Reviews

I love this film. It has a meandering and unrealistic plot and was shot on a shoestring budget but, man...I love this film. It's not a perfect film, it may not even be a good film. But its gritty imperfections combine to make it even more emotionally affecting and, well, lovable. There's a dozen things to which I could point and say, "That should have been better" or "That's totally out of place" but, if I were given the option, I wouldn't change a thing (well...the orchestral swells in the last five minutes of the film make my teeth hurt. But, other than that, not a thing!). This is cinema that is authentically and movingly human. Its soul shines irresistibly through the quirky tone and budget constraints.

Come on, movie people! License this film and release it in some format so I can see it in a non-film-festival form! Not that film festivals aren't wonderful, but a much larger group of people deserve to see the wonderful human confusion that is Dirt.

I love this film.

It's impossible for me to objectively consider this movie. Not that I haven't tried, mind you - but I sit down, and I pop in the aged VHS, and I watch the opening...and suddenly I'm five years old again and clutching my very own Care Bear and watching the movie with open eyes and an eager heart.

I can see, objectively, that this movie is a BIZARRE combination of cuddly baby merchandising-mascots and creepy prepubescent children with evil powers that has a thin story and uninteresting animation. But my inner five-year-old goes, "Yay! Care Bears!" every time I think about it. So - I'd only (cautiously, reluctantly) recommend this movie for those who saw it during their early youth and can call on the awesome power of nostalgia while watching it (like me) OR those lovably cynical Gen-X/Y-ers who deliberately seek out the wonderfully bad/strange (a category in which this movie...definitely belongs). To those actually looking for a compelling movie or wholesome family entertainment: You might want to keep looking.

A slight but thoughtful character study that focuses on bounty hunter Howard Kemp (Jimmy Stewart) as he attempts to bring in the wily Ben Vandergroat (Robert Ryan), with differing amounts of aid and setbacks from his two partners (a former Army officer (Ralph Meeker) and ineffective miner (Millard Mitchell)) and Vandergroat's "girl", Lina Patch (Janet Leigh). As with any film with more than three vaguely similar characters, endless fun may be had with viewing the three bounty hunters as representing the same character at different stages of life [the prickly Roy Anderson morphs into the bitter Howard Kemp ages into the dejected Jesse Tate after repeated failures], and the isolated setting further emphasizes the gritty way each of the five get under each other's skin. However, the movie also provides for more simple-minded pleasures - it's entertaining to watch Vandergroat nimbly pull the strings of his captors to orchestrate strife and discord, and the relationship between Patch and Kemp is sweet if a little out of character for both of them ("Why, films must have a love story! It makes motivations so convenient!"). The revelation of Kemp's inner turmoils and eventual growth is delicately developed during the course of the movie in his interactions with his four surrounding individuals, and the ending, while featuring a character's slightly unbelievable change of heart, still manages the nifty trick of being happy AND tragic.

The Watcher isn't a BAD movie, but it's not a particularly great movie either. James Spader does a credible job as the tortured FBI agent Campbell, but Marisa Tomei sleepwalks through her role as his concerned (and pretty!) psychologist, and Keanu Reeves is laughably bad as the scary serial murderer. The plot is dull but serviceable and an interesting amount of tension is introduced when the serial murderer begins sending Campbell pictures of his intended victims. Ultimately, however, the movie is dragged down by the absurdly filmed "nightmares" that Campbell keeps having about a previous encounter with the killer.

There doesn't seem to be any genuine creativity thrown into the script - it just goes through the motions and dutifully follows in the steps of a million "cat 'n mouse" thrillers that have gone before it. On the other hand, the movie doesn't do a particularly bad job with its well-worn plot, and you could do a lot worse for a rental.

I went into watching the film with no expectations, and found that it actually wasn't that bad. The film is choppy and inconsistent, but there's lots of little clever touches and running gags. The actors veer in and out of character and the director seemingly couldn't decide if he was making a light-hearted espionage flick or a sharp black comedy, but it's still fun to notice and pick apart the subtle asides and sight gags. Not the greatest movie of all time, but an amusing way to spend an hour and a half.

My little sister went through a stage when she was about four where she insisted on watching a movie two or three thousand times. We endured so many viewings of The Lion King, All Dogs Go To Heaven, and Balto that the songs were indelibly stamped into our brains and we could say the lines along with the characters. We endured my sister's voracious viewing habits with varying degrees of grace, but the breaking point came when she started watching Thumbelina.

The movie plays like some sort of grotesque nightmare. Sure, you can try to describe Gilbert Gottfried's beetle character and Carol Channing's nagging mouse, but the sheer horror of the movie can't be comprehended until you actually SEE the scene where Thumbelina is mocked in an insect music hall. Trust me, it really must be seen to be believed. The plot, which follows Thumbelina's "mis-adventures", isn't terribly coherent or consistent, and you will feel serious loathing for each character within moments of their entrance (especially Prince Cornelius). The one person whom I didn't absolutely hate by the movie's end (which was viewed many, many times) was Thumbelina herself, who was such a pathetic, rag-doll of a figure that she only inspired an uncomfortable sense of pity. Really, there's absolutely nothing entertaining about this movie, and it ranks right around Rock-A-Doodle (which my sister thankfully was NOT attached to) as "Things Don Bluth Should Leave Off His Resume".

My sister has since grown past this habit and I haven't seen the movie in years, but the thought of the singing frogs still gives me chills.