rnussle Reviews

First Family (1980)

If you love these actors, avoid this film at all costs.

[1/10 · 9 July 2012]

This morning they were playing old Howard Stern interviews on Sirius and one of them was with Gilda Radner, and sadly every time I see or hear her I'm reminded of this train wreck of a movie. We were four couples all devoted fans of the cast members and Buck Henry and forty years later we are all still scarred by this atrocity. Sometimes we hear the phrase, "A one-joke film", if only… In the Trivia caption of this movie it was said that the ending was rewritten because of negative feedback from audiences. The beginning and middle should have been rewritten, although I don't know that the ending we saw could have been worse. I believe that most of the other reviewers are in agreement that what makes this film so bad is the waste of the talents of these fine comedians.

One reviewer stated that this was the only movie he ever walked out on. We too were tempted, but I think we were hoping for something redeeming to save The First Family, sadly that was not to be.

The Dark Horse (I) (2008)

A Poorly Written Soap Opera

[1/10 · 11 June 2012]

I really found nothing to like about the movie. We had better actors in my high school drama class. I am not a horse person per se, however I do love horses and ride whenever I have the opportunity. I suppose this flick was meant to be a paean to our equine friends, however this clumsily handled production left me so cold I wouldn't have been bothered if the herd was sent to the glue factory. And the beginning with the ballet class, what was that all about? The actress playing the role of Dana the ballet instructor was not credible as she had neither the carriage nor grace of someone who studied ballet past third grade. In all honesty I popped out the DVD halfway through and was resentful that I paid $1.20 to rent it.

Lulu und Jimi (2009)

Annoyances

[6/10 · 22 November 2009]

There were several things that were anachronisms, most notably the movie took place (supposedly) in 1959 and yet the girl was driving a Mercedes 230SL which wasn't manufactured until 1963. He sang the Temptations song "My Girl" which wasn't written and performed until 1965. The subtitled version I saw had the translation close to what was said in German. I don't know if the Sundance version the other reviewer saw had the same subtitling or not. On the whole I felt the film had a director, but no direction. If it was trying to make a point it was lost on me. It also seemed that the writer wanted to embrace too many genres: Romance, comedy, fantasy, mystery, social consciousness, and a smattering of crime drama and adventure. At best it held my attention by always posing the question "what next?" I'll be kind and say it was interesting - and not bad.