My February 2004 Viewings

Recommended DVDs marked with *. Underlined titles are links to review.

* Unstrung Heroes 02/25/04 (B)
Best in Show 02/25/04 (C)
* The Man Who Wasn't There 02/23/04 (B)
* In the Bedroom 02/19/04 (B)
* Girl, Interrupted 02/19/04 (B)
Lost in Translation 02/13/04 (C)
* Beat the Devil 02/12/04 (B)
That Uncertain Feeling 02/12/04
Playing Mona Lisa 02/11/04
* Normal 02/06/04 (A)
Varian's War 02/03/04 (B-)
Barney Miller 1:1 02/03/04 (C)

12/23/23

Best in Show (2000)

Adventures at dog shows.

Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Michael McKean, Parker Posey, Fred Willard, Ed Begley Jr., Bob Balaban.

Directed by Christopher Guest

My personal rating: C

Girl, Interrupted (1999)

"Maybe I was just crazy. Maybe it was the 60's. Or maybe I was just a girl...interrupted."

While everyone else in her 1967 senior class is heading to college, neurotic Susanna (Wynona Rider) is on her way to a private mental hospital after chasing a bottle of aspirin with a bottle of vodka.

Her "dorm" for the next year is populated with an assortment of young womenwho are deeply disturbed. Nurse Val (Whoopi Goldberg) tells Susanna she is "a lazy, self-indulgent little girl who is driving yourself crazy" and cautions her "Do not dropy our anchor here" as some of the other girls have.

The assortment of girls include roommate Georgina (Clea DuVall) who is obsessed with Dorothy's Oz, the burn-scarred Polly (Elisabeth Moss) whose emotional scars are much deeper and more profound, the deeply disturbed Daisy (Brittany Murphy) who was sexually abused by her father and obsesses over food.

The most potent, however, is the psychotic, sociopathic Lisa (Angelina Jolie) -- a charismatic and incorrigible rebel who habitually escapes from the facility, is found, returned and endures progressively stronger "treatment" including electroshock.

I was annoyed by some of the melodramatic scenes where Lisa leads the girls on clandestine forays into the bowels of the institutions and midnight raids on the psychiatrist's office to read their files, but I imagine it's all to show how much power a nutcase like Lisa can have over the more vulnerable girls.

It isn't until Susanna decides that she doesn't want to remain sentenced to this dorm of the doomed that she begins the long road to proving herself stable.

Joanna Kerns portrays Susannah's mother while Venessa Redgrave and Jeffrey Tambor play psychiatrists.

Based on the journals of Susanna Kaysen with screenplay and direction by James Mangold.

Rated R for strong language and content relating to drugs, sexuality and suicide.

My personal rating: B

Barney Miller 1:1 (TV Series)

Comedy series debutted in 1975 on ABC-TV.

Barney Miller heads up a squad at a police precinct in NYC.

Starring Hal Linden, Abe Vigoda, Gregory Sierra, Max Gail, Jack Soo, Ron Glass, Linda Lavin, Barbara Barrie, James Gregory.

This was one of my very favorite series of the 1970s, and while watching it again brought a few laughs, the show was really so dated that it wasn't as enjoyable as I'd thought it would be. For that reason, one DVD with a couple of episodes was enough for me.

My personal rating: C