nastysark

I finally caught this film at the Melbourne International Film Festival. It has been quite a wait - and the size of the audience (I had to queue for over 30 mins) was impressive. Beautifully realised, The Ninth Gate is a return to Polanski's dirty old tricks of brooding horror and suspense with considerable 'tongue-in-cheekery'. It has a haunting opening sequence and the journey is rewarding all the way to the very end. This is the film that Kubrick tried to make with 'Eyes Wide Shut' but (in my opinion didn't quite succeed). Where Kubrick failed, Polanski shines with the help of a fine cast (Depp expert as usual), haunting score & production design and smashing cinematography. The comparisons to Rosmary's Baby will be numerous (but unfair). This film is a real treat for the devil in everyone, but especially Polanski fans.

In the days before Seinfeld was all over the TV - a small film came along. Like Seinfeld it was about very little (or for those of us who are writers it was about it ALL!) Barton Fink is an absolute treat of the rarest kind - it bores us to tears of laughter and joy with the plight of its hero, and we get inside the head of our filmmakers. There is so much going on and so little to see in this film - its like being blindfolded on a rollercoaster! The richness of Burwell's score gets under the wallpaper and infects the mood of every scene. You must see this film - if it is not the funniest film since Raising Arizona, then it is surely the scariest since Evil Dead - the life of the mind will never be the same!

So much has been said of this film already. Yes, I am a Coen fan. Yes, this is the best Movie of all time. But to merely consider it a Gangster Pic - to then cast a thought (or even comparison - heaven forbid) back to the Godfathers or Goodfellas does not give this film its just desserts. Miller's is meticulous in detail - from design through to the lip-dripping dialogue. It is such an obvious labour of love for all involved - the casting of Gabriel Byrne, Albert Finney, Jon Polito, John Turturro all perfect; like classical theatre, but even better. The music by Carter Burwell brings tears to my ears!?! Shakespeare could not have written a better study of conniving doublecross and tragedy!Go COEN go!

Tron was an important film in the making of my adolescence - full of flashy sequences and escapism. And today it still plays very well - the computerFX were ahead of their time (think if it were made today!), the BIG BROTHER idea a haunting possibility, the gladiator scenarios (back in vogue!), and the nomenclature startlingly inspirational for a supposedly clunky Disney Pic. Yeah it has some downsides - but it follows the Hero's Journey very closely, and SARK is a nasty piece of work indeed. I had the good fortune of meeting David Warner on an airplane in Canada a few years back and all I could blabber was how exciting it was to meet SARK in person! He did seem rather proud of the film - saying it was quite a groundbreaker. Yes - long-live TRON and his disciples...

This is the most blindingly optimistic movie I have ever seen. It was released at a time when I was coming of age and didn't want to be seen by my peers going to a puppet flick - so I only caught it on video. 50 screenings later, it still works for me on so many levels; as a musical with excellent Paul Williams numbers; as a comedy with very impressive (and personal) cameo appearances; as a philosophical 'Hero's Journey' (Henson & Juhl deserve 'Joseph Campbell kudos' just as much as George Lucas!); and it is a wonderful touchstone to Jim Henson's career & life.Whenever I'm sick, or sad or need a little lift this film guarentees a smile and the hope for sunnier days ahead.

This is the kind of film that always cracks a smile on your dial. It's cute without being irritating, it's stupid without being offensive - it's all you want in an old fashioned comedy. And the accents are like honey lozengers; infact this is the very film you should watch if you are ill, or recovering from a hangover wrapped in a blanket infront of the TV. And the soundtrack by Big Country is an absolute hoot! What a film!!