Post by Fickle81 on Nov 12, 2006 6:15:41 GMT -5
WARNING:It's hard to talk about this movie's greatness without going into specific details and spoilers. I'll do my best not to,but am not making any concrete promises. Proceed with utmost caution.
First things first...much props and thanks to Red Spyder for ripping the movie,uploading it,and hooking me up with the torrent. Keep up the great piracy work.
As you may have noticed,detailed written reviews have been scarce lately,mostly because I haven't felt like talking about any specific movies I've seen recently in great detail,even the ones that I felt were fantastic...however,I feel I HAVE to talk about this one,partly because there are those who read these boards that may have been subjected to N2NOther's "best movie ever" praise.
Well folks,he has a point...is the movie the best ever made? Not at all. However,it's damn good and I most definatly see why he praises it as much as he does. It's basically about a big time studio executive named Griffin Mill,played by the great Tim Robbins. He continues to get these threatening post cards from what he concludes to be a pissed off writter who wants Mill dead for never getting in contact with the writter like he said he would after the writter pitched Mill his story 5 months ago,so he decides to find out who this writter is. I'll simply leave it there,only adding that it doesn't go the way a typical mystery does,making the movie near impossible to predict.
The movie immediatly sucks you into the business that is Hollywood,the star personalities Hollywood builds up (there are SEVERAL cameos from big name actors and actresses who play themselves),the lying and material money grubbing yuppies that run it,and at a later point even the spineless wastes of matter that are willing to sacrifice their own vision and integrity just so they can be a part of the Hollywood machine. This is what makes the humour in this film so unique. It's basically one big "FUCK YOU" to the ridiculous Hollywood conventions and the people running it and conforming to it that re-enforce these conventions. Granted,a couple of these conventions are a bit dated by today's standards (like the absolute requirement of a happy ending in particular),but the message gets across nonetheless. But on the other side of the coin,it DOES also poke fun at some of the ridiculous ideas that would be writters try to pitch to producers and studio executives. Needless to say I got a nice chuckle out of somebody actually trying to pitch an idea about a sequel to The Graduate to Tim Robbins with a straight face in the beginning of the film. The movie is overflowing with subtext...so much in fact that I have a pretty good feeling I missed some things upon my first viewing.
The film is also excellent from a technical standpoint as well. Every actor in it,even Whoopi Goldberg who I normally dispise,nail their respective roles. The camera work is awsome,as is the interesting uses of sound,with the main example being the lunchtime scene where the camera is close on Burt Reynolds talking with a Hollywood exec yet the conversation Mill is having with his boss in the background begins to slowly drown out Reynolds' conversation completely before slowly zooming in on the table where Mill and his boss are sitting.
The movie has clever uses of foreshadowing that rivals that of Shaun of the Dead,many plays on film structure,and some awsome references to other films. And then theres the ending that brings everything home perfectly. It gives the whole affair a "movie within a movie" feel and is morally fucked up,while playfully going with Hollywood conventions and blurring them at the same time.
Sadly however,not everybody will be able to enjoy it on the level it should be. If you're an average moviegoer who simply watches movies to be entertained,doesn't want to bother with looking at subtle details,and is clueless about how the film business works with all its quirks,then you're probably not gonna get anything out of it other than what it is at face value. However if you're a hardcore fan and lover of everything cinema related,from the business and artistic sides,especially a wannabe film maker such as myself,you'll probably see this movie as nothing short of genius due to how true the ridiculous Hollywood conventions are...and at the same time,it gives wannabe film makers such as myself an actual hope in working in this fucked up film making business simply because the movie makes these conventions the subject of harsh ridicule....I damn near busted a gut during the entire movie screening scene near the end.
I honestly can't think of one negative thing to say about this movie. It just simply rules.
5/5
First things first...much props and thanks to Red Spyder for ripping the movie,uploading it,and hooking me up with the torrent. Keep up the great piracy work.
As you may have noticed,detailed written reviews have been scarce lately,mostly because I haven't felt like talking about any specific movies I've seen recently in great detail,even the ones that I felt were fantastic...however,I feel I HAVE to talk about this one,partly because there are those who read these boards that may have been subjected to N2NOther's "best movie ever" praise.
Well folks,he has a point...is the movie the best ever made? Not at all. However,it's damn good and I most definatly see why he praises it as much as he does. It's basically about a big time studio executive named Griffin Mill,played by the great Tim Robbins. He continues to get these threatening post cards from what he concludes to be a pissed off writter who wants Mill dead for never getting in contact with the writter like he said he would after the writter pitched Mill his story 5 months ago,so he decides to find out who this writter is. I'll simply leave it there,only adding that it doesn't go the way a typical mystery does,making the movie near impossible to predict.
The movie immediatly sucks you into the business that is Hollywood,the star personalities Hollywood builds up (there are SEVERAL cameos from big name actors and actresses who play themselves),the lying and material money grubbing yuppies that run it,and at a later point even the spineless wastes of matter that are willing to sacrifice their own vision and integrity just so they can be a part of the Hollywood machine. This is what makes the humour in this film so unique. It's basically one big "FUCK YOU" to the ridiculous Hollywood conventions and the people running it and conforming to it that re-enforce these conventions. Granted,a couple of these conventions are a bit dated by today's standards (like the absolute requirement of a happy ending in particular),but the message gets across nonetheless. But on the other side of the coin,it DOES also poke fun at some of the ridiculous ideas that would be writters try to pitch to producers and studio executives. Needless to say I got a nice chuckle out of somebody actually trying to pitch an idea about a sequel to The Graduate to Tim Robbins with a straight face in the beginning of the film. The movie is overflowing with subtext...so much in fact that I have a pretty good feeling I missed some things upon my first viewing.
The film is also excellent from a technical standpoint as well. Every actor in it,even Whoopi Goldberg who I normally dispise,nail their respective roles. The camera work is awsome,as is the interesting uses of sound,with the main example being the lunchtime scene where the camera is close on Burt Reynolds talking with a Hollywood exec yet the conversation Mill is having with his boss in the background begins to slowly drown out Reynolds' conversation completely before slowly zooming in on the table where Mill and his boss are sitting.
The movie has clever uses of foreshadowing that rivals that of Shaun of the Dead,many plays on film structure,and some awsome references to other films. And then theres the ending that brings everything home perfectly. It gives the whole affair a "movie within a movie" feel and is morally fucked up,while playfully going with Hollywood conventions and blurring them at the same time.
Sadly however,not everybody will be able to enjoy it on the level it should be. If you're an average moviegoer who simply watches movies to be entertained,doesn't want to bother with looking at subtle details,and is clueless about how the film business works with all its quirks,then you're probably not gonna get anything out of it other than what it is at face value. However if you're a hardcore fan and lover of everything cinema related,from the business and artistic sides,especially a wannabe film maker such as myself,you'll probably see this movie as nothing short of genius due to how true the ridiculous Hollywood conventions are...and at the same time,it gives wannabe film makers such as myself an actual hope in working in this fucked up film making business simply because the movie makes these conventions the subject of harsh ridicule....I damn near busted a gut during the entire movie screening scene near the end.
I honestly can't think of one negative thing to say about this movie. It just simply rules.
5/5