waynepenner

"I want to be smarter, just so I could get a little closer, you know?" Charly Gordon

Made in the days when doctors smoked cigarettes, this is Cliff Robertson's brilliant portrayal of a man isolated from society by an IQ of 69 who through a brain operation becomes a genius.

Robertson won a well-deserved Oscar for Best Actor in 1968 for his part in this wonderful and inspiring film, and it's a great movie, albeit on a "b-movie" budget. But entwined in its message is a dark reflection on how society treats people who are mentally handicapped.

Charly is the nicest guy you would ever meet, considerate of all, kind, but simple and naïve. Everyone around him either laughs at him or is condescending toward him. No one sees him as a man, not even a human being, just whatever they label him as - "dumb-assed janitor", or just plain "moron". Then he gets his operation and becomes the smartest man on Earth, but still he is labeled, and still he is isolated.

What I got most from this film is not a clinical study of mental retardation but the way society deals with mental retardation, and in this the film soars, and it will bring a tear or two if you have even a bit of humanity. It is a wonderful film, on many levels, testing us all on how we deal with those who are so unfortunate as to be mentally handicapped.

In "Charly", society doesn't win in the end, but the movie does! 9 out of 10.

This must be a bastard of a story to tell ... I couldn't do it.

That said, I forced myself to labor through this 10 hours or was it three of utter miasmic nonsensical dialogue. The tedious pacing was matched only by the slow animations of the actors, were there any? Brad Pitt surely is ashamed of being associated with this rubbish, if not I am ashamed of him. Brad, say it ain't so … The special effects are pretty good, the sets are excellent. Diane Kruger is pretty as Helen if she could only stop looking as if she is having a bowel movement in every scene she is in. Shame on you Peter O'Toole, brilliant actor that you are, to be associated with this… The music is fairly terrible ... almost as if the singer has been forced to actually watch this.

Its overall a bad movie. Bad to terrible. They tried hard but they had an incompetent director who doesn't know how to tell a story, and I expect whoever wrote the script has already changed his name and moved to another country.

Rather than give this to charity, and so inflict it on some low-income person, I have destroyed the DVD by blowtorch in my garage.

The Trailer Park Boys is one of the funniest TV shows I have ever seen. It is up there with Fawlty Towers, Monty Python's Flying Circus, the Larry Sanders Show, and even Seinfeld ...

It's simply brilliant.

One of the many things that make it so wonderful is the underlying relationships between the characters. Yes, they are a bunch of dumb know-nothing hicks who don't know the price of a 50 cent Popsicle. But they are real people here, with real problems, just solved in a very unreal way.

They don't know what a real job is; Ricky goes for a bank-loan in order to, "buy some equipment to grow some weed" and wonders why he is thrown out on his arse. The vet, who just got out of prison, yells, "I'm sure a gunfight in my office breaches my probation". Someone shouts in the background to Mr. Leahy, the Park Supervisor, "F**k off, Mr. Leahy". Note the appellation "Mr.", a term of respect, before they tell him to f**k off. There is no end to the subtlety, including that everyone seems to wear black to Ricky's wedding while he manages to get himself arrested as he takes his wedding vows. How to impress your bride …

They are all bound together with this innocence that would never really allow any of them to really come to harm. Of course fights break out at the slightest provocation, kids throw bottles at cars that may or may not have a passenger door but will certainly have $1,000 chrome wheels, someone may feel like setting your trailer on fire because he's in a bad mood. All this of course is understandable! You live like that too don't you?

There is a radiant warmth that glows around the characters in this show. You can't miss it, and even though the dialog is a bit strained at times and contains just a few too many swear words, and a few too many illegal activities, at the end you still walk away thinking the world is a better place with the Trailer Park in it. My only gripe is I wish they had developed the beautiful Bubbles character earlier. He is a delightful portrayal of bathos and pathos, and they should have used him better at the beginning.

I cannot help but think that the wonderful actors in TPB, and most certainly the producers, are fans of the great French comedian and director Jacques Tati. Indeed the opening mood is Tati's masterpiece, Mr. Hulots Holiday, relived, although I can't pin down the 1950's music.

Trailer Park Boys is a MUST for anyone who has even the slightest sense of humor, or who has the slightest sense of what it is to be a human being.

I watched it all the way through. Only a few people can say that, not the actors surely - if you had been cast in this movie you would have changed your name and moved to Peru to find and kill the editor and director who are already in hiding, along with your agent for getting you into this mess. Perhaps Bin Laden could use it as a inspirational film for suicide-bombers with second thoughts.

*SPOILER ALERT*

The film seems to be about an astronaut who comes back to earth radiated, meaning he is now real pimply and 9 foot tall. He horribly mangles a helicopter pilot looking for him, although you don't actually see either of them. The military send a colonel and aide out into the wilderness looking for him. They talk a lot to each other. Then there's a go-go scene with people dancing strange jerky 60's dances. Then a scientist gets involved. Then another scientist goes out in the wilderness and gets horribly mangled. As the voice-over says, a few of them get horribly mangled. I thought all along he was talking about the script. You never actually see the manglement (ok its not a word but my IQ has suffered by watching this film), just the look on the actor's face who discovers the body. One of the dead scientists later appears alive again, but that's aside. I think I then fell unconscious for a little while. Anyway, another scientist falls in love with a research assistant, and so she drives off into the desert. Her car runs out of gas and a trucker comes by and puts gas into it and gets a kiss. Normally I wouldn't mention it, but the scene lasts 12 minutes! Finally the army locates the radiated astronaut in a sewer and everyone gets dressed up in anti-radiation suits (well, plastic macs) to go down and kill it. Unfortunately then the budget finally runs out and the film ends there (they sure could stretch 200 bucks though)… the premise being that the monster disappears for some reason or it never existed in the first place or something. Then, thankfully the final credits, although it seemed to me that fewer names appear at the ending credits than at the beginning.

There really are no monsters. Maybe that explains the title, the monsters are all gone, probably because they have some modicum of good sense. Who know? Anything makes sense after watching this. After the whole 1 hour 11 minutes and 16 seconds I felt a shortness of breath and heart palpitations, and watched my whole life go by frame by frame, but I still didn't call 911 because I just wanted to go too.

This film is really, REALLY bad and you should only show it to people you never want to visit you again.

This movie is abysmal on every level. Who would have expected it from director Doublin, who was after all the special effects guy on Lobster Men from Mars?

The script is atrocious, the editing awful, the special effects … well they consist mostly of plastic dinosaurs opening and closing their mouths, and lots and lots of empty cardboard boxes being chucked about. Oh and lots of smoke effects so you don't think you are watching the same warehouse interior over and over again. Don't mention the acting, because there isn't any. The "music" is done on a Walmart synthesizer, just to add to the atmosphere of this pile of celluloid-dung.

The story? Ex-hooker trying to become a nun teams up with outer-space character being chased by dinosaurs and cyborgs that look like bikers from the really bad bar down the street, is as far as I've gotten so far, but I might be missing something.

Future War didn't destroy too many careers, although Brooks Stewart never worked again. Then again Bikini Hotel might have had something to do with that.

On the plus side, if they had had a budget of more than fifty bucks, better actors, a better director, a script, better lighting, better editing, better special effects, better sound, this movie might well have rated two out of ten.

If you love Hancock, as I do, you will love this silly film too. The plot is as thin as Twiggy and the acting equally as sparse. At times it plods ...

So why would I give this a "9"? Because its 'Ancock, and there are so many moments when the cockney genius shines through, despite the script. For example, the beautiful moment when 'Ancock orders a cup of coffee, "... with no froth, please", and the enraged cafe owner yelling about how much he paid for a froth machine, "... and you don't want any froth!". Only Hancock can get into an argument about the froth on a cup of coffee.

Well to enjoy this movie your have to start out WITH A SENSE OF HUMOR you frickin' idiot! I am so tired of morons who have no sense of humor criticizing films aimed at people with a sense of humor.

It is a wonderful film, full of madness and every silly thing you can think of and more, as indeed the title suggests. These guys are completely NUTS! Wallow in it, dance around in it, sing songs and let liberty be because that is what Kramer and his gang of idiots did with this wonderful masterpiece of a film! I first saw it as a kid and nearly died laughing along with the rest of the audience, in London. I watch it now about once a year because of the wonderful slapstick from some of the greatest comedians of the 20th Century, including the great but underrated Terry Thomas.

Warning, if you have no sense of humor do not watch this film!

This beautiful love story contrasts corruption with goodness.

Harrison Ford underplays his role so well it is scandalous – his Hollywood buddies must have laughed their arses off at him taking this role… what some cop living with Amish? Sounds lame right, until all the Oscar nom's start pouring in … But he is nothing short of brilliant as Detective John Book. I love the scene when he gets that old car-radio working, that old heap of junk in a barn that opens up his love with Rachel, and she dances and sings for the first time in her life.

It is beautifully written, the screenplay is flawless, the editing is flawless. The pacing is flawless but won't appeal to those who want car-chases and guns going off all over the place, and a beer and a hot-dog for dinner ... uh you know who I mean …

This film gives a gentle insight into the simple sweetness of Amish life. Us "sophisticates" with our frequent-flyers and cell phones and iPods and laptops and instant everything … we all may be missing something they already found…

A wonderfully inspirational and deeply satisfying film.

People call this a comedy, and it is very funny, but its not a comedy. It is a wonderfully warm story about a simple man and his family who are faced with the devastation of losing their home because the government needs their land to enlarge the runway at Melbourne Airport. He refuses to accede to a law that can kick him off his land at a whim and fights all the way to the Supreme Court. If you have an ounce of sense and agree with the old adage that "the law is an ass" you will enjoy this film. If you have an ounce of humanity, you will LOVE this film. A deeply satisfying classic Aussie film, "beautiful".

This is one of the most moving, hilarious, brilliant films you will ever see. I suppose its a B movie and I don't think it did well at the box-office. But its a must-see if you have any sense of subtly, any sense of humanity. Superlatives aside, I do not think intelligent people with a good sense of humour can possibly go wrong with this one.

I usually hate TV movies but this is different. Jennifer Lopez plays Selena to perfection, so beautifully its almost impossible. How much talent can one lady have? The supporting cast is wonderful. Sorry, I know this isn't much of a criticism but while I watch this film I am moved, which happens rarely ...

This is an absolutely dreadful film that will appeal only to those who think on the surface, or possibly think not at all, which of course includes the majority of the American population. Horribly miscast, the script is infantile, the character interactions are puerile. The love scenes will make you want to look away, something I never thought I'd say about Julia Roberts in underwear. If you have any poetry in your soul at all you will understand what I mean. Finney's fake yankee accent doesn't help either, either.

As for the substance of the film ... If you are an idiot or have a double-digit IQ no doubt you will believe the sensitive biker love-interest character who likes children. If you are an idiot you will believe the sensitive lawyer who is just looking for a way out of his guilt ... If you are an idiot you will probably like this film. Toots got her Oscar for this garbage, but if she has any sense of decency she will melt it down into a plastic spoon and chuck it into the river Tiber, or the closest puddle.

Total rubbish ... avoid like the plague.

The fab four at their (early) peak. At the time the media doted on them as "the 4 moptops", and they could do no wrong, in England at least. The film, in black and white, is marvelous in its simplicity and the way in which the music is so artfully wended into the plot, which of course is silly and superficial, almost non-existent. Who cares, this is Beatles music at its freshest and rawest, with the Beatles themselves behaving rather than acting. Its almost as if they can't believe they are in a film, and maybe they can't, but it doesn't matter because the music is so strong and powerful that you forget to criticize. The pacing is excellent, and it does not let up for a moment, but you never sense it's frantic or frustrated - the film never wants to do more than it does. There is one really touching moment, Ringo's adventure ... and I defy anyone to watch this without some reflection on what fame and success is all about. Watching Ringo with some yobo kid throwing stones into the River Mersey is an image I will always remember. Its a lovely little film and will transport you, for a while, into the inane, slightly ridiculous charm of the early sixties in Great Britain

The most beautiful and graceful manner in which the poor Mr. Hulot spends his vacation is hilarious. Jacques Tati employs everyone in the film, including the many children and various dogs, to contribute to one of the funniest farces I have ever seen. However, the pacing is not manic, as we are used to these days, but gentle and relaxed, and there is a delicious texture to this film that defies description. Perhaps the word I am searching for is innocence, for the delightful Mr. Hulot, who causes havoc where ever he goes, remains at heart an optimist, a romantic and really a a nice fellow. You must see this film!

Definitely a brilliant drama, with wonderful performances from De Niro, Jerry Lewis, and Sandra Bernhardt, an underrated actress who's over-the-top performance here is perfect.

But it is surely NOT a comedy, although as in all great drama's there are comical moments, but anyone who laughs through this film surely has problems of their own.

It's a story of a deeply disturbed man, Rupert Pupkin, a Walter Mitty character who imagines his way through life. He fantasizes he is a wildly popular comedian while in fact he is inept, unfunny, grim, and embarrassingly persistent. His real world is bleak and lonely, but his mental disturbance is such that reality and fantasy interplay in his life to the point that he can no longer distinguish between the two. Finally he steps over the edge and then the movie takes a dark twist.

This role was surely written for De Niro and it is hard to imagine who else could have played his part. Lewis is outstanding as the jaded TV-show host who has had just about enough of the phony world of show-biz. Lewis doesn't have a funny line or a gag in the entire film. But there is not a bad performance in this film.

Some have misinterpreted the movie's ending as real, but the ending exists entirely in Rupert's mind, and leaves you with an even deeper concern.