Change Your Image
midgeret
Reviews
The Simpsons: Last Exit to Springfield (1993)
"Hold Still While I Gas You"
This is the much hyped and Entertainment Weekly labeled "best Simpsons Episode Ever". Though I would not pick one Simpsons episode as "the best", this is deserves it's reputation. From the opening jokes about the union president (referencing Jimmy Hoffa) to Homer's epiphany ("Lisa needs braces"..."dental plan!"...etc.) to the large bird that looks like and laughs (?) like Mr. Burns, to Lisa playing "Classical Gas" at Lennie's request, this episode is brilliantly hilarious. Of course, nothing can top the insane dentist who accuses everyone of lying, shows Ralph the "Big Book of British Smiles" and shows Lisa the "poker" the "scraper" and "the gouger" so she won't be scared. And then...my personal favorite Simpsons line..."hold still while I gas you". The dentist was supposed to be voiced by Anthony Perkins, who unfortunately died shortly before they could get him.
Wait Until Dark (1967)
Pointless and brilliant
There's really very little plot to this movie when you get right down to it. It's just one brilliant and two bumbling criminals trying to get their coke back. And there are many much easier ways to get it back than going through a cat and mouse game with a blind woman and 13 year-old girl. That doesn't make this movie pointless, just weak. What makes it pointless is that Mike (Richard Crenna) confesses the needlessly elaborate lie to Suzy and yet she refuses to give him the doll. She's no longer trying to protect her husband or Gloria and the doll is of no value to her, so there's no reason for her refusal and it only puts her in danger. This refusal by Suzy makes the final confrontation with Roat (Alan Arkin) totally pointless. Unfortunely this is also the scene that makes the movie legendary.
The reason I say "Wait Until Dark" is brilliant is that the performances by Hepburn, Arkin and Crenna are so amazing and the claustrophobic atmosphere of the movie so enthralling that the audience forgets that the movie is pointless. We get caught up in the suspense and don't ask questions until after the movie is over. And then we go back to have our questions answered and forget them all over again. What I've realized after seeing this movie about five times is that those questions are never answered. It's just an amazingly shot, wonderfully casted film with a weak script.