Reviews

The very best stand up set of the 90s. Dominant, fast paced and supremely hilarious.

Rapid fire delivery, exuberant confidence and pitch perfect timing shine bright in Rock's finest hour. I consider this the best stand-up special of the modern era.

Incredible experience of a film. Uplifting, emotional and so damn magical. Everytime I watch this movie I am a wreck by the time the flims powerful climax.

'Herediraty' is one of the most shatteringly horrific films I have ever seen. It constantly wrings you out like a wet rag with its jet black view of a family on the brink of destruction. It's a film that will leave you batting images and sounds around in your head long after you have left the cineplex. One of the major reasons why is because Writer/Director Art Aster has created an astounding peice of work here, part of this film can be considered a dark family drama. The other side of this film's coin can be considered to be some of the finest American horror that has ever been put to screen. The film also features a damaging yet beautiful performance by Toni Colette. They layers of pain begin to outweigh the layers of loss, which begin to flake away into broken layers of psychological damage. As she loses her grip on reality Toni Collete begins to form one of the greatest female performances of recent memory. Stunning work. And the mantle piece of this film.

Signs was a terrific, spooky, intelligent thriller that can stand aside M. Night Shymalan's previous classic The Sixth Sense. I won't give major points of the story of Signs away, going in with little expectations for this film is a good thing. The movie goes at it's own pace (much the way Sixth Sense did) building the proper tension with use of visuals and sound design. I was on the edge of my seat watching this film, it was a creepy spook fest, emulating such classics as Close Encounters Of The Third Kind and Night Of The Living Dead. I was truly amazed at how excellent Signs was. Mel Gibson was great in his role as a troubled Priest and family man who is the center of the film. He gives a very commanding performance, one of his best. The film also contains just the right amount of humor to keep the nails from your finger being completely chewed off. This is the MUST SEE film of the summer of 2002. Not only has M. Night Shyamalan made one of the year's best films, but he also officially solidified himself as one of the best film-making talents around today!

Sure Atom Egoyan is Canada's finest home-grown film-maker (as well as Cronenberg and McDonald) but the promise was there with Jean Claude-Lauzon. His first film, Night Zoo, was a very moody and stylish film about the seamy side of crime in Montreal. His second film, Leolo is a truly profound and remarkable film. Sadly, Lauzon died in a plane crash shortly after Leolo's release, but he left us with a film that has more heart, life and originality than 50 Hollywood films put together. Leolo is a stunning story (partially autobiographical) about a boy growing up in Montreal. His family is a deliciously dysfunctional family where mental illness is hereditary. Leolo, who fantasizes he isn't French but of Italian descent, decides to live his life before it's too late and he loses himself to insanity. The film is a prime example of independent film, showing us original, startling and haunting images time and time again. Yes, some of the material is a bit broad and hard to take, but damn it, that's what independent film is all about! Leolo is a masterpiece, plain and simple. Max Collin gives the finest child actor performance in film history as Leolo, a child too intelligent to be a child, too young to be an adult. This is a remarkable film, it deserves to be seen. A hard film to find outside of Canada (check Foreign sections in video stores) but well worth the search. It's a shame Lauzon died after only his second film. I'm sure his career would have been filled with many more amazing films, but let us be thankful he left us Leolo, and let us honor his legacy for it.

There are very few films about mentally ill people that stand out as classics (Cuckoo's Nest being the Gold Standard), but I believe The Ninth Configuration is one of those films. Another of those great films that nobody has ever seen, this is a terrific showcase for Writer-Director William P Blatty's excellent script as well as two powerhouse performances from Stacy Keach and Scott Wilson. Some of the lines in this film are brilliantly hilarious, some are cryptic and spooky, and some just blow your mind. The banter between the patients at the film's mental hospital is downright weird. Some patients are staging Shakespeare for dogs, others pretend thier superheroes, others imagine thier Steve Mcqueen in The Great Escape and all of them are mad. Or are they? This is a terrific film, the ultimate in surrealism in film. A movie that will take you to the edge of your mind.

'The World According To Garp' is a brilliant black comedy, the blackest of all black comedies. Robin Williams trades in his crazy man persona for the neurotic and confused Garp, one of the great characters of both literature (from Irving's novel) and film. The film layers on irony like a lasagna using it both for comedic and tragic purposes. And the acting, oh boy the acting! Williams has never been better (except maybe in 'The Fisher King') as TS Garp, the bastard son of Jenny Fields. Glenn Close is so powerful and touching as Garp's nurse-author-political matriarch Mother and John Lithgow is absolutely brilliant as a transexual named Roberta, who used to be a tight end for the Philadelphia Eagles. This movie sounds interesting already, doesn't it? It is and it is one of the freshest, most original and daring films I've ever seen. Now, even 20 years after it's release, there still hasn't been a film quite like it. 'The World According To Garp' is an outstanding film, filled with humor, sureaslism, irony, and ultimately tragedy and is defintely worth seeing.

This is a masterpiece. 'The Big Snit' is a crazy, weird, hilarious and eventually touching look at an old married couple and their quiet life, who argue over sawing and scrabble while a nuclear war rages on outside. Everything in this great animated short stands out as memorable: The eye shaking of the wife, the vacuuming binge, the husband's saw fetish (keep an eye on those backgrounds!), the very verbal cat, the demented game show, the "informative" news anchor, the "beautiful" accordion serenade and the moving and memorable ending. I am so glad I found 'The Big Snit', which is hands down one of the greatest works of film ever produced.

For anyone getting started on the films of David Lynch, this is one to watch. 'Mulholland Dr.' is one of the most original mind twisters ever made, destined to be a classic. I'm a huge fan of Lynch ever since I began watching his show "Twin Peaks" when I was 10. I then progressed to the films, 'Elephant Man', 'Dune' (Not So Good), and finally I saw 'Blue Velvet'. That did it for me, and I was a fan for life. I've subsequently seen all his films of terrific twisted vision and 'Mulholland Dr.' just drives home the power of this film-maker's genius. Scenes at first, don't make sense, some might not at all, but in the end Lynch covers all his bases and brings everything back in a numbingly brilliant finale of images and sounds to put this puzzle together. This movie has to be, I repeat, HAS TO BE WATCHED MORE THAN ONCE to not only absorb the story but also to appreciate it's brilliance. In summary, 'Mulholland Dr.' is one of David Lynch's best films, and was my pick as the best movie of 2001. It's a different film, for sure, but if you want something original, brilliant and downright twisted, have I got the movie for you!

The Day Of The Locust is an amazing film. I've seen it multiple times and I get something new out of it each time I see it. This is a film about Hollywood and the dark side beneath the glossy veneer of Tinseltown.

Most people have never seen, nor even heard about this film. If you're reading this review then do yourself a favor and check out this masterpiece. The cinematography by Conrad Hall (a god among DP's) is superb, using the golden sun of California to co-exist with the bright white lights of Hollywood spotlights. The performances are all amazing, in particular William Atherton as the young Art Director and hero of the story and Burgess Meredith as a burnt out vaudevillian. The ending is, yes, extremely shocking, and can only be experienced in all it's terror if you see this film. This movie is ahead of it's time. It is a surreal, depressing and totally absorbing drama. This is what would have happened had David Lynch and Cecil B Demille made a film together. Find The Day Of The Locust at one of your video stores, it's gotta be tucked away on one of those old catalogue movie racks somewhere!. If you are so lucky to find this film watch it, for you will be treated to one of the finest films of the 1970's.

The 'burbs supposedly missed the mark with critics and audiences in 1989, I beg to differ. This movie is great, I consider it one of my all time favorites. The humor in the movie is dark, slapsticky, and at times just plain odd. The cast is comprised of a wide variety of actors who all turn in terrific performances, either real or over the top. And by Joe, has there ever been a better depiction of suburban life than the far too realistic Cul-de-sac seen in this movie? If you haven't seen The 'burbs and are looking for an original, quirky, weird and totally brilliant comedy please do yourself a favor and check this one out.