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samuelmrose
Reviews
Guest House Paradiso (1999)
dark British comedy
bottom at its absolute highest perfection. who ever says slap stick comedy is dead and boring is completely wrong. not that this film will only appeal to those who are of a masculine nature. this is another quality British dark comedy with many many jokes not violence related, but it helps if you can let your senses go and laugh at the sheer stupidity of it all.
this is a true example of thriving British ingenuity and homegrown talent hats off to them. on a performance level it reminds me very much of the early works of the marx brothers where the same level of enthusiasm and devotion are present in their acting styles, resulting in a performance where the audience can really engage the innate human desire to see others suffer, yet to be detached and still feel safe, much like the principle many TV chat shows operate on. a truly marvelous bit of manipulation leaving all parties feeling better off.
Trainspotting (1996)
An entertaining film
having never seen a film or anything in my own accent, it took me a while to get over the novelty of this and the fact that the dialogue sounds a bit laboured to me. Getting over that, this is an excellent film, getting across no points other than the quality of danny boyle and 'dont touch smack'. The mixture of the hard reality of "intravenous injecting of hard drugs" and surreal alice in wonderland scenes such as renton climbing down a toilet. The scene where his mum and dad lock mark renton in his room is sheer genious. Everybody's felt fevered like it, but to have it discribed so acurately is unnerving to say the least. A wee note on the side, you know the bit when renton is trying to get away from his parents and his friends to get another hit, and he jumps off the wall. The next shot is of him landing at mother superiour's place like a cat. Beautiful
Dogma (1999)
i liked it
To sum it up, i enjoyed this film. I can see how some people were upset about it, and being a christian myself, i disagreed with loads of what it said. I read the bit at the start though.
Loads of people seem to be annoyed by the fact that it was too crude, which is probably my biggest problem with the film, but nothing's perfect(well God, but...). Because it delt with theological issues, it made folk feel uncomfortable, either wanting a lot more or a lot less depth. Cant satisfy everyone though. I was impressed (as usual) with matt damon and ben affleck, and alan rickman was suited for the role. I see a lot of people have complained about linda fiorentino as bethany but i didnt see her as a problem at all.
Hmmm, i suppose i'll have to see chasing amy now.
American Beauty (1999)
a good film
This film hit me the first time i saw it. Not being able to watch it all at once (for various reasons) I was pretty disapointed coming away from the first half, but i see now why it needs to be watched properly. This isnt a comment on society as so many people think it is, but i saw it simpley as a story of a man trying to escape himself and what he has become. Whether this happens to other people is irrelivent. At first i wasnt sure about the casting of kevin spacey, and although he was excellent im not sure he was the man for the monologues. Having said that, a fool could read out those monologues and it would move people emotionally. The whole thing was brilliantly written, and looking back, it has to be one of my favorite films. I dont quite know why the shawshank redemption music* was played at certain points, but in both films, it is effective in what it is there to do. Whether or not you think you'll like it, you should watch it.
*dont have a clue what it's called, but the piano music played when Jane it undressing, and on and off after that in american beauty, and both when Brooks's letter is read out and when red gives the monologue after he is let out of prison. If someone could tell me what it's called id be greatful