Bill's Movie Reviews: Showtime

As usual, I am totally out-of-touch and out-of-sync with the American public because I actually enjoyed this movie. It’s definitely not "quality cinema," but it was mostly harmless fun. I’ll admit that some of the comedy was "insider" movie-business comedy, but much of the first half was hysterical. I was roaring. DeNiro played the perfect curmudgeon to Murphy’s jack-ass.

I’d even go as far as to say the movie started out very smart, talking about how the reality of police work is nothing like movie police work- there’s no jumping over roofs and cars flipping. But, before you know it, they abandoned playing it straight and went nuts. But even that was okay, because they were parodying their own statements about police work. The movie was "in on the joke." So long as any movie actually doesn’t demand that I believe its absurdity, I’ll go along with it, providing it knows when to end and doesn’t go on and on. This movie ended on time. It knew when to call it quits. It’s almost a shame that you have to consider that to be standard of quality, but any more the films go on for two and a half to three hours, and they don’t have the material to cover twenty minutes. People either forgot that "less is more" or the directors are just so arrogant and myopic that they think they’re delivering the next Sparticus.

Yes, this movie did get over-the-top and ridiculous, but for some reason, it was okay with me. I laughed with it and at it. I enjoyed the characters and the jokes even though the plot was contrived and too much. Maybe I enjoyed it because it makes so much fun of the Hollywood movies and TV that I so much detest: the ones that take themselves seriously when they are just a silly as this movie.

Although I enjoyed much of the film, I was distressed by some really sloppy technical work that I can’t help but think they just felt was okay to leave in because it would cost too much to fix. Remember when the big "thing" was when you saw the boom microphone lower into the shot? Well, this film makes an oversight like that look like child’s play. They get an F in craftsmanship: I am a film-maker so maybe it’s only me. But I witnessed cords lowering stuntmen when they were "flying through glass windows" and cords pulling cars when they were "out-of-control and crashing into each other." I could not believe my eyes when I watched for a good several seconds a dummy hanging out of a truck that had just crashed. Why is this okay? It’s sloppy. And every time it happened I was jerked out of the movie and made aware that I was watching a movie with mistakes in it. It’s lik hvng sevarel speling errors in something yu are reeding. They stick out and destroy the subject. I don’t know about your high school, but if I turned in something with even one spelling or punctuation error, I got the big fat F! Although I think that’s a little steep, it certainly is worth pointing out to these film-makers: If you’re going to make a film, be responsible and don’t get lazy. I want a $2.50 discount on my admission ticket for all of the scratches and poor workmanship. Thank you.



		Showtime As usual, I am totally out-of-touch and out-of-sync with the American public because I actually enjoyed this movie. It’s definitely not "quality cinema," but it was mostly harmless fun. I’ll admit that some of the comedy was "insider" movie-business comedy, but much of the first half was hysterical. I was roaring. DeNiro played the perfect curmudgeon to Murphy’s jack-ass. I’d even go as far as to say the movie started out very smart, talking about how the reality of police work is nothing like movie police work- there’s no jumping over roofs and cars flipping. But, before you know it, they abandoned playing it straight and went nuts. But even that was okay, because they were parodying their own statements about police work. The movie was "in on the joke." So long as any movie actually doesn’t demand that I believe its absurdity, I’ll go along with it, providing it knows when to end and doesn’t go on and on. This movie ended on time. It knew when to call it quits. It’s almost a shame that you have to consider that to be standard of quality, but any more the films go on for two and a half to three hours, and they don’t have the material to cover twenty minutes. People either forgot that "less is more" or the directors are just so arrogant and myopic that they think they’re delivering the next Sparticus. Yes, this movie did get over-the-top and ridiculous, but for some reason, it was okay with me. I laughed with it and at it. I enjoyed the characters and the jokes even though the plot was contrived and too much. Maybe I enjoyed it because it makes so much fun of the Hollywood movies and TV that I so much detest: the ones that take themselves seriously when they are just a silly as this movie. Although I enjoyed much of the film, I was distressed by some really sloppy technical work that I can’t help but think they just felt was okay to leave in because it would cost too much to fix. Remember when the big "thing" was when you saw the boom microphone lower into the shot? Well, this film makes an oversight like that look like child’s play. They get an F in craftsmanship: I am a film-maker so maybe it’s only me. But I witnessed cords lowering stuntmen when they were "flying through glass windows" and cords pulling cars when they were "out-of-control and crashing into each other." I could not believe my eyes when I watched for a good several seconds a dummy hanging out of a truck that had just crashed. Why is this okay? It’s sloppy. And every time it happened I was jerked out of the movie and made aware that I was watching a movie with mistakes in it. It’s lik hvng sevarel speling errors in something yu are reeding. They stick out and destroy the subject. I don’t know about your high school, but if I turned in something with even one spelling or punctuation error, I got the big fat F! Although I think that’s a little steep, it certainly is worth pointing out to these film-makers: If you’re going to make a film, be responsible and don’t get lazy. I want a $2.50 discount on my admission ticket for all of the scratches and poor workmanship. Thank you.