Review of Look at Me (2004) by Megan O — 02 May 2005

IN THEATRE (GENERAL):

PALINDROMES: Such an amazing film. Todd Solondz once again exceeds my expectations, as he has with WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE as well as HAPPINESS. PALINDROMES is the story of one girl, Aviva, played by eight different actors. The story follows Aviva through many aspets of her life, each played by diffent actors, some black, some white, some brunette, some blonde, some older and some younger, as well as one boy. And as much as it doesn?t seem like it should work, it does, and it works so beautifully. Much like with Solondz?s other films, there are laughs where there really shouldn?t be. For instance, there?s one scene in the film where you have a bunch of kids singing about Jesus, and it?s the most hysterical scene I?ve seen in a long time. It?s funny because the two main singers are a Backstreet Boy wannabe, and a chick with no arms. The background singers are a really large woman, an albino, a midget, and a mentally disabled kid among others. My expectations for PALINDROMES were fairly low, so the film really blew me away. Easily one of the best this year so far.

LOOK AT ME: A nice little French film. The film?s about a young vocalist, and the relationships around her, including her father and step mom (who is her age), her vocal teacher and her husband, and her own relationship with boyfriend. It?s really funny as well as having great drama.

THE INTERPRETER: A solid film. I really wanted to see it opening day, but didn?t get it see it until last night. Nicole Kidman, I think, is pretty much one of the most overrated actors working today, but she surprised me a little bit. I noticed an off accent I guess in a couple spots, but overall, she was really great. Sean Penn was all right, so was Catherine Keener. The story was really awesome, and while the film seemed kind of long, it held my interest throughout.

IN THEATRE (ADVANCED):

JUST LIKE HEAVEN: A decent romantic comedy starring Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo, about a guy (Ruffalo) who moves into an apartment that used to be owned to a woman (Witherspoon) before she was in a car accident. Together, they try and figure out who she is, since all they know is she?s a ghost. It has an interesting story, and it?s got some really funny parts.

ZATHURA: It?s JUMANJI, in space. A pretty fun hour and half ride about a two kids who play Zathura, a game they found in the basement of their house. They end up in space, and deal with Asteroid showers, Zorgons (evil lizards), gravity fields, black wholes and good stuff like that. Jon Favreau directed the film, and I saw him like five times at the theatere. It was pretty sweet. He?s really big too. I knew he got kind of fat, but he?s also really tall.