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Tideland, a review by KinkyCyborg

Tideland



Title:Tideland
Year: 2006
Director: Terry Gilliam
Rating: R
Length: 120 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, English: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles:

Stars:
Jodelle Ferland
Janet McTeer
Brendan Fletcher
Jennifer Tilly
Jeff Bridges

Plot:Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Feature Trailers
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Interviews
Closed Captioned
Introduction from Terry Gilliam



Very bizarre and at times disturbing film involving a young girl and her wild imagination. I still don't know what to think of this film but I can't say I wasn't warned. I was warned by none other than director Terry Gilliam himself who, in an introduction to the movie, very succinctly states that this movie is not for everyone and many will hate it. He also gave this warning in person to the viewing audience at the Toronto International Film Festival where it premiered in 2005. Now that could be interpreted as defiance of his creativity or a means of generating interest in the film to raise box office sales... perhaps both.

There were several scenes that will stay with me for weeks now thanks to a grotesque combination of sexuality, death and moments of sheer inappropriate behavior involving the little girl... and still, the innocence of that resilient young girl shines through as she copes with derelict parents, their untimely deaths, hunger, fear and isolation. Her imagination helps to both reassure and explain the tragic goings on of her sad little life.

Brendan Fletcher gives a marvelous performance as the handicapped but friendly neighbor who befriends the young girl. It is some of the interactions between these two that will leave you squeamish. Jeff bridges, the young girls father is solid in a role that mostly consists of sitting in a chair, a bloated corpse.

Gilliam certainly stretched the boundaries of incongruous behavior in Tideland but that's always been his makeup. I'd like to know from others who have seen the film if you think he went too far or not. Personally I don't think he did but I know many will be sickened with this film. This movie was a shock to my system and I give it high marks for that at least.

KC


Rating:

(From KinkyCyborg's Random Reviews 2010 on February 22nd, 2011)

The Big Country, a review by Antares

The Big Country (1958) 84/100 - When one hears western film fans talk about the great films of the genre, William Wyler's grand epic is very rarely mentioned. I've watched this film on very many occasions, because it has a few things I deem necessary for a film to be considered a classic. I'll start to watch it, with no intention of sitting through the nearly 3 hour running time, but I get drawn in. Not only does it have a good screenplay, but you get to watch two supporting actors steal the film whenever they are onscreen. I can't think of any other actor who so richly deserved an Academy Award for a performance as Burl Ives did in this film. Each time I watch it, I marvel at how at ease he is and how much depth he pours into his portrayal. The other actor would go on to lasting fame on the small screen on the seminal TV western, The Rifleman. In that show, Chuck Connors played a righteous man who shared a ranch with his young son. In this film, he plays the opposite kind of character, a drinking, womanizing, lying and in the end, cowardly cowboy. The scenes and the dialog between Ives' and Connors' characters are the most electrifying moments in the story. With each successive viewing, I bump it up a bit in my rating. More people should see this, it's one of Wyler's best.

Teal = Masterpiece
Dark Green = Classic or someday will be
Lime Green = A good, entertaining film
Orange = Average
Red = Cinemuck
Brown = The color of crap, which this film is

(From Antares' Short Summations on March 18th, 2021)

Farscape Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: Moya and what remains of her crew can't return to the asteroid field as long as the Command Carrier is there. But she wants to go back to her son who is still hiding there and is now under the command of Crais. Fortunately Aeryn has found D'Argo and John floating in space and has brought them to an asteroid that has an atmosphere. There they're biding their time in the hope that they will somehow get out of there.

My Opinion: Until short before the end of the episode it remained unclear where Crais's loyalties really lie and whether Aeryn's loyalties may have shifted (it's a new season after all). I also liked how John taught D'Argo rock-paper-scissors and how the latter insisted that rock should defeat paper. But at the end if the episode everything returned to the way it was before the Gammak story. Ok, not everything, Crais and Talyn will go their own way but they will cross paths with Moya and their crew again, but not for a while.

Synopsis: D'Argo has the great honour to meet an Orican - a holy woman of the Luxans. She's the only one of their race there and she will die soon. After Ka D'Argo has proven his strength he's allowed to participate in the Ritual of Passing. But when she senses how powerful he is she changes it to the Ritual of Renewal and is suddenly young and strong again. But something must have gone wrong because Moya's systems begin to break down and Pilot is dying.

My Opinion: A rather uninteresting story. And it didn't happen much either.

Synopsis: Chiana was just informed that her brother has died but no one takes the time to comfort her. In her grief she leaves the ship and flies to a planet. John and Aeryn follow her but when they find her she seems to be a different person. And there seem to be no elders there, nobody older that 22. As it turns out everyone participates in a ritual of "taking the stone" where one jumps down an abyss and is caught by a sonic net enabled by one's own voice. But that's a trickery business and if one fails, one is dead. And Chiana is planning to make that jump herself.

My Opinion: I really like it how John tries to keep the crew together and how he tries to care for each and every one of them - this time for "Pip". That's of course because he's the main character, but I still really like it. Everyone contributes their strength and his strength is to keep them together even if that means that he has to eat weird drug mushrooms.
But sometimes I wonder where the Australians find so many strange people to let them be seen on Mad Max or Farscape.

(From Farscape Marathon on March 29th, 2009)