Joel's Reviews

This movie never gets old for me. I can watch it over and over again as long as a year or two have passed. But sometimes, I can watch it even closer together on the timeline. It really depends. I recently picked this up on Laserdisc to avoid the inflated out of print cost of blu ray, and also because I wanted to access the director''s commentary. I don't think there are many more modern films that have the same kind of care and goodness as this movie does, and so I want to talk about it for a little while and hopefully jot down what it is about the film that I like so much.

The acting is fine across the board. Greg Kinnear's portrayal of a gay painter seems spot on from my own sheltered view of such characters. Jack Nicholson humbles himself perfectly, but also offends and bites into the screenplay in equal measure. All the supporting cast are great, including a cameo from Harold Ramis as a house doctor. The star of the show, and the single most powerful acting job comes down to Helen Hunt - who does so much with her eyes and her mannerisms, that I could not believe how incredible she made me feel. She embodies the writing so well and just brings all of the emotions to life at literally the drop of a hat.

Early on in the film we see her character get upset waiting on Nicholson's character at a restaurant. Immediately she shooshes the rest of the film and burrows her pained eyes into her rude customer. This will not be the last time she does this, either. Hunt's acting in this movie is astounding, and there's really not much else I can describe about it other than it's truly amazing what she is able to do, to not only ground the film around her, but to transcend the rest of the characters into a bittersweet reality. She is super cool, headstrong and charming, but also very fragile and devastated.

I'd say from A to Z that the writing of As Good as it Gets is just about perfect. We're treated to shocking scenes of lewd behavior, but then are quickly ushered away into scenes of deep feelings of sorrow. Nicholson breaks down at his front door when he realizes his new best friend, a small dog, will be returning home to his neighbor, no longer a companion. It is the little moments like this that stack up on top of itself, making the experience of this film able to be enjoyed over and over again. So many layers, so much great comedy writing, and plenty of dramatic turns.

This may just well be one of my very top movies of all time. I have quite a few films I try and keep near the top of the heap but there is simply not enough room to address them all in a quick conversation. I love this movie, and whatever small instances of problems it may have in way of telling the story or convincing us that Hunt would ever end up with Nicholson, I forgive.

Ouh! sounds good, and you gave it a 5/5 too. I'll have to watch it sometime.

You should! And yes, 15th HOF, not a bad entry at all!

Have you seen The Time Masters? I love Laloux's films.

I haven't, no. I'm not huge on animation. The reason I have thoughts on Gandahar (Light Years) is because it's a childhood trip for me. But I'm fairly open to take in a few animation films if the atmosphere, music and animation is up my alley.

This was a surprise. I'm not fond of the subject matter but I simply couldn't stop watching this movie. It's shot exquisitely, the acting is rock solid, and the chill factor is high. This creepish Stephen King adaption is yet another feather in the cap of the film world making his written words into a cohesive and respectable format on celluloid.

Thomas Jane is superb as a mid-western drawl of man torn between losing his land and home to its rightful owner; his wife. She has dreams of the big city, but husband and son couldn't imagine life away from the farm.

This is a good film. It's stomach turning and sad, but also subtle and moody.

My only criticism is that I don't believe the wife character was fleshed out enough to make the evil deed in the film as effectively torturous. I wanted to see more of her MO besides a superficial potty mouth and apparent lack of sympathy for her family. I think that would have added a lot more weight to the outcome of what transpires. Still though, for a 2017 NF King adaption, it's not bad, and gets high marks for the acting and elegant directing.

just did a revisit to Fantastic Planet, it may very well be a time to revisit Gandahar as well.

Gandahar (Light Years - depending on which you go for) is a fun but very dark journey. The music and sound design make it so. Recommended for people in our age club. "For your health!"

This originally caught my eye because Mike Patton did the music. I was just gonna wait for the soundtrack, but now I want to watch it. I'll hopefully tab it later.

Well it's the same director, and it's better composed than Gandahar. You SHOULD watch it. Gandahar is the weakest of his three movies in my opinion, though it's still great.

Word

Lol, so why aren't you that much of a fan of animation?

I had no idea Patton did the music for this! Crazy...

Not sure, just never have been. I prefer live action. I don't hate animation, it's just not my passion or interest really.

These may be of interest to you:

The Plague Dogs
Watership Down
Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade
Venus Wars
Akira
Ghost in the Shell
Heavy Metal
Genocyber
Angel Cop
M. D. Geist
A Wind Named Amnesia
The Dagger of Kamui
Ninja Scroll
Darkside Blues
Goodnight Althea
Dragon's Heaven
Gallforce: Eternal Story
Serial Experiment Lain
Berserk
The Twelve Kingdoms
Claymore
Memories
Big Wars
Patlabor

I give every one of those

Helen Hunt's performance in As Good as it Gets is one of my favorites by any actress.

Chappie (2015)

Cool effects, awesome action. Funny as hell and even a bit emotionally moving. This is a really cool film. I didn't care for some of the cutesy chop hop music featured, but the Hans Zimmer score was good. Suspension of disbelief is absolutely mandatory to get enjoyment out of this movie. If you go in armed with that, there should be no issues. Logic isn't supposed to apply here. It's a fun film that is a bit overlong in the run time, but still a damn, damn good flick. Interesting how this is a mixture of reverse Robocop, Short Circuit and D.A.R.Y.L.


The Dinner (2016)

Steve Coogan just about perfects his American accent here in this twisted morality tale dealing with evil children, mental illness and politics vs. family. This seems to be a goldmine for a good film. For reasons of messy storytelling, questionable editing choices and aggressive non linear sequencing, it simply cannot live up to what it very well should have been: complete. The film just ends on a random cacaphony of confusion. No closure, just another 21st century cop out for a summation. Huge disappointment. Sadly the isolated and dispersed moments of acting are wasted in an otherwise very capable cast. The performances are all quite engaging and very well done. Huge demerits for that waiter, though. I wanted to shave his beard and kick his ass off of my tv screen.

A young boy, locked in his school cloak room by a couple of bullies, witnesses a 10 year old murder in the form of a ghost. The ghost is a little girl who is strangled to death and carried away by an unseen man.

Lady in White is set in New York state and features some of the most beautiful small town photography I've seen in recent memory. Writer/director LaLoggia has put together a true labor of love, financing his film from penny stocks to the sum of $4 million. Because of no studio interference with his cut, Frank was able to stitch together a true auteur vision of his highly atmospheric ghost story/murder mystery. LaLoggia even scored the film himself, and we're not talking John Carpenter minimalism, either. We get a full-on orchestral music bed with peaks and valleys.


This 1988 film has a few achilles heel marks, and those would be the thinly veiled suspect of who the murderer actually is. I knew very early on who it was, or at least, who I had a strong suspicion it was. Turns out I was right, and if you see this, you'll probably guess it, too. Also, there are a couple of scenes that may try a bit too hard and come off as cloying. They are brief moments, though, and really don't ruin the film or anything drastic like that. Just be warned that early on in the film, there may be a scene or two that make you roll your eyes or cringe. I did. But after that, the rest of the film essentially kicked my ass for reasons I'll explain.

The effects. The special visual effects are very luxurious. Yes, it's true, there are glaring blue outlines when a blue screen was used, and the soft line clean-up didn't seem to be a budgetary option for this movie, but nevertheless all of the rendered effects, especially those outside of the realm of blue screen are very creative and stunning in a simple and classic way. Just the way I prefer visuals to be.


The against type acting of Alex Rocco (The Godfather). Here he plays a very sensitive father dealing with the recent loss of his wife and the mother of his two boys (the youngest played by star Lukas Haas from Witness). The dramatic scenes are very intent and gooey, and that should be a turn off, but something about the way in which they are handled instead makes them endearing and acceptable, even going so far out as to be inspiring for such a seemingly unimportant film like this. The boy's family is an authentic sicilian/italian blend of hysterics and humor that feel like a true working class depiction.


Once criticized at the time of release, there is a sub-plot involving racism and segregation in the film that may be a bummer for some, but I found it, though possibly a bit intense, true to form, as this film is set in the 1960's when riots and revolution were still some of the loudest bells in the square. This film oozes the writing of Frank LaLoggia's semi-autobiographical fantasy at every corner and that's where it really earns its wings as a peculiar but nonetheless engrossing story with a picturesque quality that rivals even Spielberg's finest suburban hour.

haha I forgot Demon Wind existed, thank you! believe it or not I love that movie, I think it's very much to do with the atmospheric and cozy location which you mentioned as one of it's good point. I also absolutely love Popcorn too but I can't quite remember why though. Both need a rewatch. Also in the mood for an 80's comedy I haven't seen, funny farm looks like it might fit that bill, nice list mate.

Glad to have been of help! Enjoy those movies!