Alan Rapp

One of the more interesting movies I was looking forward to this fall was MirrorMask.  Written by Neil Gaiman (yeah, that Neil Gaiman!!) and Dave McKean (who also directs) the film tells the story of Helena a fifteen year-old girl who is raised in the circus and desperately wants to escape to the real world.  Helena becomes trapped in a strange dream world and she must find the MirrorMask to help the White Witch and find her way home.  The movie was released in New York on September 30, and in the strictest sense of “limited release” it seems it will not be shown elsewhere.  Sony announced plans to release the DVD on February 7, 2006 instead.  Great, after subjecting myself to the horror that is The Chronicles of Narnia (check back tomorrow for my scathing review) now I don’t get to see what talented people can do with similar subject matter!  I can only assume that Sony was scared off the the pre-hype that Narnia has been getting and didn’t want to go head-to-head for the same audience.  *Sigh* 

For those of you interested check out the movie’s trailer here and let us know what you think.  And if by chance anyone out there has seen this and would care send us a review we’d be eternally grateful (for at least 15 seconds).

MirrorMask
N/A

The idea behind Melinda and Melinda is really good.  The execution however never achieves its lofty aspirations.  Two different versions of a story are shown; one is tragic one is comedic.  We’ve seen this before were different views of are presented in the same film and in almost every case one part of the film is better than the other.  The comedy turns out pretty good but the tragedy is only so-so and Allen never finds a way to merge the two stories into one film.

Melinda and Melinda
3 & 1/2 Stars

Two different takes on life has been done before on film and the romantic theme has been done recently (1998’s Sliding Doors); so this film is coming to the party a little late.  But we do have Woody Allen who makes a very interesting party guest throwing this bash; so, of course,  there is much to discuss.  Is this one of Allen’s best films?  No, but it does have its moments and very good performances that are definitely worth checking out.

A group of friends talk about life during a relaxed dinner at their favorite restaurant.  One introduces a vague story he has overheard about a woman crashing a dinner party of friends and then two of them take turns telling the story in how they see the world.  Each story is then shown to us as it evolves from their initial narration into a two separate stories inter-cut between each other and scenes from the restaurant discussion.  Wallace Shawn provides a fine performance here as the man who argues that life is tragic yet gives us the comedic telling of Melinda.

The two stories contain different characters and the film is cut together so you see a little of one and then a little of the other back and forth.  Part of the problem is the only thing holding the stories together is the loose dinner party that really isn’t a part of either story, and might be the most interesting part of the film that sadly only gets brief moments in-between the two stories.

The film provides a showcase for some great performances.  Radha Mitchell is Melinda the main character in both stories although different in each.  She provides the range of emotion and is good even as the tragic story gets too maudlin and sloppy.  Also well used here is the beautiful Chloë Sevigny dressed down as the good normal gal of the group.  The other member of the tragedy worth mentioning is Chiwetel Ejiofor who instantly infuses the film with class.  Another great performance by Ejiofor; I’ll go see this guy in anything.

From the comic tale Will Farrell does a good job with the neurotic Woody Allen role and only gets annoying late in the film.  Allen did a good job in this casting (much better than Biggs or Branaugh) Farrell is able to do the role naturally without falling back into imitation.  Amanda Peet and Steve Carell also add some nice comedic touches.

Although the film has interesting ideas and good performances they never quite come together to make a cohesive film.  Part of the problem lies in the final act of the tragedy as it becomes depressing at the same time the comedy is getting into full gear.  The dichotomy never quite fits.  Still there are plenty of reasons to look at this film not the least are a series of very good performances by Mitchell, Ejiofor, Farrell, and Peet.

In Living Color, AKA Fox’s first attempt at an SNL type show was is an interesting little slice of early 90’s history.  From the mind of Keenan Ivory Williams the show was set up to put his family to work and provide some inconsistantly funny sketches.

In Living Color – Season Four
2 Stars

What’s the legacy of In Living Color?  Even though most of the recurring sketches and characters have been long forgotten the show did have a strong following during it’s run and jump started the careers of Damon Wayans, Jim Carey, Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Lopez.

The fourth season of In Living Color introduces “Fly Girl” Jennifer Lopez and adds another Wayan, Marlon Wayans, to the company payroll.  The sketches from the season include returning original characters like Fire Marshall Bill, the Head Detective, and Men on Film.  Also included are some pretty good parodies such as the “Def Comedy Jam” parody which is a wicked take on live audiences that laugh at mediocre material.  There’s also a best of parodies episode include spoofs on Superfly, Basic Instinct and Silence of the Lambs.

Jim Carrey is the gem of the bunch and besides his role of of Fire Marshall Bill he does a Ross Perot impersonation, the father of the Dystfunctional Home Show, and his William Shatner impersonation in a Rescue 911 spoof and a Star Trek spoof.

Damon Wayans provides many of the laughs with his roles as the Head Detective, one half of the Men on Film, Handiman, and Homey D. Clown.  One of the episodes is a best of Men of Film which includes clips from this season and other season including Blayne’s short live heterosexuality.

Not all the comedy comes off and much of it misses the mark.  For every one that works there are two or three that don’t.  For example the recurring character of Wanda (Jamie Foxx) who’s whole character is she’s an ugly and not very smart woman.  Though one of the sketches does lead to an appearance by En Vogue.  The show was very popular with urban music and hip hop and you get performances by the likes of Naughty by Nature and Mary J. Blige.  You also get group after group of very forgettable bands such as Digital Planets, but hey at least JLo and the Fly Girls can dance to anything.

The comedy is real hit-and-miss especially for a fourth season show.  Longtime fans of the show will really enjoy it but I think for the casual viewer the $40 price tag is much too high for what you actually get.