Once again the maniacal Moriarty unfurls from the umbrella of an entrant to avoid detection, he manipulates the minds of those who would keep him out. And the great criminal genius hints to another brilliantly hatching scheme. Ahhhh his magnificience is unparallelled like me here spelling... By the way Moriarty's review is "no spoilers" so you have nothing to fear, but beware the others, they spill some of the beans, but not all of them. So if you are sensitive leave after Moriarty's review.
"Moriarty" here. I took a break from my manipulation of El Nino, my greatest criminal creation, to take in a new film tonight at a sneak screening over on the Paramount lot. Of course, next to Sherlock Holmes, I have no greater enemy than Joe Farrell's evil NRG elves, and tonight they held true to form.
I showed up with two of my henchmen, Stinky and Fuzzy, in tow. The turn lane to get to the main gate was backed up for at least a block, so I tossed Fuzzy out of the car by his ear, telling him to get us a place in line. It took us twenty minutes to get from the turn lane to the parking lot, and in that time, they said they filled the screening up. At first, they weren't even going to let us park. I managed to hypnotize the NRG flunky into letting us park so we could go retrieve Fuzzy. When we walked up, they were about to let him in, and despite the screening being full, we were ushered in with him.
Ahhh... victory. And believe me, Harry, the effort was worth it. Peter Weir's THE TRUMAN SHOW is a one of a kind, a complete success for all involved. Jim Carrey takes a giant step forward with his performance here as Burbank Truman. He manages to be funny, sad, and profoundly moving with remarkable ease. The rest of the supporting cast is equally well used. Noah Emmerich, Laura Linney and Natascha McElhone are all perfect for their roles as Truman's best friend, wife, and long lost love. It's Ed Harris, though, who provides the movie's strongest supporting performance as Christof, the creator of the mysterious "Truman Show."
Now... here's the hard part. There's really no way to discuss the film without ruining it. This is going to be a nearly impossible sale for Paramount, since they're either going to have to ruin the film with the ad campaign and give away most of the major beats, or they're going to have to rely on Jim Carrey's name to open the film, which will no doubt set up false expectations for a lot of people. Fuzzy (who manages to speak excellent Spanish despite being a half human/half hedgehog hybrid grown in my labs) pointed out that this film really lets Jim Carrey get in touch with his Jimmy Stewart side. I would agree. There's a humanity here, some accessible side of his personality that we haven't seen before, that really sells the whole thing.
Peter Weir's work is wonderful. He continues to prove himself as a unique visualist who manages to elicit wonderful and surprising performances from actors. Andrew Niccols' script has been reshaped and polished during production -- I liked it when I read it, but I loved it when I saw it. The production design is clever and perfect for the story being told. All in all, this is one of the best times I've had in a theater this year. It's going to be well worth the wait when it finally comes out next summer.
Oh... and just in case Fuzzy and Stinky forget to send their reactions along, it was Stinky who came up with the perfect poster line for the movie, taken from a line of dialogue delivered by Truman's best friend Marlon. I know Paramount will be poring over the responses they see here, so I'd love to pass it along to them again to make sure they consider it.
"It's a lot of world for just one man."
You'll love it when you see it, Harry. Until then, this is "Moriarty".
This strange foreigner known as Eoj Lerraf also got in, but beware he gives you the set-up for the film, which is spilling some of the beans, which should stay canned. Suffice to say this film looks like a winner. I'm giddy in anticipation...
Tonight (Saturday, December 6) a screening of the new Peter Weir movie "THE TRUMAN SHOW" took place at the little studio theatre at the PARAMOUNT STUDIO. Despite the rain a lot of people showed up about 90 minutes early and everybody was speculating which movie we would most likely see (as it was not mentioned on the NRG invitations). I obvioulsy thought it would either be the troubled HARD RAIN or THE TRUMAN SHOW as there are not many other interesting Paramount pictures coming up. When I saw Peter Weir in the back of the theatre I immediately knew that they will show "THE TRUMAN SHOW" with Jim Carrey.
Right away I would like to tell that this is another great film by Peter Weir that should stick in the memory of the audience. Hopefully Paramount comes up with the right marketing hook to lure initial audiences into this one.
The movie tells the story of Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey in a great performance) who grows up in a true-live-environment-staged tv-show who finally realizes that something is not right. In order to not spoil anything here I don't want to go into the story much more. I just want to say that the story, the direction and especially the set design fit together perfectly. The cast that includes Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich,Ed Harris and Natascha McElhone does a great job. Far away the set design reminded me a tiny little bit of the Robin Williams movie TOYS (which I totally hated). But this one really delivers. Go check it out.
And yet another spy, this one claims to be Auric Goldfinger. Now is this the same Auric Goldfinger, who drove me, Joe Hallenbeck and Father Geek around LA in his gold coated Rolls? Why yes it is!!! This man used a laser to cut into the side of the building to get his entrance. The invisible odorless gas subdued those that would stop him. Hahahahaha, nothing stands in the way of supervillians, besides superheroes.
Just got back from the TRUMAN SHOW test screening over at Paramount Studios.
This is definitely a movie you will either love or hate. The advertising department at Paramount is going to have a very very difficult time trying to market this film. I don't see how they can do it!
1. It's Jim Carrey (a very very funny man) in a serious dramatic role.
2. The concept of the film (a 24-hr self-contained television show where the star doesn't know it's a show) is going to seem very very bizarre to many people.
3. How do you present the film? Is it a drama? (But it has some funny stuff in it....) Is it a comedy? (But it has very serious situations in it....) What to do?!
Technically, the film was all I imagined. Having read the script, I had a pre-conceived notion as to how the town of Seahaven would look. And it was perfect. Literally. Tim Burton couldn't have done a better job.
The story was only half there. I mean, they had a really cool premise - this 24 hour tv show starring a guy who doesn't know it's a show. Then they throw some situations at him: little clues to indicate that his life isn't exactly what he thought it was. In the end, he discovers it was all fake, and needs to make a monumental decision.
The acting was pretty darn good. Jim Carrey shows that he certainly is capable of holding an audience through emotions and acting, instead of just stretching his face around. Ed Harris (as Christof, the show's creator) is convincingly cold - he even is ready to kill Truman if it means he never discovers the secret of the show.
Peter Weir, who directed this film, did a very good job. Not only did he have to convince us that what we were seeing was what the audience was seeing (i.e. all the different hidden cameras, etc.), but he had to do it without making us feel we were watching some scripted movie. (after all, Truman is supposed to be spontaneous)
All in all, an enjoyable movie with a very bizarre concept. Again, either you'll love it, or you won't.
