I usually like black comedy. This wasn't. I actually didn't find anything in this movie really funny. Certainly not worth sitting through the distressing parts. (Puppies being killed, dog being beaten multiple times. The shtick was all pretty ordinary. The dogs narration was just weird.. especially coming from this obviously sweet dog.
Pretty sure that the brand of insanity we were listening to coming from the dog was very human. It was very much what people who are afraid of dogs and really know nothing about them are terrified that they might be thinking.
Pretty depressing all the way through. I'm really sorry I wasted my time with it.
Reviews
6 Reviews
Baxter
(1989)
This had no business being labled a COMEDY of any color. Horrific and depressing.
7 June 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Lilies
(2007)
Verisimilitude.
28 July 2017
I was totally drawn in from the first episode. The spirited Moss family, so much like my own family was that believable. It was written from the reminisces of a grandmother of her family and that is probably why it rang so true. This is one of those shows that so deserved a much longer run that it is a travesty that it was not given one. What WAS made is a gem to be savored for eight episodes.
Here Alone
(2016)
One of those movies that seem profound but are in fact meaningless
14 July 2017
This movie was pretty engrossing until the very end when it suddenly descended into psycho stupid. I wish very much I had not wasted my time with it now because it went up its own behind trying to be meaningful and just succeeded in being completely ridiculous. They managed to make me in a few seconds completely stop caring what happened to the characters. Whatever it was it wasn't bad enough to suit me.
Thale
(2012)
Great movie about a mythical being I had not heard of before
23 October 2015
Ran across this on Netflix and was very pleasantly surprised by it. So much so that I looked up the Norwegian myth. I was especially entertained by the character of Leo and very impressed by the actor who played him so perfectly. Leo is this incredibly cool fellow. He is obviously aware that there is something uncanny going on but there is absolutely nothing that can ruffle his feathers. He carries that to a degree I found hilarious. Far from being uncaring though. It all shows in his placid eyes. Great character!
I liked this so much I got my husband to watch it with me. He loved it too.
I liked this so much I got my husband to watch it with me. He loved it too.
Missionary
(2013)
Realistic thriller
8 May 2015
The characters all behave so realistically that I was sucked in and on the edge of my seat. A lot of times things happen in this kind of movie that cause it to lose that realism. That did not happen here.
The story of a good mother that is going through a tough time and makes an understandably bad decision because of it. She never lost credibility to me. The kid in the movie is not some super child or genius or crazy person. He behaves like a real kid his age and the villain of the piece was frightening and crazy but not unrealistically tough or invincible. It made this movie uniquely scary.
I was in the mood for a thriller. I got it.
The story of a good mother that is going through a tough time and makes an understandably bad decision because of it. She never lost credibility to me. The kid in the movie is not some super child or genius or crazy person. He behaves like a real kid his age and the villain of the piece was frightening and crazy but not unrealistically tough or invincible. It made this movie uniquely scary.
I was in the mood for a thriller. I got it.
The Phantom of the Opera
(2004)
An excellent movie that tragically missed the whole point.
26 March 2015
Warning: Spoilers
I won't really compare this to the stage play. I did see it on stage but when I watched this I expected it to be different and I don't think I compared it unfairly to the other versions. I read the original book and I have seen all of the movies and as I said, I saw the excellent musical on stage more than once. I also won't go into the bewildering decision to never make a version with Michael Crawford singing the part. That is nothing short of a tragedy for anyone who never saw him do it. They will never know the magic of who Erik the Phantom truly is.
That being said I thought that Mr. Butler was pretty good. I thought his voice was good and he had enough presence. I enjoyed the movie treatment of the story for the most part too and I thought Christine and Raoul in this movie were the best I had ever seen. What earned the low score from me was a couple of things that just sucked the whole thing dry of the things that made the original story work and had me shaking my head during the very beautiful song "Music of the Night" that just robbed it of all passion and had me wondering what were they thinking? ******************************spoilers after this.
Basically in this version Erik is a major HUNK. He is absolutely GORGEOUS and whatever deformity lurking under the mask at that point would have to be postage stamp sized. So why should we feel any sympathy for him? In all versions I have seen you could see that he was a mess under that mask. He had obvious reasons for being who he was. The decision to make him sleek and perfect in this number is worse than casting Timothy Dalton as Mr.Rochester in Jane Eyre. (The part where she tells what is supposed to be a homely character he is not handsome always makes me laugh.) In this version of The Phantom, you end up staring at the small amount of Butler's face covered by the mask wondering just how bad could it BE? Indeed when we finally see it at the end it looks like a bad burn and no more. Hardly motivation for all the death, destruction and histrionics!
Another bad blunder for me was the sword fight in the graveyard. I rather enjoyed the sword fight but having Raoul win it and grant mercy to the Phantom really fell flat. The whole story is about a deformed genius who can practically walk through walls and do miracles. He could have been a great and incredible man except for this one bad break in a cruel world that judges from appearances. Seeing him bested by beautiful and dashing and otherwise untalented Raoul was stupid and I have no idea what made them decide to do this. If they were going to have a sword fight they should have had the brilliant Erik win and let Raoul go because of Christine's intervention not the other way around!
So really, this was a well made movie with just a couple of things that made the whole thing devoid of passion and meaning for me. I do recommend the other version out there "The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall" It suffers from not having Michael Crawford sing the part (And I never stopped missing him!) but it is a beautiful production. I also recommend the Susan Kay book "Phantom" as a very good retelling of the story that goes into Erik's early life and how he became what he became.
That being said I thought that Mr. Butler was pretty good. I thought his voice was good and he had enough presence. I enjoyed the movie treatment of the story for the most part too and I thought Christine and Raoul in this movie were the best I had ever seen. What earned the low score from me was a couple of things that just sucked the whole thing dry of the things that made the original story work and had me shaking my head during the very beautiful song "Music of the Night" that just robbed it of all passion and had me wondering what were they thinking? ******************************spoilers after this.
Basically in this version Erik is a major HUNK. He is absolutely GORGEOUS and whatever deformity lurking under the mask at that point would have to be postage stamp sized. So why should we feel any sympathy for him? In all versions I have seen you could see that he was a mess under that mask. He had obvious reasons for being who he was. The decision to make him sleek and perfect in this number is worse than casting Timothy Dalton as Mr.Rochester in Jane Eyre. (The part where she tells what is supposed to be a homely character he is not handsome always makes me laugh.) In this version of The Phantom, you end up staring at the small amount of Butler's face covered by the mask wondering just how bad could it BE? Indeed when we finally see it at the end it looks like a bad burn and no more. Hardly motivation for all the death, destruction and histrionics!
Another bad blunder for me was the sword fight in the graveyard. I rather enjoyed the sword fight but having Raoul win it and grant mercy to the Phantom really fell flat. The whole story is about a deformed genius who can practically walk through walls and do miracles. He could have been a great and incredible man except for this one bad break in a cruel world that judges from appearances. Seeing him bested by beautiful and dashing and otherwise untalented Raoul was stupid and I have no idea what made them decide to do this. If they were going to have a sword fight they should have had the brilliant Erik win and let Raoul go because of Christine's intervention not the other way around!
So really, this was a well made movie with just a couple of things that made the whole thing devoid of passion and meaning for me. I do recommend the other version out there "The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall" It suffers from not having Michael Crawford sing the part (And I never stopped missing him!) but it is a beautiful production. I also recommend the Susan Kay book "Phantom" as a very good retelling of the story that goes into Erik's early life and how he became what he became.
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