strangrnstranglnd

My friends and I remember the Bernie Tiede story quite differently than this show portrayed it. Bernie as a lady's man is laughable. His interests were not the ladies.

There was no mention of his work with the local college. There was no mention of the play he was financing. There was no mention of the minutia of his life. Everything did not revolve around Nugent. Where was the mention of the video tapes?

It just seemed that this docu-whatever just skimmed through the story, got the gist, and wrote it to fit a preconceived format. It's like they had the dummy script written, then got interviews, and made the interviews fit the dummy script. That's not good documentary work.

I was there - in Carthage and in Bernie's home - during those crazy times. The real story is so much more interesting than this watered-down version.

The real story would make a better soap opera than a made-for-TV crime re-enactment.

But you know? It was funny. Was that the intention? Probably not...

This is the movie that inspired me to become a filmmaker. It is absolutely brilliant on so many levels and so entertaining. So many films since have tried to copy its creepiness or its gore or its psychology, but none have found the right balance. If I could ever make a film half as good as one minor scene in this movie, I would be complete. The whole movie is a strange combination of subtlty and over-the-top theatrics. At first it seems like a common thriller (ready for late night HBO), then it takes a strange turn when Lecter begins his self-indulgent question and answer session with Starling. From that point on, it's one symbol, event, and spectacle after another. Everyone definitely needs to look for all the "I'm just a little girl trapped in a world of men" - thing that happens with Starling. She is constantly the only woman in a room. Men are constantly oggling her. What was Demme trying to say? Hm? I think the Academy Awards speak for themselves.

I was actually a kid during the original days of School house rock and it taught me a great deal. Women's Sufferage, Manifest Destiny, the colonization of America, and the American Revolution were so much more interesting when put to song. I know what a magical number 3 can be, and I know that AND, BUT, and OR are conjunctions. I learned about Inventions, electricity, and all sorts of great stuff. I highly recommend School House Rock for anybody who wants a trippy trip down memory lane. Oooh! Buy School House Rock Rocks too. It's a CD with all sorts of alternative artists doing School House Rock covers. Blind Melon's version of Three the Magic Number is awesome!

While waiting for a table at Applebee's tonight, I watched a bit of The Isle of Dr. M. with the sound turned down and closed captioning on. It was much more interesting like that, since I could interpret a lot of the Dialogue any way I wanted. I especially loved the occasional "Random Growling" or "hungry grunts" or "panting wildly." While trying to explain the movie to the hostess (who had never heard of it), I think I discovered the theme. I'm not saying that the theme is all that deep nor that I am so smart to have discovered it. I'm just saying that I had a thought about it. Anyway, perhaps the theme is that we all have a little animal inside us (evolutionarily speaking) and why should we always try to repress it - as the animal/human hybrid had to do in this movie. Sometimes, don't you just want to throw away all the "laws" that Doc M. has laid down and be just a little carnal?

This short film should be an inspiration to all fledgling filmmakers. It's fun and clever... And the DP did a great job. By the look of the film, it could be any episode of The O.C. or Dawson's Creek.

The actors are great too! The male lead is very memorable and charismatic. The scene stealer, however, is the sister. I'm eager to follow her career.

My only problem with the film was the narration sound. It sounded flat - almost like the guy was standing behind the camera reciting the lines. I don't know - it just bugged me.

All in all, it was a nice short film - creatively and technically.