Gatsby's New and Improved Flick Critique

I think the idea of using pictures of Judge Judy as a representation of your thoughts on a flick is not only humorous, but sets your reviews apart from anything else I've seen. Good idea, wish I thought of it first

Armageddon is overrated in my opinion....

There are people who just can't handle vacation. Case in point: the people in Tati's Mr. Hulot's Holiday cheerfully arrive at the beach, yet ironically complain about the scorching sun and have a boring sense of fun. To them the point of vacation is chatting in the dining room all day long. Then arrives our titular hero, for the first time in cinema, to expose and satire the behavior of typical stuck-up, and frolicking people who have self-centered mannerisms, by being himself. Thankfully, his brilliant character doesn'trealize how much he bothers others a lot, and not please a lot (mostly only a friendly old lady) so we can enjoy a bunch of cleverly constructed physical and sight gags. I'll get to them later.

Many regard this film as a gateway to Tati, and I agree. The film is extremely laid-back, quiet and peaceful, a great way to sink your teeth into him. For these reasons, the film is literally feels like an actual vacation. As all great vacations should be, it isn't forced or rushed, or even very active. Most of the 2 hours takes place only on the small beach and the fortifications surrounding it, with an exception of a couple of scenes. Yet they never feel boring. They are explored with such cautious timing, preciseness, and looking at ordinary things in a new way, as if Tati is a pioneer trying to dig up the hidden treasures contained in components of average life. And he succeeds immensely at every moment.

Mr. Hulot's Holiday is a "comedy" but only when categorized by solely film genre, but it isn't t at all. This film has a genre of its own. It's a visual comedy, but doesn'tt have any similarities to for example, Edgar Wright's work. It is a comedy about the things we are missing in busy urban life – simple minded joy, leisure, and good fun. The characters are looked upon on a pure child's point of view, a child that can see clearly The Emperor is not wearing any clothes.

So from that point of view, explores the boundaries of comedy, often venturing beyond them and often altering them too. In usual comedies, we are first given the huge bang, the punchline, as fast as possible, and then move on to whatever plot needs to be discussed. In Mr. Hulot's Holiday, the gags are built up and planned from such miniscule clues and minor triggers. As the build-up continues, so do the characters, but only to a non-excessive point. There is no need for separate exposition or even any dialogue at all. Every moment in the film is a climax and a natural, cleverly daft observation of the people who roam around in the beach and hotel.

Such joys come from the power of details hidden in simplicity and pairing with a little, repeating tune (which does an excellent job of telling you that something fun is about to happen). Consider the annoyingly hilarious sound of the door in the dining room whenever somebody exits. Or the dog that is a car-cist and only sleeps in the middle of the road when a more low-quality car passes by. When Hulot passes by, the scene takes 3 minutes to finish, which gives you an idea of how broken-down and comical his car is, without having to explain it myself. These details float in together in an endless sea of creativity, colliding and separating, then colliding again, in the process providing fuel for the entire 2 hours of the film to roar out with so much subtle energy and brilliance.

I mentioned above that the film literally feels like a comfy vacation. In a world full of only facts, answers, and flashy news articles, Mr. Hulot's Holiday is an easily accessible escape hatch. Tati constructs his films with "how", "why" or "maybe"- the essential questions - and bright, rustic ideas illuminating dreamily. For this reason, I believe the film has no specific "answer" to it. Why does the door keep making springy sounds? Why does the dog a car-cist? They don't need to be answered, and never should be. Everything is part of the flow.

My advice when watching the film is to sit back, relax, and enjoy. The simple-minded joys for me came when I discovered a couple of sight gags in the background and became a bit proud. Let it all sink in. After all, you're on a sweet, nostalgic vacation.

Hopefully the short absence of reviews didn't make anyone forget about this thread.

That's actually a great review, Gatsby. I've only seen Playtime from that director so far, but I've seen some talk of his films around the forum recently. I'm definitely interested in seeing more of his work.

Thanks for the compliment cricket. If Playtime felt a bit hectic Mr. Hulot's Holiday is a film you would enjoy. You should also check out Mon Oncle.

I thought Playtime was terrific; fascinating and clever, but too much to take in with just one viewing.

Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind is the highlight imagery of Being John Malkovich, when subtracting dark humor and bizarre, surreal nuance that made it so special, then adding a blanket of banal low pressure over it. I'm definitely on the minority, but I am still sure that the film is one of the most overrated films to ever exist. Even though I take Imdb with a grain of salt, I still find the rating to be ridiculous. As of today and probably 10 years ago it triumphs over thousands of masterpieces with its whopping 8.4 score. Theoretically, it clearly means something about is so brilliant and original. That's partially true, but most of the film cannot support it.

The first few scenes, like all films do, set the mood for the rest of the ride. It starts off with Joel Barish (Jim Carrey), a lonely, quiet semi-wanderer who narrates his recent trials and tribulations with quite possibly one of the most...boring...and...uninteresting...narration voices¡¦ever. Often there's a four-dot break instead of three between interesting dialogs, but for the sake of a minimally entertaining review, I didn't include them. Then we get a few bleak shots of the Long Island Rail Road train station, as Joel tries to make an escape from work.

Immediately, a huge problem can be recognized. In a much better film, we would be introduced to our lead character using a conversation, creative locations/situations, anything distinctly different from the norm, so it makes him or her one of a kind, and instantly recognizable. Here, what makes Joel Barish, Joel Barish, is a train station, a train ride, and an inner teenager who always tries to get out of his written path, sort of like a train derailing. He is no Travis Bickle in any sense, who has a clear reason for his misanthropy and rides his Taxi like a slowly moving vessel of doom, cautiously viewing the streets of New York. Jim Carrey's character is unclear and rides his train, instead of a taxi, in such an appallingly un-inspiring way.

Luckily, Clementine (Kate Winslet), meets Joel and falls in love with him because she is attracted by his personality opposite from hers, sort of like how yin and yang go together well. Clementine is different from Joel, which is great. She's lively, energetic, and adventurous, always venturing out. Kate Winslet acts her character masterfully and blows in the charm needed. I am not a fan of Winslet, but in this film she is a true wonder here, and I regard her performance in the film as one of her best. The two end up, as a result of Clementine's reckless nature, staring at the stars while lying on thin ice. Joel is now no longer alone and Clementine no longer need to keep her thoughts to herself. Happily ever after seems like a sealed fate.

Then disaster strikes, as the film shifts to two years later. They are longer together and as a result, Joel is constantly receiving extreme stress. It's described by Charlie Kaufman¡¯s script, by a crumbling supermarket, shifting rooms, and hallucinations, a result of a non-linear story-line, and the memory erasing thingamajig (I'll get to all this later). Joel is shocked when he finds out when he finds out Clementine has erased her memory about him. He decides to do the same. He hands over all items related to her to a group of memory erasing experts, and then embarks on his mind-bending journey.

Most of the film from now on takes place in Joel's slowly fading memories, and trying to find fight against the thingamajig when suddenly receiving the urge to start again with Clementine. Like I said above, the film is told in a non-linear sequence, so memories and reality come and go, fading and appearing, as you try to figure out where the characters are, what they're doing in the midst of chaos, then ultimately not caring.

Because, why use a bunch of disintegrating structures and blurry, claustrophobic memory scramble on a plot that can be boiled down to "Baby, please don't go"?A couple of scenes involving a memory version of Joel and Clementine trying to hide from the thingamajig are hilarious and daring, but the rest of the genius mind of Kaufman is wasted on the two running, and running, and running, then punctuated by three of four flashbacks, then back to running away. It is indeed an awe and pleasure to watch, however they're not nutritious at all, they have a good exterior but fall apart like one of Joel's memories on the inside. I didn't t care much, other than wondering if Winslet will show her crotch again.

Speaking of not caring, another part of the story is focused on a team of thingamajig operators. The best part of it is seeing Mark Ruffalo before he became famous. Yes, that's the best part. Hope is shattered when you realize you'd rather watch Joel and Clementine run than listen to the personal clique talk about each other's trials and tribulations, while not caring about the movie-goers (start to see a repeating similarity?). They do a lot of stuff, at least including Elijah Wood secretly dating with Clementine, taking advantage of the memory wiping, which does help build Joel's and Clementine's character and propel the plot, a rarity in the entire 108 minutes. The rest of their activity, other than that, is desperately trying to support the 108 minutes and end up being unsatisfactory, common in the entire 108 minutes.

The title of film is part of a poem, a metaphor meaning that one can enjoy happiness and ongoing peace once the negative experiences are erased.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is certainly not forgetful movie- that's why such meager amounts of joy derive from the film to your brain. It is an overall gloomy and overly-dramatic science fiction drama despite the chemistry between Carrey and Winslet. Being John Malkovich worked because it used its potential to the maximum and had fun using it, lots and lots of fun using it.

Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind is a good film, but it restrains itself so the drama factor can effectively kick in. Half of the time that works, half of the time it doesn't. And the half of the time it doesn't is when the free-flowing, wild fun is needed the most.

The broken text is fixed. Damn you Microsoft Word!

Now you guys can properly read my review.

I stopped reading at the word banal.

I knew you would hate the review MV.

Rep for the review even though you are the so wrong that they will call you the King of all the land of wrongness. I love the melancholy of Eternal. I love how Kauffman does such a great job of capturing how our initial attraction to someone fades and the things we found most endearing become the things that annoy us the most. I love how he captures how human nature usually causes us to fall for those same exact qualities again. How we miss the pitfalls. How life is messy and we are so busy trying to clean up the mess that we miss the beauty of it. I love Kauffman's s script. I love the magical realism. I love the surreal environment. I love proving Gatsby wrong.

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Yeah, for example that proving Gatsby wrong isn't as easy as you think.

I agree exactly with your rating, Gatsby. I've watched the film five times trying to get its supposed brilliance and deep meaning. I can only see the concept or skeleton of those things. Great set-up, disappointing results, but it's still watchable.

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I don't agree at all with this review. But we are all different.

I thought this was Gatsby's new and IMPROVED flick critique. Guess not.

I am on the opposite end of your feelings Gatsby. I liked Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but I disliked Being John Malkovich. In fact ESOTSM is the exception to my generally negative response to Charlie Kaufman.

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Good review Gatsby . I like it a bit more than you, not enough to be annoyed with your rating though.

I agree with you on this film, Gatsby. I should probably watch it again, to be fair, but I've never seen why people rave about it so much.

What made you not like Being John Malkovich?
What a story, Mark. Glad you agree with me.
There's a reason why I put 'new' in front of 'improved'.

Seeing the movie helped. Also not a big fan of Charlie's brand of weird. I prefer Lynch.