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Reviews
Hot Fuzz (2007)
A Smooth, Comfy Ride Off the Rails
Brits and Americans have different approaches to farce. When American filmmakers set out to be silly, they usually make their intentions plain from the start. In the first five seconds of "Airplane!," for example, the audience knows just what they've let themselves in for. The challenge then is to maintain the lunacy without losing or tiring the audience.
Edgar Wright's golden touch is being silly without being camp or crass. With each subtle jab he leads the unsuspecting audience into a absurdist tar pit of satanic neighborhood-watch cabals, slo-mo boxcutter fights and poetic-vengeance swans.
Some American viewers unused to British culture and comedic sensibilities may not think much of this movie at first; but stick with it. You'll be rewarded with a richness of movie references and inside jokes, as thick and frothy as the "Scary Movies" and their brood without being suffocating. Jeremy Clarkson at this point would compare a creme brulee to a cheeseburger, or something.
To the reviewers here who disliked or didn't "get" this movie: Give up, it's Sandford. Yarp.
Bis ans Ende der Welt (1991)
The Cinematic Equivalent of a Turducken
I quite enjoyed this movie, for the most part; especially the near-future, global-electronic-village touches (the Beijing memorial in the background drew a big laugh when I saw it in the theatre). Unfortunately, just as one story reaches a denouement, a subplot emerges and drags out into yet another story arc. It's like a trilogy crammed into one movie. By the third reboot, I was too tired to enjoy it much and wondered when or if the movie would ever end. It's a shame, because the characters are very likable, and each story is entertaining; but it becomes too much and too long of a good thing. For this reason, three 8s add up to a 6. You might enjoy this movie more if you split your viewing into three parts.
Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001)
Absolutely Effing Brilliant
I just watched this for the fourth (I think) time, and it still made me laugh and cry in all the right places.
Maybe you're looking for something good to watch for the evening, but you're not so sure you want to get into a foreign film with subtitles; so you look here for reassurance that your time won't be wasted. Here's my rating:
Story: 10 Characters: 10 Music: 10 Photography: 10
If you're still not sure, please take my advice: Watch it, watch it, watchitwatchitwatchit.
Haunted photo booths, wayward garden gnomes, mysteriously shrinking slippers... What more does a movie need?
Amelie, je t'adore.
Party Doll A Go- Go! (1991)
A porno that's actually worthy of serious attention
Without conceit (I hope), I think that this film is actually worthy of a serious critique. Along with "Night Trips," this is the only porn movie I know of that actually makes an effort to be creative.
So-called "adult" movies are, of course, rarely if ever given any serious thought by students and critics of so-called "mainstream" films. I think that it's worth exploring some of the reasons why.
The object of porn (just to give the genre a name, without too much prejudgement) is to titillate the viewer. As with any film, this is done by enabling the viewer to invest themselves in the situation, creating an emotional response -- in this case, sexual arousal. Unless one harbors moral opinions about the "worthiness" of sexuality in general, this is as valid a goal as with any other genre of film. But the depiction of sex in films brings with it some purely technical issues and limitations, which I believe both porn filmmakers and the students and makers of mainstream films have overlooked.
A sex scene is, by its nature, a "vertical" type of narrative as opposed to a "horizontal" one (no pun, if there is one, is intended). That is, while sex between characters can be an integral element of a story, the actual act does very little to advance the action of the story. While characters and situations may change as the result of sex, there is little to a sex scene other than the act itself, other than to explore in a lyrical way the nature of the characters and their relationship. Sex has been depicted with increasing frankness in mainstream films. But once the act of sex is introduced as a plot point in the story, there is not much more to depict other than the sex itself; and if the scene goes on for very long, viewers will often actually become impatient for the scene to end and the story to resume. Titillation is not the object (at least not the main one) of a drama or other "mainstream" genre; thus sex scenes, though increasingly graphic, are still usually fairly brief in mainstream films.
Porn has the opposite intent -- sex *is* the story, rather than just a plot point -- but faces the same narrative limitations. There have been porn films that have tried to "elevate" themselves to mainstream status by attempting to provide a plot and characters, and were doomed for the reasons given above. In attempting to provide an engaging story as well as the visceral immediacy of a sexual encounter, they have invariably failed at both. I believe it would take an inventive writer indeed to successfully merge the two demands.
Another reason why porn cannot sustain an extended narrative has to do with the "investment" of the viewer mentioned above. Introducing characters and story only increases the work that the viewer must do to project themselves into the story. Thus, what plot a porn film does have is usually very brief and perfunctory. Viewers will only go so far as to imagine themselves as plumbers or pizza deliverers before feeling that their suspension of disbelief is being unduly taxed.
But given these limitations, I have often wondered: why don't porn filmmakers try to do more with the depiction of sex itself? Given the wide cinematic vocabulary we now have, why don't filmmakers try to use that language to greater effect? There must be lots of creative potential in this area.
One reason, admittedly, is the nature of the industry itself. By any objective measure, adult films are in massive demand. With the decreasing cost of film-making thanks to video technology, all a porn filmmaker has to do to make a hefty profit is to put two (or more) naked people in a room and leave the camera running. But certainly there is room in the budget to at least experiment? As I said, I'm only aware of two films that have tried to do this: "Night Trips" and "Party Doll A Go Go." Rather than writing a separate comment for "Night Trips," I will mention it here briefly. It has no story or plot, so much as a premise: Scientists conduct laboratory experiments on a woman, using a machine that records her dreams. That simple premise, quickly established and put out of the way, serves its only purpose: To justify the remarkable and beautiful (for porn) photographic effects. "Night Trips" succeeds, both as porn and as film in general, because it doesn't try to be something it's not. It accepts and works within the limitations of its genre to create something fresh and interesting (once more, for porn).
"Party Doll A Go Go" does the same thing. It has no plot whatsoever; like literally countless other videos, it is plainly a compilation of sex scenes. Hectically edited, using a "Laugh-In" sensibility, with surf music, bizarre sound and voice samples, and intercut with go-go dancers spouting truly off-the-wall sound bites (some of these lines are genuinely funny), the film raucously refuses to take anything about itself seriously, including the sex. Depending on your sensibilities, you'll either be entertained by this approach or irritated by it. But you will certainly not be jaded. Most amazing of all, this film actually succeeds in conveying a message: "Sex Can Be Fun." Many in the porn industry claim to be trying to deliver this message to the world. Perhaps this film will give them some idea why they've been largely ignored.
I truly believe that the mainstream film community should take note of this film, to see that it's actually possible to accomplish something in this genre. And those in the adult industry should take note as well. If they truly wish to carry a sex-positive message to a puritanical world, they would do well to start making some real effort.
Contact (1997)
The First Science Fiction Chick Flick
The nature and purpose of science fiction is to go "out there," exploring realms on the edge of imagination. Sometimes for pure fun, as in Star Wars; sometimes as a means of exploring deeper philosophical questions such as the nature and possible fate of humanity.
But in the rush out to the edge, science fiction movies often leave many people behind. Once in a while, a movie gets made that starts out on hard, familiar ground and takes viewers along on the journey to the stars. "2001: A Space Odyssey" was one such film; this is another.
While "Contact" isn't quite the cinematic classic that "2001" is, it has many fine moments; beginning with the opening sequence, which starts out with our familiar Earth and takes us on a mind-bending journey out into the far reaches of the universe. I've never seen a better illustration of the true scale of the Cosmos and of our place in it. This alone should make this film required viewing for school children. It will make future astronomers out of a lot of them.
For all the grandness of the establishing shot, however, the story remains firmly on the ground for most of the film, as the receipt of a radio message from the stars raises fundamental questions, for both society and the individual characters, about matters of Science, God and Faith.
The main flaw of this picture, however, is the almost-literal deus ex machina when Ellie, the main character, finally takes the Journey Beyond; only to (as a character in the movie well puts it) "go windsurfing with dear, departed Dad." The film dares neither to answer questions nor leave them unanswered, but chickens out with a coy "it was all a dream -- or was it?" ending.
I also personally have a problem with the casting of Matthew McConaughey as Ellie's love interest. His self-conscious "handsome rascal" persona is irritating, and the chemistry between him and Jodie Foster is almost nonexistent. I also wonder if it's in Ms. Foster's contract that every movie she does must have a courtroom scene.
Despite the flaws, "Contact" has plenty going for it, thematically and cinematically. One of the few "grown-up" science fiction films in existence. SF buffs will want to add it to their collection. You would also do well to get your non-"Trekkie" friends to watch it; they jut might become converts -- or, at least, gain some understanding of why you're a fan.