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dacart
Reviews
Chinatown (1974)
The Score! and.. it's "lose" NOT "loose" !!!!
Another reason to see "Chinatown" is for the incredible score by Jerry Goldsmith. The following is something a friend of mine Steve Horowitz wrote to me about the score: "The film score for CHINATOWN is as famous for the conditions under which it was written as it is for the music itself. Shortly before the film was to debut, producer Robert Evans discarded the score written by composer Phillip Lambro and handed the project to Jerry Goldsmith.
Goldsmith had ten days to both write and record a new score before CHINATOWN debuted. The resulting score was extremely sparse, making use of several songs popular during the 1930s and resting upon a single original theme--but it proved the perfect additive to the film, and it is extremely difficult to image CHINATOWN without it Jerry Goldsmith's work on Chinatown may be the best work ever done for a film score. Utilizing an avant garde ensemble (four pianos, four harps, percussion, strings, and solo trumpet) the composer paints a sound-scape both eerie and nostalgic -- imagine listening to thirties jazz echoing through layers of deep water. The cumulative effect of this perfectly organized album is one of quiet, aching despair. The three tracks of source music add to Goldsmith's remarkable achievement. A must for anyone interested in serious instrumental music."
Finally, I would not comment on this except it is literally the fourth time today that I have seen this misspelled. The word is "lose" NOT "loose." as in "how Nicholson could loose(sic) to Art Carney..." PLEASE any one reading this who doesn't know the difference between lose and loose please note: A LOOSE ball that is picked up by the other team can help you LOSE the game.
Thanks for your indulgence in this. It is something that makes me lose it whenever I see it:-)
Dan Carter
Sweethearts (1997)
This is NOT a comedy!
While this movie sports an all-star cast of some of my favorite comics (more Cho please), this is a DARKLY comic look at urban loneliness as well as the loneliness implicit with mental illness. The script starts out humorously enough with Jasmine (Garofalo) answering a personal ad and messing with the respondee at an espresso shop (run by Cho and Goldthwaite) named the Asylum. The name is apt because it becomes more and more obvious that Jasmine is not a happy puppy. I will not go on and spoil it but be warned that this is not a "happy' movie. There are funny moments but the overall tone is pretty dark if not depressing at times.
I am a HUGE Janeane Garofalo fan ( as well as Cho and Goldthwaite) and rented this with the expectation of having a good laugh and a smile. I must tell you that this not the movie for that. I don't think it's a bad movie but... damn... this is NOT a funny movie.