TUVALU -- Veit Helmer, dir

©1999
studio: First Run Features
production company: Veit Helmer Filmproduktion
dir: Veit Helmer
cast: Denis Lavant, Chulpan Khamatova, Philippe Clay, Terrence Gillespie, E.J. Callahan, Djoko Rosic, Catalina Murgea, Todor Georgiev
screenplay: Michaela Beck and Veit Helmer

In a desolate and colorless landscape stands a dilapidated bathhouse run by a puffed-up blind man, his long-suffering wife, and their son Anton, who does all the work. He's lonely and unsophisticated, and he falls in love with the beautiful Eva, who comes to bathe with her father. When Eva and her father lose their home, they come to the bathhouse to stay, but bits of the ceiling fall on the old man and he dies. Eva blames Anton, and she seems to seek the arms of the brute Gregor. Can Anton win back her heart, get the bathhouse through a rigorous government inspection, and help keep his parents employed? Waiting out there somewhere is the paradise isle of Tuvalu. [from Amazon.com]

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Having greatly enjoyed the movies such as Delicatessen, Amelie, and The City of Lost Children, I was really looking forward to this movie, which seemed to be in the same vein. Instead, the movie seemed to be made in vain.

While this seemed to have the same kind of bleak, futuristic setting as Deli and City, it lacks the charm that the other movies have. The review from IMDB says it best:

The movie relies heavily upon distinctive looking performers (such as Levant,
and Terry Gillespie as the developer) and, like Jeunet and Caro's
'Delicatessen,' the abstraction of sound effects. Unfortunately, this movie
doesn't have a whole lot of wit and can't keep us dazzled in the way
'Delicatessen' and 'The City of Lost Children' did. It tries creating an alien
world, but Helmer's eye and ear are lacking. The monochrome compositions,
frequently color-tinted (one of many nods to silent cinema), are visibly
arbitrary, and the sound effects are just sort of noisy. There's no rhythm to
them, and Helmer fails to make it musical.

The dizzying fantasy sequence on the ship is so out of place that it takes us out of the locale and mood that Helmer worked so hard to get us atuned to.

Sadly, a movie worth missing.

ALIAS (Complete First Season) -- J.J. Abrams, creator

©2002
studio: Buena Vista Home Entertainment
production company: Touchstone Television, Bad Robot
creator: J.J. Abrams
cast: Jennifer Garner, Ron Rifkin, Victor Garber, Kevin Weisman, Carl Lumbly, Michael Vartan, Greg Grunberg, David Anders, Bradley Cooper, Merrin Dungey, Mia Maestro, Lena Olin, Melissa George, Terry O'Quinn, Rachel Nichols, Balthazar Getty, Amy Acker, Patricia Wettig, Amy Irving, Gina Torres
teleplays: Jesse Alexander, Josh Appelbaum, Daniel arkin, Monica Breen, Andi Bushell, John Eisendrath, Debra J. Fisher, Breen Frazier, R.P. Gaborno, Drew Goddard, Crystal Nix Hines, Jeff Melvoin, Erica Messer, Andre Nemec, J.R. Orci, Jeff Pinkner, Alison Schapker, Vanessa Taylor

Sydney Bristow is a young, athletic, college graduate who was recruited her freshman year as a secret agent for SD-6, a top-secret branch of the CIA. After a few years -- after Sydney confides her lifestyle to her boyfriend, the evil head of SD-6 -- Arvin Sloan, has him killed. Sydney learns that SD-6 is part of a rogue international agency called the Alliance of 12, out to rule the world. She becomes a double agent, working with the real CIA to bring down SD-6 with the assistance of her handler, Michael Vaughn, and her estranged father Jack Bristow -- also a double agent. Along the way, Sydney fights various rival agents, rival terrorist groups, and traitors all the while keeping her cloak-and-dagger lifestyle a secret from her friends. [from Amazon.com]

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In sharp contrast to the series, Jeremiah, this series is a rousing, exciting, spy-fi (a great term I came across on Amazon) thriller. I never wanted it to end!

Lots of plot twists and turns, appropriate for a high-tech spy thriller series, lots of action, a great looking woman in the lead role who dresses differently and often provacatively for her undercover assignments, and well crafted series plots.

A bit too violent at times. I don't squirm easily, but there were times in this series that I was uncomfortable, and probably saw more blood than was necessary.

Some of the locations were ridiculously "back lot" shots, but otherwise this series had me captivated. I truly couldn't wait for the next episode (and as I borrowed these from local libraries, I often did have to wait to get the next disc).

I look forward to season two, and highly recommend this series.

JEREMIAH (Complete First Season) -- J. Michael Straczynski, creator

©2002
studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
production company: Platinum Studios, Jeremiah Productions Inc., Lions Gate Television
creator: J. Michael Straczynski -- based on the comic books by Hermann Huppen
directors: Sean Astin, Mario Azzopardi, Holly Dale, Brett Dowler, Ken Girotti, Michael Robison, Brad Turner, Russell Mulcahy
cast: Luke Perry, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Peter Stebbings, Ingrid Kavelaars, Byron Lason, Kimberly Hawthorne, Robert Wisden, Sean Astin, Joanne Kelly
teleplays: Sam Egan, Grant Rosenberg, J. Michael Straczynski -- based on the comics by Hermann Huppen

In a post-apocalyptic future, a deadly virus has wiped out most of humanity. The only ones who survived, was those who hadn't yet reached puberty. Now a decade has gone by, and a man called Jeremiah (Luke Perry) is set on a quest to find a mysterious place his father spoke of, a place called Valhalla.

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By the time that this series managed to catch my interest, it was too late -- I'd already given up on it.

Through much of the first half of this season, I was irked at the nothingness of the episodes. They reminded me of the old Planet of the Apes television series -- two men wandering around a future, post-apocalyptic United States, doing good deeds and freeing people from the petty tyrants that had taken control of their miserable lives.

It was quite tiresome, and just when I thought I was watching the last disc that I would watch, there came some intrique, and so I finished watching the season.

But the intrique aspects weren't clearly thought out in advance (or so it seems to me), and it wandered and sputtered about and I was grateful when the series was finally over.

I know that the series takes place in a depressing, end-of-the-world time, and that the name "Jeremiah" is associated with tears and sorrow and burdens, but if you don't have a hero who enjoys some aspect of life, why would we bother following that hero?! Can Luke Perry smile, just once in this series?

And Malcolm Jamal-Warner is a fine actor, and I know he has to try to shake the image of being a "Cosby-kid," but I just never believed him as the bad-ass black man who kicks butt and watches Jeremiah's back. In fact, his whole character was so ill defined that neither I, nor Jamal-Warner it seems, ever got a handle on just who the guy is.

This show lacked bite and enthusiasm, and it's no wonder it's off the air.

Don't bother with this series.

AMERICAN SPLENDOR -- Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini, dirs

©2003
studio: HBO Video
production company: Good Machine, Home Box Office (HBO)
dir: Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini
cast: Paul Giamatti, Harvey Pekar, Larry John Meyers, Vivienne Benesch, Barbara Brown, Earl Billings, Danny Hoch, James Urbaniak, Eli Ganias, Sylvia Kauders, Rebecca Borger, Nick Baxter, Allen Branstein, Dick Prochaska, Charles Eduardos, Judah Friedlander, Robert Pulcini, Toby Radloff, Bianca Santos, Maggie Moore, Hope Davis, Mike Rad, Amy K. Harmon, Joyce Brabner, Donal Logue, Molly Shannon
screenplay: Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini, based on comic books by Harvey Pekar & Joyce Brabner

Based on the life and work of underground comic book writer Harvey Pekar- a prickly poet of the mundane who knows that all the strategizing in the world can't save a guy from picking the wrong supermarket checkout line. [from Amazon.com]

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An interesting film which moves in and out of biographical segments with the actual Harvey Pekar, and the actor Giamotti as Pekar. (My favorite scene is the actor Giamotti as Pekar watching another actor playing Pekar on stage -- how I would have loved to see the actual Pekar watching the filming of the scene [or perhaps writing it out for a new comic page].) The use of comic book segments and word balloons really helps to keep us in the right frame of mind as to the comic book origins of this film.

Finally a film about comics that doesn't suck!

The unfortunate aspect of this film is that it is about a real curmudgeon. Could anyone be more depressing than Pekar? It certainly doesn't leave me with good feelings or even a sense of having watched a great film.

It was good. Clever. Well filmed. Sometimes boring. And I have no strong reactions or lasting impressions.

If you're looking for something a little different and don't want to read subtitles on a foreign film, then this might be right for you.

FAR SIDE OF THE MOON -- Robert Lepage, dir

©2003
studio: Tla
production company: FCL Films, Media Principia Inc.
dir: Robert Lapage
cast: Robert Lapage, Anne-Marie Cadieux, Marco Poulin, Céline Bonnier, Lorraine Côté, Richard Fréchette, Gregory Hlady, Érika Gagnon, Sophie Faucher
screeplay: Robert Lapage
Foreign Language film; subtitled


After the death of his mother, a man tries to discover a meaning to his life, to the universe and to rebuild a relationship with the only family he has left: his brother. [from IMDb]

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Visually and technically, this was really a wonderful film. Fun to watch. The effects were great and often came at surprising moments. The acting was quite good, though subtle. Lepage himself did a remarkable job in both roles.

What will keep this film in relative obscurity is the script. Perhaps too subtle? Or perhaps it's that we don't have any reason to care about anyone in the film, and then it becomes a film to watch for the effects and direction, rather than for story.

Why do I want to watch a film about a 40 year old man struggling to find his life, to make something of himself? And when he has his big chance and blows it because he forgets to change the time on his watch after travelling to a new country, I have no sympathy or compassion for him. Instead I think that he deserves every lousy thing that's ever happened.

A superb looking film in search of a better story.

RENT -- Chris Columbus, dir

©2005
studio: Sony Pictures
production company: Rent Productions LLC, 1492 Pictures, Revolution Studios, Tribeca Productions
dir: Chirs Columbus
cast: Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Rosario Dawson, Jesse L. Martin, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Idina Menzel, Tracie Thoms, Taye Diggs, Julia Roth, Porscha Radcliffe, Stephen Payne, Darryl Chan, Ken Clark, R.C. Ormond
screenplay: Stephen Chbosky, from the musical by Jonathan Larson

This is the film version of the Pulitzer and Tony Award winning musical about Bohemians in the East Village of New York City struggling with life, love and AIDS, and the impacts they have on America.

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I was not at all familiar with this musical, other than that it was the show to see at a time while I was working in New York. I knew that a film had been made, but wasn't even aware that it was a Chris Columbus film.

I enjoyed watching this, to a point, and did feel that I got caught up in the lives of this group of friends, and I attribute that mostly to Columbus because I don't think I would otherwise be able to identify with any of these people.

I enjoy musicals, and I got a great sense of these people singing because the music was "in" them and that this was the best way to express themselves. However, I felt that much of the music was very similar in sound, so it tended to feel redundant.

The performances were incredible, and made these characters to be real people, but I still had trouble with their situation. Is it really possible that that they could have been living in a large loft in New York and not have paid rent for a year? And, once thrown out, break in and become "squatters" and thus have a right to be there? Implausible.

And though I've praised the acting work, I will admit that I had trouble seeing Anthony Rapp as the filmmaker who won't sell out, and thus living this "bohemian" lifestyle. He struck me as constantly being too preppy. He never looked "hungry".

Still, this was a wonderful film and worth a viewing.

KING KONG -- Peter Jackson, dir

©2005
dir: Peter Jackson
cast: Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Colin Hanks, Andy Serkis, Evan Parke, Jamie Bell
studio: Universal
production company: Big Primate Pictures, Universal Pictures, WingNut Films, MFPV Film
screenplay: Fran Walsh & Philippa Boyens & Peter Jackson from a story by Merian C. Cooper & Edgar Wallace

In 1933 New York, an overly ambitious movie producer coerces his cast and hired ship crew to travel to mysterious Skull Island, where they encounter Kong, a giant ape who is immediately smitten with leading lady Ann Darrow.

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What a lousy film.

I wanted to like it, but there seemed to be too much pulling it away from like-ability.

First, there's Jack Black. Who, on this earth, thinks that this man can act?! He can over-act and over-react, but never once, not even for a second, did I ever believe that this character was capable of ANYthing.

Then there's Naomi Watts. There's absolutely nothing wrong with Ms. Watts, but there's nothing outstanding about her either. I failed to see anything about her that would attract any man or ape. Kong seemed more attracted to her for her comedic body movement, which leads me to ...

Three... there was no sexual tension/attraction between the big ape and Ms. Darrow. Failing that, what draws us to the movie? The special effects?

Four... the special effects. It's been seventy years since Kong first appeared on the screen. There have been fantastic leaps in special effects abilities since then. But you might not know it based on this film. The dinosaur stampede was laughable. Did anyone get caught up in it? Or did you laugh at the obvious green screen effect? And did Kong's arm pass right through some people in New York? I expect better effects in the 21st century!

Five... This movie was not about lust, or love, or man's inner beast. It was about showing off. It was about Jackson's attempt to show how he could do it all again, only better. Only he didn't. I actually groaned out loud when it became obvious that I was about to sit through another "creature of the moment" scene. Enough already! We got the idea! Show us once, maybe twice, and you can cut the movie down to a realistic length! Giant worms eating people? What was the point?

And while I can easily buy the premise of a 25' gorilla living on a lost island with a variety of dinosaurs, I simply can't buy the fact that a kid who's never held a gun before in his life could use a machine gun to shoot giant bugs off a moving man's body, and never even scratch the man himself. That ranked right up there with trying to believe Jack Black could carry a dramatic role.

What did the movie have going for it? Well, I liked Adrien Brody, and Thomas Kretschmann, and I believed Naomi Watts' affection for Kong. It definitely wasn't worth three hours of my time, though.

THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS -- Walter Lang, dir

©1954
studio: 20th Century Fox
production company: 20th Century Fox
dir: Walter Lang
cast: Ethel merman, Donald O'Connor, Marilyn Monroe, Dan Dailey, Johnnie Ray, Mitzi gaynor, Richard Eastham, Hugh O'Brian, Frank McHugh, Rhys Williams, Lee Patrick
screenplay: Phoebe Ephron & Henry Ephron from a story by Lamar Trotti
choreography: Robert Alton
lyrics: Irving Berlin

Molly and Terry Donahue, plus their three children, are The Five Donahues. Son Tim meets hat-check girl Vicky and the family act begins to fall apart.

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I'm a sucker for an old-fashioned musical, and this is no exception. Watching Donald O'Connor and Mitzi Gaynor dance is gret fun. Listening to Ethel Merman sing ... well, I enjoyed the movie anyway.

I admit to being surprised that Marilyn Monroe was in this. I wasn't aware that she did any big musical movies such as this. She played her part quite well and was a much better actress than I was expecting.

This was a fun movie, full of everything one might expect from the era, including war hero sons. None of the song and dance numbers was outstanding, which would explain why it would have been eclipsed by some of the others from that era, but still a movie worth watching.

Recommended.