jaiken007

I truly love this film. The look on young Graham's face when he got his first chemistry set was probably like the one on my own when I got mine. Because I loved my family, I chose other areas of research and never experimented on them. That said, I found the humor in this black comedy right on target and I actually felt sorry for the young poisoner. If he had worked for Q branch he most likely would have received a knighthood rather than a prison sentence. I have no idea how close to the truth this movie is but it is on my top 20 films of all time.

First of all, I believe that anyone who says that this is an accurate depiction of ancient Rome has done little reading about the period. Costuming errors abound and the use of glass is hysterically incorrect. The second problem is that, I, Claudius not withstanding (Robert Graves made a lot of stuff up), we have very little information about this era. Taking the word of Suetonius, who had an axe to grind, would be like using the National Enquirer to understand the life of Diana Spencer. We do not even know for sure whether thumbs up or down meant life or death.

Okay on to the film. Without a doubt this movie has the biggest budget of any porno film I've ever seen. Peter O'Toole and Sir John are lucky in dying in the first 20 minutes. Malcolm McDowell is excellent as always and Helen Mirren puts in her usual stellar performance. The sets are beautiful, if inaccurate (Romans painted their statues in life-like colors for one instance), likewise the costuming (Roman matrons were dressed with far more modesty). I also was amused at the bad ADR. It looks almost like dubbed Godzilla movie and the music, in a word, sucks. Someday someone will make a film that combines the wonderful writing and acting of the British mini-series, I, Claudius, and the budget of this horrible movie. I hope it's soon.

I am a die-hard Batman fan. I started by reading the comics as a kid and stuck with Bats even during the "Bat-usi"-Adam West days, as bad as they were. I was once of the first fans of "The Dark Knight" and waited in line two hours to be in the preview audience for the first Tim Burton feature. I didn't watch "Batman Beyond" until syndication and was so impressed by the series I bought "Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker" and was blown away by it. This is superior to any film version of my favorite psychotic in tights. The plot is chilling and Mark Hamill brings an edge to the Joker that even Jack Nicholson could not match. Will Friedle and Kevin Conroy seem to bring out nuances of character with their voices that are lacking in the live portrayals of Batman. I also love the way the two Batmen differ in their strengths and weaknesses to make an unbeatable team. I missed Stockard Channing, but Angie Harmon was a good substitute. I hope this team makes many more Batman movies but I cannot imagine being able to top this.

10 stars out of 10 for this masterpiece. Congratulations, they've done Bob Kane proud. (Now if the script writers for the live movies could hire Paul Dini and company)