Kevin Smith delivers a hilarious homage to the John Hughes / John Landis late 70’s and early 80’s era of film making and adds his own generous touch of quality.
Category Archives: Review
Chasing Amy
An intelligent and emotional love story which delivers an incisive and revealing look at relationships, gender choice and our sexual history without pandering to the usual stereotypes or insulting the viewer.
Chasing Amy
Well well Mr Smith. Chasing Amy isn’t as entirely comic as Kevin’s previous movies, but it’s far, far deeper and emotional. It has comic moments and plenty of laughs, but it delivers a sophisticated and intelligent look at relationships, gender and sexual choices.
Jay and Silent Bob are in evidence but far less prevalent, as the more mature material dictates, and while the backdrop is essentially ‘two guys who are life long friends and who’s friendship is strained when one of them gets involved in a love relationship that is complex’, and so almost the same as Clerks, the details of the relationship and the depth of the material is much greater.
Chasing Amy is intelligent, funny, incisive and emotional.
Kevin Smith made me watch another love story (in which a girl kissed a girl), and I liked it.
Mallrats
I’m sad. I’m sad that it took me this long to see Mallrats. I’m sad that I didn’t realise before what I was missing. I’m sad it didn’t do too well in the cinema. I’m sad I wasn’t there to support it.
Mallrats is an honest to goodness homage to John Landis and John Hughes and the movies of a generation. It pays tribute and builds upon movies many people my age grew up with, including Kevin Smith. It’s quirky, it’s truly funny, it’s heartwarming and it’s well worth watching.
Some of the acting is a little stiff, I’m not sure all the actors were as onboard as they could have been especially in some of the early scenes with Claire Forlani, however that smooths out and what we get is a classic comedy of teen angst.
The movie tells the story of two newly dumped guys who finally realise what they’re missing and work to gain back the girls they discover they love. Jay and Silent Bob ensure everything goes to plan, no matter how crazy the plan, and chaos ensues. But, funny chaos.
It’s not sophisticated, it’s not deep, but it evokes a memory of movies that I lived with and loved deeply, and it made me laugh and laugh. I loved it, I’ll love it again, and I’m glad I own it.
Pan’s Labyrinth
An excellent and compelling dual story of rebellion in Fascist Spain at the end of the second World War and a young girl’s faerie tale escapism in which you must decide to believe or not.
Pan’s Labyrinth
This is an adult fairytale told against the backdrop of 1944’s Fascist Spain. A young girl (Ofelia) and her pregnant mother travel to live with a sadistic Spanish Captain. Ofelia’s mother has recently remarried the Captain and her unborn child is his. The Captain is fighting a personal war against rebels in the surrounding hills. Ofelia begins to interact with a fantasy world of faeries and fauns, discovering she is herself a faerie princess.
Pan’s Labyrinth is very clearly two intertwined stories. A compelling drama of rebellion, betrayal and loss in a bloody war and an equally compelling tale of a young girl seeking to escape the harsh reality of her new life.
The viewer is challenged to decide if Ofelia’s story is real or imagined, in some ways to make the same choice those around her are forced to make when she reveals the truth.
The film is in Spanish with English subtitles, is shot with del Toro’s now trademark brilliance and vision, and as mentioned, is compelling viewing. The contrast between the real world and it’s rebellion and the faerie world somehow makes both seem even more solid. The characters are believable and engaging, and in a very short space of time empathy is built for Ofelia and the adults around her.
Ivana Baquero plays Ofelia and brings life to the role, her performance is truly memorable. The cast around her is superb as well.
Pan’s Labyrinth is not an easy listening fantasy tale, or something you can just put on in the background, it’s a challenging and interesting story which encourages you to think and believe. Well worth the effort.
The Incredibles
Most excellent animated comedy superhero movie, highly recommended.
The Incredibles
Well, what a thoroughly entertaining and all round excellent film. Amazing animation, funny characters, interesting story. I half intended to see this in the year it was released (2004) but as usual things got in the way, and since then it’s just never been the right moment or time.
I found myself laughing, crying and cheering in equal amounts, considering the characters on the screen are totally animated it’s impressive how much emotion they manage to generate.
There’s clearly not much to be said about the deep plot or the meeningful dialog, but this is an animated hero comedy for grown ups and it delivers. Go rent it. Watch it.
Deja Vu
Time paradoxes make inherently confusing stories, so it’s critical that you connect with the characters and feel the plot has some value otherwise you’ll be left drifting. Deja Vu manages enough to keep you interested, keep you wanting to see more, and keeps you caring about the two main characters.
The screenplay is clever but doesn’t try to overstretch and there are no attempts to explain the paradoxes, and plenty of in-story explanations of why time travel is a really bad thing[tm].
The performances are solid, Denzel is interesting and believable, Paula plays the small amount of time she has on screen pretty well. I’m not entirely convinced their actions in the latter half of the movie make much sense, but I’m willing to suspend disbelief to let the story play out. There’s some action, some cute effects, some nice ideas and a certain level of suspense especially towards the finale.
The ending was kept hidden pretty well, and although I finally realised how it would play out just before it actually did it was worth the wait. No shocking last moment twists, no huge discovery, just a decent ending for a decent movie.
Deja Vu
Deja Vu keeps to a tight script and a simple premise to bring a solid story about time-travel to life in a near-believable way delivering an entertaining and enjoyable experience.