Reviews by Dionysian Child

Corrupt cops and Government

Well this film has it all. It’s like it read the manual and threw all the elements together. The result therefore has to be enjoyable and intriguing. The plot is acceptable, the end twist is predictable but still fun to watch it play out, even the shoddy acting from Juliet Lewis can slide due to the OTT nature of the film. It’s the run up to the new years eve of the millennium when Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes), a heart-broken dealer of memories and real life experiences, comes into possession of a snuff clip which entangles him in the dark seedy world of murder and blackmail, which runs right up to the highest level. Will all be solved and saved before the bell tolls midnight?

I think the snag that I have with the film comes right at the end. Why do things always have to turn out ok, and why must the love interests always kiss and ruin the tension the whole film has built? I spent the film enjoying the love triangles only to have it ruined in one of the many closing scenes, which must rival ‘Lord of the Rings-Return of the King’ in longevity.

I think I feel so jaded by this because it did have great potential and held together a great many elements of the dystopian genre creating a formidable apocalyptic atmosphere which was just let down in places by a few bad acting sequences and directed moments.

A concept that I’ve always amazed hasn’t been cashed in on more. This film tells the story of a 30 something Adolf Hitler struggling to find his calling in life after fighting at the front line in world war one.
Hitler (Noah Taylor) befriends a rich Jewish art dealer Max Rothman (John Cusack) who also served in the war and finds a common sympathy for Hitler’s sense of a lack of belonging and frustrations at the world around him in which he can’t quite find a place.
Rothman isn’t overly convinced with Hitler’s art but sees potential in his passion and vision, if only he can manage to harness it and project that onto the canvas.
Ever more frustrated at his inability to express himself visually, and at the Government for so submissively being beaten by the ‘Treaty of Versailles’ Hitler finds himself drawn towards the world of politics and takes instead to the stage to express himself. Of course the rest of the story is now History.

A film that gives a very different insight into the frantic mind of Hitler displaying his nervous frustrated and disjointed cognitive nature which is very different from the polished fervent image we are all familiar with, but its an aspect that Taylor incorporates and develops well as Hitler finds his footing in the arena of anti-Semitic public speaking.

I didn’t expect too much from this film. Figuring it to be pretty much another teen thriller, but from the outset I was pretty impressed.
The dialogue for the first 1/3 of the film is simple allowing the audience to watch LaBeouf settle into his new found confinements. I enjoyed the simplicity of this. Watching LaBeouf explore his limits and settling into his voyeuristic routines. From then on the plot became more predictable but held my attention and kept me wondering ‘guilty or not?’
I think the film would have been stronger left unresolved but all in all an enjoyable contemporary twist on the old classic.

This is a book that most unfortunately I have only read in adulthood.
It is simply written with beautiful simplicity packed with original and creative characters and storylines which have affected every one of us. It speaks directly to children through the voice of magic and often addresses them directly as the reader actively drawing them into the book.

Like most children’s books that have stood the test of time it deals with issues of the adult world that children often find themselves in the midst of. I think that’s where this book holds its secret as it allow children to confront and deal with them in an abstract manner without the confrontation and failing input of the grown ups around them.
Everyone can remember that reluctance to grow up and the uncertainty of what might lie ahead and who you may become, but few are able to put it so eloquently, poetically but massively accessibly into words.

This material for this book was always rambling around in J. M. Barrie’s head. Based on the loss of his idolised brother as a child and the crushing effects it impressed on him and his family. Barrie was able to draw on real relationships with people he knew and his own and others experiences and weave them together seamlessly into a dense blanket of fantasy. Many have suggested this is where he really lived and how he saw the world.

As an adult reading you can feel his pain and concern for all children dealing with loss and faced with responsibilities they are not yet ready for.
Each character has their own battle to face in the book and trial to overcome. Yet the tone is never downbeat or hopeless and the magical element always offers a light, a way out guiding the cast through to maturity.

I've never forgotten this show. It has dwelled within the recess of my childhood memories and been recalled in a warped nostalgic manner tinged with fear.
What I do recall is it had an awful format of a weird man in the middle of a hypnotic whirlpool asking ridiculous T and F questions. The only one of which I remember is this:

-True or False. A man once got a baked bean stuck behind his eye which couldn't be removed.

The very nature of such a thing filled me with terror but the question was obviously false any kid with a brain knows that!
But not so, not according to Ripley!
Standing corrected I excitedly retold this tale to my mum (a nurse) thinking I'd knock her socks off my intelligence. I went to bed that night humiliated, with her remark ringing in my ears 'Don't be so gullible child that's simply impossible.'

Maybe a slightly personal and biased review but a lame attempt at psychedelic education.
The version I watched as a child wasn't presented by superman though....

To be honest, I’m really not a fan of Grease, and was forced to watch this against my will by my female housemates.
20 mins in to Grease 2 and I was swooning over Michael Carrington (Maxwell Caulfield) Sandy’s English cousin, come to study at Rydell High.
The totally predictable and opposite storyline from Grease is played out amidst some rather raunchy sung innuendos in catchy sing along tunes. Bad girl Stephanie Zinone (Michelle Pfeiffer) soon catches the eye of poor puppy eyes Micheal and he sets about to become cool enough to be accepted by the T-birds and win Stephanie’s heart.

Cheese oozes from every scene, but the cast know that and that’s its charm.
I warmed to all of the characters massively more so than the first film with their cheeky fun loving gum chewing charm and tapped my feet smiling throughout.

It’s always going to be a marmite of a film. But if you’re looking for a girly bit of fun, this could be your perfect answer to a great karaoke night in.

A film filled with annoying people that allows you hate them, contrasted nicely with some great performances and lovable characters in the form of Wahlberg and Hoffman.

The film verges on being hateable itself for its overtly alternative indie and off the wall style, but manages to stay within the lines and just about remain quirky and endearing.

For me it mirrored ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’. Focusing on a hopeless man (Schwartzman) who is looking for meaning in some ‘coincidences’ within his life. To try and solve these riddles he hires detectives who spy on every area of his life and with their theories on life and existence turn his turn his world upside down including everyone he knows.

A must see if you like these type of films, if not then its an enjoyable couple of hours anyway, but there are better examples out there.

Being a big fan of fairy tales, especially their relevance to our modern lives, I thought that the perfect film for me had come into existence.

At a rundown apartment complex a mundane, bored with life handy man stumbles across a water nymph trying to save humanity from its own ignorance.
After convincing him she is more than just a nut job he attempts to get her back home, which simultaneously would also save our world.

During what turns out to be a mammoth struggle, the rest of the complex also becomes engaged in the fight. Each finding they have a specific talent and gift to offer up for the cause. The characters end up saving each others lives both literally and in terms of future purpose, thus becoming all the better for it...

Unfortunately I think M. Night Shyamalan just tried to combine too many elements into this film. The comedy falls short at every point, the magic just never comes alive and the characters, which are purposely subscribed to the traditional fairy tale roles fail to come into their own, leaving me uninspired and compassionless.
What really makes me feel sad, is that you get such a sense of Shyamalan's ego. Thinking he has done a wonderous and origional piece of cinema. I mean, who charades as the Jesus-esque saviour in their very own film!

By the end of the film I felt like it would have been better if the housing complex had of been killed off by the mythological, nymph eating ‘Snark’ taking humanity with it, thus ending my misery and bitter disappointment of having to sit through the rest of the film.

This film is one of the rare ones (which for me at least) that outdoes the book. Transforming the lead from a spoilt silly girl into a sultry alluring heroine.

Catherine Morland is so absorbed her world of fantasy that when introduced to Henry Tilney and his sister Eleanor she is unable to distinguish fact from the stories she has created within her head. This of course results in a mass of unintended misunderstandings and hurt feelings, but is the damage to great for reconciliation?

This is definitely one of the best adaptations of a period novel I've seen, with a stunning cast that I willed a happy ending for.
It's never that simple in an Austen creation though!

A slightly disappointing and disjointed read.
I am a big fan of the mythical and surreal, especially I thought when combined within one book, but ‘Anansi Boys’ left me feeling like it’s magic and potential was never quite fulfilled.
This is the first adult novel of Gaiman’s that I have read, after very much enjoying his children’s books such as ‘The Wolves in the Walls’, and the beautiful film ‘Mirromask’.

To me it lacked the originality and collaboration between fantasy and the banal reality of life present in these previous titles. I enjoyed the depiction of the characters but the writing was bland and lacked tension and empathy.

I have ‘American Gods’ lined up next which I am looking to enjoy and connect with much more...