There are some very powerful moments in this movie, but they are overshadowed by the simplistic and cartoony moments. The acting is excellent and the tragic bits are quite tragic. I wish that the rest of the movie did those moments justice. Whoopi Goldberg and Danny Glover are excellent, even Oprah Winfrey does a reasonable job. I suppose that one of the reasons that this movie is so highly considered is that it was truly groundbreaking for much of white America. Given the context of the times the movie is very good , but intrinsically, just taken by itself, the movie is mediocre at best and quite stinky at worst. This movie won't stand the test of time. Centuries from now, when we are all a fairly homogenized people this movie will be laughable.
Reviews
4 Reviews
A Scanner Darkly
(2006)
Excellent druggie flick, mediocre conspiracy flick
2 October 2006
This movie certainly had its high points and its low points for me. I loved the paranoid interactions between the druggies and the druggie dialog and character interactions were spectacular to sit through. I almost felt like I was part of the interactions, so draw into the conversations was I. Unfortunately, the actual plot points and storyline of the underlying conspiracy were dull and predictable. In almost every scene that didn't have either Woody Harrelson's or Robert Downey Jr's character in it, I found myself bored to tears and eagerly hoping they'd be in the next scene. I'd really like to give this a better rating, but overall the movie isn't worth more than a 5 out of ten.
5/10
5/10
Waking Life
(2001)
Wanking Life
28 December 2004
Warning: Spoilers
There has been quite a bit of debate over this flick, both at the time of its release and now online. It was the dichotomy of views that first attracted me to this movie. Anything that stirred people (both the intelligent variety, and otherwise) must be worth at least the matinée prices and the two hours of my life spent watching the movie. Boy was I wrong.
I came out of this movie thoroughly unentertained, unenlightened, and unwilling to ever subject myself to the writer/director's work ever again. He did redeem himself with some of his later work, so I eventually relented of my personal boycott of him. But I digress. Waking Life is little more than a self-involved, well-read, mental masturbation fest. Linklater does nothing more than give all of his friends five minutes in front of a camera to narcissistically show off and then attempt (badly) to knit these segments into a movie.
On the flip-side, the animation was fantastic, it conveyed the feel and lent itself very effectively to the texture that Linklater was trying for. It's too bad it was wasted on such a lousy script.
****************Spoiler Alert*************************
For those who haven't seen the movie, here is a quick outline of the entire storyline
Blah, blah, blah, Kierkegaard, blah
Blah, blah, blah, existentialism, blah
I came out of this movie thoroughly unentertained, unenlightened, and unwilling to ever subject myself to the writer/director's work ever again. He did redeem himself with some of his later work, so I eventually relented of my personal boycott of him. But I digress. Waking Life is little more than a self-involved, well-read, mental masturbation fest. Linklater does nothing more than give all of his friends five minutes in front of a camera to narcissistically show off and then attempt (badly) to knit these segments into a movie.
On the flip-side, the animation was fantastic, it conveyed the feel and lent itself very effectively to the texture that Linklater was trying for. It's too bad it was wasted on such a lousy script.
****************Spoiler Alert*************************
For those who haven't seen the movie, here is a quick outline of the entire storyline
Blah, blah, blah, Kierkegaard, blah
Blah, blah, blah, existentialism, blah
Tank Girl
(1995)
seriously under rated
28 December 2004
This movie seems to have gotten a bad rep on IMDb. Less than 5/10??? It ain't Shakespeare, but it's better than that.
This movie was unpretentious and fun. You could clearly see that everyone involved in this project was having a good time.
Tank Girl is a campy comic-book splashed up on your screen. The folks who take it too seriously should lighten up. It was well written (as camp) and I really enjoyed all of the characters. It's the ultimate "In your face" movie. The feminist subtext was interesting. I didn't notice it right off, I was too busy enjoying the ride. But if you look at all of the characters, it's the women who are strong, and all of the male characters are either villains or are defective in some way (1/2 human Rippers).
It was (and is) one of my favourite flicks and I can be very critical of badly done movies.
This movie was unpretentious and fun. You could clearly see that everyone involved in this project was having a good time.
Tank Girl is a campy comic-book splashed up on your screen. The folks who take it too seriously should lighten up. It was well written (as camp) and I really enjoyed all of the characters. It's the ultimate "In your face" movie. The feminist subtext was interesting. I didn't notice it right off, I was too busy enjoying the ride. But if you look at all of the characters, it's the women who are strong, and all of the male characters are either villains or are defective in some way (1/2 human Rippers).
It was (and is) one of my favourite flicks and I can be very critical of badly done movies.
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