Reviews

Lately I tend to give every movie that I can't predict more favourable reviews than I should, but I really enjoyed this. My local video store clerks (at the stellar Eyesore Cinema in Toronto, Canada) tend to just hand me a movie to rent when I walk in, so I have no idea what I'm about to see until I get home and put it in my DVD player. Maybe they just know me there, but I thought this one was definitely something. It's strange how so many unlikable characters couldn't stop me from liking the film.

I can understand why the film is so polarizing. I gets 1 star reviews and 5 star reviews. That's often the sign that a film is at very least memorable. Totally original, unpredictable, funny, odd, horrifying, cartoonish, very violent, and filled with characters few could relate to, yet ultimately it's all wholly watchable. The Last Circus is sort of like 5 films in one and crosses genres wildly, but it kept me entertained throughout, which is pretty much all I ask of a film.

Ahh, Splice. Any movie that divides audiences as thoroughly as Splice does has merit in my book. Splice is dark, funny, and satirical, squeezing in some fun ethics questions and a healthy dose of cheesy b-movie corniness. It moves at a glacial pace to begin, and slowly creeps along occasionally peppering you with some intentionally corny drama/horror, and a couple parts that are equal parts funny and disturbing, before it gets really going. It's incorrectly marketed as a horror film in the vein of an old 'Jeepers Creepers'-type film, when in fact it's more of a sci-fi ethics drama that bounces off the walls of a few different genres along the way.

Brody is solid, The effects look good, and it's nice to see the inherently likable Sarah Polley take on the part of a truly unlikable character for once.

Go in with an open mind and enjoy the twisted fun.

Rod Coneybeare as Rusty and Jerome! Such a funny and talented guy with an amazing career. When I was 12 or 13 I saw some Friendly Giant re-runs and was staggered when I noticed Rusty and Jerome were both controlled and voiced by Rod at the same time! Coneybeare really has had an amazing career in Canadian television. And of course, Bob Homme is a legend as Friendly. The show never had a script, so Rod and Bob would just chat about the events of the week or comment of funny things they had seen or heard, and then play a song and read to the little ones at home. It sounds mundane, and really it all was, but it was done with such sweetness and sincerity and charm that it was endlessly watchable. I'm a grown man now, but if Friendly Giant is ever released on DVD (or BluRay, or whatever is next), it's got a spot reserved in my collection.

I can remember when the music would play signaling the end of another episode of Friendly Giant, my little brother's eyes would well up with tears, and I'd have to reassure him that Rusty, Jerome and Friendly would be back soon. Promise.

I'll have to email him one of the great clips on Youtube. :)

Breathless is one of my favourite 'background movies', along with Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls, Switchblade Sisters, and Bonnie and Clyde:

Pretty and dumb girl, Pretty and dumb guy, OTT cops, killer soundtrack, cool LA locations, and weird, memorable, clunky and odd dialogue. This movie actually got me hooked on old Silver Surfer comics; which are corny and ham-fisted, but fun because they're 'played straight'. Like this movie.

And Breathless still has one of my all-time favourite movie endings--Hollywood, Indie, or other. Don't compare it to the original French New-wave film. It has almost nothing to do with it. And, while I like the original, I love the cheesy appeal of the remake so much more. My film professors would be so disappointed in me, I'm sure.

Breathless is great, great fun.

Most of the performances were ho-hum. Michelle Yeoh gave it her best, but there's not much to work with. The dialogue is weak, the story is predictable and the crises the characters run into are shot and edited in such a way that they are utterly devoid of tension.

Gong Li is beautiful, and has a couple nearly-entertaining scenery-chewing bits, but I was wishing this movie was over 30 minutes after it started.

There were MANY beautiful sets and costumes in this film, all of them completely wasted with boring cinematography.

Too bad. I was looking forward to this film.

This movie is like Barton Fink or Miller's Crossing to me. --It gets funnier every time I watch it. When I first saw this film in 1999 I was NOT expecting comedy. I didn't know the story of Sleepy Hollow and didn't expect Ichabod Crane to be a fool. I wasn't sure I liked the movie. Watching it again tonight I have a whole new take on it. Now I think Johnny Depp's cowardly and ridiculous Ichabod Crane ("Look! A chemical reaction!!") is one of my favourite movie characters in recent memory. I laugh at almost every line he delivers in the first half of the movie.

Silly, lots of fun, and beautiful sets.

Tim Burton's best after Ed Wood.

A movie about a party on New Year's Eve, 1999. --A party filled with highly irritating people who have highly irritating things to say to each other. Whether that was intentional or not, I have no idea.

I tried to like this movie, as I think Buck Henry and Jennifer Garner are both pretty darn watchable most of the time, but I just couldn't summon up enough like from within me to watch the whole movie in one sitting. I had to take a break and watch the second half the next day.

The weird thing about '1999' is that..well... I kinda like the IDEA of the movie and the way it looks--kinda amateur/arty, and I even like the actors--in other movies, anyway. Unfortunately all of the characters suffer from Tarantinoism-wherein all the different characters' lines sound like they were written by the same person in the same "voice".

It would have been one of the best student films in my film class back in the day, but that's about the most praise I can give it. --That, and that it only cost me eight bucks at the 7-11.

Somebody asked me what the worst film I've ever seen was. I considered "Blood Sucking Freaks" and "Supergirl", but after wracking my brains for days I decided it was "The Astronaut's Wife".

What a waste of Johnny Depp and Charlize Theron. A boring script with a laughable ending, The Astronaut's Wife is a waste of so much studio money (and the viewer's time) that in makes an Ed Wood film seem well-paced and clever. Come to think of it, before renting (or, horror of horrors--BUYING) this movie, watch an Ed Wood movie. --THEN, watch The Astronaut's Wife and tell me which one has less entertainment value.

I just know I'm gonna get stuck on a desert island like Tom Hanks in 'Castaway'--but the only things that will wash up on shore will be a working solar-powered TV/DVD player and a copy of this movie. I have that kind of luck.