Reviews

Jennifer Rubin is one of the actresses everyone has seen. In this she shows she can really act. The plot is realatively simple: a failing film student must make one good film to graduate. He meets his next door neighbor who turns out to be a hit woman. (Rubin) Hey, here's an idea: let's make a documentary of your next hit.

And that's what they set out to do. Film her next "road" "kill".

This is not a trashy film. It's well done. Entertaining. Often funny. A coming of age in extreme circumstances film.

Consider that this independent film, with a too cute title, ends up with a rating above 7.0 on IMDb. If you can find the DVD it's well worth your invested time.

And Jennifer can act!

I had to comment because the other review was so negative. I've been facinated with Joan of Arc for much of my life. The idea that an illiterate 15 year old would go to the King of France, tell him she'd heard voices, and be given an Army to fight the British was just amazing to my rational mind.

It was to Twain as well. And a number of others, like Milla who made her own movie.

This show works because Amber Tymbln is good and Mary Steenburgen is good and it isn't sappy. Certainly the messenger would have to be visual today. So Joan gets to meet different gods.

The tone is anything but accepting. And the causal sequences that follow from Joan, usually reluctantly, following god's will, is interesting. I doubt it will have a long long run, but you could spend an hour on Friday much less wisely than watching this show.

This film could terrify some. It is certainly gripping, but it's carried by superb performances by Sigourney Weaver and Julianne Moore. The only film I can think of that is quite as moving is another Sigourney Weaver film, Death and the Maiden.

The tone of the two is very similar, but there is more hope in this outing. It still isn't something for the kids. But if you love acting, if you love to see real emotions rather than concocted attempts to feel, then watch it. And remember to keep your own Map of the World.

This is a movie made by people who think they understand what film is about. By hiring Max Van Sydow it is clear that the venerated director is Bergman. By putting it in a snowy cold scene with literary and biblical names, with Van Sydow even playing chess again, we have all of this little artsy pieces put together.

But there's no meaning here. There is very little story here. Maybe a half hour of an A&E special, or one of those PBS imports that are so self important.

This is tedius tedius tedius. When there is artful photography it is pretty, but that's all it is. Some beautiful images. some stupid images. A whole bunch of imagination.

The film opens with a boat, and a man with a lantern. . .oh my we're going to cross over the river to the next world. And we're in a fishing community with a reluctant hero named Ishmael. The whole subplot about Japanese interment camps has nothing to do with the plot or the film. It probably had a lot to do with the novelist's life; but in this case it makes for a subplot that is nothing but distraction.

There is a wonderful eye here, at times. When the young couple are in the ceder tree and "rain is flowing off of ferns" it is truly a sensual image. Very evocative. But the rest of it is at best imitative.

To see the real thing, what this movie might have been see The Sweet Hereafter.

Alicia Witt made a bad choice. She got a starring role in a terrible movie. She worked with a cinematographer and a director who made her look unattractive for most of the seemingly endless 90 minutes this travesty took to unwind.

There is an urban legend that this was a movie. Keep it a legend. It isn't even bad enough to like.

People talk about Citizen Cane. . .if Children of Paradise had been made in English by an American or British Director it would be shown at least once a year on commercial television. It would be collected, honored, and considered the peak of the art. Of course since it is the peak of the art it couldn't have been made in English by an American director, at least prior to Robert Altman's lifetime.

If you aren't moved by this film you're dead.

If you like film, don't miss this one. If you prefer action, or horror, or romance, then you'll wonder what's happening. Everyone here is stuck in a gangster film. And what happens is transcendental murder.

There are few similar films. No doubt it will see limited release, and be hard to find. But the search will be worth it. If you want to study a mileu as a potential symbol, then this is indeed a film to study.

You can't watch it once. If you do you'll never see what's happening. Dark City is better. Joe Vrs. The Volcano is more fun. But Mad Dog Time could convert the gangsta crowd to symbolism. . .or at least to think twice before shooting again.

Do you have a brain cloud? Does your tribe get off on Orange soda? What would you ever do with unsinkable luggage? Which is Meg Ryan? The Brunette? The Blond? The Redhead?

Like Ishtar and many other misunderstood films, Joe Versus the Volcano deserves more than one look. First, it shows that Meg Ryan can act. Which may be one of the few films you can say that about. Second, the atmosphere created for this film is wonderful. It is a three act play captured on film. The Reality, The Fantasy, and the Transcendence.

Tom Hanks putting on his island of luggage is an image that is only bested by the moon over the ocean. Never has the semi-planet looked so large.

If you remember films like Lord Love a Duck, if you could see that Ishtar wasn't ever intended to be a comedy; then you will take the effort to understand Joe, the Volcano and whichever Meg you prefer. When you've done that you can dissipate your own "brain cloud'.

Tuesday Weld gets educated. . .and the film ends with "Find a school and enroll."

If your opinion is that High Art must be British tea and dreary evenings, if you thing Art belongs in a House; then you need to be introduced to one of the early masters, George Axelrod. There are people everyone pays attention to. Woody Allen. Lucas. Wells. But George Axelrod made films that everyone could go to. Cheerleaders and quarterbacks could make out in the back seat. And laugh. And George could sneak in something more than anyone ever suspected.

If evolution could be subliminal, then George Axelrod is a master teacher. If you've never experienced his work, Lord Love a Duck is a great place to begin.