graveyard of the gods

by **rapa-nui** » Thu May 22, 2003 22:52

I thought the action ending to Adaptation was absolutely hilarious. He doesn't want you to take it seriously: I mean, come on... snorting the extract from the orchid? The guy getting attacked by an alligator? The brother dying in the end? It was all absolutely satirical and I was laughing my ass off.

I agree with you however that it was a bit drawn out near the end, and the beginning of the movie was a lot better than the conclusion, despite the sly wit.

As for Road to Perdition: I watched it with my mom in the movie theaters, and she loves the mob, so she liked it for what it was: eye candy.

I am a bit confused about your review of Farenheit: did you like it or are you just telling us to watch for the ideological content? Because if it is the latter that you like I would rather reread the book.

by **Francois Tremblay** » Thu May 22, 2003 23:03

Re the ending of Adaptation : I agree with you. I understand how it fits with Kaufman's writing (i.e. he is following the advice of the writing teacher, and trying to tie everything off with some action). I just didn't care for it.

Re Farenheit : I did like it. Otherwise I would not have given it a high grade. My review is not necessarily entirely reflective of what I think - when things like this make themselves painfully obvious, I write about them.

by **rapa-nui** » Sat May 24, 2003 12:17

Bruce Almighty

Well, I've always been a big Jim Carrey fan, I dug his overacted kind of humor in The Mask and Ace Ventura a lot. I also thought that he brought some character to movies like The Truman Show. So I went to this movie yesterday expecting big laughs (the previews made it look like a hoot).

The movie DOES start off very strong. Everything from his bad day at work, to him meeting God, and then moving on to use some of his powers is genuinely hilarious. The best parts are things that look like Jim Carrey improvised them from the script... lI won't give it away, but there was a part where he "plays Jazz" that had me almost in tears.

Then at about the halfway mark the movie begins to deteriorate into a moralistic tale with more emotional crap than actually funny moments. The movie still retains a very clever attitude as we watch Jim try to regain his girlfirend's affections, but it's not very funny.

Now, I cannot close a review of this movie without mentioning one particular fact. This is a movie about God, and I am an atheist. Since it was a comedy I decided to let the moralistic attitude slide. However, near the end of the movie it DID begin to grate on me in such a way that I left the movie theater shaking my head and spewing out Atheist propaganda to anyone that would listen. The part I hated most about the movie however, was not the presence of God. It was the subtle but noticeable ridicule of scientists. Watch for it and you'll see it.

Final Score: 4/5 if you believe in God, 2.5/5 if you don't, and 1/5 if you are a fundie because you'll probably be uncomfortable with Morgan Freeman as your Almighty Lord.

by **Francois Tremblay** » Sat May 24, 2003 12:45

Thanks for the heads-up. I'm glad I dodged the bullet.

by **Francois Tremblay** » Sun May 25, 2003 22:41

Alison has told me Bruce Almighty was the worst movie she had seen for a long while.

W.O.A. · by **NoDeity** » Sun May 25, 2003 23:59

So many movies are based on a clever idea that could have turned out really well and so few of them even approach their potential. Most movies bore me.

by **rapa-nui** » Mon May 26, 2003 02:11

Franc28 wrote:Alison has told me Bruce Almighty was the worst movie she had seen for a long while.

If you like Jim Carrey even a little bit, the beginning is tolerable. If he grates on you, then this movie is probably a steaming turd to your eyes. As it stands for me it was a 2.5, which is quite bad. A failing grade if you will.

NoDeity wrote:So many movies are based on a clever idea that could have turned out really well and so few of them even approach their potential. Most movies bore me.

What you need is one of those big-ass movie guide books. Skim throuh it and since they give you a plot outline and a "mini-review" you should be able to pick out somethng you like and will be interested in.

I think some people are adverse to the concept of sitting on their asses eating fatty foods for more than 2 hours though. Not me.

W.O.A. · by **NoDeity** » Mon May 26, 2003 03:25

rapa-nui wrote:What you need is one of those big-ass movie guide books. Skim throuh it and since they give you a plot outline and a "mini-review" you should be able to pick out somethng you like and will be interested in.

Thing is, there are bound to be so many bad movies mini-reviewed in the book that going through it will turn out to be a horrible chore.

To me, a movie is really good if, while I'm watching it, I don't feel like wandering around to look for something to do. I can't remember the last time I watched a really good movie.

by **Francois Tremblay** » Mon May 26, 2003 12:38

Then stick with the classics. Bergman, Tarkovsky, Kurosawa, Truffault, you can't go wrong. Unless you've seen all of theirs too ?!

W.O.A. · by **NoDeity** » Mon May 26, 2003 13:31

No. I haven't seen many movies. [shrug] Maybe some of us just aren't "movie people".

by **Francois Tremblay** » Mon May 26, 2003 13:44

Then why do you go see only bad movies ?!

W.O.A. · by **NoDeity** » Mon May 26, 2003 15:55

Actually, I almost never go see movies. I think the last full movie I saw, including videos, was My Big Fat Greek Wedding in November of last year. It's not "a great film" but many parts were genuinely funny and I laughed out loud in the theatre more than once. I probably wouldn't have seen it if my sister, whom my wife and I were visiting on our vacation, hadn't wanted to take us out to the movies.

by **Francois Tremblay** » Mon May 26, 2003 16:03

My Big Fat Greek Wedding was ok. I thought there were a lot of obvious payoffs, and I'm not sure why it had to be an independent movie.

by **Hellbound Alleee** » Mon May 26, 2003 19:42

There's nothing worse than sitting on a hard-as-a-rock seat in a sticky, dusty old theatre and watching JimCarrey be Born Again.

If this was simply a vehicle for Jim Carrey to jump on the Spiritual Bandwagon, why did he choose something just this side of Left Behind?

This plot had more wide-open holes than a Texas prison. First, Yahweh gives Bruce "all" his powers for a week. Then it turns out he only gave him dominion over Buffalo. Somehow he manages to drown a city full of Japanese children. You'd think God would pat his son on the back for taking after the Old Man. Or perhaps "God" is not who we think He is. Perhaps this is some new protestant Hollywood sect for Madonna to abandon her sacred Kabbalistic Roman Catholic faith for, and God has the power equivalent of a cross between Uri Geller and Harry Potter. After all, we're supposed to pity God for all the hard, hard work He must endure.

My favorite message of the movie is its wrist-slapping of the uncontent, Easter-and-Christmas christian. Don't be mad at God for not letting you win the lottery. Don't be mad at God because your perfectly well-trained dog pees on your couch. He's too busy mopping some linoleum floor in a janitor's costume.

Where does that image come from? Flash forward to Bruce's selfish, human, non-enlightened (such as one who actually possesses God's powers would be) use of magic. It causes havoc on the streets (yawn, Sodom and Gomorrah) and evil selfishness among the haves (yawn, the golden calf; Babylon). These are messes that must be cleaned up. Which begs the question: since these kinds of tragedies are happening every day, assuming God isn't endowing His omnipotence on a different schlub every week, then God is using His power selfishly and causing these very problems!

Every movie must have a redemption or enlightenment scene, of course. Both of these come to Jim Carrey as he kneels, sobbing, in the street, a la Jack Chick, and wails, "I SURRENDER LORD! I WANT YOU TO DECIDE WHAT'S BEST FOR MY LIFE1" and he's promptly killed.

I don't want to see this man Pray To The Lord. I thought maybe that christians would love it, until I saw a christian review. They were concerned by the gratuitous premarital sex and liberal use of the word "fuck." So who the fuck is this movie supposed to be FOR, anyway?

I think I've got it: unthinking, Easter-and-Christmas Christians, male, between the ages of 14 and 26. No. I'm wrong.

As I was leaving the theatre, I heard a young teenaged boy loudly exclaim, "that was really gay." I salute you, Voice of a Generation.

W.O.A. · by **NoDeity** » Mon May 26, 2003 20:09

Wow. For that one, I won't be satisfied with simply not bothering to see it since I do the same with almost all movies. Instead, I may actually make a small effort to not see it.

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