DVD Collectors Online

Anomalisa, a review by Danae Cassandra

Film #4 of Scavenger Hunt #22
Task #27: Watch a film set in Ohio (the 17th US state)



Anomalisa
Year of Release: 2015
Directed By: Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson
Starring: David Thewlis, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Noonan

Overview:Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich comes a riveting new "MASTERPIECE." Michael Stone - husband, father and noted author - travels to Cincinnati to speak at a customer service conference. But once he's separated from the routine of his daily life, a chance encounter helps him to realize just what, and whom, he's been missing. Love, laughter and loneliness align in a "STAGGERINGLY INVENTIVE" stop-motion work of art from directors Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson.

My Thoughts:
Anomalisa is the story of a man's single night stay in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is worn down by depression, which makes all of the mundane parts of life excruciating. Everyone speaks with the same voice and he subconsciously views himself as a robot. He is going through the motions of life. He yearns for something special, some connection, some spark to bring life to his existence. Yet when he finds it, once the novelty wears off he begins to cycle back down.

This is a really well done piece of stop-motion, unusual in its adult subjects and audience, unusual in its unlikeable main character. Michael isn't a good person, and though we're invited to know his feelings we're never given an understanding of what has brought him to where he is, so we're never invited to truly empathize with him. Yet it's still an interesting study of how people relate to one another, and how connections form and die.

This is a good film, and I enjoyed it, but I'd recommend it only to fans of art films, however, since I'm not sure how much mainstream film fans would enjoy this.

Bechdel Test: Fail
Mako Mori Test: Fail

Overall: 3.5/5

(From Scavenger Hunt #22 on January 7th, 2017)

The Benchwarmers, a review by addicted2comics

The Plot: A trio of guys try and make up for missed opportunities in childhood by forming a three-player baseball team to compete against standard little league squads.

My Thoughts:

Pretty good, kinda funny. Nice story about the underdogs coming up from behind. Really not much to say about this movie that hasn't already been said, I mean, I think it was pretty popular. Although with that rich baseball manager guy, I gotta say one thing: to me, K.I.T.T. looked a lot like the Batmobile during that one scene. 



(From Addicted2comics(:P)'s Official Review Thread!!! on September 12th, 2010)

TV Time-Travel Marathon, a review by Tom

Alternate Reality
My Name Is Earl
Bad Karma: An Earl Misadventure

A bonus episode on the first season's DVD set. A retelling of the pilot episode: Instead of seeing Carson Daly talking about karma on TV, he sees Stewie from Family Guy talking about vengeance. A fun little episode playing with the premise of the series.

(From TV Time-Travel Marathon on January 12th, 2008)