Reviews

I've been a writer and educator in the BDSM scene for thirty years, and I've traveled around the country to speak to kinksters (including more than a few visits to Columbus, where the movie is set). I didn't catch this film making a single misstep in terms of the scene as it actually exists in outwardly mainstream, heterosexual America - if you want to know what lies behind all the popular images of latex-clad dominatrixes in towering heels, this is your movie.

It was not flawless. Some bits were thrown in there for cheap laughs, and others to move the plot along (often a bit faster than is realistic). But both principals are completely believable and moving, as are their four kids, particularly the non-binary teen and the teen with drug issues.

I think the film may have audience problems, in that people who want to hear about blended families in the 21st century do not necessarily want to hear about BDSM, and vice versa. But if you have any interest in either topic, and you're reasonably open-minded about alternative sexualities and genders, this is well worth a couple of hours of your time.

It seemed like Con Man took a couple of episodes to find its tone, but once it did I began loving it. Yes, it makes fun of people attending cons, as a previous reviewer noted. It makes fun of people who work at cons. It makes fun of people who book cons. It makes fun of people who act in shows whose fans attend cons. In other words, everybody in this show is a little bit clueless and/or venal and/or crazy - and yet they're all likable and familiar. This isn't Great Art, but it's a hoot - and playing spot-the-SF-star is half the fun. (I had to look up "Dale," the elderly "lady stuntman," who turned out to be a Romulan commander from the original Star Trek. Like that.)

I knew little about this movie except that a couple of friends whose taste I trust had loved it... and I wish they'd made me go sooner. I can see, though, why they couldn't, because it's a difficult movie to describe: some of the whimsy of Princess Bride, some of the tragic depth of Pan's Labyrinth, and a visual and storytelling sensibility unlike any film I've ever seen. It's about lies and fiction, which are in some ways the same thing -- the ways they seduce us, the ways they empower us, the ways they betray us. And yet it's absolutely accessible, completely entrancing; I actually found myself literally biting my knuckle at the climax.

You don't know me and have no reason to take my word for anything, but I guarantee that you won't be sorry you saw The Fall.

At this point, Brad Bird is no longer making great animated movies -- he's making great movies, end of sentence.

From the standpoint of writing, this one keeps an astonishing number of themes going, creates great multifaceted characters, and maintains believable suspense and motivation, all without ever seeming strained or "written." From the standpoint of animation, it's unbelievable. The translucency of a rat's paw, the dented shine of a copper kettle, the complex texture of a crumb of bread, are all rendered with breathtaking accuracy. (And Paris has never looked lovelier -- if the French tourist board didn't subsidize this production, they should have.) From the standpoint of voice acting, it ranges from believable and unshowoffy (unlike the annoying star turns we're seeing in a lot of these days) to the stentorian sneer of the great Peter O'Toole.

And, most of all, the character creation and animation is beyond belief. The facial expressions, the unique-to-each-character body movements, the sense of weight and texture are so incredibly closely observed and reproduced that at times I had to work to remember that what I was seeing was animation and not Oscar-caliber acting.

If this one doesn't go up in the Best Picture category instead of simply Best Animated Feature, there's no justice in Oscar-land.

The first time I watched this, my mouth was hanging open. I've read _Lolita_ dozens of times, and over and over again the movie captured it exactly the way it is in my mind.

Lyne's extraordinary sense of time and place, the uncanny casting of Jeremy Irons and Dominique Swain (although I agree with some posters that Melanie Griffith wasn't up to the job; makes me miss the late great Shelley Winters), Morricone's haunting music -- they're all remarkable. And best of all, the film perfectly captures the ambiguity of the book: we can sympathize with Humbert at the same time as we recognize him as the monster he is. I don't think _Lolita_ could be done much better than this. An amazing film.

I've never seen a better ending -- three or four tragic situations turned inside-out in less than a second. It makes me gasp every time I see it.

And Oliver Platt, one of the best actors working today. *And* the astonishing Lee Evans.

If you're expecting a standard ha-ha comedy, this isn't the right choice. But if you want depth of character and dark personal histories folded into your genuine laughs, please check it out.

I try to tell everyone I know about this movie, a tragedian's comedy. Don't miss it.

I almost missed this one because I was turned off by the commercials and previews, with their emphasis on the silliest parts (the dancing donkey, etc.). What a mistake that would have been -- I'd have missed one of the driest, archest, loveliest scripts in years. Emma Thompson can do more with a slightly quirked eyebrow and a quiet "Hm" than most actresses can with an entire Shakespearean soliloquy. The whole cast, children and adults alike, is pretty near perfect, some of the best of the British theater even in the tiniest roles (Derek Jacobi, Imelda Staunton et al). The kids are tough and tart, without a simper in the lot, unlike most US child stars.

Don't let the trailers keep you away -- this is well worth seeing, sort of what Lemony Snicket should have been but wasn't.

Life as it too often is: no heroes, no villains, just flawed people trying -- and, too often, failing -- to do the right thing. Applause to all concerned for their willingness to show tragedy without demonizing the people who create it. One of the most moving films I've ever seen.

I just got back from seeing the new Korean film "Lies," a portrayal of a consensual BDSM relationship between an 18-year-old student and a 38-year-old sculptor.

First, the bad stuff: it's not a very good movie. Amateurishly filmed, with shaky camera work and some of the weirdest directorial decisions I've ever seen. This is not "Last Tango In Paris" or anything like it.

But if you can get past that, what's left at the core is one of the most sympathetic, honest and realistic portrayals I've ever seen of BDSM as it's actually played. The two types of players -- the sculptor is a primary sadomasochist, whose needs for BDSM play are strong, innate and non-situation-dependent; the student is a secondary sadomasochist, who derives her enjoyment of BDSM from her partner's reaction -- are accurately and sympathetically portrayed. Consent is scrupulously observed, with plenty of check-ins and other good communciation. The emotional reactions to play are dead-on. The bad things that happen in the movie take place because of outside intervention by the vanilla world, not because there's anything wrong or sick about the couple themselves.

As far as I could tell, most of the scenes of BDSM play were real, not staged or faked -- and they're intense. Switchings, canings, paddlings -- with lingering camera shots afterwards of welts and bruises. (One scat play scene was apparently faked, which was OK by me - shudder.) Some of the play was not up to community standards of safe technique; a shot of a garden hose thudding down right across the woman's kidneys had me cringing. But it also seemed true to what might happen in a culture which provides no information or support for its kinkyfolk.

Well worth seeing in a theater if you live in an urban center where it's showing, or adding to your video collection later on if you can find it.