Quinn-3 Reviews

The Boys from Brazil (1978)

Marginally Enjoyable, Overbearing Cheese

[18 September 2001]

From the opening credits, Jerry Goldsmith's score attempts to pound your brain into submission. It must have worked, because I stuck around for the anticlimactic conclusion. I watched this only to add its flavor of cheese to my pop-culture refrigerator.

It /is/ worth watching, if only to see Gregory Peck insult the hideous wife of a fellow Nazi, as another reviewer mentioned.

I must reiterate that the score is a horrible detriment. Not particularly for its quality, but in its heavy omnipresence. It's up there with the most inappropriate and conspicuous movie scores I've ever heard, perhaps exceeded only by THE FRESHMAN (1990).

The Mists of Avalon (2001)

Women Still the Root of All Evil

[6/10 · 17 July 2001]

I found myself occupied with comparing this version of the Arthurian legend with the more traditional ones, particularly John Boorman's excellent EXCALIBUR (which TNT aired after two repeats of the first installment of this series.) Seeing the story from a different perspective is entertaining, though the end results are pretty much the same. In EXCALIBUR, Morgaine's malice led to the downfall of Camelot. In this one, it was her neglectful parenting. Single mother destroys nation with her unruly bastard child.

A few opinion belches: Julianna Margulies is good, but Helen Mirren was way hotter as Morgana in EXCALIBUR. More sex in this telling, with incest and relatively explicit threesomes. Kudos to TNT for showing this pro-pagan film.

Good series, a bit too long for repeated viewings. 6/10.

The Color of Paradise (1999)

Bleak But Rewarding

[8/10 · 4 April 2001]

Very little happiness or "redemption" was evident to my untrained eye, but the view of Iran is enlightening. Featuring accessible characters in a land of rolling hills and forests, it's nothing like the usual perception of Iran as endless deserts and religious fanatics.

The story is "ashamed father betrays handicapped son," but don't expect any satisfying resolution. The lead child actor gives an excellent, heart-rending performance. With a few minor exceptions, all characters are remarkably well-portrayed; they are natural and believable.

Our misleading digital cable synopsis was "Father sends away his sightless son as apprentice to a blind carpenter," but it's hard to latch onto any other plot point. Just watch and enjoy.

Best scene: Near the beginning of the film, Mohammad rescues a fallen baby bird.