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VoxMoose
Reviews
Il conformista (1970)
Every frame is like an amazing photograph
Students of film will correctly describe the central mastery of this piece in terms of the jaw-dropping cinematography, where every novel choice of color, angle, and symmetry symbolizes some facet of the character under his uncanny conditions. Every frame of this movie is like a masterfully taken photograph. The more naive amongst us simple must stare agape in admiration for a film that is cleaver, complex, mystifying, and beautiful -- and disturbing. Interestingly enough, certain scenes, themes, and images were directly lifted and used in the movie Brazil by Terry Gilliam (I am assuming it was an intentional homage rather than a ripoff). Crudely, if you take Brazil, La Dolca Vita, and Kafka, you get something approaching the feel of The Conformist. A true masterpiece 10/10.
The Outlaw (1943)
The script may have been written on a dare.
This movie is the Citizen Kane of the "uber-busty emotionally dysfunctional passive-aggressive mixed-message re-written history but-damn-it-we-are-going-to-make-a-cowboy-movie-anyway" genre. Almost no element of this movie makes any sense. No character is remotely sympathetic nor are their actions understandable or grounded in history. The dialog is trite and discussions swing wildly with arbitrary emotion ranging from violent to loving to friendly to sadistic -- sentence by sentence. It has the emotional impact of a fourth grade brawl. Jane Russell has two jaw-dropping modes: the busty pout and the busty smile. But somehow, though it all, we are willing to watch. Taken as satire, as a self-parody of the Western genre ahead of its time, we laugh out loud with the brilliant straight-man comic deliveries of all the principles. Taken as the Saturday afternoon distraction of pre-teen boys circa 1943 and the piece actually begins to make sense. Taken as the serious piece it was meant to be, we are left agape wondering how this plot every made it out of the schoolyard. Nevertheless, absolutely essential viewing. Brilliant and amusing -- when seen through the right filters. 9/10..
The Clonus Horror (1979)
reasonable low budget science fiction
It's a solid science fiction story that borrows heavily from pieces like Logan's Run, Brave New World, Soylent Green, and THX1138. Although the production value is rather low, the work is an honest creative effort. The movie is enjoyable, but you have to heavily rescale expectations. It is easy to put on the MST3K goggles because cultural (late 70s made-for-TV style) and special effects limitations make it feel worse than it really is. The acting isn't great, but still tops the Star Wars Prequels in that respect. Overall, as a science fiction fan, and given the poor rating on the IMDb, I found myself pleasantly surprised.
Teddy Bears' Picnic (2001)
Shearer stumbles with Teddy Bears' Picnic
The normally brilliant Harry Shearer stumbles with Teddy Bears' Picnic. All the components are present for a potentially hilarious and telling mockumentary-style satire on the famous Bohemian Grove, where an odd mix of New World Order power mongers, artists, pseudo intellectuals, and quasi-celebrity mix in a state of misogynistic, sophomoric, and fraternal abandon. An inspired and willing all-star cast combined with dozens of hilarious inside-joke instants, give the piece great scene-by-scene potential. But sadly, the work as a whole simply disintegrates into a surprising state of comic mistiming and sloppy direction. "Surprising" because of the intrinsic talent involved in the project. It seemed to me that this made-for-TV piece was conceived at breakfast and filmed by dinnertime, cobbled together and performed in one take. It is as if we are looking at the "dailies" rather than the final piece. With basically strong comic material, just a little TLC with the plot flow and a more careful tuning of the comic timing (in direction, acting, and editing) could have made this into a real cult classic. Should be remade to pack the real comic punch the material contains.
Road to Bali (1952)
Some classic moments, but incoherent as a whole
Don't get me wrong. I'm a big fan of Hope, Crosby, and Lamour. I really wanted to like this movie, and there are certainly plenty of classic comedic *moments* to savor. The three of them are clearly having a lot of fun making the picture. But the piece as a whole is incoherent and strange, becoming almost unwatchable at times. The plot has the make-it-up-as-you-go nonsensical adventure feel of how little kids might play in the backyard. This does carry some charm for a while, but not for the length that they milk it. The songs are not stellar, but are pleasant enough. Crosby's voice in particular is, as always, quite amazing -- like butter. Hope is his hamming it up and obviously enjoying himself, delivering some clever jabs and funny, but silly, in-jokes. But because of the nearly unwatchable plot and long, meandering sequences of nonsense, I have to sadly give it 5/10.
The God Who Wasn't There (2005)
Entertaining and illuminating
The God Who Wasn't There is a highly entertaining documentary that makes a compelling argument against the historical Jesus. In an equally fascinating and entwined thread, Flemming also explores the psyche of the modern Christian. The piece has a refreshingly irreverent, witty, and independent tone similar in spirit to some of the works of Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock. And, like those works, can unfortunately sometimes cross into a "preaching to the converted" (rather, in this case, literally "unconverted") tone. Nevertheless, if you are an atheist or an agnostic this is an absolute must-see movie and it will seem far too short. If you are a theist, in particular Christian, prepare to have your core beliefs challenged.