Golgot's Reviews

Hey, i missed this n'all. And you too, you big lug .

And i think Golgot might be some sort of French hacking tool. Or possibly a prophelactic (i'm not sure, it just seems to crop up on odd french forums). I just made it up one angsty 19-year-old day. I think it's sort of a mix between robot-golgotha-goals-gots and other such things (and probably goats too ).

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Virtual Reality chatter on a movie site? Got endless amounts of it here. Reviews over here

The talking variety no less.

I'll be back on later tonight to make more worthy comments on these wonderful reviews.

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"Today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids."

Glad to see you posting reviews again GG… Great job…

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Cheers Caity-lyn. I can't compete with the other review-gurus here, but it's nice to dip my toes back in to the reviewing-for-fun thing once in a while .

Ah, promises, promises - I'll take the 'wonderful' bit for now (and besides, i jammed up your thread with some rhyming rhetoric 'bout Clockwork Orange. You probably need some time to unwind after that ).

The Saddest Music in the World




Sweet sadness. Have a sip


The Score
A Canadian beer mogul capitalises on the imminent demise of 30's alcohol-prohibition by launching a competition to discover 'The Saddest Music in the World'. Her plan is savagely simple - to feed and to feed off the sadness of those sucking deeply on beer's salvation during these toughest of years.

The Notes
The style is pseudo-1930's, and the style is carried well. From the delivery of the accomplished actors (even if the wild-eyed hero doesn’t quite cut it as the maddened-swain), to the snowy-realm they all inhabit, the film rejoices in the sweeping movements of silent melodrama and the snap of 'talkies' living up to their name. But, despite the aptness of the silvery and skittery visual tricks, it’s the soulful sounds unfurling between the participants that reach out of the screen and manage to bewitch.

The story is built on a triumvirate of flawed men and the two damaged women they wronged and so lost to detachment and dismay. The well-meaning father maimed his beloved beer-mogul in a drunken display. His materialistic son -her sometime lover- treats her and all others with Machiavellian disdain. The morose other brother returns home to find his partially-deranged wife has become this cad-of-a-sibling’s latest emotional toy.

In short, tragedy has found a welcome home with this extended family of extremes.

Amongst the warring men, emotions are hoisted up flagpoles when the competition brings nationalities into play. The father is Canadian and proud, the nefarious son is gilded with American dreams, and the jilted-one is absorbed in the suffering of Serbian war-extremes. The women are also deeply embroiled with the musical head-to-heads that take place between nationalised teams, one as the embittered architect, the other as the daydreaming lead-singer of the US's snazzy themes.

The emotional forays the protagonists make into each others' territory form the main battle on display, while the musical mayhem and State-berating form the landscape on which they act out their evolving play.

It's a bizarre but welcome concoction of light-hearted survivalism and weighty desires, a mixture of mellifluousness and morbidity that sings as it sighs. A dead son’s heart preserved in tears, some hilarious social commentary on this battle of the bands, a tapeworm that likes to talk through the years, and some fantastical cinematic journeys through a landscape of love and fear make this a classically modern adventure - and a marvellous piece of music-magic realism to boot.
Rating: Two leg-fulls of beer, a beautiful sneer, some bruised eyes seeing clear - all dancing to life-music as it freezes and frees some well-formed tears.

Hey, I meant what I said...kind of. I didn't get to it the same night like I promised, but I've been kept up late by my kitty wailing and wailing...it's a sweet wailing though. Kinda' like, "Mrow-rowr." I'm quite attached. BTW: I replied to you in my thread, I believe. "Come back, Shane!"

Anyway…on with the show………………


Buffalo Soldiers (2001, Gregor Jordan)
I keep telling myself to get my hands on this one, but I always forget. Now that I’ve read your review, and taken a good look on IMDb…so I could see the cast, I know now that I really want to see this film. Thanks for the review. It’s a good one.

Fa yeung nin wa (In the Mood for Love) (2000, Kar Wai Wong)
I really love how you wrote this review. This is one classy movie. It looks sumptuous, the music haunting, and the actor’s reach right into the viewer’s souls. I like the wording you use throughout your review to describe everything about this film: yearning. It fits it to the tee. I also like how the two central characters never have their partners shown to us. Their story is completely needless and irrelevant. It’s not about them. Knowing anything about them at all would only soil the mood of the movie, making it not about unrequited love, but something foul. I love this film, and this is my favorite of all your reviews.


Captives (1994, Angela Pope)
I was going to go to IMDb to take a peek at what it had to say about this film, but after reading your perfect review, I don’t feel the need to. I’m going to try and see this one very soon. I like that most of your reviews are for movies that many (me) have missed while they flew under the radar.

Cop Land (1997, James Mangold)
If you only rhyme when you’re drinking, then you must have been up to 3 straight shots and a couple of beer chasers when you wrote this one. I like this film more than you, it seems. It doesn’t sound like you disliked it, but you weren’t overly satisfied either…such is the life with the cinephile, eh? I’m glad you reviewed this under appreciated gem, though. I think it’s one of Stallone’s best films.

Mies vailla menneisyyttä (The Man Without a Past) (2002, Aki Kaurismäki)
Thanks for telling me to watch it…I think I will. I love these types of quirky and original story ideas. It sounds like a hoot!

Shaun of the Dead (2004, Edgar Wright)
I still haven’t seen this one. What the hell’s stopping me? I gotta’ hand it to ya’, Gol’s…you write the most original reviews here at MoFo.

Chelovek s kinoapparatom (The Man with a Movie Camera) (1929, Dziga Vertov)
Wow. I don’t know if I’ll ever be in a hurry to see this, but if I happen upon it…Thanks for reviewing it for us, though.

White Chicks (2004, Keenen Ivory Wayans)
First: I hate the fact that you actually saw this piece of crap, but I’m glad that it didn’t make you stupid.
Second: I think you make some valid points with your assessment of the films character and overall design. I don’t really think that a film like this one can do any real harm promoting an already existing racism, though. In America, black comedians and black films can make fun of the white race all they want, but it’s considered too risqué for the white comedians and the like to return the favor.
Yes, the white race, specifically in America, has a lot to answer to when it comes to ages of terrible abuse to our fellow human beings, and there is also the problem of the power structure that you mentioned in your review. But isn’t there a dangerous edge to allow any race carte-blanche when it concerns ridiculing other races? Why do we, as a modern society, think that it is okay for an African American to stand up on stage and make extremely disparaging remarks about another race, while we froth at the mouth in rage when a white person even attempts to return the favor? It doesn’t make sense to me that we actually PROMOTE this double standard in our country.
Anyway…this movie not only looked bad to me because of who was in it, the double standard I just spoke of, the sophomoric humor, and the absolute ridiculous storyline…but because they looked so, so, so…gross. Those eyes they got in their heads really freak me out. They look like cross dressing vampires who’ve been out in the sun too long.
I will NEVER see this stupid, stupid, brain-rotting film.

Dancer in the Dark (2000, Lars von Trier)
That was a beautiful review, Gol’s. I love this film so much, and you captured its transcendent beauty perfectly. I really like the way Von Trier switched between dogma film making to elaborate 100 camera film making when Selma would delve into her fantasy world where music and color are the core of her existence. He also made a highly improbable outcome probable without making me think, “What the hell…that would never happen in real life.” Von Trier is one of my favorite living directors, and Björk did an amazing job playing the wistfully lovable turned heartbreakingly tragic character. I would much enjoy a review for Breaking the Waves, if you ever have a mind for it. That has to be my ultimate favorite Von Trier film, even though I love this one and Dogville so damn much. Oh yeah, here’s my review for Dancer in the Dark. <- Shameless plug, even though I concede yours as being written much better.

Salmer fra kjřkkenet (Kitchen Stories) (2003, Bent Hamer)
I remember when this hit the States a while back. I watched the trailer, and thought it might be neat to see, but forgot about it. The voice you use in some of your reviews really hits home with me, because now I’m kicking myself in the keester for not seeing this when I had the chance. I’m sure I can find it now…but damnit! Great review…I really want to see this. I love interpersonal relationship/character study type films, and this one sounds like exactly that. Thanks again.

Comandante (2003, Oliver Stone)
See the above reply and attribute most of it to this one. I’m getting tired. I do want to see this though.

The Saddest Music in the World (2003, Guy Maddin)
I went to see this when it hit Portland and was enchanted by it. I believe it to be one of the best works by any cinematographer in recent years…plus, like you said, the music…
Another great review, Mr. Golgot, sir. You have picked apart the loose strands of your rambling and made it a fine cashmere. I hope you keep regaling us with your wit and charm for some time more. I really enjoy reading your reviews.

Heheheh. I was only needling your lordship - i would've settled for the 'wonderful' too . This is far better tho... (cheers for all your kind praise, and for summoning up such a gargantuan reply in the first place )

(incidently, i was just gearing up for another net-headed nightshift t'other night when i learnt that my parents' old cat had the opposite problem to your wee mite. She stopped over at my place for a bit, and she hasn't made a noise since . Woke my parents up checking to see how she was )

Buffalo Soldiers (2001, Gregor Jordan)

Yeah, it's a broad-brush piece this, but still finds a little niche for some humanity amongst its expansive plot explosions. Gonna get round to listening to the director's stuff on the DVD one day, coz from the little i've heard, hes got a few things to say.

Fa yeung nin wa (In the Mood for Love) (2000, Kar Wai Wong)

Gotta love how this rich little portrait of trapped time came out dontcha . I've got a feeling the 'follow-up' 2046 won't quite blow me away in the same way, but still looking forward to seeing it.

Captives (1994, Angela Pope)

I can understand why this one didn't make a huge blip (it's a low-budget brit-flick whose prison-and-gangster elements have been done better in other films), but i found the central relationship really tense and effective (to the extent that it fleshed out and supported the more 'cardboardy'-aspects of the scenario it found itself in).

It might have been the drink tho - did i rhyme much in that review?

Cop Land (1997, James Mangold)
I think my slight dissatisfaction with this is pretty much unjustified. On one hand i was expecting octane explosion instead of slow-burning heat. Plus i had this bizarre feeling that the film had been wrapped around Sly's ability to play a ponderous has-been (even tho both he and the film brought this off exceptionally well). I've no idea if the role had been designed for Sly, and the story tailored to his new facet of playing it slow - i just felt obscurely robbed somehow.

In retrospect tho, and at the time, i was actually pretty damn satisfied.

Mies vailla menneisyyttä (The Man Without a Past) (2002, Aki Kaurismäki)

This one's just got an alternative national-beat running through it that you've just gotta love. Me Pidz and SammyD have pondered over whether the dead-pan nature of the characters is a clumsy charicature of Finnish ways, or a sly but respectful exaggeration of how they live their days (i go for the latter ).

Shaun of the Dead (2004, Edgar Wright)

Would you believe that, when i heard senyor Pegg had a pub-orientated comedy work in the offing, i thought the dear man might be ripping of a paltry idea from a sketch script i once shoved into his hand in a pub near me? Man am i embarrassed i raised that one with his 'people' (but i'm happy to report his gentlemanly response, through them, suggests he's far from having his head stuck up his rear end). Good film - good lad .

Chelovek s kinoapparatom (The Man with a Movie Camera) (1929, Dziga Vertov)

I've gotta admit i've found this, along with Metropolis, to be the most eye-opening combined voyages into film-history, other nations, and other times. (More so than things like Battleship Potemkin, but i'm a philistine - i think it's just the overt directorial and narrative 'radicalness' of both those films that grabbed me the most).

White Chicks (2004, Keenen Ivory Wayans)
I'm still kind of fascinated by this film, and by my reaction to it. My current feelings are that the 'reverse-discrimination' it uses is more likely to be a step backwards than a step forwards for our strained race relations. But that said, two things still occur...
1) It does give 'Whites' a chance to learn/sample how it feels to be discriminated against and stereotyped in outrageous ways (rather than just understanding it intellectually). That's the big plus i carry away from this film.
2) The problem is that, unless this deliberate discrimination is used to promote a constructive agenda, it still does at least as much bad as good, to my mind.

This film was just a fart in the cinematic bath (as so many people have guessed without having to see it ). It toys with some valid underlying themes, but just mishmashes too many together, and is too ultimately lightweight, to advance our understanding or attitudes to any of these realities so cartoonishly portrayed.

I'd still hold up Lee's Bamboozled as the head-and-shoulders winner when it comes to using race discrimination/portrayal to make us recognize where we've been, and where we're at, in a constructive and progressive way.

Dancer in the Dark (2000, Lars von Trier)
Argh, i still haven't seen either of those. I've been so rubbish on catching up with Triers. (and his contemporaries too - i've only ever seen sections of Festen too - oh the shame ). Dogville was top of my list, but i might well swap it for Breaking the Waves .

Salmer fra kjřkkenet (Kitchen Stories) (2003, Bent Hamer)

Maybe it's coz i've got some Scandanevian blood lingering about the place, but i love the humour and pace of this little gem.

Comandante (2003, Oliver Stone)
****, i've just got to Stone's stuff about the Northwoods plans in the commentary. Check that business out if you knew nowt about it, like me. It's shockingly believable-yet-bizarre.

The Saddest Music in the World (2003, Guy Maddin)
. Yay, i'm glad my wooly meanderings didn't lose all their shape

No problem, man. I want you to keep writing them.

Fa yeung nin wa (In the Mood for Love) (2000, Kar Wai Wong)
I am too. This film will really have a lasting power I think. Regardless of the time and place that this story is centered; it is a universal theme.

Captives (1994, Angela Pope)
I can too, but that sure doesn’t mean that it isn’t something I wouldn’t appreciate. I like a good love story, I just don’t care for the Hollywood rom-com…most of them are cliché ridden and insulting to the audience’s intelligence. I think that genre has virtually died in Hollywood, because they refuse to make many that have any real depth to them. But maybe I’m just jaded.

As far as rhyming…I think you usually let some slip, so it’s kind of hard to tell…unless you go crazy. I like whatever you write (as long as I can understand it), so it’s okay by me.

Cop Land (1997, James Mangold)
I believe it was tailored for him, but I’m not sure. I just think it’s one of the best jobs he’s ever done with his acting. I like Sly, but I don’t like a whole lot of his films. But when he’s good, he’s damn good. And it didn’t hurt that he had some excellent back-up with this one. I’ve always been partial to Liotta as well; so having him play the role he did was pretty fine.

Mies vailla menneisyyttä (The Man Without a Past) (2002, Aki Kaurismäki)
I feel bummed that I missed out on the chance to be involved in that. This site hasn’t had much discussion involving a number of posters in ages…that I’ve seen anyway. That would have been a blast for me. I also miss Piddy.

Shaun of the Dead (2004, Edgar Wright)
Cool. Did you know the creator of this film well? Do you still know him? Do tell.

Chelovek s kinoapparatom (The Man with a Movie Camera) (1929, Dziga Vertov)
Okay…because you compared it to one of my all time favorite films…I’ll try to be sure and see it. I’ll reply in this thread when I have.

White Chicks (2004, Keenen Ivory Wayans)
I don’t know what the target audience for this film would take away after viewing this film. Yet, even if it were only more ignorance, I can see your point.

I haven’t (and won’t) see it, so I can’t comment on this.

Of course it does. It just creates a wider divide. That’s why I loathe it when black stand-ups center their entire routine on ridiculing my race. But it’s not just them. There seems to be a lot of getting even mentality with all the races. Can’t say that I blame them, and I can only really intellectualize it since I’ve been on the side with most the breaks, but I hate, hate, hate the double standard. Everyone is allowed to be offended and touchy about everything, except the white people who are usually at the butt end of most the jokes. Oh well…maybe I just don’t get it.

I haven’t seen that one either. I’ll have to see if my friend with the thousands of movies has this one in his inventory.

Dancer in the Dark (2000, Lars von Trier)
They’re both really good. If I had to choose which one was superior, I’d choose Dogville, but it doesn’t nearly have the effect on me that Breaking the Waves does. I’ll let you in on something…no other movie that I have ever seen in my life, has made me sob so uncontrollably as Breaking the Waves did. It also stars Stellan Skarsgĺrd, who is one of my favorite actors, and Emily Watson, who I literally adore. Very heady, very moody, and very good. I hope you see it soon and tell me what you think. I’ll make a deal with you…you review Breaking the Waves, and I’ll review Bamboozled.

Salmer fra kjřkkenet (Kitchen Stories) (2003, Bent Hamer)
I know that I’ll love it. I can just tell. You know how some trailers and synopsis’ just ‘reach’ you?

The Saddest Music in the World (2003, Guy Maddin)
You are good at taking compliments in stride.

Ah, it was only a brief bit of breeze shooting. I haven't noticed any rollicking to-and-fros for a while either.

Nah, i know none of them. Just pestered Peggy in a polite way (coz he'd always been knocking around in a pub not too far away since before he made good. Trivia fact for you: the landlords in Shaun of the Dead [who i don't think you ever see] are named after the ones in that pub - John and Bernie)

It's more of a documentary of sorts, but it still manages to be pretty dramatic.

I'm not sure if any of us do. So much of it is gut reaction from all of us, i think. The frustration us 'Whites' feel at the double standard is a type of insight into what it is to be discriminated against, but i really hope we can all move beyond this type of 'reverse-discrimination' as a tool for addressing things.

Would that be Holden? I imagine he sleeps on celluloid

Well, if that's the deal, then count me in - i'd love to hear your take on Bamboozled. (tho i might sneakily watch Dogville in a double-sitting with Breaking the Waves. I've been straining at the bit to sit through that one for ages )

Ach, that's mainly coz i don't look where i'm going

Before Sunrise


Hitting thirty - feeling pretty, dazed and maybe dirty


Short-n-sweet synopsis
There's not much you can say about this film that the protagonists don't say in their arch verbal sparring. They pontificate philosophically, reminisce both airily and warily, and exchange emotions gleefully and sparingly.
Coz you see (if you've seen Before Sunset - which I haven't - yet), they've met before - one carefree day nine years ago in Vienna. And their paths have swept them off down distinct but passion-linked routes throughout the intervening years. That's to say - they've lived seperate lives, but they're still in each others' sway.

Short-n-sweet summary
It's all in the synopsis. Linklater finds some life-glue in this. It sticks to you. He found some top class collaborators too. Vive la diference - then live through it.

Short-n-sweet-review (if I have to )
Despite the evidently cerebral and procedural nature of a film based on one long conversation, this self assured, yet self-doubting, creation glides along so well that you just don't want to analyse it. Yes, Linklater uses lingering yet non-interfering shots that allow his actors to schmooze and persuse. Yes, the actors were in on the script, so this multi-rhythmic waterfall of dialogue we hear was prescribed by previous ears - but damn the whole thing flows so well you don't want to dip a bucket into that well just to take a sample. You don't want to dam the swell just to trap its sparkle. At the risk of being (more) pretentious, i'd say that, even if you don't like the sentiments expressed, or the emotional and philosophical mess the protagonists get enmeshed in, you've still got to respect the way they recreate one 'meaningful' day, saturated with natural subtexts but still left with enough breathing room to glide on its way.

It's not alienating like some 'heavy' French foreplay flicks - It's not 'light' like a Hollywood romcom full of emotional glitches. It's a streamlined set of tragi-comic stitches that circumscribes some marvellously fleshy life bits. It's more than just a fun light shower to weather, I'd say.

My verdict: One day with someone you love, and maybe the rest of your life with them too. What that's worth is up to you.

And hey Slay, I may have recorded The Idiots recently, and i may still have a huge hankering to see Dogville, but i'll hold true to my promise... a review of Breaking the Waves will swim this way at some point... (erm, i'd be a liar if i said 'really soon' )

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Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
Buddha

Well shucks yes - if i can be forgiven for hardly ever posting in the movie forums

OK Gol. All your stuff has been assimilated. Thanks for writing!

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Woman of the Dunes


A wandering insect-collector, whose only dream is to see his name immortalised by making a rare discovery, is offered sanctuary during a brief hike through a desert region of Japan...

The Hole That They've Dug
On descending a rope-ladder into a sandy chasm, the self-belittling city-dweller is welcomed into a curious home by a traditionally self-effacing young hostess. With charming ease they clash ideas and misconceptions, until the ever-encroaching night closes in.
The next day the man finds the rope-ladder has been withdrawn, and his free-roaming self-indulgence is replaced by imprisonment and toil - for you see, to keep this dell of semi-comfort alive, they must fight back the sand that threatens to swallow them whole.


The Wind That Blows Through It
One of those films about everything and nothing, Woman of the Dunes is beautifully filmed, full of contradictions (that make sense), and treacherously hard to define.

As a bizarre horizon-wide allegory of life trapped in a bowl, it's hard to touch. (And if that doesn't grab you, then the slow-burning plot also works as a 'great escape' thriller - all be it one where the tunnels have to be carved out of sand)

The erotic dependancy that evolves between the land-locked duo doesn't always favour the status-quo-aligned woman, but neither of the sexes come out on top in this world of complementary and competing forces. The overwhelming feeling is of a life led by 'exterior' whims, but one which you contribute to with both your goodness and your sins.

In this obscure oasis of emotion you never see the sand fall - it just accumulates. Yet despite its oppresive omnipresence, the camera catches it moving fluidly - suggesting that, even though the sand-trapped lovers may be fighting to stand still, they're making temporary paths that others can follow if they will.

Thanks for the review Gollygosh, sounds like an interesting movie.

agreed.

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"Like all dreamers, Steven mistook disenchantment for truth."

The Wild Blue Yonder


Werner Herzog takes us into the heart of blueness


The Journey
Brad Dourif turns his pained and angry eyes on the camera, and begins to narrate the tale of how his alien race became stranded on Earth. His surroundings are the dust-blown and junk-strewn remanants of their attempt to build a capital city. With a mixture of weasly bitterness and embracing empathy, he then turns to the adventures of another expedition - a human journey to a brand new planet. His planet.



The Destination
There is a lot of archive footage in Herzog's Sci-Fi 'documentary', and much of it is forced awkwardly into the narrative's theme. The scenes of floating astronauts become beguiling after a while, with the help of a Sardinian chorus singing wistful-mournfully in the background, but the reflective tone is regularly broken by the gap between story and scene.
What redeems the picture, beyond the hypnotic music and the well-meaning theme, is the 'purpose-shot' footage of Blue Yonder, the alien's world. Filmed beneath some icy-shelf of this broad planet, these scenes personify what Herzog's seems to really care about - the wonder and preciousness of the world we live on. Although it becomes more of a nature documentary for this phase, the residual viewpoint we carry into it - as observors of an alien place - helps to accentuate the experience, and the narrative finally comes into its own.
Those scenes are the highpoint, but the hotchpotch of other aspects thrown into the mix aren't without interest. The 'talking head' scientists who pop up from time to time are amusingly handled, but their ideas are still heard out, while the space footage frequently speaks for itself. Dourif also provides a believably strung-out presence as the story's face. It's just a shame that the film's overall presentation and logic aren't as powerful as the place they takes us to.

Verdict: Sporadic poetry hits home when it finds its tone

Sounds Thanks Gollygosh