This could well be a review of 90% of Woody Allen's oeuvre. The film is a smorgasbord of fabulousness - exquisite concepts, very clever lines and very funny ones. No film maker has ever had such a grasp of irony, sarcasm and the ridiculous, and still imbue it with wit and (occasionally) subtlety. But it is the relentless self-deprecation and extant feelings of worthlessness that eventually become wearing after you have watched as many Allen films as I have. This is the film that most impresses you with his confusion over identity however. I could go on about self-analysis for pages but it's unnecessary...just watch any given Woody Allen film. He mellows it out with a rather forlorn sense of romance that becomes endearing rather than pathetic...a skill that is essential to engage with his films. This is a fine film. Oh yeah...and very funny...if you get the references.
Reviews
6 Reviews
The Groove Tube
(1974)
Mesmerisingly appalling dross...
24 November 2009
I read all the reviews here AFTER watching this piece of cinematic garbage and it took me at least 2 pages to find out that somebody else didn't think that this appallingly unfunny montage WASN'T the acme of humour in the 70s or indeed in any other era! If this isn't the least funny set of sketch *comedy* I've ever seen it'll do till it comes along. Half of the skits had already been done (and infinitely better) by acts such as Monty Python and Woody Allen... If I was to say that a nice piece of animation that lasts about 90 seconds is the highlight of this film it would still not get close to summing up just how mindless and drivel-ridden this waste of 75 minutes is. Seminal comedy? Only in the world where seminal really DOES mean semen. Scatological humour? Only in a world where scat IS actually feces. Precursor jokes? Only if by that we mean that this is a handbook of how NOT to do comedy. Tits and bums and the odd beaver. Nice...if you are a pubescent boy with at least one hand free and haven't found out that Playboy exists. Give it a break because it was the early 70s? No way. There had been sketch comedy going back at least ten years prior. The only way I could even forgive this film even being made is if it was at gunpoint. Retro? Hardly. Sketches about clowns subtly perverting children may be cutting edge in some circles (and it could actually have been funny) but it just comes off as really quite sad. What kept me going throughout the entire 75 minutes? Sheer belief that they may have saved a genuinely funny skit for the end. I gave the film a 1 because there was no lower score...and I can only recommend it to insomniacs or coma patients...or perhaps people suffering from lockjaw...their jaws would finally drop open in disbelief.
The Ruling Class
(1972)
What a HOOT! See it as soon as possible!
2 October 2009
Finally caught up with this little gem about a week ago and have watched it twice since. If you enjoy pastiche, satire, black humour and just plain awesomeness then this is the film for you! It would be almost impossible to describe this film without giving something away but I'll have a go... The Ruling Class in England is nominally the peerage and they do tend to have their little peccadilloes. (The opening scene makes me wonder whether Michael Hutchence had watched it just prior to his death.) To say that the family depicted is a little nuts is like saying that Charles Manson was a little extreme. The whole plot revolves around the aristocracy actually running the country while clearly being crazier than a sack full of ferrets on speed. The acting (particularly by Peter O'Toole) is amazing. To say it was over the top is to denigrate the performance - let's face it - to act crazy you hafta BE crazy! The writing is flawless - subtle yet cutting, farcical yet funny, twisted yet dripping with reality. Arthur Lowe's character is a real hoot! UP THE WORKERS! Then there are the musical bits... What's that? Is this a musical? Well...no...and yes. It's a musical in the same way that Monty Python & The Holy Grail might be called a musical. It is simply insane. If there is one small grievance I have it's that it changes too quickly from insane to superinsane...the mood quickly goes from farcical to rather sinister. This may well have been the intent but it jars slightly. To sum up: If you think that there are no films left to leave your mouth hanging open in disbelief and then make you laugh like a loon then you are wrong. This is possibly the best piece of social satire ever made for the big screen and is thoroughly recommended. **** out of 5.
Super Fly
(1972)
Blaxploitation...but with an excuse...
29 August 2009
Well...where to start...if it wasn't for Curtis Mayfield occasionally doing some tricks I may have nodded off throughout the first hour...but then it dawned on me...this was 1972 and we hafta stick it to da man! As a piece of cinematic history it is worth the effort...as anything else it is just an appalling piece of garbage. The acting is very wooden and the script has more N words than the Oxford dictionary. At least we now know that it applies to African Americans...of any colour. It has a quite juicy softcore approach to intimate scenes however...no matter how forced they seem. The upshot is...selling toot is a very dodgy business...but it has its merits...you can get a very cool car, some appalling dressage and bad hats. I give it 5/10 just for the concept of getting "outa the business". Hoo-rah!
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
(2007)
Regurgitation without feeling clean...
24 February 2009
I watch a lot of films...a LOT of films. Before I give this film the good ol' Homer Simpson 7 thumbs down I need to tell you how it came to be that I actually sat through this turkey so big it could only have been descended from a dinosaur. I ordered two movies over the net...PREDATOR (1987) and ALIEN (1979)...both of which I have seen and enjoyed but wanted a DVD copy...instead I was sent this masterpiece of cliché and boredom. First the acting...as if it could be given that verb without a seismic ripple throughout Hollywood...sometimes you hear acting called *wooden*...well this film plumbs the depths of wooden acting and eventually finds itself as CONCRETE...plummeting towards the squalid depths of some murky harbor in a third world city. The characters run the complete gamut - from apathetic to just plain pathetic - I've seen more emotional range from barnacles. There is a refreshing unity to the apathy tho like it was a bunch of small time criminals doing community service by marionetting throughout the flick. Let's tackle the plot...amazing really that so little could be made of the combination of a predator that predates (no pun intended) some space shuttle disasters meeting an alien discovered some 400 years hence...with humorous results. The appalling attempts at *homage* (god...I hope it was intended as homage) are so risible that I actually laughed out loud at two points (both of which were apparently intended as emotional scenes). To sum up...a cash cow being milked by an ideologically-bankrupt part of Hollywood finally kills the cow...cooks it...tries to eat it and spits it out as too distasteful to digest. Alan Smithee wouldn't put his name on this megaturkey as director...god only knows who DID own up to it.
The Bellboy
(1960)
A mishmash of silent and verbal *comedy*
8 June 2008
Well...the previous comments made me interested in seeing this film. But to call it a film is akin to calling advertising art. The film although quite old neither has the art or humour that slapstick or verbal comedy is supposed to have.
It is a self-indulgent piece of fluff that doesn't highlight Lewis's obvious ability from other films and worse...involves other names from the era...notably Milton Berle and a Stan laurel look-alike that looks almost as embarrassed as the real Laurel would have been had he not wisely chosen not to appear.
As homage even it fails. Silent film would have suited this better...but no...we get sound...because the silly faces just aren't enough.
It may be that I am spoiled by watching so much comedy over the years (and yes...this film was made the year before I was born) but there is no real substance to the jokes...subtlety was not what I was looking for...after all..slapstick is hardly ever subtle...but sledgehammer and jokes telegraphed from Pluto was just a bit pathetic.
The film is however watchable on a few levels.
It highlights a man determined to milk the cow as much as possible while his star was ascendant...and that for whatever it means...is clearly a clever ploy on a managerial level.
It highlights his obvious desire to be visible as much as possible...to the point of playing himself...
It is so bad that just watching it makes you chuckle wryly about his motives.
Worth a look just to see that the movie-going public in 1960 were just as gullible about BIG NAMES as they are now...no matter what dross they put out.
There is no real wit...I guess that is my major grief with the film...no point to it even (and I realise it was shot in 4 weeks and had no plot) but it truly amazed me that so many people commented on the comedic genius of THIS film compared to some of the rest of his oeuvre...
It is a self-indulgent piece of fluff that doesn't highlight Lewis's obvious ability from other films and worse...involves other names from the era...notably Milton Berle and a Stan laurel look-alike that looks almost as embarrassed as the real Laurel would have been had he not wisely chosen not to appear.
As homage even it fails. Silent film would have suited this better...but no...we get sound...because the silly faces just aren't enough.
It may be that I am spoiled by watching so much comedy over the years (and yes...this film was made the year before I was born) but there is no real substance to the jokes...subtlety was not what I was looking for...after all..slapstick is hardly ever subtle...but sledgehammer and jokes telegraphed from Pluto was just a bit pathetic.
The film is however watchable on a few levels.
It highlights a man determined to milk the cow as much as possible while his star was ascendant...and that for whatever it means...is clearly a clever ploy on a managerial level.
It highlights his obvious desire to be visible as much as possible...to the point of playing himself...
It is so bad that just watching it makes you chuckle wryly about his motives.
Worth a look just to see that the movie-going public in 1960 were just as gullible about BIG NAMES as they are now...no matter what dross they put out.
There is no real wit...I guess that is my major grief with the film...no point to it even (and I realise it was shot in 4 weeks and had no plot) but it truly amazed me that so many people commented on the comedic genius of THIS film compared to some of the rest of his oeuvre...
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