Comments for Half-Assed Movie Reviews

Comment on Ajami by mike

mike — Wed, 12 May 2010 20:19:28 +0000

Thanks. And to think I was convinced that I’d have the Oscar reviews under control this year.

Comment on Ajami by Kirsten

Kirsten — Wed, 12 May 2010 01:20:00 +0000

Congratulations on getting to the end of the Oscar reviews for this year!

Comment on La Dama Y La Muerte (The Lady and the Reaper) by Ike

Ike — Sun, 09 May 2010 16:36:49 +0000

Maybe it’s a little late, but one never knows… You can find here the short film:

http://212.227.136.88/press/

Cheers!

Comment on The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus by Kirsten

Kirsten — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:36:53 +0000

After reading your review I realize that the movie doesn’t really refer to “Parnassus on Wheels” at all – the Christopher Morley book concerns a woman with a caravan that’s a bookseller, rather than a theatre company. I suppose it’s either a coincidence, or they’re both referring to Mount Parnassus as the home of the Muses.

I think I’m a bit relieved that it’s *not* a movie made of that old book that I loved!

Comment on Open Water by mike

mike — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 20:03:24 +0000

I was aware that this film claimed to be based on a true story, but from the reading I had done at the time of release, I was on the fence about whether it was legitimate to make that claim, since a very big part of the story (how/whether they died) remained unknown. I had a similar reaction to The Perfect Storm (2000), which had elements of a true story to it, but I just can’t get past the fact that all the dialogue on the boat and the eventual demise of the crew is made up. It’s not that it didn’t happen, but we have no idea how it happened. Open Water suffers from the same blow to its credibility.

Comment on Open Water by Mike W

Mike W — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 14:08:32 +0000

You likely already know, but this is based on a real event.

Doing a little research, it appears the way they got missed from the head count is reasonably accurate.

How they ended isn’t certain, but CDNN (http://www.cdnn.info/news/article/a040723.html) has an interesting story with hypothesis from various people.

Comment on The Apartment by johnnyd48

johnnyd48 — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:17:20 +0000

This is another film that I’d put on my all-time favorite list. It might not make the top 25 or even the top 50 but it’s funny, sweet, sometimes serious and wonderfully written and acted and it’s highly re-watchable.

Comment on West Side Story by johnnyd48

johnnyd48 — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 06:26:39 +0000

I knew a guy many years ago who worked at a film-processing lab before starting a career as a porn film-maker. I went to a party once at a house he shared with close friends of mine and, while wandering around, stumbled on a storage rack loaded with film canisters (this memory predates home videotape machines by at least a few years), one of which was labeled something like, A Man For All Seasons (48 minute version). Later, when I ran into him I asked about it and he said it was a version that had been re-cut for school showings–all the history and none of the pomp and scenery. He paused for just a beat and then said, “It’s better.”

Comment on Say Anything by johnnyd48

johnnyd48 — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 06:21:47 +0000

Say Anything is a very favorite movie of mine. I find Cusack’s character utterly charming. I love his speech to the dinner table group about what he plans to do with his life. I find the drama organic and valid and real and interestingly problematic and I think the ending is a great use of blackout. Excellent soundtrack, too. Got me started paying attention to Peter Gabriel just as the movie got me started paying attention to John Cusack.

Cusack did a large handful of teen comedies before this and I have always thought of this as his farewell to the genre since it dances around all the tropes, turns them on their head and actually says something without coming all over serious and stuffy.

Comment on Gremlins by David Williams

David Williams — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:20:07 +0000

Thanks for telling me about your site Mike! I look forwards to lots of good reading.

I don’t remember being thrilled about Gremlins when I saw as a film, but I was on my first midshipman cruise in California and my friend gut his buddy David Arquette (Then an usher at Mann’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood) to sneak us into the world premier).

We got the seats they always save in case someone else’s chair breaks, very front row, vary farthest left. I remember the audience laughing during the Pheobe Cates retelling of her father’s death and my friend assuring me that the audience reaction meant that that part would likely be cut.

The Chinese stereotyping elements are interesting and, if it weren’t such an otherwise lousy film, I’d watch it again for that.