Change Your Image
grasshopper-46827
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Way Out West (1937)
Imaginative, funny and utterly charming
Highly unusual, this film captures the humour of these classic comedians. But it does a lot more. It's a little masterpiece, combining both vintage comedy with daring innovations - from cartoon effects intermixed in a live action film to brilliant stunts with fire, water and ropes, to dance routines.
The action is introduced with a dizzying 10 minute visit to the wild west town of Brushwood Gulch, the sleezy saloon, the greedy owner and his brassy wife established wittily and rapidly. The mood changes as our heroes appear strolling into town at the pace of their donkey and Ollie getting a thorough dunking in the creek - a running joke - and you know these two worlds - Stan and Ollie's slow innocence and the saloon's cynical greed - will collide.
It really is beautifully done. There's such a variety of humour, from wit to slapstick and back. I thought the chase of the deed - though it is quite long - totally captivating. I loved Sharon Lynn, who is great as the wicked Lola, mercilessly tickling him. And the denoument when she has the deed - "Ah-hah!"; "Oh-ho!"; "Ee-hii!"
As silly as it is had all the family laughing, oldest to youngest.
The other element that's worth mentioning is the music - it's only three songs, but the soft-shoe shuffle to the Avalon boys' song must be the most charming comic dance routine ever made. I love The Blue Ridged Mountains, partly because it is such a treat to hear Oliver Hardy's beautiful voice - while my kids loved Stan being bonked on the head. And of course, having won the day, they had to go out singing.
It does have two named women having a one line conversation that's not about a man - there are three significant women characters and four significant male characters, so this very old film is far more gender balanced than hundreds of modern efforts.
And throughout it is an absolute treat - a varied, very funny film with a heart of gold.
This Beautiful Fantastic (2016)
Warm heart start ends in lazy plotless blur
I was disappointed by this one. It aimed at the tone of Amélie, though that was stranger, brighter and far more original. But the start did catch the attention and promise something.
But barely a quarter in there were bad signs. As soon as the main characters were established it was as if the writer got bored and just jotted down some plot notes. 1. Nasty cranky neighbour suddenly softens, turns into fairy god-father. 2. Some kind of love interest with a quirky, shy but handsome bloke met by chance. 3. Fade out the interesting Irish cook side-kick in favour of love-interest but add a ridiculous Shakespearian love twist - maybe an identical twin thing. 4. Make sure all the ends are neatly tied in a bow at the finale.
Rather like the Irish cook, the only interesting female character other than the lead, an acerbic, rigid librarian, fired our heroine and vanished from the film, until a wrap-things-up shot. It might scrape past the Bechdel test on the grounds of the heroine/ librarian and a 3 line exchange - but it sure didn't pass in spirit.
I wanted to like the Bella, heroine, with her strange back story and obsessive peculiarity but she too was pruned back, all the interest snipped away. Her oddity was kept inoffensive - excessive neatness/cleanliness and a few fixed routines, nothing to jar, embarrass, frighten. She was beamed into tplace with no any apparent ties whatsoever - no girlfriends, no advisors, no contacts - but she'd rented a large house-with-garden and planned to write children's books? Why?
Her terror of plants, a key part of the plot, was utterly unconvincing - she seemed disgusted at going out in a storm but choose to meet the love interest in a park. Oce the nasty neighbour made her suddenly love gardens, and the love-interest solved their little mix up, Bella's mental health issues seemed to be all resolved. That so often happens, doesn't it? This trite treatment of obsessions and phoebias to catch the initial interest as a curiosity is tiresome and patronising at best, almost dangerous at worst.
Embarrassingly I'd imposed this film on family as relief from the incessant action films. Asked what they thought my older teen said "8 at the start - 4 all the rest". Seems a fair assessment to me. Heart in the right place, but really, must try much, much harder.
The Breadwinner (2017)
Challenging but inspiring animation
Watching this with my family was a touch daring - my youngest just turned 11 - and the film depicts the harsh life experience of a family, and especially a young girl, in Kabul under the Taliban. Being animated makes the sense of horror a little less immediate and scenes of violence are mainly just off screen but the sense of danger and oppression is painfully real.
That said I loved this movie. I thought the animation was perfect, subtle and appropriate, from the gritty slumy street scenes to the family arguments between sisters. The only character whose animation jarred was the baby brother who was a bit too cute, but that's a very picky complaint. The voice actors were superb, bringing the characters distinctively to life so convincingly they became instantly easy to relate to and engage with. Saara Chaudry as lead character Parvana was exceptional.
My favourite element was the splicing of the harsh 'real-life' story, depicting people struggling to cope in an impossible situation, with the fantasy folk-tale story that Parvana tells her younger brother, her family, her friend and herself. The animation for this story brings colour, warmth and humour into play; the animation is cut outs with wonderful repeating motifs that swirl across the screen. I loved these brief changes of pace. The story-telling theme starts as with Parvana's father; she takes it up to entertain her little brother, but it develops to be both an escape from horror and a source of courage for the story-teller herself. This is achieved naturally and beautifully, making the viewer ask themselves, how would I survive, in a situation as bad as that? What story would I tell?
This is a war story with women at the centre of the tale; sisters that bicker with each other, friends who bond, quarrel and support one another, a mother who takes terrible risks to try to protect her family. It neither excludes men nor implies that all men are vicious - indeed Parvana benefits from kind acts by strangers, and loves her father and baby brother. But it is so very rare to find a film where most of the main characters are female, and a fully rounded characters, that it seems like a minor miracle.
I found the ending a little abrupt. It's not that I wanted a Hollywood all-loose-ends tied nonsense, but we went from the story to a black screen so suddenly I found it almost confusing. But overall I thought this was an exceptional film, a beautiful animation, depicting the appalling experience of war but with hints of courage, resilience and hope.
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Too adult for kids, to smug for adults, and not even close to Roald Dahl
I wanted to like this film. I love animation, whether its the flashiest CGI or the simplest stop-motion, and I love Roald Dahl. I like witty, quirky unexpected humour and I don't get into a spin when a book adaptation does just that - adapts a story for the screen. The cast list looked terrific. What could I lose?
First I lost hope; then I lost interest. The trouble with this film was that it was trying to be a witty and stylish adult heist-film within a child's storybook - but there was never enough sense of threat to make that work. But they didn't stop there: a touch of spagetti-western with the showdown with a texan rat actually got me interested for the whole 3 minutes before they dropped back to the boring main threads. They squidged in a disaffected teen buddy story, with the jealous, overlooked son and his perfect cousin - unconvincing, tiresome, solved by the son suddenly becoming athletic and brilliant under fire for no reason. They made a stab at a dash or romance Mrs Fox the fiesty wife who lets him away with it anyway. Couldn't find enough clichés?
The Americanisation of the story wouldn't bother me at all if it was complete and wholehearted instead of half-baked. Why were the villains, in this rural American landscape, English? Why did Jarvis Cocker turn up singing bluegrass? Why did the helicopter spotter Australian? These things are so absurd they almost sound funny, but in the event they just seemed stupid and unconvincing.
The adult humour came over as smug and self-indulgent - very different from Dahl's odd, daring and absurd charm. "Based on" is overstating it - they kept the 3 villains, a rat and Mr/Mrs Fox: most other things were changed. The one element from Dahl's story, which was published 1970, that they did not change was the gender balance. Hard to imagine a wildlife community with a male/female ratio of 9:1 lasting. Oh, and the females were 1. the wife/mother and 2. the possible love interest for the cousin (so the son could be jealous). No, no hold on... a villain's wife appeared briefly twice...
I did like the animation - the strange layers, the funny digging scenes, the narrow and tall thing. But it didn't make up for a muddled plot, no likeable characters, a tiresomely smug script. No joy and no surprises.
This film was selected by my youngest kid but the kids watched it pretty well in silence and said it was... "Mmm. Okay" That says it all really. Disappointing.
Hot Rod (2007)
Very silly but funny in patches
This is a slapstick movie as a quick glance at the trailer or write up should tell you - a ludicrous premise and a film about a ludicrous teen gang. Slapstick, pratfalls, and embarrassment gags in spade loads.
It struck me as very teen-boy stuff with the main characters an incoherent gang of unlikeable and thinly drawn losers until a gorgeous girl suddenly appears and makes up to the main character in spite of her horrible boyfriend's evil schemes. Ah yes, the stick-on love interest. So far, so cartoon, so dull.
Of course the only female characters were the mum (who had no character) and the love-interest (who had no character) ... of course it failed the bechdel test. No surprise there.
But there were wacky patches, which lifted the film - loved the town all pouring into the street to the rousing music of 'You're the Voice'. And the verve of Andy Samberg's performance lifted it from embarrassing to genuinely comic in parts.
The Gamers: Dorkness Rising (2008)
Lighthearted & witty geekworld peek
Watched this on a bit of a hunch, since though not gamers, we're quite nerdy from Star Trek to Terry Pratchett to TBBT. Presto! Bingo! this film made us all laugh.
I loved the fantasy/real-world cross over - the way attackers held back while the players fought one by one - the repeating jokes (player who wanted to seduce all the women; the guy who kept dying; the guy who kept forgetting his character was female). I liked the sets and the unpredictability of where they would take the characters next. But the best writing was saved for the way they meshed this with the real world characters. They managed to avoid some cliches - the gamers were not all spotty students who had never had a girlfriend and couldn't speak when they saw a woman - but people with ordinary lives. The banter between them was nicely balanced to seem real and competitive without becoming nothing but abuse.
Not many women in the film - but then still sadly true of the gamers world (though more break through all the time). Do get so tired of watching films with a 10 to 1 ratio of male to female characters, but in this case I might put that to one side. I loved that the woman gamer looked like a normal woman and had a character instead of being the love-interest-plug-in. And it did actually pass the bechdel test.
SPOILER ALERT No, I'm not referring to conversations betweem the warrior and the male/female sorceress - given that the gamer playing her kept forgetting his character was female I don't think that counts - but Therin, the Goddess of light has a maybe 3 line conversation with the warrior Joanna. At least ... it past in the game world (not in the real world, alas).
END OF SPOILERS
Overall this was a better written and much funnier than I expected. Great light-hearted geeky film.
The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D (2005)
Don't mis-judge a comic-book kids' film
This is a kids movie, better for pre-teens, all about defending your dreams and imagination, and bringing them to play in the real world. That sounds like a pretty cool theme but the disjointed plot and the weak writing undermine it terribly. The characters are cartoonish - not just Lavagirl and Sharkboy but the 'realworld' characters too. When I read that Rodriguez's 7-year old was given a writing credit it made sense - it comes over as written by a 7-year old, its just embarrassing that it was also written by his Dad.
Bet it was the seven year old that included a girl as a main character that wasn't a love interest, though. Rodriguez accidentally let that through, but made sure it doesn't pass the bechdel test.
Still, once you accept you are watching a cartoon - don't expect anything much beyond comic-book characters - and run with it, it is quite fun. My kids delight certainly helped me enjoy this, but I gave myself up to the daftness. The 2D visuals were bright though basic and no more was needed. I'm slightly embarrassed to say it, but watching this with my kids I did enjoy this movie.
Phoebe in Wonderland (2008)
Accepting difference the key theme
Not a light story, but can be watched by kids (from 11 up), exposing them to the rarely portrayed idea of different mental conditions. Its theme is difference - struggling with the sense of being different and fitting in, or not, to social rules and expectations.
Some lazy writing in parts. I accept that the key teacher was meant to be mysterious, but the enigmatic comments, which worked in the context of her teaching role, were annoying when dealing with adult characters. The shrink was an empty space and the father's character was thinly drawn. The headmaster was farcical: you may get officious, obnoxious headmasters but an incoherent fool wouldn't get this job.
Still, 8 stars. Why? The depiction of Phoebe's experience -so unusual- and the child acting. Elle Fanning was out of this world. Phoebe's struggles to understand and live with her condition - her different nature - was superbly portrayed. Ian Colleti was nicely understated as Jamie and the other children were suitably intolerant without turning into the cliché of mere baddies. This made the theme of accepting difference feel like a natural outcome, not a lecture.
The weaker adult roles were partly due to seeing through Phoebe's eyes - grownups as distant and disconnected. I thought Felicity Huffman overacted in parts as the mother but it didn't corrupt the story line.
Unusual and attractive film, definitely worth the time. The most interesting and challenging I've watched in a while. Nice to see such a balanced cast, too. Passed the bechdel test with flying colours!
Evolution (2001)
Silly but entertaining
It only takes a quick look at the trailer to get what this film will give - its a well-worn sci-fi theme (something lands on earth with sinister passengers), crossed with the slapstick humour we all know from Ghostbusters and a thousand other such. But if you go along for the ride its pretty well done.
I thought that David and Moore were okay - but Orlando Jones stole the show in comedy. His role was relatively fresh and his physical humour was great. The scene on the gurney made us all laugh.
I loved the creatures. The science was preposterous but really, you don't watch this to help with your biology thesis. But the imagining of the alien ecosystem and the multiple life forms was great fun.
One weary criticism though. Not only would this film would fail the bechdel test; its only significant female character is a love interest. When one alien vomits forth its offspring and one of the leads says "Congratulations, it's a boy!" my youngest answered, "See. Even the aliens are all boys!"