witty_alias Reviews

Everybody Loves Raymond (1996–2005)

among the meanest, most un-funny shows ever

[1/10 · 17 February 2009]

i've never understood the appeal of this show. there are no sympathetic characters, everyone is yelling all the time, and they all appear to hate each other. perhaps that is the family dynamic of the target audience of the show, and if so, it's just another example of the 'lowest common denominator' thinking of Hollywood. how there were enough people to be duped into watching over 200 episodes of this mean-spirited, dull, repetitive dreck i'll never know. it is as though the writers came up with ONE idea for a pilot: a slow-witted dullard marries a conniving, bitter woman who never stops yelling, then moves next door to his parents--a conniving, bitter woman who hates the other conniving, bitter woman, and a grumpy old man; and then never came up with another one. This show is absolutely the nadir of American comedy.

What Dreams May Come (1998)

wow

[10/10 · 28 March 2004]

i'm not one who usually gets deeply emotionally effected by movies, be it good or bad. most of the time i am able to keep myself at an observers distance and then view the film from that perspective. this movie does not allow the viewer to do that. it brings you inside. it forces you to become each character--the joy chris feels when he sees the sunset in heaven in annie's painting for the first time, the emotion of a teenage young man opening himself up to his dad, the emptiness of annie's existence without her soulmate. needless to say there were tears in my eyes for much of the film. absolutely fantastic. at thats just the story. the way things look on the screen is amazing. actually the only (very minor) complaints i had about the whole movie were a couple of the effects. when the camera pulls out after chris has first woken up in heaven, he is obviously sitting in a small area of non-effect surrounded by computer animation. and the lighting could have been improved a lot when annie finally makes it to their dream home. it was very obviously a set and indoors. but like i said, these did not detract from the movie as a whole, except to make it not completely seamless, which is very hard to accomplish for two entire hours. full marks on whatever scale you're using

Lost in Translation (2003)

fantastic

[10/10 · 5 October 2003]

**** brilliant. so many directors nowadays find it necessary to pace a movie as if it were a 100 meter race, and in so doing are apt to miss out on potentially poignant scenes. sofia coppola is not one of those directors. she skillfully allows the movie to unfold at a natural pace, and though the audience knows murray and johansson are to spend much of the movie as companions, their introductions and subsequent friendship are in no way forced. how many movies would have an unspoken moment in a crowded elevator be the first encounter between the main characters? or in how many films would bob harris (murray) NOT go hit on the nubile young woman who sent him a drink in the bar? together with RUSHMORE, this is murray's best work, and after the wonderful GHOST WORLD, johansson proves not just to be a wonderful screen presence, but also a shrewd 'chooser-of-roles,' for lack of a better term. i hope this movie does not fall through the cracks and gains a wide audience, it deserves it. two notes: those under 25 who are not especially introspective or do not particularly plan for the future will probably get nothing from this film beyond laughing at japanese people (which i did not feel i was doing, i was laughing at the difference between cultures, not at the culture itself). also, if you love cityscapes and flyover type views of cities, go see this movie simply for the shots of tokyo, they are simply breathtaking.