jbaldino

The Vaudevillian is a wonderful little piece that reminds me of why I'm in film school in the first place. As they say...STORY, STORY, STORY! This film doesn't go for cheap thrills but rather it maintains a kind of honest simplicity that lets the characters work their magic. The script is funny, sad, witty, and poignant all at once. The characters are, for the most part, well cast, and the cinematography is above-par. On the surface, "The Vaudevillian" is about a single man's inner conflict played out as a dialogue between himself and his dummy, but on another level the film is about the universal struggle between what is good for the self and what is good for others, and the character-defining moments of when one must exclude the other.

A well conceived and well executed film that deserves to be seen. 9/10.

From technical and aesthetic viewpoints, this film is undoubtedly a success. The use of real production elements vs. CGI really helps this film attain a level of authenticity that is becoming more and more rare in big budget films.

Nonetheless, the film suffers from an overly simplistic story that cannot be engaging despite the gobs of violence and action that attempt to keep us involved (or disgusted).

The fall of the Mayas is certainly an interesting, rarely dealt with cinematic topic, but Mel seems more interested in documenting the horrific violence of the culture than anything else. Why couldn't we have seen more of the city? Or the religious practices? (human sacrifices aside) All in all, a well-executed film, but also an excessively violent and ultimately unsatisfying one too.

This film, by virtue of its style, inherently eschews the normal pitfalls that so many student filmmakers usually experience, which I must applaud.

Great execution of a unique idea, however silly or absurd it may be. The performances, music, cinematography and production design are all great and each contributes effectively to the film's singularity. Except for one scene with some noticeable imperfection in the camera movement, the technical aspects of the film are handled nicely.

Overall, a delightful and entertaining piece that seems like the work of a much older filmmaker.

Well done!

While the star power of Sphere may be somewhat superfluous (if not downright distracting), the film is nonetheless an entertaining romp that probably deserves more credit that it gets (at least in terms of its current IMDb score).

Levinson pulls together a tight and compelling story that stays true to the original novel while adding a few new story elements as well (the implied romantic history between Dustin Hoffman's character and Sharon Stone's, for example).

While none of the film's moments are overly spectacular, the film maintains a constant level of suspense and intrigue, which, in some ways, is more difficult to accomplish. Overall, a worthy sci-fi with replay value to boot.

Possibly one of the worst "films" I have ever encountered. One should feel bad even referring to this disastrous collage of sickening images as "film", since it is nothing more than a multi-million dollar budget used for pointless debauchery and "shock" humor. Would not recommend to anyone....period.