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Tristo99
Reviews
Animal Farm (1999)
Ultimately pleasing to no one
Fans of Orwell's novel will be disappointed with this most recent adaptation of one of his finest works. This is a film that tries to appeal to a family audience without losing the edge of the novel. Ultimately it accomplishes neither. The film is too dark and intense for children but also loses the teeth of Orwell's fine satire. The special effects of Jim Henson's creature shop are disappointing here, not nearly as well tailored as in the Babe films. In a couple of shots the animals seem to be embarrassingly plasticine-like. The ending here is changed to add a note of hopefulness, but this totally destroys Orwell's powerful ending and screws up his allegory, seemingly putting in a good word for US style capitalism. Please read the book or read it to your children instead of watching this watered down substitution. Animal Farm the novel is one of the finest works of satire in the English language. This is a crappy kid's flick.
The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch (2003)
A total waste of time
This complete waste of time seems to be rather badly patched together out of out-takes from the first film, new footage of Eric Idle and a bunch of talking head celebrity interviews.
The new Eric Idle footage scores the best and has the most laughs. However, jokes about tight trousers being the reason for the group's success get old and tiresome rather quickly.
Much of the celebrity interviews are inexplicable. Jewel fares the worst, seeming like she's not sure if she understands the joke, or if there even is one. Even if the Rutles were a real band I don't see how they could have possibly inspired people like Gary Shandling and Steve Martin. The problem here is that the musicians interviewed aren't funny and the comedians interviewed are out of place. Tom Hanks and Conan O' Brian fare best in gamely trying to play along, but the result is awkward, forced and quite often unfunny.
Like another person here mentioned I would like to have seen an update of the Rutles today, but with the Lennon assassination, it would be in poor taste to parody the Beatles post-breakup years. Much of this film feels like it's unfinished, and I wonder if Eric Idle was considering filming new footage and then scaling down the celebrity interviews. In it's current state, it's a sorry mess and it's not hard to see why it sat on the shelf for a couple of years.
Stick to the original, and forget this exists.
Porky's (1981)
a disgrace
Porky's is a comedy entirely based on humiliation. Therefore, when the jokes occur, we cringe, rather than laugh. There is no character development, or even any true sense of fun to speak of while watching Porky's. But then again, if you have a cruel sense of humour, and find humiliation funny, you may enjoy this raunchy teen comedy. If you're looking for any kind of originality or cleverness you certainly won't find it in Porky's, a raunchy, sexist 80s comedy disguised as 1950s nostalgia. Serious filmgoers avoid at all cost (unless you're interested in the kind of social criticism I so obviously relish.)