Reviews

I understand why this movie gets better reviews from critics than from general audiences. It's not one of the fast and furious Coen brothers' offerings, and unless you know the movies of the period pretty well, plus some of the history of the anti-Commie hysteria then, many of the sly little jokes will pass you by. It also helps if you have ever been an extra, which mostly consists of hurry up and wait.

Josh Brolin has turned into a wonderful chameleon-like character actor. His Chandler-esque studio boss is pitch perfect. Who would have guessed from his early days that he had this much talent? Tilda Swinton is perfectly cast as twin sister gossip columnists, standing in for Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons.

George Clooney does one of his marvelous clueless roles, and gets to show off his excellent legs since he's in centurion costume for the whole thing, pesky gladius and all. Ralph Fiennes is deliciously smarmy, and I had no idea that Channing Tatum was such a good tap dancer. And if that is really him singing I hope they bring back movie musicals in a big way.

If you know your movie history you will love the pastiches and the clever little jokes that are sprinkled throughout. Otherwise, you might not get the point.

This movie has plenty of action and outrageous special effects that don't even try to be realistic. There's some dramatic back story, and lots and lots of violence and spraying gore. It's pretty funny too, although the humor is extremely campy. It's as though the old British "Carry On" movies were crossed with Quentin Tarantino.

The language is bad, there is a good deal of nudity, there are tasteless masturbation jokes, and all-in-all it's a heap of low brow fun. Don't look for moral lessons, there are none. :-D

Plus, it was wonderful to see Leslie Uggams, still a classy-looking lady although she didn't have much to do.

An extraordinary film with an extraordinary cast. The British have so many marvelous actors who are quite capable of carrying a movie or TV series by themselves but who are happy to do the repertory bit and be in the background to give strong support.

I lived through this time. I remember the strikes of the 1970's, the piles of garbage in the streets, the 3-day week, and of course the IRA bombings. I also remember what Thatcher and Reagan's encouragement of asset stripping did to the economy in the late '70s and the '80s. People who complain that the film takes plays to much on "MT" as an old woman miss the point - how else but in flashback could such a story be told in a single movie, and if it's flashback how could she help but be old? Meryl Streep does her chameleon act once again, becoming the character in several incarnations - early and shrill, later and deep-voiced, and old and confused. In every stage she is completely believable. Kudos must also go to Alexandra Roach as young Margaret, with her impressionable father worship and deeply inculcated "petit bourgeois" values.

Jim Broadbent as usual cannot be praised highly enough. What a wonderful actor he is! One big surprise to me was how well Anthony Head impersonated Geoffrey Howe - close my eyes and it was Howe in person.

The film can only hit the highlights of a tumultuous period, but does it excellently well.

A nice-enough little movie, but really, if it hadn't been a Schepisi movie that gives the life of Georges Melies a happier ending no way would it have been an Oscar contender. Hollywood self-referentialism strikes again.

The children are attractive and not bad actors, and some the the byplay among the supporting cast, particularly Frances de la Tour and Richard Griffiths, is fun. However Sacha Baron Cohen didn't seem to have his heart in it and Emily Mortimer is completely wasted.

I also found the film rather slow and in places the music was intrusive. Some of the foleying was odd, sounds in places I wouldn't expect them and none in places I would. The sets and effects are good, but that's not all that special these days. I don't get what all the fuss was about.

This is silly, funny and charming, and has the advantage of New Zealand's wonderful scenery. Some of the accents wander a bit, Kiwis and Ozzies trying to sound American because otherwise the show wouldn't sell on the international market. Most of them do pretty well though. Bruce Spence makes a great Zed, and Craig Parker is wonderfully evil as Darken Rahl, a big change from playing an elf for Peter Jackson. :-) Yeah yeah, it's not a paragraph by paragraph rendering of the books. What movie or TV series based on a book is? But it does capture the FEEL of the books very well. Goodkind himself said read the books for the books and watch the show for the show, and enjoy them both for what they are. If he's not upset by the changes, why should anyone else be?

The "science" is pure babble, but this program has its tongue firmly in its cheek and isn't trying to be accurate. It also isn't bringing paranormal stuff into the story (so far) which is a great relief. A town full of polymathic super-genius types, ridden herd on by an ex-US-Marshall turned sheriff who is supposedly of "normal" intelligence but who seems to keep coming up with the answers.

My main quibble is, if they had to have an Englishman playing an Australian, couldn't they have found one who knows the difference between an Australian accent and an Anglo-African one? He sounds like he's from Darwin via Jo'burg. :-)

Sadly, this film needs much tighter editing and better musical direction, also the dubbing and Foley are amateurish. There are some OK performances: Geoffrey Rush and Magda Szubanski are good (no surprise there), Ernie Dingo is charming (again, no surprise) and the scenery is terrific - this is a part of Australia that's not well-known yet is very photogenic. The songs are just OK, not fabulous but they serve the story, however the backing music is often jarring and like a 70's sitcom in its lack of subtlety. I think the musical has all kinds of potential as a film, but this version misses out. It's a shame, more attention to detail could have made this a real winner.

How nice to have a movie that requires one to pay attention and that challenges the mind! I'm going to buy this because each time I see it I get more from it. I gave it 9 out 10 only because I wish it were longer!!!

Hugh Jackman is astonishing. It took me a while the first time to realize that he was the Spanish character too, he looks so different and even his body language is different. In fact all three characters have different body language, quite an achievement. His emotional range is vast, and his portrayal of grief here is just as raw and real as Juliet Stephenson's in "Truly, Madly, Deeply". I know he makes a lot of money as Wolverine but I'd love to see him playing more roles with this kind of deep emotional honesty.

Rachel Weisz doesn't do a lot but her beauty and gravity and sweetness and sense of play make it obvious why the Jackman characters are so obsessed with getting her back or getting back to her or whatever.

The art direction is Oscar-worthy,it's a character in its own right.

I love it!

What a waste of a talented and versatile actor! Fraser has fattened up for his role as a very unpleasant character who deserves all that happens to him, but the broad slapstick and second-rate predictable script gives Fraser no chance to display the sly wit of the Mummy movies or the subtle emotion of Gods & Monsters.

Even Dudley Do-Right was better than this: at least Fraser looked like he was having a good time, unlike in this sorry excuse for a film. This role smacks of desperation. He must have really, REALLY needed the money.

The CGI is OK but it's not at the top of the tech, and the supporting cast are cardboard cutouts.

Give it a miss.

Barry Otto is superb in this clever allegory. The first half is a biting look at the dysfunctional family of a dysfunctional man in a dysfunctional industry (advertising for cancer-causing industries), who until his death by heart attack sees himself as happy and successful in the best of all possible worlds. After his heart operation he realizes he is actually living in hell. He decides to make things right by "being good", whereupon he meets up with a bush-dwelling earth mother and part-time hooker who introduces him to environmental awareness and alternative living. The second half is a bit slow, but overall it's a brilliant film.