Titbit Reviews with Ivan Nagar

FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH

Would you like some HAGGIS with your fries? (National Treasure 2 reference, anyone?)
www.fanpop.com

 If you haven’t heard of Fast Times at Ridgemont High then chances are you live under a rock (stoned, so to speak, but ask Sean Penn's Jeff Spicoli about that). I'll sell it to you this way: think The Breakfast Club meets Dazed and Confused. Still not convinced? Well there's pre-eminent, pre-Oscar winning likes of Sean Penn, Forrest Whittaker and Nicolas Cage (Calvin's note: also Jennifer Jason Leigh who is fab). The film very nicely captures the specific atmosphere of 80’s usa (when it’s pop culture influence was at it’s peak, in my opinion anyway) very accurately, and almost transports you there, mixing elements of stoner humour and coming-of-age issues as per my earlier comparison (even if it is way less thought provoking if at all) and of course because the movie does such a brilliant job at capturing high school life in the 80’s.

Now I feel I may have praised this film a little more than what it deserves. Though it’s safe to say this is Sean Penn’s worst performance I have seen, it would be kind of like complaining about Ryan Gosling in his Mickey Mouse Clubhouse days. Seriously though, this film is filled with terribly flat performances I mean it all feels way too amateur-ish, even for a film that begs not to be taken too seriously. All in all the movie is fun if you’re into nostalgic American high school films (well nostalgic if you’re 50 years old actually), and even if that’s not to your tastes it's not a bad film at all. Is it a must-see though? Nah.

RATING 3.5/

 

 

MISHIMA

From sffs.org

 This film (on paper at least) looks incredibly interesting. Mishima is a Japanese biopic based on the works of one of Japan’s most celebrated writers, and if that isn’t enough to pique your interest let me add that it’s directed by Paul Schrader (director of American Gigolo (Calvin's Note: VERY underrated film), and the writer of Raging Bull (Calvin's Note: VERY overrated film, in my opinion Ordinary People and The Elephant Man both were/would've been more deserving of that coveted 1980 BP Oscar win) and Taxi Driver). And let me also add that the executive producers are, wait for it, wait for it, George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola (if you don’t know who they are then you’re on the wrong blog). All of that as I said bodes very well, but unfortunately the film itself isn’t even half as interesting in fact I have never seen a biopic as strangely constructed and uninformative.

It’s hard to think of anything good about this film really except for the visually innovative narrative style and some stunning imagery, the structure of the film however may appeal to some people but it was too strangely unorthodox for me. Even after all this bashing (I tried) if you still want to watch this film it might help to know that the great Roger Ebert classified this as a ‘great movie’ (Calvin's Note: respect Ebert the man but I personally found some of his choices and opinions...well, just didn't agree with some of them) and most film critics would disagree with my views but hey, why be pretentious about the medium of film which I love?

RATING 2/5