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Ghost World

Ghost World

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An Ode to the Alienated
Review: Ghost World is a combination of themes put together flawlessly into one work. On one hand, it is a brilliant and innovative comedy in which any number of social norms are ruthlessly parodied and poked fun at. Enid and her few close friends have an eye for the hypocrisy and obsurdity that pervades our everyday lives. If you're a die hard cynic, this is a practical manual, just for you.

On the other hand, Ghost World operates as a serious study of a group of isolated and alienated teenagers who are sick of the culture around them. Sick of the ignorance, the commercialism and the rampant materialism it breeds. Enid is the voice of many culture critics. She finds a kind of soul mate in the form of Steve Buscemi, who brings yet another masterful performance to the screen. His character, Seymour, is so full of cynical anger that at first, he seems standoffish and arrogant. Later on however, you see him as the simple man that he is who just wants to be happy in his own way.

A great comedy and serious piece. What more could you ask for?

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: funny!
Review: a sweet and funny flick, worth a rental! donno bout buying.
unusual for indies, there's dd 5.1!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A beautifully executed
Review: This movie, while not doing full justice to Daniel Clowes' book, is terrific on its own. The characters are entirely believable-- those who say they're one-dimensional may be hung up on the fact that lifelike people are not as interesting as entirely fictitious ones.

Enid (Thora Birch) is the bitter high school graduate, a sarcastic, critical, and lonely outcast. She is by far one of the best-executed main characters I've seen because of one thing: she is not a heroine. She is a main character. While sypmathetic, she's not shown as beyond spite or disapproval. The viewer is given every right to hate her, and yet they come out not hating her ENTIRELY. This movie is a triumph of human fallibility. Every character is a weak person with flaws, and no attempt is made to excuse them. And yet without ever being told to, we forgive them.

There are other riveting characters, notably Seymour, but I'm not going to go over them, since everyone else has.

If everyone watched this movie and took away what I did, we all might be a bit nicer to each other.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Stupid movie
Review: It's about two anti-social high school girls who thinks almost everything and everyone are stupid.

The movie wasn't entertaining, wasn't funny, and had no character to sympathize with. Perhaps it was made for an anti-social audience.

It's not a sloppy film or badly made film. It's well made, just not my cup of tea.

The only reason I didn't give it 1 star is because it managed to keep my attention until the end of the movie. I guess I kept expecting something to happen which didn't.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Can't Get into It
Review: Although another reviewer suggested and compared this movie to other "quirky" comedies like Rushmore, I didn't like this movie at all but did like Rushmore very much. I have liked all 3 Wes Anderson flicks to date. But this movie just wasn't for me. I found it very slow. Very dry. Although Buscemi does a good job, I have liked him in other roles more. I think for most people this will be a real 'hit' or 'miss' movie. And for me its a 'miss'.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great movie, okay DVD
Review: For my money, this was the best movie of 2001, a wonderfully written and acted movie that touches on everything from coming of age to the increasing blandness of mainstream culture.

What keeps me from giving this DVD the full five stars is the so-so presentation. Where's the commentary from Terry Zwigoff and Dan Clowes? How about showing some of Clowes' original "Ghost World" comics stories? I'm glad they feature the full musical number from "Gumnaam," but the behind-the-scenes documentary just doesn't have enough information.

A movie this good deserves a more fully-packed DVD. But I've got no complaints about the movie itself, it's terrific.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best movie of 2001, hands down
Review: The most realistic and thoughtful movie I saw in 2001, and I saw a lot of good movies that year. I'm amazed this was made from a comic book!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Most surprising film of the year.
Review: Being a big fan of Daniel Clowe's book "Ghostworld", the last thing that I would want would be a sub-par book to movie adaption such as "Forrest Gump" or another "Bonfire of the Vanities", but with Ghostworld,I was pleasantly surprised.
Directed intelligently by Terry Zwigoff,and starring Thora Birch and Steve Buscemi,you can see that thought was put into this film, and they didn't pay millions for overpaid Hollywood actors and actresses. I was happy with basically every thing in the movie despite minor holes in the plot at the end.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "Ghost World" - refreshingly honest
Review: How many films do you watch where most of the dialogue seems real? Rare is the film that emulates our lives. "You Can Count On Me" was such a film. Add Terry Zweigoff's hilarious "Ghost World" to this genre.

"Sixteen Candles" and "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" are thought of fondly because in certain scenes, teenage angst is captured on screen convincingly and with sly humor. Those films, though entertaining, are more farce than a real slice of life, though. "Ghost World" slams you back to being a teenager from the first moment and rarely seems forced or made up.

"Ghost World" focuses on two graduating young ladies (Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson), and their utter contempt for all of the petty smarminess of High School. Their running commentary is laugh out loud hilarious, and it's as true as it is funny.

Birch's character meets a reclusive, nerdy record collector (Steve Buscemi), with whom she strikes up a friendship. This is a great role for Buscemi. Buscemi is often cast as the weird, sarcastic loser. But in "Ghost World", Zweigoff clearly saw that Buscemi could break away from that stereotype. Buscemi plays the character with a sensitive touch, and a lesser teenage film would have mocked this character rather than respected it.

Illeana Douglas also strikes the perfect note as Birch's summer school art teacher. Intelligent - but whacky - Douglas' character is very funny.

The end might not appeal to everyone, but its metaphorical nature is very appropriate given Birch's understandable indecisiveness.

Roger Ebert said "I wanted to hug this film." I couldn't agree more.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Phantom bus schedule
Review: This review replaces the one that seconded criticism of the last two scenes as being out of place and contrary to the narrative flow. That was my sentiment after viewing the film in the theater, when it first came out in 2001. However, recently I saw it again, this time on DVD, and to my great amazement discovered the true last scene. It was a short "cartoonish" version of Seymour's convenience store fight, but with a different outcome, that popped out few seconds after the final credits. I don't know if that scene was a part of the theatrical release, since by the time it should have appeared on the screen I already left the hall, as most other viewers did, but the scene does bring an unusual twist resulting in a more effective ending, especially when connected with a momentous expression on the face of Seymour's therapist as she closes the door behind him and his mother. The "new" ending was so unexpected, that I first thought something was wrong with the DVD. Anyway, in light of the above discovery, I must retract my prior little disapproval and give back one star I took away because of it. This film is a true gem, remarkable in its originality and warmth. Just don't rush for an exit or turn off your player when the final credits start rolling.


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