Gilbert O'Sullivan - Live In Tokyo (DVD)

Advantages: A Beautiful Moving Film
Disadvantages: None

...What's Eating Gilbert Grape, is a story of the title character who looks after his mother, brother and two sisters in the home that their father built just before he was 'hung out to dry' 17 years earlier in Endora, Iowa, 'where nothing ever much happens and nothing will.' Mama (Darlene Cates) used to be the 'prettiest gal in these parts' but is now a 600lb mountain of a woman and who hasn't stepped out of the front door for at least seven years and whose oversized proportions play havoc with the infrastructure of the house they still live in. Gilbert's (Johnny Depp) younger brother Arnie (Leonardo Di Caprio) is mentally handicapped and was never expected to survive much beyond childhood, and may not much longer. In fact, it could be any day now. As Gilbert sums it up in one line, 'Sometimes you want him to live. And sometimes you... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Well acted, keeps you engaged throughout
Disadvantages: None

...Living In Oblivion is a low budget independent film written and directed by Tom DiCillo and starring Steve Buscemi and Dermot Mulroney. Sure, these aren't A-list stars, but that lends itself to the story. If it was a film about the making of a film and you had George Clooney and Brad Pitt pretending to be small time actors you wouldn't believe it. That's why it was better to use less well known actors, it pulls you more into the story. The film takes place during one day on set of a low budget movie, and documents all the problems that the director, Nick (Buscemi), and everyone else can encounter, from equipment malfunctioning to office politics to actors forgetting their lines. It's almost like a documentary, it is very realistic and gives you the complete story as to what it's like trying to get a film made. There are a few... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Characters, Story.
Disadvantages: A little slow to begin with.

..., and finds that he has very little time for himself; the only satisfaction he gets is from the affair he is having with a married woman (Mary Steenburgen). After what feels like a slow-moving first hour, a young woman named Becky (Juliette Lewis) arrives on the scene. This is billed as the moment that will "turn Gilbert's life around", but it's actually a lot more subtle than that. Lewis, undoubtedly, is a beautiful woman, but she is styled in such a way that her character doesn't appear as some kind of eternal fantasy that we'd imagine being sent down from the heavens. Her hair is cut short, her clothes are baggy, and she lives in a trailer with her Mother ("The whole external beauty thing, you know?. It doesn't last. You know, so what? It's what you do that really matters," she says). The rare moments that Gilbert and Becky spend together are... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful