Reviews

New 42" HDTV and a Blu-Ray player recently. Loving it!

Gravity... so much hype and so many awards! Turn the lights out and get immersed! It had my full attention!

By the halfway point I hated it. Why? It was all about the visuals, the CGI, the clever swirly camera shots and mind-blowing shots of Earth with ambient music (The Orb's "Blue Room" would have been perfect)

Other than this what was there? A bit of trivial chat between "Cool and Calm" Clooney and "Doctor" Bullock. Please tell me why this movie was in any way good apart from this? I thought Avatar was rubbish because apart from the visuals the script was awful and story derivative.

Films that are about being stuck in space? Dark Star and Silent Running had low budgets but were far more emotionally involving than this movie. The film was a Hollywood "tick the boxes" Oscar movie. Am surprised Tom Hanks didn't take Clooney's roll first! Ol' Hanks loves those "Oscar" roles!

Sandra Bullock put in a great performance as a scared woman who looks nervous all the time and breathes heavily a lot (but always with perfect make-up). Then there's a scene where she gets all emotional because she is alone in space. Well played by Sandra, she did it well. She is a great actress.

If you LOVE special effects and it contributes to your movie going experience, then this movie will impress the pants off you. Effects never-before-seen and it moves "the bar" in terms of visuals...

If however special visual effects take second place to a story and words spoken, then you might be underwhelmed a bit. It's a big budget Hollywood movie with fancy-pants effects.

The ending could well be used for a new deodorant commercial!

Dark Star and Silent Running were miles better!

Isn't it funny how this film, whilst massively dismissed as rubbish by critics when it was first released, has attracted a very loyal following of people who hold it very dear to their hearts - isn't that basically the definition of a cult film? Why? The special effects are terrible, it's basically a "breaking into the USA market" vehicle for Rick Mayall, and Marsha Mason looks exactly the same in the "21 years ago" flashbacks as she does in the current time-line.

This film is special because it has that certain endearing uniqueness to it that makes it very personal. Those who love it have watched it many, many times. I've never seen anything like it before or since. It's a Hollywood-style comedy about a mid-20's dippy girl that is re-visited by her childhood imaginary friend when her life starts falling apart... or, it's an increasingly dark study of a girl descending into madness, only to choose reality over fantasy in the end.

Phobe Cates is fantastic in this film. She reacts to Mayall's familiar but still funny "Rick" routine in the sweetest and cutest way. The comic timing of both is excellent. Check out her expression when she asks her mother to "sit down" after Mayall has just delivered his "Cobwebs" line... Adorable.

A curiosity is after Fred's first encounter with Elizabeth's mother. After having his head squashed flat by a fridge door ("Oh no my head, the Megabitch squashed my head! The Bitch! She squashed my head! The evil one reigns supreme!"), the following references by Fred during the rest of the film refer to her as the "Megabeast". Perhaps half way through filming the producers, thinking this would be a lovely summer kiddie film thought it was a tad too "adult" to appeal to a young audience and told the makers to tone it down a bit.. The opening scene, where Marsha Mason reads a bedtime story to her 4 year old daughter only to be told "What a pile of S**t" pretty much sets the scene. Hilarious! There are so many genuinely funny and heart-warming scenes in this film. When Fred makes a "real" mud pie with the 4 year old Elizabeth, the little girl seems to be genuinely enjoying herself ("it's so fun!"). You can't help but smile. And whilst the final goodbye between Elizabeth and Fred is pretty formulaic Hollywood, it still tugs at the old heart strings.

Some people perhaps read too much into the film when they see it as a study of schizophrenia etc, but then again you can't help think that underneath the zany comedy, the writers are subtly giving the film a deeper edge. The scene that really hinges Elizabeth's descent into madness is when she finally despairs of her cheating husband's hopeless ways ("I'm scared to be alone") by Fred, who beckons "come with me" with a very creepy invitation to succumb to insanity.

To me, this film succeeds because it naughtily mixes Hollywood's cliché-ridden nicey-nice "family" comedies with the anarchic British alternative comedy of the 90's. You'll either "get it" or think it's crap. The choice is yours. To those that love it, perhaps it just sparks that missed childhood innocence that runs throughout, as well as our desire to be more rebellious and independent than we are now as adults. The ending is lovely too... Fred carries on helping kids in his own way.

P.S. Carrie Fisher will always be remembered and associated with Star Wars, but she is a superb comedy actress. "But didn't Elvis kill himself?", "Yes, but before that he was really interesting!"... Superb!

At last, a film that shows Jim Carey CAN play it subtle and very convincingly. I always knew that under the clown persona he could act believably. Nice one Jim, act more non-gimp roles, you do it well! I was recommended this film by friends but resisted because of Carey's headline role... What a pleasant, different (and touching) surprise this film is. Like all Kaufman scripted films, a second viewing is essential to truly appreciate the direction it goes in.

The soundtrack is lovely, reminded me of American Beauty in that it's quite subtle but would make a completely different film with its absence. Carey and Winslet's most memorable and moving scenes involve a subtle background by Jon Brion, very well scored.

Jim Carey and Kate Winslet both play against type and do a great job. The fact that they are so different from each other does strain at the would-they-really-be-a-couple boundaries, but it doesn't matter. The film is so charming that the relationship between the leads plays only a part in the bigger picture. It's the tone and atmosphere of the film as a whole that makes this picture so warm, quirky and endearing. The director should be applauded here.

The supporting cast does an excellent job... Kirsten Dunst and Elijah Wood dismiss the pressures of mega-stardom (Spider-Man and Lord Of The Rings) to add to the tone. Wood is such a sad sleaze-bag that thinks nothing of stealing an identity ("I stole her panties"), excellent! Dunst is great at playing it babbling-stoned, and as a younger mortal with an infatuation on a wiser, older guy (Tom Wilkinson is great too). Very true and believable...

High points... The elephant parade (with Kirsten Dunst's Pope monologue - short, just in the right place hence film perfection), Cary and Winslet "We're playing", "He's trying to kill me", and of course "Meet me in Montogue" (+ Jon Brion music) ...

The Low-ish Points: Carey almost hitting "gimp" routine with the child recreation (unnecessary)... but saved by Winslet's hilarious "this is my crotch" response.

Big surprise. This was recommended by friends who know I detest Carey's "comedy" acts. Anybody who has seen a relationship end but later looks back on it affectionately will get something out of this.

Most surprising film of the last few years in that when I saw the "Carey" sleeve on the DVD rack, I reckoned on a stupid over-the-top "comedy", but was rewarded with a smart, moving and thoughtful relationship driven film.

One to watch on your own late at night... Excellent