Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo

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Directed by Mike Mitchell
Produced by Adam Sandler (executive)
Written by Rob Schneider
Starring Rob Schneider
William Forsythe
Eddie Griffin
Arija Bareikis
Oded Fehr
Gail O’Grady
Richard Riehle
Jacqueline Obradors
Big Boy
Amy Poehler
Music by Teddy Castellucci
Cinematography Peter Lyons Collister
Editing by George Bowers & Lawrence Jordan
Studio Happy Madison
Distributed by Touchstone Pictures
Release date December 10, 1999
Running time 88 minutes
Country United States
Language EnglishI guess that any credibility that I had in my taste of movies will now be torn to shreds as I enjoyed watching Deuce Bigelow: Male Gigolo last night when it screened on Channel 7. I did go and see it in the theatre back when it was first released in 2000 and enjoyed it the as much as I did last night.

I know that this film is not high-brow entertainment, that it is stupid and gross, like a lot of comedies from the late 90s/early 2000s were, but I still found it to be quite funny and that is all that matters to me. Sometimes you really need a stupid movie that doesn’t take itself or the art of movie making too seriously. At least before watching a Rob Schneider film you know what you are going to get.

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Toy Story

Directed by John Lasseter
Produced by Ralph Guggenheim & Bonnie Arnold
Written by John Lasseter
Pete Docter
Andrew Stanton
Joe Ranft
Joss Whedon
Joel Cohen
Alec Sokolow
Starring
Tom Hanks
Tim Allen
Don Rickles
Jim Varney
Wallace Shawn
John Ratzenberger
Annie Potts
John Morris
Laurie Metcalf
Erik von Detten
Music by Randy Newman
Editing by Robert Gordon & Lee Unkrich
Studio Pixar Animation Studios
Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures
Release date November 22, 1995
Running time 81 minutes
Country United States
Language English
It’s hard to believe that Toy Story is 15 years old. Woody, Buzz and the gang are still fresh after all that time. Now with Toy Story 3 being released today I thought that I would relive the first two adventures.

Toy Story was the first feature-length CGI animated film and unlike Dreamworks’ Shrek, it doesn’t feel dated at all. I think that this is the great thing about Pixar in that they don’t just concentrate on pop culture references or fart jokes (unlike Dreamworks) but actually create characters that an audience can care for and a story that is engaging. It’s a bit hard to review Toy Story as it is a film that almost everyone has seen and I am sure enjoys. There is a lot of great humour and the characters, such as Woody, have real emotions that we can really empathise with.

Pulp Fiction

Directed by Quentin Tarantino
Produced by Lawrence Bender
Written by Quentin Tarantino & Roger Avary
Starring John Travolta
Samuel L. Jackson
Uma Thurman
Harvey Keitel
Tim Roth
Amanda Plummer
Maria de Medeiros
Ving Rhames
Eric Stoltz
Rosanna Arquette
Christopher Walken
Bruce Willis
Cinematography Andrzej Sekula
Editing by Sally Menke
Distributed by Miramax Films (U.S. theatrical)
Release date(s) May 1994 (world premiere—Cannes Film Festival)
September 23, 1994 (U.S. premiere—New York Film Festival)
October 14, 1994 (U.S. general release)
Running time 154 min.
Country United States
Language English

Pulp Fiction is another film that I just watched on Foxtel. I have watched this film many times since I first saw it in the cinema in 1994. It is undoubtedly one of my favourite Tarantino films and perhaps one of my favourite movies of all time. It features lots of Tarantino’s clever and snappy dialogue full of obscure references. Much of the music is great too.

It’s pretty futile talking about the plot of this film, since most of the population of the Earth has seen it. Samuel L. Jackson is brilliant as Jules, whilst this film helped to resurrect John Travolta’s career. There is also the dance sequence between Travolta and Thurman as well that everyone remembers.

The film is great there are only two things about it that are disappointing: 1) that Tarantino has not made a sequel that features Jules walking the Earth getting into adventures and sharing his wisdom and philosophies, 2) that we never got to see Fox Force Five on TV, as that sounds one thousand times better than any of the shit that is currently on TV. Both of these ideas would be awesome.

Ed Wood

Directed by	Tim Burton
Produced by	Tim Burton Denise Di Novi
Written by	Screenplay: Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski Book: Rudolph Grey (Nightmare of Ecstasy)
Starring	Johnny Depp Martin Landau Patricia Arquette Sarah Jessica Parker Jeffrey Jones Lisa Marie Bill Murray
Music by	Howard Shore
Cinematography	Stefan Czapsky
Editing by	Chris Lebenzon
Distributed by	Touchstone Pictures
Release date(s)	Limited release: September 30, 1994 Wide release October 7, 1994
Running time	127 min.
Country	United States

Edward D. Wood Jr. is world-renowned as having directed some of the worst movies ever made. He was a director with lots of ideas and ambition but little talent or money. Most of the actors he used in his films were made up of friends, freaks and weirdos, as well as a drug addled and past his prime Bela Lugosi. Wood may have had little talent as a director and his films may be ridiculed as some of the worst of all time and they have an ill-conceived weirdness about them, yet they retain a sincerity in them and are never boring, which you cannot necessarily say about some of today’s big budget blockbusters.Despite his lack of talent and success there are very few Hollywood directors who can say that they have had their lives and career lovingly immortalised on film.

Depp is brilliant as Wood, in another of his quirkier roles. He plays Wood as someone full of childish enthusiasm for the movie business, and who doesn’t see his own limitations. He idolizes the great Orson Welles and in his own mind he is just as successful. I know that Burton must have taken a few liberties with the film, but I wonder if Wood honestly knew that what he was making was shit, or is he really thought of himself as an auteur making great works of art. Perhaps this is my own cynical nature that makes me think this, but there is no cynicism at all in Burton’s film. He and Depp portray Wood with all the reverence reserved for legends.

I must also make mention of Martin Landau’s Oscar-winning performance portraying screen legend Bela Lugosi, the original Dracula. He gives a sympathetic portrayal of Lugosi, who at the time he met Wood had hit rock bottom. His career was in tatters and he was in the grips of morphine addiction. A running joke throughout the film is when Ed tells potential backers that he is going to have Lugosi starring in his next movie project the response is usually, “Isn’t he dead?”.

This is a great little film that is very funny and quirky. It is a fascinating look at the life of someone who never knew that he was a failure and never gave up on his dreams.