Be Kind Rewind

I just came back from a screening of Be Kind, Rewind, starring Jack Black. I've never been a fan of his nor can I ever take him seriously. After watching the trailer, I did think it would be a good movie at all, but I was surprised! This movie is HILARIOUS!!! I was laughing so much that I was crying! I definitely recommend it!

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Gonna review it tmw...

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yes i will check that our.. im a fan of Jack Black..

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It was good but still did not deserve all the hype that it got. Is worth going to see and Jack Black was better than normal although he is crazy!

"When you're walkin' down the street...
...and you see a little ghost...
...what you gonna do about Ghostbusters?"

I can't get that absurd song from the trailers out of my head. Definitely hoping to catch this one soon.

Be Kind Rewind (Michel Gondry)

This is a sweet movie with a sincerity most "comedies" these days just don't have. I enjoyed it, though I wish it had either been funnier or a little deeper. The wacky set-up with Jack Black's character becoming magnetized is very silly - sillier and different in tone than anything else in the movie. But it's a device, and once the dying videostore's tapes are all erased it's very charming watching them find the solution. The no-budget but clever half-remembered recreations of the Hollywood classics are of course right in Gondry's wheelhouse and he has a special kind of construction paper, cut & paste genius that is like Terry Gilliam by way of a middle school talent show (and I mean that as a compliment). The heart and soul of Be Kind Rewind is not those funny mini-movies but the spirit of community and the collective ownership and even authorship of our past, both communal and personal. Plus it captures the pure joy of filmmaking at its most unfiltered level, the kind of fun you have making movies with your friends and relatives when you're twelve with the family camcorder.

But while it's all very sweet and the movie recreation scenes are a hoot and a half, it constantly feels like it could have been even more. But maybe just like the videomakers in the story this is all Gondry was capable of? I do like it, but I wanted to love it and there just wasn't enough there there.

I am a big fan of Jack Black and while I thought he took a big step forward with his role in Margot at the Wedding this is right back to things he can do in his sleep. And if you can erase the horrible acting choices he made in 16 Blocks, Mos Def is always likable on screen. Danny Glover and Mia Farrow have fun with their little parts, though they don't have to strain too much, and Melonie Diaz is terrific as the neighborhood girl they recruit to help them in their cinematic endeavors. I wanted it to be a masterpiece but it's just a good little movie instead.


GRADE: B-

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

yeah i totally agree, it seemed like it could be more and i know most viewers wanted more.

indeed a good little movie.

worthy of checking out mos def
hehe

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Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens. ~ Jimi Hendrix

Missed out not doing a Lethal Weapon

I wonder which movies Gondry couldn't get to do.

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"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews

Here's my review of Be Kind Rewind, which I saw yesterday and which put me in a lovely mood for the Oscars. It was a great reminder for me of what films are capable of, not just as a film itself, but as a film ABOUT that fact.

Judging by the demograhics of the audience I saw it with, a lot of people are assuming this is filled with Anchorman or Tenacious D-style zaniness. Hopefully people will come for the crazy, and stay for the lovely, because there's a lot of the latter to go around.

Damn, didn't get round to writing this one up. Overall you rated a bit higher than i would've, think overall the film was pretty uneven but enjoyable for the most part nonetheless .

I think I was one of those "hysterical riffs" people, I enjoyed the humor so much that I was a little bored when it shifts into "the nostalgia zone". Not that I find the sentiments it plays on unworthy, but it does bother me a little when a movie tries to wrap you into the whole simulated nostalgia experience. Not sure why this one didn't really cross the line for me while Cinema Paradiso does, but it came close.

I thought the excuse for all the dropped plotlines (all very blatant and obvious, and there are more than a few) was that they were trying to mimic the crude film-making ethic of Black and Def.

I enjoyed it a lot, and it set me into numerous involuntary fits of laughter so whatever my complaints I still liked it and give it a B- or rather

Looks interesting. I'm gonna check this one out.

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Hopefully I'm seeing this sometime this week so thanks for the review

I like Jack Black, I even laughed quite a bit in Nacho Libre which most people seemed to think was crap.

Same here Christine...Jack Black was awesome in Nacho imo. Can't wait for this one.

Thanks for the review Yoda.

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After waiting so long and hyping it up so much - it would be hard for a film to actually deliver on par with it's online content.

This film did succeed though as a comedy and drama and it's one of the best looking movies I've seen.

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Just got back and I pretty much agree with your review, Yoda.

I absolutely adored this film. And I'm in love with Michel Gondry. I shed a tear at the end of this film -- what a beautiful little moment about the power of community and how film sometimes brings us together. I love Gondry's spirit and creativeness, but also his heart. He proved it in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I often thought that Kaufman brought the cerebral part to that story and Gondry supplied the heart. After seeing this film, I'm even more convinced of Gondry's heart. Gondry brings a different style to his films and this doesn't play out as your usual comedy -- the characters seem a tad more human and the amateurish theme of the story plays out with the way Gondry shot the film. At times if felt like we were watching a bunch of people playing in front of a camera and it worked rather well, imo.

Some yahoo users were saying that they didn't laugh out loud very much. Well, I did quite a few times and my son and I laughed all the way home reliving almost the entire movie. I especially enjoyed the "ladder gang," the recreation of Rush Hour 2 and the "bamboo," and especially the scenes from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Gondry is so great at the smaller moments, too. Seeing Mia in Driving Miss Daisy ("the movie has heart"), Sigourney Weaver's little nod as she's watching the tapes.... (don't want to spoil anything), Black's walk back to his place after being magnetized, and Glover's reaction to the guy in the DVD shop. And Black's desire to play Fats Waller was pretty funny. As a matter of fact, there are many, many little moments in this film that were just flat-out wonderful.

Most of all, it seems Gondry knows exactly when to go for the sentimental and he did it extremely well when it was needed.

And I think "sweded" should be added to your dictionary.

A couple of weeks ago, btw, there was a "sweded" version of the trailer made by Gondry on Youtube.

Amazing movie,kind of silly at first espically with Jack Black trying to sabatoge the generator. Turns out to be a really go story of people coming together.

Overall 9/10

great story*

Hated it!!!