Change Your Image
melaniecadart
Reviews
Mozart in the Jungle (2014)
Love it!
What a good surprise! I am currently at episode 6 and I can't wait to watch the rest of the season. It makes for a nice change to hear classical music in a TV series. And even though we can't say there really is any riveting plot, the 28 minutes fly by and just make you hungry for the next episode.
There is something very refreshing about this show. It has wit, clever humor, something appealing as well. Despite the catch phrase, I don't think they dwell too much on the drug and sex part. Episode 6 was VERY enjoyable...just leaves you in a happy mood. Like watching a great flash mob. Gael Garcia Bernal is perfect in his role. And I think the actress who plays "Hailey" is a good fit for the role as well. Not a wonderful actress in the sense that you can't really see a "performance", but I don't know, it feels right.
Anyway, I highly recommend it. Even if it's just for a "change of scenery".
Star (1993)
best laugh ever !
I love watching these silly TV specials...it's a good way to do nothing when I'm in a lazy mood. However, I didn't see this one on TV, I saw it on DVD because my friend had it. I thought it had to be somewhat special. Oh boy !!! It sure is special.. I've watched it twice in 24 hours. And laughed myself silly both times. And totally ruined it for my friend. Like I told him, I've seen science-fiction movies that were more plausible than this ! Let alone the fact that they didn't bother trying to age the characters over the 15 years or so the story takes place over. The outfits don't change either. And the story... Pleaaase ! it's ridiculous. They have met a total of 3 minutes over a two-year period and she tells him that she wants to ride upstream with him, where the only sound you hear is the wind through the trees and where the sky is so blue it hurts. That line killed me ! (I'm not sure about the accuracy of my quote because I saw it in french, but that's the literal translation...) And the Cinderella-like story with the mother ! and the brother-in-law, and the brother !! And i just loved how she thanks Pearl for "everything she does for her" after 3 minutes of knowing her. There is so much to talk about and to make fun of ! I love this film. To me, it's a classic !!
21 Jump Street (1987)
DVD release is a total rip-off
Like most people of my generation, I LOVED 21 jump street. Like most girls of my generation, I LOVED bad boy Johnny Depp. This one episode "Swallowed alive" (season 3) really stuck. Especially the music ("are you sure" by the staple singers in the tunnel scene, "can't find my way home" by Steve Winwood at the very end...). Anyway, I had been waiting for years for a DVD release. Years. And then it came. I watched the first season thinking "wow ! so lame !" and what the heck is that electro-crap music ? I just thought I had embellished the show in my memory and that it just wasn't that good anyway. Well, that's part true. The dialogs are sometimes so cheesy they make me want to puke. No wonder Johnny Depp couldn't' wait to get the hell out of this show ! I hadn't understood his move at the time, but now, do I ! So, in search for comfort, I watched season 3 (without bothering with season2). And I watched "Swallowed alive". Aaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ! Totally ruined !!! What have they done to my episode ?!! Even though I knew there wouldn't be the original music because, well, none of the other episodes had their music, I kinda hoped they would have replaced it with something that would keep the spirit of the episode. Boy was I disappointed. Elevator music wouldn't have been worse ! So, my box set made an express on ebay and I am now 21 jump street-free. I was so looking forward to jumping back in my 15 year-old skin... Well, I guess that won't happen anytime soon. And you know what the worst part is ? I had that episode on tape. And some stupid family member taped over it. Life is so cruel.
Garden State (2004)
It's a movie you fall in love with
It's hard to describe feelings and that's what Garden State is all about : feelings. You don't watch the movie, you live through it, you sense it and it haunts you for days. Actually, once it's over, you just want to watch it all over again ! Natalie Portman is beyond delicious, Zach Braff is - well, himself, subtle, lovable, and shows incredible depth. He seems to be like that abyss in the movie : infinite. All the characters are special and touching. the dialogs are clever and serve their purpose very well. The music is ideal. I don't have a single complaint about Garden State. I loved it. And it's an understatement... That's why I say it's hard to describe feelings because words are too reductive (is that even a word) ..
Pecker (1998)
John Waters outdid himself!
I like John Waters. Not for the King of bad taste-side, but for his ability to show outsiders and make us understand that they are nothing but Anybody, they could be us. "Pecker" is brilliant. Each character is A character. You gotta love Little Chrissy and her sugar addiction, Memama and her "full of grace", Tina and her "Mary"... But Waters is clever. He hands us a good critic of American society and its way of dealing with fame. How superficial and rotten it is (fame, not American society!). He takes shots at so many things and people (Ritalin, New York art critics, silly law suits...). It's the kind of movie you can watch on different levels. You can just stick to the film itself or read the "message" behind. Here's a special round of applause for that Little Chrissy actress (sorry, didn't catch the name) and that face of hers, at the end of the movie, when she's sniffing peas. Did you see her wicked smile ? BRILLIANT.
Palindromes (2004)
Sickly great !
Todd Solondz makes, alongside John Waters, the most politically incorrect movies... Palindromes made me laugh in a "oh my God ! this is so sick" kinda way. The first Aviva is hilarious, Ellen Barkin is just great throughout the movie and the first time we see a different Aviva, well, it's just as brilliant as Spike Jonze's half floor in "being John Malkovitch". My favorite moment - and the grossest - is when the pedophile finds that doll in the trash and goes something like "what's wrong with some people ?" I don't remember the exact line, but it's so great to show that a pedophile can be shocked by pedophile vandalism. And...the Sunshine Family !!! Oh, boy! Somebody watched "Freaks" once too many times... Wonderful idea. I just loved the movie.