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msyordlax
Reviews
An Ideal Husband (1947)
Uneven effort marred by intrusive score
Not everything Wilde wrote was a comedy through and through. This is more accurately a satire, and though the Wildean wit is definitely present, there are moments of drama and tension. Unfortunately, these moments are marred in this film by an underscoring which is inexplicably bright and merry, almost frenetic, and which undercuts the mood that the text and actors are trying to create. I'm not sure what Korda was attempting to do with such an intrusive score--perhaps he wanted to convey the frivolity of the "gay 90s" referred to in the opening voice-over?--but I'd love to see it without the annoying soundtrack. I imagine it would be quite a different movie.
Rowan Atkinson Live (1992)
Hilarious--but be warned
I agree with all the comments here; the tape, which now seems to be out of print, is great. However, I have a version that was released in 1997 by PolyGram, and it is missing three of the sketches listed here: Thomas, Richard and Harold; Elementary Dating; and Guys After the Game. It does have one sketch, A Final Bash, that the earlier version did not have. In this, Atkinson mimes playing an elaborate drum set. Still, I would give anything to see the 1991 version. I have no clue why these changes were made.
Company Man (2000)
He must be a scream at a cocktail party
Seeing the credits Douglas McGrath has, I really wonder how he could produce (and write and direct and star in) such dreck. It's obviously a vanity project. He's called in friends from every movie he's done--Turturro from Quiz Show, Allen from Bullets, even Cummings from Emma. I have a feeling he's been doing his 'grammar teacher' routine since improv classes and I'm sure his friends found it hysterical. But someone should have had the guts to tell him it wasn't working here--at all. Irritating is funny for five minutes; then it gets, well, irritating!
Nuovo Cinema Paradiso (1988)
I wish I could vote a "12"
One of the best films of all times. If you can see it without crying you should see a mortician as you're obviously dead. It resonates with all that is best about movies, and at the same time creates a visual language all its own. It also explores a relationship that we rarely see in film--mentor and charge. A beautiful, moving experience every time I watch it.