Gargarin

Probably one of the best Horror Movies ever. The Combination of Comedy with a great sense of british humor and gory horror scenes became legendary and were copied a hundreds of times afterwards. Rick Baker, as the Make up Artist created brand new technics for this movie wich also became legendary. The naturalistic acting and the true pictures of that movie gave him a very truthfull look, everything is very believable. The timing of all the scenes is amazing. Well at this time, Landis was on his zenit after directing Movies like animal house and The Blues Brothers. Later he returned to pure comedy in Trading Places and Coming to America. He tried to do a horror movie in the early ninetys with "Innocent Blood" with also great Make up, comedy and very bloody scenes, but the movie never hit the lightness and the genius of "An American Werewolf in London".

In the last years silence get out of buiseness in Hollywood. Everything must be flat, loud and spectacular. Directors like M. Night Shyamalan and also Alexander Payne found out, that slowmotion and silence is a very good way to tell storys intensly. "About Schmidt" works perfectly as a combination of comedy and drama. It is perfectly written and i don't understand, why it did not get nominated for an Academy Award after winning the Golden Globe as best Screenplay. The cast ist outstanding, everyone gives his best to support the story. There is a lot of truth in that movie as it was in "American Beauty" for examepl. A movie wich can change the Audience. Something, big Hollywood Flicks like the totaly overproduced "Chicago" never could reach. Nicholson is at his best. I think, every three to four years he gives a performance of the Decade. When you liked "As good as it gets" you'll love Nicholson in this movie.

Well, they got a pretty good package with Kirsten Dunst, Deinse Richards, Kirstie Alley and Ellen Barkin and they did it. One of the funniest movies of the last years, respectless, with a big portion of black humor. White Trash at it's best. Specially Ellen Barkin and her best friend Allison Janney are hillarious. I think there is no better way to create a picture of the middlewest. A prety good independent picture wich cries out for more from director Jann and screenwriter Lona Williams. It would be so fresh and nice, if some of these 70 million Dollar Major Flicks would have just as half the funny lines as this movie. Sure a big eight out of ten.