eah22 Reviews

Sister Act (1992)

Still Holding Up

[10/10 · 9 October 2005]

I just watched this again on video. It's been 13 years since this movie was released, and it is still hilarious...even though there must've been at least 6 screenwriters, this movie is still wittier than most comedies nowadays. Structurally, it moves at the right pace, and it's likely one of the best movies Paul Rudnick and Carrie Fisher didn't write! But certainly, thank God, for Scott Rudin and his taste and knack for getting movies like this made.

Definitely, one of the most memorable movies of the 90s and one of the best comedies ever. And as an ensemble, one of the best cast movies ever--Maggie Smith was genius casting, Kathy Najimy, Wendy McKenna and other main characters couldn't have been better, and whatever confluence brought Whoopi Goldberg to this part instead of Bette Midler can only be deemed fate. It makes one wonder whether movies with all these corporate parents, bottom lines and marketing trickery nowadays will ever get back to a golden period of just being good.

The Wayward Cloud (2005)

Excellent

[10/10 · 1 October 2005]

I saw this film at the Toronto International Film Festival, and it was the most memorable film of the fest--more so than other great films screening like Capote or Brokeback Mountain and for sure, your run of the mill, Hollywood films like Elizabethtown, In her Shoes, Walk the Line, etc. Wayward Cloud is a daring film about love, sex and isolation, and it's set in an almost apocolyptic time when watermelon has become the source of water, food and fetish! The film is amazingly original.

Definitely, the "real time" shots which are often utilized in Taiwanese film, can try your patience, but indeed there is a "zone" for Tsai Ming Liang's films and once you get there, all the images are mesmerizing--watching a woman walk up a flight of stairs, etc. And the sex scenes (which are plenty b/c the film deals with porn) further highlights our voyeuristic "mesmerization" reflected in the style of the film.

Short of writing a spoiler, please please see this film (if it is distributed in your area)...the last shot is the most disgusting and most beautiful thing ever...you'll have to see for yourself.