com-imdb-6 Reviews

Red Riding Hood (2006)

One of my daughters' all-time favorites

[10/10 · 28 November 2007]

This movie, obviously, is not a Hollywood blockbuster, and its target audience is kids, so it should be judged accordingly. That said, my daughters, ages 6 and 8, are absolutely delighted by this movie, and when I finally gave in to their insistent pleas that I watch it with them, I could see why. It's obvious that it must have been one of the most fun movies ever to make. It's nothing but silly, but it's loads of fun. All the actors, including the kids, have a great time with their parts, and ham it up at every opportunity. The gags surrounding the juxtaposition between modern life and the classic tale of Red Riding Hood fly by so quickly that before you are finished appreciating one, you've missed two or three more. Joey Fatone is hilarious, and should have won an Oscar for his complete transformation between two simultaneous roles. Anyone who rates this movie poorly didn't watch it with an 8-year-old. Disclaimer: I loved "The Wizard of Speed and Time."

Eversmile New Jersey (1989)

Some kind of perfect

[10/10 · 28 September 2007]

This movie is an astounding achievement. Light-hearted, ironic, farcical, profound. 15 years after first watching it, I still love this film. Daniel Day Lewis' performance is mesmerizing. Mirjana Jokovic keeps up with him all the way. If only more movies could be so well cast. Fergus O'Connell (Lewis) fights a religious war against dental disease, reveres the great traveling dentists of the past, dedicates himself, mind, body, and soul, at every turn, to bringing his good news to everyone. But the world is filled with evil, misunderstanding, and corruption. His ideas threaten the dentist-sun theory of another practitioner. He is harassed and then seduced by evildoers. On a bad day, his lofty ideals fail him as he reacts with irrational fury to the mockery of the ignorant masses. Priests and thugs are equally blessed as he walks among them, bringing them all to dental salvation. In the end he comes up with a bizarre remarkable answer to the world's problems.

This movie is low-budget, art-house, and deceptively straight-laced. It is all things which it isn't.