Marj's Movie Reviews

This episode:
Everything Is Illuminated *** (Worth a look)
Guy X * (Pish!)
Thumbsucker **** (Well worth a look)
South Pacific *** (a classic and who am I to argue? Much...)

I've had quite a movietastic weekend and thanks to Naomi, a bottle of plonk and Vogue Video. I spent Saturday afternoon supping Magners and scoffing goats cheese in the sun with Mandy and Emily (That place that used to be the Dutch House and is now a cafe type place: Huuuuawge sharing platters of yummy commestibles for £8.50 by the way. Bargainous and delicious - I'll definitely be going back!) I met up with Naomi later on and, after all that sun and booooze, an evening of cinematic entertainment seemed just the ticket. I think I've got mild sunburn on my ears anyway so it's probably for the best we decided not so stay out in the sun much longer. I like pink but not that special pink that my face goes when Mr Sun has bit my bum, so to speak. I look like a fecking eejit!

Anyhoo, rant over. To the movies!

Everything is Illuminated is about the grandson of a Jewish immigrant from the Ukraine who fled from the Nazis to America in WW2. The earnest and bespectacled grandson sets out to find the woman who helped his grandfather with only an old photo and the name of a village to help him. I really liked this film for many reasons, which I won't say too much about because I was delightfully surprised by it and I wouldn't want to spoil that for you. I will say that the soundtrack is ace and I'd like to borrow it from Laura Pie please. Thank you very much ta :o)

Guy X, on the other hand, I was disappointed by. The cover was promising. The tagline was "There's been a f*ck up", it was hailed as a brilliant black comedy and a comparison to Catch 22 was made. All this made it seem like this would be an interesting and intelligent movie with a lot to offer. Unfortunately it wasn't. I'm afraid to say it barely kept my attention, and it only did because I felt sure it was going to go somewhere any minute and I wanted to see where that was cos, boy, it had better be good. The plot is that Jason Biggs,the dude who shagged the pie, is dropped on an army base in Greenland and immediately eaten by local insects. Boy, do I sympathise! When he comes to in the base hospital everyone is calling him by someone else's name and refuses to believe him when he tells them he was supposed to be in Hawaii. It goes on from there... Madness and boredom of isolated army life, bit of a love story, sinister cover-up, yadda yadda yadda...After watching this film I had a vague feeling that I'd missed the point of it and that annoyed me. I had that feeling after watching Jarhead as well (though I think I may have worked out what that movie's about - 2 months later!!!). It's like when someone gets to the end of an anecdote and looks like they are expecting you to go "Ho ho ho. That's so funny!" and all you are thinking is "Oh. Is that the end of the story? I don't get it..." Oooh, I do hate that in a movie!

Hooray for us keeping Thumbsucker for last! I put this one in the DVD player with a heavy heart because I felt that this one could go either way, thoughtful and enjoyable indie treat or tedious load of self-indulgent old waffle. I'm happy to say it turned out to be the first one - hoorah! And it had Kanoonie Reeves in it, as Ted Theodore Logan, all growed up and practicing dentistry. Woah, dude! This one is about a 17 year-old who still sucks his thumb and lives in suburbia. This guy really wants to stop sucking his thumb but it's how he copes with the normal horribleness of adolescence, middle-class white suburban family life and all that guff. He eventually gets prescribed Ritalin and the film deals with how that effects his life. Considering how many kids you hear are on this stuff in the States I'm glad they made this film and I hope a lot of people see it. Horrible stuff! The behind-the-scenes documentary in the extras is well worth a look.

I'm currently halfway through South Pacific and enjoying it immensely. Good old Rodgers & Hammerstein. It's big, it's bold and it's bloody silly in some places. South Pacific right? Polynesia, Japan, all that good stuff? How comes then, the famous Boar's Tooth Ceremony looks like something from tribal Africa and all the polynesians look suspiciously like tribal Africans as well? I can just imagine some big studio boss chomping on a cigar and saying "Ah what the Hell, nobody'll notice anyway. The public are dumb!" and some poor director weeping into his megaphone. It's getting exciting though. It's all gone to poo now and our 2 dashing and handsome leading men are heading off to a mission that could entail certain death because they've cocked up relations with their respective honeys...

And now I've just finished it. Cor, that was a good 'un. Still kinda silly in bits. When they're stalking around the island spying on the Japanese they have companions that are supposed to be local fishermen friends of the French dude. You guessed it... They look suspiciously like African tribesmen. Now, geography was never my best subject, once it got past colouring in maps I kind of lost interest, so if I'm overlooking a part of the population of the South Pacific please correct me. It's just all the local ladies in the film look, well, from the Pacific area at least. Hooray for Hollywood!