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Reviews
Trainwreck: My Life as an Idiot (2007)
Funny and engaging
I saw this film at SIFF last night with my g/f and her mother.
I didn't research the film at all, just looked at the description and gave it a go. So when the opening credits said it was a true story, i thought it was a joke. It wasn't.
The movie itself moves along very well and the main character pushes the plot along with his "sharing" sessions in various 12-step meetings. He is ADD, alcoholic (recovering), has tourettes, and badly needs to be "liked". He can't keep a job and depends on his "Mommy" for emotional and financial support. Wholly self-absorbed, he is yet charming and innocent.
There is a love interest in the plot, but it really doesn't come off as one of those forced Hollywood sub-plots added for mass appeal. The male and female leads are impressive, as is the whole cast (many recognizable actors). Not predictable, and as I learned after the film... even the most ridiculous events were indeed factual.
I'd hate to compare this movie to anything, but I can't help but thinking of American Splendor (or Crumb). It's not quite as docu-drama as either of those two films, but the character (in real life and on screen) has very similar eccentricities.
Don't know if it will be released nationwide, but will definitely be in the DVD (ugh) cult film section of your video store one day.
Donnie Darko (2001)
Jim Morrison was misunderstood
I just finished watching this film. Then I read some the comments on this site. Yes, this movie is a little hard to put together. So what! Just because Donnie Darko doesn't wrap up all the loose ends so that an eight year old can understand it doesn't mean the movie is valueless. One of the reasons I liked this movie is because it didn't follow a typical Hollywood "focus group" formula (refreshing). I am not a big fan of Poetry, but there are some poems I love. Poetry is cryptic and filled with symbolism. It is often hard to find the meaning in some poems, but these are the ones that will make you think and wonder and ponder and question etc. Donnie Darko shares this quality with poetry. If you want to watch a predictable movie that you'll forget 3 minutes after the credits roll stay away from this one. If, however, you dare to be challenged to use your imagination you should give Darko a try.
The Transporter (2002)
Dull, short, formulaic...zzzzzzzzz
The first scene of this "action" movie is fairly entertaining. What follows is frightfully boring. We don't go to action movies to see character developemnet and The Transporter doesn't break new ground there. How could it; the movie is only 45 minutes long, or so it seems. So predictable you'll think you've seen this movie before. Scenes run together so incongruently I wonder if the editor was even looking at the celluloid. The romanctic interlude is likely put in only for a nudity rating. Even the stunts are archaic. Jumping out of a plane with a parachute, ooooh! Leaping from an overpass to a moving semi, whoa. And the big finish... oh yeah, there is no big finish. This film makes Golan and Globis look like art film makers.