Spud-38

This movie just doesn't know what it wants to be! Is it a comedy? Sort of. Is it a fantasy? Uh, sort of. Is it a dark drama? Yeah, sort of. It just doesn't know what it's trying to be, so it dabbles a little in everything, and does nothing well. It has some great talent, and good directing, and a great premise, but in the end, it lacks a script to do justice to any of the elements. The script tries too hard to include too many of the Grimm's Fairy tales into one story, rather than picking a few good elements, and leaving room for a legitimate sequel. Frankly, I would really like to see Heath Ledger and Matt Damon in another picture together with a better script. Bottom line analysis: Too many elements, not enough cohesion, mildly disappointing, and not worth the eight bucks admission. See this one in the dollar theaters.

This movie is about as factual and containing as much artistic integrity as anything put out by the Soviet Union. Not content to produce a cool action movie, the "brain trust" behind this piece degenerate into loud factless preaching and politicizing. And worse, they manage to convince hapless hoi poloi that they are presenting truth wrapped in CGI. When art and entertainment revert to preaching, they compromise the medium. If you want to preach a dooms day message find some scientific proof, and publish it in a journal. Do they really expect us to believe that the last Ice Age (10,000 years ago) was sparked by the burning of fossil fuels? If it wasn't, then why would that spark it now? And if it was, where did they come from? Just make a cool movie about weather! Include the CGI and love story and improbable weather events, just don't wrap it up to look like science, and PLEASE don't submit us to your ill-informed political views. That's why God gave us CNN and FOX.

Hollywood is full of overly wrought love stories in which the conflict seems contrived merely to create drama or comedy or both. In Children of a Lesser God the love is so simple, and the conflict so believable, that it feels less like watching a movie, and more like watching friends walk through their own personal story. The attraction between Matlin and Hurt is obvious, but genuine, and is filled with the kind of "touches" that make it feel real. It is also a visually beautiful film. Each shot is set like a still photographer capturing an image. The overwhelming beauty of the New Brunswick coast creates a background for the film that leaves one with the feeling of watching a moving painting. Matlin has unfortunately not since been offered anything near this piece in which to display her amazing talent. It is a shame that a woman who could stand alongside Katherine Hepburn and Jodie Foster as all time great actresses is not having the opportunity to display that talent because of her hearing disability.