My wife dragged me there...a biopic about a puppeteer? It was an occasion, Clash (coming home to Baltimore), the producer and director were there, as was Elmo, who did a Q&A with the audience. This is a very likable, humorous and enjoyable movie about a guy who seems to have been sure at a very early age that he really wanted to be a puppeteer. If you do have that desire, it must be the holy grail to end up in the Henson organization. At any rate, Clash is a likable, engaging guy with a good story about having come up from modest beginnings to the pinnacle of his profession all without seeming to have lost his soul along the way. See it and enjoy.
Reviews
5 Reviews
The Departed
(2006)
Shame on you Martin
6 October 2006
How over the top will this movie be? How many times will Jack Nicholson do his Satan face in one movie? Will we see Leonoardo be an apprentice to another gangster? Is this an Irish Goodfellows or Gangs of New York set in Boston? And...just how many really bad Irish accents will we hear in one night? How many brain spatters can you have in one movie? Jack Nicholson dropping in and out of his accent and Martin Sheen sounding like John Kennedy made some scenes look like Saturday Night Live parodies. After the finish that put most of the characters out of their misery, it was a relief to put this movie out of its misery.
I was looking forward to this, hoping that maybe this time Scorsese would finally get his Oscar. After all, had had half of the major male lead actors in Hollywood - Nicholson, Alec Baldwin, Mark Walberg, Matt Damon, Mattin Sheen. By the time this movie wound down to its end, the mainly middle aged adult, affluent audience (not the crowd I associate with laughing at extreme violence) was reduced to chuckles and relief when the credits started to roll. What a stinker.
I was looking forward to this, hoping that maybe this time Scorsese would finally get his Oscar. After all, had had half of the major male lead actors in Hollywood - Nicholson, Alec Baldwin, Mark Walberg, Matt Damon, Mattin Sheen. By the time this movie wound down to its end, the mainly middle aged adult, affluent audience (not the crowd I associate with laughing at extreme violence) was reduced to chuckles and relief when the credits started to roll. What a stinker.
It Came from Outer Space
(1953)
Pretty good movie
1 January 2006
I was cruising the cable and found this, got engaged in it and couldn't stop. It first I thought it was one of those many low rent 50's BW sci-fi/monster flicks, but as I watched I realized that it was quite thoughtful. Making the aliens into reasonable but scared accidental visitors to a primitive planet, wanting to leave but needing to cobble together "stone knives and bearskins" to fix their vessel really works. I'd like to see it in 3D. I wasn't too surprised to see in the closing credits that it was written by Ray Bradbury. This is a gem among the rocks of that era. It's up there with The Thing and The Day The Earth Stood Still.
The Village
(2004)
Really good movie
30 July 2004
This is an excellent movie that transcends the usual vaporous "bump in the night" fare that Shyamalam does so well. The thrills are there, tension is thick in the air, performances are excellent but the film also raises interesting questions. Not to spill the ending but, coming from the state that hosted the Amish and, at one time, the Moravians (religious societies that withdrew from the corruption of the world), you are left to wonder whether the community life created by the fear of what's outside is worth the deliberate barriers you have to erect in order to seal yourself off. You also wonder whether, in the end, you can really improve on basic human stupidity, greed and lust or whether you just postpone it as long as the benign patriarch manages to convince you that only the monsters beyond the fence keep you in line.
Troy
(2004)
Pretty good as far as it went
14 May 2004
This was a really well made movie that dwealt on the human aspects of Homer's Iliad. In Troy the war and its consequences were caused by passions and jealosy, fought by mortals who won or lost based on courage, deceit and cleaverness. Problem is that in the real Iliad, all these dimensions are dwarfed by the influences of the gods. The mortals are puppets on their strings, playing out the Gods' personal dissentions. Humans are bound by fate, influenced by the gods and try their best to asset their autonomy in the Iliad. That drama would have been much more complex than this movie and might have required a LOTR scale trilogy. Also, somehow about 9 11/12 years of the 10 year Trojan war got missed. I did get a chuckle that they had to find a way to have Orlando Bloom use his well rehearsed archery skills to kill Achilles. All that practice as Legolas didn't get wasted. They also included a brief scene featuring Aeneas and friends escaping from Troy, a much later Roman addition to the story. My recommendation is to see this movie as a great depiction of ancient world warfare, enjoy its spectacular battles and FX, ogle at Brad Pitt's biceps but then go home and read the Iliad for the real thing. While you're at it, also read the Odessey to find out what happened to Odesseus after the credits.
Tell Your Friends