vvr Reviews

Lucky (I) (2017)

A reflection about facing the reality of our own mortality with joy.

[9/10 · 28 January 2018]

Harry Dean Stanton portrayal of old age and the fear of dying that might come with it was natural and honest, I could see my late grandfather through his performance so it was an emotional experience for me.

Lucky found joy again by accepting reality as it is instead of worrying about it till the inevitable end. In his own way, he started living again by making his peace with it. This is a wonderful gem about wisdom, a remarkable debut for John Carroll Lynch as a director and Stanton's most heartfelt legacy.

The Room (2003)

To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Tommy Wiseau's The Room.

[10/10 · 13 January 2018]

The humour is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the jokes will go over a typical viewer's head. There's also Johnny's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation- his personal philosophy draws heavily from Narodnaya Volya literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these jokes, to realise that they're not just funny- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike The Room ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the humour in Johnny's existential catchphrase "I did not hit her! It's not true! It's bullshit, I did not hit her! I did not!... Oh, hai Mark!" which itself is a cryptic reference to Turgenev's Russian epic Fathers and Sons. I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Tommy Wiseau's genius wit unfolds itself on their television screens. What fools.. how I pity them. And yes, by the way, I DO have a "Oh hi, doggie" scene tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It's for the ladies eyes only- and even then they have to demonstrate that they're within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand. Nothing personnal kid.

Back (2017– )

Haven't laughed this much since Peep Show

[9/10 · 9 September 2017]

First episodes are always tricky for sitcoms and with a lot of setting up to do and a fairly large cast to introduce, it can bring immediate criticism before even given a chance for the story to evolve properly, which is unfair especially for a show with so much potential as this one. I thought it was brilliant, laughed loudly for the most part of it and smiled the entire time... and that's what sitcoms are about. This one hit the nail on the head for me and I'm looking forward the next episodes.