Reviews

Saw this at its 20th-anniversary screening at the 2013 Edmonton International Film Festival. It was great to see how well it has stood the test of time, and to see it on the big screen.

It's not a perfect film—it's a bit of a shaggy-dog tale, and some of the comic elements work better than others. That said, its pleasures vastly outweigh any of its flaws. Some fantastic comedic performances, most notably from underused First Nations actor Sam Bob and Battlestar Galactica's Michael Hogan.

The director, Francis Damberger, is selling DVD copies of the film in an attempt to raise the capital needed for a proper high-definition digital transfer of the film. Send a few bucks his way, snag your own personal copy of the movie, and help preserve this classic slice of Canadiana while we still can! For info, email him: dfcc.fran-at-gmail-dot-com.

...and this is easily among his finest (and funniest) of his earthly works. Eddie Bracken manages to be hilarious and heartbreakingly lovable -- just as he was in "Miracle of Morgan's Creek." The entire ensemble of Sturges stalwarts -- people like the immortal Raymond Walburn and William Demarest -- are at the absolute top of their game.

With crackling dialogue, finely drawn characters and a pell-mell plot, "Hail the Conquering Hero" is proof positive that comedy can be great art. More than six decades after it was made, it feels funnier and fresher than any comedy you're likely to see today.

This comedy is an unstoppable snowball, gaining size and momentum as it barrels down a mountainside. See it, and then seek out Sturges's other masterworks.

I can't add much to wmorrow59's excellent summary. It caught the strengths and weaknesses of this film and provided excellent historical background. Be sure to read it.

This film is only worth watching if you're a Preston Sturges fanatic (like me) and are willing to sit through his one failure as well as his many triumphs. I have a hunch that the studio meddling accounts for much of the trouble -- the movie's pace and structure are erratic at best -- but I also fear that our man Preston may have wandered too far from his natural path as a filmmaker. This is no buried treasure. Sturges's cut may have been an improvement, but I don't see the makings of a good movie here. The dialogue is weird when it isn't plain awful, the protagonist is a pigheaded dimwit, and the moments of slapstick are wildly misplaced.

If you buy Turner's incredible 7-film Sturges box set, do so for the other six titles -- all of them masterpieces.

I saw this at a film festival in the early '90s at Edmonton's late, lamented "Local Heroes International Screen Festival." It obviously stuck with me. Here I am, 13 years later, tracking it down on IMDb. I had hoped it would be available somewhere on DVD, but no luck.

I loved this movie's unrelenting humour and humanity in the face of bleak and senseless violence. It's a tough, jarring mixture -- I remember quite a number of people walking out of the screening -- but I've never seen anything like it before or since. Those who made it through the screening were talking about the movie for the rest of the festival.

It will be a crime if "You, Me and Marley" has disappeared forever.

I just watched this film again after several years, and it's as good as I remembered. Sure, the script stumbles from time to time, and the synthesized score grates a bit, but it's the kind of film you can embrace with your whole heart despite its flaws.

The largely Canadian (yay!) cast does a beautiful job -- Adam Beach, Gary Farmer, Tantoo Cardinal, and ESPECIALLY Evan Adams. His Thomas ranks among the screen's most indelible characters. He delivers a sly and nuanced performance, filled with wisdom, warmth, humour, and a thousand delightful little surprises.

An indie classic!

Yes, Michael Moore has an ego. Yes, he has an agenda (translation: a point of view that some people disagree with). Yes, he can be occasionally misleading or irritating.

But, who cares? This guy is consistently provocative and supremely entertaining. I'd rather watch one of his movies than a dozen standard political documentaries.

Bowling for Columbine asks a simple question: why do Americans kill each other with guns at ten times the rate (or more) than in any other developed nation? Of course, Moore himself doesn't expect to find a conclusive answer. His search, however, is fascinating.

Who else would even try to tie together themes ranging from gun control, to sensationalism in the media, to health care, to US international political violence, to rock 'n' roll, to corporate malfeasance, and beyond? It's a hugely ambitious juggling act, and we shouldn't be shocked or disappointed if Moore drops a few balls here and there.

For example: no, Canada is not the harmonious, happy-go-lucky heaven Moore portrays. However, we take many things for granted that Americans can't even imagine (like universal health care).

No, it's not a perfect movie. But at a time when the US is once again spending billions of dollars overseas on bombs, and billions of dollars at home to expand tax breaks for the rich, we don't need Michael Moore to be perfect. We just need Michael to be Michael (even -- or especially -- at the Oscars!).

I just watched this movie for the third or fourth time, and it's aged extremely well. Yes, Lasse Hallström shamelessly pushes the limits of sentimentality (heck, it's a trademark with him), but I love this movie even at its sappiest.

Every member of the ensemble is outstanding, particularly Danny Aiello. Richard Dreyfuss creates a character that miraculously manages to be utterly lovable and repulsive at the same time.

It's a film filled with surprises and unforgettable moments. Great script by Malia Scotch Marmo -- layered, intelligent, uncompromising and unconventional. Nine stars!

From some of the other comments (especially the one complaining about the Southern accents), it's clear that people are judging this film at face value. This movie is not meant to be realistic! It's a whimsical, highly stylized fable, right in line with director Jon Amiel's best work -- and it's a delight from start to finish. Everybody in the cast is clearly having a great time -- particularly Peter Falk -- and if you have an open mind, and are willing to surrender to the film's atmosphere, you'll have a great time too.

Hilarious, smart, sexy, surprising -- in other words, not your typical Hollywood comedy. Give it a chance!

I can't say I enjoyed this one any more than the execrable Phantom Menace. The new films sadly miss the spirit of Hans Solo. Back then, anytime things started to bog down, he was there fun at all of the Jedi solemnity.

With the all-too-brief exception of Yoda's light sabre fight, this movie was about as exciting and enjoyable as a two and a half-hour sermon by a doddering Anglican vicar. Count me out for the next one.

I tried watching this after reading some of the comments (my favourite: "I thought this picture was better than Casablanca, Citizen Kane, and Gone With The Wind all put together, to the power of seven billion").

Sorry. Much as I'd love to cheer on a movie from Saskatchewan, "Ryan's Babe" is utterly unwatchable. The performances, script, and inept direction would be enough to sink it. However, I must single out "composer" Ross Nykiforuk for special mention. His bizarre and relentless score ( and I mean relentless -- the awful music never lets up for a second) had me shaking my head in disbelief.

Oh, and what's with the credit "Directed by Ray Ramayya, PhD"? We're pleased that you successfully defended your thesis, Dr. Ray. Now put it to better use.

Zacharias Kunuk has given us a detailed, intimate glimpse of what life was like for the Inuit centuries ago. If that were the only thing he accomplished, it would be enough.

But "Atanarjuat" is more than a mere historical document; it is a great movie by any standard. It transports you to another place and time, and immerses you in a gripping, epic tale. Yes, it's nearly three hours long, but I wasn't bored for an instant.

The acting, particularly by Lucy Tulugarjuk as the duplicitous Paja, is better than you'd see in most Hollywood movies. The cinematography is breathtaking, particularly considering that it was shot on digital video. The script has dozens of unforgettable scenes, all masterfully captured by Kunuk and his cast.

"Atanarjuat" is unlike any movie you've ever seen, or likely ever will see. How often can you say that? Let's hope Kunuk manages to avoid being sucked into the mainstream.

This is a masterpiece, and will live forever as a landmark in world cinema -- yet it didn't even receive an Oscar nomination as Best Foreign Language Film. Then again, "How Green Was My Valley" beat out "Citizen Kane"...

The dreariest movie I've seen this year (and I'm a big Cusack fan). I will admit that I seemed to be in the minority -- people around me were hooting with glee. It reminded me of the time I watched "Steel Magnolias" and was the only one not weeping at the mawkish finale. I don't understand how people can swallow this kind of drivel.

I loved Hallstrom's other films. He's always struck me as a rare director who be shamelessly sentimental without being cloying or obnoxious. His streak ends here.

There's not a shred of insight or genuine emotion in this entire movie. I felt like I was being clobbered over the head with whimsy -- a singularly unpleasant sensation I haven't felt since "Enchanted April".

Okay, so it loses a bit of steam in the final third, but that's true of most movies. It still rates a ten. The first film by Paul Ruebens, Tim Burton and the incomparable film composer Danny Elfman, it bubbles with the pure joy and exuberance of three talented people playing with a brand new toy. No film has ever been more fun to watch.

Reubens' media crucifixion in the early 90's was a crime against pop culture. America's snickering sanctimony stifled and virtually silenced one of the few original voices in the entertainment industry. I'm only thankful that Pee-wee lives on in video-land, so that my children and I can continue to enjoy his film and television work (the new DVD of "Big Adventure", by the way, is a treasure).

Pee-wee Herman, it's time to come back! Your loyal fans await your triumphant return. And to all those sicko name-callers out there, we have only one thing to say:

"I know you are, but what am I?"

Dumb, dumb, dumb. John Woo's patented balletic gunplay is pretty for the first five minutes, and dull as dishwater the rest of the way. I was relieved to see a mediocre 7.0 user rating for this movie.

Did this script really come from the mind of Robert Towne, the writer who gave us "Chinatown"? Now he relies on jaw-dropping, lame-o cop-outs. Over and over and over again, he had characters peel off rubber masks to reveal -- GASP! -- that they were actually someone else! Give me a break. What's he got in store for his next film? How about the old, "Maybe it was all just a dream" ploy?!

I give it 3.0.

Career Opportunities is puerile, sophomoric, unfunny, clumsy and, at a mere 80 minutes, astoundingly dull. Of the 2000 or so movies I watched in the nineties, it's the absolute worst.

This is a disgusting, discouraging, desolate, dog's breakfast of a movie. It's a fantasy without imagination, a romance without heart, a saga without a plot, and a "family movie" filled with relentless and gratuitous violence.

George Lucas' biggest mistake in Willow is that he fails to trust in the power of a simple tale simply told. Star Wars, for all its special effects, was just that -- a straightforward fable of good versus evil. In Willow, Lucas starts with a small, appealing story, and then buries it in an avalanche of cliches, botched special effects, and violence.

The special effects generally have no justification in terms of the plot. And what's worse, they're poorly executed. Most laughable is the two-headed Ebersisk, a monster who appears for no discernible reason, and who looks like a refugee from some old Sinbad movie.

Some of my other favourite low-lights include the unfunny and clumsily matted-in brownies (anyone remember The Gnome-Mobile?). "They were so darned cute," cooed one of my companions, "I just wanted to step on them!" And let's not forget the talking possum (I'm not kidding), who is really a good sorceress under an evil spell.

Funny, hip, and full of fresh faces. Crisp direction, and a quirky script that never lets you down. Some of the jokes may baffle you non-Canucks, but be brave and try a taste of our true national culture.

Proves once again that there's more to Atlantic Canadian film than "Anne of Green Gables".

My two girls (aged 5 and 7) have been exposed to plenty of Disney razz-ma-tazz, but this low-key movie nonetheless kept them glued to their seats. A great tale, told with energy, charm and plenty of humour. A guaranteed winner for the 10-and-under set, and a refreshing treat for any parent who normally has to accompany children to dreck like "Inspector Gadget" or "Flu