ivona021

I didn't like the book because I thought it was too long for what it had to say, and since reading of the book happens at the reader's pace, the puzzles weren't tough enough to appear difficult to a reader with a substantial mathematical knowledge at his own pace.

However the book did make me imagine the wonderful locations it goes through and I figured it was going to be a really good movie.

I read the critiques when the movie premiered - booing in Cannes, jokes about Tom Hanks' hair, Audrey Tautou's accent, incomprehensible dialogue, whatever. Some friends told me the book was better, some that they didn't like it and they didn't read the book, and fortunately, some told me that it was totally OK.

We saw it last night and we really liked it! I thought it could have been longer, and I wouldn't have even noticed it. The script was fine. Tom Hanks' hair is fine. Audrey's cute and intense, her accent does sound confusing in 2-3 lines but it is believable, and the rest is all fine. Everyone did a great job. I liked it how all the clues were highlighted and how they were passing through ghosts on the way to the Westminster Abbey; the flashbacks were clear and not overwhelming; I felt sorry for all the characters who were manipulated to do horrid things in the name of their faith, and the end of the movie offers the moral of the story much clearer than it was done in the book, and ... Yeah, I liked it very much.

There are 2-3 instances in the movie when the cut to what happens next was too fast, and I imagine the DVD will explain why some stuff was cut out -- probably to save some time, which they shouldn't have done.

And, unfortunately the sound was not crystal-clear which, given all the accents, in the audience full of popcorn and candy-chewing couch potatoes, for whom it is appealing to crack a difficult code fast without need to understand complex sentences, made it difficult to listen.

Yugoslavia does not exist anymore. But the music from the partly repressed, partly happy times (late 70's and early 80's) still exists, and time has been very kind to it. And the people who made that music are now older, one foot in present, another in the past, some wiser, some changed. They are now scattered all over the world. This movie brings most of them back together, and realizes that the crucial piece of puzzle is now damaged, a ghost, but life, imperfect, goes on. It also brings back the feel of Zagreb (ahh, that attitude!), and to some extent Belgrade (ohh, more attitude!), of those times, their culture, dialects, language, teenage angst (Communist repressions vs. punk and alternative), a bit of an isolated, naive, even arrogant idealism, and a lot of self-confidence and passion to change the world for the better.

It is a wonderful trip back. Everyone in ex-Yu lands should watch it. It brings back the state of mind that most people had in early 80's -- the one just preceding the late 80's disbelief and denial that the advertised civil war could ever, ever really happen.

I've seen this movie in 1993 or 1994... whenever it was that it came out. My friends, all guys, convinced me that a horror film was just what we needed that day. I really don't remember much but I do want to say this: We had a great gross-out fun, and are still sometimes making references to the insanely (I have to use 'insanely' since apparently, 'retardedly' isn't a word in English language) funny scenes -- we still remember the baby zombie, the zombie bloodbath party, and of course, the LAWNMOWER.

Why am I writing a review now? I just saw "Slither" -- this time the kids convinced me that a horror film is just what we needed today -- and I liked it but I immediately recalled and recommended "Dead Alive", which is slightly better I think.

So I came here, saw that Slither and Dead Alive have very similar rating (it isn't only me) and I was surprised to see that the director was Peter Jackson, of the LOTR / KK fame! Man!!! I sort of like P.J. better now that I know his horror history! Another recommendation if you like "Dead Alive" is, of course, "From Dusk Till Dawn".