The "Freeola Customer Forum" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
Okay. I'm confused.
I rented this to watch last night, and watch it I did, but I didn't really get the need to for separate stories. Yeah the whole 'fiction' and 'non-fiction' thing, but in all honesty, I thought that the first part was a little dull.
I mean, yeah, I laughed, and commented "Ha! She got dumped by a spaz" but the story of someone gettign laid after they get dumped is one that's been done a thousand times before. Maybe I missed the point or something.
Still, I enjoyed the second story, with Scooby. It's funny that John Goodman can play some really great roles, and ther times, he's in the Borrowers.
Plus all of the music was a bit twee, being by twee Scots Bele and Sebastian, but that was alright.
I rented this to watch last night, and watch it I did, but I didn't really get the need to for separate stories. Yeah the whole 'fiction' and 'non-fiction' thing, but in all honesty, I thought that the first part was a little dull.
I mean, yeah, I laughed, and commented "Ha! She got dumped by a spaz" but the story of someone gettign laid after they get dumped is one that's been done a thousand times before. Maybe I missed the point or something.
Still, I enjoyed the second story, with Scooby. It's funny that John Goodman can play some really great roles, and ther times, he's in the Borrowers.
Plus all of the music was a bit twee, being by twee Scots Bele and Sebastian, but that was alright.
Finally got around to watching this and, having digested it, am left with one over-riding question:
"Yeah, and?"
I liked Welcome to The Dollhouse and Happiness (in as much as you can do), so I'd think I was a Solenz fan.
But this just left me thinking "er...what's the point here?"
The 1st section was too obvious in going for a:
"Look at your prejudices! See how wrong you are! You see how I subvert your notions? You see? YOU SEE? YOU SEE? YOU SEE?"
...to the point where I wandered off and ate some watermelon and drank tea.
WOW she's like, having sex with a cripple! SHOCKING! Boy are my ideas of prejudice being questioned all to hell here!
WOW she's just said a taboo word whilst being dominated by her afro-american teacher! Boy are my ideas of prejudice being questioned here!
This is all such a deep and sly dig at my own prejudices and what I would term normal!
Actually Solenz, this is questioning my ideas of boring. I'm supposed to be shocked here by her actions? The actions of the teacher? What?
Oh right, now I see how the class comes up with the criticism that critics will level at this 1st section.
Very clever
*applauds slowly*
The 2nd section was marginally more interesting, but still committed one of the worst crimes any movie can:
Being so far up it's own butt that it disappears for an hour.
See the dysfunctional family here!
Here's the stoner kid that wants to be famous!
Here's the middle kid, all-american hero!
Here's the prodigy child that speaks in shocking terms to the home-help!
Here's the geeky film-maker answering criticisms of being mocking and superior to his subjects, there's certainly no reflection of Solenz's life here, no way!
Look, the cool stoner is coming to term with being gay, he listens to Elton John (this highlights he is the hero of the piece, see how disaffected he is?)
Look, the all-american kid ends up being paralysed - this would never happen to a geeky film-director. No, and this is in no way a wish-fulfillment at the jocks that pounded Solenz..sorry, the director character at school.
----
Gah.
Whilst I liked Solenz's other two for being daring and stark and all the other things indie should be - this just felt like the feet stamping hissy-fits of a geek that still feels bitter because he got beaten up at school and never went to the prom.
I can hear his pitch for his next movie
"Ok, it's about this geeky guy who never gets the women and gets hassled by jocks and stuff. Only this kid becomes a big Hollywood director, and the writes about all the mean stuff he went through as a kid."
"...go away Solenz and get laid. Also, watch David Lynch to see how to portray the decay underneath the seemingly idyllic suburban lifestyle"
---
Actually, just go watch "Lawndogs", it does this much better, more interestingly with characters you care about.
This is a petulant whine of a film.
"Yeah, and?"
I liked Welcome to The Dollhouse and Happiness (in as much as you can do), so I'd think I was a Solenz fan.
But this just left me thinking "er...what's the point here?"
The 1st section was too obvious in going for a:
"Look at your prejudices! See how wrong you are! You see how I subvert your notions? You see? YOU SEE? YOU SEE? YOU SEE?"
...to the point where I wandered off and ate some watermelon and drank tea.
WOW she's like, having sex with a cripple! SHOCKING! Boy are my ideas of prejudice being questioned all to hell here!
WOW she's just said a taboo word whilst being dominated by her afro-american teacher! Boy are my ideas of prejudice being questioned here!
This is all such a deep and sly dig at my own prejudices and what I would term normal!
Actually Solenz, this is questioning my ideas of boring. I'm supposed to be shocked here by her actions? The actions of the teacher? What?
Oh right, now I see how the class comes up with the criticism that critics will level at this 1st section.
Very clever
*applauds slowly*
The 2nd section was marginally more interesting, but still committed one of the worst crimes any movie can:
Being so far up it's own butt that it disappears for an hour.
See the dysfunctional family here!
Here's the stoner kid that wants to be famous!
Here's the middle kid, all-american hero!
Here's the prodigy child that speaks in shocking terms to the home-help!
Here's the geeky film-maker answering criticisms of being mocking and superior to his subjects, there's certainly no reflection of Solenz's life here, no way!
Look, the cool stoner is coming to term with being gay, he listens to Elton John (this highlights he is the hero of the piece, see how disaffected he is?)
Look, the all-american kid ends up being paralysed - this would never happen to a geeky film-director. No, and this is in no way a wish-fulfillment at the jocks that pounded Solenz..sorry, the director character at school.
----
Gah.
Whilst I liked Solenz's other two for being daring and stark and all the other things indie should be - this just felt like the feet stamping hissy-fits of a geek that still feels bitter because he got beaten up at school and never went to the prom.
I can hear his pitch for his next movie
"Ok, it's about this geeky guy who never gets the women and gets hassled by jocks and stuff. Only this kid becomes a big Hollywood director, and the writes about all the mean stuff he went through as a kid."
"...go away Solenz and get laid. Also, watch David Lynch to see how to portray the decay underneath the seemingly idyllic suburban lifestyle"
---
Actually, just go watch "Lawndogs", it does this much better, more interestingly with characters you care about.
This is a petulant whine of a film.
I think the two stories work really well together. Also fiction has the best joke; when they're talking about the cerebral palsy guy's story, all the students try and think of a writer who had a disability but pulled through and wrote something great. And one goes so and so was deaf, another goes so and so was blind and then the guy at the end needs to come up with something so he goes "errrrrr... John Updike had Psoriasis" which made me laugh a lot.
I think the point of Fiction is that compliments non-fiction and they sort of overlap, but not how you would expect. One thing in fiction is that the stories they write are not fictional; in fact the only time Selma Blair's character writes a good story is when it's completely autobiographical. Whereas, in non-fiction the documentary is edited in such a way that it becomes fiction, if you see what I mean. I also think that the first section adds weight to the second one. Particularly the whole theme of predjudices; in Fiction they all praise the cerebral palsy guy's story even though it's crap ("And I found out that cerebral Palsy really meant cerebral person") purely to show that they aren't prejudiced against him. In fact I even began to suspect that the only reason Selma Blair was going out with him was to prove the same thing. Equally when she's at the professor's house and finds his pictures, and starts to worry she keeps muttering under her breath about not being racist and she only lets things happen to prove that she's not racist.
I think if non-fiction had been seperate then it would have been like Happiness; something very funny and very black, but lacking depth. Fiction is not funny because it's too horrific, and even though non-fiction comes as light relief afterwards, some of the things that happen take on a new light. For instance the Consuelo episode seems deeper somehow, because you're already thinking about the stuff that's happened in Fiction.
I'll watch it again some time this week and think about it a little more. But I've got a backlog of great films to watch, about 13, which I snapped up in the variety of sales that are going on in most stores. Thank god that the majority of the population has no desire to watch anything even remotely challenging, I've picked up some brilliant films for under £8 and they all rock. I think tonight I'll watch mean streets, and then go on to a Lynch weekend...
I think the point of Fiction is that compliments non-fiction and they sort of overlap, but not how you would expect. One thing in fiction is that the stories they write are not fictional; in fact the only time Selma Blair's character writes a good story is when it's completely autobiographical. Whereas, in non-fiction the documentary is edited in such a way that it becomes fiction, if you see what I mean. I also think that the first section adds weight to the second one. Particularly the whole theme of predjudices; in Fiction they all praise the cerebral palsy guy's story even though it's crap ("And I found out that cerebral Palsy really meant cerebral person") purely to show that they aren't prejudiced against him. In fact I even began to suspect that the only reason Selma Blair was going out with him was to prove the same thing. Equally when she's at the professor's house and finds his pictures, and starts to worry she keeps muttering under her breath about not being racist and she only lets things happen to prove that she's not racist.
I think if non-fiction had been seperate then it would have been like Happiness; something very funny and very black, but lacking depth. Fiction is not funny because it's too horrific, and even though non-fiction comes as light relief afterwards, some of the things that happen take on a new light. For instance the Consuelo episode seems deeper somehow, because you're already thinking about the stuff that's happened in Fiction.
I'll watch it again some time this week and think about it a little more. But I've got a backlog of great films to watch, about 13, which I snapped up in the variety of sales that are going on in most stores. Thank god that the majority of the population has no desire to watch anything even remotely challenging, I've picked up some brilliant films for under £8 and they all rock. I think tonight I'll watch mean streets, and then go on to a Lynch weekend...
Okay. I'm confused.
I rented this to watch last night, and watch it I did, but I didn't really get the need to for separate stories. Yeah the whole 'fiction' and 'non-fiction' thing, but in all honesty, I thought that the first part was a little dull.
I mean, yeah, I laughed, and commented "Ha! She got dumped by a spaz" but the story of someone gettign laid after they get dumped is one that's been done a thousand times before. Maybe I missed the point or something.
Still, I enjoyed the second story, with Scooby. It's funny that John Goodman can play some really great roles, and ther times, he's in the Borrowers.
Plus all of the music was a bit twee, being by twee Scots Bele and Sebastian, but that was alright.
I rented this to watch last night, and watch it I did, but I didn't really get the need to for separate stories. Yeah the whole 'fiction' and 'non-fiction' thing, but in all honesty, I thought that the first part was a little dull.
I mean, yeah, I laughed, and commented "Ha! She got dumped by a spaz" but the story of someone gettign laid after they get dumped is one that's been done a thousand times before. Maybe I missed the point or something.
Still, I enjoyed the second story, with Scooby. It's funny that John Goodman can play some really great roles, and ther times, he's in the Borrowers.
Plus all of the music was a bit twee, being by twee Scots Bele and Sebastian, but that was alright.