3 Reviews
Sort by:
Filter by Rating:
Matilda (1978)
One of the last at Radio City.
14 November 2008
I was fortunate as a 12-year old to see this film at Radio City Music Hall, as one of the last regular engagements before the Music Hall converted to a concert hall. I don't remember much about the film and won't try and defend it, but it was exciting to see it in the context of a Radio City presentation, complete with Rockettes and organ and all!

It's a shame that there haven't been more films shown on that great and grand screen. I don't know why films like TITANIC and THE DARK KNIGHT and WALL-E wouldn't have worked a treat there for short runs at the start of their lives.

It is a blessing that the theatre is intact and still gloriously vibrant and active. What a joy to experience, even peripherally, the thrill that our parents and grandparents felt when going to the movies.
9 out of 21 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
5/10
MISS & HIT (from yesterday's T.I.F.F. screening).
12 September 2006
Warning: Spoilers
I was at yesterday's lunchtime screening of FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION.

Needless to say, after three incredible pictures one's expectations for a Guest/Levy et al creation have grown pretty high. The first off-putting thing about this one is the jettisoning of the mocku format. I have gotten awfully used to the characters confessing their innermost feelings directly to the camera that it was weird watching them just interact with each other.

The broadness of the writing and some of the playing hasn't bothered me in the previous films, which dealt with worlds that I'm not terribly familiar with. But since we are surrounded with film and film-industry ephemera, a lot of the satirical jabs seemed scattershot.

I never really knew who exactly the characters were. Exactly where in the constellation did Catherine O'Hara's star shine? (And why did they give her the overloaded moniker of Margaret Hack?) Did Harry Shearer's guy have any claim to fame other than the Wiener commercial? What had Guest's director done beforehand? Was Parker Posey's comedy background mentioned before we saw that overlong piece of her act (which was eerily reminiscent of her "Red, White & Blaine" audition "monologue").

And exactly how low-level a movie ever would've had posters like the ones Richard Kind and Sandra Oh were proferring? And why wasn't there some difference between the look of HOME FOR PURIM (courtesy of British D.O.P. Jim Piddock) and the palette of FOR YOUR....? On the plus side, I loved John Michael Higgins' bizarre press agent, who must be based on someone real, since I can't imagine anyone conceiving that character. I liked the guy who played the brother (he doesn't seem to be credited on the IMDb page: is it Chirstopher Moynihan?). And Rachael Harris makes me scream. She is great as Parker Posey's "friend".

Guest bristled at the Q&A when a woman suggested that the vanities of Hollywood narcissism were perhaps a little overdone, but I kinda agree. If satire is what they're going for, they aimed awfully wide for my tastes.
3 out of 8 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Corpse Bride (2005)
3/10
Huge Disappointment.
25 September 2005
Saw the movie this afternoon and really disliked it. I've never found Burton to be a very coherent storyteller and this one reaches new lows. Part of the problem WAS the songs which, apart from being very hard to understand, were musically forgettable.

And compared to the incredible wit (visual and verbal) that Pixar has made its trademark, this movie seemed woefully unfunny. There was barely a chuckle in the theatre this afternoon.

Having said that, I did love the design of the characters, but once I realized that they weren't going to say or do anything interesting, my mind began to wander.
3 out of 13 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed