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Reviews
All of Me (1984)
ancient eastern wisdom meets the catskills
I am perhaps overly fond of this movie because it contains so
many of my favorite elements: 1) truly charming skilled hilarious favorites in the cast: Lily Tomlin and Richard Libertini, most especially 2) gender, sex and personality get a most interesting and
subversive workout 3) did i mention that carl reiner directed? 4) mid-life crisis of the sort in which every way one devises to
protect oneself from experiences true passion becomes impossible to maintain 5) fine jazz with a fitting fine jazz title that even gets to have punning
significance 6) the humor is paradoxically both eternal and classic Eighties.
Right up there with the original To Be Or Not To Be and The
In-Laws (another Richard Libertini must-see), this is a flick that
totally holds up over time. I know I'll be watching it again in another
5 years. It's a comedy Hall of Famer.
Up at the Villa (2000)
elegant, sentimental, great clothes
I was surprised by the low vote average for this movie. I
found the plot absorbing and not without charm. Anne Bancroft, Sean Penn, Derek Jakobi...these are actors that I
live to see perform together.
Usually Kristin Scott Thomas is not my cuppa tea. She's
certainly cast according to type and turns out an immaculate performance. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed watching her fine, slim,erect, long-necked, doe-eyed, ultimately British performance. She possesses
an irrefutably neat intelligence which one regards with only
a very a slight feeling of protest.
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A Little Bit of Soul (1998)
"a completely boring film about the Devil, the fountain of youth and government figures making fools of themselves"
Nobody says it like the New York Times, source of the above quot. I saw a movie I hadn't heard of in the new releases rack at Bockblusters. I thought what's to lose with Geoffrey Rush and good Australian perverse fun? My first problem is that they actually show you a trailer for the movie right before the movie? What folly this? After watching I can only guess that some exec thought that the anticipation of wacky plot twists might keep viewers from springing out of their seats and pushing rewind. I sure couldn't make it through the viewing in one sitting. Had to view part 2 first thing on Thanksgiving morning when resistance was low. Astoundingly dull. Lovely actors and scenery portraying a feeble script. Really: don't bother.
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Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
no big whoop here.
I just don't get what's so great about this movie, although I
did think it was cool that Sam Peckinpah played the meter
reader. Perhaps I'm just a genre-biased babe, but it seemed
terribly obvious and completely lacking in suspense. There are
movies, such as the Invisible Man, that were equally banal, but
I found somehow compelling. Perhaps this is because after seeing
Gods and Monsters I felt like I was having a good laugh with the
director.
For instance when the first pod person shows up in the doctor's
friend's garden, and the doc's advice is to spend the night with
it in the same room with it and see if anything happens... What,
is he nuts?
But perhaps I am jaded by living at a time when the pod person
concept has become so much a part of the cultural mythology that
there are no surprises left for me. Will, for instance, the
Sixth Sense (imho, a reasonably suspenseful movie) seem insanely
banal to the viewers of the future?
The biggest irony of all is that the period of time looks, to
the contemporary viewer, like a parody of uberconformity. The
uniforms seem particularly rigid, the skin tones, uniformly
caucasian. Those men with pipes! The women with cinched waists
and big skirts! And don't even get me started on the hair.
Mostly it was an experience of retro
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
a movie this bad gets me curious
Just what was anybody thinking? I know that Gilliam is
brilliant, so he must be aware that this movie is gorgeously
bad. so what's terry's story? was it blind nostalgia for a time
which has passed? the opportunity to play with some new f/x toys
and funky camera lenses? i want to know the story. i would
believe that Thompson himself is baked beyond the ability to
discern wildly fabulous from tedious, but what was everyone else
thinking? dare i ask: what were they on?
i read fear and loathing as an impressionable young teen; in my
unconsciously internalized sexism i thought it was funny and
liberating. i guess it is a worthy social document in its way.
perhaps the movie can be seen as a paean to capitalist excess.
the movie is a mini-Vegas unto itself, regurgitating crass
imagery, propagating some big penis-y dream of wanton abandon.
but aren't there more rewarding projects to engage in? more
compelling stories to tell?
seeing this movie made we want to engage in Buddhist meditation,
become an acolyte, a cloistered nun. There must be more to life
and the movies than this.
Boys Don't Cry (1999)
Enlightening bummer
This movie was so good that it completely bummed me out.
Sadness! Very human qualities revealed in an extraordinary
situation. Intriguing filming with that sped up cloud thing that
cinematographers seem enamored of these days, in combination
with streaky sped up lights in motion. Hilary and Chloe were
very skilled, and the story was beautifully tragic. Not exactly
an escapist experience. You need to be in the right mood for
this movie to a greater extent than one does with other, less
intense, flix. I'm glad that we live in times when such a movie
can be made. Really quite remarkable and sad.
//
The Whole Nine Yards (2000)
Jonathan Lynn has done it again.
Jonathan Lynn is the cat's meow. As per usual, his film has a
certain something that sets it apart. Excellent music. British
restraint. Nice twists. Goofy Amanda Peet. How did this actor
who had so little to contribute to (granted, the markedly less
compelling) Isn't She Whatever, the Jacqueline Susanne vehicle,
come across as such an energized goofball goddess in this movie?
Was it Jonathan, the stars?
Bruce is less tedious than usual. I wonder if he had anything to
do with choosing the inspired jazz venue and soundtrack. I
confess: I dug the wardrobe, and even began to dig his sense of
cool.
Michael Clarke Duncan or Duncan Clarke, was beautiful and rich.
Far more charismatic than the two main males, imho.
Michael Perry was doing what he do so well: nervous smart guy.
I really liked the blond woman. Understated, classy authentic
Chicago energy.
And what the heck was up with Kevin Pollack's accent. An odd
running gag that jes didn't vork for this moviegoer.
Definitely a good take your father or regular guy or gal type
movie.
An easy see, and another reason to praise the almighty Ly
Pitch Black (2000)
sci fi that's better than shlock
1. Vin is da bomb. 2. Although Radha was fab in High Art, she doesn't feel right for this role. Too much of a thinking sort. She's still getting by on her cuteness more than her strength, no great feat for a woman. Although she is given a nicely incisive, sharp wit for her slicing verbal defense. 3. Nice look to the film: slick visuals, original colorsense. 4. Liked the Allah component. 5. Good scary beasts. Memories of Alien. 6. Intriguing gender commentary. 7. It drew me in more, much, much more, than I ever thought it would. Actually made me jump, hide behind my hands, etc, etc, more than once. 8. Beautiful Saturn-ish planet. Neat galaxy model, premise. 9. Camera nausea-inducingly shakey at the beginning. I mean, really: is that truly necessaire? 10. Ending didn't make sense for a number of reasons. >
He Got Game (1998)
super-talented basketball player from the ghetto must pick which college to attend. many people have a stake in this selection, including convict dad.
I loved Denzel's performance. It's the most believable I've seen in years---perhaps since Glory. The sex didn't bug me as much as it seems to bother the other comment writers. It's depressing to me that high school kids have sex, for some reason. I was impressed by what felt like an unusual level of honesty in the movie, from the character Lala and Denzel, between Jesus and his mother and with his sister, especially. It felt real and raw, protective and warped. The creepiness of the cops felt truly icky. And the uncle was terrifically scummy as well. One felt the despair of Jesus as he seemed to be the only one in a sea of so-called grownups who seemed to have a grasp on the ethical aspects of this "options." And I got into the intensity of self-revelation. Spike shows how we incarcerate ourselves with our self-centered aspirations that reverberate through the generations. It was great to see Zelda as Jesus's sister. She's so talented: girl power
To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday (1996)
TV on the big screen
What a dutiful wife won't do for a husband. David E Kelley succeeds in making wifey Michelle rather bland in this McBeal-esque drama. It was okay. I could watch it. Claire Danes is as usual totally charming. Self-effacing, well-mannered hottie that she is. Freddie Prinze has bad hair and worse piercings. Kathy Baker is appropriately grating. Peter Gallagher is vague and irritating. Overall, it passed some time pretty harmlessly.
Dial M for Murder (1954)
a must-rent
Travel back to a time when. . a lanky actor like Ray Milland could be cast as a jock! . even if they weren't particularly reflective, women knew how to move in a dress!! . & policemen had a healthy sense of irony and Really Nice Manners!!!
Listen to your heart pound as events unfold to a cheerily ominous soundtrack!
See the British condescend to Americans. . and Americans trying to act British! Dial M for Murder is a must-rent. The audience knows in advance, Columbo-like, who done it and why. But will the appropriate cast members divine the truth before it's too late?
The casting of Dial M is perfect and spare. Milland plays a duplicitous cuckold who hatches evil schemes with detached elegance. Robert Cummings infuses the stock American character with plenty of naïve indignation. And Grace Kelly wears torso-clinging scarlet lace with panache; as Milland's wayward wife, she glides and swoons with her usual high style.
I was most charmed by John Williams as the Chief Inspector. The way he combs his mustache expresses something incredibly British with perfect pitch. He inhabits a stereotypical role with great subtlety.
Not much was done to adapt this production from stage to film. But it's such a great period piece, who cares? Enjoy the apartment that you barely leave. Actually, you don't even get much beyond the living room. Check out the funky use of shadow and color, the daring camera angles.
Rediscover a cinematic world where the director depends on a well-written script, seasoned actors and opinionated lighting, rather than quick cuts and multi-million dollar f/x!
Watching Dial M in 3D, however, is rumored to be a fine thing should you choose the retro-techno route.