P.T. Anderson's 'Couch' consists entirely of Adam Sandler, with a chaplin-esque smile on his face, walking into a furniture store and enjoying himself as he sits on two couches. It's not like this was taking seriously, it's fairly obvious that Anderson and Sandler had some time off from filming the brilliant 'Punch-Drunk Love' and wanted to have some fun. I can't help but love this two minute piece of gold. I hope these guys work together again in the future, whether it be a short such as this, or a full length feature.
Reviews
3 Reviews
Reservoir Dogs
(1992)
Toby Wong?
30 April 2003
From the hilarious opening to the perplexing blood soaked ending 'Reservoir Dogs' is a masterpeice. It centers around five men and a robbery they will do anything to pull off.
As in all of Tarantino's works, dialogue plays an important role. Not only do the men discuss how the plan went wrong and who the rat is, but also what the intent of 'Like a Virgin' was and the reason why one doesn't care to tip their waitress. What's really terrific about Reservoir Dogs is that it shows us things that you would never seen in another crime picture. Such things as under-confident robbers, the glee the criminals get when torturing a poor defenseless cop, and the over-all sloppiness of the in-and-out job they were supposed to achieve. Tarantino directs by setting the camera down in front of his actors and letting them just play the scene straight out with not that many cuts. During acton scenes, the man is willing to and will put the camera anywhere. The film looks beautiful.
The acting is superb. The legendary cast includes Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Chris Penn, Michael Madsen, Edward Bunker, Tim Roth, Lawrence Tierney and Tarantino himself. All of these men do wonderful work and fit their roles perfectly. It's as if every character was written with each actor in mind.
***** (Out of 5)
As in all of Tarantino's works, dialogue plays an important role. Not only do the men discuss how the plan went wrong and who the rat is, but also what the intent of 'Like a Virgin' was and the reason why one doesn't care to tip their waitress. What's really terrific about Reservoir Dogs is that it shows us things that you would never seen in another crime picture. Such things as under-confident robbers, the glee the criminals get when torturing a poor defenseless cop, and the over-all sloppiness of the in-and-out job they were supposed to achieve. Tarantino directs by setting the camera down in front of his actors and letting them just play the scene straight out with not that many cuts. During acton scenes, the man is willing to and will put the camera anywhere. The film looks beautiful.
The acting is superb. The legendary cast includes Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Chris Penn, Michael Madsen, Edward Bunker, Tim Roth, Lawrence Tierney and Tarantino himself. All of these men do wonderful work and fit their roles perfectly. It's as if every character was written with each actor in mind.
***** (Out of 5)
A Mighty Wind
(2003)
Guest and Company Back and Better Then Ever...
28 April 2003
Christopher Guest's 'A Mighty Wind' is a follow up to the brilliant 'Waiting For Guffman' and the wonderfully funny 'Best in Show'. With 'Guffman' he focused on the obsession of small timers trying to become big timers and in 'Show' he focused on sadistic men and women trying to live viscously threw their pets. Though this time he tackles a much more light-hearted topic, folk music, the laughs never stop.
Do to the the recent death of a famous concert promoter, Jonathan Steinbloom (Bob Balaban) decides to honor him, his father, by holding a reunion of all the great folk bands of the 1960's.
There is a great talent on display here. Watching Guest, Shearer and McKean up on screen was quite gratifying. Seeing these men perform together is like watching jazz-improvisation; the jokes and lines come out of left field and when some one hits a bad note, some one's right their to fall back on. And it some scenes, it comes quite apparent that these men are great musicians as well as comedians. Catheron O'Hara and Eugene Levy play the once husband and wife group, Mitch and Midge. The scenes with them are funny but mostly very subtle and sometimes quite sad. And of course, Fred Willard is back and proves once again that he is possibly the funniest man on earth. The rest of the players, too many to list, all do an excellent job.
If there's a flaw in the film, it is that there just isn't enough of it. Such characters as Sissy Knox (Parker Posey) should have been given more screen time and structure. This is a 100-minute film squeezed into an 80 minute one.
****1/2 (Out of 5)
Do to the the recent death of a famous concert promoter, Jonathan Steinbloom (Bob Balaban) decides to honor him, his father, by holding a reunion of all the great folk bands of the 1960's.
There is a great talent on display here. Watching Guest, Shearer and McKean up on screen was quite gratifying. Seeing these men perform together is like watching jazz-improvisation; the jokes and lines come out of left field and when some one hits a bad note, some one's right their to fall back on. And it some scenes, it comes quite apparent that these men are great musicians as well as comedians. Catheron O'Hara and Eugene Levy play the once husband and wife group, Mitch and Midge. The scenes with them are funny but mostly very subtle and sometimes quite sad. And of course, Fred Willard is back and proves once again that he is possibly the funniest man on earth. The rest of the players, too many to list, all do an excellent job.
If there's a flaw in the film, it is that there just isn't enough of it. Such characters as Sissy Knox (Parker Posey) should have been given more screen time and structure. This is a 100-minute film squeezed into an 80 minute one.
****1/2 (Out of 5)
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