dksg Reviews

Goodnight Moon (2001)

Absolutely Charming

[10/10 · 29 November 2007]

One of the most charming kid flicks I've ever seen. The very familiar "Goodnight, Moon" opens and closes this short, and captures real-life children commenting on sleep and dreams, both good and bad. So refreshing; the children are absolutely captivating! Our daughter is in her 30s, but my spouse and I watched this several times, and when I spoke to my daughter to tell her about it, we both recited "Goodnight, Moon" from memory, and it brought back a tidal wave of "Remember when"s from both of us.

Do watch it and share it with friends and family, both little and grown!

The John Walsh Show (2002–2004)

Oh, My...

[28 October 2003]

I watched this show for the first time today (A case of not taking a moment to change the channel after the previous show), and-- if this is any kind of a sample of what is usually aired-- this is *bad*.

It's mainly seems to consist of the typical, talk-show "Here are these people with dreadful problems that we are going to solve," minus the solution. On today's show, he paraded several families that could be described as troubled, although to varying degrees. After hearing all their ills, Walsh refers them to counseling and tells them how "proud" he is of them for airing their dirty laundry on television. As for his viewpoint-- apparently he feels it's perfectly acceptable for parents to tap the phones and read the mail of teenage children *without* having first really tried to communicate with them. *Then* the parent confronts (for the first time) the errant teenager on *national television*.

Hello? What kind of kid is going to open up after *that*?

Summation: Perfectly dreadful show, severely misguided advice, and a second-rate wanna-be. Avoid it!

The Tower of Babble (2002)

Amazing

[12 August 2003]

We've just recently started watching shorts, and "Tower of Babble" was a wonderful introduction. Absolutely one of the most clever, original, interesting ideas I've seen in film in a very long time.

Terrific cast, with Kevin Spacey doing some excellent narration at the beginning and end.

Currently (August 2003, USA) showing on Sundance; tape it to view again and again!

Garbo Talks (1984)

For Anyone Who Loves Their Mother

[2 December 2001]

A beautiful, simple little movie about the love between a mother and her son.

I saw this many years ago, and when I finally found a copy on VCR, snapped it up for my mom... It's now her very favorite movie and gets watched (and recited-along-with!) on a regular basis. It's made her quite the belle of the ball, with all of her friends dying to borrow it!

If your mom likes movies from the 40s, and loved Steel Magnolias, get her this and watch it together.

And if either of you can sit through the scene where Gilbert confronts his mother's idol without crying at the sweetness of the exchange, the panic and vulnerability in his whole being, you're tougher than we are!

Lovely!

Sanctimony (2000)

Possible Spoilers

[1/10 · 2 July 2001]

Oh, my. Oh, this is a *really* bad movie. The acting is absolutely atrocious, the script is god-awful, and the photography is simply dreadful.

What does make this movie stand out, however, is that you never once care about a single soul-- good guy or bad guy, living, dying or dead-- in the entire 87 minutes. "Oh, s/he died? Huh... Figured they would" was the best reaction I could muster after each murder. Characters are so black-or-white that with the volume turned off, you could still figure out who was who. While the cast's voices had an odd monotone quality throughout, their faces give the impression that you're looking at an old silent movie with a lot of eyebrow waggling, exaggerated frowns and "pensive looks". Each character is a humorless, passionless, one-dimensional one-trick pony; once they fulfill whatever their particular role in this fiasco demanded their creation, they are summarily dismissed.

It vaguely made me think of what would happen if Thomas Borch Nielsen (director/writer of "Skyggen", American title: "Webmaster") decided to do a low-budget version of "American Psycho" and got kind of distracted along the way.

This isn't a particularly gruesome movie; the cold, passionless cast ensures that. It isn't an offensive movie; the director plays it so safe that no one could possibly find it so. It is, simply and after all, a bad movie.

Avoid it. We were not so fortunate and actually paid to watch this bomb on Pay-per-View. As part of my penance, I'm writing this review.

Enough said.

Looking for Richard (1996)

Captivating Piece of Film

[20 August 2000]

After reading many of the previous reviews and commentaries, I'm beginning to wonder whether we all saw the same movie! I found the entire piece enriching, riveting, and suspenseful, and was immediately moved to call friends and family members to recommend it. The performances are remarkable: Pacino is intense, Ryder catches the "deer-in-the-headlights" feel of her character perfectly. Baldwin is restrained and beguiling, while Spacey delivers his usual flawless performance. Penelope Allen was astounding. The movie serves, not to deliver the entire work-- analyzed, explained, and discussed-- on a platter, but, rather, to whet our appetites and bring Shakespeare to modern classes, and I felt it succeeded in this admirably. It also showed the thought and preparation that goes into such a production. I particularly enjoyed watching the actors discuss various interpretations of particular scenes, imparting their own ideas and feelings, and often disagreeing with each other. While we are both generally "action movie" or suspense fans, we found ourselves completely drawn into the drama, both in the characters and in the actors, and-- even knowing, of course, the ending in advance-- found ourselves on the edge of our seats as the film neared its climax. My one complaint? I wish they had then gone on to film their entire version of Richard III to offer as a companion piece. An excellent way to indulge yourself in an exciting, well-performed piece of movie-making, and actually come away having learned a little bit. Highly recommended!

Fallen (1998)

Excellent Film!

[30 November 1998]

My husband and I have watched this several times and enjoyed it more each time. It's stylish, well-acted and keeps you guessing up to the very last scene. I love seeing Denzel team up with partner John Goodman-- a great team!

I would recommend seeing it a few times to catch anything you might have missed the first go-around!