*DATo* Reviews

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

Satire Of The Book 'Fail Safe'

[8/10 · 31 May 1999]

Dr. Strangelove is a satirical make-over of the book 'Fail Safe' by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler. The book is fantastic and definitely NOT a comedy. 'Strangelove' follows the lines of the book fairly closely but with a comic twist which, at the time it came out, was sorely needed. I was 12 years old at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis and we all thought we were going to be incinerated at any moment in a nuclear holocaust.

'Dr Strangelove' can best be described as a "black comedy" in which a deranged wing commander of B 52's sends his entire force to bomb what was then, the Soviet Union. Desperate attempts to recall the wing are aided by British liaison Captain Mandrake, played by Peter Sellers who also plays President of the United States Murkley Muffly, and Chief Of Weapons Development Dr. Strangelove. Unknown to the Americans the Russians had been working on a doomsday device which ensured destruction of all life on earth if even one bomb were detonated in Russia.

Stanley Kubrick at his best. This classic still endures as both an entertaining story, a history lesson in cold war politics, and a veiled warning.

The Joy Luck Club (1993)

This Movie Is "Best Quality"

[10/10 · 29 May 1999]

I must agree with Todd Victor Leone's comment. The fact that 'The Joy Luck Club' was not nominated for at least ONE Academy Award is a TRAVESTY !!! This movie was very well directed, the acting by all actors was superb, the cinematography was excellent, camera angles, wardrobe, casting, screenplay - ALL GREAT. So why no awards ? I have come to the conclusion that Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is comprised of a bunch of silly peoples and from now on when I want an opinion I intend to come to this website and listen to YOU guys first and watch whatever you recommend on my VCR while the Academy Awards are on. I'm mad as hell and I ain't gonna take this anymore !

I have seen the 'Joy Luck Club' about five times and each time I want to be a part of this wonderful group of friends. I want them to invite me to play mah-jong and taste all the wonderful Chinese foods they make and I'd just love to ask June out on a date (she's so cute). So far I am an Italian / American but when I watch this movie I want to be an Italian/Chinese/American.

This movie is actually eight stories in one but each has a common thread which is the gifts given and received my mothers and daughters to each other - gifts of hope, courage, resolve, and acceptance. This movie is definitely a tear jerker but after five viewings my tears now remain in their ducts and refuse to be jerked but I still love this fantastically wonderful celebration of art and the cultural diversity that makes America great .... despite the ineptness of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Cinema Paradiso (1988)

Personal Favorite

[10/10 · 16 May 1999]

Whether you are a professional or an amateur it is always wise to avoid superlatives with regard to a movie critique ... but I cannot. 'Cinema Paradiso' is simply the finest movie I have ever seen. Like many who have posted at this site before me I have seen it many many times. It reaches within me to places other movies have never reached and I have often wondered why. Perhaps it is because of it's simplicity. It contains no expensive special effects, it has no gratuitous sex or violence, it has no "multi-millon dollar per performance" actors that I know of, it is arguable whether it even has a story line, and yet it soars far above the nonsense that film makers are producing these days. It's characters are portrayed by each and every actor in award winning style and the music is not only beautiful but absolutely perfect for this film.

It is quite simply the story of a human life and it's tragedies and triumphs within the context of a vocation. A young boy matures and gradually learns the lessons of life, cultivates his passion for the cinema, and is rewarded with professional success; however, he remains unfulfilled for true love has escaped him only to return in the form of a gift of love which transcends time, space, and death to reveal at the closing of the film Toto's one true mistress.

A staggering triumph of both the cinematic art and of story telling and yet there may be found people who do not like this movie .... I tend to keep such people at arms length and maintain a wary eye fixed upon them at all times.