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Reviews
The Way of the Gun (2000)
They did it my way.
As I sat watching this movie at my parents place I was sooo glad I went to see it in the theatre alone. Nobody was paying attention, and this is one movie you have to pay attention to. And believe me, it's worth it. Benicio Del Toro continues to enthrall me in every movie he's been in and in Way of the Gun I couldn't take my eyes off him. He doesn't have to say anything, everything you need to know is there on his face, a look, a glace, a twist of the mouth. Beautiful. As I was watching I looked around at my family, walking around, reading magazines, they would look up during a gun fight, ask what was happening then go back to doing whatever they were doing. It's the kind of movie where you don't have to understand whose child is whose you just have to watch the characters interact with each other and it's enough to hold you through the movie. James Caan with his hardened bagman, Juliet Lewis with her devious suragate mother, Taye Diggs with his ambitious bodyguard, and Ryan Phillipe with his naive criminal all thrust together with Del Toro make for an ambitious film caring more for the people then for the situation they are in, but hey, with so many films loaded with high concept and devoid of endearing characters, this is what I needed.
Stiff Upper Lips (1997)
God, but this was funny!
I have always admired the way Merchant/Ivory films have had at their core a sort of droll humour that has come through and made me smile. This movie has taken every little bit that had made me crack a smile during the "serious" Merchant/Ivory productions and made me smile and laugh so much my cheeks hurt by the end of the movie. There are so many sight gags that I couldn't keep track of them all, and the ones I did see were enough for me to recommend this movie. Here's a little hint, just before George rescues Emily from drowning, take a look at what he's carving, maybe that's why he was little too eager to divest himself of his clothes. Don't get me wrong, I loved Howards End and Room with a view, but I also loved The Naked Gun and Airplane as well, this is the perfect hybrid of the two genres. The acting isn't in the least bit Hammy, the actors play it straight the whole way through, which is what makes this so funny, Samuel West probably being the best thing about this movie. His brainless upperclass twit played to perfection makes this a good movie for Masterpiece theatre watchers with a sense of humour.
Dune (2000)
And I had my hopes so high.
Bad Casting, Bad Acting, Bad Adaption, Horrid Costumes, Cheesy special effects, and a big waste of my time. I forgot exactly who was producing this, that it was for an American channel. I had dreams of a mini-series on the scale of say, Gormenghast that wonderful adaption by BBC of the Mervyn Peake classic. Boy did I set myself up for disappointment. I mean, Gormenghast wasn't as close to the book as some might have liked, but it did hold ones attention and the acting could not be surpassed. Dune is just a catastrophe. "Tell me of your homeworld water Muadib" ??? In a six part miniseries they couldn't take two seconds to bring in the name of Usul.
Would it have killed the people who made this to skip a few of the annoying dreams of Paul and fill the time with a little character development? Or they could have skipped that Navigator scene and used the special effects money to buy a few good actors, at the very least a Paul that didn't come off as a whining, ignorant brat. And if they are planning to make sequels as I've heard, couldn't they have at least shortened the screen time of Princess Irulan, cut that actress' pay and used that money to get a costume designer who could design a still suit that looked less like a potato sack. Or at least a designer who didn't watch old Battlestar Galactica or old Startrek episodes to design the clothes of everyone else. I mean, come on, those hats were a waste of cloth. And all that silver, I'm pretty sure in the far far distant future retro seventies glam wear won't be the in thing for emperors or dukes.
The original Lynch 84 film might have been a bit cheesy and a lot weird, but I'd take that one over this drab mini-series any day. This adaption doesn't seem to have any understanding of the characters or the situation they are in and any report that this is closer then the book then the Lynch film is sadly mistaken because, though it does have a few more scenes like the book, it all just feels wrong.