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Reviews
Memento (2000)
There is no goof
I'm not sure if this is worthy of being #11 on the top 250 list, but it is nevertheless an interesting film and, personally, I'll take a film like this any day over, um, a stupid sequel or remake for the teenybopper audience. At least it aims for some creativity in this post-modern age -- even if it swipes from Seinfield and Fight Club and Usual Suspects et al. If you liked this film, I recommend checking out Jonathan Lethem's book "The Vintage Anthology of Amnesia". It'll make you aware that this film very purposely plays into the idea of introducing a black spot in the text itself -- there's things going on vis-a-vis character relations that aren't entirely cashed out. Which is, of course, fascinating from an amnesia fiction point-of-view. In fact, if people do complain about the contradictions within this film -- I almost thing that these contradictions are *deliberate*. I'm not sure how I feel about them, but I can respect the fact that Christopher Nolan seems to be actually paying homage to an overlooked facet of American fiction -- the amnesic text -- by actually placing blank spots into the text. Which, to me, is intreguing.
The Others (2001)
Boo!
Remember seeing The Blair Witch Project for the first time, and wondering what all the hype was about? You know, just a bunch of kids running around in the dark, screaming at twigs and stuff. Well, this film has the kind of creepiness that BW was going for -- but this one actually works!
The Others is just a fine, simple, well-told haunted house/ghost story. Most people probably know the plot by now, so I won't bother here. Suffice to say, the story doesn't break new ground and, in fact, uses one of the oldest clichés in the book for the big payoff (which you may recognize from another recent scary movie). However, it does it with enough style and Grace (heh) that you won't even care. There's no gore in this -- well, there's one bit that utilizes makeup very effectively, but it pretty much doesn't count as a gore scene, really -- and the lack of light and the antiquated setting are really well used to make you think that stuff is indeed going bump in the night.
Yes, it's a sometimes slow movie (especially near the start), but I liken The Others to Alien. Nothing happens in either movie for the first 45-minutes or so either, and it just made you all the more paranoid when things *did* start moving.
My only complaint is I was able to figure out 90 per cent of the climax half-way through the film (right around the fog scene in fact) -- although there is one *final* twist that is sheer unexpected genius. And the acting, writing and cinematography are all quite brilliant and above par. Barring any major competition in the next four months, I'd dare say that this film has a good chance of picking up quite a few Oscar nods.
Really, go see this one. It's the only movie so far this year worth paying full price for and, truthfully, I judge a movie by how many times I check my watch. I never looked at it during The Others. Not once.
Read All About It! (1979)
The TV show that started my slow slide into journalism
Hey:
This is the TV show that I'll credit for getting me into a career in journalism. I mean, growing up in a small Ontario town, it seemed obvious that being involved in a newspaper was a way to hang out with not one, but two (two!) brainy cute girls. Man, I had the biggest crushes on Lynne (whom I thought was short for Lyndsey for some reason -- it might come up in the show) and Sam. I mean, really, what more could a 10-year-old want other than two hot, brainy chicks with a penchant for gossip, a coach house, two robots and a desklamp that teleported you into another world full of psych-out flashing lights and an evil floating head -- and a damn creepy evil floating head at that? I mean, Cripes, there's enough imagery here to fill an entire album's worth of Meat Puppet songs.
For starters, I do remember very well that the first six episodes were produced/broadcast in 1979, and the remainder hit the air in 1980 -- *not* 1981. It should say so in the copyright information at the very end of each episode. I remember seeing the fifth or sixth episode as a small kid when it first aired. But then, circa 1984-85, I remember that I came across the listing for this show in some teacher's handguide and managed to twist the arm of my fourth Grade teacher into obtaining video tapes of the show from the Ministry of Education. We got to see an episode every second day, or something like that. Anyhow, needless to say, I briefly went from being a geek to a cool-ass kid in my class simply for making the recommendation.
There was, of course, a sequel. But we never got to see that. I think I'd given my teacher headaches from watching this weird little show.
I don't really remember a lot of this -- except that the girls were cute and that the adult cast had doppelgangers in the other universe (Trialveron or something like that). I'd personally give my left arm to see this again. I can only worry that this show was actually better in the day, and wouldn't hold up now. Even though I haven't really thought about this show in 15 years, I can say this: if anyone involved in the show ever reads this, know that you're responsible for at least one journalist. And one who writes wacky fiction on the side. Thanks a bundle. The cult may be small, but this show really needs a nostalgic Web site.
Yours, Zachary Houle