Annoying, cloying script. I don't think I could ever stomach seeing this movie again. The characters and script seem to have been based on a comic book. The cinematography is pretty good, though. Watch it with the sound off.
Reviews
5 Reviews
Seven Years in Tibet
(1997)
A fictionalized historical drama
23 November 2000
Warning: Spoilers
Seven Years in Tibet is to the true story what the Sound of Music is to Maria Von Trapp's autobiography. Maria writes in the second volume of her autobiography that she wanted to sue the film makers, and I wonder whether Heinrich feels the same. I thought it was an excellent film that did a great job of conveying accurately what Lhasa looks like, having earlier seen a book of photographs from British expeditions around 1910. And I am glad it generated some sympathy for the plight of the Tibetans. But having since read Heinrich's autobiography, it appears that virtually every event in the movie was made up, including the business with the watch. I don't understand why, because the true story was fascinating, with lots of drama. What is wrong with the minds and egos of people in Hollywood? If they want to completely distort the original facts, don't call it non-fiction.
The Sound of Music
(1965)
Read the book - the movie is hogwash.
23 November 2000
Warning: Spoilers
possible spoiler.
I love old musicals, and I love the music in Sound of Music. And there's nothing wrong with the acting. But the movie is basically garbage. Maria Von Trapp wanted to sue the producers but found she had sold away this right. She loved the broadway play, but the movie completely distorted the facts of her life and her autobiography. Her husband was actually a gentle, loving father and husband, for starters. And the ending is a complete Hollywood fiction. The family actually left for America on a steamship with a contract for the family to tour the country giving performances. So much for dad Von Trapp despising singing. Christopher Plummer referred to it as "The Sound of Treacle." It's a great movie for children. But these adults who go gaga over it really should read Maria Von Trapp's autobiographies (in two volumes). The true story is much more interesting, and a much more inspiring testament to faith and fate.
I love old musicals, and I love the music in Sound of Music. And there's nothing wrong with the acting. But the movie is basically garbage. Maria Von Trapp wanted to sue the producers but found she had sold away this right. She loved the broadway play, but the movie completely distorted the facts of her life and her autobiography. Her husband was actually a gentle, loving father and husband, for starters. And the ending is a complete Hollywood fiction. The family actually left for America on a steamship with a contract for the family to tour the country giving performances. So much for dad Von Trapp despising singing. Christopher Plummer referred to it as "The Sound of Treacle." It's a great movie for children. But these adults who go gaga over it really should read Maria Von Trapp's autobiographies (in two volumes). The true story is much more interesting, and a much more inspiring testament to faith and fate.
Bird
(1988)
A great man, and a tragedy that should not be forgotten.
21 November 2000
Warning: Spoilers
Anyone who really knows Bird's life understands it was, ultimately, a tragedy. I have read several books about Charlie Parker and listened to more than a dozen of his albums. The portrait Clint Eastwood creates matches exactly what I know of Bird's life. And the most wonderful thing is that, I believe, it conveys an appreciation of his music in a way that recordings, alone, cannot.
(Possible spoiler ahead.) Bird was not destroyed by the first glimmerings of rock and roll any more than he was destroyed by the popularity of country and western. Classical is another matter. The key symbolism to understanding the tragedy is that, with his discovery of classical music, Bird began to realize how much more there was to understand and experience in the world. But he had lived for the intensity of the moment, over-indulging in booze and drugs. With just a little more time he would have beaten these demons with his enormous will power. But he did not have the time.
There is a lesson there, based on a very real life that, until Eastwood's movie, had been virtually forgotten by most of the Black community and the world. See it! This is a great movie!
(Possible spoiler ahead.) Bird was not destroyed by the first glimmerings of rock and roll any more than he was destroyed by the popularity of country and western. Classical is another matter. The key symbolism to understanding the tragedy is that, with his discovery of classical music, Bird began to realize how much more there was to understand and experience in the world. But he had lived for the intensity of the moment, over-indulging in booze and drugs. With just a little more time he would have beaten these demons with his enormous will power. But he did not have the time.
There is a lesson there, based on a very real life that, until Eastwood's movie, had been virtually forgotten by most of the Black community and the world. See it! This is a great movie!
Smoke
(1995)
The reviewers are the ones blowing smoke.
19 November 2000
Pretentious, devoid of plot, minimal acting. This movie is billed on the box as a comedy, with enthusiastic endorsements of its comedic qualities excerpted from reviews. There is absolutely nothing faintly humorous about it. It is strictly a dark, pseudo-realistic portrait of New York City life. Having endured the whole thing - i borrowed it from the library and still regret it - I wonder what the reviewers were smoking. This is one of those movies where the cover, especially the photo, bears absolutely no relation to the movie. Bottom line: it seems to be a fad exploitation of the momentary fascination with cigars. Sometimes a cigar isn't worth smoking.
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