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Sylvio
Reviews
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
A Dreary Story
It is sad that a movie with a cast like this is so dull and dreary. If I ranked movies from Charlie Kaufmann scripts, this would be better than movie about the orchids but nowhere near as good as Human Nature and Being John Malkovich. Kaufmann seems to reuse the sequence in Being John Malkovich in which the actor goes through his own portal. Whereas those scenes were brief, it comprises most of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Oddly enough, there isn't much development of either Jim Carrey or Kate Winslett's character beyond the grief caused by their relationship. We knew who Lila and Dr. Bronfmann were in Human Nature. Ask yourself what you know about the afflicted souls in this movie. All you will come up with is that they are an unhappy bunch. I am a big fan of all the stars of this movie, save for Mark Ruffalo, I mean, really. They can't save this movie individually or collectively. Maybe it wasn't in the script. Maybe it is the director's goof. Make no mistake. This movie stinks.
Chelsea Walls (2001)
This is the embodiment of ineptitude.
A good film has to be visually interesting. This movie is unbelievably murky, to the point that you can't see what is going on. A good story establishes its characters. See the first page of P.G.Wodehouse's Laughing Gas, if you need some hints. Adapting a movie from a stage play is a difficult task and not for a young guy's first time out. Plays tend to feel claustrophobic when simply filmed. That should have been reckoned with before the project was started. The actors did a good job. They were all good actors. I would like to see them in a better movie, especially, Tuesday Weld, just because I've always had the hots for Tuesday Weld.
Wild Side (1995)
This is a freakily fascinating movie.
This is one of those movies that I watch and watch again. It is a mess, a veritable gob of spit in the face of art and genre, but it is freakily fascinating and keeps drawing me back. The movie's power lies in the dynamism generated by three strong characters played by Christopher Walken, Stephen Bauer, and Anne Heche. You may not like this movie, you probably won't be en- lightened, but you definitely won't be bored.