eroka Reviews

Killing Hitler (2003 TV Movie)

Effective but an oddity

[24 September 2011]

What hits you first and foremost in a documentary found on the Yesterday channel (akin to any History channel) is the style of this doc. The constant switching between dramatisation and reality is not something you see often, especially not when the dramatisation is an almost film noire type style. Add to that a somewhat fancy "Parker Lewis Can't Lose" shooting style and a full sequence of events that fools viewers into thinking they are watching something that had really happened (only to be told at the end of it that all of that never occurred) and have you have one odd documentary. It seems it is about what could have been a sensational discovery (the knowledge of these scheme was unknown until 1994!) yet does not really deliver anything sensational. Therefore it is too long and an hour on this topic would do. I enjoyed nevertheless and I think director Lovering loved directing this one too...

Operation Filmmaker (2007)

What a documentary

[8/10 · 3 November 2008]

This is a small-ish film but I think it's wonderful and quite a leap from many docs. Not only is the director/producer/editor/photographer is the same person and is behind the camera, the events that unfold make her also an actress - in her own film, which is the self-conscious representation of the diary of Muthana. The movie works in a few levels, and the viewer is so left to make up his/her own mind with regards to the person in the centre of it all. Beyond anything, it's a candid personal portrait of someone who is fighting for his life (but also for the Easy Life) - and does so in the most unlikeable way. We sympathise yet we don't feel empathy towards Muthana. And that says it all - he is a unique and unrelentlessly himself, even if it's not the right person to fit the mold we expect. I'm curious where he is now... Anything can happen with this guy...!

Deep Water (2006)

Simply one of the best documentaries...

[9/10 · 11 November 2007]

This is a gem. As a Film Four production - the anticipated quality was indeed delivered. Shot with great style that reminded me some Errol Morris films, well arranged and simply gripping. It's long yet horrifying to the point it's excruciating. We know something bad happened (one can guess by the lack of participation of a person in the interviews) but we are compelled to see it, a bit like a car accident in slow motion. The story spans most conceivable aspects and unlike some documentaries did not try and refrain from showing the grimmer sides of the stories, as also dealing with the guilt of the people Don left behind him, wondering why they didn't stop him in time. It took me a few hours to get out of the melancholy that gripped me after seeing this very-well made documentary.

Brick (2005)

Absolute rubbish!

[1/10 · 16 July 2006]

I am a true film lover. I watch for indie stuff and I respect efforts even if they are mediocre. "Brick" is an absolutely well-made student film, and that's where it should stay. Watching this in the West End after weeks of inclusion in "London's best films at the mo" list I went and watched it. Awful. Sound is horrible. Dialogue is trite if you can actually understand it. Locations are "no budget" and ineffective. The movie is not engaging (with 15 minutes I realised this was a major mistake) and at best will make you smile. Characterisation is bad. But all that is just not the real bottom line: it's damn boring and acts as a very long joke in cinematic reference. There is nothing brilliant about unless the whole production was under-aged, which would be admirable. Total rubbish - avoid at all costs. and I am writing this comment JUST because someone here must sound the siren, amongst all these favorable reviews. Can't get it how so many thinks highly of this flick. AVOID!

Peace One Day (2004)

Wonderful little film about something really wonderful and big

[8/10 · 17 September 2005]

I can't believe no one has written about this wonderful documentary. It has been shown around the world for over a year by now, in many festivals and shown a few times in various TV channels around the world. It is an amazing story of how one man's dream becomes a reality, and a case where a movie has actually made a difference and changed reality. It may not have gotten its purpose achieving cease fires around the world, but the 21st of September is marked as the International Day of Peace. It is amazing that the declaration of the day at the UN took place on September 11th, 2001… A Must see movie that may actually may get you choked up towards the end.

Collateral (2004)

Disappointing flick from Cruise et Mann (on almost all counts)

[24 October 2004]

*** Hinted Spoilers***

I love Cruise. He's such a great actor in most of what he ever does, even if it's "just" action. The MIs were fine, and his dramas are really great. Why he picked this flick is beyond me. Loops holes are huge, fight scene in club is out right stupid and ludicrous, the intellectual black cabbie would have been fin it wasn't so bogus, the black lawyer was black – how lucky is the cabbie guy (or us, or we would have an inter-racial couple – oh gosh!) and of course the twist in the end is sewn like only a very muddled bad script could every be. On top of that – I am surprised no one commented on the fact that this is shot in HDTV. Now that's fine but gives some scenes a very low-budget look, and along with the car wreckage and the special FX the combo is weird. Mametian moments end up as corny lines (recall the lawyer and the cabbie talk in the taxi? What a romantic moment – but so badly written and the music just did it for it!) and action sequences (like the club scene or Cruise almost falling through the door glass he shatters – did you notice how the audience go 'wow' from realizing this was NOT a good take?) are prolonged to the point that the pandemonium reminds me of Carrie's ending: surreal in how lame it looks. This is OK for most mindless people, I am sure, hence the release of it. But this is Michael Mann… The maker of The Insider (1999), Heat (1995) and Last of the Mohicans (1992). What is going on with him…? Too bad. I would state that the cinematography is nice (artistic with taste for a drama film), but places the movie's atmosphere far from the intentions of the script, that is mostly read as a ironic-cynical-comical film. The fact we suppose to really care about the characters is lost once the plot gets too stupid to handle. I won't got through the spoilers list – just save yourselves the time and see this only if there's nothing else of merit at your DVD store.

The Terminal (2004)

Terminally bad - the worst film of the finest of directors

[1/10 · 1 October 2004]

I simply shocked this kind of stuff ever made through the normal challenges of script-committees or approving executives. Unless Spielberg paid this 100% of his pockets, because man, he is off his rockers. 1. Badly mixed genres 2. Frank Caprish idiotic characters 3. credibility less of cartoon 4. complete illogical scenes and plot twists 5. Really really bad acting 6. Awful casting 7. As a product -no audience, no quality, except form of set setting excellence 8. Really bad script and misen-scene direction

Issues of the real-life feel of JFK' the fact that it's set in today's NYC, the misunderstanding of how a foreign would grasp English or would behave, the obscene simplicity of the foreigner (almost "racist" is it's assumptions about the simple-minded idiot (we are the only idiots to have wasted 8 Euros on this "movie"), and then it just tops it when bona fide UMDB users hail this with any word of grace. If it didn't say SP on the director's field, and Hanks wasn't there - this would be the trashed and grinded to pieces to have ever shamed talents like Williams and yes, Spielberg himself. Artistic does not mean allegorically silly, and it is embarrassingly silly. It is SO silly that you won't believe your eyes. I have seen directorial debuts, when a new director lumps in improbable plot and sticks a metaphor in the end. And nicely written ones, as used in The Shawshank Redemption is tolerable with the depth it suggests - but this is just so far far in the air, you just want your money back. Wow. I am so disappointed!

Once Upon a Time... Man (1978–1981)

A huge hit at the time here

[27 July 2003]

This series is a very European one, in the sense that it's unheard of in the States while kids all over the Euro-Asia area probably know the Bach's Toccata and Fugue No. 525 simply as this series tune. In Hebrew it was called "Once Upon A Time" and it reigned in the kids' most loved animated shows for a few good years. This one should be offered to be downloaded in the Internet as it is a helpful tool to study history. Excellent stuff.

A Love Story (1970)

Outdated film, not quite coherent

[11 September 2001]

As a matter of fact, I got annoyed and bored watching this film. Perhaps the 31 years that have passed since it came out do not do justice with the film, which apparently was very well received back then.

I found it to sketchy when it came to dialogs - they are illogical and not natural, and in too many scenes there is nothing but images of what could be described as mild kitsch and nothing more.

The acting is sometimes horrific. The parents sometimes act in ways that I cannot described in any other way but `crazy'. If Andersson wanted to show unstable adults around emotionally immature kids - then he has, but the scenes at the Kräftskiva (crayfish parties) are so weird as far as the human emotions displayed, that it makes little sense and still does not show the surrealist or absurd undertones that were probably what Andersson wanted to show.

The 70's look is a real one - it was shot in the 70's, of course, and that is indeed a source of some enjoyment. But personally I found the film to be quite outdated and not too interesting as a whole.

A Summer Tale (2000)

Very average film, not at all an excellent piece of work

[8 September 2001]

I will have to disagree with the previous critiques here. I found this to be a very average movie, unfocused characters (though 3D most of the time) with odd twists in the plot and completely dumb ending, that doesn't make sense anywhere, let alone Sweden (and I refer to the summer-daddy picking up the kids from the hands of the police without anyone running after him).

The entire set of relationships in this movie has been seen before and is not really interesting. The "romantic" couple is an old-fashioned, ugly and clumsy couple that we suppose to feel something for, and I didn't. The kids are OK, but I think that the French "Le Grand chemin" (1987), that pretty much tackled the same story line, but with far better performances between the lead kids. And how exactly do kids get the stuff to tattoo themselves while being hospitalized?! I was shocked at the silliness of that scene.

Skip it, a very minor attempt.

Strip Jack Naked: Nighthawks II (1991)

A moving and sincere depiction of the 1970's gay life in London

[22 August 2001]

Not one for all taste, but a very personal account of the gay liberation movement in the 70's and 80's in London, from the time homosexuality was against the law till the high days of AIDS deaths. It's a very convincing film about coming out and the meaning of being gay in a world that has not yet figured out what to do about gay people.

The director is using an old feature of his to depict the life of the gay community at the time. He sometimes used excerpts that are too long and self-indulging. I think Nighthawks was probably a boring film, but it's role in gay cinema is understood.

The film is explicit, if you're the kind who worries about this.

Balalayka (2000)

Starts well, then falls apart; disappointing by the end

[21 July 2001]

The film is about three Turkish brothers fulfilling their father's dying wish – to bring back the remains of his old buddy from Russia back to Turkey. This is just the premise to get the Turkish characters to take the bus home with the coffin. On that bus they will meet and fall in love with a bunch of Russian women who are making their way to Turkey, to work in prostitution. All THIS is contained in a flashback, which starts the movie, of one of these woman who ended up staying in Turkey.

The group of women is very diverse, and yet - a few of them seem to know Turkish rather well, which makes the situation seem contrived. In this respect the movie is quite silly to begin with and the transitions between the languages for the non-Russian and non-Turkish speaker may seem seamless, but they are one of the things that hurt the film's credibility. It's as if the whole setup was meant to create the situation – get 3 Turkish guys with a bunch of beautiful Russian women and get the story going from there, without taking into account at all almost any language barriers (they do exist in one couple's case though).

The gallery of characters is rather interesting, but it is never explained why the women are forced to work as prostitute in Turkey. The mafia people who handle their transport are mean people, sometimes depicted in a ridiculous way, especially when they demand that a woman who works for them and is helping her cousin to get to Turkey to get a new prosthesis will hand the poor girl to them as one of the prostitute. It's not even clear if the

act of bringing these women to Turkey is illegal or not.

Once the bus crosses the border and the band gets stuck is some hole in the mountains the story starts to fall apart, with numerous mistakes of continuity and plot. It just goes downhill from there till the silly and unconvincing ending. Individual characters are sketched rather well, but any character interactions after that tends to be simply dull, if not really stupid. I'll point this one as an example: All the women are intrigued by the oldest brother – a guy of 55 or so – instead of his rather handsome little brother of about 27. The character is a real bore and lacks any charisma that might have been included in the script.

As a whole, the movie is not a good one and does not get above 4/10. It's not a real bore though, so if you want to get some folklore you may get that in the bus scenes.

Our Lady of the Assassins (2000)

A realistic and subversive film

[21 July 2001]

I saw the film at the Jerusalem Film Festival. It was a rather late screening, but the viewers were glued to their seats. It's a very gripping movie and extremely subversive in themes, language and visuals. It's very anti current-day Colombia, and no wonder the production didn't go very smoothly. Still I admire the support the film got from `official' institutions in Medellion. It's subversive in themes, because we basically have a gay couple, an older man (about 40-50) who indulges in having sex with minor boys (who do this willingly, and yet, it's rather shocking to the average viewer) in return for financial support, or rather indulging the boys in whatever they want to do. The couple goes around the city and is critical of every facet of the city – and rightly so – yet the tone is overtly cynical and `evil'. The lead boy, Alexis, goes around and kills whomever is threatening him and his sugar-daddy – I think he executed 4 people once a confrontation was about to happen, and 4 more were other kids who were after him. S this shooting spree is depicted in a somewhat accepting manner, as if this is the way to do these things in Colombia. They ridicule almost every aspect of life – church, police, government, the drug lords, poor and beggars, the bourgeoisie, other gays, and even themselves. In that respect, it's a very Pasolini movie, although the realism here is a real one and not made for the sake of a socialist agenda. The writer and his two boy-lovers are very lost, although they always know where they are, and the ending is pretty bad, as expected. The film shows no hope for the Colombian people, as they are stuck in a country ran by corrupt officials, gangs and drug lords. The writer has great lines, one of my favorite was about him hating people who whistle, because they shouldn't try and imitate the art that was given to the birds… A good movie, with a 7/10 as far as I can say. Acting-wise – since I don't speak Spanish, it was credible to my ears, though the boys did seem to quote their lines mechanically at times.

Det nya landet (2000 TV Movie)

Moving film about Refugees in Sweden – fine script and acting

[21 July 2001]

I didn't even know this was a mini series in Sweden... I saw it just as one movie, transferred to a 35 mm print It's about two refugees who flee their refugee shelter, where they wait for their application for asylum to be accepted, in hope to find some other way of making it in Sweden. Their adventures are many and they will meet both good and `bad' Swedes.

Acting is great by all, and even if Ali's character is annoying at first, it will grow on you. The ending is comfortably set, and as such is predictable (Ali will switch with Massoud to go to Canada while Massoud will remain with Louise), but this is not really important. The characters are very well written and the plot is never boring, definitely a good touch on Lukas Moodysson's part as one of the writers. Ali and Massoud parting is a real tear jerker and so their friendship is really what this film is about.

The Château (2001)

Uneven, yet interesting, study of intercultural conflicts

[17 July 2001]

This film centers around the story of two brothers (one white, one black - turns out he was adopted) go to France to claim their château which they inherited from their French uncle whom they have never met. What follows is a series of interactions between the French and Americans, where language barriers play a vital role. Though a comedy, it's not too funny, most of the time. It's even rather simple, as the love sub-plot is not too interesting, and too many laughs have to do with misusing French by the wonderful Paul Rudd (when will he get his big break, eh?) and some laughs that have to do with his black brother and his "jive talk". Shot in what seems to be DV, the look of the film is quite uneven, going from natural landscape look that looks like film to grainy night scenes that look like 8 mm. I am also not at all sure that the sound mix was done in DTS, as the current details state in IMDB. It was hardly the 2.0 and there is no need for more than that. The movie is quite talkie, but as such, does not really analyze the French attitude of the Americans. It is in the end a comedy about how the French are viewed by the Americans, not so much what the French really think of their ill-mannered new owners. Both sides are ludicrous and rude, the Americans with their superficial understanding of land and tradition, and the French with their inefficient way of doing business and their complete distrust of anything not French. While the movie was amusing, it lacks the serious discussion of clashing cultures and national protection of traditions and assets in a multi-cultural capitalist world, and issue we have seen many films about coming from Europe in recent years.

Promises (2001)

A captivating movie that will make you emotional

[8/10 · 15 July 2001]

This is a documentary about 7 kids living through the Peace Process between Israel and the Palestinian people, between 1995-2000. Allow me to quote from the Festival's program:

"Without newsflash superficiality, political commentary or cold analysis of the situation in the Middle East, Promises is a documentary filmed between '95 and '00 that brings the perspective of seven children from diverse backgrounds and both sides of the conflict. Moishe is a settler child; Mahmoud supports Hamas; Shlomo is ultra-orthodox; Faraj lives in Dehaisheh and dreams of returning to the village from which his grandfather was exiled; Sanbal is from a refugee family with modern views; twins Yarko and Daniel are secular Israeli kids living in West Jerusalem. All live a few kilometers from one another, but are worlds apart. Before adolescence, children are freer, more spontaneous and can express themselves directly and without self-censorship. They can express what adults are afraid to say. At the same time, children, who usually allow the facts to confuse them, carry the hope for change in the patterns of hostility engrained in the minds of adults."

I saw the film at the 2001 Jerusalem Film Festival, with the twins and Mahmoud in the audience as well. Everyone was glued to the film and I think I saw many people shed some tears as Faraj, Sanbal and the twins meet for one day, doing what seemed impossible at the beginning of the project. Their faith of goodness of people is catching, and leaves you in the audience regretting the fact that us, adults, have a harder time sitting together and just getting to know one another. While the bloodshed may continue for a while longer, it is important to view such films that allow us to accept another option of the conflict.

One of the best documentaries of the year and one that is a good one to give you an explanatory introduction to the conflict. It doesn't cover all basis in this very complicated situation, but at least you will get the idea that there is no easy solution in this political-religious-historical conflict. Hopefully these kids all could meet again one day in one place without any barricades between them.

B.Z. Goldberg has definitely created relationships with these kids that without his people-skills wouldn't have made those kids open up to him the way they did. Watching Faraj weep when he realizes that BZ is going to leave them after the meeting with the twins and that all their efforts would be in vain is a moment you will remember for a long time.

Joint Security Area (2000)

Wonderful, emotional and engrossing

[15 July 2001]

Great movie, well shot and edited, good music and actors that do an excellent work. So the story with the Swiss/Korean officer investigating the case is very so-so and the idiot that plays the male Swiss (?) officer should not be acting at all - but the film was just about the best film I saw one day at the Jerusalem Film Festival. With only 30 people in the audience and no prep work at all - just a wonderful movie with a lot of things to say about the silliness of war and hostility between two countries that are in fact one nation.

Go see it, you won't regret it, I hope Chan-wook Park goes on doing great stuff like this in the future. Byung-hun Lee (as Sgt. Lee Soo-hyeok) is one sexy and talented actor (no wonder Nam Sung-shik falls in love with him...) which I hope to see in other movies. Once again, East Asia produces films that are fresh and fun to see.

Rushmore (1998)

Huge disappointment. 5 in my book, not 7.6!

[5/10 · 15 June 2001]

Da, da, da… While I am an avid film buff and love original films – and don't get me wrong, Rushmore's originality did not elude me – this films just disappointed me. It took out the DVD version (plain old setup of feature plus trailer, nothing else, and you guys at the production company – adding `Film Recommendations' which is nothing but marketing more films of the same company is not a f*****g bonus. Get a life!) and I was SO disappointed. I won't repeat the plot. If you've got this far in reading comments – you probably know more than I did when I rented it. The film is good or excellent in these accounts: mise en scene direction, photography, some of the acting, and editing. The rest – plot, soundtrack (urgh!) and some acting – was very average to bad. The script was the oddest of them all. And here is where Rushmore can claim to be original. But the problem is that it gets zero on credibility, even within its own quirky world of Rushmore. These kids do not exist in real life, and the worst thing is that the characters' motivation is just non-existent. It doesn't make sense why the teacher keeps permitting Max to come and talk to her. No millionaire lives in a small town like that town Rushmore's takes place in. No millionaire has really that kind of spare time, and no one really acts like he does with his own kids. As a matter of fact, every aspect of the plot and characters is trying to be original while staying within the lines of the general basic notion of the stereotype (jock, nerd, rich guy, minority student) or institution (prep school, public school, head principal, school clubs and activities, etc.). While it looks recognizable, the behavior of everyone in this universe of Rushmore is just not normal. And to expect to run a plot that doesn't really revolve around comedy and not bore – is very hard, and the film just fails at this. Half way through the film I kept asking myself – where is this going to?! The film ending's yields very little answer to this question. There are other original American films (I recommend every one of them) that have similarities to Rushmore – American Beauty, Mumford, Elections. All depict Americana in its quirkiest form, with odd characters and adolescents shown as real people, if indeed at times in extreme representation. But none bore me like Rushmore. As a matter of fact, watching Elections and the Virgin Suicide (yet another disappointment, just not as bad as Rushmore) last week enforced the feeling that this movie could have gone elsewhere.

Baby Steps (1999)

A "small" story with so many issues - well made

[26 February 2001]

This is a short (25 minutes) film about a gay guy wanting to adopt a baby. It's quite simple - it's his meeting with the woman at the adopting agency and what follows after she realizes he is gay. It's a short one about re-discovering what is important in life and how frustrating things can be in a society that doesn't accept gay men as eligible parents. While straight people are not required to show that they are fit parents, totally fit parent that like other parents of the same sex are denied that basic right.

The actor-director Geoffrey Nauffts does very well on both counts and Kathy Bates is a strong person to act along side. What's interesting is that not all things are made obvious and some smaller issues are left undiscussed, without making it look anything but sensible that in every day life we don't have answers to all questions.

Great.

Jean (2000)

Very impressive, but what does it exactly mean?

[21 February 2001]

This is a very impressive film as far as technique goes. But what does it all mean? *Note: My idea of the Plot follows* It's a beautiful short film about a wife who is celebrating her anniversary (in B&W) - she getting dinner ready and she gets flowers delivered; then a young guy (in color) walks into the same house to battle this woman (while is naked in the bathroom) over something. Why does she want to kill this guy? I saw this elsewhere and it said there: "Jean is the story of an attractive, mature woman, living with her husband in a fine country house. But all is not what it seems.

On the day of her anniversary, Jean is preparing a celebratory supper. But her activities are disrupted by an intruder - a scruffy young man. Is he a burglar? No... Perhaps it is her son?

Who is he, and what does he want from her?

The truth exposes their shared secret, and just how much Jean has sacrificed for an 'ordinary' life."

Well - I don't really know. It's like a horror film, and the son (?) in the end "castrates" himself with the knife his mother (?) just tried to kill him with; she manages by drowning him and then he wakes up and it is suggested he cut his penis off. And I ask again - what is the story here? Well, by the end the guy is gone (he will remain a ghost, I think) and the woman and her husband are having dinner, in color.

I didn't get it but was impressed by the vision, lights, sounds, music and editing. No dialogue by the way to help us through.

Rick & Steve the Happiest Gay Couple in All the World (1999)

Simply a riot! How gay and fun

[19 February 2001]

By now there are at least 3 Rick and Steve shorties. I saw them and simply laughed like a mad man. Very very funny. The first one was "Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All the World". It was a hilarious visit of two lesbians at Rick & Steve's for dinner. One of the girls want to have their sperm... The second was "Rick and Steve, Episode 2: Scary Straight People" in which Steve's parents come for a visit in which they will learn a thing or two about their son. The third was "Rick & Steve: Episode 3, Potty Mouth Training" about the guys contemplating a threesome and the girlz having someone else's baby to try how it is to be mothers. Simply amazing fun, with the visual style of South Park in Legoland. Everything is made out of Lego (except the sperm, I assume). You will need a broadband to watch it in full screen, but it's worth the trouble.

The Upgrade (2000)

Cute short but not more than that

[6/10 · 17 February 2001]

It's not that every piece of film made by a prominent or semi-prominent star needs to be an exceptional piece of work or constantly showing a special merit. It's actually fun to see "major" stars, and hopefully there are also good actors, do a short that does not require highbrow analysis. Yet, I was wondering why Minnie Driver or Mimi Rogers thought this short is the one they want to do. It is told is very straightforward but without any words, so the shift has to be on the visuals and the synch between them and the music. In that respect, the film does OK. But I did expect more of the script besides having Driver physically preventing Rogers from going on board. That's too simplistic. The decision not to use any dialogue was the oddest one but I guess it was derived from the format - short with a simple story. So in a way, it's a Bennie Hill on heels. Slapstick on the way to the coveted First Class Upgrade.

The Joys of Smoking (1999)

Realistic and poignant

[17 February 2001]

This is a very real flick, as it depicts the ups and downs (mostly the downs) or a gay male couple (there are a few sub-plots that deal with straight and lesbian relationships as well. Told as a personal account of events with talking heads sliced into the actual story - it is not always understood at what time they are shot but they are shot by one of the guys so it's a bit confusing as to how the filming of an interview was done and when - and all add up to a very real, and really very happy, depiction of a relationship. The fact that it is a gay couple that is the center of it doesn't really make a difference as far as the viewers go. There are a few kissing going on but that's the extent of the exposure. There are SOME issues that are very gay-related but similar things would have happened between straight couples as well (as cheating on your partner, fearing commitment, and so on). Acting, script, photography and sound are very reasonable, with the exception of two of the actresses whom I would replace. Editing is very practical so a a whole the movie comes across as being very mature and not too show-offy. A very decent flick for an introspective look at gay relationships, and not only that.

The Tripods (1984–1985)

Fun to see it 14, but 16 years later...

[7/10 · 28 November 2000]

I loved this show as a kid. It was fun - it promised some cool effects (and sometimes even delivered), it had a really cute guy at the center of the story with adorable friends around him all romping around trying to get away from the tripods; and the evil was real evil. No serious female role unfortunately to add the missing sexual tension. Those were the days when Russia was the USSR and Tripods were running amok frightening Western Europeans who in the year 2089 maintained a lifestyle of the Middle Ages. It was a true classic in its undeniable 80-ish style of the Capped people, especially those no-sleeve shirts that these kids roamed around in the English and French countryside, as if winter was just concept and not a reality. The tripods were an odd mixture between the three-legged "War of the Worlds" Martian's fighting machines and what the tripods would look in the book "The Day of the Tripods", only the latter were more vegetation than metallic creatures. In the second season out of the three that were shot the plot started to dwindle and the cuteness didn't go as far as showing real suspense. And yes, the fact that they never did end up shooting the last season was a major letdown. Still kids-of-that-era today would recognize the tune - it was a show we all loved to wait a week for its next episode. John Shackley - nothing came out of him, oddly enough. He got this starring role of 3 seasons and just vanished. According to IMDB he ended up doing second assistant director role in The Steal. I really wonder if that is really him. I'd be happy to learn how a major kid show star was bumped out of the loop so decisively.

The Hotel New Hampshire (1984)

One of my all-times favorite films!

[7/10 · 18 September 2000]

I can't believe no one ever bothered writing about this wonderful film. Though it is in many way American – most cast and the author of the book on which the book is based are American – but this is one of the least American films I know. It is so European – the director, the locale that is half the time Europe – and the very daring subject matters simply make this a real gem. It is a story of a family with the oddest characters and the most horrible disasters. And yet they persevere. `Keep Passing the Open Windows" – the motto that represents both danger of suicide and hope.

It is funny, sad, emotional and insightful. The course of events may be too quick for some, but as in life – it's so very unexpected.

I love `The World According to Garp' as well, as movie and book and these two share a lot in common. And how can anyone resist watching a film with such a wonderful cast – Rob Lowe, Jodie Foster, Paul McCrane, Beau Bridges, Wallace Shawn, Matthew Modine, Wilford Brimley, Nastassja Kinski and Amanda Plummer… And Rob Lowe and Jodie Foster never looked cuter. The story spans many years and places, and would touch on subject matters such as raising children, music, incest, homosexuality, communism, psychology, terrorism, writing, racism, hotel management and the recurring subjects with John Irving – at least in what I read – airplanes and bears (see Garp again for these too).

A film that leaves you with a feeling of hope and a wish that you also knew these wonderful people. Don't miss it.