THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD -- Guy Maddin, dir

©2003
studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
production company: Buffalo Gal Pictures, Rhombus Media Inc., TVA International
dir: Guy Maddin
cast: Mark McKinney, Isabella Rossellini, Maria de Medeiros, David Fox, Ross McMillan, Louis Negin, Darcy Fehr, Claude Dorge, Talia Pura, Jeff Sutton, Graeme Valentin, Maggie Nagle, Victor Cowie
screenplay: Kazuo Ishtiguro and Guy Maddin

A sort-of musical set in Winnipeg during the Great Depression, where a beer baroness organizes a contest to find the saddest music in the world. Musicians from around the world descend on the city to try and win first place - a $25,000 prize.

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Take a great idea, have Roger Corman write the screenplay, and then have Ed Wood do the casting and filming, and you come up with a movie like this.

My god, I haven't seen anything this bad in years! When it began I thought it was a teaser pastiche on bad movies. Only as it continued did I realize that this was part of this bad movie.

I still think that the basic idea, as revealed in the tag line above, is brilliant -- a contest to have the saddest music in the world composed! But this never even lived up to the tag line. The major competition for the prize all managed to be a part of the same family -- the family that destroyed this woman's career. And none of the music was a new creation for the contest, but standard (ie: royalty free) songs performed in unusual (not necessarily sad) ways.

It was pure agony to sit through this whole movie, but I was greatly hoping for some redeeming factor. None appeared. Not even Rossellini in the leading role could save this.

I've seen reviews rave about his movie and it's experimental style, but don't fall for it. There's nothing experimental about doing something poorly. If this were billed, in ANY way, as a comedy or a spoof, I might have bought in to it, but I believe that Maddin believe he was on the verge of something new.

I wouldn't advise going anywhere near this film.

MAID IN MANHATTAN -- Wayne Wang, dir

©2002
studio: Sony Pictures
production company: Revolution Studios, Red Om Films, Hughes Entertainment, Shoelace Productions
director: Wayne Wang
cast: Jennifer Lopez, Ralph Fiennes, Natasha Richardson, Stanley Tucci, Tyler Posey, Frances Conroy, Chris Eigeman, Amy Sedaris, Marissa Matrone, Priscilla Lopez, Bob Hoskins
screenplay: John Hughes (story) and Kevin Wade

A senatorial candidate falls for a hotel maid, thinking she is a socialite when he sees her trying on a wealthy woman's dress. [from IMDb]

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This was an okay chick flick if you can get over the very premise that a maid who is a rising star (as far as maids go) and is on the fast track to management, would actually try on some clothes in one of the rooms that she cleans, and then lie about her name when a handsome man walks into the room. I felt that her character immediately dropped to a point where she wasn't worth the attention.

Other than this basic premise, I actually liked Lopez as the agressive single mom, and Fiennes as the politician with heart.

The story was rather predictable, with the cute, young kid being the catalyst for bringing the couple back together. Interestingly, even at the end with all the snapshots of their glory, there is no mention of them being married.

I'm not sure why this was in my Netflix queue, but I must have read something about it, so I'd placed in in the queue and it worked its way up.

An okay movie. Women are more likely to enjoy this. (And yes, I know I'll get crap for saying a sexist comment like that.)