lemmy caution

Cool animation technique is way undermined by slow, slow pacing.

If I had a watch, I'd be looking at it as frequently as the white rabbit does in the movie. If I had a rabbit, I'd rather be watching it for amusement.

There was no sense of adventure, or even engagement. And this seemed like a very long 84 minute movie.

Best avoided. 3/10.

Cameron Crowe's rock and roll lullabye is a confident movie by a completely assured filmmaker. Avoiding the main contemporary conventions of too-bitter irony and too-sweet treacle, he presents a semi-autobiographical story that works on every level.

Crowe's interviews with the great Billie Wilder are presenting a remarkable return on time invested; every rule of strong screenwriting that they came up with is put into practice here. (And making the debt plain to see, a key late scene of the movie is a clear homage to The Apartment, Crowe's favourite Wilder flick.)

A deep knowledge of rock and roll may enrich the experience of this movie, but isn't a prerequisite. Rock geeks, however, who adore critics as much as the bands they write about will love this movie, especially seeing Lester Bangs brought to life as a sloppy, ranting, mad genius.

Excellent acting all around, unwavering direction and a superbly crafted screenplay. It's all too rare that I come out of the theatre glad that I went to a movie; this time I was ecstatic.

Rating: 9 out of 10 (excellent)

Godard's listless crapfest is a big waste of time. I mean- it's fine if you want to pick one scene from a play and analyse it for an hour and a half; it's fine if you want to do this in an obscure semi-story way that only become the tiniest bit clear after having watched the whole thing.

But when it's constructed as an endurance test, with the director holding the audience in contempt- I mean, why waste your time? (To the end of making your experience as unpleasant as possible, Godard shows up as a "professor", mumbling unintelligible profundities. And then throws piles of squealing seagulls and vari-speeded music onto the soundtrack. Thanks for reminding us that film is a constructed medium, professor!)

There were a couple effective scenes, but they were immediately undermined by what followed. I did think a little about Lear, but more to keep myself occupied than from any theses the film presented.

And a caveat to anyone considering seeing this because the IMDB credits list Woody Allen: don't bother; he's only in the flick for a few minutes at the end and barely says anything.

To review: avoid.

Rating: 3 out of 10 (very poor)