Two Words, One Answer.
great movie
 The Great Gatsby (1974) $2.99 One of the greatest pieces of American literature, but a soul less film. Mia Farrow is great for what she is doing for Darfur! But I wish I hadn't seen this. Glad I read the book first.  Thomas & Friends: The Great Discovery $14.98 Only because when we saw the previews for this on another DVD, it showed Thomas' mouth moving, as if it were done in CGI. My son was totally geeked for that, which is the only reason I bought it. Not a bit of it done the way the preview was, he was horribly disappointed. While we both loved the video and Pierce Brosnan as the narrator, we both felt let down by the misleading preview. Anyway, the story, songs & narration were wonderful, but beware it's not done in CGI, it's the regular Thomas show.  The Great Movies $17.95 I have a long history with Roger Ebert's criticism; growing up in the midwest in the era of "Star Wars", I remember Siskel and Ebert's "Sneak Previews" (later "At the Movies") as an early guide to the newly-discovered world of cinema. I remember eagerly tuning in every week, and often being disappointed that an interesting-sounding film wasn't going to show in the small town I lived in. Later, when I moved to Chicago to go to school, I discovered that the town was a treasure-trove for movie criticism, with not just Siskel and Ebert but also Dave Kehr and later Jonathan Rosenbaum among many others. Eventually Ebert, who I generally liked more than Siskel, became less interesting to me and less a must-read as he concentrated less on the obscure and arthouse worlds and became a bigger celebrity. So my feelings about him have run through a wide range over the years... ...and this book is full of perfect examples of why that is. On the one hand, he communicates an enthusiasm that is hard to ignore, and his writing is always lucid and entertaining; on the other, he is sloppy and sometimes dead wrong in his facts or prone to ignoring pertinent information. I'd think most readers would be interested to know that Ozu's "Floating Weeds" is a remake of an earlier film BY THE SAME DIRECTOR, for example. And making a snide comment about the failed "futuristic city" in Albert Brooks' "Defending Your Life" makes me wonder if he actually saw that film -- actually a vision of the afterlife. He could have picked a more accurate example for a throwaway line in his otherwise decent discussion of "Metropolis". His choices generally are very conservative, films that anyone with a smidgeon of knowledge of film will know -- though they're (nearly) all great films, it would have been nice to see him point his way towards directors and films that need the exposure more than "Singin' in the Rain", "Vertigo" and Frank Capra. Then again, he does push the "Up" documentaries and "Gates of Heaven". In the end, you've got to take my review with a grain of salt - just as you should Ebert's, or any critic's. For those just starting off on their explorations of the wonderful worlds of film, this will be a much more valuable and intriguing work. Those who, like me, have stepped a good ways outside of the mostly safe waters that Ebert generally resides in will probably not be as enthralled by it. |
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