jonskerr Reviews

Irreversible (2002)

My eyes! My eyes!

[2/10 · 12 October 2006]

This film contains the most graphic brutal scene of violence I have ever seen. And I've seen the original Faces of Death. It's much worse. The main page's reviewer really hit it. The wildly swinging camera is just plain nausea-inducing, and the graphic gay sex and the infamous rape scene all make for a film you'll never forget. Unfortunately for me, I saw Japon the night before; what mistake! Irreversible looks like every scene and camera move is deliberate (as opposed to what looks merely sloppy in Japon).

So if you like going to the museum of modern art and love the giant painting mostly of great swaths of black and red, this movie is for you(ooh art!). But for most of us, pass by and pass the alka-seltzer.

The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975)

I thought it was another Mel Brooks, almost that good

[7/10 · 30 January 2006]

I saw this movie in the theater when it came out, and probably twelve hundred times on HBO after that. The plot is a typical Holmesian story: stolen documents, psychological subplots, Victorian hypocrisy. Quite silly, quite enjoyable, IIRC. I'd love to see a DVD to see how much I like it now, but I have very fond memories of it, and I can still remember the words to the song Gene Wilder and the fabulous and sexy Madeline Kahn sang. Great bits of slapstick, nothing ever too serious. It doesn't even bother me that Gene Wilder, playing the brother of Sherlock Holmes, has no trace of an English accent. Bug-eyed Marty Feldman is consistently great, and Dom Deluise is at his over-the-top best, though his part is rather small, if you'll pardon the expression.

Cyrano de Bergerac (1990)

C'est magnifique

[10/10 · 17 October 2005]

This is my favorite film of all time. It is a poem in every respect. The dialog AND the subtitles are poetry, but if you speak un peu de francais you'll see they don't exactly match. Yet the script and acting are so smooth you forget the poetry unless you listen for it, which makes for pleasurable repeat viewings. Also, the film intelligently discusses aspects of love that affect everyone, both the ugly and the beautiful. Great music throughout, and it looks like Technicolor, though I'm not sure it is.. Incredible performances by everyone in the film, and wonderful bits of excitement, romance and adventure. Tragedy and comedy, and gorgeous both to look at and listen to. Check it out! Pauvre Cyrano...

The Tune (1992)

Perfect Plympton

[9/10 · 27 August 2005]

The Tune is a truly great film for any age. Funny and even (in places) sophisticated for adults, with plenty of wackiness and crazy Bill Plympton stuff. The music is also great, in fact I started out looking for a soundtrack and ended up here bragging on this film. It's silly fun in the traditional 4-frames-per-second that Plympton if famous for, as well at a few bits similar to his famous "How to Quit Smoking" cartoon. A plot synopsis is sort of a requirement to fill enough space here on IMDb, but the plot is really less than half the point. As far as the plot goes, it's pretty thin. A songwriter has a bunch of adventures getting from his home/office to the Mega Music building where evil corporate scumbag Mr Mega waits like a spider in its web. The main character, Del, is a dweeb, and his apple-cheeked girlfriend Didi is Mr Mega's secretary. The point of the movie is to enjoy some crackin' animation, hear some weird but great songs, and in general have fun. The subplot of Del's struggle to gain his lady love by collecting these songs is nice, even poignant in places, but still secondary. Mostly just have fun. My DVD has a weird place near the end where the sound drops a good bit for that last number.