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Reviews
Madagascar (2005)
Secondary Characters carry this
This has a lot to offer for "children of all ages". Small children will appreciate the animation, visual humour, and the basic story. Those a little older will note the many references to popular culture, art, film and literature which provide more subtle humour. That said, the main story itself is good, but not compelling (animals leave zoo and find it's harder to live in the wild than they thought). In many ways, the story is really about getting the four main characters (who are straight-"men" for the most part) to points where they meet the really funny background characters. This movie would not have been anything much without the penguins and Julian the Lemur King. (Face it - David Schwimmer is not that funny.) That's what sells the DVD. I expect it will be the same for Madagascar 2. The four main characters are necessary for the story, but you watch it for the penguins, because they are worth the price of admission.
Until September (1984)
An anti-romance
True, the setting in Paris is great. The actors are fine. The story is a twisted morality play. Is it supposed to say that if you want someone badly enough, it's OK to hurt everyone else along the way? In a real romance, you sort of want less cliché than the man who has become bored with his wife and is willing to dump his family, and the woman who is OK with encouraging him to do this. So what if they are decent looking and if Karen Allen shows off her body? The characters are still self-absorbed and reprehensible. Maybe the moral of the story is "you get what you deserve". I give it a 4, only for the fast scan potential through the "male interest" bits.
Heat of the Sun (1998)
Great series
This was a great series - Trevor Eve played the part of Superintendent Tyburn with a wry subtlety that fit the part. Having lived in Kenya myself when I was growing up, it was easy to relate to the foreigner in another country who does not fit into his "home" society anymore, but will never be African either. I can not comment on costume inconsistencies or period setting mistakes (one comment mentioned a 1939 rifle in 1933), but these do not detract particularly from what is essentially a mystery novel on DVD. As for the idea of "nazis" in 1933 Kenya, I think other comments may be jumping to conclusion. Tyburn was following leads to drug smugglers, if I recall correctly, and Germans in East Africa would not have been unheard of, considering that Tanzania was, at one point, a German colony (I believe Queen Victoria once gave Mt. Kilimanjaro to the Kaiser for his birthday, hence the strange "jog" in what is otherwise a straight line border between Kenya and Tanzania).
Stardom (2000)
Brilliant - One of Arcands Best!
This film for me, shows how far Canadian film has come. It is unfortunate that this film does not seem to have been noticed more outside Canada. Pare is adorable and goes through the movie looking like she's not quite sure what's happening to her, or whether she should be enjoying it. Dan Akyroyd is brilliant as an increasingly neurotic businessman who falls for her. The movie unfolds in a series of photoshoots, media clips, sound bites, and interviews. As in accounts of "real life" celebs, it feels like we know Pare's character intimately. Perhaps this supermodel is as real as the celebs we see on TV and in mags every day. Beautifully and appropriately filmed - looks exactly like Fashion TV.
Dune (2000)
A great effort!
Overall, I feel the comments provided so far in the negative are perhaps a bit overstated. I agree that the miniseries was not as good as the book, I was annoyed that they did not bring in the name "Usul", but when one compares it to the Lynch 1984 travesty, this was considerably better. In any case, I felt that the disappointingly negative comments on the miniseries were more a reflection that the movie did not conform to the imagined look and feel of Dune that were built up by individual readers of the book, more than that the miniseries had not tried to be faithful to the book.
I thought the character development was quite good. Paul is played as a troubled, sometimes almost petulant young man. There is a nice development of self-assurance throughout the film. William Hurt as Leto is perhaps a bit wooden, and to give him a "star" billing makes more of this character than there has to be. After all, this is not Dune: House Atreides. The Baron was more obviously intelligent in his plotting (reminiscent of the young Baron in "House Atreides"), and the characters of Chani and Feyd Rautha were both much more developed. It might have been nice not to make so much of Irulan.
Some details are marvellous - when the Fremen remove their stillsuits, they are naked underneath, and face it, how else would these suits work? They are supposed to recycle sweat, and all body wastes for the water contained in them.
As to the costuming and effects, there has been some criticism of the "Star Trek"-like costuming, but this follows a great tradition of science fiction film-making. While the movie might be dated by this, I'm not sure that's a bad thing. As to the somewhat cheesy backdrops and computer effects, this should not be a major problem for Dr. Who fans. The budget for this miniseries was not that large and one needs to make some allowances.
Overall, if watched as a retelling of the Dune story, realizing it's the film-maker's imagination, not yours, that is showing the pictures, you may well enjoy this immensely, as I did (I plan to get the DVD). It's not the book, but it is quite faithful to the "action" parts of the story. If you're looking for the deep metaphysical stuff, stick to the book.
I give it an 8 out of 10.