My Afternoons with Margueritte (2010)

Gerard Depardieu is back...and this time in a sensitive, enchanting film about the beauty of a friendship between a nearly illiterate man and an elderly woman with a deep affection for books. Sitting on a park bench watching the pigeons play and interact, the woman elegant, wise, but going blind senses the honest heart of the man beside her, the character played by Depardieu. She warms up to him and vice versa. They end up loving each other, but not in the conventional way. She reads books aloud to him and finds out that he is an especially good listener.

It's not just about the love of books, it's about the love of loves. In an age where too many movies celebrate violence and sex, this is a gentle change of pace. And let me add that Giselle Casadesus who plays the lead character is a sensation.

Based on a novel by Marie-Sabine Roger, MY AFTERNOONS WITH MARGUERITTE is pleasant, (mostly) family-friendly escapism that serves as a reminder to the young-at-heart who think they know it all. It's the uncharacteristic love story between Germain Chazes (played by Gerard Depardieu) and Margueritte (Gisele Casadesus), two neglected souls who share a park bench in a chance meeting where they talk about the pigeons. Immediately, the elder Margueritte takes a pleasant enough shine to Germain, who's viewed by the locals as a bit of a buffoon. Raised by a mother he believes never loved him, Germain lacked any real affection as a child. In flashbacks, we're shown that throughout his school days he was ostracized by students and teachers alike. He never quite `fit in' with any of his relationships, and, as a consequence, he strongly responds to Margueritte's courtesies. They continue to meet over the next several weeks, wherein the senior agrees to read to him from the books of her personal library.

In short, AFTERNOONS is an oddly effective `coming of age' story for both the principles. Margueritte at her advanced age lives what's left of her days in an assisted living community, where she's holed up with her books, rarely visited by her own family. By contrast, Germain sees the world plainly, engaging in such elementary tasks as naming each of the park's pigeons he feeds based on their observed behaviors. Margueritte becomes smitten by his honest (if not poetic) simplicity, and he slowly begins to realize he may be as "simple" as he's often dismissed himself. Like in any positive relationship, the two come to understand one another in unique ways that brings greater happiness to their lives, even though others scoff at the time they spend together.

Also, there's an odd narrative parallel running between two distinct love stories: (1) Germain and Margueritte, and (2) Germain and Annette (played by Sophie Guilleman), his legitimate girlfriend from town. There's the obvious generational difference between the simpleton and his elderly suitor-of-sorts, but there's a second one between Germain and Annette, who appears (at least to me) about 30 years his junior. The much-older-man with the much-younger-woman doesn't factor as prominent, but it's clear that the townsfolk have no reservations about those affections; by contrast, Germain receives much good-spirited "ribbing" for spending so much time with the old woman. I believe the statement made here is that it's odd how some relationships are accepted, if not encouraged, while others are frowned upon and the source of scorn.

In the end, Germain sees it as love. To be perfectly honest, it probably is, though it may not be the form most folks expect between a man and a woman. Also, given the fact that he's portrayed a bit as the village idiot, one could reasonably question whether it is or not. In the end, it doesn't matter, for, when you're exploring matters of the heart, all that really matters is what the two `lovers' feel. In that estimate, AFTERNOONS are worth spending in the comfort of your soul mate, and these two have definitely found one another.

MY AFTERNOONS WITH MARGUERITTE was produced by ICE3, K.J.B. Production, France 3 Cinema, Studio Canal, DD Productions, and a host of others. DVD distribution is being handled domestically by New Video Group. It all looks and sounds solid. Artistically, I had some trouble with Germain's flashbacks; they were filmed in the same fashion as the present-time parts of the narrative, and it would've been nice had the director chosen to set them apart visually a bit because, the first time it happened, I assumed we were in present day ... until the school boy answered to his name. It's a mild hiccup, but I thought it worth mentioning. No significant special features to speak of; a commentary might've been nice, but, alas, it wasn't meant to be.

RECOMMENDED. It's not a big picture. It isn't necessarily elegant or boldly dramatic in any particular way. Still, MY AFTERNOONS WITH MARGUERITTE is a pleasant enough diversion one exploring a chance encounter that turns into an effective if unconventional relationship for both parties brought to life convincingly by the two leads. It may not change the way you live your own life, but it just might make you think twice when you happen across an elderly spinster sitting on a park bench.

In the interests of fairness, I'm pleased to disclose that the good folks at New Video Group provided me with a DVD screener copy of MY AFTERNOONS WITH MARGUERITTE for the expressed purposes of completing this review.

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So amiable, pleasant, and likable--the French confection "My Afternoons with Margueritte" is pretty hard to resist. The film is set in a provincial town where everyone knows everyone else's business and the citizenry is populated with an expected assortment of eccentric character types. At the heart of the film is Gerard Depardieu playing, essentially, the village idiot. As a functional illiterate with a penchant for saying the wrong thing, most of the town laughs along with his antics. People like him, but he is taken primarily as comic relief. His tumultuous relationship with his mother hints at something a little darker beneath the surface and we see glimpses, both past and present, of a less genial life story. But we never dwell on anything too serious in this breezy little film.

But what of Margueritte? She is an elderly woman from a local home that has a chance encounter with Depardieu in the park. They bond over pigeons, and soon their one-time meet morphs into a regular encounter. She shares her love of books with him as she reads aloud and encourages him to embrace that it's never too late too learn. As their bond deepens into a loving friendship, there are a few stumbling blocks. It's all rather predictable, but always very sweet as well. I suppose it would have been very easy for this to have turned into overly sentimental treacle, but the pace is brisk and the actors are engaging--so it's a story you want to root for even if it holds few surprises.

The fact that the movie works as well as it does is certainly a testament to the two leads. I especially thought the great Gisele Casadesus had a pleasing matter-of-factness as the aforementioned Margueritte. When she and Depardieu play off one another, it is a real delight. Her faith in him gives him more confidence in himself, and it's a charming message. I might have toned down some of the unnecessary wackiness within peripheral storylines. I might also have liked to know how, given his reputation in town, Depardieu scored such a lovely and supportive girlfriend. But these are minor quibbles. "My Afternoons With Margueritte" is just a pleasant experience that you give yourself over to. I'm not sure that Jean Becker's film is going to linger with me for long, but I enjoyed it in the moment. KGHarris, 6/12.

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( This is a review of the Standard DVD version of this release.)

Remember in the 1970s and 1980s when French actor Gerard Depardieu was a French "matinee idol"? Okay he wasn't "small" in stature but you would never consider him large. Well time passes and the actor (with almost 275 films to his credit ) is older and much larger now. But he still has that innocent face, and, in his early 60s, is still making fine films.

This low-keyed film matches Depardieu with 97-year old French actress Gisele Casadesus as an unlikely pair who meet one day in a park (literally) counting the pigeons. Depardieus's character, Germain, is a hard worker (he cultivates fruits and vegetables to sell at outdoor markets) but was a slow learner in school and can hardly read. His newly found bench mate is articulate and an avid reader and through reading aloud to Germain she brings a whole new world to him. Director Jean Becker uses an interesting technique to show us how the words (such as those in Camus' "The Stranger") come to life in Germain's mind.

The 83 minutes of this film go by quickly as we are drawn into the story and the actors (both veterans) make us feel for their relationship, knowing that, at age 97, Margueritte has only so much time to read. The ending is sweet and will put a tear in your eye.

My only fault in this DVD (which has no supplemental material except the theatrical trailer) is that the subtitles are in white text and are often difficult to read when the background is also white or in pale colors. (Subtitles work best when they are in green or a contrasting color or shown below the image.)

I can certainly recommend this to Depardieu fans, those who like French films or avid readers who love the printed word.

Steve Ramm

"Anything Phonographic"

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So amiable, pleasant, and likable--the French confection "My Afternoons with Margueritte" is pretty hard to resist. The film is set in a provincial town where everyone knows everyone else's business and the citizenry is populated with an expected assortment of eccentric character types. At the heart of the film is Gerard Depardieu playing, essentially, the village idiot. As a functional illiterate with a penchant for saying the wrong thing, most of the town laughs along with his antics. People like him, but he is taken primarily as comic relief. His tumultuous relationship with his mother hints at something a little darker beneath the surface and we see glimpses, both past and present, of a less genial life story. But we never dwell on anything too serious in this breezy little film.

But what of Margueritte? She is an elderly woman from a local home that has a chance encounter with Depardieu in the park. They bond over pigeons, and soon their one-time meet morphs into a regular encounter. She shares her love of books with him as she reads aloud and encourages him to embrace that it's never too late too learn. As their bond deepens into a loving friendship, there are a few stumbling blocks. It's all rather predictable, but always very sweet as well. I suppose it would have been very easy for this to have turned into overly sentimental treacle, but the pace is brisk and the actors are engaging--so it's a story you want to root for even if it holds few surprises.

The fact that the movie works as well as it does is certainly a testament to the two leads. I especially thought the great Gisele Casadesus had a pleasing matter-of-factness as the aforementioned Margueritte. When she and Depardieu play off one another, it is a real delight. Her faith in him gives him more confidence in himself, and it's a charming message. I might have toned down some of the unnecessary wackiness within peripheral storylines. I might also have liked to know how, given his reputation in town, Depardieu scored such a lovely and supportive girlfriend. But these are minor quibbles. "My Afternoons With Margueritte" is just a pleasant experience that you give yourself over to. I'm not sure that Jean Becker's film is going to linger with me for long, but I enjoyed it in the moment. KGHarris, 6/12.

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Boy (2010)

"Kia ora. My name is Boy, and welcome to my interesting world. My favorite person is Michael Jackson. He is the best singer and dancer in the world. My favorite subjects are art, social studies and Michael Jackson. I have a six-year-old brother called Rocky. He's got powers. I'm named after my dad. He can dance as good as Michael Jackson. He's a master carver, deep sea treasure diver, soldier, captain of the rugby team and he holds the record for punching out the most number of people with one hand. My dad isn't here right now. He's a busy man. When he comes home he's taking me to see Michael Jackson live. The end."

The reality of Boy's situation however quickly becomes clear when a classmate named Kingi taunts him after his talk:

Kingi: "You're a liar. Your dad's not overseas; he's in jail for robbery."

Boy: "Shut up Kingi! You don't know!"

Kingi: "Yes, he's in the same cell block as my dad."

Most of Boy's life consists of helping his grandmother look after the younger kids, hanging out with his friends, and trying to impress an aloof older girl named Chardonnay (RickyLee Waipuka-Russell) on whom he has an impossible crush in spite of the fact that she's a teenager and towers over him by almost a foot. He's so fixated on Chardonnay that he's completely oblivious to Dynasty (Moerangi Tihore) a pretty but quiet girl closer to his own age who wistfully keeps hoping he'll notice her, at one point showing him a hidden grove of pot plants that belong to her uncle, who happens to be the biggest pot dealer in the area. (Note: Dynasty's name is apparently due to the pervasiveness of American pop culture of the time as she has a brother named Dallas and a sister named Falcon Crest).

When his grandmother (Mavis Paenga) suddenly has to leave for a funeral across the country and leaves him in charge for a week, no one is more surprised than Boy when his dad Alamein (Taika Waititi) suddenly shows up one night along with two low-life cohorts he claims are his gang. Boy is delighted. His younger brother Rocky (Te Aho Aho Eketone-Whitu) however is wary Alamein is a complete stranger to him, having been absent his entire life.

Recently released from prison, Alamein says he's there to reconnect with his sons and spend some quality time with them. The reality though is that he's there to retrieve the money from the robbery he was in prison for, money that he buried in a field before getting caught. The problem is that he can't remember just where he buried it, having been seriously stoned at the time. It quickly becomes clear that in spite of his efforts to portray himself as a serious gangster, Alamein is instead as incompetent at being a criminal as he is at everything else, including being a father at one point he tells Boy "Can you stop calling me `dad'? It sounds weird." It takes time, however, for this reality to penetrate Boy's continued fantasies, which the film frequently plays with by showing scenes with Boy repeatedly imagining Alamein in Michael Jackson videos. But as the facade is gradually worn away by his father's pathetic bumbling and self-absorbed irresponsibility, Boy finds himself having to choose between falling into his father's lifestyle of directionless denial or taking responsibility.

While the film is serious at times, given the nature of the themes involved, Waititi imbues it with a lot of unique humor, particularly in the idiosyncratic dialogue that gives flesh to the laid-back culture of Boy's rural Maori world, like in this typical exchange when Boy runs into some of his friends in a pasture:

Boy: "So what you guys been up to?"

Dallas: "We're self employed now."

Boy: "What's your job?"

Dallas: "Chucking mud at those cows."

While most of the actors in Boy are first-timers, Waititi did an exceptional job in selecting them and as a group they give very natural performances that don't feel affected at all. James Rolleston is highly engaging as Boy and his performance takes you in completely as he goes from a kid who goes from hero-worshipping a father he cannot remember to coming to grips with the harsh disappointment of just how far short of his idyllic fantasies his father falls. You can see the conflict rising in him as he teeters on the edge of becoming just like his father even as he's realizing just how little that really means. Te Aho Aho Eketone-Whitu's Rocky is equally engaging, a shy introvert to Boy's motor-mouthed extrovert. Like Boy, Rocky has an equally creative imagination, but while Boy's fantasies are centered around his father and the way he wishes the man to be, Rocky directs his inward, imagining himself to have mental powers that give him some control over a world where in fact he has no control. Their differences are brought out in other ways, as in a scene where we find that Rocky regularly spends time at his mother's grave, openly missing what he has never known, while Boy cannot bring himself to even open the gate to the graveyard, a characteristic we later see that he shares with his father the tendency to shy away from the harsher realities of life. Another nice touch is the subtle ways in which, as Boy is starting to back away from their father, Rocky is starting to move closer, seeing the damaged man their father is and trying to use his imagined powers to fix him. And Taika Waititi's Allamein is a deft performance in its own right, finding just the right balance to make the man likeable and sympathetic while at the same time showing his pathetic weakness, revealing him to be a man who never really grew up and who has no idea of what it means to be responsible, let alone to be a father. And Moerangi Tihore's Dynasty is marvelously expressive in a quiet way, never really giving voice to her thoughts but you know exactly what she's feeling from her eyes wistful as Boy gives a sparkler to Chardonnay who only seems bored by it; hurt and betrayed when she catches Boy showing Alamein and his cohorts where her uncle's secret pot grove is hidden. She doesn't have to say a word Boy's guilty reaction shows that he knows from her eyes what he's done.

A couple of minor notes. Taika Waititi, a relatively new director, is best known for his first indie film, Eagle vs Shark, another off-beat comedy that's become something of a cult film. Boy was actually released in 2010, and although it turned out to be a hit and ultimately became the highest grossing film in New Zealand, it is only now making its way to the US. It may be hard to find, but it's definitely worth the effort. Check your local art house theaters as that may be the only way to catch it as it's not yet available on DVD (at least not in a Region 1 format).

And one other thing definitely worth mentioning is this fantastic and completely unexpected dance number that comes up at the end with all of the cast doing a traditional Maori haka dance mashed up with Michael Jackson's Thriller. While it has nothing to do with the plot, it brings all of the elements of the movie together and is enormously fun to watch. I looked it up and found it available on youtube if you want to check it out.

Highly recommended for anyone who likes coming of age movies, small indie films or just plain enjoyable films in general.

Boy lives in New Zealand with his grandmother and his demented brother Rocky. When his good-for-nothing dad drifts back into his life, Boy's happy-go-lucky life becomes a bit more complicated, and you see him become a troubled adolescent; this troubles the viewer, to see the loss of innocence. The acting is fantastic, since the kids are very believable, and the story is full of wonderful scenes of life in a rural New Zealand community: it is about young love, about broken families, about schooling and fantasy, and perhaps most importantly it is about what happens to people who let more than a little bit of Michael Jackson into their worlds. If I'd taken notes I would have described more of the wonderful scenes in the film, but I'll just have to go with what I can remember about what a great film this was.

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Why won't anybody come out with the USA FORMAT for this DVD? I looked everywhere... You are restricting people from watching this gemstone! I ordered this anyway from New Zealand (i've got a region free dvd player, which came surprising quick seeing as it's around the world from me. This movie is just absolutely amazing, beautiful, touching, and so so so good. I love coming of age stories, and this one is just fantastic. I love this directors work..and he shows an unknown land to most. New Zealand is just unreal...it is so beautiful, and you feel like you're there in this movie. Please watch this! IT IS SO WORTH IT. And please, somebody, anybody, get this going in USA format!

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this film has astounding scenery and even more astounding characters. The little boy engages the viewer immediately: he's brave and funny and yet sad at times. The father is the type of man you don't enjoy knowing; he's a bit pathetic. So the story is believable and the incidences making up the plot quite engaging.

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Boy, is about a Maori boy living with his brother, grandma and cousins in a rural community in New Zealand. Despite the state of negligence and dereliction, Boy lives in a world of his own, where Michael Jackson is his idol and his dad is his hero, even though he's been absent for quite some time. One day, Boy's grandma goes to a funeral for a few days and his dad shows up, which makes Boy the happiest child on Earth. However, it isn't until he gets to spend time with his dad when Boy has a reality check and starts to experience bitterness and disappointment, to sum it up: he starts experiencing life.

What I love about "Boy" is the fact that it has a simple yet deep and moving plot developed in a funny way. This film didn't cost millions and does not feature world-wide movie stars, but everything about it is memorable. It shows how children sometimes seem to know more about parenting than parents themselves. It never tries too hard either at make you laugh or make you reflect, it nevers tries to be educational or to teach you a lesson either; it just tells a story, and that's why I think this is a 5 star film.

At the beginning, I was reluctant to watch this film. I had tried watching Mr. Waititi debut film "Eagle vs Shark", and I thought it so silly that I couldn't even finish it, and that's something I seldom do. However, "Boy" is one of those films that I know it will stays with me because it portrays a universal situaion regardless of culture and social status: There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child; there are seven million, until adults come and show you otherwise.

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Sleeping with the Enemy (2011)

"Sleeping With the Enemy" is probably my favorite of Julia Roberts' movies. This film has so much suspense that you immediately get wrapped up in the lives of all of the characters.

The story centers around a woman who is in a marriage from hell. Her husband abuses her and keeps her confined in a large beach house. His possession of her mind, body, and spirit is terrifying. She finally gets enough courage to get away from him and leave him once and for all. However, she has to fake her death to do so. She flees and starts over in a small town where her blind mother resides. All is well until her husband discovers that she's not really dead and hunts her down to reclaim her.

This is an excellent nail-biter that will definitely keep you on the edge of your seat! I highly recommend this film!

Joseph Ruben has fashioned a by-the-numbers, glossy, engrossing, if trashy and predictable, thriller. It is imminently watchable, of course, and features the mega-watt smile of our fave, Julia Roberts, who improbably dons theatrical costumes in the midst of a semi-breakdown to the tune of Brown-Eyed Girl. The men around Julia, both her over-the-top psychopathic husband and her would-be new, soft boyfriend (Patrick Bergin and Kevin Andersen, respectively) are completely dispensable, and Ruben knows this: he keeps us monumentally focused on the beguiling Ms. Roberts throughout. It is easy to forget and forgive lapses in credibility (there are many), and the opening twenty minutes have a glossy, antiseptic queasiness about them that seem to be setting up a much more deft and daring thriller. All of that vanishes, along with common sense, but it hardly matters. This movie is one you can watch over and over and over again, a bunch of chips nearby: it moves quickly, harmlessly, and gives you what you want when you just don't feel much like thinking.

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When I went to this movie I thought it was a spy movie. Nope it is not what a shock. It is about domestic violence. Many people I have spoken with think this is a very good movie. I think they like it more for the syspense factor from what I can tell. Perhaps someone can gain some compassion from this movie because it feels this way to be in an abusive relationship. They really did their research or someone knew something when directing and writing the screenplay. I know nothing about the book and am not focusing about the socioeconic status of the woman of the book vs the movie like the previous reviewer. Unless you are comparing and constrasing the 2 for a term paper forget about that. I do not think that is really important to the story as domestic violence can occur in all economic levels. When you see stress of the wife trying not to upset her husband with stupid little things like arranging the cans of food in a cabnet. This is what some abusers are really like. Anything and Nothing will set off an abuser like that. The Victim gets punished for these things as an excuse for him to get out his anger or control just like the movie. This really lets you know what it is like to be in an abusive relationship from the inside. If you let yourself you can get into the character just as a movie like (A Beautiful Mind) you can get inside a character. They are totally different movies, but they have a similar delivery style. This is a very disturbing movie and I would not recomend it for young people unless it is in the context of teaching about domestic violence or perhaps preventing it. Next to being in an abusive relationship this is the closest you can get unless they make another movie. This would be a good movie for someone counselling domestic violence victums or anyone going into the psychology field. If you are a student of one of those diciplines you might want to watch this to desinsitize yourself to what people may tell you and to familiarize yourself with abuse.

If not this is another syspense movie that is really well done and some people find it entertaining. I think it is more educational, but the delivery is entertaining to some people. I think it is just that some people seem to crave violent movies of all types and do not think about the message even when someone goes to the trouble to have a real plot and storyline.

I hope that helps.

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Julia Roberts, she of the million-dollar smile, shines in this otherwise dull, by-the-numbers thriller. Patrick Bergen glowers his way through the movie like a villian straight out of a silent melodrama. You expect him to be kicking widows and orphans out on the street, not traumatizing Julia Roberts.

Hokey dialogue, a contrived plot, and murky cinematography make this a lackluster gem in Julia's career. The movie is worth a watch, however, just to see Julia in male drag when she's trying to visit her mom in the nursing home. If Hilary Swank had been unavailable to film "Boys Don't Cry," Julia would have made one hell of a replacement!

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The husband in the movie displays the classic signs of an abuser. He tries to keep Laura under control, he must have the towels and cans arranged in a certain order, he accuses her of having eyes for a doctor who lives on the same beach as they do (even though she insists that she doesn't know him) and hits her, he wants to keep her confined to the house, and he tries to keep her from seeing friends or family (especially her mother). So-so movie, but portrayal of abusive husband is accurate.

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The Collector (2010)

"The Collector" was written and directed by Marcus Dunstan with the writing help of Patrick Melton. The two have worked together on the Saw movies installments 4, 5, 6, and the upcoming 7 so that fact that this movie is "Saw" meets "Home Alone" is a very accurate statement. The premise is that a down-on-his-luck father needs some money by midnight and decides to rob an employer while the family is on vacation. Unfortunately, someone else got there first and has set up a series of intricate, deadly booby traps top to bottom in this mansion.

Josh Stewart stars as Arkin, a guy trying to get by on a honest day's pay for an honest day's work yadda yadda yadda, but when put in a crunch proves skilled at robberies in order to save his family from loan sharks. Little does he know that the second he enters this house, the probability of his ever seeing them again plummets dramatically. There is a dagger chandelier, an acid floor, fish hook curtains, boarded up windows rigged with razor blades, and trip wires everywhere. This is one intense journey into torture porn that only the strong can stomach. If you can't get enough "Saw" and wish Kevin had been just a little more naughty than paint cans in "Home Alone", this is your chance to see something spectacular. Cat-lovers, beware.

This house is a maze of stairways, doorways, hallways, and it can get easy to get lost so the director does a great job of showing the audience where our "hero"...er..."hero-ish guy" is by raising the camera over the door frames through the ceiling so you can see where the good guy is and where the bad guy is easily. There is also different lighting throughout the house. Of course, most rooms are very dark but some have bluish tints and the basement has a creepy slimer-glow.

This is one of the best scary movies I've seen in the last couple of years. There is no filler, very little exposition at the beginning, it just jumps right into the thrilling cat-and-mouse game where you keep waiting for the killer to discover someone else is in the house. One more scary note: the killer likes to put people in boxes.

This film also features a quick cameo from Claire's lesbian college friend in "Heroes" and yes, she gets topless so...enjoy that, I guess.

End verdict: go rent this for thrills and chills. Not a movie to eat during. Bring a pillow to shove in front of your face when it gets too freaky.

In an isolated mansion somewhere, a new family moves into a mansion known as the Chases (Michael Reilly Burke, Andrea Roth and Karley Scott Collins) as they believe it is just the right place. However, Arkin (Josh Stewart) was fixing their windows and doors as he is a con-artist that needs more money even for his wife as he decides to play burglar at their house when they aren't home, unfortunately there is another criminal called The Collector (Juan Fernadez) has imprisoned the family with a few other people as he has booby-trapped the house for uninvited guests but can he find a surviving family member and get out alive?

Intense, creepy and gory slasher movie from the writers of Saw IV and V is quite an original and startling shocker. It's been called a Torture movie but there is only a couple but not alot as this is actually a slasher movie in the Home Alone mode where are are booby-traps such as fox-traps on the floors in a hall, acid sticky glue, windows with razors etc and of course the usual stabbing. This one is also quite claustrophobic and brings back the feel of those exploitation slasher era rather than being so-called "Torture Porn".

This Blu-Ray offers brilliant stunning picture with surround sound that is quite chilling even of the screams of victims with extras like trailer, featurette, music video and deleted scenes.

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I don't know what some of these people are talking about, but this movie is AWESOME. I have to admit, I didn't think it was going to be this much Gore in the movie. I haven't been this creeped out in a Horror movie like this in a long time. I just don't understand why there were so many traps in the house. If anyone is familiar with the Video Game "Deception" you will think this would have made a perfect movie. I really don't like much gore like how some of the Saw movies started off, but I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. The only thing I want to know is if this guy is Human?? I wanted to see his face so bad. If there is a sequel, I'm sure they will go into some of the backstory of who the guy is, but if your ready for a good horror movie, This one is worth a watch.

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The Collector is like Jigsaw invited Jason Vorhees and Freddy Krueger over for a cup of tea and some blood-letting. A sub-contractor/thief has staked out his latest rich victim to burgle and this time he needs the money to help his ex-wife escape losing her knee caps to a loan shark. That is the entire story.

The rest of the movie deals with the burglar finding the house is now a house of horror, booby-trapped with trip-wires, bear traps, razors and the master bedroom has the floor entirely covered in glue so the collector can trap the owners of the home like flies on a fly strip. The collector is a silent masked predator and we learn if he likes you, he collects you but if he doesn't want you he kills you. This info is provided by one of the collectibles confined in a large red box.

The problem with the film is, there is no explanation of how the collector was able to booby-trap the house in a short window of time and the movie is mostly a set-up for some ingenious kills including a disembowelment, but the movie comes through with the torture and gore and like Jigsaw, Jason and Freddy before him, the collector will be coming back for more blood and guts.

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THE COLLECTOR takes SAW to new levels of torture horror. It's a well made albeit disturbing film. Filled with grotesque traps and pervasive violence, it's not easy to watch. Josh Stewart is intensely effective in his role of the down on his luck jewel thief with good support from Andrea Roth and Michael Reilly Burke. My main problem is the plot holes:

HOW DID THE COLLECTOR HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO SET ALL THE TRAPS?

WHY DIDN'T THE GUARD DOG ATTACK THE COLLECTOR?

WHY DIDN'T THE FAMILY GO ON THEIR VACATION?

WAS THE COLLECTOR REALLY AN EXTERMINATOR? HE PEELED THE LOGO OFF HIS VAN AT THE END.

HOW DID HE CHOOSE HIS VICTIMS--AND WHY?

Not for the squeamish, but certainly horrifying.

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Dorian Gray (2009)

I wasn't expecting to like this very much. However, I was very pleasantly surprised to find that everyone involved with this film knocked himself out. Oliver Parker, the director, certainly had so much more style and flair in his version than I'd seen in the old black and white version. Ben Barnes as Dorian couldn't be better. He is superb. He has the perfect face too for the walking around Dorian whose vices don't show on his face. Firth is his mentor but he is an armchair decadent compared to Dorian, able to talk the talk but not walk the walk.

If there is anyone on the planet who doesn't know the gist of this Oscar Wilde classic novel, it is this: Dorian Gray is a handsome, wealthy young man whose picture is painted as he is launched into society. He is quickly diverted into an ever escalating cycle of vice and debauchery. However, instead of the ravages of dissolution marring his face and figure, they instead ravage the painting. How far will he take this and is there any way out as the painting gets worse and worse?

The settings, the costumes, the details--all wonderful. I think Wilde himself would have enjoyed being at the premiere of this film!

DORIAN GRAY as adapted form Oscar Wilde's famous novel 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' and directed by Oliver Parker is about as fine a transfer of a period novel to the screen as has been made of late. The settings, costumes, and acting are all outstanding and with Parker's 'enhancing' some of the debauchery in the transformed life of this famous character updated to allow for more sensuality and brutality than prior cinematic versions, the tale really becomes dramatic.

Dorian Gray (Ben Barnes), an orphaned, abused child who happens to inherit a mansion in London upon the death of his only relative, comes to London as a young inordinately handsome yet shy man. He is immediately seizes the attention of Lord Henry Wotton (Colin Firth) who believes that the only goal in life is to respond to your desires, to your sensual needs. Dorian is introduced to a young painter Basil Hallward (Ben Chaplin) who is attracted to Dorian's beauty and as he paints his portrait he becomes enamored with his model. As the portrait is completed Lord Henry suggests that Dorian could always remain as beautiful as his portrait if he 'sold his soul' to remain ever youthful. Dorian takes up the idea and follows Lord Henry's tutelage to drink, smoke, and carouse in brothels, opium dens, and in the boudoirs of all the middle aged ladies of society. He encounters a beautiful young actress Sibyl Vane (Rachel Hurd-Wood), falls in love only to cast her aside (we later discover that her body has been thrown into the river much to the chagrin of her brother James (Johnny Harris). As Dorian's thirst for lusty and scandalous behaviors increases he causes much harm: the mutual attraction between Dorian and Basil eventually results in Dorian butchering Basil and discarding his body into the river grave. Dorian decides to leave London and travel to exotic places to try to fill his lascivious appetite: he returns twenty odd years later and every one has aged except Dorian. Lord Henry's daughter Emily (Rebecca Hall), born when Dorian departed London, is Dorian's intellectual match and the two are mutually attracted but Lord Henry violently objects, knowing what the real Dorian Gray is inside. Dorian's secret that he remains young eternally while his portrait ages and reveals the vile aspects of his corrupt life is finally revealed and the ending is a gruesome one.

Ben Barnes, Colin Firth, Ben Chaplin, and Rebecca Hall are all superb in their roles as are all of the many well-known fine British actors who fill minor roles. The DVD adds comments from many of these actors in a way that focuses on Oscar Wilde's novel, making the commitment of everyone involved seem more acutely aware of the film's purpose. It is a very well photographed, costumes, and lighted piece of cinematography a truly excellent period piece for this great novel to come alive again. Grady Harp, July 10

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I finally was able to see the 2009 version of Dorian Gray, adapted from the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

I am writing this review AS an Oscar Wilde fan. I have read The Picture of Dorian Gray twice and I have read The Canterville Ghost twice.

I am going to tell you right now that these negative reviews that claim that this film is an insult to Oscar Wilde are WRONG! It's as if people who know very little about the works of Oscar Wilde are following a trend.

Those that say this would make Oscar Wilde roll over in his grave clearly have never seen the dreadful mid 2000s version of The Picture of Dorian Gray that re-sets it in the 1960s with a female Basil with horrendous acting. And they clearly have never seen the 1940s version of The Canterville Ghost that turned the entire story into World War 2 propaganda about a solider having to prove himself against a Nazi.

I will admit that this not a word for word faithful adaptation of the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray however it is very true to the heart of the novel, the meaning and purpose. The character portrayals are perfect and accurate. All changes are purely superficial. I know Ben Barnes as Dorian does not resemble the character of the novel however he does resemble Oscar Wilde himself and since Oscar Wilde saw himself in Dorian I felt this was a brilliant use of visual symbolism in Wilde's own relationship with Dorian Gray.

I know that some people have complained about the adding of the character Emily Wotton, whom does not exist in the novel. What people fail to remember is that nearly all film versions of The Picture of Dorian Gray have this 'redeemer' character. In the 1940s movie her name was Gladys. In the 1973 version of The Picture of Dorian Gray her name was Beatrice. In most versions she's Basil's niece or daughter but in this version she was Lord Henry's daughter.

What many don't know is that this character does exist in the novel. She's mentioned briefly near the end as a country girl named Hetty. Her part in the novel isn't as big as in the film adaptations but she does still exist and she works to add sympathy to Dorian's character.

You cannot see the inner workings of Dorian's mind in a physical medium like films or plays as you do with the novel so you you need a new way to see his moral struggle. And this is done through the presence of Emily.

Collin Firth was incredible as Lord Henry. That was the best portrayal of Lord Henry since George Sanders. When he says 'People die by common sense.' he fully became Lord Henry for me. Most people treat the role too academically and sound like they're boredly reading from a book. Collin Firth however really got it. He really understood the character. This version of The Picture of Dorian Gray has more of Oscar Wilde's witty epigrams than any other version before it. The only line missing that I wish was in here is Lord Henry gives Dorian a cigarette case. In this one it's just inscribed with Dorian's name. In the novel it reads 'The World has changed because you are made of ivory and gold. The curve of your lips re-write history.'

The only character of the film I did not like was this version of Sibyl Vane. In this version Dorian seduces her into sleeping with him before marriage (as he does in the original film with Angela Lansbury in the role).

When Sibyl starts talking about having a family Dorian argues that it is too soon, much thanks to the ideas planted in his head by Lord Henry. When this Sibyl kills herself it gets revealed that she was with child. This takes away from her sympathy. It's true having a child out of wed lock was frowned upon in the Victorian era but it did happen. And it did not mean the end of the world. Look at the character of Fantine in Les Miserables. It was selfish of this Sibyl to kill herself because she did not just kill herself, she killed herself and the unborn baby that she seemed so eager to have only a few scenes earlier. It looked almost as if the suicide was out of spite.

Sibyl does kill herself in the earlier incarnations but at least she had never done it while carrying a baby and knowing she was carrying the baby, and having wanted to raise the child. It's hard to sympathize with this version of Sibyl, especially since you know her brother Jim would have taken care of both her and the baby if not Dorian.

Basil, however, was very sympathetic. One thing I'm glad they cut was that in most versions Basil didn't just disapprove of Dorian's relationship with Sibyl out of jealousy, he also had told him not to marry beneath his class. Basil doesn't do that in this version. Basil is the most sympathetic of Dorian's Victims in this film.

Dorian himself is played exceptionally well though my favourite character portrayal in this version is Lord Henry. Dorian goes from ruthless and cruel to sympathetic and tragic in a heartbeat. The struggle is perfect. You can see his conscience, and not just with the painting. He is fighting against his own darker instincts which adds to making him sympathetic.

As a true Oscar Wilde fan I feel they captured the spirit of Oscar Wilde's intent. This was the best version of The Picture of Dorian Gray I have ever seen, the black and white version coming in close second for having the better and more innocent version of Sibyl Vane.

I am in America and we never got a theatrical release of this version of Dorian Gray. This film is truly good, truly exceptional, and, if you want to watch any film about a young looking immortal, this is far more intelligent, interesting and just plain better than the Twilight Saga.

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They just don't make movies in the states like they do in Europe! This movie had a really classy dark feeling. Though I personally didn't like all the nudity... It had to be in there to make a point to the downhill spiral Dorian made!

Ben Barnes is truely an amazing actor! He is so versatile in this and all his other roles! He came into the movie so innocent and "caspian" like! Then you saw the change as he " nailed his soul to the devils alter." Ben is a beautiful actor. He has such presence! I wish there were more young actors out there like him! He has TRUE talent. And he can sing and dance! What young actors can we say can do that? Not many! Ben is actually staring in a play called "Birdsong" in London starting September 18! Wow what else can be said for these brilliant British actors!?

It is a tragedy this movie wasn't shown in the USA on the big screen! Why? Well how many other countries movies are actually shown in the states? Not many! We need more of these movies here!

Colin firth! Amazing as usual and Colin and Ben's chemistry is outstanding!

Excellent movie and true to it's time! I wish it had gone on another 20 minutes!

Can't wait for Ben's movie "Locked in" to come to DVD since the USA probably won't show this one either!

Enjoy this movie! It is a masterpiece!

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The soul of Oscar Wilde's scandalous and captivating novel is alive and well in 2010. The latest film version of "The Picture of Dorian Gray" took my breath away. It is a different beast from Wilde's original novel, but it is no less majestic for its transgressions. The decadence is captivating, and the artistic expression is superb. Oliver Parker has shaped a masterpiece, manipulating an unforgettable tale and perfectly adapting it to film. What is important about Parker's film is that it projects the sensationalism and sensibility of the 1890 gothic story into the contemporary world, while remaining faithful to the culture that inspired the original manuscript. Yes, many aspects are unfaithful to the narrative as it is published under Wilde's name, but Dorian is not frequently known for his loyalty.

I truly cannot praise this film enough. As a faithful Wilde devotee, I highly recommend all others with even a passing interest seek out this visual, musical, and narrative masterpiece.

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Metropolitan (The Criterion Collection) (1990)

This 1990 film by writer-director Whit Stillman is wonderfully refreshing and intelligent. It is sure to please audiences with a taste for the avant-garde or those just looking for something a little different.

The story follows a group of upper-crust New York preppies during the Christmas debutante season. These are kids for whom black-tie balls at the Plaza Hotel and charming little soirees in Park Avenue apartments are serious matters. They are the UHB-"urban haute bourgeoisie"-a social circle carrying out traditions so anachronistic as to seem alien; traditions, in fact, which were outdated before these characters were even born.

A middle class outsider and budding socialist named Tom Townsend (Edward Clements) happens into this elite group and briefly livens things up. He shocks them with his leftist rhetoric (he is a devotee of Fourier) and anti-deb outlook, but they nonetheless find themselves drawn to him. Tom finds a kindred spirit in the cynically fatalistic Nick (Christopher Eigeman). Nick is the most self-aware member of the inner circle and he provides comic relief with his devastating ongoing critique of their lives and behavior.

Stillman's characters seem to have everything going for them. They are bright and educated and come from very wealthy families. We learn, though, that privilege is both their blessing and their curse. These children of status are destined to always remain in the shadow of their very successful parents. As one of them puts it, "We're doomed to failure." We come to realize that even though they are well-off in many ways, they still must struggle with the same insecurities and fears as the rest of us.

The characters in "Metropolitan" are the kind of people that F. Scott Fitzgerald knew so well. Indeed, if Fitzgerald had been a director rather than a writer, this is the type of film he might have made. It is intelligent and literate with dialogue that almost crackles with its liveliness and wit. "Metropolitan" gives us a rare glimpse into a world that scarcely exists anymore, if it ever really did. It is a real treasure.

This movie glistens like a piece of old Belleek. Whether in the subtle gold of an off the shoulder evening gown, or in the vast expanse of a deep, plush, ivory colored carpet, nearly every frame shimmers with champagne like iridescence.

And gold is an apt visual metaphor, particularly when juxtaposed against the black satin of a tuxedo lapel or the wintry Manhattan night scape, for a world seemingly vanishing right before our eyes--a world too sleek, too soigné, too genteel to survive the steam roller of galloping blue-jeaned egalitarianism.

That the denizens of this vanishing breed, as depicted in the film, are themselves, insecure late adolescents, make its departure all the more poignant.

"This is probably the last Deb season..." one of them observes resignedly, "...because of the stock market, the economy, Everything..." Yes, everything...the huge smothering subject that hovers all around the plot itself and from which its characters are only temporarily insulated.

In particular, the focus here is on a group of privileged Eastern Seaboard collegians enjoying the Christmas holidays in a series of Park Avenue, "after dance parties," in which they loll about and ruefully anticipate the disappearance of their youth, their success, and their kind.

That they are one at the same time cerebral, immature, literate, prankish, frightened, polished, well educated but vulnerable and inexperienced, puts them well outside the troglodyte teens that inhabit the deconstructionist zoo in most post 1970 films, (with the exception of a unfortunate and mis-placed "strip poker" sequence which violates the picture's otherwise overall mood.)

Indeed, they seem to exist outside their own time, belonging rather to that group Cecil Beaton dubbed "the smart young things" from the 1920's, in his "The Glass of Fashion." Certainly, one imagines them far more comfortable with Ivor Novello than Mick Jagger. And like many "smart sets" they seem rather a closed corporation.

Until that is, into their number unexpectedly arrives a young man of reduced circumstances, Tom Townsend, (Edward Clements) who by virtue of his sincerity and intelligence, is invited to "sup at their table--on a borrowed pass" so to speak. His romantic misadventures with the beguiling Audrey Rouget(Carolyn Farina)forms the cynosure of the charmingly fragile plot.

Audrey and Tom stand out from the pack, in their earnestess and integrity, though it is assuredly Nick, (Christopher Eigeman) their figurehead and chief quip master who is the groups' un-elected leader. As interpreted by Mr. Eigeman, Nick is the embodiment of the cocktail fueled, cigarette wielding bon vivant--trenchant, self absorbed, far from virtuous, and with a ready verbal arrow that never misses its target. He is George Sander's heir presumptive.

Nick's observations are worth the whole price of admission as they say, whether it be bemoaning the Protestant Reformation, the social climbing Surrealists, or the scarcity of detachable collars.

Since the film's short, bouffant,cocktail dresses and automobiles unmistakably place the film in very late modernity--the Reagan era in fact, and long after the Ray Anthony's Orchestra, top hatted milieu it depicts, we cannot fail to miss the film's core observation--the parallel evanescence of the groups' own social connections, as placed against the simultaneous collapse of civilized life as we once knew it.

As the Christmas season ends, so do the nightly gatherings, and each character is forced to come to terms with impermanence--their own and everything else's. In a melancholy bar scene, an older man warns the youngsters of disappointment ahead, "I'm not destitute but...it's all so mediocre."

That Producer/Director Whit Stillman manages to fuse the personal with the sociological in such and intriguing and entrancing way is a testament to the penetration of his vision.

And, lest we miss the point, he includes a cunning shot of a significant book left on bedside table--none other than Spengler's "Decline of the West."

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One editorial review remarks "as the innocent, easily manipulated Audrey..". I seriously doubt it. You really must watch this picture several times before the parts fall into place. Take the opening scene when Tom 'accidentally' runs into Audrey's crowd. As the film later reveals Tom was given the ticket and has been sitting behind Audrey's table all night. He even went to the trouble to rent a tux for the occasion! He went to all this trouble in search of a woman by the name of Serena. The film also makes clear that he has never met anybody in the group. It's Audrey who's been looking him over. When Tom finally meets the woman, Serena, he learns that everybody writes to her and she never keeps any of them. She usually reads the very bad or the very good to her girl friends at the dorm but quickly assures him that his letters were always quite good. In fact her roommate liked them so much that she fell in love with him and kept them. Tom is horrified at this lack of privacy then stunned when he learns that Audrey was the roommate! Audrey wasn't an easily manipulated woman. One can only suspect that she manipulated Tom through the movie with the assistance of friends from time to time. Isn't it interesting that she's reading The Rector of Justin in the tanning scene? Or how she's dressed? Audrey deserves far more study in this film. Tom is far more related to Holly Martins of The Third Man. They are both struggling to learn what's happening around them. This film isn't for the one and done club. It needs more than one viewing to fully appreciate it. It was truly well done.

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Back in 1984, Whit Stillman began work on his screenplay for "Metropolitan", a screenplay that would be completed in 1988. At the time, Stillman ran his own illustration agency but in order to get his screenplay created for the big screen, Stillman sold his apartment in New York for $50,000 and whatever money friends and family could contribute to his project.

"Metropolitan" is loosely based on Stillman's experience while attending his first year at Harvard and while living with his divorced mother during the week of Christmas break. The film focuses on a small group of preps who live in Upper East Side Manhattan and attending the debutante balls during their first year of college. The term "Urban Haute Bourgeoisie" was coined from this film and while many people would consider the film about WASP-students, ironically Stillman's grandfather E. Digby Baltzell was responsible for coining the term WASP.

The film featured intellectual dialogue reminiscent of French New Wave director Eric Rohmer and the film would go on to receive an Academy Award nomination back in 1991 for "Best Original Screenplay", a nomination for Grand Jury Prize (Drama) at the 1990 Sundance Film Festival and winning "Best New Director" at the New York Film Critics Circle Award in 1990.

"Metropolitan" is a film that revolves around a group of Upper East Side Manhattanites who are preparing for a party at Sally Fowler's. Princeton student Tom Townsend (played by Edward Clements) is trying to catch a cab in which the group (known as the Sally Fowler Rat Pack) is also trying to catch. Because Tom allows them to take the cab, Nick Smith (played by Chris Eigeman) invites Tom to join them for their party.

We are introduced to a group of individuals who love to discuss socio-economics, literary discussions, politics and the life of young adults. Tom who is an intellectual himself meets the rat pack leader Nick (who becomes a good friend of Tom and allows him to be part of their circle); the blonde singer Sally Fowler (played by Dylan Hundley); the often-drunk and always sleeping Fred Neff (played by Bryan Leder); the very opinionated Jane Clark (played by Allison Rutledge); the sexy Cynthia McLean (played by Isabel Gillies); the bespectacled and often-opinionated Charlie Black (played by Taylor Nichols) and the sensitive, literary loving Audrey Rouget (played by Carolyn Farina).

After the party is over, it is revealed that unlike his new friends, Tom doesn't live in the Upper East Side. He and his mother try to live with whatever money they have and despite going to a nice college, he tries to conceal his lack of finances by renting tuxedo's and thus he is seen as a man who is skeptical about upper-class values, but even though his new friend Nick figures him out, Nick doesn't mind because of a "severe escort shortage" and that Tom is good in conversations with him and his friends.

Meanwhile, Audrey has fallen for Tom but Tom has always been in love with Serena Slocum (played by Elizabeth Thompson) who is dating a baron named Rick Von Sloneker (played by Will Kempe) who Nick despises.

The film spotlights on the friendship and relationships of Tom and his group of upper-class friends which Charlie has crafted the new name of "Urban Haute Bourgeoisie".

VIDEO:

"Metropolitan THE CRITERION COLLECTION #382' is presented in 1:66:1 color. It's probably one of the few Criterion Collection films that looks its age but considering this was a low budget indie film, I'm not going to be too picky on picture quality. There is a fine layer of grain and I'm guessing noise that can be seen on the print.

According to THE CRITERION COLLECTION, the DVD release is presented in its original Super 16mm. Director Whit Stillman and director of photography John Thomas supervised the new HD transfer, which was created on a Spirit Datacine from a 35mm blow-up interpositive. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris and scratches were removed using the MTI Digital Restoration System.

AUDIO:

According to THE CRITERION COLLECTION, the soundtrack for "Metropolitan" was mastered at 24-bit from the 35mm magnetic stems and audio restoration tools were used to reduce clicks, pops, hiss and crackle. The film is Dolby Digital 1.0 and thus is center channel-driven. I chose to set my receiver to stereo on all channels for a more immersive soundtrack.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

"Metropolitan THE CRITERION COLLECTION #326" comes with the following special features:

* Audio Commentary Audio commentary by writer/director Whit Stillman, actors Christopher Eigeman and Taylor Nichols and editor Christopher Tellefsen. Informative commentary on how certain scenes were filmed, filmmaking with a budget to reasons why some of the cast was stereotyped and unable to find work after "Metropolitan". A pretty entertaining commentary!

* Outtakes (9:23) Outtakes from "Metropolitan".

* Memorial (1:00) Behind-the-scenes footage of line producer Brian Greenbaum who died in 1992.

* Alternate Casting Featuring two alternate castings that were not used in the film. One titled "Record Producer Allen" starring Lloyd Kaufman (2:27) and the other "Nick Smith" (1:52) featuring Will Kempe (who plays Van Sloneker in the film) playing the character of Nick. An optional commentary is included with Whit Stillman discussing why he changed the cast for those roles.

* Original Theatrical Trailer (2:06) The original theatrical trailer.

EXTRAS:

"Metropolitan THE CRITERION COLLECTION #326" comes with a quad-fold insert featuring an essay by Luc Sante titled "After the Ball".

"Metropolitan" is a fantastic, entertaining and highly enjoyable film that many people have probably not heard of.

And after they see the trailer or read a little about it, I wouldn't be surprised if people tend to pass on the film because of its unknown actors and that it is a film that focuses on upper-class WASP students. Correction... as the Charlie would say, "Urban Haute Bourgeoisie" (or "UHB") students which are neither a preppie or a WASP but a member of a group that because of its specific status, has nowhere to go but down.

It's a film that showcases intellectual conversation, engrossing dialogue and for those who are able to follow it and understand the humor within the film and its witty dialogue, you will easily find "Metropolitan" quite entertaining.

It's pretty interesting because I tend to bring up a film such as Eric Rohmer's "My Night at Maud's" or his earlier films in which the conversations were intellectual and engrossing but its what made Rohmer's films so intellectually stimulating. They weren't meant for humor, "Metropolitan" is well-crafted for one to follow it and just laugh of the exchanges between the characters.

I absolutely enjoyed how the screenplay is written and the conversations that Stillman includes in this film. For example, here is a conversation between the literary loving Audrey and the intellectual, Fourier admiring character, Tom.

AUDREY: I read that Lionel Trilling essay that you mentioned. You really like Trilling?

TOM: Yes.

AUDREY: I think he's very strange. He says that nobody can like the heroine of "Mansfield Park". I like her. And then he goes on, and on, about how we modern people of today with our modern attitudes bitterly resentments for the park because its heroine is virtuous. What's wrong with a novel having a virtuous heroine?

TOM: His point is that the novels premise there is something immoral in a group of young people putting on a play is pretty absurd.

AUDREY: You found Fanny Price unlikeable?

TOM: She sounds pretty unbearable but I haven't read the book?

AUDREY: What?

TOM: You don't have to read a book to have an opinion on it. I haven't read the bible either.

AUDREY: What Jane Austen novels have you read?

TOM: None. I don't read novels. I prefer good literary criticism. That way you get both the novelist's ideas as well as the critics thinking. With fiction, I can never forget that none of it ever really happened, that its all just made up by the author.

This is just but one of the few conversations featured in the film.

"Metropolitan" is probably one of those romantic comedies that definitely does its best in showcasing the life of young Manhattan debutantes. And I have read that because Stillman's father was an attorney for President Kennedy (and his parents was divorced), he had the opportunity to see life in both worlds of rich and not rich at all and definitely provided some insight to the (disappearing?) lifestyle of young upperclass students.

I loved the characters of this film. Personally, with the way the film is ostentatiously written, especially how characters (especially Charlie) who has this opprobrium feel to his fellow upperclass friends, he senses doom. In no different of how a conservative views a liberal. I loved the character of Audrey who is the most reminiscent of early Rohmer films with her discussions of literary likes. And as a person who took part in high school book clubs to have these literary discussions, I have found Tom the most interesting of them all. Not just in regards to his comment of not reading novels and following criticism (because even those of us who review films are guilty of reading reviews and essays from Sarris, Kael, Rosenbaum, Agee, etc. of films we may have not seen yet) but it's his take towards the upperclass and not being a fan of the debutante balls but yet hangs out with the UHB's and thus, there is a hypocrisy that begins to be unraveled as he starts to sort out his emotions and the way people around him have started to have an affect on him.

By no means is "Metropolitan" a film that is pedantic nor does it asks its viewer to be an erudite on literary and socio-economic topics. But it does make for an engrossing film for those who know what the characters are talking about and for the most part, this is an independent film that it so well written and for a low budget film that deals with the upperclass, Whit Stillman has done a fantastic job with this film and definitely helped set things up for the writer/director for his next two films "Barcelona" and "The Last Days of Disco". If anything, it has been over a decade since we have seen anything else from Stillman which is a shame because he is fine director and I hope we continue to see more films from the director.

As for the DVD, it may not be a release that has the typical CRITERION COLLECTION style of being loaded with bells and whistles, nor may it be one of their better looking films in the collection but for those who are fans of Stillman's work or a person who is craving for humorous but smart, engrossing dialogue will find "Metropolitan" to be to their liking.

Overall, "Metropolitan" is a film that I very much love but by saying that, I know this film is not for everyone. But still "Metropolitan" is definitely a DVD release still worth recommending!

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Whit Stillman's "METROPOLITAN" is the brilliant and clever study of late 80s-early 90s youths in Manhattan, living would-be intelligent and affluent lifestyles as they wax philosphical on every topic which lies at their fingertips (ultimately, they just want sex)...

Chris Eigeman is way more charming and funny than he has any right to be as the smarmy and downright obnoxious fraud who one night, by chance ?, befriends a Conan O'Brien look-alike in a baje-colored overcoat.

It's through this meeting that our hero (the carrot top) meets Audrey, a charming and sadly insecure young lady who finds him intriguing, if he would only reciprocate those feelings. Yes, the heartstrings and nerves of these bright young things are very tangled, indeed.

Stillman, who made his fearsome, forceful writing-directorial debut here, has crafted a bittersweet and wonderfully eloquent take on the yuppie lifestyle and the love lives of a particular circle of friends within that strata of society.

The great news: The Criterion Collection, known for their brilliant and astonishing treatments of great films, have wisely decided to release this film for the first time ever on DVD! On 2/14/06, "Metropolitan" will be available to own with, I'm sure, some great extra features! If we could just get another Stillman commentary (like on the "Barcelona" DVD available from Warner Home Video), then we'd be in business. Anything else is just gravy.

This is a masterpiece of ultra-independent cinema, with a young first time writer-director strutting his stuff and leaving an indelible impression of his viewers. This is where Stillman gets a loyal audience. And it won't just be available in the Netherlands anymore!!!

See also: "Barcelona" (1993) and "The Last Days of Disco" (1998), at least while waiting for Stillman to get off his bum and do another film!!!

PLEASE!

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The Dark Mirror (1946)

Although director Robert Siodmak is most closely identified with noir classics such as The Killers, Crisscross, and The Phantom Lady, The Dark Mirror is a fine addition to his portfolio. Expanding on the scope of his creativity, Siodmak relies heavily on the performance that he draws from star actress Olivia De Havilland. The Dark Mirror is a psychological thriller about a murder committed by one of two twin sisters; Ruth and Terry Collins. Playing both sister roles, De Havilland's acting ability and developmental character depth is tested. De Havilland passes admirably. At first the twin sisters seem physically and emotionally similar. Subltle nuances differentiate their personalities and it is De Havilland's fine acting that peels away the layers of emotionalism that define each sister's character traits. De Havilland aided by keen camera work by Siodmak, keeps viewers on edge as she shifts roles within frames that are shared by both sisters. ( I still don't understand how Sidomak achieved thisespecially the scenes when Terry is comforting a terrifed Ruth.) When Terry attempts to drive Ruth insane, thoughts of Gaslight come to mind, but De Havilland's dual performance creates even more interest. Dimitri Tomkin's musical score is also a plus as it serves to accentuate the emotions that heighten the film's climactic expressions shared by the twin sisters. The script by Nunnally Johnson, is sometimes mundane, and it seems that the film's eightyfive minute running time is consciously stretched. The film's ending is a surprise as Terry's wrath and frustration finally surface.

The Dark Mirror is an improbable, yet entertaining suspense story about a detective and a psychiatrist's attempts to determine which one of a pair of twins committed murder. The movie succeeds because of the effective performance by Olivia deHavilland as the twins. Rather than making the twins polar opposites (which is what most actresses whould have done and most twins aren't), she subtlely distinguishes between the two, and her performance at the climax of the movie is very memorable. The special effects to give the illusion of two Olivias are quite good, especially given the time when the film was made. All in all, it's an entertaining movie and I'd recommend it.

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After a doctor is found murdered, the chief suspect is a woman (Olivia De Havilland) identified by several witnesses at the scene. But the detective (Thomas Mitchell) assigned to the case discovers that she has an identical twin sister (also De Havilland) which begs the question ..... which one is the murderess? The director Robert Siodmak (THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE) and De Havilland tip their hand fairly early in the film so that we know who the murderer is so the suspense comes from how will they find out and will they find out before she commits another killing. Siodmak provides the requisite moody atmosphere and De Havilland does an excellent job of differentiating between the two sisters, it's really one of her best performances. Lew Ayres is the psychiatrist who attempts to find out which is the twisted sister through psychological means and ends up falling in love with one of them. The screenplay is by Nunnally Johnson who would return to the subject again nine years later with THREE FACES OF EVE. The effective underscore is by Dimitri Tiomkin. With Richard Long and Ida Moore.

The Olive DVD is a nicely rendered B&W transfer in its appropriate 1.33 aspect ratio

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Starring Olivia de Havilland and Olivia de Havilland, THE DARK MIRROR is a fun, psychologically-oriented, murder mystery. It is probably foremost, a super vehicle for Olivia to show her acting chops. She plays twin sisters (Terry and Ruth Collins) convincingly; using the subtlest of nuances to depict both personalities.

It is also a splendid job by Robert Siodmak. Imagine, he also made the superb THE KILLERS in the same year. There is only a single scene, where Terry and Ruth are speaking face to face, that looks the slightest bit artificial: the rest is an amazing technical achievement by any standard.

The Oscar nominated story (Vladimir Pozner), screenwriting (Nunnally Johnson), music (Dimitri Tiomkin) and cinematography (Milton Krasner) are all very fine. And when you find that Olivia de Havilland is supported by the likes of Lew Ayres and Thomas Mitchell; there's nothing left but to sit back and enjoy.

This is definitely a film that deserves a DVD/Blu-ray release.

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I have been waiting for years for this to come out on DVD. One of Olivia's great films and Robert Siodmak at his very best.

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Safety Last! (Criterion Collection) (1923)

Although he is generally considered the equal of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd's films are much less widely available--with the exception of SAFETY LAST, which turns up with great regularity at film festivals and on cable television. Like most of his films, SAFETY LAST finds Lloyd struggling to make good in order to win the girl of his dreams (in this case his actual wife, actress Mildred Davis)--and when the big boss offers a thousand dollars for a promotional idea that will draw hundreds to the store, Lloyd suggests a human fly act... but at the last minute circumstances go awry, leaving Lloyd to make the climb himself.

While the first half of the film abounds in brilliant, hilarious sight gags, it is Lloyd's climb up the skyscraper that is best remembered: attacked by pigeons, entangled in a net, running afoul of a mouse, and ultimately hanging from the hands of a clock face hundreds of feet above a cheering crowd. Filmed without stunt-doubles or such devices as rear-screen projection, the squirm effect of the sequence is still tremendous--and the film is all the funnier for it. Always wearing his signature straw hat and round-frame glasses, Lloyd's eager optimism personified the go-getter mentality of the 1920s, when the sky seemed the limit and progress hadn't yet gone on too long. If you are a fan of silent film but have not yet encountered Harold Lloyd, SAFETY LAST is the perfect introduction--and an essential for your collection.

Okay, when we think of Harold Lloyd we think of the famous image of him hanging onto the hands of a clock outside a building, right? Well, this is where the shot was taken from. "Safety Last" was one of the few Lloyd comedies I actually saw when I was younger. I mostly saw his short 2 and 3 reelers growing up. But, I happened to see "Safety Last" on tv yesterday. It's been about 15 years since I last saw, and I was still amazed.

"Safety Last" tells the story of a couple in love (Lloyd and Mildred Davis). Lloyd is going to become a big businessman so he can marry the girl of his dreams. As soon as he gets enough money he will send out for her to come. At best Lloyd gets a job as a salesman making $15 a week. In 1923 I'm guessing that was pretty good, but, even by those standards not enough to get married on. So, naturally like any man would do, he lies to his girlfriend pretending that he's doing much better than he actually is. He goes without eating so he can buy her a chain. He writes to her everyday of the week dreaming of the day they can be together.

Feeling she has waited long enough for Lloyd, Davis decides it's time for her to go to him. Thus making things worst for him due to the fact she visits him at work! But, as fate would have it the department store where he is working is looking for a scheme to draw costumers. And Lloyd gets a great idea that will earn him $1,000!

Okay, I feel I have to commet on the building climbing piece. It is one of the most daring scenes I have scene in comedy history. Now, I know that no harm came to Lloyd making shooting that scene. I know he survived the making of that scene and went on to make other movies, but, I became so caught in the moment that my heart was in my throat. I was sitting on the edge of my seat. Everytime it seemed as if Lloyd would fall off the buliding I jumped lol. I kept thinking to myself, "Why did he do this?!" "How did he do this?!" "How did they shoot this scene?!!" You forget that it's only a movie. because most of us know that Lloyd did his own stunts. It really is something everyone has to see.

Would I say this is his "best" movie? No, to be honest I don't think so. Do I think it's one of his funniest? Sure. It's right up there. I also think it's one of the best comedies not only made in it's day, but of all-time. So go out and buy it.

Bottom-line: Probably Lloyd's most famous movie due to the "thrill" scene at the end. One of the best comedies of all time.

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Harold Lloyd is without question the funniest and most daring filmmaker of his day, if not the entire 20th century. SAFETY LAST is a classic example of Lloyd's films: an average, All-American boy, full of optimism and hope, finds himself in a simple mixup that quickly multiplies with hilarious complexity. When SAFETY LAST first debuted in theaters in 1923, audiences literally fainted while watching the stunts Harold performed, and they are no less powerful today, for they were all filmed without the aid of special effects. He made more films than Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton combined, but has been all but forgotten by late 20th century film lovers. SAFETY LAST is only one of the multitudes of fantastic movies this genius made, and if you're not impressed when you see it, remember this: due to a stunt accident early in his career, Harold Lloyd lost his thumb and index finger on his right hand. All the stunts you see in SAFETY LAST including the infamous skyscraper climb were done with the use of only ONE complete hand! If you like SAFETY LAST (and I'm sure you will), I also highly recommend GIRL SHY, SPEEDY and HOT WATER, just to name a few.

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The LA Conservancy has a great pdf document on how SAFETY LAST was filmed. It was very clever how perspective tricks were used to make it look like Lloyd was actually dangling over a downtown LA street (you knew he wasn't really...). Google "laconservancy.org/tours/HaroldLloyd" and you'll be rewarded with photos of the locations as they look today, plus fascinating information on the filming of this comedy classic. Pages 7 and 8 show specifically how the clock scene was shot. Makes a terrific addition to this film.

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Anyone who knows anything about cinematic history knows that the payoff in SAFETY LAST is Harold Lloyd's harrowing and comedic exploits hanging from the hands of a clock on the side of a building high above the city streets. As many times as I had seen excerpts from that sequence in various places, I had never seen the movie in its entirety until now.

Harold Lloyd was a comic genius. The story is simple enough--boy goes to the big city; boy lies to girl about how well he is doing; girl comes to the city to surprise boy--but the movie is so rich in site gags that it is truly enjoyable throughout. Because this is a silent film, the comedy is physical and universal and appealing even to the jaded sensibilities of the present day.

Lloyd plays "The Boy," a fresh-faced country lad who bids "The Girl" (Mildred Davis) farewell in order to pursue his dreams of riches in the city. When he arrives, however, he lands a job as a lowly sales clerk, and it is a daily struggle for him to avoid being fired. Bill Strother plays "The Pal," The Boy's roommate and compatriot in misery. The Pal, as a construction worker, has a talent for scaling tall buildings. When The Boy's boss offers $1000 to anyone who can draw shoppers to the department store, The Boy proposes a human fly stunt (by The Pal) to bring in the crowds. Unfortunately, The Boy unintentionally draws the ire of "The Law" (Noah Young) onto The Pal. As the time for the stunt draws near, The Boy needs to start climbing, at least until The Pal is able to shake The Law.

Even after seeing excerpts from this scene hundreds of times, the clock-hanging sequence in SAFETY LAST is utterly breathtaking, more so when you consider that (evidently) no special effects or trick photography was used in the filming. The impact of this scene, therefore, is so much more powerful than any analogous scene in a modern film could ever be.

SAFETY LAST is a classic and important film in the history of cinema, but one that is surprisingly accessible today, considering its age. It should certainly be part of any serious film buff's video library.

Jeremy W. Forstadt

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12 Monkeys (1995)

When I saw "12 Monkeys" in the theaters, I thought to myself, "This is one of the greatest films of the past ten years." Despite working with a script written by others and under some stringent studio restrictions, Terry Gilliam more than managed to infuse the story with his trademark approach to movie-making.

I had some reservations going in about the choice of Brad Pitt to play the role of a mentally unbalanced eco-terroist, but Pitt did a marvelous job and really made the character his own. (Viewers who like Pitt in "12 Monkeys" would probably do well to check out his performance in "Fight Club". Tyler Durden is what Jeffery Goins could be if he were less manic.) Bruce Willis and Madeline Stowe also turn in terrific performances, especially Willis for whom this was one of his first non-action films. Fans of the old "Batman" TV show will be amused to see Frank Gorshin (the Riddler) as the chief psychiatrist at the mental institution were much of the early part of the film takes place. Christopher Plummer is not given much screen time, but he does an excellent job with what little he has.

As for the story itself, even though many people try to claim that it is about the line between sanity and madness(in the vein of Gilliam's "The Fisher King"), I just do not see it as such. I never doubted Cole's sanity, the future world was too real to make me think that it was a figment of Cole's imagination. And if one did have that impression at first, there was too much revealed early in the film to sustain that belief. I prefer to view the story as an extremely intricate "whodunit", where the viewer actually receives most of the information relevant to the conclusion by about half-way through the film, but in such a jumbled and contradictory manner that the true outcome remains obscure until the last 15 minutes. But of course, this being a Gilliam picture, even after the conclusion is revealed, a final twist is thrown to the viewer. (Note: to appreciate the twist, pay attention to the future scientists. I've known some people who didn't watch closely and they didn't understand the twist as a result.)

Setting aside the film, and considering the DVD, Universal did an excellent job with this release. The documentary "The Hamster Factor" offers some great insights into both "12 Monkeys" and the movie industry in general. And the commentary track with Gilliam and the producer is very good for understanding the process of movie-making, as well as how specific scenes were set up. My only disappointment came with the "Production Notes" feature. If you watch the documentary and listen to the commentary track, the production notes really just repeat what you've previously learned.

Good Science Fiction (weather a book, a movie, tv, whatever) has the power to make us look at ourselves as a society. The events in this movie metaphorically mimic events in our everyday lives. Even though we have not yet discovered time travel, all of the other events in this movie could happen, which is absolutely frightening. This is a dark movie, not for everyone, which has a deep high-minded script and plot (it may take a few watchings to fully understand this one.) The cinematography, directing, and acting are wonderful. Bruce Willis proves that he can do other movies besides his normal action type. He also proved it later in The 6th Sense, but I think this is one of his best performences. As for Brad Pitt, it is his best performance. It's so real that by the end, you'll think he's crazy.

Another important thing to note is to buy the DVD, but not the DTS one. The non-DTS version has an insightful long documentary on the making of the film, the DTS version does not have this. Plus the Dolby Digital sound is excellent in itself.

Most Highly Reccomended.

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12 Monkeys is a convoluted tale of time travel, insanity, apocalypse, and who-done-it, with some romance thrown in. What I enjoyed most about it was the twisting and ambiguous path it followed, which was fresh and well thought out, to a point.

Bruce Willis plays Cole, a prisoner in a post-apocalyptic future recruited to do some dangerous time-travel work in the past for a group of very odd scientists. The goal of the work only becomes apparent later, and by then there is confusion about whether Cole is really on the mission he thinks he is or is just deluded. Brad Pitt has a major supporting role hamming it up as another who may or may not be insane.

Ultimately, while I don't think the film does full justice to its premises and possibilities, it does well enough to be entertaining and thought provoking. Director Terry Gilliam's surrealism adds much. The acting is very good on the whole, itself rather surreal in some of the supporting roles. There is some violence showing how disturbed Willis's character is, not bad for an R-rated movie. It's definitely worth seeing to judge for yourself what it's really about.

I want to comment on the things you think about after the film is over, to see how well it holds up. I'll have to go into details you may not want to know about if you haven't seen the film yet, thus the spoiler alert. If you'd like to know what my general conclusions are, without any spoilers, just skip to the last couple paragraphs headed "In Sum."

*SPOILER ALERT*

Madness

There are many points designed to suggest that parts of the film are delusions, but they're balanced by points seeming to show the opposite. There is the over-the-top strangeness of the future (the video ball, serenading scientists, etc.), the obvious parallels between the psych ward and the future prison (similar panels of doctors/scientists, the two guards, etc), the voice that calls Cole "Bob" (moving around as if in his head, though it seems to belong to the wino too), the music in the ruined department store (apparently a premonition (or something) of the time Cole is there in 1996), the lion and bear (again paralleled in 1996, unlikely denizens of a wintry abandoned Philadelphia).

But then Cole's disappearances, the French that Cole himself doesn't understand in WWI (yes, it's real French), the photo of Cole from WWI (though nearly impossibly convenient), the WWI bullet, Cole's knowledge of the boy in the well prank, all seem to settle things conclusively against delusion. That is, unless we're to imagine that not only the future but the whole film is delusions, of Cole (or Bob) and/or Railly, in line with her own fears and the comment by the virus culprit (Morse) that Railly might be succumbing to her Cassandra syndrome. Confusing? That's what Gilliam was aiming for.

In a way, the view that the whole film is largely delusion seems the most coherent overall interpretation, in that it can explain away all failures of logic. But it has trouble explaining how good the logic is. The film, strange and muddled as it is, really does seem far too lucid and coherent to be primarily be a string of delusions.

The End, Time Travel

The ending has stirred much debate. The woman sitting next to the culprit on the plane is one of the scientists from the future. She is presumably there to do exactly what Cole said the scientists planned to do, gather a sample of the virus from before it mutated. According to Cole, the scientists didn't send him to change the past, which he says is impossible. He was sent to gather information, which he did. We must assume that the sample is gathered and that this enables humanity in the future to return to the surface of the planet. It doesn't help the 5 billion killed.

That appears to be the basic sense of the ending, but it has its own loose ends. Why was Cole given the gun, if not to try to change the past? (Jose's line that it's too bad they didn't get the information sooner makes no sense to me in the context of time travel.) The scientist introduces herself on the plane saying, "I'm in insurance," which is a great line if she's a backup for Cole, in case he fails to stop the spread of the virus. But that too implies he could have changed the past. Even getting a sample of the virus seems to change the past. Trying to figure out the point of all of this is further complicated by the the fact that we are shown the virus being released by the culprit when it was being inspected at the airport. By the time Cole tried to shoot him it was already too late. This adds to the pathos, and the confusion.

Some views of time travel allow the past (and future) to change. It could work this way. Young Cole goes to the airport, there is no shooting, he survives the virus, and is eventually sent back, where he is shot, witnessed by young Cole, who survives the virus and is eventually sent back, where he remembers the shooting and gets shot (the scene we see near the end of the film). This would allow one more twist in the film, one suspected by some optimistic viewers. Railly, recognizing the boy Cole, would tell the boy to remember that the culprit wasn't the 12 monkeys gang but Dr. Goine's assistant. Then Cole could conceivably grow up and loop back one more time, this time preventing the virus from ever being released, and getting the girl. There is no hint of this, however. Had the filmmakers wanted to hint at the possibility, they easily could have (by having Railly whisper something in the boy Cole's ear, for example).

In Sum

All in all, the film is stimulating and fun but ultimately more frustrating than it might have been. I like a film that provokes thought, but I tend to prefer one that rewards it with additional insights and clarity. That only goes so far here, and then things seem impossible, muddled or otherwise unsatisfying. There is a certain postmodern sensibility that prefers just this kind of lack of clarity and incomplete logic. I don't know if that was intended here or just came about accidentally (I suspect some of each), but if that sensibility is your thing, you should love this film.

The DVD anamorphic video and 5.1 audio quality are fine. There is commentary track with director Gilliam and producer Charles Roven, and a full-length making-of documentary. Both are interesting and worth the time, but don't expect answers to the puzzles the film leaves, other than a hint or two expressed as personal opinion.

Read Best Reviews of 12 Monkeys (1995) Here

If you're a fan of 12 Monkeys, the blu-ray version is absolutely the best version to own. Calling it "not blu-ray quality" is humorous and also shows ignorance. That reviewer knows little about how this movie is supposed to look. Not every blu-ray is "supposed" to look like Crank or Pirates of the Caribbean. He probably thought the Godfather looked bad on blu-ray, too. 12 Monkeys looks exactly how it should on blu-ray and probably the best it will ever look.

Also, what most casual blu-ray fans/reviewers never mention is the lossless audio I'm guessing because they don't even know what that is, and they're the same people that thought forever they were watching HD because they owned an HDTV, or the people that think they're getting a deal by spending only $70 on an HDMI cable on sale at Best Buy. The DTS-HD MA 5.1 track is a huge step up over whatever lossy track the DVD and HD DVD offered.

Don't hesistate to grab this. It's reasonably priced with a well-done transfer and great audio strong use of surround sound and a crystal clear lossless track.

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12 Monkeys has an unusual pedigree. It was inspired by Chris Marker's brilliant short film Le Jete; written by David Peeples and his spouse (co-screenwriter of Blade Runner, writer of The Unforgiven and Solider); stars Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt and Madeline Stowe and directed by Monty Python's Terry Gilliam. It was also released by the very same studio that tried to butcher his masterpiece Brazil during the 80's. Who'd have thunk?

The plot is fairly straight forward for a Gilliam directed film: Bruce Willis is a convict sent back in time to find information on a deadly virus that destroys much of humanity. The survivors have to move underground (somewhat like in The Time Machine).This virus also insinuates itself into the environment making it impossible for humanity to return to the surface. Willis is to report whatever he finds out before returning home. For doing all this he'll receive a pardon. They want to find information on the 12 Monkeys the terrorist group that took responsibility for the attack and prevent it from occurring.

Willis meets a therapist played by Madeline Stowe when he's taken to a mental institution in our world. It's clear that he's disturbed but is that due to the travel through time? Did his fragmented mind make up the entire story? Stowe has to deal with all of this when she is kidnapped later in the film. Willis has fallen in love with her and tries to convince her his tale is true. Now they're on the run from the police and must find out who is behind the 12 Monkeys and where they have the virus.

The performances are sharp. Willis is particularly good at playing the sad sack time traveler condemned to wonder if he is insane or truly on a hero's mission. Stowe plays the therapist well and injects humanity into a role that could have been routine in the wrong hands. Brad Pitt plays his most bizarre and interesting role yet. I don't recall if he was nominated for an Academy Award but he should have been.

Gilliam's direction is self assured and powerful. He manages to blur the real and imagined in such a way that we're not certain about Willis' sanity. This interesting group of talented artists have created a terrific movie. It's not for everyone though as Gilliam's dark view of humanity and his use of satire might not appeal to everyone. Gilliam and the writers have managed to make an interesting short into a full bodied motion picture.

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