JamfoFL Reviews

Amazon Women on the Moon (1987)

Funny, Broad Farce

[7/10 · 14 November 2002]

This is not subtle comedy. This is not a thought-provoking parody of everyday life.

What it IS is a broad, in-your-face farce that goes anywhere and everywhere to grab your funny bone. And in most instances it works.

The movie is loosely constructed around the premise of late night television, complete with a grade B 50's style sci-fi film providing the central nexus around which the movie is built. Skit changes are presented as "channel switching" or commercial breaks. Because of the skit nature of the movie, the changes between set pieces can be abrupt, and each piece will succeed or fail on it's own merits. Amazon Women on the Moon hits, fortunately, far more times than it misses.

*** POSSIBLE SPOILERS ***

One of the funniest pieces of the film is the initial segment featuring a very physical performance by a young Arsenio Hall. My sides hurt from laughing during this segment, and helped set the "mood" for the rest of the film.

A pre- "In Living Color" David Allen Greir turns in a hilarious performance as Don "No-Soul" Simmons. His facial expressions and physical mannerisms are perfect for the role. You almost feel as if you should find your wallet to donate to the "Blacks Without Soul" foundation. (I also got a great chuckle out of watching a 70's era pimp, in full Huggie-Bear outfit, touting the benefits of driving a Volvo Station Wagon.)

The "Two forms of ID" skit is both funny and prophetic, considering this movie was made in 1987. Anyone who is familiar with "googling" a potential date will see more than just a hint of irony here.

Carrie (Princess Leia) Fisher and Paul (Eating Raul) Martel also turn in all too accurate performances spoofing the old "educational" films of the 50's. Anyone who has seen "Reefer Madness" will get a kick out of this.

Overall, this movie is fun to watch, especially with a larger group of friends when you want to sit around and just have a hearty, mindless laugh. There's something here for everyone, and it's just plain fun.

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

A Beautiful Movie that Falls Flat

[4 November 2002]

***SPOILERS***

The Talented Mr. Ripley is a perfect example of a movie that falls on its own pretentiousness. It is lavishly filmed, convincingly dropping the actors into the era of the 1950's. The acting is well-done, with Mr. Damon craftfully hiding a sociopath's heart behind a nervous twitch and smile.

Where this film falls apart is the insipid script that goes nowhere, the rampant stupidity amongst all the characters (including the Talented Mr. Ripley himself), and the plot holes that totally blow any suspension of disbelief the viewer may have while watching the film.

I for one would never say that every movie has to be nitro-propelled like a summer blockbuster. But for a film to be engaging, there must be an escallation in suspense, that never-ending feeling of uncertainty as the story progresses to its inexorable climax. The Cohen Brother's Blood Simple, and the collective works of Hitchcock are examples of films that aren't propulsive, and yet they move. The Talented Mr. Ripley never moves. It glides from situation to situation until, abrubtly, it ends. No climax, no denoument, just constant exposition that just stops after 2+ brutal hours.

The collection of characters that fill this film range from stupid to moronic. There's even a Clouseau-esque police inspector who somehow manages to blow what should be the easiest investigation of his career. (For example, wouldn't it have made sense for the inspector to show photographs of many of the characters involved to the landlady of Ripley's [as Greenleaf's] apartment to establish who may have been there recently? If he had, he would have caught Ripley in the act. But this common police practice seems to be lost on our poor inspector.) Even Ripley, who is depicted as being sublimely intelligent and plots his actions with great detail, can't figure out a way to convincingly dispose of a body while making it look like an accident.

And so this movie plods along, until we come to a conclusion that leaves more threads hanging than a pair of cut-off jeans. Again, this "brilliant" sociopath kills his friend and lover, on a ship at sea with no means of escape, and with at least 3 other characters who can place him as Greenleaf's doppelganger. I guess if you can count on ship's security and the custom's guard to be as innately stupid as the rest of the characters in the film, then you can assume that 'The Talented Mr. Ripley' will somehow manage to walk off the boat to freedom.

This is a beautiful movie, an exquisite period piece that is labored by the fact that it just doesn't go anywhere. If you want to do an in-depth character study of a sociopath, then at least surround him by characters and situations that are believable and well thought out. But to slowly move this character, this "murderer with a conscience" through absurd situation after situation, does not a movie make.

3 out of 10 stars, for cinematography only.