Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

capone666 PleasantvilleThe worst part about being a 1950s housewife was making your bed. Then making your husbands.Mind you, the post-war married couple in this dramedy would enjoy having separate bunks.During a TV marathon of the black-and-white sitcom Pleasantville, high school loser David (Tobey Maguire) and his much cooler twin sister Jennifer (Reese Witherspoon) are magically transported from the free-spirited 1990s to the uptight 1950s.As the siblings navigate their black-and-white surroundings their liberated attitude affects everyone in town, including their sexually repressed parents (Joan Allen, William H. Macy). But as coitus turns townsfolk Technicolor, it begets segregation.A humorous yet powerful allegory on race relations and sexual orientation, this underrated box-office flop from 1998 manages to deliver an array of impactful social messages without getting lost in the science or absurdity of its high concept premise. Incidentally, living inside of a 1950s TV set would give you radiation poisoning. Yellow Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca

Hitchcoc I enjoyed the creativity of this film. It gives us a look at what a shallow view of the world the "Good Old Days" is. There were no good old days. They were good days for people whose lives were financially stable or who did not face prejudice or benefited from being viewed correctly by the populace. When the kids pass into Pleasantville, they come upon a TV world of 50's and 60's sitcoms where everything is vanilla (actually black and white). As the kids begin to sow their oats and the fabrics of this fantasy world begins to buckle, people who rebel or move against the status quo start to become brightly colored. When teen sex and other acts of rebellion begin to be embraced, there is more color. This is a provocative film. What I take issue with is something like a religion taking over a society to show it what is right. While those in the religious group think that what they are doing to other is correct, who are they to know? Some of the things that are taken in by the people of Pleasantville could be seen as anathema to their world and instead of an improvement, they may be destructive. However, this is not the total message because once back in the "real" contemporary world, there is still pain and sadness from the very issues that were foisted on the imaginary town.

GusF The first film directed by Gary Ross, this is an absolutely wonderful and thought-provoking parable on society. It concerns a pair of teenage twins who are transported into the universe of a 1950s sitcom "Pleasantville", a seemingly idyllic place where firemen only save cats from trees because there are no fires, everyone is terribly wholesome and sweet and the closest thing to dramatic conflict is a date being cancelled because of an unfortunate case of the measles. However, it soon becomes clear that there is a dark underbelly to this world as conformity is stressed above all else and people, women in particular, are expected to know their place.The first rate script by Ross, whose previous credits include classic films such as "Big" and "Dave", is a powerful statement on the problems which existed in 1950s America but are certainly not exclusive to that time or place. It nicely deconstructs the dippy world inhabited by characters of that era's sitcoms such as "Leave It to Beaver" or "Father Knows Best", which (almost) completely ignored the social issues of the time as well as the existence of people who weren't white and middle class. In 234 episodes of the former, only one black character appeared and she was a maid. The special effects were innovative for their time and never look less than brilliant. It was shot entirely in colour and decolourised where appropriate, in stark contrast to the events of the film itself. The black and white scenes look beautiful and really help to sell the idea that this is an initially black and white world as opposed to merely a partially black and white film.Tobey Maguire gives a great performance as David, a pretty nerdy high school boy who has encyclopedic knowledge of "Pleasantville". Prior to entering it, he loves the world of "Pleasantville" as nothing bad ever happens there and wishes that real life was like that. After he is transported there and assumes the identity of Bud Parker, he discovers that it is essentially a gilded cage where any form of individuality or artistic expression is discouraged. He becomes the champion of colour over black and white in Pleasantville and, in the process, learns to appreciate the real world. This is best illustrated when he returns to it at the end of the film and comforts his distraught mother, played very well in a great cameo by Jane Kaczmarek, instead of simply ignoring her as he did earlier.Reese Witherspoon is excellent as his twin sister Jennifer, a liberated girl of the 1990s who finds the sweaters and poodle skirts - and what they represent - to be more than a little oppressive. Rather than merely holding hands with Skip Martin, she introduces him and Pleasantville to sex, something which starts the ball rolling on the colour conversion. Over the course of the film, Jennifer grows significantly as a character and abandons her wild lifestyle in favour of her education. She takes the decision to remain in Pleasantville's universe to go to college but, considering that time seemingly moves at a different rate, she presumably won't be gone too long, comparatively speaking.The best performance in the film comes from Joan Allen as Betty Parker. She is introduced as the perfect 1950s sitcom wife and mother who is always impeccably dressed and has dinner on the table every night at six without fail. As the changes caused by David and Jennifer begin to ripple through Pleasantville, however, she realises that there is nothing more to her life than that. Like many real women in the 1950s, she wants something more. As such, she develops a sweet relationship with the soda shop owner Bill Johnson, who is played very effectively by Jeff Daniels. Bill is likewise faced with an existential crisis when it occurs to him that his sole function in life is to make hamburgers and serve sodas. Encouraged by David, he pursues his interest in art and paints a surrealist mural in full colour in defiance of the oppressive Chamber of Commerce. When Betty becomes "coloured," this is a great scene in which David helps her to use her make-up to "pass" as black and white, a wonderful allegory for the practice of light skinned African-Americans attempting to pass for white. The scene in which she is harassed by several black and white boys for being "coloured" is an even more effective allegory.J.T. Walsh, who sadly died before the film was released, was very well cast as the McCarthy-esque Pleasantville mayor Big Bob, who wants everything to remain the same. He claims that it is a "question of values," the excuse typically used by "traditionalists" who find themselves on the wrong side of progress and, eventually, history. In a very strong performance by William H. Macy, George Parker represents the more benign face of conformity who realises the error of his ways in the end. It also features great supporting performances by Marley Shelton as Margaret Henderson, Don Knotts as the mysterious TV repairman and Paul Walker as Skip Martin, who is not as nice as he first appears.Overall, this is an absolutely brilliant film which has some very interesting things to say about the danger of idealising the past. If the entire film had been a parody of the unreality of saccharine sweet sitcom conventions in the style of the "Brady Bunch" films, it would have still been a great film as the comic writing in these scenes is very sharp but, to his credit, Ross took it to the next level. This is one of my favourite films of the 1990s. Just sublime.

NateWatchesCoolMovies Gary Ross's Pleasantville is one of the most heartfelt, creative, thought provoking dramedies I've seen in a while. I was floored by its benign, lighthearted first third, which gives way to some unexpectedly deep social commentary, brought to life bu truly remarkable performances, and stunning, storybook cinematography that looks like Sin City had a baby with Rumble Fish. Tobey Maguire, an actor I usually can't stand, is nicely low key, while his sister Reese Witherspoon gets the peppy, in your face persona. Following a terse bit of sibling rivalry, a strange TV repairman shows up, bestowing on them an ancient looking replacement remote. Before they can ask where he even came from, they are magically whisked from their 1990's living room right into TV land, specifically a cheery black and white 1950's sitcom called Pleasentville. They find themselves in a gosh golly, apple pie, white picket fence realm of perky, smiling housewives, rampant celibacy (the characters in this town are essentially shells of humans, and have no idea what sex is...yet;). The naive, mentally stunted townsfolk function at the truncated level that the show's writing is allowed, resulting in strangely robotic, stepford wives like versions of people. That all changes however, when Witherspoon introduces a highschool hunk (Paul Walker, hilarious) to the ol' hanky panky. From there on in the townspeople gradually discover books, music, art, and as such start to see the world in vibrant colors, and become colored themselves. It's a genius idea for a film that's executed perfectly, with some scenarios that really pay off, making you feel and think. J.T. Walsh, always fantastic, plays the town's fearful skeptic of a mayor. William H. Macy nails the father role perfectly (Where's my dinner?!), Joan Allen gives the best work I've ever seen her do, giving force and gentle feeling to the wife who starts exploring herself, and the world around her. The crown jewel acting wise though is Jeff Daniels, as an aloof diner owner who discovers an affinity for the arts. He brings such a warmth and budding humanity to the role. There's subtext relating to Mccarthy-ism, and not letting the powers that be tell how you what to like, how to feel or what to do. There's a lot to enjoy in this package, and indeed all aspects are done so well its a wonder this one hasn't retained acclaim over the years.