Z/Web

Author: Charlie Kaufman

Hilarious film about the life of “Gong Show” creator Chuck Barris. Supposedly he was a TV producer by day and a CIA operative by night. Of course there’s no way to prove the latter, so the film has a lot of fun with it. Witty, well-acted and directed, fun yet with some serious moments. Excellent.

Director: William Friedkin

One problem with older classic films is that your expectations are too high. I’d never seen this before, but of course heard it’s supposed to be good. It was good, but the actual plot seems rather wimpy today. It’s basically about a big drug deal with the drugs coming from France. Unfortunately, the deal is for a “whopping” half million dollars, which even in 1970 dollars seems like a small amount for all this fuss. It’s well done, with interesting cop characters, but not all that much happens. Basically the cops figure out the drug deal is upcoming, track down the perps, and try to stop it from going down. A lot of the battle seems to be cop versus administration, cop versus cop, cop versus FBI, etc., which I found annoying (though it’s probably realistic). Good flick, but not quite as good as I expected.

Director: Philip Noyce

This is an amazing film. Run, don’t walk, to the nearest theatre and see it. If you’re not into “arty” films and think this might be depressing, let me assure you it’s anything but. It is emotionally moving, but not the least bit slow or boring. Impressively, Noyce tells a wonderful story in a mere 95 minutes — unlike say, Spielberg and his overlong

The performance of the girls is incredible; they are all darling and completely convincing. The Aborigine tracker is also amazing. But what really shines is the incredible story of human will and the horribly inhuman treatment by the government bureaucrats. The ending is both joyous and sad, and will leave you thinking for a long time. Highly recommended.