szubcic

This movie mesmerized me. It is loose jointed, like any traveler's experiences, and gives the viewer the feeling of living through a sailor's wayward days in Lisbon. Even though it hasn't much of a plot, it's curiously compelling. What drove the story for me was trying to figure out what was happening in the sailor's mind. One gets the feeling that he is going through a crisis, that this is a turning point in his life--ought he to keep on travelling, being a perpetual stranger, or should he go back to Germany & his lover/wife? The feeling accompanying this conflict verges between despair and sublimity--it evoked in me the same empty ache I felt the sailor was going through. Deceptively simple, but artful & subtle. A fine picture for all of us wanderers.

This twisted take on Little Red Riding Hood takes us to its creepy heart and makes us cringe even as it makes us laugh. Playing her role straight, Reese Witherspoon--who I could see was good and was going to make it--is the fearless and clueless teenager hitchhiking to her grandmother's house in Stockton,CA(!) Both she and Kiefer Sutherland do excellent jobs. What I liked best about this movie was how closely it skirted the boundary of tastelessness and managed to make me laugh after I forced yourself not to look away. It also made me notice Mr. Sutherland for the 1st time in a long time.

This a brilliant and lively spoof of the sci-fi superhero genre (The Fantastic 4, The X-Men, etc). Visually and aurally rich, it bears multiple viewings well, and yields up fresh surprises each time. The retro-techno look, the nonlinear alien spacecraft, John Lithgow's over-the-top performance, the entire cast's dead pan delivery of gee-whiz material works very well. Everybody on this project must have had a ball making it. It's excessive and understated at the same time. I can see it appealing to teens and children, but underlying the silliness is an engaging, adult sensibility.