Kick-Ass 2 (4½ Stars)

How does the sequel compare with the original film?

Kick-Ass 2 is a sequel that tries to punch harder, shout louder and shock faster than the first film; the results are mixed but often fascinating. It retains the scrappy energy that made the original a cult favourite, yet it shifts the tone in ways that highlight both its ambition and its limits.

What is better

The sequel expands the world in a way that feels genuinely fun. The first film revolved mostly around Kick-Ass, Big Daddy and Hit Girl, but Kick-Ass 2 fills the city with amateur heroes whose costumes look like they were bought at a garage sale. This broader roster gives the film a looser, almost comic book sprawl. Justice Forever is packed with oddballs, and their presence adds texture that the first film never tried to offer.

Chloë Grace Moretz remains the standout. Her development is deeper here; Hit-Girl wrestles with adolescence, identity and the idea of normal life. The first film leaned heavily on the shock value of a small girl dropping bodies. The sequel gives her emotional stakes that feel credible. Her arc is the most grounded and the most compelling.

There is also a sharper focus on consequences. The violence still borders on cartoonish, yet the film at least acknowledges that vigilantism has fallout. That moral shading gives the sequel a slightly more mature edge.

What is worse

The tonal balance is far less steady. The first film had a cheeky sincerity that blended parody with heartfelt origin story. Kick-Ass 2 often stumbles between dark brutality and goofy slapstick. Scenes that aim for grim realism sit beside jokes that feel imported from a different movie. The lack of control makes the emotional beats less effective.

The villain upgrade does not fully land either. Christopher Mintz-Plasse throws himself into the role, yet the Motherfucker feels more like a running gag than a genuine threat. The film tries to push him toward menace but never quite finds the tone that would make him memorable.

The action is bigger but not always better. Some set pieces are entertaining, but the kinetic style of the first film is missing. Matthew Vaughn’s original direction had a clean rhythm. Jeff Wadlow goes for scale over precision.

Verdict

Kick-Ass 2 is rougher, broader and more uneven than the first film. It offers a richer world and a stronger emotional arc for Hit-Girl, yet it loses some of the tightness and tonal clarity that made the original work. It is a sequel with personality and moments of charm; it just punches in too many directions at once.

Success Rate:  + 0.2

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How the Grinch stole Christmas (4 Stars)

My grandson Oliver wanted to sit with me to watch "Rare Exports", but his mother dragged him out of my room because its age rating is 16. To be honest, I think she was wrong. In Germany the age ratings are recommendations, not legally binding. Even cinemas have the freedom to let younger people in, if they consider the rating to be incorrect, although they rarely do so. The only case I've experienced in my local cinema was the opposite direction. "Barbie" had an age rating of 6, but my cinema decided not to admit anyone under 12. That was the correct choice, in my opinion. "Barbie" is rated 12 in America, England and most other countries. Germany wasn't quite alone in its low rating. In France the film is rated 0.

When I watch a film with Oliver that I've seen before, I'm the person best qualified to decide if it's suitable for him. "Rare Exports" has very limited violence, so it wouldn't have harmed him at his current age of eight years old. He watches worse things on YouTube every day. His mother (my daughter) is incapable of making decisions like that. She just looks at the age rating on the disc and sticks to it. She should trust my judgement.

I suggested "How the Grinch stole Christmas" because I knew it wouldn't be a problem for her. The age rating is 6. It was the first film I watched in the cinema after returning to England in 2000. I don't remember why I wanted to see it. I wasn't a Christmas fan, even then. At the time I wasn't even a Jim Carrey fan, but in retrospect I enjoyed it. The film is naively moving. The Grinch is a more complicated character than Ebenezer Scrooge. He's not just opposed to Christmas, he rejects society in general. He was an outcast as a child because he was born with green skin. Does that remind you of "Wicked"? Now he lives as a recluse high on the mountain outside Whoville. Everyone hates him, except for six-year-old Cindy Lou. She believes that everyone should be loved at Christmas, even the Grinch. We need more people like that in the world.

It's a beautiful film. Maybe not a film that I'd watch every year for Christmas, but I'll probably watch it again with my younger grandchildren.

Since moving out of my parents' home I've never had a Christmas tree, but if Santa Claus looked like this I'd have a tree every year. I'd even sing "Jingle Bells" for her.

Success Rate:  + 0.8

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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (5 Stars)

This is my last film of the year. It's one of the best films I know, in third place in my top 100 films list. I had another film in my list planned, but I changed my mind after hearing about the death of Tom Wilkinson yesterday. The cause of his death hasn't yet been named, but his family says that it was unexpected. A heart attack? Maybe.

The eulogies are already pouring in. They name his memorable films, usually starting with "The Full Monty". Most of them don't even mention "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". That's unfortunate, since it's his best film, but it's understandable, because he didn't play the main role. Or is it understandable? He only had a supporting role in "The Full Monty" as well.

I've written about "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" seven times, but I haven't included photos of him in any of the reviews. I'll make up for it now. It's a twisted love film between Joel Barish (Jim Carrie) and Clementine Kruczynski (Kate Winslet), but there's also a love story between Howard Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson) and Mary Svevo (Kirsten Dunst), most of it off screen.

Dr. Howard Mierzwiak has invented a machine that can selectively erase memories. He uses it to help people forget loved ones. He's had an affair with Mary that almost wrecked his marriage, so he used the machine to make her forget their affair. The procedure works, even though Mary still works in his practice as his assistant. What he didn't consider is that if she forgets that she was attracted to him she might fall in love with him a second time.

Is a one-way memory erasure enough? When she adoringly looks at him, how can he not be reminded of the hours of passion he shared in her arms?

It's a wonderful film, one of the best films I've ever watched. The trouble is that it's a complicated film. I remember seeing it the first time in the cinema in 2004. It took me about half an hour to understand what was happening, and it wasn't until I watched it again on DVD that I began to understand the subtleties. It's two stories being told at the same time, one in the correct order, the other in reverse chronology. These two stories interact with one another, making the film even more complicated. I could tell by my son Benjamin's reactions that he didn't understand the film. I'll have to watch it with him again.

Tom Wilkinson
5 February 1948 – 30 December 2023

Farewell to a grand actor. He's sadly missed. I'll have to watch some more of his films next week. Maybe even "The Full Monty".

Success Rate:  + 1.6

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The Truman Show (5 Stars)

I recently rebought "The Truman Show" on the recommendation of Jeff from the YouTube channel "Films At Home". He's someone whose opinion I respect when it comes to buying 4K discs. He said that the 4K release of "The Truman Show" is much better than anything that's been available until now. I can see what he means. The Blu-ray disc I've been watching until now isn't that bad, but it was made in the early days of Blu-ray, and there was room for improvement.

Today I watched the film paying close attention to the video quality. I didn't see much difference in the first ten minutes, but as the film progressed I was bowled over by the quality. It's the most impressive in the last 30 minutes. It's true that when I paused the film I could see occasional dirt specks on the picture, but what else can you expect from a film made with a film camera?

I've watched "The Truman Show" more often than any other film, more than 30 times. Is it possible to still take a new message? Today it hit me that the only way for Truman to discover the nature of the world around him is to overcome his fears. He's been afraid of water all his life, but he climbs into a boat and sails into the unknown. Can I do that? Am I capable of doing something I've never done before, instead of relaxing and accepting the world as it's presented to me? Probably not.

Success Rate:  + 2.4

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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (5 Stars)

Netflix Thursday #16

It's Thursday again? I asked that question when I watched my last film, but the answer is different this time. It really is Thursday. What a coincidence!

This is one of my favourite films, third in my top 100 list. I've watched and reviewed it a few times. In the past I've concentrated on the film's philosophical aspects. Today I'll apply it to myself.

In 2002 I married someone, a beautiful young woman called Nicola. It was my second marriage, and I expected things to be better the second time round. I was wrong. It was Hell. We had one year of happiness and three years of suffering. It was all about drugs. A year after the marriage one of Nicola's friends stayed with us for a few days. Her boyfriend, Alexis Thomas, was a drug dealer. He said that Nicola should try crack, just once, to see what it's like. When it comes to drugs there's no such thing as "just once". She was hooked immediately.

At first she enjoyed smoking crack. After a while she realised it was harmful to her, and she wanted to stop, but she couldn't. I felt it was my duty to help her, but I couldn't. Her setbacks became my setbacks. In late 2006 there was a turning point. One evening she rang Alexis to tell him she wanted to buy crack from him. I locked the doors, took away her key, and I said I wouldn't let him in. She threatened to call the police and tell them I'd hit her. I thought she was bluffing, but she really did it. When the police came she was lying on the floor in the living room, saying she was too injured to get up after I'd been beating her.

The police arrested me. I was put in a cell briefly, but then they let me out and said that it was obvious from the start that I hadn't hit her. There were no bruises, and the telephone cable (landline) was too short for her to reach from her position lying on the floor. They'd only arrested me to keep the peace. The police station was too far away from my home, so I had to stay until morning. I sat playing chess with a police officer all night. When I got home Alexis had already left, but she was high on crack.

That incident scared me. If it happened again, the police might believe her next time. I didn't want a criminal record, so I gave up trying to help her and planned to leave her as soon as possible.

That brings me to the film. Would I want to forget Nicola? Would I want to erase her from my memory? (I'm assuming that my readers have seen the film and know what I'm talking about). My answer is a clear No. We had some beautiful times together, times which I never want to forget. Admittedly, the good times were few, but I'd like to hold on to them.

What about the bad times? There were many, many bad incidents in our marriage. The one I named above wasn't even the worst, even though it was the one that persuaded me to leave her. Some of my friends know more details, and they're shocked. Nicola made me suffer terribly, and I consider marrying her to be the worst mistake of my life. But do I want to forget what happened? In a way I do. They were things that no man should have to experience. On the other hand, remembering these experiences protects me from similar mistakes in the future. If I'd erased Nicola from my memory, I might have met her again a year later and got into a relationship with her again. Or maybe not. As far as I know, she's never overcome her addiction to crack. I would never have fallen in love with a drug addict. But I still like to remember the bad times as a warning. I try not to think about them. I push the memories into the back of my mind, but they're still there if I need to remember.

In 2012 my friend Brian Farmer was murdered. Four suspects were arrested, three men and a woman, but they weren't named until the trial began. One of my friends said to me, "I think the woman is Nicola". As it turned out, it wasn't her, but it shows how bad her reputation was.

In the film Mary Svevo (Kirsten Dunst) begins as a strong supporter of the memory erasure technique, and she ends up rejecting it. She was right to change her mind.

Man on the Moon (5 Stars)

True Stories #30

Name: Andy Kaufman

Lived: 17 January 1949 – 16 May 1984

Film dates: 1955 to 1985 (a year after death), mostly 1971 to 1985

Film made in 1999

If you want a full review of this film, please check the post I wrote two years ago. Today I'll just add a few thoughts.

The film begins with the eccentricity that characterised Andy Kaufman. Jim Carrey walks onto a black screen and introduces the film.

"Hello. I am Andy, and I would like to thank you for coming to my movie. I wish it was better, you know, but it is so stupid! It's terrible! I do not even like it. All of the most important things in my life are changed around and mixed up for dramatic purposes. So, I decided to cut out all of the baloney! Now the movie is much shorter. In fact, this is the end of the movie. Thank you very much".

Then the final credits roll, while Jim stands and watches them. When they're finished the screen goes black for 14 seconds.

Jim cautiously peeks into the screen from the left, and addresses the audience again.

"Wow, you're still here! Okay! I hope you're not upset. I did that to get rid of those folks who just wouldn't understand me and don't even want to try. Actually, the movie is really great. It's just filled with colourful characters, like the one I just did and the one I'm doing now. And so the story begins".

The credits end at 3:40, so that means the rest of the film is an after credits sequence that lasts 109 minutes. This must be the longest ever after credits scene.

Jerry Lawler plays himself in the film. This is ironic, because he's acting out the events that he performed with the real Andy Kaufman 15 years previously. It must have been emotional for Jerry, because he used to be close friends with Andy.

Nobody but Andy Kaufman would have turned his own funeral into an entertainment show. After his death from cancer at 35, his body lay in an open coffin while a recently recorded video encouraged the people in the church to sing and be happy.

Before his death, Andy encouraged his closest friends to spread rumours that his death was a hoax. His friend Bob and his girlfriend Lynne wrote a book, "Andy Kaufman: The Truth, Finally", in which they claimed that Andy was in hiding and would return 30 years after his death. Sadly, he didn't return.

Success Rate:  - 1.1

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I'm happy that there's renewed interest in this magnificent film. I bought it on DVD in 2005, but the DVD has been out of print for years. Later this month it will finally be released on Blu-ray for the first time.

I love you, Phillip Morris (4 Stars)

True Stories #17

Name: Steven Russell

Lived: 14 September 1957 – still alive

Film dates: 1966 to 1998, mostly 1990 to 1998

Film made in 2010

Jim Carrey says that it doesn't feel right to play someone in a film who's still alive. If you look at the previous 16 films in my true stories marathon, you'll see that five of them were about people living when the film was made, so it's not so unusual.

Steven Russell supposedly has an IQ of 163. Having a high IQ doesn't necessarily mean you'll have great success in life, as I know from my own experience, but it usually results in the person having extraordinary abilities. In Steven's case, he set a record for escaping from prison four times, including two escapes from maximum security prisons. One of his escapes was by faking his own death. You need to be a genius to do something like that.

Like many geniuses, his high IQ wasn't obvious to those around him. He was a policeman, and he played piano in church. He was happily married, and a good Christian. There was only one dark secret in his life: he was having a gay relationship. That must have been easy to hide, because as a policeman he could always make excuses about being away from home at all hours.

Eventually Steve comes out of the closet. He confesses everything to his wife and leaves her to live with his boyfriend Jimmy in Miami. What I find strange is that his Christian wife so easily accepted his homosexuality. She never divorced him. Maybe it's because divorce was against her Christian beliefs. Nevertheless, she doesn't understand his homosexuality. After Steve's first arrest for fraud she asks a policeman whether homosexuality and stealing go together.

Steven Russell was a con man. That's something he excelled at. Despite never having gone to college, he read the law books in the prison library and was able to pretend to be a lawyer. Is it usual for prison libraries to have so many law books?

It's in the library that Steven Russell met Phillip Morris, who was presumably interested in other books. It's love at first sight. Phillip was in prison for a minor offence, not returning a rental car. After his release Steven had to escape to be with him.

Phillip Morris was Steven Russell's downfall. Steven escaped repeatedly, but the police could easily arrest him, because they knew he was heading straight to Phillip. If Steven hadn't been in love he'd still be living happily in anonymity somewhere.

After four escapes, the prisons aren't taking any chances. He's been sentenced to life imprisonment (to be precise, 144 years), and he has to spend 23 hours a day in his cell. In his one hour outside his cell he's closely observed. Nobody knows what sort of tricks he'd play next.

My only criticism of the film is that it's too short. The film rushes through his escapes, only showing his faked death in detail. I would have liked to see more.

I'm annoyed by the packaging of the UK Blu-ray. The front cover quotes magazines that call the film "Outrageously funny" and "Hilarious". Did those idiots even bother to watch the film? It's not a comedy. It's a love story. Just because Jim Carrey began his career as a comedian, it doesn't mean that all his films have to be funny.

Success Rate:  - 0.4

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The Truman Show (5 Stars)

I was shocked to hear that my son Benjamin had never watched "The Truman Show", so I couldn't push the disc into my Blu-ray player fast enough. Before it started I told him that it was the film I've watched more often than any other. I wish I knew exactly how often. In the early 2000's I didn't keep track of my viewing. That didn't change until September 2010. All I know, from my memories, is that I recorded "The Truman Show" on videotape when it was broadcast on television, and it fascinated me so much that I watched it at least twice a week for several months.

When the film started my son asked me if it was a true story. It was difficult to answer the question. It's a Yes or a No, depending on how the question is interpreted. When the film begins, Christof speaks to the camera and tells us that everything is true. Are we considering the film or the television show within the film, both of which are called "The Truman Show"? I avoided giving Benjamin an answer and told him to watch the film.

"The Truman Show" (the film) is about a man searching to find the meaning of life, or more correctly the meaning of the world in which he lives. He has the impression that the whole world revolves around him. In a certain way, everyone has the same feeling. A typical person has contact with a limited area. A child sees his house, his family, his school and his friends. As he gets older he meets more people, and he goes to work, where he meets more people. Further contacts are defined by his own interests. He might want to go to church, to a football club or anything else. Do you see what I'm getting at? He's in a restricted world. A normal person like me doesn't suddenly find himself in the White House or in Moscow's Red Square. I have a small world around me. Everything else is only seen second hand. I see far off places on the television or in films. Do they really exist? Or are they just pictures put there for my sake, to give my miniature world a context?

Of course, a person who digs too deep into these thoughts might be accused of having a psychosis. Getting back to the film, Truman Burbank (played by Jim Carrey in his first serious role), grows up accepting the world as he sees it. Then several things happen that make him suspect the world around him is fake. His father died in front of his eyes when he was a boy, but now he returns, alive and well. Truman's attempt to speak to his father is blocked by dozens of men who bundle him into a bus and drive him away. Truman sees a big conspiracy around himself. He thinks that everyone is playing a big show for his sake. As the film continues, we find that it's true. Truman Burbank is unwittingly the star of a television show called "The Truman Show". Everyone around him is in on the secret. Only Truman isn't.

"The Truman Show" is also a prison with thousands of guards. Everyone is working to keep Truman where he is and prevent him escaping. In this respect the film is terrifying.

Ed Harris plays Christof in the greatest role of his career. Christof is the creator of "The Truman Show" (the television show). Christof is all powerful. Christof is God, as far as Truman is concerned. Christof's voice booms down from the sky. Truman challenges him. He denies God's right to determine his life.

When the film was over, Benjamin said that it's one of the best films he's ever seen. I'm glad that he enjoyed it. He has good taste.

Success Rate:  + 2.4

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Cable Guy (4 Stars)

I haven't watched "Cable Guy" for about 20 years. I have no idea why not. I could still remember most of the details about it. That's the mark of a good film.

Steven Kovacs has recently split up with his girlfriend and has moved into his own apartment. A man comes to install his cable television. He introduces himself as Chip Douglas, but he changes his name several times in the film, so I'll just call him the Cable Guy. The Cable Guy offers Steven friendship, which Steven needs at this time. They meet a few times in the next few days, but Steven finds the Cable Guy too clingy. When Steven tries to break off the friendship, the Cable Guy turns against him and gets him thrown into jail. Don't mess with the Cable Guy!

The film has comical moments, mostly because of Jim Carrey's madcap humour, but it's difficult to laugh. The Cable Guy is very sinister. The comical way he acts in the film is due to his insecurity. In turn, his insecurity has turned him into a stalker.

The film has a message, but it's just added in between the cracks. People watch too much television. There are other things to do, like reading books or talking to your family. I don't watch television as such, but I watch a lot of films. Do I watch too many films? Probably. None of my friends watch as many films as me, although a few of my friends come close. I do read books, but it's a lesser activity. Maybe one book in two weeks, depending on its length. In the same time I watch 15 to 20 films. I talk to family members, but that's not something I can quantify. Some days it's a little, some days it's a lot. What other hobbies do I have? I listen to music. Lately I've been listening to the Stranglers a lot, as my regular readers must have noticed. I also listen to Klaus Schulze and Black Sabbath. I like listening to whole albums, not random tracks. That's the way music ought to be enjoyed.

But, getting back to "Cable Guy", it's a good film. It has an uneasy feeling to it, but that's deliberate. I've read that it's considered a cult film. I've never understood what makes a film qualify as a cult film. I just know that it's one of Jim Carrey's early films that a lot of people have forgotten. I haven't.

Charles Napier has a small role as a policeman. I always sigh when I see him in a film. I consider him to be the most underrated actor of the last 50 years. He should have been a big Hollywood star, but he was stuck in small roles up until his death in 2011. That's tragic. What a waste of such great talent!

Success Rate:  + 0.2

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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (5 Stars)

Dancer's Top Films #3

Today is the 11th of September. The day is most commonly known as 9/11, based on the (illogical) American order of Month-Day-Year. Most people are talking about the event that took place 20 years ago today. I acknowledge it, but I prefer not to dwell on bad things in the past. I want to concentrate on positive things, such as films. I posted something about the 9/11 attack on the 10th anniversary, but I deleted the post a few months later because I was getting abusive anonymous comments. It's one of the few blog posts that I've ever deleted.

I don't know how well known this film is among my younger readers. It was a box office success when it was released in 2004, but nowadays it's rarely shown on television. That's a question I'd like to ask any of my readers under 30: have you seen this film? Leave your answer in the comments box.

The name is quite a mouthful, unusually long for a film title. The longest title in my personal collection is "The Incredibly Strange Creatures who stopped living and became Mixed-Up Zombies". In Germany the title has been shortened to "Don't forget me". I admit that the German title is more relevant to the film's content, but the screenwriter Charlie Kaufman wanted a long title. It's claimed that his first title suggestion was 18 words long, but I haven't been able to verify this. The final title is a quote from Alexander Pope's poem "Eloisa to Abelard", spoken by Kirsten Dunst as Mary Svevo in the film:

How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each prayer accepted, and each wish resigned.

I prefer her other quote, by Friedrich Nietzsche, even though it contradicts the film's message:

Blessed are the forgetful, for they get the better even of their blunders.

At its core, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" is a love story, despite its underplayed science fiction background. If you've never seen the film before, you're in for a treat. The opening credits are delayed for almost 18 minutes. In the pre-credits sequence Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) spontaneously takes a day off work to spend a day on the beach in Montauk. It's Valentine's Day 2004. He's approached by Clementine Kruczynski (Kate Winslet), who blatantly forces herself on him. She talks to him in the train and doesn't even stop when he tells her he would rather be left alone. That evening she invites him home for a drink and leans against him romantically. She says that they should get married.

Stop!

If that happened to me I'd think that I'm dealing with a mentally deranged person. I'd run as fast as I can.

It's true that Clementine is eccentric, but she's far from deranged. The story unfolds after the credits.

The film is an emotional roller coaster. It's best known for its surreal special effects, but concentrate on the tragic young couple. All relationships have problems, some more than others. Walking away and forgetting your partner is the coward's way out. Love will find a way.

Clementine believes in love. It's written on her shirt. I've been unable to identify the shirt, because the text is hidden beneath her breasts. Some people claim it's "Love is a magic carpet ride", but the picture doesn't match that shirt.

Obviously. Does anyone have the right answer? Once more: use the comments box!

Success Rate:  + 1.6

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Sonic the Hedgehog (4½ Stars)

Amazon Friday #12

Yes, I know it's Sunday. You don't have to remind me. I missed my Amazon Friday film two days ago, so I'm catching up now. The reason is simple. My son Benjamin was visiting me. He's also a member of Amazon Prime, so when he visits me he wants to watch one of my many films on Blu-ray. I picked "Horsemen of the Apocalypse" for him. I'd already selected "Sonic the Hedgehog" for Friday, so I'm watching it today. Better late than never. Isn't that what they say?

This is a comedy caper based on a video game. A blue hedgehog called Sonic flees from enemies on his homeworld and hides on Earth; specifically, he hides in Green Hills, Montana. He avoids detection for ten years, until one evening he accidentally creates an electromagnetic pulse while playing baseball with himself. There's a power outage in the whole of the Pacific North West region. The government calls for the eccentric scientist Dr. Robotnik to find the cause.

This is a wonderful film that kept me laughing from beginning to end. Jim Carrey's portrayal of Dr. Robotnik annoyed me at first, but I got used to it as the film progressed. I have to compare this film with "Godzilla vs Kong", which I watched in the cinema yesterday. The plot is just as infeasible, but in the context of a comedy it's acceptable. Despite being a comedy, all the main characters are fully developed. This is how a film should be made.

Success Rate:  + 1.8

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The Truman Show (5 Stars)

Dancer's Top Films #29

This is the film I've watched more often than any other. I can't say exactly how often. At least 30 times, maybe 40 or even 50. I didn't see it in the cinema in 1998 when it was released, but I taped it when it was on television a year later. Something about it touched me, so for months I was watching it two or three times a week. It was one of the first films I bought on DVD after I bought my first DVD player in 2003. I still watched it fairly often in the first few years when I didn't have many films on DVD. This is only the fourth time I've watched it since September 2010. I've binged out now, if that's the right expression. I still like it a lot, but I can't watch it as often as I used to.

One problem with the film is that it's become dated. It doesn't fit in with modern technology. When it was made in 1998 it was feasible. The creation of Truman's world would be immensely expensive, but not impossible. It depends on the year. The date isn't named, but the film takes place in the 30th year of the Truman Show. It could have been constructed in the early 90's at the earliest, so the film would have to take place in the 2020's. It was the 2020's as they were imagined in 1998. But now things have changed. The Internet has completely changed our society. The Internet already existed in 1998 (I personally have had an Internet account since 1995), but it wasn't as important as it is now. It's difficult to say exactly when the Internet took over our society. I didn't notice, because I was one of the first users and blind to what was happening around me. At a guess, I'd say that the watershed was in the mid 2000's with the advent of social media. It was no longer just computer geeks who used the Internet, it was also semi-educated teenagers who wanted to chat with their friends.

That's the problem. The Truman Show is a world without Internet. If we watched a reality show without Internet today it would seem quaintly old-fashioned. But if the Internet were allowed in Truman's world he would soon discover the truth about his existence.

So, when we watch "The Truman Show" (the film) we have to think of it as taking place in 1998 or close to the turn of the millennium. If we put ourselves in that mindset we can enjoy the film, but that means that the Truman Show (the television show) must have begun round about 1970, which isn't feasible. Apart from that, the Truman Show is based on the new wave of reality TV shows, which didn't start until 1997 with "Big Brother", the first series that allowed viewers to observe people 24 hours a day.

Some reviewers make the mistake of calling "The Truman Show" a comedy. Even the film's Wikipedia page makes this mistake. Sometimes I doubt the intelligence of my fellow reviewers. I can understand the reason for their error, but it's still unforgivable. The film's lead actor is Jim Carrey. All his previous films were comedies, so they assume that this film is a comedy as well. Obviously they didn't watch the film closely. It's not a comedy at all. "The Truman Show" was Jim Carrey's first attempt at making a non-comedy film. There have been many more since. In the film Truman Burbank is an amusing character at times, but that doesn't make it a comedy. Jim Carrey's next film, "Man on the Moon", makes the distinction even clearer. The film is about a comedian (Andy Kaufman), but the film isn't funny at all.

"The Truman Show" is a psychological drama that borders on horror. The futuristic world justifies those who want to call it a science fiction film. It's a virtual world, an artificial reality that closely mimics our real world. The people in the film who watch the Truman Show can relate to it because they can see themselves living in Truman's place. He's a man doing a dull office job, barely making enough money to get by. He's married to a shallow, annoying wife. On the plus side, he has a good friend with whom he can drink beers and discuss the meaning of life.

I'm not blind to the film's religious messages. If you're a religious person you'll see your own religion in the film, whatever it is. I see Christianity, as the religion that I've grown up with. Truman is given the rare privilege of meeting his Creator. First he fights with his Creator, refusing to submit, even if it means his death. Finally he turns his back on his Creator.

"The Truman Show" is a film that will make you question the nature of reality. It's so deep and meaningful that it's nothing less than a disgrace that it didn't sweep the awards at the 1999 Academy Awards. It's a much better film than "Shakespeare in Love", which won the Best Film award.

Success Rate:  + 2.4

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Kick-Ass 2 (4½ Stars)

This is the sequel to "Kick-Ass". It was made in 2013, three years after the first film. At first I thought it was the equal of the first film, but after watching it a few times I'm of the opinion that it's not up to the same level. Not quite.

In the aftermath of the first film, Dave Lizewski has given up being Kick-Ass. Mindy Macready, who's been adopted by her late father's best friend Marcus, is keeping up her training as Hit Girl. New super-heroes are appearing in the city, inspired by Kick-Ass. As we all know, Hit Girl was the real hero while Kick-Ass just tagged along, but she kept a low profile and is hardly known.

It's not just super-heroes who are appearing in the city. There are also super-villains, led by Chris D'Amico. In the first film he called himself Red Mist, but now he's the Motherfucker. Samuel L. Jackson would be proud of him.

These are the heroes...

... and these are the villains. Somehow the villains have the cooler costumes.

It's only a small selection of the heroes and villains. As the film progresses more and more arrive, until there are at least a hundred of each. There are so many that we don't even find out their names. Was that really necessary? Maybe that's what happened in the original comic, but it doesn't look good in a film.

Dave loses his virginity in this film to Night Bitch, the girl in the centre of the heroes. Mindy has her first kiss... with Dave. Hey, what's Dave doing? Can't he stick to one girl?

Jim Carrey appears as Captain Stars and Stripes, a born again Christian who rushes into action with an unloaded gun. After making the film he distanced himself from it, saying it was too violent. Please, Jim, don't be so uptight. It's only a movie.

J. J. North doesn't appear in the film. That's a pity. A 60 foot super-heroine would have been a good addition to the team.

Success Rate:  + 0.2

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