The Twilight Zone: Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room

John "Jackie" Rhoades is a small time crook, doing odd jobs for the slick George. Here he paces a small room, biting his nail, waiting for George to call about the next assignment. When George does call and Jackie cannot get any details out of him over the phone, it only makes him more nervous.

Eventually, George drops by and tells Jackie that he has to man up and kill a man, something Jackie has never done before and obviously does not have the guts to do. He describes himself as "nickels and dimes". But he is left with the choice to kill or be killed. They set to meet again in the room at 2.30 a.m., at which time the hit should have been done.

When he is alone again, Jackie tries to get his courage up by talking himself up in the mirror. But then his mirror image starts talking back. The two Jackies start fighting over their life of petty crime and occasional stints in prison. This other half of him wants Jackie to get his life on track.

George calls again to check on whether or not Jackie is actually going to do as he is told. When he comes at the agreed time, however, Jackie has not even left the room and the target is alive and well. What George didn't see coming is that this "nickels and dimes" guy is not going to take any shit anymore and knocks George down before chasing him out the door.

In the last scene we see that Jackie has traded places with his former mirror image.

Wonderful acting by Joe Mantell, who later appeared in another episode of The Twilight Zone.

8/10

Gulliver's Travels

This film had me worried that Jack Black might go the way of Adam Sandler - appearing in films of constantly declining quality. He seems to have found his footing again (recently starring in the promising looking Bernie, which I will report on as soon as I have seen it), but Gulliver's Travels was one of his low points.

It starts off with Gulliver, who works in the mail room of a newspaper in NYC and is in love with the travel writer Darcy, handing in a sample of his 'writing'. Of course, he copied everything out of various guide books and websites. Anyway, he gets immediately sent off to a three week boat trip to Bermuda. And I mean immediately.

The infamous Bermuda Triangle takes you straight to Lilliput, apparently. There, being bigger than anyone else and coming from a (at least technically) more advanced society, he tells tall tales and beats off the villainous armada that repeatedly tries to kidnap the princess to become a lauded hero. He proceeds to behave like a giant tool and recreates time square plastered with billboards of himself (among other ridiculous, non-funny feats).

Of course, the guy the princess is supposed to marry does not buy a word Gulliver says (there is always that one non-believer in a comedy, isn't there). He goes over to the dark side and ends up blowing Gulliver's web of lies. Subsequently he gets shipped off to some mysterious, scary place, where he himself is suddenly the small person.

When Darcy - pissed off at having to do the Bermuda assignment herself now, despite her seasickness - is captured by the evil forces now running Lilliput, Gulliver's only friend comes to get him back and together they save kind and country.

Lame and painfully void of humor, which is doubly shameful as a shitload of money obviously went into this project.

<sad-headshake>

2/10

Film Quote

from The Seventh Seal

Quartet

At Beecham house, a home for retired musician, the annual concert celebrating Verdi's music is organized by the residents themselves.

Among them is a trio of singers, famed for their rendition of "Bella figlia dell' amore" from Rigoletto. The piece is a quartet and the fourth member of their group, the diva-esque Jean (former wife of one of the male voices in the quartet), has just waltzed into Beecham House. Her arrival has upset her former husband Reggie, who at first tries to avoid her whenever possible.

The concert this year is of particular importance, as any revenues are crucial in keeping Beecham House funded. The head organizer Cedric suggests that the quartet should perform their Rigoletto piece, which will surely increase interest in the concert. It does take some convincing, though, as Jean does not want to sing because some of her higher notes may break.

She changes her mind, however, when she learns that her former rival on the opera scene will perform an aria from Tosca ("Vissi d'arte", if you're intersted).

This is Dustin Hoffman's directorial debut and the cast is phenomenal. It includes Billy Connelly, Michael Gambon and the wonderful Maggie Smith as the ageing diva Jean.

I wanted to love the film and hoped for some more comedy, I guess. In the end, I merely liked it.

6/10

Never Say Never Again

This is the one James Bond film that is not officially part of the series. From the very first instant - when the beginning credits set in - we know that everything is different. There is no shadowy figure in the round seeker of a gun turning towards the camera and shooting followed by a song performed by the superstar of the moment. There is a different M, a different Q, even a different Felix.

But the story is very James Bond-y and the original 007 is back (again). The location is as exotic as ever and the cast is fantastic: Klaus Maria Brandauer, Max von Sydow, Edward Fox, Kim Basinger, Rowan Atkinson. The fashion (other than Bond's classic tuxedo) is painfully 1980's.

The woman in the picture does not only commit a typical 1980's fashion crime, she is also totally bonkers. For instance, she insists on being the best lay Bond has ever had and wants him to put that in writing. James, of course, has been handed a pen out of Q's little shop and shoots her with it. The crazy bitch is not the only woman that ends up in Bond's arms before he saves the day.

Some more recurring themes: a casino and some deep sea diving. Nothing new, but an interesting attempt of trying to secure a piece of the franchise cake. It remains the only one thus far.

6/10

In the Company of Men

Chad (Aaron Eckhart) and Howard (Matt Malloy) are assigned to a different location within their company for six weeks. Chad is a classic asshole (at one point he has a male intern drop his pants to see if he has the 'balls' for this job) and Howard wants to pretend to be a douchebag of similar size so they agree to wine and dine a girl simultaneously and then breaking up with her at the same time - all within those six weeks.

The girl Chad (of course it's Chad) picks is Christine (Stacy Edwards), who is deaf (added bonus!). They take her out and send her flowers. Howard is not as good at this as Chad and actually falls in love. Christine falls for the charm of Chad.

When Chad and Christine go to lunch in week four, with him being all sweet and charming (you want to punch him in the face for playing that lovely girl like that) they run into Howard and Christine realizes for the first time that the two know each other.

When Howard confesses his love, Christine tearfully breaks up with him and apologizes for not having been honest from the start. This prompts Howard to spill the beans of what they were doing, which leads to a fight ("You, you are fucking handicapped! You think you can chose?"). A few days later, Christine confronts Chad, who goes back to asshole mode, saying that he wanted to let her down easy, but "fuck it".

In the last chapter of the film, we realize just how big an asshole Chad actually is.

from Roger Ebert's review:
We find a level beneath the other levels. The game was more Machiavellian than we imagined. We thought we were witnessing evil, but now we look on its true face.

8/10

Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon)

One of the earliest films in the classical sense and it is...science fiction. How about that?

It runs for only 14 minutes and it took people to the moon long before we were even close to considering space travel.

It is humorous, introduces us to weird characters and gave the world the often used, iconic image of the (man in the) moon with a looking glass, checking out what those weird little people on earth are up to.

An absolute must-see.

10/10