Reviews

As I said... I thought this movie was cute... my fiancee and myself enjoyed it immensely. It's not groundbreaking or earthshattering by any means but this film has a good heart. It's sort of basically like 'Trainspotting' meets 'How To Get Ahead In Advertising' German-style. Any movie that has the guts to poke at the soft white underbelly of the corporate advertising beast is alright with me.

An interesting note is that in this movie which is about not making compromises to big-money ad clients they changed the North American title to 'Advertising Rules' and there is sort of a gratuitous disclaimer in the beginning pointing this fact out. How ironic that some advertising exec (who obviously didn't pay attention to the film's message) felt the need to change the name...

Sitting down to watch an evening's-worth of light fluffy films, my Jedi Fiancee and I were soon drawn into this bizarre portrait of life in a summer camp in 1981. I thought it was going to be a repeat of Meatballs (sans Bill Murray) with lots of teenage sex humour. A coule chuckles here and there. Instead we were rewarded with this brilliantly funny farce of a film!

Now... admittedly this film is NOT for everyone (read "spidud's" review below for the homophobic "Fast & the Furious" fans' view of this film)... least of all kids... but seeing how I went to just about every kind of camp during the very era depicted in this film I was amazed at how close to the truth it was... even as a spoof!

This is a dear sweet film with a healthy dark streak... at times the plot goes off on strange tangents. With campers who are more mature than the psychotic sex-crazed drug-addled counselors... if you think summer camp WASN'T like this then you stayed in your bunk the whole time!

I just went to go see this movie last night. I have been eagerly awaiting this film ever since I heard about it when it debuted at Sundance. I was not dissappointed.

Technically and artistically this film is a masterpiece that should put most other filmmakers to shame. It is honest and unique and beautiful.

It isn't for everyone though. (It should be.) But, sadly, some people just don't like movies like this where people talk a lot and there's no cops/hostage-situations and car crashes and bombs blowing up. No... this movie laughs in the face of people like that. Well... never fear, my little pinhead evolutionary-relatives, there's PLENTY of OTHER movies out there for you.

Most of the people in the theatre I saw it in sat in wrapt amazement as beautiful colors swirled across the screen and genuinely intelligent & funny dialog poured out of the speakers.

If you liked Richard's OTHER masterpiece 'Slacker' then you will like this movie. We are rewarded with repeat performances by several of the Slacker troupe. Unlike Slacker, this one has a good soundtrack (if you like string quartet) and a much more defined topic.

It is about a young man trying to figure out if he's awake or dreaming. More than anything this is a NICE movie. There is also a healthy dose of RAGE in this film. In light of the disasters going on in the world it is amazing how much this film can offer people. It is an absolute CRIME that this film isn't in wider distribution! But, considering that it is quite evident that the average hollywood exec has a brain the size of a mandarin orange, it is not surprising that this one went, SWOOSH!, right over their heads.

Richard, if you're reading this THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU (ad infinitum) !!!

An anti-war film in disguise... As a "fan" of war films but also a "peacenik" I love this movie. Aside from the fact that i am an overtly biased Beatles' fan this film is an intellectual riot. John Lennon co-stars with the star of Hello Dolly as members of a British military unit saddled with the ridiculous duty of building a cricket pitch during the invasion of North Africa! Filled with ironic black war humor, it suffers a little from the predictable muddle of most 60's films.

Something interesting to note is that John Lennon is first seen wearing his trademark round spectacles in this movie. Having been asked (for some reason) to wear the glasses for the film he continued to wear them for the rest of his life!

This movie is a must for all Lennon fans.

Well... Scoob & Shag and the gang were great. They're still as popular today with the kiddies as they were 20(!) years ago!

BUT... it is a fairly commonly-held perception that Scrappy Doo was the WORST thing that ever happened to saturday morning cartoons. Who at Hanna-Barbera decided that Scooby Doo needed a sidekick? And one with an annoying voice at well. Sure, his foolhardy bravado provided a counterpoint to Shaggy and Scooby's cowardice but for most people it was the end of an enjoyable series... and a premonition of the sludge that was soon to flood the Saturday morning airwaves.

I love this movie. It's not for everyone though. Most people turn away after just glancing the title, believing this to be some sort of 'Rocky' movie which it most certainly is not. This is a subversive commentary about modern-day problems.

Consider the fact that SOME of the people on this planet are less-than-satisfied with their 9-5 clockwatching office-cubicle nuclear family type lives. Consider the fact that not everyone who appears to be insane is insane or perhaps that the "sane" people are all out of their minds. Consider the fact that although commercialism controls our minds perhaps not everyone is all that thrilled with that. Or let me put it another way... if you are the kind of person who finds they'd like to put a brick through the window of your local Starbucks for some "unknown" reason... well then, this is the movie for you! If not, then please go hole up with a 'nice' Julia Roberts or Tommy Lee Jones flick and leave the rest of us alone!

This movie has the power to enlighten minds and shatter paradigms. The editing is amazing. The special FX are phenomenal. The camerawork and color is stunning and the scripting and dialog is great! (The book is equally amazing and the film, for the most part, stays true to the original.) The Dust Brothers also produced a simply amazing soundtrack for this film.

Not only that, this movie is darkly humorous...as well as extremely violent, but, as i said this movie is NOT for everyone. If you don't get it... well thats too bad. I love it and the ending always makes me cry... hearing the Pixies (from Massachusetts, like me) playing at the end just makes me weep tears of joy that someone would make a movie like this for all of us corporate slaves.

Thank you, David Fincher!

Certainly true with this movie. "Hip, Sexy & Scary as Hell!" as a tagline is misleading. I guess Vin is hip, Radha is sexy and, gee, maybe the aliens are scary? Duh...

I was entertained however... nice special effects. But the editing in this movie was deplorable. Very confusing with the way it switches back and forth from different locations and characters. Stupid plot devices stolen from other movies. (Oh... the boy is really a girl! That twist made THIS boy want to cry. :P )

I think the director of this movie, himself, was probably as surprised as anyone that this movie was a success at all. Of course with the junk hollywood has been kicking out lately it's no surprise. People have to go somewhere on a Saturday night with their dates.

A 'B' flick at best. Probably okay on video rental for $3 or so but if i had spent real money seeing this in the theatre this review would be far more scathing. For Pete's sake it was an Aliens ripoff!

This film is sweet and fun and just about the greatest statement about the strength of the human will to live as I can think of. Roberto Begnini is a great guy and a wonderful slapstick comedian...BUT... am I the ONLY person to notice that Begnini's character is OBVIOUSLY an adaptation of the amazing waiter from the novel 'I Served the King of England' by Bohumil Hrabal??! This Czech novel also shares the statement which Begnini's boss refers to him as "a server but not a servant"...

If someone can find some acknowledgment of Hrabal's brilliant novel please feel free to drop me a line at the email address provided above... i recommend the movie but the book is completely different in many respects. It is about a great (though somewhat deluded) Czech waiter during World War 2 who winds up marrying and having a child with a Nazi German woman which goes sadly awry. But the overflowing optimism of the main character carries him through any and every ordeal... Most of the similarities pertain to the main character who is a waiter in fantastic restaurants virtually identical to Begnini's character at the beginning of this film. I just wanted to bring this up because people who enjoyed this film would most likely enjoy this book as well which sadly is not given any credit by the filmmaker (to my knowledge...)

Honestly, one of my favorite saturday morning cartoon shows from the early 80's. This Kirby-spawn only lasted 2 seasons... perhaps because of the fact that Thundarr often referred to his ally the sorcereress Ariel as simply "woman"... oddly enough, more often than not Ariel was the sole member of the group who saved their buns from the fire. Lots of great dialog. Possibly inspired by the role-playing game "Gamma World" (which is, sadly now out of print)... Basically when you are 11 years old and a post-apocalyptic barbarian with a lightsaber (read as "Sun Sword") and a cool Chewbacca substitute named "Ookla the Mok" show up on a Saturday morning world of Smurfs and Superfriends you think this is really cool!