Starry-4

This movie is the best of the farcical, all-star movies, partly because of a collection of first-rate actors, such as Spencer Tracy, who seemed to have fun with their parts, and not simply walk through them as if they were an easy paycheque. Dick Shawn, while less well-known than most of the cast, is hilarious as the overwrought son of Ethel Merman. If you can enjoy a movie for what it is, and don't expect every movie to be Shakespeare, then kick back, and enjoy some inspired wackiness. This bears repeat viewing, if you can get in the right mood.

This is an important movie that needs to be seen by people of all colours. It's one of those movies that should be shown in school because it shows a little known but important facet of the history of WWII.

The movie is a bit slow in places, but the heartfelt, understated performances by the all-star cast more than makes up for it. After all, it's their characters that we are interested in, so you enjoy spending time with them. There are some straightforward scenes in this movie, such as when the trainees set a damaged plane down by a chaingang in Alabama, and you see the look of astonishment in the eyes of the all African-American chaingang and their white "bosses". But it works due to the honesty of the performances, and the knowledge that things like this really happened.

This movie, which I believe is little-known, should be compared to another forgotten movie, Go For Broke, a superb 1950s production about the only Japanese-American unit fighting in WWII. Like the real life African-American airmen, the real life Japanese-American unit racked up an absolutely astonishing record of service. I thought the Go For Broke story to be more involving due to the range of experiences and emotions displayed, plus more evident bitterness towards how they are treated (eg. Go For Broke deals with how Italian-American servicemen are treated much better than the Japanese-Amercans) but I hold more movies - and the servicemen of non-white descent portrayed - in equally sky-high esteem. Both movies make you want to seek out the surviving servicemen of these groups and shake their hands.

There's some movies that are a surprise and you walk out feeling like you've seen a landmark film, a film that makes you realize the power of movies. Raiders of the Lost Ark was one for me when I stumbled onto it during it's initial release. This is another. I had high expectations of this but it was far better than I could have guessed. I am completely in awe of George Lucas' imagination. This raises the bar so high in terms of creating fantasy worlds on the silver screen that I doubt we'll see other Filmmakers ever come close.

If you liked the previous Star Wars films, you'll go crazy over this ... the crowd I was with certainly did (but if you thought the other films were strictly children's flicks, you still might not get it). In Phantom Menace there's a higher density of visual detail to drink in (which I loved as an amateur artist), the story is more sophisticated, the action is more intense, and you can see the intelligence that went into every little bit of it. I also enjoyed the textured performances of all the main characters, which would otherwise stand out more in a film with less dazzle. Lucas' team has effectively built their own fascinating universe that has the air of reality and given us a thrilling glimpse, and that's the point. Way to go, George! But what do you mean I have to wait a couple of years for the next one? Just list me as "thrilled in Victoria".