curse over Andy's head to pop his cherry , so to speak . He almost gets with a overly drunk woman , he almost gets with a freaky kind of girl , and almost with his own boss ( Jane Lynch , also very funny in the mockumentaries ) as a ( explitive ) buddy . But this soon all starts to fade as he gets into a meaningful relationship with Trish , who works across the street from him . As they build on a relationship not based at all on sex , one might worry that the plot gear of " how is he going to tell her such and such " might get in the way of the comedy . It doesn't . In fact , if anything , Carrell and the cast build on it to a very high degree . For practically an hour and a half of the film's two hour length , there was barely a moment I wasn't laughing , whether big or small . The big laughs though make up for not just any kind of formalities with the plot , or one or two little stray stories ( the fellow co-workers have their own relationship problems as well , Rudd's being the funniest ) . The big laughs come through because of Carrell's reactions , and that the people around him can either back up with their own sort of humor / charm , or that its with some truth . Keener gives a very good performance and makes it so that there is a genuine spirit to their relationship ( and , un-like ' Crashers ' , there isn't as much that doesn't make sense character wise ) . For someone like me who loves it when a comedian can get laughs just from the way he looks on his face , Carrell gets very high points here . And like with a Farrelly brothers movie , the more raunchy or outrageous scenes are done with total absurdity ; the ' waxing ' scene ( which was done for real , by the way ) and the sort of Aquarius musical number towards the very end of the film ( the way it comes out at first is a total , uproarious surprise ) . But if you're willing not to get offended by it , there's more where that came from . This is one of the funniest films of the year . |
509,147 | 453,068 | 83,866 | 8 | Good Entertainment | I say for one of Steven Spielberg's most infamous picture , ET The Extra Terrestrial , there is some solid , everlastingly good entertainment here even if , dare I say , it doesn't hold up from childhood . I have some fond memories of seeing this film as a kid , as it does contain enough of the special effects , ( excuse me for saying ) magic , and enjoyment that reaches out on a universal level . Perhaps though as I grow older it may not spark me as strongly as it did in youth , or maybe in just seeing even more of Spileberg's films that strike me harder or entertain me a bit more . Yet , there are many things here I'd recommend . Like for people who like remakes ( this is technically a remake of The Day the Easth Stood Still ) , kids , and fans of Spielberg's work . Some classic scenes here are also brushed finely with a rushing ( and Oscar winning ) John Williams score . I'd say that , even through some of the manipulative moments ( they come here and there , on par for Spielberg as he reaches further past the masterpiece Close Encounters ) , this is a must-see movie , and it has obviously had such an impact on moviegoers and movies in general that it's hard to call the film overrated . |
510,207 | 453,068 | 373,074 | 8 | about as fun as it sounds , though know what you're getting if you're a " serious " martial arts movie fan | I was talking with a friend of mine , much more into martial arts movie than me , who didn't like Kung-Fu Hustle because of the way it went about showing the fights , and even for its goofy humor being too broad . While I could understand the latter part - everyone's got their own sense of humor ( unless if someone's got none , which is dangerous ) - the former puzzled me . What does someone expect , for example , after seeing the trailer ? If anything , director Stephen Chow is successful most in making a decidedly non-serious martial arts movie . It almost reminds me of my youth seeing the Ninja Turtles fight - there too was martial arts , sometimes with well choreographed sequences with real martial-arts fighters fighting in the costumes . But , like that , Kung-Fu Hustle gets it right in being completely unpretentious entertainment . It's a comedy in the tradition of vaudeville and Looney Tunes , with specks of Tarantino , the Marx Brothers ( yes , also vaudeville , but on a different plane ) , and with characters that are left to be , of course , cartoonish , but not characters that are too cruel or unlikeable either . Take the landlady of the establishment that the bulk of the picture takes place . She's played by Wah Yuen as the ultimate bad-ass lady you don't want to mess with on the wrong beat . Namely because of her look , which is that of having been going too long at what she does to take any lip or disruption for her customers . But then when trouble comes her way , she then reveals herself as a screaming force to be reckoned with . And all the while it's done with a wink to the audience , but taken seriously in its own comic-book logic . Chow also acts in the film as well as co-writing it , as Sing , someone who wants to join up with the mob ' the Axe gang ' , but doesn't quite cut it - at least at first it seems . In the midst of this is a romantic sub-plot involving a girl he once knew whom he had to leave behind , and when this is rekindled it strikes up some extra ambivalence , and a little strife between him and his best friend ( Bone , played as a deadpan idiot by Chi Chung Lam ) . This all leads up to a show-stopping finale where Sing finally has to step up to a certain gargantuan challenge against his evil opponent . It's not necessarily a great comedy , as sometimes it starts to show how goofiness can backfire in a couple of scenes . Plus the romantic sub-plot , while very knowing of its own satirical place from kung-fu movies past , is still a little unnecessary at times . But overall it's the kind of film that I would recommend to non kung-fu movie fans ; if you're expecting a work that takes its fights and stunts seriously like my friend did , look elsewhere . But if you want something that takes a grab-bag of ideas and tosses them altogether to become something original , this is the comedy to check out . It's visual effects go along with the tone of the comedy at most times , like a super-fast chase down a road by two of the characters . And even more " serious " fights like the one between the landlady and her husband against the Ax-thugs at night , still has that air of a battered , supernatural martial-arts tongue placed firmly in cheek . It is , for lack of a better critical term , a gas practically from start to finish . |
510,770 | 453,068 | 70,302 | 8 | like the last good flicker from a lighter , this is a sporadically exceptional Lenny Bruce show | Seeing a complete performance from Lenny Bruce is like watching some Jazz musicians all in one form playing at the peak point at that same period in the 60s . Pretty soon all the fire that was keeping everything going would either fade away or get re-directed elsewhere . Lenny Bruce is part of the former , and this show that is likely the last time Bruce was at least totally coherent on stage , even in the similar form of Jazz . Like that , especially in seeing how he talks in a full one-hour show ( as opposed to the bits I've seen on TV or occasionally heard on audio recordings ) , he goes off on tangents , little side-bars that almost might seem like they're going to no point or something random , but it's all in a structure . This structure that Bruce works in helps likely from keeping him on a loose track for his thoughts to go around . Here and there he does get off point , and a couple of stumbles reminds one of how he wasn't really in his full power of linguistic energy and satirical focus . Yet I wouldn't have wanted to miss a minute of what Bruce had to say on stage , even as he would pop into doing full vocal ( if not really physical as his face only shows so much mugging ) forms of the people he was referencing . This is possibly the kind of talk and dialog with an audience that might have influenced Richard Pryor . You never really feel like the guy is doing full-on ' bits ' , not that he doesn't do them but they're not obvious . It's more like if a person might be listening to the other at a bar or over a coffee , it's about as natural as anything . Hence the structure of Bruce's court proceedings - the rougher ones as frank as possible following his only recently over-turned conviction in 64 - is always of interest . It's peppered with him sometimes doing the bits that are referred to in the court papers , and through this Bruce doesn't just go off into long-winded rants about the injustices done to him . If anything he approaches it the best way by putting some more jabs into the rot that came out of the ' issues ' presented at his trial . But the special isn't only that , and in the last twenty minutes of the show the structure then kind of goes seamlessly into other bits more in tune with people in neighborhoods dealing with things , a little sex , some race , class , etc . There's even a very funny throwback to one of his earlier bits involving the word ' come ' and its connotations . In fact , it's hard not to laugh through many parts of the one-hour / one camera shot show , as so much ends up coming through in the unusual flow of Bruce's dialog with the crowd ( and with himself in a way ) that when the punch-lines come they do work . If it's less than a great show , it's probably due to Bruce's own inhibitions perhaps , as the wear and tear of what had been going on shows as true as much of what he speaks out with . I would take a show like this , however , than more than half of the stand-up comedy on TV today - this is a guy , sometimes obsessively and in a tangent-like fashion , trying to level with those he's talking to . |
509,904 | 453,068 | 61,101 | 8 | a fairly crazy jazz riff of a yakuza movie - watch it just to see what makes it riff | It must have been a delirious joy for Seijun Suzuki to direct Tokyo Drifter ( when the meddlesome but fair studio heads got in a tiff with him over the final cut ) ; it's a director's movie , and he shoots it and edits it like a jazz-man in a tiny club going one step further than John Coltrane . He's in love with image , LOVES filling it with color and derangement and bursts of violence when required during the theme song crooning along . This is what makes it so satisfying and troublesome ; like avant-garde jazz it doesn't have much structure , it's rhythm is erratic and it will throw off some . He even makes Takashi Miike seem fairly normal in comparison . But to see those little riffs , those scenes where Suzuki rolls out all of his cinematic tricks , it's so worthwhile . For one thing Tokyo Drifter walks along a line that is so gratifying since it works as a straight yakuza thriller about gangster Tetsuo trying to go legit with his boss only to be drawn back in by a sour deal on a building worth millions , and as a oddly subtle AND over the top parody with plenty of rock music , colors that pop off the screen , and plenty of attitude and violence . Suzuki also doesn't play by any rules which is exhilarating . . . it also tends to be a little frustrating if looking for a very coherent story , or some supporting characters to care about . But it works because the focus isn't on the script but the direction ; it's probably as strong a job as with Branded to Kill , only in lush colors ( sometimes matching with white or yellow or blues , like a coloring book with a splash of acid ) and with a catchy theme song ( one scene , where Tetsuo is singing the song to himself while walking along , leading up to an ambush by a bunch of other yakuza , is incredibly funny ) . Watch it to have a fun time , for a good dosage of experimentation , and to get a couple of really bad-ass scenes , maybe some of the freshest and most entertaining in any crime movie . I was quite happy I took the 83 minute trip with the drifter and his saga , even if it is less than great is arguable , and I'd argue it isn't . |
509,223 | 453,068 | 451,094 | 8 | the kind of confusing film that you want to keep watching to figure out | Chan Wook Park's Lady Vengeance ( aka Sympathy for Lady Vengeance , the more apt title ) is the kind of revenge film that would be as satisfying for its intended audience - into raw , underground Asian films incidentally from the director of Oldboy - as it could be for the art-house crowd into films by challenging international directors . It's violent , abrasive , emotional , its story doesn't make sense for much of the first half hour , and is loaded with classical sounding music as its score . It's also touching in the humanity Park is able to capture in the relationships Geum-ja Lee ( Yeong-ae Lee ) has with the people she has connected to , or may connect with , in the midst of the rage and vengeance . Her character has been in jail for over a decade , and once released is out for payback from her former employer . But this is not in the same kind of perpetual confusion , in a sense , as Oldboy was . And this time with the non-linear , puzzle-like nature of the story for the first half , the audience picks up on things here and there , catching glimpses of what Park is hinting at with the darker , deeper tragedy underlying her own crisis of the spirit . Lady Vengeance , while not a great film , has some of the most beautiful , ugly ( in a good way ) , and outlandish stylistic shots seen in screens in a while . Park shows himself as a director of the camera growing from Oldboy ( and especially from the underwhelming Mr . Vengeance ) . I still have the image of my mind of a dream sequence where Geum-ja Lee shoots a dog with a human face right in the head - through its succession of shots , and its comic-tragic tone with it . The scenes between her and her estranged , perplexed daughter are the core of the film , and here Park shows that he can direct children just as well as he can with adults ( especially the confession of mother to daughter through a certain ' interpreter ' ) . When Park's story finally reaches its second hour , and Geum-ja Lee's " plan " takes full shape , the more disturbing aspects of the film really take hold . But what's even more staggering about how this is handed , how the vengeance against the real criminal - a child killer - is doled out is what is NOT shown . As in Olbdoy , the power of suggestion , followed by the shock of the the aftermath , packs a punch few films can . If it doesn't quite reach greatness from my perspective , it's maybe in due to the lengths that Park goes to early in the film , cutting back between present-time and the time in prison , is slightly off-putting . And a scene or two still has me wondering ' huh ? ' ( the finger cut is one of them ) . But overall , this is a really successful work of giving vitality and clarity to what could be really terrible , close to unwatchable material . And any formula that could be present in the story is pulled back into a kind of ambitious turn-around . By the way , the prison scenes are the best to look for , on par with the kinds seen in the Shawshank Redemption . |
510,126 | 453,068 | 21,576 | 8 | the sights ( no sounds ) of Nice ; a little aimless , but captivating | If you're not awake for it A Propos de Nice could be a little boring , or just a little tiresome . There's no real specific ' point ' to the visual , silent documentary that is Jean Vigo's first film , though what is and what isn't shown does strike some interest , along with some other miscellaneous images . It starts off with a spellbinding ( and for the time revolutionary ) image though , of the city of Nice seen from an angle high above in a plane . From there Vigo shows the upper class life , the vicariousness , the fun ( driving cars , swimming in the ocean , going to nice restaurants , dancing ) , and then the film ends with a strange mix of images of smoke and fire and smokestacks and people laughing in close-up . The best thing about this film , which doesn't run too long , is that there's a free-form approach to getting the city . It's part of what were called the ' city symphony ' documentaries , where filmmakers just took there cameras around the city , getting images that delighted , or shocked , them . The film goes by with some strange camera moves , some low-angle perspectives of women doing the ' can-can ' , and more smiling . But probably the most provocative ( and my favorite ) image of the film is when there is a woman's body on a chair , we see her in different pieces of clothing , until she's nude . Is this surrealist , or just experimenting in form ? It's not like a Bunuel film because it's more about getting the scenery and shapes of the buildings in Nice than fing with the audience . But on the other hand , there is a mix of Freudian qualities to the film , as were in a few independent filmmakers at the time . It's both exhilarating and a little dull - with the wrong soundtrack ( I saw it with a common baroque score ) its interest swings depending on the moment . If I can find it , I'd watch it again , especially after seeing more of Vigo's works . |
509,113 | 453,068 | 43,614 | 8 | some of the best Dostoyevsky adapted to film . . . | For any adaptation of a Fyodor Dostoyevsky story to work , the filmmaker has got to know what he's in for with the source . Dostoyevsky writes like the sky is falling in every beat , but it's such a breathtaking sky that there needs to be some poetry in the midst of all the torpedoes falling down on consciousness . Getting through Crime and Punishment or Notes From the Underground is hard going at times , but about the most rewarding , if you give yourself to the prose , that literature can provide . I haven't read the Idiot yet , but I can gather just from what I've read about it - and hitherto seen in this Akira Kurosawa adaptation - that it's not a whole lot set apart from his other works . The difference in this case is that there's a more " wholesome " Dostoyevsky character here than , say , Roskolnikov . With a bit of Forrest Gump , a squeeze of Jesus , but a lot more head trauma , Prince Mishkin ( here Kinji Kameda ) sees the best in people , the love , but also the sadness and pain , and he can't do much but offer some advice and those eyes full of whatever the other person wants to project onto themselves from him . One thing I found really interesting in the Idiot is Kurosawa's use of eyes . Eyes give away a lot sometimes in movies , but in this case they convey almost as much as in a straight silent film . Odd , considering how much Kurosawa sticks to the program of Dostoyevsky's original text ( not sure how much it stays true to it , especially translating to 20th century Japan , but it seems close by the tone and depth of the language ) , that body language and the perspective of eye contact and movement and range is so important . But it's this facet that creates at times the benchmark of the emotion in some scenes , specifically one that takes place late in the film where there's the start of an emotional confrontation between Takeo Nasu and Ayako , the two women of Kameda and Akama's lives , and before a word is spoken in this tense scene where sides are chosen and fates are laid out , eyes go back and forth - Nasu's wild , hurt eyes , and Akayo's more direct , composed orbs . Under any other direction it might go into overacting , but with Kurosawa it's just right . So much has already been written about the problems of the Idiot stemming from the fact that a third of its original running time - from 265 to 166 minutes - detracts from how it really should be perceived . I couldn't agree more , but it should be noted that the picture , when it does work well on the usual fronts of Kurosawa at his prime ( and it is often ) , does have some triumphant status to it . For a movie that , however long length , is filled with this much talk going through motions that should be considered torrid melodrama and to actually surprise one with the effects from its actors and its lucid storytelling , is thrilling . The cast is terrific , everyone from Toshiro Mifune in a role that has him as a kind of " human " time-bomb , where he could go off any minute , but there's a lot of moments where he suddenly comes down to Earth thanks to Kameda ; Satsuko Hara , whom we might remember from Rashomon , doesn't stray too far from her character's range , which allows her to plunge head-on into a role that's dark and depressing and strange ; and Mori ( also in Rashomon and noteworthy in Ugetsu ) has a nice quality all around him as the one " innocent " soul of the bunch ( " innocent " as in not totally corrupted in his emotions or swayed easily by his passions one way or another ) . And , as mentioned , Kurosawa's camera is limitless in how it can navigate around during a scene , quietly , sneaking up and getting a good strong composition with everyone in frame a certain way or spinning around to another one , that keeps you on your toes to expect something else . It's suffice to say , at least , his skills don't dull in this time in his career between Rashomon , Ikiru and Seven Samurai . So , really , it all comes down to The Idiot being a piece of a great movie , or pieces to put it that way . It's frustrating , for example , to actually KNOW where the producer cut into the frames , added in a cheap wipe or two - ones that would not be the norm for Kurosawa - and put in those irritating cards early on in the film rushing things along ( it also doesn't make sense , for that matter , that the film's first part is 90 minutes while the second is 14 minutes shorter than that equivalent ) . Like Magnificent Ambersons , Kurosawa got the rough end of the stick on distribution , if to say that he went " too far " in making a 4-hour plus Dostoyevsky adaptation for Japanese audiences in 1951 . Unlike Welles , who was an upstart at the comparative time , Kurosawa was just starting out , getting some hits but not quite a superstar in international cinema yet . It's a bit of a shame , because taking in all of the sappy melodrama and the high-rising music and the occasional maudlin touches , The Idiot , in its completed form , could be as great a Kurosawa at his very best . As it is , it's only better than average - but should be a welcome treat for Dostoyevsky fans at least . |
509,937 | 453,068 | 66,434 | 8 | the director's cut is a vast improvement | When I first saw THX 1138 , it was in an obviously cropped-for-TV , scratchy tape print , and my enjoyment of the film was there but limited . Last year , writer / director George Lucas released the ' director's cut ' of his first indie-style science fiction film , and I have to say its a big improvement . Many have argued over Lucas ' usage over the years of touching up on his Star Wars films , but them like this don't seem too compromised . In this case especially the visual effects enhance many establishing shots , and some exciting , surreal ones , that weren't too developed in the original 1971 version . The performances haven't changed much - Robert Duvall is strong , intense , and thoughtful as the title character , who has to come to his own free will somehow in order to find a way of escape from this cold , controlling , computerized world . Donald Pleasance also gives an off-beat supporting performance as a ' friend ' of THX's . The themes Lucas deals with aren't anything very new , but the twist on them , the magnificent sound design by co-writer Walter Murch , and the perfectly , visually artful camera-work , makes the film successful on its own terms . Like the comic books that inspired Lucas , its familiar , Orwellian territory , but is also arresting emotionally , and has an unusual way about it that keeps true with the updated special effects . Here is the avant-garde Lucas of his early years - bold , odd , slightly pretentious , and unique . |
509,302 | 453,068 | 299,458 | 8 | slice of love story Sundance fest style : strong pros , some cons , all David Gordon Green | All the Real Girls is a love story , but according to director David Gordon Green on the DVD he would almost not want to explain what it's about . The reason for this turns out to sound , perhaps , a little too high-minded or poetic , maybe just pretentious , as he expounds upon the way the sun hits the two and a half legged dog and that that's what the movie is ' about ' . In short , he explains , the movie is just about how we are . That's possibly a good way of explaining it , or reasoning it or whatever , since the film is not entirely classifiable almost in spite of its more typical and tender elements . But as a work of a director like Green it is something that is all his own , for better or worse ( mostly for better ) , which is something that has been seen in the work he's put out so far with the possible exception or amendment of Pineapple Express . It's by no means a really great love story nor a really great film . Yet as someone who has tried to crack writing his own relationship dramas , this struck a chord . There are real scenes of truth , of revelation and insight , and tenderness and the resolve to try and accept the way things are which can never be done . Paul Schneider plays a character named Paul ( how close to real life I leave to you to figure on ) , who is something of a town Lothario , albeit not really proud of it as we later learn . He and Noel ( Zooey Deschanel ) fall for each other despite the angry protest of her hick brother Tip . We then see the relationship unfold as something of a first-young love scenario , both for Paul and for virgin Noel , and how it plays out against some more specific drama and character interplay with Paul's frustrated hospital-clown mother ( Clarkson ) and friend Bust-Ass ( Danny McBride ) . As tends to happens in certain young-love movies , there's something that happens that occurs that mucks the whole thing up - more-so for Paul than Noel in one of those ' funny ' kind of hard to take ways - and yet Green even treats this as well as other tougher moments with care and attention to how real and awkward and truthful the actors should play it . This doesn't necessarily mean all the scenes work completely or feel a little jagged with the patient ( not really slow ) pacing . But when they do work they work very well , like a confession Noel makes to Paul in the hotel room , or a silly scene at a bowling alley . And while Green paints his ' canvas ' of sorts with this sleepy blue-collar North Carolina town with some arty montages ( the SKY , the high-speed factory , hills and landscapes , pretty pictures ) , the actors are surprisingly good with seeming to do so little . Part of that is the subtle strengths in the writing , and some of it is just how Scheider and Deschanel keep things simple and sensitive . Even Whigham has a good scene expanding his character . Clarkson is also a given for doing small wonders on screen . If it's not quite one of the most mind-blowing romance films I've seen this decade , it might be that I wasn't entirely in the right frame of mind , or didn't find all of the little scenes with the supporting characters worked as well as the central " plot " ( in quotes for redundancy ) , or that the music is sometimes placed in ill-fitting scenes or is too sappy for my taste . These criticisms aren't to say it's a very well accomplished effort , a small and intelligent picture that doesn't cheat on its characters . It is familiar , and it feels very much a true Sundance fest effort , but it's better than others I've come across for its originality and tact . |
510,758 | 453,068 | 12,938 | 8 | it will be rare to do but , if you can , watch it with a live organ w / 35mm print | One of those nice stories to hear about : a film starring two of the most glamorous and true-blue STARS ( in caps ) of the 1920s was lost for the greater part of the last century and then discovered in a Dutch museum , and then restored for viewing on DVD and TCM . Viewing it any way you can is delightful , but really , if it's at all possible , the best way to watch it is in a theater preferably projected from 35mm with a live piano accompaniment . It is rare to happen but well worth the while , especially with the right organist ; the material begs to be given lush and melodramatic rhythm to go with the lush and melodramatic storyline . It might not be the very best silent film you've ever seen , but as far as these old-fashioned romantic will-she-or-wont-she movies go it could be a lot worse . It's one of those stories : a girl needs to betroth a rich gentlemen to help out her family , and she does reluctantly , but her heart is soon to be linked to a man who saves her not once but twice , first time from drowning after falling out of her rowboat and again when she slips and nearly falls off a cliff . There's a few of those moments where one laughs at something kooky being played straight - the honeymoon is spent in the mountain where there's clog-dancing or other - but it's really about these two characters , Lord Bracandale and Theodora , coming together . Moreover , it's about the stars playing would-be lovers on screen , with the sexy symbol of his time Valentino substituting for all those lonely women who would love to be in Swanson's shoes . You could guess that so many in the audience would yell out " just leave with him already , he's friggin ' Valentino ! " Granted , Sam Wood is no master of cinematic drama , but he's a strong craftsman who directs his stars extremely well , getting some restrained and touching performances filled with those little gestures or those sad or loving looks that make up so much of what makes silent films tic . And there's also a supporting performance Robert Bolder that has its moments . Only once did I get slightly fidgety , which is right in the scene where he's deciding on whether or not to go off on the expedition ( it dragged slightly , even for just its few minutes as one wants to get back to the stars ) . The rest of his performance , however , was splendid , particularly when he discovers by a misplaced letter about the love affair between the Lord and Theodora . The final desert scene is also a knockout of melodramatic proportions . It's always something nice when a good film is unearthed for all cineastes to take in , and Beyond the Rocks provides its audience a match-up comparable to the likes of Brad Pitt teaming up with Angelina Jolie or Roberts with Owen in the recent Duplicity . It's engaging to watch the story and yet it's not the reason we're watching : there's something to the chemistry between Swanson , a beauty who doesn't hide her curves and tender but knowing exchanges , and Valentino , who could melt the right girls face with a glance . It's a fine little relic meant to be seen on a big screen . |
510,588 | 453,068 | 180,073 | 8 | a film that works as much as a piece of sly , wicked debauchery as a comment on freedom of expression and repression | Quills recalls to me - thanks to a friend's discussion on the matter after having seen both films - of another film about a writer on the brink of being sane or insane , in a world where creative output is encouraged only so far as seen prudent and thus censorship , punishment , and redemption is squashed especially when women are involved . But unlike in the Libertine , where the director , screenwriter and cast couldn't really keep a hold on both the material and the style , and the actual content became muddled under the unnecessary drab of decadence , Quills is a lot sharper on the ball . Directed by pro Phillip Kaufman from what must have been a very good play by Doug Wright , the film is actually entertaining from scene to scene , and it's in turns funny and gripping , tragic and demoralizing , and all the while with that edge that comes in films about controversial artists . And what better subject to have then as part of looking at societal morays than with the man who's own name created the word Sadism ? That it is also headed by a top-notch cast that fills the roles to a T helps pull it off . Indeed the best thing that Kaufman does with his style is to actually not get in the way of the actors and the script , which is what the Libertine director forgot to do . There's so much that Geoffrey Rush brings to the role of the Marquis De Sade - one who is still raising eyebrows of readers to this day - while on the surface it seems to be only a little . It's a very forceful performance of a passionate character , one who almost has a need health-wise to output his ' trash ' , novels and stories about sexual decadence and certain malicious pleasures . But Rush's own strengths and bravado would be only just enough for maybe a little while without some backup . It comes greatly in the form of Michael Caine as the Doctor , who is ordered by Napoleon to come to the aid of a Priest ( Joaquin Phoenix , one of his better performances ) , who is running the asylum De Sade is currently banished to . Caine here perfectly embodies a person who , compared to De Sade , is much more evil and threatening with just his presence as he takes a very young bride , which sends the main shock-wave that catapults the bulk of the picture . It's this dynamic - with Phoenix's Priest ( and Winslet's chambermaid ) caught in the middle - that really gives the film its main dramatic juice . In general , Quills is likely one of those films from years ago that I should have seen at the time it was released , though it got such limited distribution as to not be seen in its original run . And it's one of those films I now regret having not seen sooner . It might not be a full-blown masterpiece ( Kaufman doesn't have the overall awesome power and epic scope that drove his film The Unbearable Lightness of Being ) , but it's still an important work for the actors involved , and it presents some memorable scenes to go with its subject matter . I loved how De Sade went to the extent of writing all over his clothes with his blood , and most especially the sequence where he relays a special story through the walls of the asylum to the others to be transcribed very roughly , as suspense , humor , and danger all coincide in equal measure . It even has a tinge of Clockwork Orange in the contrast between the choice of man , even if its crude and despicable , and the cold , unwavering control that drives lesser men , like Phoenix's character , to delirium . Those who are repulsed by the film may be responding more to what is on the surface with De Sade's lurid works , as opposed to seeing further into the real depths of the story at hand . |
508,896 | 453,068 | 70,355 | 8 | I hate the damn system , but until someone comes along with changes that make sense , I'll stick with it . | I think this sentence , said at a pivotal point in Magnum Force , the second Dirty Harry picture , is one that should get more attention . It says something very basic about Inspector Harry Callahan , and in a sense about the society he's fighting / serving . He has no qualms about putting a bullet right between the eyes of anyone with a pistol meaning business ( in this case there are a couple of juicy examples , like early on with a hijacked airplane ) . But there is a line that he just can't , and won't cross . This is something that I think has some reflection in our world from then and today ; many of us get ( usually rightfully so ) indignation about the criminals of the world who seem to get away with abhorrent , or just plain wrong , crimes . Dirty Harry ( Clint Eastwood , still one of his great characters ) has become a kind of masculine , hard-as-nails ( and as Pauline Kael calls pretty much ' fascist ) hero for the period , because he tries to get above the law , while still within its perturbing limits . The other line " a man's got to know his limitations , " is also potent , though more of a throwaway to the ' do I feel lucky ' speech from the first one . It's themes like these , from a script by John Milius and Michael Cimino , that give the audience something to sort of think about even as the more standard elements of the story run through . This time Harry has to contend with mysterious lot of killings in San Francisco ; a corruptible politician and a pimp being two such targets . He also has things on the side with his personal life , but soon the case is taking over for him . There is also the contemptible , and shady , Lieutentant ( Hal Holbrook , with a couple of subtleties that work better than expected through the hard-faced scenes ) , who couldn't care less about Callahan . Amid this there's at least a couple of car chases , shoot-outs , the plane hijacking mentioned before ( a highlight ) , and a supermarket robbery . For those who are gun nuts , some of these scenes will likely be eye-candy . However , compared to the first film and even some of the subsequent sequels , the direction is hit or miss ; some shots are creative , but its mostly pretty straightforward ( although Eastwood was reported as uncredited as director , it just doesn't pack the wallop Siegel's direction had ) . And the scenes involving Harry's personal life ( i . e . women ) aren't very well developed ; they're just sort of left hanging as the film focuses on the main plot , even if they're good scenes . Still , through all of this , the ideas working through the story and the script help push it forward to a rewarding and exciting climax . There is a statement being made through all the action and hard talk . And there's that trademark jazz score too . |
509,115 | 453,068 | 1,032,846 | 8 | at its best its a stark , haunting look at a complex issue without much sentimentality | The most recent Palm D'Or winner was , at first , a little perplexing to me , and had a feeling of it slightly throughout its near two-hour running time . It starts off looking like a movie about nothing ( and not the interesting awesome kind of nothing that is about something ) , with a woman going about some busy business is a dorm , and meeting and talking with her boyfriend . Then it segues into a story of her attempts to help out her friend procure an illegal abortion in a hotel room under some harsh circumstances ( i . e . the girl is timid and uneasy in her ignorance , the man performing it is cold and cruel and a professional pig , the general fear and loathing of the situation ) . But Mingiu's style is something that took me totally off my guard , and I wasn't sure for the better . The film contends with the likes of Woyzek of having a ridiculous among of long-takes ( and long as in ten-minute length , the variety that would've been impossible decades ago ) , with these characters in a bind of usually holding back emotions under these complex set of circumstances , where the fear of getting caught goes hand in hand with the problems of guilt in a society that shouldn't have that instilled in people in the first place . I even though once or twice " what's all the hoopla about with this movie ? " But since I saw it yesterday , the film hasn't left my mind , and considering the little problems I still have with it ( mostly involving one or two scenes that , for all intents and purposes , do overrun their length of a take ) , it's much more of a remarkable film that I thought right after seeing it . It's a lot like if Bresson shot a home movie set in Romania in Communist era times of dread , where a character like the lead Otilia ( Anamaria Minca ) is so restrained we wonder if she'll suddenly burst at the seams at any moment . Once or twice she and the perpetually quiet and insipid character Gabita ( Laura Vasiliu ) break down in their emotion , but it's all mostly unsentimental in portrayal . So , perhaps , think L'Infant , also a recent Golden Palm winner , only with a stronger and much more unforgiving message at the core of an abortion : it's never easy for anybody , on any side , least of all for the fetus dumped away in some dark room or other , away from the dogs that could tear it to pieces , and as something that will be at worst a skeleton in the closet . But the style of the picture is most striking because of how it tries to be somehow immediate and detached ; we're caught without a cut at times , like someone is ( carefully , not Cloverfield ) holding the camera , getting down every little gesture , every little eye movement , and not with a cutaway or close-up . Lighting is also minimal or for the basics , like when we're at the dinner table with her boyfriend's family , or especially at dark when she's walking around in a daze . It's a challenging perspective that , dare I say it amongst all who love the film so , veers on pretension . But as I said , the power to stay with me hasn't diminished , and like any powerful piece of European cinema that tries to provoke through suggestion , through subtext , and through a precise , cruel naturalistic setting , it doesn't go away very easily . |
510,384 | 453,068 | 478,090 | 8 | a must-see for Chong's fans , and maybe for others too . . . | . . . and those others , in essence , might be most people in America . As the subject of a / k / a Tommy Chong states himself in the film - after being incarcerated for nine months for selling bongs to one state - his arrest and conviction was meant as a symbol for what could be done to practically anybody . When the current administration puts forth the notion of drug use being equal to terrorism all bets are off as to who's next . So the documentary here , maybe one of the better ones out this summer , works pretty much for two sides . Those interested in seeing a story of a case about the drug issue and civil rights , calling into question the constitution , and what's done by the attorney general's office is on one side . On the other side is the far and wide fan-base of Chong's from his stand-up , albums , and movies . The director Josh Gilbert does a very good job at balancing out the facts and interviews about the bong case and Chong's stay in prison with his personal and career histories . Some of this archival footage has not been seen in years , if at all , which brings out many good laughs alongside the classic clips interspersed in the film . It's not really ' polished ' style-wise , and it is mostly filmed with digital cameras at times capturing even the mundane moments of Chong days before going off to prison . Scenes like this usually wouldn't be in some documentaries , even as this is very independently made and wont be seen by as many people as other documentaries coming out this year . But in Chong's own testimonies , both of the facts and then how he puts it on in recent stand-up footage , and then through the legal and personal ramifications of the case , there's a lot to ponder and feel from the material . There's sadness , there's humor , there's outrage , and even moments of clarity and catharsis - Chong's now , apparently , been made a martyr through this happening , more popular and more counter-culture than ever in his late sixties . It's imperfect , but it has a crucial topic that is made all the more human by who is put at the center of " operation pipe dreams " . |
508,834 | 453,068 | 83,767 | 8 | in equal measure creepy ( hence the title ) and wickedly funny | A collaboration made in hell ! I kid , but really this is one of the best examples of what can come about , much as would happen a couple of decades later with Miller and Rodriguez , when two creative juggernauts in their respective main genres put their heads together , most notably with comic books . Both writer and director were influenced by the EC comics of the 1950s , Romero maybe more than King , and it's a highly stylized , high-wire example of it being a romp , a satire , a live-action cartoon , and a gore-fest all interspersed . It also features a handful of some awesome character actors for the segments . Each segment has its strengths , maybe a few weaknesses as well ( it IS so much into escapism it teeters on the edge of being too campy for its own good ) . But it provides a great fix if you're looking for some quick doses of Romero's visual mania and strengths ( this time with extra budget for special effects and wilder lighting set-ups ) and King's un-yielding need to scare the crap , or freak out , his audience however possible . But what's interesting some twenty-four years after Creepshow was first released , is not even how the segments - at least from my POV - hold up pretty well even in today's overridden computer effects world , but how its often even funnier than it is scary . As would be the case with any comic book , unless if it's a deep and dark graphic novel , there's bound to even be just a bit of unintentional humor . The stories in Creepshow more or less deal with very wicked people , sometimes pretty well off , and with more than a few deeply held personal grudges that come back to bite them in the ass , often in the form of zombies and monsters and what-not . My two absolute favorites , if I had to choose , were the Jody Varill segment and The Crate . The former could have almost been a Looney Tunes cartoon if not for what happens at the end of the segment ; King himself plays the lead character , a hapless country bumpkin who finds a meteor that's hit on his farm , which he touches and then soon becomes , along with his farm , a big pile of literal moss . King shows here he's terrific with playing such a one-note stereotype , and the ' wishful thinking ' moments where he brings the meteor to just that specific section of college is some of the funniest stuff King's ever written . The latter , the Crate , features old pros Hal Halbrook and Adrienne Barbeau as a on-the-rocks married couple , him a professor and her his overbearing alcoholic wife . When his colleague finds a crate from the 19th century , and an insane baboon-like creature that will only stay in the crate whilst it eats its victims , he tells Halbrook's character , who then proceeds to plot a certain task he's envisioned for years . This segment represents a good balance in some genuine thrills and the dastardly humor ; I couldn't help but laugh when I saw Halbrook's visions of his wife's demise , as well as the creature itself , about as campy in its creation as possible . The other segments are pretty good contenders as well , with the Leslie Nielson " Something to Tide You Over " segment cooler with its story than its overall execution , the first story involving the dead husband rising from the grave amusing if not altogether scary or funny . And finally , EG Marshall goes in very rare over-the-top form as a corporate antagonist who has a certain distaste for cockroaches - this one is actually very terrifying , even as it serves up more than it can really handle after a while . The whole form of Creepshow is visually cool too , as cuts sometimes dissolve as if through a comic-book , one frame moving over for the next , and little framing devices like jagged edges around the characters in close-up , distorted angles , twisted lighting , it's all there . It may not be altogether great , but it's got a lot of stuff that as a movie geek I really admired , as Romero and King took their homage as almost an excuse to throw in the kitchen sink with everything else . It's delirious , it's stupid , it's witty , and it basically displays , for better or worse , two contemporary horror heroes having lots of fun , as it also passes along to the actors too . |
510,291 | 453,068 | 112,913 | 8 | a messy movie , but not a mess , this is a film with an attention to its method of its unconventional style | Wong Kar Wai doesn't play by the rules , and those who respond positively to his films wouldn't want it any other way . While he's recently gone a little more measured and controlled with style ( relatively speaking ) with In the Mood for Love and 2046 , it's mostly in that he's now using things like dollies and steadi-cams . Looking at Chungking Express and , particularly , Fallen Angels , he reveals himself as a filmmaker total in trust with a style that in other hands would be simply amateurish . His camera , led on by Christopher Doyle , follows along these characters like in a slightly feverish documentary , with the accompanied narration adding the emphasis on inner thoughts and details . It's a crime drama , but it's also a fresh way to look at material that has a little bit of quirk , a heap-load of attitude , and at least a good lot of romance , or the lack of it or the pining for it with these characters . It's equally sweet and rough-edged , like an adorable motorcycle . For plot , there's not much : two male characters , one is a hit-man who's starting to feel the pressure of his job ( ironically , he describes it as being a good one early on as " I'm a lazy person . I like people to arrange things for me " ) , and breaks off from his partner , a woman who cleans up his ' messes ' of mass destruction , and then falls for a strange blonde girl . The other is a mute ex-con who robs people by being obnoxious at various one-night-stand type of jobs , and in the process meeting a girl whom has a freak-out one night ( there's an amazing scene , I should add , where in one shot we see him fall completely for this girl with a soft blues song playing behind him describe this as his first love ) . At least , that's as much as I gathered from the essentials ; there's also a sub-plot with the mute kid , He Zwhiu , and his father as he starts to videotape him all the time . But Wong isn't interested in plot mechanics as two central facets : mood of a scene on technical fronts , and a sensibility that's close to poetic intent . Wong's camera moves in a way that is a little dizzying , and it feels like it should be a shamble , a fiasco of an art-house item that doesn't transition well to the US . But it becomes apparent that its form is , at least , consistent to the intent at hand . We're so aware of the style that the characters are seemingly organic from this urban , post-modern spread . They're more than a little alienated ( watch that shot where the woman is in the café , and the fight breaks out behind her without flinching an eyelash to the situation ) , and they have the tendencies of youth trapped in a situation they can only break out of ( for one it's a way of life as work that gets mixed up due to emotions with the partner , the other with his father and going past disrobing the homeless and conning a family with ice cream ) . Wong Kar Wai presents this amusingly at times , a brisk sense of humor dropped in to let the audience know ' it's OK to laugh here and there , they ARE human after all with all their idiosyncrasies ' . But at the same time there's a sorrow to the material that is given life by the hand-held , by the shots of characters in mirrors , by mixed media , by black and white shots thrown in , by editing that cuts off the head of the 180 degree rule here and there , by pumping in sad music and it does come close to diluting the emotional impact of the characters's fates . And yet , Wong has the soul of a romantic at heart , so to speak , and despite the fact that there's some pretty violence scenes in the picture ( done in that hyper-speed style that is a little slow , a little fast in a way , as one has seen in many HK crime films ) there's an intelligence that steers it from being TOO sloppy . This may be arguable , to be sure , in either direction ; some may even call it a masterpiece of post-modernism as well as those who can't stand it period . I don't necessarily think it's even Kar-Wai's best film . But it inspires so many fresh images and thoughts I can't discard it as a warped slip-up from an otherwise avant-garde darling . If anything a film like Fallen Angels lifts up his reputation as the Chinese answer to Godard ( minus , of course , the Maoism and the reading excerpts of books on camera ) . |
508,138 | 453,068 | 100,935 | 8 | Wild at Heart has some memorable moments in this good Lynch movie | A filmmaker , in particular a surrealist like David Lynch , has to be kind of careful with the way he makes his films , so that all of the abstract images and set-pieces and little moments in the stranger-than-life stories he makes can bring some awe or amazement to the viewer . He has done this in the past wonderfully with Eraserhead ( his most disturbing movie to me ) and Mulholland Drive , as well to a degree with Blue Velvet . With Wild at Heart , his second adaptation of a novel , he brings to the screen some moments that stick in your head , but some of them aren't really the kind that strike me crazy like with some of his other films . For example ( and I have a feeling this might be part Lynch , part novelist Barry Gifford , but I'm not sure ) he laces in a sort of subtext with the Wizard of Oz , as the two ( anti ) heroes of the film , Sailor and Lula ( Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern ) keep on seeing images of them . It's an effective image the first time , but working it into the plot makes it a little ridiculous ; I knew that the film was part pulp-fantasy , yet with the climax including a small speech from Glenda the Good witch to Sailor , it's very unfulfilled . It brought the film to a close with melodrama , but it left nothing mysterious , nothing that usually has me floored by Lynch in not explaining where these people will go . There are also other abstractions at times that go a little too overboard , a little too clever for Lynch's own good . These gripes aside , Wild at Heart is quite the entertainer , a sort of romantic exploitation picture that fuses elements from 1950's cinema ( Elvis , rock and roll , cool cars ) and gives its audience what it wants for the better part of two hours . The basic premise involves two young people , played Cage and Dern , who are very well matched , as Cage gives a believable turn with half-hammed up , half sincere attitude , and Dern giving one of her best so far . They meet each other and can't keep their hands or minds off of each other , eloping constantly throughout the film . But there are problems from the start - Sailor has just been released from prison , with a dark past , and can be a very violent person . Lula's mother , Marietta ( Diane Ladd in one of two very twisted performances in the film ) , can't stand Lula's choice , and will stop at nothing to see that Sailor doesn't get her , including hiring strong-men and a hit-man ( Harry Dean Stanton ) to track them down . Along the way , they run into some mishaps , and bad people ( one being Willem Dafoe , the other twisted performance ) as a lurid figure in the third act . There has been a lot written about the violence in the film , which is in fact very over-the-top ( almost in an Oliver Stone NBK way , but done in Lynch's own style of course ) . It's not offensive , but it isn't as if its entertaining . It's just , well , there , and it does work to fit into the story . What one can criticize is , like with the other abstractions I mentioned before , it leaves one a little empty or feeling out-of-place . The violence has to be there , there's no question about that , and it is in an exaggerated form of the obviously fake violence in the 1950's road movies . But it takes itself so not seriously , it's hard to take it into account with the rest of the story . There's a sense of some realism in the film , but I don't know if Lynch knows at times how to combat it with his surrealism . Still , this isn't to say he hasn't made a good film , he has : it contains a lot of his wit , a lot of flashes of great use of color , used expressively like the painter he is , and it does blend much of the time as an art film-cum-drive-in flick , and it contains some of the sexiest scenes Lynch has filmed ( he seems better with sex than violence ) . I just wouldn't say it's one of Lynch's very best works . Maybe I'll like it more the second time , or less . As Ebert put it , this is like a Luis Bunuel film done with a Jerry Lewis re-write . I'm a big fan of Bunuel , not so much of Lewis . |
508,431 | 453,068 | 112,907 | 8 | reality and acting on the dark side of inebriation | Richard Lewis is one of my all-time favorite comedians . Mel Brooks once called him the Franz Kafka of comedy , and it's not far from the truth . The guy crafts such agonizing and harrowing comedy out of neuroses and problems and just common familial and relationship and whatever dread that it's staggering to watch ( seeing him recently it was even more free-form and stream-of-conscious than ever , like Kurt Vonnegut and Woody Allen in a Bowery bar telling penis jokes ) . But he also was , in his past , troubled and on drugs and alcohol and went to a therapist for years and so on , and finally kicked it for good in the early 90s ( he even wrote a sprawling , scatter-shot tell-all book called The Other Great Depression ) . So , in 1995 , he took the lead part in Drunks , and if it may seem like his performance as Jim is so spot on and incredible it's more than likely because he knows this character , maybe all too well . I go on about Lewis so much just because he's the character most on the edge , the one falling off amongst all these other AA people meeting in a Manhattan Church , that it's impossible to take your eyes off him when he shows up . Jim , who speaks very reluctantly to the couple of dozen people at the AA meeting , lost his wife to a brain aneurysm two years after becoming sober from booze and junk . Then he slipped and went back and at the time of the meeting he hasn't had a drink in several months . Right after this long and heartfelt confession he leaves and wanders the streets , tempted at first and finally giving in to his insatiable craving to whiskey and beer . While he goes from either bar to his apartment or on the streets for drugs the film cuts back to the AA meeting where other people share their experiences , some fatally tragic like the blackout guy , or Dianne Wiest's doctor , or Faye Dunaway's upper-class mother , or Sam Rockwell's seemingly regular guy , or even Parker Posey as an ex-hippie chick . Hell , even Calista Flockheart gives a showstopper of a performance , which is an indicator of how on top of things the actors are here . It is , if as a real liability , written and performed like a play , and it's broken up as a series of monologues inter-cut with Jim in his downward spiral mode . The good thing about director Peter Cohn's approach is that even if a monologue falls kind of flat - I actually didn't care much for Spalding Gray who sort of mumbled through his character's turn as the guy who just showed up not knowing it was an AA meeting in the basement of the church - it can cut back to Richard Lewis who , in particular in one later scene at a bar , lays it down to such a heartbreaking beat that you almost wish he was in a Bergman movie or something - or , for that matter , one of Woody Allen's serious films . He's that amazing here , whether it's just how he is or if it's a " performance " or whatever . It's an actor's movie , and for that it works well . Just don't watch it for anything fancy or flashy ; it's slightly obscure for that reason , since it doesn't have a real " star " attached . |
510,870 | 453,068 | 95,310 | 8 | it's sub-title : Family and Philosophy , almost tells all | This is the first film I've seen by Chantal Ackerman , and I'm mixed as to see more of her films . I see so much here , even as I have personal criticisms of certain things in her style . I wondered when the film would end at times ( not knowing the running time seeing it ) , and its shifting between rye , sly Jewish jokes and sad tales of Jews escaping the horrors ( or not ) of holocaust and the working-class immigrant's life , is very unexpected . But then again , the film has the feel of being a hybrid of documentary and fiction , with actors ( there's character Kirk Baltz somewhere in there ) and perhaps non-actors or really off-off Broadway people . As I was told , this is in the tradition of black-box theater , in particular Jewish ones , and its filmed with an invariable European feel and mood by Ackerman . Certain jokes were very amusing ( there's even one that was featured in Coming to America ! ) , and others that reminded me of the ' it's not funny but hmm ' feeling of those in Jarmusch films . The stories told are very long , and the shot-lengths go neck-and-neck in competition with other art-house filmmakers to be some of the longer ones in cinematic memory . Sometimes there is movement to the film , as in the brief , interesting conversations with the older characters . And there is some nice , understated dialog in the ' restaurant ' scenes . It's really for a specific audience , and is unique for better or worse , the kind of underground movie that has a lot to ponder about the Jewish-American ( and European , mostly Polish , Jewish ) experience . Some of the stories , indeed , are rather horrific in scope , while others question what life is living in the less-classy side of the city of New York . And the film is given not only a beautiful opening image of the city from a small boat , but a brilliant end scene with an old man in the middle of a field , recanting a very sweet story . Hard to find ( watched it in a class ) , and was glad to watch , once , as a good introduction to Ackerman . |
508,258 | 453,068 | 91,504 | 8 | If you can find it , and it isn't as bad as the copy I watched , it's . . . sorta courageous , and strange | Jean-Luc Godard and Woody Allen . Just by those two names you will know if this short interview-film , which has been seen by likely less than a hundred people since it was filmed almost twenty years ago , will be worth to see ( and 80's era Godard and Woody no less ) . Basically , you get Godard's madman sensibilities as a filmmaker , playing around with the structure of a director interview , and you get Woody Allen's insights . Ironically , I think this was made for video , or at least shot on it ( maybe it was shot on film , I'd have to look it up ) , and more than half of the interview is based around the idea ( that Godard proposes and Allen agrees with when understanding ) that television is a corrupter of the audience . But along with questions , and even more interesting answers , about television , there are also questions and answers about the film-making process , and how Allen feels about it . While at times Godard tries to back up to TV again , one does get of course what Allen is like - immensely underrating his films once finished , and at times finding the film-making process to be more of a distraction from the other horrors of the world . Godard does ( and sometimes doesn't ) succeed in adding to these words of Allen's with spliced in images from his films , other filmmakers ( Orson Welles ) , and New York city buildings , among other swell oddities . Really , it isn't the most intriguing interview with Woody to date , but to see what his take on film-making , TV , Hannah and Her Sisters , and other things was like then in 86 is worth a peek . That it IS Godard at least brings some initial fascination , then some frustration , then , well , acceptance . This is a fairly courageous way of presenting what could be standard , pat-on-the-back interview fare ( Godard does pay a compliment once or twice ' Hannah ' , though that's it , in his old-school Cashiers du Cinema ways ) . How Allen feels about his films won't be news to those who saw Richard Shickel's documentary on him . But just to have this film in your possession - if you would feel as strong a compulsion to see it based on the two names of the directors ( known in their countries as the most intellectual , stimulating , & / or pretentious filmmakers around ) - is a temptation that somehow lured me in . However , if you do seek it out , know well that the copy of the video will more likely than not be watchable only up to a point . It's literally one of those ( perhaps minor ) works by a director that end up on lists of all-time rarities , for better or worse . AMENDMENT : This interview is now available on certain sites online . |
511,025 | 453,068 | 1,049,400 | 8 | Kirby Dick takes another look at a facet of American life that's considered a ' no-no ' to talk about | Kirby Dick's attitude to material that's a ' no-no ' is to say " yes-yes ! " His previous film , a near masterpiece chronicling the hypocrisy of the MPAA on American film censorship since the inception of the NC-17 rating , served as an indictment while also having some fun . While a sense of fun only springs up on occasion in Outrage he still gets right what needs to be shown : an in-depth look at the rampant hypocrisy of government's ' in-the-closet ' stance . Gay politicians rarely come out of said closet - in the film we see two such promininent figures interviewed at length , NJ governor Jim McGreevey and Massachusetts rep Barney Frank - and Dick's aim with the documentary is to seek out the hows and whys . It's poignant when it needs to be , but above all else it serves up information we as the public should know about figures . It's a truth-to-power assemblage on public figures who , time and time again , have voted against gay and AIDS rights ( it may not surprise some to know it's Republicans who are the ones most in the closet-side ) while denying what people can see outright . Dick frames his doc on two key figures , one being Larry Craig , the disgraced congressman who was caught in a bathroom doing something that , perhaps , was equatable to what he described Bill Clinton as doing in the mid 90s . He propositioned a cop for ' something ' and fervently denied it in public , despite allegations that there had been other incidents in the past suggesting more than likely that he was and has been in the closet . It's been one of the great follies of the past couple of years , and opened up the discussion that appears in the film ( Craig , it should be added , has something like a 16 % voting record on gay rights through his career ) . The other figure , not with as much national notoriety as Craig , is Florida governor Charlie Crist , a " bachelor " who had married once and quickly divorced in the 70s and remained a single man for as long as anyone could tell - not to mention having a chief aid allegedly going with him around the world on vacations ( the trick being that one would go the day before and the other the day after - every vacation for decades ) , and denied up and down being possibly , at all , gay . Despite all matters on the contrary , Crist denies it ( after going through a girlfriend and another wife during and after the election ) , and continues to put fervent anti-gay judges on the state court . Dick isn't out to " out " anyone of the closet - at least , anyone that would rather be kept private . But these are public figures , and the aim is that of This Film is Not Yet Rated : open up the lid , look inside , and see what makes this subject tick to hell . And with Washington and US politics and media , there's so much to mine and Dick and his team do a very good job . Hell , we even get Ed Koch ! Who knew ? |
510,178 | 453,068 | 167,904 | 8 | not the best concert video , but it's worth it for the die-hards | Probably the biggest disappointment about this DVD / video , the Doors on their tour of Europe in 1968 , is that it's not really a full concert like with the Hollywood Bowl video . It's more of a pastiche of different clips and appearances , and interview footage from Paul Kantner and Grace Slick from Jefferson Airplane , who give some interesting ( if not really necessary with the rest of the footage ) anecdotes on the Doors . That's not to say what's on here isn't good - there's fine performances of ' When the Music's Over ' and ' Five to One ' among others , but many of the numbers are shot in grainy picture with crummy sound ( i . e . ' Spanish Caravan ' ) . It's not unwatchable / unlistenable footage , but it brings to mind how much better the clarity of a filmed concert can be . That it's also not full performances ( patched together at times ) it's also not as fulfilling . Still , as I said , it's worth it for die-hard fans , who want nothing more than to get ( rare ) footage of the Doors in their prime . |
509,924 | 453,068 | 443,366 | 8 | after seeing only a few episodes , I can't wait to see them all ! | Nick Frost is in very fine form here , not nearly as sloth-like or just plain dumb ( though ingeniously so ) in Edgar Wright's comedies but still with a sense of the truly ridiculous in sublime style . His gags are obvious and repetitive ( which I loved , like when he's completely covered in the red protective gear and constantly hit by two guys with sticks ) , and sometimes with such tact and speed you can't see them coming ( eg when he's lost in the woods at night and an audio-tape meant as a bomb counts down while a voice speaks over it " find the bomb " ) . It's subtle in the best form of British comedy , but it's also akin to Frost going into situations that border on being not even too dangerous : will there be danger in ice-fishing ? Some of the biggest laughs even come from the little illustrations and cartoons shown of Frost showing what to do at , say , a volcano eruption , or if an elevator cable gets broken . Much of it is uproarious simply because no one will ever have to attempt , much less do , this in real life ( i . e . driving a car like James Bond , rescuing hostages , and mingling with reindeer while an elf goes to task getting his own ) . Some of the tips are actually possibly useful , if in the most truly absurd ways . How to deliver a baby in a taxi ? How to obtain water if you're in the middle of the desert ? What about possible attacks from Kommodo dragons , bears or gorillas ( watch for the sign language-off between Frost and a silver-back , priceless ) . While it isn't always all golden comedy - some bits like the reindeer one need to rely on too much absurdism to really stay afloat for too long - more often than not it's addictive stuff , especially if you've got the series on DVD . I could see recommending this to people who may not have even seen Frost's work in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz as his personality rings dead-on as being sincere in the questions and ruthless in shameless shtick ( few things can compare to seeing Frost get an explanation on how to deal with a nut with a baseball bat - one of 4 , 000 not used in the UK - in a bar brawl ) . None of his skewering of old tried-and-true dangers of the world is cruel or too stale , and there's originality in just approaching which guest interviewees to have . Witty and silly , once tapped into the wavelength Frost is reaching for , it's well worth the tutorials . |
509,852 | 453,068 | 373,280 | 8 | solid crime-show pilot that shows Lee can do something dramatic outside of NYC ( pre Miracle at St . Anna ) | Sucker Free City refers to San Francisco , where three interlocking stories take place with black , white and Chinese guys on the street . Some are gang-bangers ( black ) , or hard-bitten mafia ( Chinese ) , and the other ( white ) are more marginalized with some dabbling in some ' thug ' business . What's very strong here in a pilot episode is also something of an unfortunate weakness considering it's Spike Lee directing , and directing well : it ends on a note of ' what comes next ' , of a few too many loose ends to feel totally at ease as a stand alone work , which it sadly became once Showtime decided not to pick it up . While one wonders if they could pick up the reins properly from Lee , or if he could produce the series , or ( more logically ) if it could properly compete with HBO's The Wire , taking it as a stand-alone made-for-TV movie , it's quality s we're talking about , so to speak . Lee directs with a professionalism that is uncanny , but like any good film artist trying to work into something mainstream he only puts his marks here once in a while , even less than in something big like Inside Man ( one of the trademarks though , Da-BOMB malt liquor from Bamboozled , is a fun and nice touch ) . He does what he needs to do : tell all these stories , set up a lot of things to play out within the two-hours and for the future ( as there is uncertainty even in what feels finished ) , and cast everything to a T . In this case we get Anthony Mackie , fresh off of what turned out to be a turkey for Lee , She Hate Me , as a gang-banger K-Luv in abandoned wasteland Hunter's Point trying to go somewhat legit with his endeavors ; Ben Crowley as the credit-card hustler and sometimes coke-dealer Ben Wade , who's parents have decided to move right into Hunter's point across the street from K-Luv's people ; ( way underrated ) Ken Leung as a collector for the Chinese mob getting in over his head with a new decked-out car and debts unpaid . Lee creates an atmosphere that's tense , funny , and occasionally really shocking ( not to spoil , but it does involve children ) , and he has a surprisingly strong script to work off of from first-timer Alex Tse . Everything easily gets linked together , but the tensions rise with some conventionality - just enough to keep things believable for TV . The set-up is even so good I'm reminded of Oz , where the psychology and sociology of street-life got examined with mature entertainment . One can only think how the characters lives could go on from here , but the fact that Lee keeps us guessing is a mark of his talents ; ironically , this is one of the director's best works in recent years , and should be seen by more than just those looking him up this site . |
508,291 | 453,068 | 757,061 | 8 | a tale of a prostitute and her , uh , ' sister , and also a daring allegory on heaven & hell ( more-so the latter ) | It's not exactly as surprising really that the Showtime network decided not to pick up director Takashi Miike's entry into the Masters of Horror , Imprint , but rather why they chose him in the first place . Didn't they think after seeing Ichi the Killer and Audition and Gozu , among probably a dozen others I can't think of , that he would deliver something to the highest X-rated for violence & / or sex caliber ? I'm guessing then they either decided to take a calculated risk , or maybe Mick Garris was such a huge fan of his he must've known what he was getting . Maybe no one did . Certainly not me , and I've already dug into a good few of Miike's movies . This one definitely ranks up there as one of the most shocking of the lot of the works he's made , matter of fact probably ever will . It's how really that the director approaches the subject matter , and how its presented , that really makes it so effective in the realm of real horror . This isn't for kids , make that perfectly clear ; indeed I'd say if you've ever really been close to babies , or have had them , you might really feel disgusted by a few of the key scenes in Imprint . At first Miike seems to be dealing with something that is intriguing , though in a familiar style . It's a Rashomon-style tale of the truth behind a grisly matter , in this case the death of a prostitute , Komomo ( Michie Ito , pretty heart-wrenching when she gets time to be ) . Her one-true-love , Christopher ( Billy Drago , in a performance that's somewhat like David Carradine but in a slightly different , not-as-magnificent key ) , is there to find her on an island run amock with prostitutes . He goes to pieces over the news , which he hears from a woman ( Youki Kudoh , the most effective and shattering performance of the film ) who has a scarred face . He then hears a ' story ' of what happened to her , but through the woman's story as opposed to exactly Komomo's . The woman has to tell her own story , which starts off rough from when her mother sends her away as a child from their river-side house to the ring of ' whores ' she becomes apart of , and where she meets Komomo . But this story , of which the first real rush of horror comes in following an interrogation / torture of Komomo , is only the first one , and not necessarily the ' truth ' . What comes out as the truth soon enough turns into something that not only did I not expect , but had me cringing and with eyebrows raised , but once or twice sort of laughing too . This isn't a very funny effort really , and unlike Visitor Q Miike doesn't combine satire with the more disturbing , bone-chilling elements . It's a straight-up no-holds barred look at the darkest side of human corruption and exploitation , with the surprises that come up really too hard to believe at times . For example when we finally do see the woman's ultimate ' secret ' , it borders on being a laughable , un-Godly sight gag . But it's dealt with in the utmost serious way , and meant as allegory - which it is without a doubt the case - is very powerful . What ends up being the most horrific , and horrific to a point that will make those in the US who seek out the DVD covering their eyes and feeling ripped to shreds , is stuff that isn't completely abstracted like with the ideas of ' the soul being in heaven or the body being in hell ' . It's in seeing how the woman came to be , from birth , and how seeing what she saw - her mother's ' occupation ' - along with her certain ' ailment ' involving her sibling , combine together into something that is much more potent than monsters or savage lunatic psychos . For Christopher , this is something that brings him to the brink of his own cognizance , and what his love for Komomo really meant . Seeing how Komomo had her final days on Earth is pretty staggering , but for the viewer its not exploitive in the sense that it's just shock-value for shock-value's sake ( though I'm sure many would argue that , especially over notorious scenes in other Miike films ) . It's there for a purpose , and made purposeful through the style that is very unlike how typical TV mini-movies are shot . Sometimes we get the bloody , creepy shots , and sometimes not , adding to what horror is or isn't seen as part of the effect . In the end , all of it adds up to something that I might want to try to forget soon , but I probably won't be able to . In short , if you're already a fan of Miike's , this should be like the treat of the season , with a mix of the director's bravura film-making technique ( some shots are pretty incredible , like the tilt from the water to that tree , in tint of green , or the detail in how he shoots ' things ' moving in backgrounds , and long-shots ) , and the no-punches-pulled sensibility of the subject matter . In this case a world of maybe the purest hell on earth with only the dire hopes and undermined will of getting to a heaven . It's one of the director's very best , albeit shortest , works in his very prolific career . |
508,646 | 453,068 | 56,937 | 8 | at best it's intelligent and captivating and historically interesting film-making - at worst , it's dull exposition | It's one of the big " fiasco " stories of Hollywood lore : the most gargantuan budget spent on a single motion picture - 47 million ( the equivalent of about 260 million today ) - on an epic so huge in scale that it was nearly unthinkable , however true , that it started out as a modestly budgeted production that skyrocketed by a myriad of reasons . Not least of which was star Elizabeth Taylor herself , who first stopped the first try at production with Rouben Mamoulian through her various real / fake illnesses , then second through her notorious relationship with Richard Burton that started on the set and distracted them from certain scenes ( which is arguable but the point is valid ) . By the time the film was released it could in only a miracle recoup its budget in its initial theatrical run , and got ( to say it nicely ) mixed reviews . To see Cleopatra now isn't to say that history has been entirely kind to the production , but it should be said that it can be viewed somewhat on the terms that Joseph L . Mankiewicz set out for the final product . All the money is up there on the screen , in nearly disgusting detail and extravagance , yet the director has also crafted something that does , usually , have substance past the enormous spectacle and ( also to say softly ) lavish production designs and sets . He tells the story of Cleopatra , Egypt's most ( in ) famous queen , in a split-act form that is like two movies strung together ( in fact it was the director's idea to have them as separate 3-hour epics , though eventually each part was trimmed by an hour and put together again ) , and while the latter part might work better than the former , it's an impressive , flawed , and interesting effort all the same . It might be much to go into too much detail about all of the specifics of the story , as it would take up far too much of this review . Suffice to say it's first about Cleopatra ( Taylor ) and her mentor - cum - father - to - her - child Caesar ( Rex Harrison , in surprisingly good two-dimensional form ) , and then after he is killed her hot and complex relationship with Marc Antony ( Burton ) , and the eventual war between Rome and Egypt via the new power-hungry Caesar ( stunning Roddy McDowell ) . For this first part , which is mostly with Harrison and Taylor and a little Burton thrown in , it's a lot of exposition that sometimes is quite dull ; one wonders when the big spectacle will come about , the exception of course that spectacular " entrance " of Cleopatra's into Rome . Yet , it's never really too dis-interesting , if only from a ( Hollywoodized ) historical point of view , and if one is a buff of Roman history - or , at least , Roman epics - there should be enough to hold the interest . It's when Cleopatra and Marc Antony get the most screen time in the second half , however , that things start to get a lot more absorbing ; the chemistry in real life rubbed off on the two stars , and there are scenes where Burton ( probably the most highly charged of the major actors ) and Taylor square off like it's oneupmanship . And as Mankiewicz goes further with the story into the final battle , things pick up in the narrative that suddenly gets things boiling like a good old-fashioned epic , and there's finally a synergy of substance and style that is spotty for some portions of the film . Yes , it's probably TOO big , and TOO long , and with the hubris of the producers and its stars right up there in certain moments if not spread throughout ( it goes without saying that Taylor's diva demands seem to radiate off her queen in some real specific instances ) . But it's no failure by any means , and it's no disaster either . At the same time it also shoots short of greatness by not being , apparently , very well organized , with no complete script and its director re-writing scenes ala Godard the night before it was too be filmed . For what it's worth , some 45 years later , it's a fine achievement that isn't overrated and maybe just a tinge underrated . |
509,841 | 453,068 | 65,622 | 8 | the sly and slightly crazy satire of church and sex | Pier Paolo Pasolini has with the Decameron what is supposedly one of his " happiest " movies . This is not to say the film is always cheery - matter of fact a couple of the stories deep down are pretty dark and sad and cursed thanks to the repression of religion and mortal sins - but Pasolini's comedy here is sharp and his wit comes out in the obscene or in the random . It's a little like Bunuel only with a more earthy sensibility with the locations and slightly less surreal situations ; it doesn't mean that Pasolini is any less ambitious with treating the foibles and stringent ways of the Catholic Church . The Decameron's only big liability , in my estimation , is that it could be easy to get lost in the structure Pasolini sets up ; it's nine stories , ranging from a Sicillian being swindled after finding out he's a brother to a sister of royalty until he's covered in feces , to a supposedly deaf-mute boy who becomes the sex toy for a bunch of sex-starved nuns , to a supposed ' Saint ' who fools a priest into thinking he's such with his lackluster confessional , to a girl being met by her boyfriend on the roof and then being ( joyfully ) caught by her parents since his family is wealthy . They're all interesting stories , more often than not , with even a really short piece like the priest attempting to seduce his friend's wife providing something amusing or eye-catching visually . But , again , all of these stories go from one into the next without much warning , and one may wonder when the next story really begins or if it's a continuation of the last . As it turns out , like the Phantom of Liberty , it's very stream-of-consciousness and one skewering of morality and sex can bleed easily into the other . And yet some may find this to be a more daring strength than others ; certainly it's a very funny movie ( if not quite as funny as Pasolini's masterpiece The Hawks and the Sparrows ) , like with the bit of the guy caught in the tomb , to the frankness of the parents asking the boy to marry their daughter on the rooftop - even just the strange feeling one gets watching the painter ( played by , I think , Pasolini himself ) in the act of creating an unusual but unique work on a church wall . The greatest thing of all , for fans of the subversive , is that nothing is out of bounds for Pasolini , via his source material of the Boccaccio book , and he never is one to ever shy away from sex . That's also another asset this time around - unlike Arabian Nights we get some actually erotic bits thrown in the midst , if unintentionally , and on occasion ( i . e . the shot following Lorenzo as he runs by the fence ) the director conjures something powerful amidst the medieval / surreal / neo-realist pastiche . |
510,781 | 453,068 | 454,848 | 8 | goes a little long not knowing when to end , but it is a genuinely clever crowd pleaser | Inside Man has the appeal of a slick , cool , not-too-old used car . You know certain things will definitely be there , but you also are hoping some things might be surprising . Spike Lee isn't doing an incredible subversion of the heist picture , particularly the bank-heist picture , but he is putting his mark on it , and this split between common Hollywood stylistics and a personal vision make it a fine little piece of studio film-making . There's also a story at work here , one that does develop the ensemble ( mostly of hostages , and cops , and others ) , while also developing in a way that , at the least , isn't too boring . There may be a lot of elements going on in the film surrounding this bank robbery , and its questionable if the focus isn't on one thing the whole time . But if Lee can do one thing quite well , it's making sure the pieces fit , most of the time . His cast is all top-notch , with his on / off again acting collaborator Denzel Washington in his smart , always interesting form as the hostage negotiator . He's up against Clive Owen's Don , head of a few really well-planned ( he calls it the " perfect bank robbery " ) robbers , who've taken a heap of people hostage . Owen , to me , has one of his better performances , not an easy feat being under a mask and glasses through most of his role , but his voice ( as usual deep and brooding in his English way ) is dead-on and threatening . There's also Jodie Foster and Christopher Plummer as the ' special interests ' looking out for something that happens to be in a certain safety deposit box . If I'm being a little vague then its for the purpose of the viewer ; this isn't a twist that just comes out of nowhere , and it could be argued to not even be a real ' twist ' . One of the things that had me really attentive was knowing how the structure of the story would go after a while , the bits of general unpredictability of when a flash-forward ( err , Denzel's interviews with the ex-hostages ) , and how it carried a similar lighting scheme to Lee's Clockers . It's a very good lighting set-up . And , like Scorsese with the Aviator , in this very prominent big-studio budget , Lee is able to put in little nods to the audience that this is still his ' joint ' . Even if the screenwriter , Russel Gurwitz , doesn't have the focus always together , and after the climax there are a few too many exposition-type scenes , the last scene does give a nice grin to most in the audience . In fact , this is a terrific film to see in a packed theater , as I had the chance to have , as there are more than a few really funny moments interspersed with the more thrilling cat & mouse scenes . Inside Man plays on clichés in a way that reminds me of the Usual Suspects , and done in its own slick , used-car way that wont really break down , for most . |
508,323 | 453,068 | 87,469 | 8 | Spielberg / Lucas ' guide to sheer cliffhanging , shamefully entertaining adventure-lore | There's a part of me that wonders why I might have a rating as listed here as an for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom , an 1980's blockbuster thrill-ride that many ' Jones ' fans list as their least favorite - at the least inferior to Raiders - in the series so far . But then I have to take into account that for a film of this kind , one that poses the no-holds barred case of eleven-year old minds caught up in a grown-up control , it's quite spectacular in its manic , throw-in-the-sink kind of action film that more than pays homage to the matinée serials of the past . Since the last time I saw the film the bulk faded away from a random childhood day , seeing it today I'm struck by how it does tap into that sense of humor that is unhinged . This is more than just a vehicle for Harrison Ford , it's a crash course in delirious escapism , of things that make your skin crawl , thrills pushing a relentless arena , and dark comedy . This time , in a way , Spielberg , Lucas , and the American Graffiti co-writers ( hence a bit of a push from Raiders on the bits of comedy ) , they set themselves up to make what happens so outrageous and ( in its classically conventional way ) manipulative . The story takes place in 1935 , a year before Raiders in 1936 , but the links of the story lines aren't important like in the Star Wars movies . It's simply sets a precedent for the filmmakers - the audience knows he'll get out of whatever's dished out , almost as a kind of toughening up for future tales of Dr . Jones . On the one hand the film delivers with a lot of promise on just the terms of pure spectacle ( the brilliantly over the top opening Shanghai sequence , the whole main temple arena with its satanic overtones , the cart chase ) and in pulling laughs out of the supporting characters here and there ( Kate Capshaw will hit or miss with people , though Short round is quite the amusing - and not annoying - side character ) . On the other hand , however , there is a lack of real classic movie cliché thrills of Raiders , or with the movie star repore of Ford and Connery in Crusade . And , in truth , everything here is so completely immersed in the B-movie ideal of fing with you at every turn , even as a PG movie of the time , it very often pushes on the line of being hokey . The song that starts the film , Anything Goes , should give anyone an idea of what to expect from Spielberg and Lucas , two thirty-something men who in Temple of Doom - for better or worse - tap truthfully into their inner immature selves . It may miss the mark of greatness , but it's still one of the real guilty pleasures of the 1980's . |
511,052 | 453,068 | 100,827 | 8 | delivers , up to a point , for both sets of fans ; it's Poe with a chaser of slightly modern twists | It's always tricky to evaluate a filmmaker when at work on a film that is in an in-between realm of short and feature . Actually , by technical ruling ( or what would be considered by most festivals ) , it is feature-length with each segment . But I found Two Evil Eyes an underrated effort , after reading many mixed reviews ( many leaning to the lesser side for especially Romero's film , and some faint praise for Argento's ) . The Facts in the Case of Mr . Valdemar and The Black Cat are not the tippy-toppest best for either filmmaker , and for Romero it's a strange kind of quasi-conventional experiment while Argento stays in somewhat familiar territory . Each has its own strengths , own weaknesses , and it's a fine little treat . ' Valdemar ' : This starts with the veneer of what comes in the range of something like a cross between daytime Soap and a 40s melodrama . A woman ( Adrienne Barbeau ) married Mr . Valdemar late in life , and as he's about to die ( and soon does ) she stands to collect a load of money with her cuckold - a smooth operating doctor who has a knack for hypnosis . What unfolds after his death , and their cover-up in order to secure more funds , is something still like a ' living-dead ' movie for the director , but more psychological in head-games and , to be sure , a faithfulness to the Poe source . It is a peculiar feat to adjust to in seeing Romero , at least in the first half hour , directing more like an old pro of the studio era than with his trademark panache in editing and shocks . This time he brings on the dread in a gradual fashion , built on guilt and paranoia , and then as Valdemar is in that freezer , a Gothic form of psychosis : two people stuck with a body , and a voice , they can't get rid of and become absorbed with . I liked it a lot - maybe more than I should have from what I read ( the ' Soap ' argument against it I read before , though Romero does try to give his actors more to work with than any hack would ) - as it preys on the fear of death as not a final measure , with one last wicked kick in the nuts with that bed scene . Top shelf Romero ? Not quite , but it's still oddly gripping , like a polished piece of clichés giving way to a wild head game of " old-school " horror . ' Black Cat ' : Argento's dip in the Poe pool goes to the lengths that he as a director always goes to : elaborate - to - the - Italian - horror degree style in camera and deranged horror , and even bits of dark horror that almost make Poe seem tame . I can't say how much this is tied into Poe more than I can Valdemar , but try as I might I couldn't see this as being totally peak Argento either , despite ( or almost in spite of ) everything he has going for it . Like Valdemar , it's about someone not coping with life after death ; a photographer ( Keitel ) into the macabre , with a ( color me shocked Argento ) violinist girlfriend , has a black cat , whom the photographer strangles while taking some provocative photos . She knows he's behind it , but he can't stop himself - he needs another cat - just like the old cat - which will meet some grisly consequences . Keitel's always game for something like this part , which plays like his Bad Lieutenant gone Grand Guignol , which makes for one of the best pleasures of the project . He doesn't have a whole lot of range in the role , but it's a fun one for him , chewing on the meat that Argento throws out for him scene after scene . Argento , meanwhile , even for him overdoes it with the horror music in certain scenes , and dares to go to too much excess with the symbolism of the white spots on the cat . But it's totally a wonder to see that dream sequence , where Keitel is in the midst of a medieval Pagan sacrifice , with a sharp cut-away in the most violent bit . And I loved the pleasure that Argento takes in enlivening Poe's macabre with his own , with the violence extending from mania into the visual . I had my complaints at times , but it's hard to not throw up one's hands with Argento and say " why carp ! " when he's unabashed in his passions of mostly constant camera movement ( tracking , cranes , close-ups , pans , you-name-it ) and illogical steps in plot ( i . e . why Keitel's character would even put out a book with cat deaths knowing his girlfriend might see them , let alone so soon ) . Bottom line , fans of the directors should check out the films , and decide for themselves how they do . It's two tall tales of curses and death , derangement and the surreal , and it's a concoction worth at least one viewing . |
510,185 | 453,068 | 69,995 | 8 | leaves you with an uneasy feeling watching it , and I mean that , strangely , as a compliment | Nicholas Roeg's Don't Look Back takes the premise of parents coming to grips with the tragic and untimely death of their daughter like a paranoid thriller , but not in the sense that it always will keep you on the edge of your seat . On the contrary , there are stretches in the film where you wonder where it will be going ( early in the film more-so than other parts , though this is part of Roeg's design as it unfolds ) . As their other child , a son away at boarding school , gets sick and Julee Christie's character - who has been given a chilling premonition by a blind Italian lady while the two of them , the other played by Donald Sutherland , are in Venice - goes to see to him , the results start to affect Sutherland's character . He sees someone in a red coat , in quick glimpses , and even thinks he sees Christie again . But is there a plot growing in the works ? Is he seeing what he thinks he is , or does he lose his rationality ? Like Roeg's previous film , Walkabout , there are times when the story is taking such a leisurely pace that it has to be on part of the audience to stay with it . But Roeg twists the screws just slightly , making little things and the attention to details via quick edits , super-impositions , that darn abstraction of the red-mark ( which , by the way , shows up later in a church Sutherland is remodeling ) , that one doesn't want to look away . It is , on the one hand , sort of cheating for what its core audience might want - it doesn't get very much suspenseful until the last ten minutes or so , when finally the stakes are raised just enough through circumstance , and Sutherland succumbing to what he early on had warned Christie off of ( believing the blind lady out of some idea that the daughter was still alive ) . On the other hand , it's not exactly about the suspense anyway : it's taken from a short story by the same author who provided stories for some of Hitchcock's films ( Rebecca and The Birds ) , and while it could be said that the filmmaker doesn't shy away from a twist at the end or with some direct musical choices throughout ( albeit Roeg doesn't quite get a Herrmann here ) , it's less about that than about the mind losing a stake in what may or may not really be happening . Is it paranoid if it's really happening to you ? Roeg seems to suggest paranoia following the character ( is there a plot surrounding Sutherland and Christie , the blind lady , the detective , the strange murders occurring ) , but his style isn't that of a Hitchcock . He'll linger on some scenes , make some flashes to others , and it sort of put me in a strange mood watching it , almost like watching Antonioni ( and even then a comparison is hard to do as the style of both with the camera is separate ) . What Don't Look Back does is surprise the viewer , if not completely successfully in terms of genre than as something reaching outside the bounds of it , and that's what makes it work as well as it does ( if at all ) so many years later . The editing is especially good , as was with Walkabout ( watch the cross-cutting between the steamy , " real " husband-wife kind of sex scene and the two of them getting dressed the next day ) , the mood has a eerie effect without over-stepping itself , and there's also one of the most disturbing killers from a 1970s film . And it goes without saying that Sutherland and Christie both turn in fantastic work here ( the former probably more than the latter , if only because of his amount of screen time outranking the other ) . |
509,518 | 453,068 | 100,802 | 8 | one of the most enjoyable of the Arnold action vehicles | Total Recall has little , if any , by way of passing itself as being ' art ' . It is , but more in the sense of it being pop-art , of the director Paul Verhoven paying tribute in visuals to the story by Phillip K . Dick . And it's also one of the more exciting and quotable of those shameless examples of how to do an action film . In this case , however , because it is a P . K . Dick-based story there are some good social bits made in the process . If it isn't as astute or consistent as Blade Runner or Minority Report , it's probably more due to it having to be a vehicle for Arnold Schwarzenegger than it being a full-on thought-provoking work of science fiction on film . But this does rank up high with the other works of the star , as he is in a complex situation in the film - his mind is scrambled , at first , and everything he thought was right as dickens is not . So he's told by ' himself ' on a screen he happened to save for himself that he has to get to mars to find out the truth . There is plenty of good action sequences , but it is more about Verhoven's knack at getting this popularized view of Mars just a little subverted , a little stranger . Some of my favorite scenes involved Scwarzenegger's mishaps and turns of fate as the story and his character took turns . For example , in the scene when Arnold's character wants to get his memory wiped off to Mars and then he flips out in the chair , this is a very entertaining scene in being very ridiculous ( try to listen to what he says , or don't as its near unintelligible ) as well as following a darker trek in the story . In fact , much of the film works on the strengths of both director and star by having it not too over the top to have some belief in what is going on , but that expectations aren't limited to what might happen as Arnold's character in on Mars uncovering the conspiracy around his messed-up memory . Featuring a sultry Sharon Stone in a great supporting role ( another memorable scene comes with her demise , as usual quotable to the bone ) , as well as a memorable climax involving the arid Mars air and a certain outrageous reaction to it , I recommend Total Recall for genre fans and even those who might be wary of it being a ' Hollywood ' take on Dick . It's not great , and per usual PKD fans might scoff at the faithfulness to the source , but it's better than some of the lesser adaptations of the author . Just go in for a good time and it stands up over time ( err , 16 years ) . |
509,879 | 453,068 | 109,474 | 8 | Jodorowsky as pleasant , pragmatic , spiritually dense and complex figure in this doc | Alejandro Jodorowsky would be the sort of filmmaker / artist / therapist I might want to have a talk with over a cup of coffee or something about a slew of things he's concerned with - cinema , family , theater , art - but it'd be hard for me to imagine what he would do if I were on a film set with him . He's impulsive , and probably more than a bit crazy , but as one of his old cohorts in abstract art says , he's a disciplined madman with a method to his madness . He sometimes says things that make me think ' what a pretentious guy ' , like when he says he's hasn't started making films since he's only made six or seven of them . He also replies with a very typical answer for something that's obviously asked as a trick - who are you - with a story of an Emperor in China . But I also think after seeing this that he is a man genuinely happy with his niche in life . He's created all of these films that have been probably even more important for him than for the audience - even the times of failures like the aborted Dune project or Tusk - and he moved on to a kind of weekly group therapy he conducts where he gets people in touch with their ' family tree ' and the problems that arise from past generations , one's parents , and in the end one's self . One sees that he went through an " enlightenement " with The Holy Mountain , and controlled his ego through doing the Rainbow Thief and the Moebius comic books , and even through an overlong treatment of the documentary director , Louis Mouchet , and his familial angst , that he's maybe even wiser than he would admit . Not that one doesn't raise an eyebrow when he deals in tarot cards , or never admits that some things are coincidence or luck ( but then again he also never says anything about traditional religious institutions either , as part of the anarchy likely deep within him ) , but he never comes off dis-genuine , and he's even amusing in some of his telling of tales and conducting of group sessions . I may not precisely know who Jodorowsky is , but I have an idea , which is the best that Mouchet can do at any rate . |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.