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shrinkingman
Reviews
The Station Agent (2003)
Just walking the right-of-way...
Peter Dinklage plays a railroad enthusiast who inherits an abandoned railroad station. He moves in, expecting to just have a quiet existence. But other people interfere with this, including a woman who nearly runs him over twice and the tall man who runs a hot dog stand (in the middle of nowhere).
We find out that the woman is separated from her husband; is an artist with a nice home on a lake, and had a child who died young. The tall man with the hot dog stand befriends the railroad enthusiast, whose name is Fin, and also becomes a "rail fan". Oh, and by the way, Mr. Dinklage, and his character, happens to be a dwarf. This figures into the plot, too, as Fin is made fun of for his shortness.
He gets stared at so much that at one point he's at a bar and, frustrated, jumps up on top of the bar and yells "Take a good look!" He confides at one point that he's angry at being a dwarf (because it's caused him problems like this).
The film has interesting characters, nice scenery, good music, and is a good slice of Americana. Toward the end, Fin appears at a school to talk about railroads and one boy raises his hand. "How tall are you?"
"I'm four feet and five inches tall," replies Fin.
"I'm taller than you!," smiles the boy. The teacher hustles the boy out of the classroom to talk to him about being so rude. Sure, that was a bit rude, but hey--kids are used to being smaller than adults and the boy was getting a kick out of seeing an adult an inch or two smaller than him.
Maybe what Fin could have said at this point is, "Well, this is just how I am. I was born a dwarf. It shouldn't make a difference, whether I'm 4 foot 5, or 5 foot 4. People should notice other things about me, like how interested I am in trains, and how I can be a good friend..." and so on. Anyway, check out this movie..
Celsius 41.11: The Temperature at Which the Brain... Begins to Die (2004)
Thoughtful rebuttal to Fahrenheit 9/11
Just saw this (first showing of the first day) and was impressed. It surely won't do the numbers "Fahrenheit 9/11" did (not much of an advertising push, not too many media mentions except maybe conservative talk radio shows) but it does provide a good "fact-checker" for the Moore film and for the current liberal movement.
Celsius 41.11 wonders why President Bush is hated by many in this country, even though we seemed so "united" after 9/11. It goes back to the 2000 vote counting controversy, and points out that previous Administrations turned a blind eye to terrorism (and certainly didn't fund intelligence to weed out potential threats). The second part of the film shows John Kerry, from Vietnam soldier to anti-war protester, who highlighted his Vietnam days in his DNC acceptance speech but ignored his 20 year Senate career (he often voted against intelligence and military funding). It also points out that Kerry wants to be reactive rather than pro-active; if another attack happens, Kerry says he'll respond to it while Bush wants pre-emptive action instead.
It covers the mindset of Islamo-fascist dictators like Saddam and our own efforts to democratize the Middle East, and interviews the likes of columnist Charles Krauthammer, conservative talk host Michael Medved (a colleague of Kerry's at Yale), and
Sen. Fred Thompson. Do not expect any yuks here; it's serious business, and it outlines the fork in the road that lies ahead in the upcoming election: pre-emptive action against the terrorists, or appeasement.
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
Realistic special effects, captivating story
We're all used to being the size we are. But what if we awoke one morning to find that our clothes don't fit anymore; they're now too big...and we now have to stand on tiptoe to reach something that seemed rather easy to reach before? That's the unique problem of Scott Carey (Grant Williams), hero of Richard Matheson's 1956 novel and the 1957 film The Incredible Shrinking Man.
The special effects are excellent, giving the illusion of a dwindling man whose life gets more bizarre, embarrasing, and dangerous as he gets smaller. He shrinks to kid size, then doll size (even living in a dollhouse), and finally to just a few inches tall. The last half of the film consists of the "cellar scenes" where Scott faces three obstacles: a voracious spider, his own hunger, and the thought that he may shrink down to nothing. The oversized props look truly real, and you are indeed convinced that this tiny man is getting chased by a cat, almost stepped on by his brother, and being swept up by a raging flood that would be ankle deep to you or I.
The story is captivating, getting more exciting the smaller he gets. And the effects, script, and acting are far above what you'd expect from a 1950s B-movie!
The Terror of Tiny Town (1938)
Typical oater with an all-dwarf cast
Well, I've been curious about this movie for years and now I've finally seen it: "The Terror of Tiny Town" (1938), a Western/musical with an all-dwarf cast! In many respects it's just a typical Western-- dashing hero attempts to save/woo gorgeous gal and fight off cattle rustlers at the same time (one such rustler tries to frame the hero for murder). The film starts with an average-sized man introducing the diminiutive stars; including the hero, "Buck Lawson" (played by Billy Curtis, who has been in several movies and even has a walk-on in "the Incredible Shrinking Man".)
"Tiny Town" is populated entirely by little people(or "midgets" as some have called them). They ride ponies instead of horses, but everything in town seems scaled for average sized people. Thus the image of cowboys sauntering UNDER half-doors into saloons! To be honest I think SOME of the "dwarf" actors were actually average-sized children. In one scene, a barbershop quartet sings and a "dwarf" in a chair sings along in a much deeper voice than you'd expect. That "dwarf" looks more like an average-sized little boy in reality.
But then more than a few of the (adult) little people in the cast look like kids (but aren't)-- not just height-wise but they also have very-young-looking faces. You almost think it's a film of kids playing adults (ever see "Bugsy Malone"?) but they are indeed dwarfs.
You get the typical elements of an "oater" (Western), from shoot-em-ups to a seductive female singer in a saloon; some very bad puns ("smallpox", "half-pint"); a hero-and-girl duet that will conjure up images of Nelson Eddy and Jeanette McDonald (all together now: "when I'm calling you-u-u-u"--though to be honest, the songs in "Tiny Town" are VERY forgettable!)...a dwarf drinking a huge beer stein, and a duel in a shack where dynamite is about to go off!
So is it great or horrible? Kind of in between; unusual enough (in that it has an all-dwarf cast) to see at least once, but cliched dialogue, weak songs, etc....still, now at least I can say I've seen The Terror of Tiny Town!
(PS--I must add that in many respects the film is the type that exploits little-person actors for their size instead of whatever other talents they may have. How many dwarf actors out there go to a casting call and immediately are told, "ah! We'll make you the leprechaun...the tiny space alien...one of Santa's elves..." etc. instead of more substantial roles... )