Basements

Now, I am one of the biggest John Travolta fans on earth, I have all of his movies, except for ones not out of video. I just recently got this movie, and I STILL do not understand it after watching it three times. I got the movie off of e-bay because it is out of print. Was it worth what I paid? Yes, because I am a collector of all his movies. For a regular person who isn't interested in it for the actor, I would tell you not to dare waste your money and time.

This very weird short demonstrates the fine line to be drawn between talking and communicating.

All of the characters in this piece are not capable of communicating with one another. As a result, there is the expected confusion, and ultimate mayhem.

There is very little plot. It has something to do with a nervous chattering woman who may or may not have a hidden history with the man who lives in the basement.

Worth the time, but this is no slight diversion. Don't watch it if you can't devote your attention.

I am the first one to SPIT upon....really, I cannot stand pretentious crud -- spit upon art that pretends to be art...

Paintings of green with a yellow spot and selling for $250,000 (seriously), or boring movies and plays that border on insanity...BUT...Pinter's MASterpiece, The Dumb Waiter is indeed an 'absurdist' piece, but one that has a beginning, a middle and an end, and truly carries the viewer (or reader) through a psychological dialogue that ranks with Terry Gilliam's 'Brazil,' and Mamet's The Spanish Prisoner,' as films that take the absurdist and surreal genre and actually make films truly art-worthy.

I love the Dumb Waiter -- and ironically, fell in love with it during a college drama class -- I wrote at length about it because I had been one to rant about stupid wannabe pretentious theatre, art, music, etc. and realized that Pinter is truly an artist. Truly. Other pretenders do minimalistic work because they can't do more, but this is great -- and the best acting Travolta has done besides Pulp Fiction... ...oh, and Battlefield Earth...(just kidding)

Altman really hit on a good thing with his short films written by Harold Pinter. The film effectively contrasts Conti's brilliant acting skills with the non-existent skills of John Travolta. Travolta's awful british accent is worth the price of admission alone! (I am sure this is all intentional - a real Altman touch) Travolta plays a hitman! And we all thought the Tarantino was the original one with that idea. A genius story that is excellently paced. For a great time, view this wonderful artistic piece.

ABC TV network has from time to time tried to work with more serious artists. This was a big experiment and Lynch's TWIN PEAKS was another go round with middlebrow if not high brow offerings. WILD PALMS falls in this category as well. In all cases they would attract a few household names to generate interest in the projects.

I have not seen BASEMENTS. It was one of those projects I've always wanted to see because I am familiar with Harold Pinter. The fact that Travolta (who was in a career slump at the time and was reduced to appearing in cameos on SNL and Stevie Wonder videos)agreed to do it really intrigued me. Does anyone know where to find it?