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Film
Prophet's Movie Reviews Page 9
Andrei Rublev (1969)
Starring Anatoli Solonitsyn, Ivan Lapikov, Nikolai Grinko, Nikolai
Sergeyev, Irma Raush, Rolan Bykov
Film Prophet's Review...
Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, the true biographical account on fifteenth
century Russian Cathedral painter Andrei Rublev is blessed with talent.
In the artistic freedom and the divine quest of humanity, the religious
themes flow through the entire movie from meditation to whimsy rituals
to endless medieval invasions. The story runs at over three hours about
a single artist monk in harmony and goes on from the observations of the
painter in a turbulent period. As for the viewing treatment, it is an
experience of the sequences as autonomous ideas. There is no
manipulation and one can interpret how the viewer sees it as transfer.
It strives to elucidate the human spiritual condition and struggle.
Nothing artificial appears in the film unless it is created by fine art
but even that is valid. Filmmakers like Tarkovsky have the talent of
cinematography, as the director himself has comparisons to the title
character, Andrei Rublev, in painting. Both have methods of dedication
to an artistic attitude not gone to disregard. The film is in entirely
black and white and stark in composition. One can be mesmerized by the
cinematography of land, water, and structure complemented by the offbeat
music tune. In an opening sequence, a man goes on a hot air balloon with
a camera view looking downward. There are plenty of extra helpful camera
shots and images to aid in the sensation of art over individual plot.
The power clasps in the beauty of the film with complex people yet
simple grounds. The story really serves as a repertoire of chapters in
adult life. The main course of the film is through one's inner life
soiling the monumental constructs of long spiritual belief with lifeless
space in a stuffing environment of male peasants, or God's servants. To
believe in drawing as the expression of mind, the challenging
imaginative piece bares crises of faith and lone men's eventual
redemption. Rublev really acts as a bystander or a witness than a true
plot protagonist. His paintings aren’t pointed out until the end in
color in recap. It does not show him paint the walls, rather just
positioning him in the photography of the small church interiors. Rublev
and his couple fellow nomad monk look by their eye and browse… peasant
lives are enriched by temporary amusements from the jester, a
crucifixion in terms of man's redemption as a metaphor to Christ in the
snow, a pagan ritual, apparitions craft temptation and distressing
choices for Rublev to make between death or illicit contact, carrying
torches to start a fire in a Cathedral, and laborers building a church
bell. The pagan moments are almost hallucination sequences by the eerie
pious sound and new characters. The tedium and wonders of the camera
admits the scenes, relevant or pointless, that are part of an account of
a mystical viewing. In fact, staying in alone is truly peaceful in
harmony than associated with the evil, or people’s different
perspectives on things, of others through believers and sinners in one
God. The acting by generally a male leading cast is featured by some
traveling characters and there’s little known about the bearded monks.
They communicate to each other with theological arguments about
philosophy on religious aspects and ignorance, with poetry at nature
exploring existentialism and repentance at the core of conversations.
Numerous quotes spatter out such as, my soul cries for eternal rest,
it's a great sin to reject a God given gift, and no one lives forever.
The quiet knowledge and sadness by the characters confined by humanity
are captured from lingering selective shots between the chapters in the
film in an ultimate transcendent realism. The serene pace is deliberate
yet moving by the art and music to keep one in the film. In most scenes,
it is an illustration of people interaction without words, but with
movement of a patient lens in solid position. Irony in the fusion,
Rublev resists to find beauty in such a turbulent setting in a movie
that has so much tangible splendor that it's the elusive eternal
possessions that are missing in which soul is what really matters.
Final Grade: B+/B
Stolen Kisses (1968)
Starring Jean-Pierre Léaud, Claude Jade, Delphine Seyrig, Michael Lonsdale, Daniel Ceccaldi, Claire Duhamel
Film Prophet's Review...
The French movie is directed by François Truffaut, as character Antoine
Doinel attempts to return to civilian life after a dishonorable
discharge from the military in the early opening. Adulthood is something
that can not be averted. The movie is really another chapter and
continuation to Truffaut’s The 400 Blows film and his character of
Antoine Doinel. Jean-Pierre Léaud is the same actor who was Antoine as a
boy in the original revolutionary landmark film, so it is interesting to
watch him grow and see what he can do now with the same director in a
color picture. It was different watching a sequel in color with some new
performers though in a story years later on from a superb black and
white original French film. The movie does not nearly match the poetic
aptitude of the first or the pure naive themes despite the small letters
and notes in the film that float around. Antoine has odd adventures
through several jobs - hotel clerk, private detective, and a stock boy
at a shoe store. He follows others and never has much to say than to
just look at the opposite person. Naive and determined, he roams around
from place to place while checking out numerous of things around the
place and the people, mostly as the detective. Some individuals are
revolting and so are their actions, such when he works at the Hotel and
two detective men visit some girl sleeping. It starts out strange like
the camera angles, with jump cuts following and spying to the resulting
meddling scenes. Antoine meets a lot of characters, all of whom have
somehow been trounced by something. There’s a bunch of shadowing,
tailing, and loitering around. Through his jobs, the farcical Antoine
plays role-play as to say this is what the main character would do and
be at this position later at life. However, the movie sometimes is silly
and absurd at points that this film was taken as a mild comedic
approach. The world may be different or bizarre, and a young man may be
confused about his heart. The main point of the story is exploring
Antoine's relationship with long-time girlfriend Catherine. This is
sincerely done by ambiguity of not seeing each other often in the film
yet they're very vibrant and happy when shown together. Antoine’s
mischievous romantic ventures are short and incoherent, and a bit
mystifying when he visits whorehouses and finds random prostitutes in
long skirts and high heels on the streets. His actions are perplexing
because he has a girlfriend in Christine, and the final ten minutes of
the film is in finale somewhat. The movie spends more time investigating
temporary people and his jobs than the actual young relationship between
the two. It hardly shows up due to the haziness of the movie's own story
objective. The center of the film makes it so that this relationship is
hollow when Antoine works his jobs and sees other women. The bottom line
to Truffant is that men know little about romance and devotion to a
woman.
Final Grade: C+/C
The Battle of Algiers (1966)
Starring Brahim Hadjadj, Jean Martin, Yacef Saadi, Ugo Paletti
Film Prophet's Review...
A French Colonel Mathieu discovers the hiding place of Ali La Pointe,
the final and lead member of the National Liberation Front in Algeria,
the second largest nation in Africa. The film shows the Algerian
revolution from both sides, from freedom versus government power. Both
sides have trouble trusting one another. It was the war of independence
in the then French colony of Algeria. The Algerians are seeking
independence and the French army simply won’t move out, so the Algerians
retaliate. In some scenes, the French use torture to the forlorn and
weak people to question for information and location of the whereabouts
of others. This is contrasted when the Algerians plant bombs in cafes
and shops. When the Muslim women are sneaking past checkpoints to their
assignments, there’s a sense of danger for someone and the women still
go through with the plans. They are all rebellious people for humanity,
even the children. The black and white film by Gillo Pontecorvo is based
on a military commander’s memoir and the film does not contain any
newsreel footage. Nonetheless, the acting is realistic much so as the
depictions of the young pilfering at shotguns to seize while shooting at
French soldiers at dead on range… sneak, shoot, and then leave
concluding a scene. Usually whoever has the outnumbered chances in
physical street brawls is defeated. The film is mainly dedicated to
killing policemen, as there is no background or rule to anyone or
anything before hand. The only professional actor is Jean Martin. The
unaccredited cast isn't prominent, though the acting is very pragmatic,
yet the film is purely devoid of any emotional character link. Brahim
Hadjadj as Ali La Pointe is really the focal point and should have more
to do besides having a revolutionary mentality and looking angry. The
sympathy is towards a group of people in crowds of masses not
particularly singling out anyone since it is a revolution by nation. The
percussion score by Ennio Morricone triumphs. Along with a documentary
style narration jolting in flashes, the film is composed in erratic
episodes with dates and times from 1954 to 1962. They are little
segments into on a fine general plotline with sketchy areas. Distant in
view, there are guillotine methods and firing squad executions from
coercion, the peaks of the film. The Algerians are depicted as
terrorists in their own land by the French. They live in poverty,
unemployment, and unequal rights. After the roaming female roles before
the center of the movie to the ensuing explosions, the film loses its
main set course towards slim events heading into political aspects and
leader speeches in front of small army groups. The dialogue becomes
tactical on warfare and steep to dark lighting, reestablishing warfare
talks that aren't fully enduring. Men are useless at finding peaceful
solutions. The weight of pursuit is by scenes of invading by raids in
homes of the helpless in a military search for knowledge. The film opens
and ends with the same chronic hideout scene of four guys in a dark
dugout space concealed from the French army behind a wall. They are
silent perpetually to the finish in what is really the first scene that
comes to mind towards the movie.
Final Grade: B/B+
Scoop (2006)
Starring Scarlett Johansson, Hugh Jackman, Woody Allen, Ian McShane
Film Prophet's Review...
The movie follows an American student journalist, Johansson, visiting
London who happens to grasp an evocative murder mystery scoop. She also
finds the possibility of romance with a Brit aristocrat, Jackman, the
suspect. The vanishing ghost of a dead reporter, McShane, tells her
prematurely that the aristocrat has eliminated twelve women and is the
Tarot Card Killer in which he was unable to encapsulate before his
death. The ostensible London-set comedy features the second creation
between director and writer Woody Allen with actress Scarlett Johansson.
Allen plays the reluctant accomplice and magician who brings her up on
stage for a trick and after the show, she's eager to pursue the case she
hears during it from the ghost. Both have brisk verbal personalities,
almost mirroring each other bar from different gender and age. They
speak with a zesty volume, but that's just the active characters. It's
the chemistry between Allen and Johansson that's particularly gleaming.
The amusing element in the story is when the two dispute false
understandings. Any older actress who would play this character would
probably be very annoying. Scarlett is on no account that and makes her
character a resounding piece to the movie’s effervescence. The whiny
Allen gibes are the most jeering moments due to his blundering speech
and fibs. ‘Land is so difficult to come by now especially outdoors.’
Being everlastingly fussing and doubting in problematic tricky
situations is his movie trademark. This is really a supporting role for
him, as in the comic relief. Though at some points he fits in as the
center of attention like the card tricks he performs to small groups of
people, still getting the movie's best lines. For the first half, the
movie is more on personal introductions than social commentary, besides
on the London atmosphere and scenery. The use of London has texture to
lifestyle. The movie resembles a black comedy, the type where death is
played for laughs, though the movie never shows any clear moments of it.
There’s a grim reaper, but isn’t a significant portion. The
supernaturalism never is supernatural with astonishment all the time.
There aren’t many scenes of raising voices and arguing back and forth as
one can imagine from the trailer. The lighthearted fun tone involves
diminutive murder guessing because the story contains not enough
suspicion for a while. The dialogue does not necessarily advance the
mystery for the first half, as it is generally between the acquaintance
of the characters of Johansson and Jackman around the private country
side and the location areas of London. They talk about personal small
background notes as if the audience is expected to care, or at least
retain. It has a knack to want to know people instead of divulging into
any kind of mystery or progressing clues in the first half. However, the
movie’s ending is as unpredictable as outcomes in quality magic tricks.
Woody centers at the end during the film's highest investigation peak of
secrecy prying. Before the end, the film finally settles down under the
main cast and develops. They decide and argue that the aristocrat must
either be guilty or not guilty simply based upon lifestyle and
personality. The acting is much superior to anything else, especially
between Scarlett and Woody figuring out Jackson. In conclusion, the
final sequence and acting make up for it. The mystery story, ample in
the second half, is concise on early interpretations discerning playful
snooping that carries out in every subsequent fraction. The mystery
development is somewhat inexistent for a while. It jumps with vigorous
energy and false stories one can believe or not as the only suspect is a
respectable upper class man. The clues are really short and brief
speculations. It is disabled to get into the wayward mysteriousness, as
the story spends time to distinguish the aristocrat, describing his
background, better than the movie's mystery or comedy side, in which was
the real punch-line. The one vulnerability someone may not know could be
the one thing that a life hinges on.
Final Grade: B-/B
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)
Starring Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Gary Cole, Sacha Baron Cohen,
Michael Clarke Duncan, Leslie Bibb
Film Prophet's Review...
Towards high-stakes professional stock car racing, a national NASCAR
winner, Ricky Bobby, and his best friend partner form a Shake and Bake
duo on the race as a snooty French ex-formula racing nemesis collides on
winning in first. The audience of the movie will generally be fans of
Ferrell's past comedy movies he’s been in. From the trailer, it looks
conceiving as a dense comedy story, though not totally true. The comedy
material mostly consists of spoken potty humor conveyed from rugged men
and even a couple little boys. The wit is made from lyrical content in
the script. It scatters along with the charisma and sense of frequently
wanted to laugh when Ferrell is on verge to say something for a short
duration because it’s supposed to be funny. Almost every line is due for
random hilarity on some level of verbatim in casual conversation. The
humor is not mean-spirited or insolent, though there are crude
stereotypes in a way such that of the homosexual French driver and the
script makes a big deal about his sexual orientation. However, the story
slightly breaks a third within, bar from the fast comedy, it purely
wasn't aimed to go to anywhere from start to finish, unlike Ricky Bobby
on the track. The film itself often likes to promote its own endorsers
such as Powerade and Wonder Bread. The movie takes a pit stop to note
the infinite number of sponsors as well. The movie is somewhat a crude,
funny, live-action version of Pixar's Cars. Lightning McQueen shares
common traits with Ricky Bobby. There are autographs, the popular
endorsements, female supporters, and all that in the opening sequences.
Both are central characters who begin the story on top of their game
with fame and success in mind. Their antagonism is unplanned. Their fast
beginning then suddenly slows a mile down after some trauma sets in.
Following it, it leaves the two deserted from the racing life and it
takes a while until the end for another official race for them to occur.
In the meantime, gags, like the knife in thigh, are sited in the mix
instead of the plentiful honorable messages the animation has. Numerous
characterizations frequently show up for many short stints of little
comedy spurts... a high majority are humorous. The first true laugh is
from Ricky’s negligent father who comes into young Ricky’s class to
lecture for a short time in front of a young classroom about fast speed.
Like his speech, the editing is super fast and paces right through
scenes. “How did he get down to his underwear that fast?” Repeatedly as
a racing car goes around a track, the comedy arrives whether it’s from
quick loud dialogue or shown off camera in presentable jokes with the
actors, as it is deserving of lots of laughs. Ferrell is complemented by
the versatile acting of John C. Reilly, as well as several others. The
two sons are verbally humorous and outrageous. Cole has slimy allure to
the father character, and Amy Adams' boost of energy to her time in the
film is gratifying and amazing when she shrieks out her energetic
sermons with enthusiasm, acting that is found in elite type of
positions. Ricky’s crew also gets in a few bits. The subversive and best
moment for Ricky was car bumping front on with a cop. The uproarious
knock on Applebee's is risibly affable cleared by motivation touts in
the course of countless short comedy bursts that garner above typical
new era comedies.
Final Grade: B-/B
John Tucker Must Die (2006)
Starring Brittany Snow, Jesse Metcalfe, Ashanti, Sophia Bush, Arielle
Kebbel, Jenny McCarthy
Film Prophet's Review...
In this teen romantic preposterous comedy, the situation revolves around
three high school girls from different social segments who can’t stand
each other until they group together to seek revenge on the school's
mendacious basketball dunking stud, Metcalfe, who dated the three girls
at once. They plan to set him up to fall for the new girl, Snow, so she
can dump him and break his heart. As soon as the three girls find out
they're all dating John Tucker, they end up throwing volleyballs at
faces followed by a short female catfight. Scenes hurry up with
incompetent conclusions which wind up with silly rage amongst all to
demonstrate how the script bails out on every scene like the story’s
ending. One scene concludes with female underwear on male basketball
players who now have the ability of a five foot vertical leap. No
contingency plan serves from anyone and anywhere when the story dries
up. The subject tone is very juvenile and callous in nature and there
definitely aren't morals to acquire from the immature, though mild,
language, puerile attitudes, and various forms of humiliation at
Tucker’s expense. Females can retort in violence too just like males in
adult action films. Conversely, it's just not the same because girls
amuse with evil tricks, slaps, nags, and chocolate pleasures. They are
their own fragilities of detest... pretending ineptitude manners. The
target audience is disposed similar to the story's conventional
adolescent locale and merciless feministic themes. There's no bona fide
sense of conflict because the motives are created from teenage feminine
anger who solely deal with their first emotions instead processing the
mind with a rationale, except for a couple of scenes when they access
what traits of John are admirable and construct social agendas. Another
tidily move was when John divides the dating and school-greeting time to
each one earlier in the film. Though, he is just as inept for not even
noticing that each three know within a dozen minutes of the movie that
the girls know that he’s been dating each one of them. Snow’s character
continues with the narration voice over thoughts on people's backgrounds
as Lohan did in Mean Girls, only without the script giving the point of
view social functionality and pragmatism. Her acting was solid from her
stuttering and edgy expressions. Her makeover, well, there was no
makeover for her really. She wasn’t unattractive to begin with so the
story was in short of any real principle. John’s younger brother even
likes her in advance. She is the unpopular, moving location girl who
becomes popular with snobby cohorts. When humiliation happens, the film
tries to portray what's happening at school from just plain observations
and jerking laughs. One of the girls even documents everything by a
digital video camera. The writing had no ideas to finish with so it
closes in merely one minute on a stage with cake.
Final Grade: C-/C
A Day at the Races (1937)
Starring Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, Allan Jones, Maureen
O'Sullivan, Margaret Dumont
Film Prophet's Review...
Incomparable to the paramount Marx brothers’ comedy films, their seventh
movie is in a two hour film reaching their peak of success, longer than
familiar, and contemptuously with less wisecracking dialogue. Legendary
for their sardonic lines and quip ensemble acting, their slapstick is so
fast that the viewer can’t take a moment out from their films to laugh
and acquaint it without the movie heading into another sarcastic line.
The lines said by Groucho are by reverse priority towards a literal
context habitually and implicitly of a double meaning… two
comprehensions with the second as the comedic retort. A veterinarian,
Groucho, poses as a doctor, a race horse owner and his friends struggle
to help keep a sanitarium open, but none of this really suits into the
comedy. The movie separates itself from earlier Marx Brothers films
because of the story concern and the music numbers near the middle of
the film, which drags down the extent of humor. This is a review
compared to the top four exceptional Marx films, as this is not a great
film to start seeing the Marx in movies. To begin, there were hardly any
tremendous and classic outrageous routines. It's drolly though not too
enjoyable as the others. The comedy and story wasn’t on the same
wavelength like in Duck Soup. A big portion of this movie isn't comedy;
there’s contrived music play and there’s also a romantic sub-story that
interrupts the flow and it infrequently drops in the story. The sequence
song singings by Allan Jones are neither funny nor necessary. Chico's
piano and harp play can get tedious, but the brothers probably noticed
this after the film was produced that it was in excess. Not only did the
studio like the music, the camera positions were always in one-half of
the setting which were conspicuous. Three of the initial four Marx
brothers are present, as Harpo Marx is still the mute character he is,
so that just leaves two Marx brothers with dialogue to say. The mute
Harpo still has his sneaky tricks to the unaware, blinded man, which are
usually due for comedy. Their prime films are when the Marx brothers'
characters are pals and know each other from the start. They aren’t
running away from anything like usual. They’re placed in inane
misconstrues and mistakes in very little scenarios in longer scenes one
with a blackface musical number in a movie that ends in a humdrum horse
race and a short march song. Margaret Dumont plays her typical female
blissful character, the contrary from the Marx’s personality, but her
role in this is very trivial than her others. The movie misses the
appearance and ignition by Groucho in the opening scenes of the movie,
unlike Horse Feathers where he was featured more in the beginning. The
comedy doesn't start until Groucho enters the picture… however, once he
arrives, the movie is more concern with horses, uptight men, and a drawn
out story to open the movie with than the actual Marx brothers’ wacky
circumstances. He is better in one on one situations, and somewhat has
less zany energy unlike in Monkey Business, and also contains tiresome
comebacks… hesitant of even criticizing such a genius there. He and the
Marx brothers are nevertheless true verbal comedians of rapid one-liners
that hit the mark soundly in differing.
Final Grade: C+/B-
Clerks II (2006)
Starring Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Rosario Dawson, Jason Mewes,
Kevin Smith
Film Prophet's Review...
Kevin Smith’s Clerks returns a dozen years after the original in this
sequel of the same safe selection reprising roles and low budget. The
characters have aged, but still contain similar lifestyles, complaints,
and conversations about the usual… despite that aging changes people.
Dante is rushing into the married life just for progress, his friend
Randal lets others succumbed to his logic, and Jay and Silent Bob still
hang by the outside wall in front of a vacant lot. Dante and Randall's
Quick Stop convenience shop burns down in minuscule flames and sends
them on a year at Mooby's, a fictional burger style fast-food place,
where the film starts off. This film is in full color with no security
camera vision like in the first, when it changes from store to fast food
restaurant. Faster than the original, the dead-end trials encompass
ethics of hanging out, rebuffing anyone else's interpretation, and to
believe in what the self-centered person says through rants about
subjects on vulgar sex, marriage, Internet, and trilogies which end up
getting forceful with awkward wordy resolutions. The brusque and
judgmental faction never quite grew up from their counteract state of
livelihood and repressive language, therefore the movie has a
resemblance of the original. Most of the dialogue is apathetic and
inherent, the type that Smith has become known for from the first one.
It depends less on gags and more on character discussions on bitter
ordeals and subject issues due for analyzing and scrutinizing chiefly by
Randal. Randal pretends to be some astute philosopher, but at most
times, he is excessively raunchy. He talks about girl idioms as there
ironically are no girls, or chicks, as he describes them to enter the
restaurant away from the main cast. They all have offset morals, except
that they also have uncertainties and fear on the own topics and life in
the future they talk upon. The bluntly sarcasm is light sometimes, but
the humor is explicit mainly taking in the dialogue. The cameos were a
too obvious, as all were customers. The acting is fair; face expressions
and the eye-brow raising lift some quirks. The same actors have played
similar parts in other movies during the stretch of twelve years.
There’s a hip beating soundtrack that tends to flow out and while the
film sometimes can get offensive, it stays on a beam of crudeness and
negative cultural conversations. The writing is full of disagreeable
prudent construal chatters and talk stirring from ragging adultery
hormones. Opinions flicker from awkward comparisons, such as the
discussion on human anatomy. As Dawson’s character says, ‘I’m gonna
pretend like this conversation never happened.’ The core of the story is
depressing, by old flames, but it is distracted with repulsive content
and uneasy humor attitudes. It can get upsetting that life is
disappointing and miserable; at least that is how the story interprets
it for the majority of the film since the characters embrace derogatory
ways of describing things.
Final Grade: C+
History of the World: Part I (1981)
Starring Mel Brooks, Gregory Hines, Dom DeLuise, Madeline Kahn, Harvey
Korman, Cloris Leachman
Film Prophet's Review...
A parody of several historical and religious events of early epics fits
into the bill of jokes waiting for the entitlement. The four main
segments are the Dawn of Man, the Roman Empire, the Spanish Inquisition,
and the French Revolution, with the Roman Empire having the longest
cycle duration in the story. The raucous tacky madcap satire was
directed and written by Mel Brooks in his style of direction. His flair
on spoofs for this film is on world history throughout different periods
of time with several endless character roles. Small cameos feature Hugh
Hefner, John Hurt, and Barry Levinson. Orson Welles narrates each
segment and the abnormal loose lessons in an hour and a half, ‘even in
early man, the need to laugh was vital for emotional survival.’ Taking
in the opening chapter from the Space Odyssey with the ape men, the film
elongates a few laughing moments for an extended period for over several
seconds an act. During this segment, the dumb-witted characters have a
lucid sense of humor from their straight and concise gags with arbitrary
entrances of ignorance, like the dinosaur. Apparent from that, the
production design and sound effects are cheap besides having a costume
drama appeal, but that just adds to the amusement. It’s not so much
centered on any characters the whole feature length besides the ones
Brooks, and his fantastic acting, portrays because they switch and
disappear and possibly reappear, so anything that happens to any of them
are nonsensical comedy of foreword. There are also stints of the ten or
so Commandments and the Last Supper tangled with the Roman Empire and
between other set pieces in tandem. When the movie reached the French
revolution with the king, it kind of ran over its course somewhat on the
same funny material on top of different time periods. The film is swift
though, never truly dull, and the writing on wordplay is hilarious and
normally consistent presented with alluring sights. The script certainly
likes its constant wordplay which frequently implements well into the
story’s situations of parodies of antiquity and pop culture absurd
references and Brooks is not afraid to say anything. Some pieces have
exaggerated representations, such as for Caesar, and the least funny
segment was the Spanish inquisition long musical number. There are
laughs present across each sequence. Emperor jesting times include
masses of verbal double entendres and sexual implications. Figure of
speeches with a lines like, ‘you've made some very big decisions, hump
or death, and I got a great corkscrew,’ are very common in this clever,
but sometimes dirty writing. It tends to count on the words and names of
double meanings from the middle of the film and on to comprise of the
funny moments.
Final Grade: B-/B
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)
Starring Leslie Nielsen, George Kennedy, Priscilla Presley, Ricardo
Montalban, O.J. Simpson
Film Prophet's Review...
The cynical and incompetent detective Frank Drebin must stop Vincent
Ludwig from completing his Queen Elizabeth II of England assassination
plan. It’s an international terrorist plot against the U.S., nonetheless
impractical. From the creation of Jim Abrahams and the Zuckers, the
lampoon and farce movie aims at a television cop series and movies
parody. As in the early eighties cop shows, patrolmen would fight crime
and look for women in some busy warm tropical weather environment. The
crime has to do with the aforesaid tiny plotline and the woman is
vacuous and very serenity, though neither area fits the pinnacles of the
film. Rather slow parts occur in the comedy film of middling scenes of
no hilarity, when Frank Drebin takes moments to rationalize one on one
with some one or spends time with the woman who has nothing funny to say
or act. When the comedy is on, it is fast-paced, stacked with great
instances of spoken puns while spoofing detective clichés and formulaic
situations and scenarios. The mock of the genre’s style contains
conceptual sight gags from the Middle East to boats to hospitals and to
a baseball game. The film features some small parts, such as from Weird
Al and OJ Simpson’s character’s misfortune knack as a hospital patient
is a hoot. Nielsen is the main character as the inept police detective
and does a voiceover narration like a detective in a movie. He is a
reckless driver, deadpan, and has a potty humor; an example scene from
the bathroom is his level of zaniness. Every character gets time to say
something quirky, even the small ones, even if it isn't totally funny.
The pathetic criminals don't get much screen time also. Clear and
noticeable comedy supplemented by the acting, it is more than one-liners
interlaced with more than dialogue. The fist action is goofy and every
scene of espionage ready to explode of humor at some point. The film
restrains small giggles and short quiet laughs, due to the various
accidents such as shooting at his own car on the go with inflated
airbags and alarming exaggerations to get to places and get out such as
teaching a student driving rage. Frank finishes with being a home plate
umpire doing body searches on the players which prizes of some laughter.
The laughs are erratically hilarious, though there are not too many
clever remarks as expected. The viewers would not so much care about the
story of the film because humor itself is more indispensable.
Final Grade: B-
Sweet and Lowdown (1999)
Starring Sean Penn, Samantha Morton, Anthony LaPaglia, Uma Thurman,
Gretchen Mol, Brad Garrett
Film Prophet's Review...
Emmet Ray, according to others, was the second greatest jazz guitarist
of the thirties. In New York, Ray would play at pubs and the ones close
to him would admit that he had other roles besides his musical career,
which winded up being his fatal flaws. Directed and written by Woody
Allen, the biopic is a mock-biography of a fictional jazz guitarist
where Allen and others document his journey throughout the film. They
attempt to explain his free-spending, arrogance, and obnoxious
tendencies as the story somewhat chronicles the life of the lowdown
character. The film has a comparable setting and cinematography from
Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway movie. In the company of a character of
instrument talent, the biography story from start to end is missing some
core struggles, climax, and an acute finish. There is no true antagonist
or hard struggles for success in the music career as he was already on
top to begin with. There’s no insight to a conflict with others in the
business, except his wild expenditures. The music delight is pleasing,
but not much develops with basis through the absurdity of Emmet. Sean
Penn's portrayal occupies the flamboyant facial expressions during his
guitar time with other random banjo players without lyrics, and it is
the acting that truly astonishes. The film never really shows him string
the instrument, thus more of a facial effect, as the tunes are dubbed by
unforeseen musicians. Away from his music, he fails to prioritize and
he's reckless to himself and others. He has sudden urges and the
audience at times probably doesn’t know what to look for. He drinks with
random strangers for a short period of time in the film and then on
stage he has drunk, irresponsible antics. Emmet becomes a happy man in
is his relationship with a mute and dumb laundress he picks up on the
boardwalk in Atlantic City in a superb scene. The scenes following on
how is he uncomfortable for a bit with the charming acting from Penn and
Morton together are the absolute humorous moments in the movie. When
talking to her, he actually complains to himself in confusion and he is
free to interpret whatever he wants to while she prolongs to smile. This
gave him plenty of opportunity to talk of whatever, but also plenty of
dull scenes for the audience before the second half. The story is really
indulgent on Emmet’s part. When other characters of greed crop up, the
story becomes alienated and bemused. There’s an oddball scenario with
hiding in a car during an awkward narration spin in later part of the
second half. Though, Morton’s scenes with Penn are indisputably the
film's best parts. Hattie, Morton, is devoted to Ray, but he was really
shameless in her eyes. Samantha Morton earned an Oscar nomination
without even saying a word in the film. In essence and ambience,
Morton’s acting was by her eyes, grins, and glances. It was her that
made Emmet fairly sane and stable, and he should never let her go. As he
can't maintain relationships, Thurman gets more screen time later than
Morton. The consistency and material in the storyline is a bit slender
like Emmet’s impulsive, stooge personality however. “Emmet is an artist
and because he is an artist, he needs no one… he exists in a world all
of his own.” The story essentially bestows an indication of how some
jazzmen lived in the ragtime era and how one led a tortuous fragmented
vivacity devoid of singular attention.
Final Grade: C+
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
Starring Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen,
Mickey Rooney
Film Prophet's Review...
A socialite New York City playgirl becomes interested in a young
struggling author man who has moved into her apartment building. Adapted
from Truman Capote's novella, the central premise is categorized as a
comedy which is mistaken. The film opens in the most enchanting iconic
image in the movie during its poignant music score when Hepburn scrolls
and struts along an unoccupied city sidewalk in dawn in her long black
dress and sharp figure carrying a long narrow black cigarette while
window-shopping, fascinated mostly by jewelry. The simple, carefree
wealthy life had no exterior plotting in the unconventional story that
was hardly involving. The indulgent dialogue was never really important
in this film. The film knows there is no need for lots of dialogue as
the characters are portrayed delicate and not sophisticated. They talk
about having a sense of purpose, but one doesn't need to follow along
the talk either as the cinematography does a fine example of picturing
personas. During the second half, it went below mediocre however and
rode on steady of blandness. It continued to be unrushed as Hepburn and
Peppard resume their lounging and relaxing around talking to each other.
In the meantime, some other characters arrive in the social gatherings
with drinks then later there is no sign of them. They are the only two
characters that matter who are basically the same by means of
characteristics in the entire length of the movie. There are estranged
family sub-stories in the whimpering second half also. Rooney as a loud,
clumsy, and out-of-place bit part Asian was a bit unsetting and
offensive. This is a solid version of Hepburn’s signature character
without being annoying, as in My Fair Lady. In her prime, she earned her
fourth of five career Oscar nominations. The film is mostly a review on
her character because the story was merely present to discuss. One can
mention her dark big sunglasses, hats, and earrings, as she covers the
slow moving film with her facade. This is without an outstanding male
lead in this picture in which she usually has. The light-hearted story
is not overwhelming with interest. It remains a favorite for Audrey
supporters though. There was more of her appeal of style and elegance
than a story, romance, or comedy in a fancy lifestyle. Hepburn somehow
generates an adequate amount of breeze and charm by presence alone
rescuing an easy, mellow storytelling.
Final Grade: C+/B-
Flirting with Disaster (1996)
Starring Ben Stiller, Patricia Arquette, Téa Leoni, Josh Brolin, Alan
Alda, Lily Tomlin, Mary Tyler Moore
Film Prophet's Review...
Mel Coplin, Stiller, his wife, Arquette, and baby son seek to find Mel’s
biological parents in the country. An adoption agency representative,
Leoni, documents the trip as they travel to reunite Mel with his parents
while videotaping the experience for her own research. As a marital
bliss type of independent film, the frenziedly breakneck characters are
concerned with sexual and bisexual opinions and confusions when Stiller
and the two women accompanying him meet others who are not funny, but
just frustrating to listen to as it is for Stiller to prolong his
insanity neurosis acting. Mel has yet to meet his biological parents.
There is an outstanding supporting cast to Stiller in the movie.
However, their identity in the story is similar to Mel finding his
parents, which is diverse and unfulfilled. While the characters can be
so strange, there are way too many of them in and out during the story
and they were border line exasperating. David O. Russell's road story
has a wild imagination of character comedy to dead ends. His cozy
direction has uncanny conversations than outrageous occurrences. Stiller
is still the quirky kind and his character is attempted to be supported
by several funny promising characters who develop into several
unlikable, anti-humorous people for over ninety minutes. Elongated
scenes between the wrong corresponding parents in the opening third are
quite bland and desirable to end quickly. Meetings are carried away by
staying in the same resident setting and not leaving to explore the
wrong match boring parent pair in this tiresome journey of non-calm
people. It stretches it out until it turns into a bunch of random
strings that lead to nowhere. Although the cast is large, they are all
sorted everywhere and the story is missing an essential male actor to
sidekick along the trip. Family related or not, they are mostly passive
people. Discomforting moments and mixed troubles are present, but the
laughter hardly begins and it isn't reasonably plausible. Some laugh to
their own joking comments in vain, but there aren’t any visual gags for
the audience to smile or cheer for and it doesn’t help when the movie is
vacant of a decent plot. The journey is not exciting to watch as they
aren't enjoying themselves either because they keep making many
mistakes. Nothing particularly noteworthy is to mention, for example,
one can ignore most of the final third of the film as nothing sincerely
happens towards the storyline. The whole atmosphere of the film
resembles the inconclusive, rapid ending.
Final Grade: C-/C
Adam's Rib (1949)
Starring Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Holliday, Tom Ewell,
Jean Hagen
Film Prophet's Review...
Directed by George Cukor and written by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin,
Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn play Adam and Amanda Bonner serving
as trial attorneys on opposite gender sides on a case of attempted
murder. The female defendant, Holliday, had executed to shoot her
uncaring husband, Ewell, and his mistress. Adam argues that the case is
open, but Amanda points out that if the defendant were a man, he'd be
set free and the woman wouldn't be given fair treatment. Adam defends
the prosecution of male, while Amanda defends the accused woman. Clearly
anyone who attempts a homicide is unlawful though. The chemistry and
interaction by personality between Tracy and Hepburn may just be the
best parts of the film. As a projected romantic comedy, there are the
daily stresses of their attorney jobs and they go to their apartment and
try to maintain a home life. Though, the film should have utilized more
humor lines from Tracy's character to Hepburn because those were the
shining moments in the film. Meanwhile, the movie surfaces a
contemporary marriage at the time with social and marital issues of
legality. It is weak cinematically and technically. Sometimes, there are
staged scenes with a stationary camera in front of two people for an
extended time and it is when the camera is immobile, the dialogue
proceeds. The dialogue doesn't occur for over five minutes even when
characters are moving on the screen. The movie opens with the sequence
of Holliday wandering her husband around until he reaches his
destination with another woman. Holliday acts hysterical by the reality
of what she just done. The first crisis of the script was that the
husband remains alive after several gunshots he took in the chest and
wears nothing of healing support afterwards if it didn’t happen. Perhaps
a woman is too feeble to slay a man in a movie. The attorneys ask
questions to the alive husband and his wife who tried to murder him, but
the questioning is not full interesting because it is created by a
mediocre screen play that isn't believable just like Holliday’s acting
and the audience can forget most of what they say at that time. One
scene to note is when Tracy denotes a projection film, ‘the trouble with
this picture is that it drags,’ as one could probably allude to the
movie itself. It is not a screwball comedy; in fact, it really isn’t
much of an intrigued comedy. In addition to the low-key chit chat, when
arguing, the married attorneys talk at a louder volume simultaneously
while neither of them makes coherent sense by not listening to each
other. In the courtroom, they go on to talk about equal rights, but the
point is the woman shot her husband several times which is an assault
and the major offense issue of murder is let alone. The story and
characters tend to ignore that just to showcase the gender issues in
which the married attorneys dispute over that weigh little. When they
are home, they lay low and look at newspapers that give more information
than the script can during the dialogue that should. Bits of genres are
combined in one that aren't given enough to last. One moment the married
attorneys bicker in the kitchen then the scene later transforms into a
singing piano scene that switches the martial couple's subject. It
switches from their private life, to social, and then professional while
the supporting characters aren’t stimulating to aid the electricity
Hepburn and Tracy had during their effort. The script has more friction
than the courtroom issues and there is a lack of focus into most
insisted backgrounds translated into a below average comedy.
Final Grade: C+
Swingers (1996)
Starring Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn, Ron Livingston, Patrick Van Horn,
Brooke Langton, Heather Graham
Film Prophet's Review...
A comedy-drama about a group of guys in their twenties coping with women
and life is set in the Los Angeles cocktail nightlife. Mike, Favreau, is
down in a pitfall because he left his girlfriend behind in New York when
he came to Los Angeles to seek his comedy acting fortune. He and his
best friend, Trent, Vaughn, travel to Vegas for a night to cheer up Mike
which just ends up in a losing blackjack scenario. Mike in the early
period is nervous and disappointed when it comes to phone calls and
messages during his six month breakup the movie passed by. He constantly
dwells on his ex-girlfriend and unsuccessfully attempts to rekindle. He
is the honest type, but trite not funny with his following one-liners as
the movie aims to show low self-esteem. Vaughn’s character as Trent is
Mike’s best friend and just the opposite. He acts more offhand around
others for a superior interpretation and first impression. He teaches
the male audience and offers side rules with meeting women in certain
social locations on how to make up conversations, testing vibes, and
while listening, but don't really caring, stirring the artificial
stories for attention. After a while, the goal is to obtain the digits.
The dialogue between the two has the most accurate interpretations about
the modern female scene in a movie. The guys talk about close women
relationships which aren't technically close. They are not drunk or
cocky individuals mingling with the glamorous people. The guys are quite
mature, so laid-back, past the mediocre teen cycle and learn from each
woman they approach in their swinging lifestyle of nightclubs and house
parties. Aware of the script’s surroundings, the guys enjoy their hockey
video games and often scenes are provided with a soundtrack of lounge
music and underground jazz. Doug Liman's direction fits the tolerant
attitude just like the soundtrack as the characters inhabit the culture.
The movie really expresses the problems of letting go and starting over
fresh. It isn't some kind of noisy party film. The genuine performances
make the storyline authentic and painfully true. Vaughn excluding the
star charisma is terrific as the witty yet supportive friend. Ron
Livingston's performance is almost similar and provides a rewarding
monologue to Favreau in his morning apartment about an own life letting
go of the past as the future is beautiful. The problem for people is on
a first impression, a person can hardly know the other person even while
chit-chatting back talking in a social area. The scenes with cocktails
are nearly an exposition about universal standards that are enlightening
through personal internal conflicts. Every bachelor can relate to the
movie on some rejuvenated level.
Final Grade: B/B+
Waiting for Guffman (1997)
Starring Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy, Fred Willard, Catherine O'Hara,
Larry Miller, Parker Posey
Film Prophet's Review...
As a mockumentary by Christopher Guest and co-written by Eugene Levy,
the parody film takes place in fictional town of Blaine, Missouri and
its community theater. Citizens prepare a play show celebrating the
one-hundred fifty anniversary of their city. The opening dozen or so
minutes tries to educate the audience with the town's history, although
not that it really matters as none of it can be recollected from mind.
Filming by a hand camera, a person talks to a person who is positioned
to the right of the camera unseen as the person talking explains deviant
past situations of people they knew, often losing the point of stories
which results in small amounts of humor. When the story gets underway,
the small town folk puts together a play in hopes that a Broadway
producer named Guffman will come and see it on time. Christopher Guest
plays the lead as Corky St. Claire who is the homosexual director of the
play and yearns to get into Broadway productions. He has also had
previous success of stage plays in town; unfortunately, the cast of a
small local ensemble is not musically gifted. The film does allow the
performers to encompass some deadpan hilarity. However, some of the
areas in the movie are very plain. Nevertheless the amount of comedy is
frequently lofty, such as during the talent auditions for town parts.
The comedy is unbalanced between every scene, but it exists, and
distends out the yarn a bit when it's comic. The characters are
customarily moderate and modest, not eccentric, and the plot is rather
simple and basic, so there is not a lot to explain. Due to a little
written script, there is some improvisation during this fake documentary
as they went along like an amateur theatrical play. There’s basically
four acts in the film; the opening exposition of the town council,
auditions, rehearsals, and the actual play performance itself. There are
moments of aversion, then other times it almost punctuates tedium comedy
to check if the audience is still alert, but the experience of the film
is not fully satisfying. The performers seek to act moldy and it is part
of the film's comedy recipe that is undercooked, barely.
Final Grade: C/C+
A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
Starring Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis, John Cleese, Michael Palin,
Maria Aitken
Film Prophet's Review...
Charles Crichton directs a very black comedy and farce in which is
unreal and distressing to the viewer as much as it is to Archie, the
lawyer who gets trapped in this awkward design. Four thieves, two
Americans and two Englishmen, search for a stolen supply of diamonds
they faulted during a heist in London. The name Wanda refers to a pet
fish and the name of Jamie Lee Curtis' character. In the broad burlesque
and improbable situations of consolation, it’s a satire based on other
satire films. The tasteless gags and the out of the blue fictitious
romantic angles attempts at a combination of jesting, vulgarity, and
insincere comedy… all in which justly adds up from the story’s hapless
victims by a scheming and manipulating woman. Instead of investing time
with morals and messages in a comical manner, the film does completely
the opposite. The situations of comic exaggerations are not alluring.
One reason is that the characters are anti-heroes since they are
criminals demonstrating an offensive range and versatility of profanity
at British and American stereotypes. There aren’t many differences
between these people from two cultures as they both share the same trait
of greed, a rich irony. In the exposition, the four meet all together
and discover each other's infirmity, such as stuttering. There aren't
any laughs in the first opening sequences and it takes a while till any
amusing lines or scenarios happen. The first humor comes towards a mixed
up scenario when the lawyer’s dumbfound wife arrives in her house with
her husband explaining and covering up the ineptness while Lee Curtis’
character, Wanda, hides. Wanda is such an intricate person, aggravating,
and putting on so many different acts with everyone. She has an integral
role in every male character and is manipulative and quite unlikable.
She is desperately trying to figure out where the loot is by seducing
her partner’s lawyer who she suspects knows where to find the diamonds.
When their eccentricity disembarks, it is more delightful, or rather
painful, humor than loud laughs. The humor is between character
interaction and tension than individual gags, which is odd due to these
characters who are egotistical, conniving, liars, and ravenous following
in slander, slurs, and apologies. Everybody was just really troubling to
each other and the script, which was somewhat suitably written,
bewilders itself when it mistakes the viewer whenever one is trying to
figure out when the characters are telling the truth. Clipping nails and
dead skins, undressing during sexual antics, while another two flirt in
a simultaneous scene who have an affair is not funny but gross, like the
French fry torment. The often fake romantic ties are cunning but not
laughable. The sole humor is centered when they ploy their way out of
things, surprising one another, by the looks on their faces. The movie
is full of humiliation and lying. The comedy scenes are when they
conceal and suppress something phony baffled in a discomforting moment.
They’re very uncomfortable instants for them and the audience to sit
through and watch just as much as Ken was trying to say the hotel name
to Archie in the worst stutter ever heard. ‘Don't call me stupid; oh you
English are so superior aren't you?’
Final Grade: C/C-
Airplane! (1980)
Starring Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Lloyd Bridges,
Peter Graves, Leslie Nielsen
Film Prophet's Review...
A spoof on the Airport disaster movies and other notable vogue films,
when the crew of the airplane is sickened by a food virus, the
passengers depend on an ex-war pilot, Hays, who must overcome his fears
when he is the only one able to land the plane for a safe landing. The
wide array of passengers represents peculiar madcap characters who seem
to take every word for its literal meaning, resulting in a series of
double entendres. There are comedy strings in the cockpit, and even out
of the plane back at the airport base. One-liners are in a
straightforward manner not deliberately to be humorous but just acute in
correctness. The most famous line however from the film is… I am
serious, and don’t call me Shirley. Most of the film's lines are like
this and it's where some of the comedy is supplied. The humor is
hilarious and ungainly, while the acting is always sub-par from a
second-rate cast, especially from Julie Hagerty's opening sequences, or
maybe that is how it was intended to be. The whole romance area had more
scenes that there probably should be in flashback, and it was the least
part added to comedy though... at the least yet still funny. From puns,
slapstick, and causality, such as the repeated suicide attempts during
the ex-war pilot’s flashback monologues to passengers aboard. The
picture is ridiculously funny from a crisis storyline at its nucleus, a
plot structure in which is nearly identical to others that are
satirized. It opens with an airplane under some dark clouds in the sky
with the Jaws theme song. Plainly, every scene contains a hoax or a
sight gag, such as the automatic pilot, or a double meaning somewhere.
Misconceptions, comedy of errors, and mistakes, such as one in the early
going when a guy is directing air-landing traffic, make up the off beam
interpretations. Something funny manages to slip in scenes with no
boundaries at every moment by a yardstick through a startling spin on
reality. There are camera shots of omitted or extra items in the frames
and then disappear to regularity, which gives a viewer other reasons to
watch it a second time. For the scenes of comedy, which is about every
one, the screenplay is firm for humor every second changing it up with
something new sliding by, by audio or visual, which would keep the
viewer intact. The film is a non-stop bombardment of effective word
plays that will have a viewer giggling in many ways from its arbitrary
general silliness. Crazy antics and sightings in the background, coming
in from all angles, as this motion picture contains numerous clever gags
and spoofs, as mostly they are puns. For instance, smoking or
non-smoking, jive talk with subtitles, drinking problems, mayday, and
get some pictures. The longest laugh of bursting out loud is when a lady
with a guitar sings a song to a sick young girl in a bed. Artificially,
there is huge range of variety of jokes. The film offers many laughs for
many senses of humor. A pilot asks abiding questions to a young boy
regarding homosexuality innuendoes. Nielson is the doctor on board, and
is more deadpan comedy than folly. For a film being so silly it sure is
very clever at coming up with comedy of all arrays and rational with
convincing humor. The genius of this film is that the comedy exists in
multiple places and at multiple levels. A viewer may laugh too much when
one can't possibly stop it. Once the sequences finds the great laugh, it
broadens and holds the scene longer for more satirical mixtures of
hilarious aviation.
Final Grade: B+
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Starring Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, Charley Grapewin,
John Qualen, Grant Mitchell
Film Prophet's Review...
Set in the Great Depression, a family of sharecroppers travels through
hardships of migrant workers moving West from their Oklahoma homeland
that was kept in the family for generations and were forced off. Tom,
Fonda, is decreed to return to the prison from which he was paroled.
Director John Ford takes a different style from his usual take on
Westerns, nevertheless completing the satisfaction of a landmark
American story telling and movie making adapted from John Steinbeck's
novel that won the Pulitzer Prize in the same year the film was made.
The movie won Oscars for best director and best actress. Ford’s shots
are effective capturing the land in ruins and the hush state of brute
disheartening emotions. Morality to the sympathy is how Ford keeps the
complex yet exact tale authentic. The astoundingly dark lighting is in
low levels, and there are a lot of night scenes and shots of deserted
areas. There is more black color than white and grey in the photography
and it is evident that black represents negative and perilous material,
contrasting with the images of beauty from the film. The lighting was so
dim that the characters often look like silhouettes in their own
presence, sometimes supported by a small candlelight. Shadows and shades
portray malevolence; cops are pictured with the darkest ambiance with no
faces, blacked out, from the poor lighting because they are all same by
means of hostile to the under-class of America. Of the film's most
powerful examples of man's inhumanity to man are a roadblock by an angry
mob and the ones set against guards and man. The cops and guards are the
most pitiable and contemptuous positions because they are one-sided,
completely ignorant, ill-mannered of comprehending issues, biased, and
bossing around injustice where the regular person is powerless. Holding
a flashlight, one who does not abide by a guard is embarrassed to not
follow an order from a superior role. Cops are not there to protect
people; they are just looking to raid and extremely enforcing law in
which they make up on their own. As Tom says, ‘You aimin' to tell me the
fellas that are runnin' the camp are just fellas that are campin' here…
no cops?’ Part of the evil in the story is the greed of the banking
industry, police, and really anyone who orders around the unemployed
groups. Job employment is brutally scare, the weather is inclement,
agricultural settings are severe, and the guards are violent… it is the
struggle against company power over the common folk in society's fabric
desolation time period. It was bad enough by the lack of food and
conditions expressing even more from no help of government officials.
The faces of hunger by visualizing in the haunting uncover struggles
with pains, exhaustion of boredom. John Ford's direction is seamless,
not needing entertainment quarrelling scenes, but at that time and true
to its setting, entertainment was inadequate like food. He never really
adds any comedy or music to heighten the film, except the pure joy of
being together with the Red River Valley tune. There are some really
tormenting scenes that show the misery of poverty and exploitation by
the class in power. They say kind things and the people during these
times had every reason to grumble and be grumpy. The stark photography
by Gregg Toland underlines the bleakness of existence. It was what
Ford's next epic movie, How Green Was My Valley, wanted to be, but
couldn't… the misery of the working man in a conventional manner for the
audience. The film opens on a vacant land, no jobs occupying any parts
of it. There are roads but no cars driving along them in daylight.
Enormous large amounts of spaces in the foggy and windy atmosphere are a
component with the communication isolation. Fonda's character is
uncompromising and hardnosed, sets out on his own, sometimes independent
and a wandering nomad like the rest who are in sync with the oppression
of farmers. ‘I lost the spirit. I got nothin' to preach about no more,
that's all. I ain't so sure of things.’ He meets an ex-preacher who
baptized him and joins the family on the way while the mother holds the
family intact in the worst times. "There's somethin' goin' on out there
in the West and I'd like to try and learn what it is.” Farmers were once
a priority in the social class structure, as this story reveals the
fading and evaporation of the previously-prestige farming occupations.
The dialogue is a very essential denomination coming from a book with
great writing towards the terse story of illustrative shots and
flashback moments of how it all fell apart due to officials, humans. The
three most important qualities to life then are family, food, and land.
Choices are made whether to stay with family or defend lost land even
though one is hopelessly beaten by armed watchmen. The country was in
need for social reform. “I'll be all around in the dark. I'll be ever
where, wherever you can look…. Wherever there's a cop beatin' up a guy,
I'll be there.”
Final Grade: A-
What About Bob? (1991)
Starring Bill Murray, Richard Dreyfuss, Julie Hagerty, Kathryn Erbe,
Charlie Korsmo
Film Prophet's Review...
“Is this some radical new therapy?” The story follows Bob, Murray, a
neurotic man who panics when he is told his therapist, Dreyfuss, is
going on vacation, so he decides to follow him. The therapist is in fact
a successful, but self indulgent, psychiatrist with a book coming out,
as Good Morning America is going to interview him to talk about it at
his vacation house. The very affable Bob ends up friends with the
doctor’s wife, daughter, and young son; it slowly drives the doctor
outlandish, divergent from the start with Bob. Throughout the movie, Bob
is giddy, never once angry even when he comes across his claustrophobic
nerves in tight spaces and germs on knobs of sorts from annoying
phobias. He is contagious to the family who gives him hospitality
because they can see Bob is overall harmless. One can assume Bob has
attention-deficit disorder, but in all facets, he is just that to the
doctor with his enduring catching problems. Bob’s state of objective is
mostly impracticable. He's either infuriating to the doctor because he
wants to be away with him, or loud and warm around other people. Miles
Goodman composes the quirky, irregular music score to match Bob’s
hindrance which steadily moves to the doctor. The laughter is coherent
and deviates from the aggravation story and its part of what makes most
comedies truly funny. Nearly all comical aspects fall into the roles of
Murray and Dreyfuss, and as well the interaction between the two, where
the low self esteem alters. The movie is fairly funny, though not an
all-time Bill Murray great. There are quality comedy performances
supporting the script with visual and physical acts than just a bunch of
goofy lines depending on one-liners. Bob’s hesitations appear to
diminish the more he is with the family and he is gentle, contrasting to
the unlucky, controlling doctor who is afraid of the lowest thing he
shouldn’t be, while the film balances the pacing so it is not frenetic
or slow. Bob during the story creates a strong bond, more than the
doctor can expect. Murray’s oblivious anxiety character comprises of
foolish antics to get the doctor’s attention in cyclical format. They
are embarrassing moments but Bob doesn't care; ‘Bob, your behavior is
completely inappropriate.’ The aforementioned layout continues to be
uniform… Bob reminds himself of the baby steps he is told, where ever he
heads to he is also carrying a goldfish around with him, the doctor
keeps saying how he is on vacation, Bob uses a tissue to grip handles,
and the son is trying to dive. The light-hearted family comedy examines
a look of contemporary psychology between a patient cherishing with a
retentive doctor’s family.
Final Grade: B-/C+
Life of Brian (1979)
Starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry
Jones, Michael Palin
Film Prophet's Review...
From the Monty Python crew, the film satirizes the life of Christ in
biblical times just like in the Holy Grail lampooned King Arthur in
ancient times. Three wise men deliver their offerings to the misguided
infant Brian and his baffled mother, portrayed by a male performer.
Grown up in civilization and mistaken later on, Brian once a regular
civilian pretends to be a preacher to the attention of small crowds
following and depending on him. Brian is meant to be the parallel life
of Christ only in the fact living in the same setting. He is well
confused with point of views and transvestism themes thrown at him.
There is not much effort into the production or costumes despite the
designed acts and period piece ensuing around a ragged costume drama
appeal. Python’s surreal, cross-dressing comedy has multiple roles for
one performer in a quaint tone and a light manner… not like it really
matters since both genders basically wore alike wardrobes then. It's
very standard Python: wacky, crazy, dark sense humor, blasphemous
language for comedy purposes, silly things that men do, mocking of the
idiocy of man, often dim lighting, and a parody of past films. However,
several problems assort an entertaining comedy from its lackluster
piercing. The film does not have as many laughing moments one would
expect, but just cracking slight smiles. The acting is fine and precise
to small body movements or twitches on passing scene transitions. It’s
just that the writing is full of dialogue than visual acts. Their skits
attempt to generate laughs on a loose framework of nearly the whole
thing written. The dialogue comprises of lengthy exchange of words
between multiple characters ridiculing each other. Sometimes they are
communicating in far distances from the camera. There is a fair amount
of crude and irrelevant silliness in disorderly situations. Characters
haggle one another in an irritating falsetto, especially Brian's mother.
The majority of the film's content is not too humorous and inhabits way
too immensely on elongated, panicky dialogue between dumb characters
with high-pitched voices coming from men who all admit they are
irrational. The story is composed by a bunch of small skits where most
can be ignored and be immune to its humor. They clash disagreements all
over the place from weak, irresolute individuals. Lines from the script
are, Speak to us master, Go away, how should we go away. The crowds
speaking in unison in responses parts get repetitive and they usually
end up sounding silly and irritate Brian further. Around the hour mark,
there is an abundance of frontal nudity, more than laughing matter. This
is just after Brian somehow ends up with a pair of revolting creatures
inside a spaceship that flies above. The content is as unbelievable as
it is happening to Brian who is always baffled like the film's plot
order sequence collapsing from the pathetic and feeble nervousness of
Brian himself. That is what Monty Python comedies are all about; madcap
peripheral nature.
Final Grade: C+/C
Raising Arizona (1987)
Starring Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, John Goodman, William Forsythe,
Frances McDormand
Film Prophet's Review...
H.I. McDonnough, Cage, who has a proclivity for robbing convenience
stores, and police woman Edwina, Hunter, marry, however they discover
they are unable to bear a child, and also adopt one. Desperate for a
baby to begin a family, the trailer home pair decides to steal, as in
kidnap, one of the quintuplets of an Arizona furniture tycoon. The
McDonnoughs try to keep their crime a secret, while friends and others
look to draw on the baby for their own purposes. There's also a
motorcycle bounty hunter who wants to find the kid as well. The Coen
brothers usually don't write characters with big personalities and zany
energy, but this is before that time of the dark writing. The family
orientated film’s main matter is pandemonium in a hurry with mayhem at
every corner of the road. The speedy story doesn't contain hilarious
outright moments, rather when it settles, the funny moments rise when
it's about the sap than the story’s plots. This helps make the story
unpredictable, but not too slow because then there is neither. Two
convicts escape out of prison and visit McDonnough, serving as a
subplot. Goodman gives an utmost performance with long screams and child
implication dialogue. The story features frail people in fragile
situations, such one in an on going car chase involving several missed
gun shots and dogs on the loose. There are food products and grocery
store items lying around somewhere frequently around the people, as the
Huggies product comes to mind first. Accurate or not, Arizona culture
aspects appear- convenience stores, lots of food, deserts, prison
system, rich tycoon, and a lethargic police unit. The characters are
very unconventional, sometimes wild and frenetic. The men grow long
thick sideburns, and wear hair gel and beater shirts. Cage’s narration
voiceover opens the exposition that concerns the story process over
comedy with two very excited characters about to live together with
scenes that last for no more than twenty seconds while Cage continues to
talk more over a voiceover than the sum of current voices as it takes
ten minutes till the title screen. The Coens know how to write a comedy
surrounding a child and irresponsible adults in humorous manners with a
decent screenplay. The camera spins from peculiar stances, positioning
fast and hectic like its characters and certitudes. Due to their
choices, mass disorder plays out with humor ploys to cover truth that
the child is actually kidnapped, or stolen. The style isn’t absurdity,
but that of cravings and reluctant premature life lessons. Nearly all
characters of idiosyncrasy have traits that are intrinsically childish,
which makes the infant look like the composed adult in the emerging
comedy situations.
Final Grade: C+/B-
The Jerk (1979)
Starring Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters, Catlin Adams, M. Emmet Walsh,
Bill Macy, Mabel King
Film Prophet's Review...
An uncomplicated adult, Martin, has been raised as a member of a large
poor black family in the South and it has never occurred to him that he
might be adopted since he is the only white person out of place in the
family. From that plotline, it is safe to say there aren’t loads of
racial jokes, in fact, there aren’t any to recall. For the opening
minutes, he emulates the life styles of the people he resides with,
although this changes within five minutes of the film when his mother
breaks the news. He leaves the crib and goes on a series of adventures
as different workers where he has never been placed in any jobs before
and has little common knowledge. Though, he is welcoming and there are
times where he is taken advantage of because of his dim-witted inner
self, but not entirely. His manners are kind and he gathers experiences
with new women throughout the story. Laughing is usually an automatic
move especially to silly characters and idioms, which sometimes puts the
viewer at an elevated class standing. As the movie proceeds, Martin’s
character is closer to be that somebody, but just with lots of money and
possessions. Nevertheless, the pleasantry is present surrounding Martin
incessantly. The viewer’s laughs come from by being amused by Martin's
performance and the writing for the film that provides the supporting
characters to supplement his humor. In a typical comedy, the writing
rarely concerns the plot which is usually minor or less to the epigrams
and lines. The story moves and evolves with the comedy, which carries
out nearly every minute. Performances are weighed heavily and the only
familiar personality is Steve Martin. He is so natural, and worthy of
value for the sheer comedy. Martin is in just about every scene and
there are a variety of slapstick moments and memorable situations
managing to keep this as much of an entertaining film as possible.
Martin has entertaining one liners acting on individual humor because he
is a character without long chats, appropriately written. There are
silly gags where he is unable to figure it all out, showing his dense
side, such with the motorcycle stunt artist. The majority of these
moments are quite humorous by the level of pitch tone Martin delivers
the lines at. The times where he is a listener to every word of a valued
lesson are impending amusements for the viewer. The most hilarious
situation is during his course with the phone book - Things are going to
start happening to me now – when a random snipe hunter comes at him
during his gas pumping occupation. It’s a fun movie about a man who
doesn't really know how the real world works and yet achieves, like the
movie as a foundation for many prevailing comedies.
Final Grade: B
Harold and Maude (1971)
Starring Bud Cort, Ruth Gordon, Vivian Pickles, Charles Tyner, Tom
Skerritt
Film Prophet's Review...
Director Hal Ashby's eccentric and morbid black cult comedy is about an
oddball connection between a death-obsessed nineteen year old named
Harold, Cort, and an unlikely seventy-nine year old widow named Maude,
Gordon. Including an enormous age difference and neither striking in
appearance, they are outcasts who meet at a funeral sharing the same
desire of attending church funerals. To think about it, every friend was
once a stranger. A stranger at funerals is strange enough still the film
conveys Harold's perspective with his countless numerous scenes
surrounding him in which he gives a blank expression. One would suppose
Harold would have tons of lines to say though his dialogue is partial
and he is usually slow to speak of something to say. His aura is
perpetual from his quietness and dull look when someone else is speaking
to him. The lines he says other than to Maude are literal remarks
responding from another line. Maude probably speaks over eighty percent
of the film's dialogue when she hangs out with Harold. Harold is death
and Maude is life during the story. He is a young male with absurd and
whimsical mock suicide problems though an old woman who is a quirky and
excited wild driver probably has a few of her own as well. She is
loquacious with humor and defiance transpiring in her values on wisdom
with her flower metaphors and her philosophy in living each day to the
fullest. Several occasions Harold attempts his faking suicides for
laughs, or maybe just pleasure. He is the only one who understands
himself and his sense of humor is only funny to himself, yet he doesn’t
laugh in any scene. The humor is this movie is very light mostly during
the macabre performances from Harold. The film introduces his character
first before Maude as it starts out odd and repellent with his couple of
pretending staged attempts to upset people such as his mother that
appear valid and any viewer watching it would hesitate to perceive. The
morbid humor is rather quaintly tense in eerie moments. For instance,
pulling out a gun and not knowing what Harold would do with it or if the
gun is an actual one happens all during his mother's questionnaire. The
mother arranges dates and Harold just delivers one of his fake death
stunts, which are practically real looking, to distaste the woman. It's
a counter culture film boundless like its two primary characters that
satires the army and the early seventies period where young adults were
isolated and condescending. The original and unique film featuring a
simple story also has outstanding music provided by Cat Stevens, one in
particular titled, If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out. Harold and Maude’s
relationship is tender and sensitive, more so like a powerful friendship
early on. During the course, Maude goes in opposition to regulations in
a free spirit resistant way and adjusts Harold's point of view on life
and death from his expressionless, pale condition while appreciating all
living things.
Final Grade: B-/C+
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Starring Gene Hackman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson, Owen
Wilson, Bill Murray
Film Prophet's Review...
In Wes Anderson's comedy-drama, Royal Tenenbaum, Hackman, and his wife
had three child prodigies before they separated. In their early teens,
Chas, Stiller, was a real estate trader, Richie, Luke Wilson, was a
junior tennis champion, and Margot, Paltrow, received a big money grant
for her ninth grade play. All the young Tenenbaums genius was erased by
two decades of failure to melancholy and recovery. Most of the
psychological damage was by and large considered to be their father's
fault. The grown main cast takes within seven minutes of the movie at
this part. Anjelica Huston as the wife and Danny Glover are also part of
the popular long list of cast names. The poignant multigenerational tale
follows the family's sudden reunion by the hedonism Royal Tenenbaum who
comes back into their lives to make up for loss time by telling them he
has six weeks to live. Accompanying the film is the ideal soundtrack
fitting in the film’s eccentricities in a devastatingly human sincerest
form of exaltation. As for the comedy, there are small hilarious
situations and visual gags. They aren't funny people and the script
doesn't necessarily give them jokes to say on purpose. The film is more
sophisticated and tidy than Rushmore, yet Anderson's style of
underestimating all elements of the human condition surround the comedy.
He distances the audience from the characters for the first hour, as
they are to each other during that time, disinterested in existence with
dad as they are. Some scenes are effective; some aren't, though
uniformly divided. It slacks in an abiding plot with everyone involved
during the first half of the film because the grown-up offspring are yet
to connect to the estranged father. During this time, Alec Baldwin’s
voiceover narration for Royal is the only position of mind to enlarge
current developments. The performers are introduced with understated
blank facial expressions in an emotionless state of conflicting emotions
inside. These are mostly from every character while the narrative
continues to explain occurrences scene by scene or technically a chapter
by chapter as the film lies out. They are downright lazy and inattentive
showing the emptiness of each flat character. The story manages to be a
solid display for each of its actors sharing the story and uniting.
Generally, Stiller and the Wilson brothers are the largely engaging just
by their acting. The entire cast’s acting withholds by charisma in
pitiful, and then savoring roles by means of family ties. Stiller’s
temper dissatisfaction with his elder dying dad creates chuckling
entertainment. There is really no little yelling or no profanity too.
Everyone has his or her own single issue and they all sit glum, some
with a stubborn attitude. The camera features them sitting or standing
directly parallel and center in front of the camera keeping distance so
there is room of the surrounding environment. The second half entraps an
improved follow up transformation. There are delicately revealing
moments that infrequently go for laughs, though there are some that
lighten and brighten up the frame of mind. A self-seeking redemption can
turn out to have wonderful mélange that’s deviously clever. They are
confused and alienated… and the audience rarely understands them in
sync, which is a reason why the viewer continues to watch. The ease of
difficulty, fulfilling in the unfulfilling kind, insincerity without
irony, and reacquainting of family is how distinctive this film’s story
is. The connections it endeavors for the characters are small, but
sizeable - smoking, widow lives, affairs, or advice. Indecisively as the
characters are directed towards Royal's many quips is where they shine
through their exterior blankness into gently affecting momentum that
brings out the great performances from Wes Anderson’s cast in nature.
Final Grade: B+
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Starring Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Slim Pickens, Harvey Korman, Mel
Brooks, Madeline Kahn
Film Prophet's Review...
Directed by Mel Brooks, the scathing spoof on the Hollywood westerns
sorts out racism and prejudice assumptions. When the sheriff of a town
is murdered, a shrewd convict, Bart, Little, is appointed the first
black sheriff of the all-white town by the iniquity Hedley Lamarr,
Korman, who plans this will chase the townspeople from their homes to
seize the valuable land and increase his Presidential prospects. Sheriff
Bart soon gets the message that he wasn’t meant to succeed. “Excuse me
while I whip this out.” Gathering the help of a composed town drunk,
Wilder, formerly known the Waco Kid, who sides up with Bart. A railroad
is coming, and the town-folks’ bias, and the corrupt politician and
cowboys’ bad intentions probably will offend some people, but it gives
an entitlement to laugh at society's insular intolerance. It is a parody
of the Western film genre with satire on discrimination jaunted by
gross-out humor in Mel Brooks’ first commercial success. The new black
sheriff, stunning by selection, turns out to be smarter than expected.
Richard Pryor, who one can picture in the role of Bart, was a part
writer for this script. Every perspective is fair to put in context and
slur it in language with sharp testy dialogue. The lines are offensive
deliberately in a foul tone and a social satire on derogatory epithets.
The second half and on shows the idiocy of prejudice in all its forms
where the movie was once incredibly raunchy, setting a racial attitude
that would be in modern profanity terms and one who would be hesitant to
speak of, but it is evident that the writers were just joking. The
racial humor pans out a little after Bart becomes sheriff. The jokes are
half racial and half clichés of the Western genre especially means of
most standard characters, spinning such a character as a sex-obsessed
Governor. The jokes are both funny and inappropriate, for example, “Hey!
Where are the white women at,” which turns out to be the most hilarious
line in the movie. In a somewhat humiliating manner, the cruelty of mess
in the movie’s plot strives on situational humor and the story isn't
really important, noted by its outrageous brawl ending. The jokes never
excessively stretch out certain funny moments. The most famous toilet
humor scene is the night's campfire eating beans. The longest, maybe
most avoidable scene, was the extensive seductive saloon singer number.
There is no dominant personality in the story even with Wilder in the
picture. He remains cunning and cool just like his comedy acting, as his
debut in story as the Waco Kid is about twenty to thirty minutes within
the motion picture. He is so calm yet so funny. An example of his
moderately funny bits is his quick hands when the camera never shows his
split-timing of his gun. The humor and simple pace, the slightest of
conflicts, is slowly steady like most Westerns.
Final Grade: B
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)
Starring Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Jack Davenport,
Bill Nighy, Naomie Harris
Film Prophet's Review...
Captain Jack Sparrow, Depp, is back in a supernatural intriguing ghost
pirate fascination. He owes a debt to the legendary Davey Jones, ruler
of the ocean depths and captain of the ghostly Flying Dutchman. As Will
Turner, Bloom, and Elizabeth Swann, Knightley, find themselves propelled
into Jack's misadventures after a closed wedding, their problems grow
while wrenching for a key and a safe. The facial computer images are an
enormous distraction to stare at even when one doesn’t want to see. One
can’t help with the picture so close-up and locked on to a dead pirate
face with vigorous aquatic life forms on it to check out all those
hideous designs. The artists go a long way to imagine models for the
dead repulsing pirates. Meanwhile, the story has several little
scenarios coming at all directions and the film is often too busy that
the viewer doesn’t know where to exactly look at anymore… so frequently
the eye falls for the composition of the villains. The makeup, set
production, and costumes are certainly astonishing for every piece in
the film. For example, one has cheeks puffed and composed of disgusting
odd images and another has a consuming beard of tentacles which is
uneasily freakish. The viewer would keep watching because it's neat to
look at including with the choreographed action, though the movie is
slightly less compelling than the original. Detail and attention are
provided for almost everything, except the plot. The sequel loses most
of the original’s fun and funny side by complicating the viewer’s mind.
A very complex tale typically is assigned with specifications, but this
one is quite different. In general, the movie features an utterly
different story nevertheless it takes tacky opening moments to
re-introduce the main set of characters and to catch up on previous
knowledge that is still hazy when the film ends. The story has a lot,
but it is frequently obscure especially when it attempts to resolve
situations. Much like the characters in the story, their decisions too
are perplexing. The characters are split up and it is murky to tell the
whereabouts of each one and how they came to a certain spot. At times,
they are brought together again from various points in the story as the
viewers would have no clue how they ended up located back on a ship,
bizarre island, another ship, a rowing boat, or another ship. The
section at the start of the film does not fit anywhere, primarily
Sparrow’s attitudes during an awkward culture island visit full of
ignorant indigenous people. Jack Sparrow's hyper eccentricity and subtle
fidgets are amusing, as well as the sword and gun action he partakes in,
but his character is too incontrollable and foiled. Cages are made of
human bones and several ship crews constantly trounce against a sea
monster are other forms to gross out and captivate the viewer’s
attention in this camp pirate story.
Final Grade: C+/B-
Fargo (1996)
Starring William H. Macy, Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi, Peter
Stormare, Harve Presnell
Film Prophet's Review...
An incompetent car salesman, Macy, in Minneapolis has gotten himself
into debt and hires paying two thugs, Buscemi and Stormare, to kidnap
his wife, so his father-in-law who is a rich man in the small town would
pay off an eighty thousand ransom, split in half. The desperate car
salesman's scheme collapses in snowy rural Minnesota, drawing in a
pregnant police chief, McDormand, into her first homicide investigation.
She is unaware that several homicides are connected to the kidnapping as
the thugs are more violent and irrepressible than the salesman counted
on. Nominated for seven Oscars with two wins, brothers Joel and Ethan
Coen are the directors and writers of the film. The neo-noir film is
relatively shorter than expected for a Coen brothers film who usually
like to lengthen films with futile scenes and bland characters a la
Miller Crossing. This movie is on opposite ends of it by entertainment
and artistic quality. Convincing as it is, the film is an evolving crime
drama with snow on the ground that is just special in general discrete
from Hollywood cornerstones. It combines humor with suspense and there
are interesting personalities, a lesson the Coens learned from their
terrible movie in ninety. Some have fear, or are naive, mostly, they are
courteous. Two quirky and twisted hit men try to manage a blindfolded
kidnapped woman and the car salesman’s zany plans end up turning out of
control with humorous qualities so it is not all solemn morality. The
two men tease her and try to keep her alive without telling her of her
husband’s scheme. Gun violence by and large takes place when the timid
thug, Stormare, wants no witnesses so he hunts to execute them all, one
in a stylish car chase of headlights. In the meantime, the car salesman
fibs to his worrying son and still at once maintains the orchestrated
kidnapping of his own wife for his father in law's ransom money. It’s a
story that's genuinely convincing, yet has a wildly unpredictable
narrative in the hands of those two hit men. An opening title screen
states this is a true story, however, no such incidents ever occurred…
the movie plays out moderately believable though. The film does an
excellent work on the portrait of a society with cold temperatures in
Minnesota by means of their accents, big winter coats, forlorn adult
bars, weather, fast foods, smorgasbord restaurants, and breakfast. The
darkness of the malevolence characters diverges with the cold, white,
and pristine wilderness setting of the film’s landscape and
cinematography. Like the cinematography, the acting and music selection
are summit pieces to this film. Every performance is fantastic. Frances
McDormand’s late arrival as the lead role as the pregnant police chief
is just like the pacing of the film… unhurried, but even, appropriate
for the exact rhythm Fargo shines throughout the movie. The pace is
unique and refreshing capturing subtle suspense moments and light
comedy. The cops, also known here as rangers, aren't totally involved as
one can imagine for a crime film as it is merely one person with her
dim-witted partner to solve the crime. She interrogates with questions
in the small town while the car salesman didn’t expect the rangers
involvement, all within the hilarious investigation. The simple plot
devours minor complications as nothing goes right and people end up
getting killed. There are noticeable character flaws to the audience
that are relevant to the plot of the movie and to the plot of the
kidnapping which evokes a spree of panic and amusingly warped set
pieces.
Final Grade: A-/B+
Niagara (1953)
Starring Marilyn Monroe, Joseph Cotten, Max Showalter, Jean Peters,
Richard Allan
Film Prophet's Review...
Two couples meet during their honeymoons at a Niagara Falls motel. Rose
Loomis, Monroe, conspires with Ted Patrick, Allan, to murder her
husband, George, Cotten, but it does not go according to design. The
other couple spies on George, and he does too the other way around. The
majority of the movie consists of one half of a couple spying on the
other half of the couple. No eerie music is played, no talk is
exchanged, and one is often followed in excess. Monroe's first starring
role would become unusual in her career. Absent from a comedy and a dumb
blonde depiction, this role is a femme fatale type, erratic and
self-destructive. Her husband is essentially shallow and hardly notices
her. The communication between the couple leaves the viewer also
isolated to them. Two highlights of the film are seeing the sweeping
footage of the Niagara Falls scenery, and the moments where Marilyn
wears her stunning bright red evening dress. Those two are images,
exterior to substance, and the film remains hollow like all characters.
The film directly opens to the mist of the falls and its spray with a
rainbow. Rose has arranged for her husband's murder plan from the moment
her face first appears inside her motel … no preamble by any means to
the story. This movie is an example when a writer and director fail to
equivalent validity with two perennial movie stars. An obscure asserted
dramatic thriller with frail film noir basics is shot in Technicolor
which hurt the overall picture quality from an authentic black and white
film noir motion picture. The suspense side of the story does not reach
the distance to befit a destructive romance thriller. There is a fine
difference between pacing a movie slow and suspenseful… this movie is
pure slow; not suspense or the combination of both. At a troubling
leisurely pace, the story doesn’t develop a motive of any character
early on or cause of the oblivious and conspicuous looks and stays
vague. The movie's own actual plot hazily begins until Rose opens up,
which is never because when she hears church bells, it goes awkward for
her. The interaction between the Loomis couple doesn't happen at all and
they separated by distance or quietness so one can just assume something
is not right. Almost every single line in the movie between each other
was false and too playful. The other couple arrives completely on the
contrary, and eventually get involved involuntary in mischief with the
Loomis couple. The boring dialogue, that is when the characters have
something to say instead of just following each other around, inexactly
helps. They walk without written lines and when there are, they
materialize as insignificant and bland to a very perverse plot. The
finale is on a small boat with two people who just stare obliquely at
each other, just waiting for them to exchange some sort of dialogue for
ten plus minutes. All of this is vague to the audience because the story
is badly written with lousy acting, as some of it has to do with the
hasty script. The script somehow even makes Cotten's character
uncharismatic which is unusual to see, so his talent doesn’t really
contribute. The writing imprecisely offers the characters with much to
say to each other at any times and most of the time, the Niagara Falls
is the real picture to watch.
Final Grade: C-/C
Bananas (1971)
Starring Woody Allen, Louise Lasser, Carlos Montalbán, Howard Cosell
Film Prophet's Review...
Fielding Mellish, Allen, a consumer products tester, becomes infatuated
with a woman who is a political activist towards South America. He
attends demonstrations and tries in ways to convince her that he isn’t
self-indulgent. In what really is Woody Allen’s first major motion
picture that he wrote, directed, and starred in, an anxiety-ridden New
Yorker, the quintessential Woody character, becomes a South American
rebel leader who has two days of American college education that puts
him in that office. The movie is really an early immature phase of
Woody’s filmography. Most of the content is complete nonfigurative
drivel with inept sexual encounters, impulsive attitudes, and
politically incorrect matter, but extremely zany. The satirical comedy
depicts military and political events in Central America passing the
third of the film. There is a slight mention of bananas, though no
bananas visually appear anywhere, which the word is a pun itself. When
the gags are greater than the story, there would be no social,
realistic, or motivating abiding rate to the story. True to the previous
line, the oddball plot is very loose, completely contrived and bizarre
but that just adds to the low-budget fun. The scripted lines are just as
ludicrous to listen to as to follow the story. In the story, Fielding
Mellish is found in numerous class structure positions and a viewer
won’t need to comprehend it wholly. The viewer would customarily watch
the very clumsy physical comedy by Allen that is quite funny, such
scenes especially when Woody is not brawny fitting, apparent on the
subway when wordless Sylvester Stallone is around in a cameo role and on
field training with the guerrilla rebels. When no one else is talking or
no one is around and it is just Woody and his view of current agendas
mounts on occasions. They are normally embarrassing, such as the
magazine rack scene. The best parts of the comedy take over without
dialogue and it is edited more like a silent film without any words with
just a music score sounding like a squeaking horn. The absurd areas of
the story, for instance backing into cars, all merges into Fielding’s
gawky state. A review of the movie would have to go into the funny gags
since that’s the principal objective, so to mention two: The moment
where Allen gets off an airplane and a language interpreter is there
de-code his English to English in America, and the jury passing around
an active hit in a courtroom are legitimately comical. The comedy excels
to the audience when it is delivered just by Woody, so the dialogue is
not entirely funny during the political conversations with leaders but
only when odd things occur due to clumsiness and gaucheness. Allen's
direction is suitably done for the type of short comedy even when he
turns off the audible and allows physical and visual humor to appeal
cinematic in the farcical situations.
Final Grade: B-
Deconstructing Harry (1997)
Starring Woody Allen, Elisabeth Shue, Kirstie Alley, Billy Crystal, Judy
Davis, Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci
Film Prophet's Review...
Harry Block, Allen, just elapsed middle age and has never really
matured. He is a novelist with writer’s block and hasn’t written the
latest word for his new book. He has had three wives and he is on his
way to a college that expelled him as an undergraduate to receive a life
achievement award. In the meantime, Harry's latest girlfriend has chosen
to marry his best friend while another buddy is having heart problems.
Black comedies typically consider serious acts such as death, aside from
the movie really being pompous on blasphemy. Block is an alcoholic who
has few friends and can't stay devoted to one woman. His previous books
were about his relationships with his three ex-wives and neither one of
them liked it. So, each ex-wife is vulgar and offensive to him and it is
obvious that these females aren’t like the ones in other Woody Allen
films who were fascinated with him in present state. Allen is on top of
his usual neurotic self, though he has a voice narration that’s
grumbling. Unable to cope with females who depend on him, he hires
prostitutes for his new chapter. Having troubles with his peers and
losing the capability to continue writing, they jointly resolve together
gradually by the gain of surrounding inspiration when he isn’t entirely
isolated. All the time, however, his bad habits and nerves arise. His
book is reflected through the people he knows and some elude literally
out of focus. A large amount are grumpy and negative with jaded lives
that effect close ones, though they still cuss every person apiece. The
majority of these problems are most likely common but towards among a
pessimistic audience. People can never agree and they use their big
tempers to get along which doesn’t work. The fiction Block creates
exaggerates the truth putting fictional or dead characters into play or
just blurring the person out of remembrance, some almost surreal
moments. Director and writer Allen was influenced from foreign language
fifty films, consequently the jump cuts and death figure appear. The
jump-cut editing style, for instance the psychologist scene, is
presumably to imply the fragmented mind and incomplete story of Block.
Some scenes are pure fiction or self-analysis with his peers. Other
parts are ultra censored sexual. These are the people he knows and for
the most part, it is ill at ease to a point but quite humorous because
it is irregular to see any two people groaning together to fellatio in
the middle of the day with elders around. Block didn't change in the
movie; he just found other miserable people to put in his story without
his ex-wives who have irritating problems to listen to, like him. The
content is not ration to a plot but to the characters in which helps
create characters in a story from a large cast who have just
miscellaneous small part time roles popping up fighting over little
affairs. Julia Louise Dreyfuss, Richard Benjamin, Paul Giamatti, Tobey
Maguire, and Mariel Hemingway are also apart of this cast. Totally
unsighted is Robin Williams, wherever he was, as he was so
undistinguished that not one scene from him comes to memory. Every
single self-indulgent one yells and complains more than Block, which is
bad for a top Woody script. Block is probably Woody’s most tactless
character… there is no dignity or redeeming qualities about him or from
the people around him in a loathsome overabundance of profanity.
Final Grade: C/C+
This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
Starring Rob Reiner, Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer, Tony Hendra
Film Prophet's Review...
Directed by Rob Reiner, a filmmaker makes a spoof documentary about a
once-famous, almost forgotten British metal band returning to the United
States for a concert tour. The term is most noted as mockumentaries.
Largely, the documentary candidly follows a rock group heading towards a
small crisis of selling and other sorts of slight dilemmas and they go
through a selection of new drummers and new tour production adjustments.
Their appearance is shirtless, long hair, and loud guitars on stage. The
male rock vocals are distinctive, the music is pivotal and the lyrics
are not necessary profound while the bits of song performances are
separated by the scenes and momentum in the movie. The film places space
to allow them to rock out their songs on stages during the film.
However, there was very little thrust by means of a plot, well, there is
no plot even though it is a fictional documentary. Much of the film was
improvised without scripted lines. It is a loose documentary on
spontaneity which is more difficult to shape the direction of each
scene. The camera is handy to gather the caress of a documentary. It
isn't vertically wild and fast with quick edits going over useless parts
to show rock music is a prompt scene. The filmmaker takes a seat with
the band to discuss their overall timeline which goes in sequence with
the movie's upcoming scene after it is talked about. The documenter,
acted by Rob Reiner, comprehends their way of life and attitudes on rock
pressures. The actors are quite plausible in these band roles; still the
imaginary of the band group is bounded when it shouldn't since there is
no script that is not sufficient enough. The two front men get most of
the splendor and they aren’t condemnable men with acts of drugs, crime,
and booze. The guys in the band aren’t buffoons either. When asked
questions, they modestly provide a genuine answer about their rock
culture life without being quaint about it. They are never once cocky
and they’re realistic in their positions. Accordingly, they don’t make
fools out of themselves most of the time or exclaim jokes to anyone
else. The metal detector is probably the one memorable gag, but the film
doesn’t exactly do justice to the comedy component for an audience to
laugh out loud. They aren't determining to be humorous nor is there
anything to really laugh about. Regardless of their talent level
display, there isn’t enough material in the movie to be funny, but the
material is never too absurd to believe. Nevertheless, the viewers can
somewhat enjoy the band’s happenings during the film and appreciate more
of what a band goes through to put on a superb show for the crowd. Stage
and sound malfunctions, limousine conversations with manager, covers,
jazz experiments, bookings, press, critics, hotels, small venues and
signings… one driver called the band that they are living in a fad. The
content is rather easygoing and regular for a music scene. They aren’t
the emblematic rock stars; they have ordinary social parties and
concerns and disagreements about how to settle small matters like any
other person. Although there are nit-picketing times that are
hypothetically droll like the one about the tiny sandwiches in the
dressing room. The band also is inclined to be ingenious with the set
production and the result is as mediocre to them as it is to the
audience.
Final Grade: B-
Superman Returns (2006)
Starring Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth, Kevin Spacey, James Marsden, Parker Posey, Frank Langella
Film Prophet's Review...
Audiences have been exceedingly fascinated by the original comic book
superhero era of adventure movies with large budgets. When comics to
read seem to be childlike and outdated presently, people will enjoy the
superhero blasting superpowers in the field of screen. Nowadays, the
adaptation of comics to film is crucial and decisive. Practically, the
viewer does not need to have followed the Christopher Reeve movies,
paper comic books, and television series to figure out who and what is
Superman all about. However, the film obligates to entail a viewer to
endure for almost three hours that comes with slight flaws in the middle
of the canonical visual effects. Following a mysterious absence of five
years, the Man of Steel comes back to Earth. An old enemy, Lex Luther,
plots to depict him against his kryptonite weakness while rising up new
land. Superman also known as Clark Kent deals with the realization that
Lois Lane has moved on with her life. Superman embarks a journey of
redemption that takes him on the boarders of the Atlantic Ocean all the
way to outer space. Director Bryan Singer from the first two X-Men films
settles for an extensive combination of romance and fantasy. The more
the unbelievable the digital effects are though, the more time the story
proceeds taking to fit in the movie. Singer operates most of the movie
with a leisurely pacing of long scenes that aren't really dynamic and
when the sound is completely off. Kal Penn, who was Kumar in that one
comedy film, participates in Luther's squad and for some reason, he
never gets to say a line as he was in most parts Lex was in and did a
few memorable tests. The dizzy Kitty in Lex’s corner was terribly
annoying in particular when she was in the driver's seat of an
unstoppable moving vehicle. Kevin Spacey as Lex Luther is convincing
just by his acting alone and he definitely held the best scenes. He made
Lex menacing without the script giving him an astonishing spectacle ride
summiting with Superman. The amount of screen time dedicated between
Superman and Lois is way more than the couple of minutes Superman and
Lex look at each other. For Lois Lane, she is torn between two men, or
actually three counting Clark and Superman as separate people in
alter-egos. There are plenty shots of Bosworth but she seems a bit of a
miscast someway. The most fun anyone in the story has is when it
flashbacks to Clark Kent grasping the full scale of his abilities as a
young male leaping sky high across corn fields. Whenever a scene would
begin in a hostile disaster to end in what looks like a tragedy, the
viewer should know no matter what that any projected victim will be
rescued in time for a safe landing… by Superman. A few examples are
bullets, drowning, and crashing, most fears any human has. Superman has
super-strength, super-hearing, X-ray vision, and super hearing to use
those towards life-saving obstacles for no price but stability and
candid press. When anyone lives under two complicated separate
identities and personalities, one is bound to lie to each party familiar
with only one side, except Superman doesn’t. Then again, there is bad
romantic dialogue because it was depressing to hear that neither side
was truly happy about their personal status with each other. Superman
didn't really get much to say unless it was to Lois after he got done
finishing his pestering and super hearing her conversations.
Consequences aren't brought up either to find out the truth between Lois
and Superman. There are irresolute crime motives, including the one with
a rapid missile fire on top of a building. The time period and setting
was a bit unclear too because by the style of clothes and atypical cars,
there were still mobile cell phones, above all ones with snapshot taking
which wasn’t featured in the original films because that technology
didn't exist then. From a weak flow in the beginning of not being able
to tell what is in present time, Superman's five year absence is
explained in a couple sentences and it is no longer patent to see or
understand of what exactly happened in that time. As the film finishes
after almost three hours, it proves the writers offer nothing really new
to the Superman series. Nevertheless, most moments emerge unbelievable
in the movie, so different from Christopher Nolan’s film. Some may say
the best action sequence was the startling, but underwhelming airplane
survival. However, the best scene didn’t need visual effects. Superman
receiving a dreadful pounding on the ground from Lex's squad as he was
helpless against kryptonite fit enormously in the instantaneous
construction of Lex's intended new land. This sequence was an elongated,
but clever instance of continuing a starting point on Lex Luther's yacht
to an ending point of troubling action pieces.
Final Grade: B/B-
Click (2006)
Starring Adam Sandler, Kate Beckinsale, Christopher Walken, David
Hasselhoff, Sean Astin, Jennifer Coolidge
Film Prophet's Review...
A remote is designed for laziness and handiness to flip things to
preference. Whoever is in control of the power wins the rights of
inclination. Whenever the remote is incontrollable, or let's say on
auto-pilot, one gets very upset. While the concept of the universal
remote is fun in a foreseeable format for a while, the lesson flourishes
to an adult who learns what it means to be a family man. The story
centers on an architect approaching a promotion with little time for his
family who discovers a universal remote control at Bed, Bath, and Beyond
that allows him to use functions such as fast forwarding and rewinding
to the concentrated point in life. He takes the remote, and in general,
living life, for granted and he gets his work done at the expense of
family time. The first half he preferred to take it easy so he zipped
through the annoying and slow moments and people in life that would just
end him back on an archit |
