Change Your Image
mhulbert
Reviews
Yong li ren zhe (1978)
Best Seen in Foleyvision
I had the advantage of seeing this at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin (a great movie house that serves food and booze to you as you watch the movie), in "Foleyvision." The soundtrack is off completely, and a local comedian and three other sound/voice guys do all the voices, sound effects and music.
The chief bad guy was given a broad Scots accent and his brother an accent that sounded a bit like the Knight Who Says Ni in the Python movie. They dub in actual dialogue to keep a coherent story, but embellish ("Ah Ha! Now I understand, Pai Liu was his father (although I am not sure how I know that) . . .") During the fight scenes the actors say things like "Now I will defeat him with my no hands technique . . . (gets hit) . . . hmmm, maybe the one hand technique . . ." and "bet you can't do a cartwheel . . . oh, I stand corrected."
Great fun.
Cidade de Deus (2002)
Excellent
Sometimes popular culture quotes work as well as Shakespeare. I'm Not Down, by The Clash, has the following lines:
"So you rock around and think that you're the toughest in the world, the whole wide world. But you're streets away from where it gets the roughest. You ain't been there."
After viewing Cidade de Deus you may still not have been there, but you start to get an idea of how little you would want to.
Exceptional directing and the art direction/cinematography was perfect. The scenes in the 1970's, in particular, were stunning.
Xing fu shi guang (2000)
Mood Shift
Someone criticized other commentators with the comment that they seemed upset that the movie was not what they wanted it to be. My problem is that the movie did not seem that sure itself. It appears to start out as a light-hearted (albeit with dramatic undertones) flick, but in the last 15 minutes or so shifts to purely depressing drama. Don't get me wrong, movies can mix up comedy and drama (another mainland Chinese movie -- Xixhoa (or "Shower") comes to mind), but his one did not quite flow in a satisfying way.
On a completely unrelated note -- Are we sure that Divine is actually on the other side and not just in China (the mother/finance was a dead ringer for him).
Mark
Dogtown and Z-Boys (2001)
Not just a cult movie
If you are under the impression that you need to be a skateboarding or surfing fanatic to love this movie you are wrong. I've only been on a skateboard a couple of times in my life and my surfing experience is limited to wimpy old-guy boggie boarding, but I loved this movie. A great example of a documentary capturing a time and spirit. Great characters, great story.
In particular, I would urge fellow LA coastal dwellers (esp. Santa Monica down the South Bay) to watch this movie for a history lesson of our neighborhood. I will wear my "Venice Pride" T-Shirt with even greater pride now!
Monsoon Wedding (2001)
The language thing . . .
A number of reviewers here have criticized the film for the difficulty of the language (although some recognize that this is what actually occurs in India). I found the switching between Hindi and Indian English fascinating and a great addition to the movie. And . . . by the way . . . the English is not, in the words of one reviewer, "broken English" it is just the Indian variety of English. Indian English is just as legitimate a form of English as American English and British English. On sheer numbers, theirs has at least a colorable claim as the standard (i.e. there are more speakers of it than there are of American English or British English). The use of English was not some special plot device for Nair to show how western things have become in India, it was just an honest portrayal of the expanding Indian middle class.
Finding fault in the film for the language is misplaced. It's like a Brit saying that they like movies from the USA, but find that the awful broken American English and accents getting in the way. Call me crazy, but I'd rather De Niro didn't start speaking like Prince Charles (or vice versa for that matter).
By the way, I had no problem with understanding the accents at all. I admit that this could be because I grew up in England and have therefore probably been exposed to these accents more than most people in the USA.
I would urge everyone to see the movie. One of the best I have viewed for a while.
Teddy Bears' Picnic (2001)
Good (But Not Guest)
I agree with the prior comment that this film is in the spirit of Christopher Guest's movies, but it does not quite reach those standards (although, of course, that is setting the bar pretty high). Certainly an amusing film, but one wishes that perhaps the actors had been given some flexibilty to show their comedic muscle (particulary John Micheal Higgins, whose improv in Best in Show was off the charts). Unfortunately, it's not only the fire that fizzles out a little towards the end. Overall though, clearly superior to most comedies out there (and some great satire re TV news), but with someone like Shearer and a cast of this quality one enters the cinema with such high hopes it is easy to be disappointed.
Silent Running (1972)
Are people really that narrow minded?
A wonderful film. Yes, Blade Runner and Alien are good, but just because this movie is very different from them does not make it a bad movie. You don't have to be an environmental nut to appreciate the message of the movie. If you really cannot get past the 70's haircuts and music then you're just an idiot -- can't you just treat it as a period piece? (Finding fault with the movie for those reasons is like saying you hated Braveheart 'cos there weren't enough cool cars.)
By the way, call me a sentimental old fool, but didn't anyone else feel sort of sorry for old Huey (or was it Duey or Looey) left alone tending the remaining hemisphere?
Great movie, memorable scenes, good message. So there.
Der Philosoph (1989)
Interesting, quirky film
In the absence of any other reviews or comments whatsoever, thought I should throw in my two cents worth.
Saw this movie in its first run in London around 1990. Must have been fairly good as I still remember scenes now, 12 years on. At the time, I was doing a Ph.D in philosophy so that may have been part of my reason for noticing the film. It's about a boring, nerdy academic type who publishes a text on Heraclitus and somehow attracts the attention of three attractive women who may or may not be actual muses. It's a little slow and humorless at times (it is German, you know), but overall a decent flick. Worth a viewing.