Rating: 
Summary: Dylan as Virgil in the inferno of postmodern society
Review: This is a an ambitious film. It is dense with metaphor and allusion throughout, and I was left feeling that I comprehended a mere fraction. Repeated viewings would doubtless be rewarding, and I plan to watch it again, preferably with folks who know more about the history of the blues. Dylan is the "simple" bard making his way through an apocalyptic society torn by dictatorship, corruption, and civil war -- a contemporary Hell. (The sets have a prescient and eerie resemblance to footage coming out of Iraq.) If Dylan is Virgil, it is by virtue of the songs themselves, poetic ballads that address the profound questions, yet whose significance, as Dylan comments at the end of the film, remains in the eyes of the beholder. Hearing the songs covered by other artists provides a fresh window on their brilliance, and there is a little girl who will break your heart with her georgeously-phrased a cappella version of "The Times They Are A-Changin'." There are also some spectacular Pynchon-like stream of consciousness monologues by a cadre of talented actors on various themes, often punctuated at the end by a cryptic/irreverent/oracular comment from Dylan. I was entertained by the juxtaposition of silly humor, which in some instances resonated with the more nuanced literary points, such as the leopard joke ("What did the monkey say to the leopard at the card game? I thought you were a cheetah.")which nevertheless evokes the leopard Dante encounters in the first canto of The Inferno. And unlike some other reviewers, I found Dylan's acting pretty natural, and got the sense he actually did lay it on the line with respect to his personal viewpoint. This is not to say the film is a total success -- but rather even where it veers into obscure digression and fails to engage the audience, it fails nobly by aspiring to be all that film can be.
Rating: 
Summary: "...And you can't com-pre-hend a word that I say..."
Review: If conservative talk show hosts wanted a target for the inanity of Hollywood's political beliefs, they'd do well to rent Bob Dylan's "Masked and Anonymous." It isn't particularly liberal - it's incoherent ramblings about a quasi-authoritarian future America, couched in some plot about a benefit concert that stars Dylan as folk singer Jack Fate, recently freed from jail and - get this - son of the authoritarian leader. Two concert promoters (John Goodman and Jessica Lange) bite their nails over Fate's appearance, Luke Wilson is the roadie to end all roadies, while a rock journalist (Jeff Bridges) is assigned to the story, a hitman (Mickey Rourke) intends to party poop, and so on and so on. The movie unfurls like a Dylan song, with roundabouts and twistaroos and "ironies" such as a freedom fighter switching sides to fight his own kind because they were too dogmatic. This character is played by Giovanni Ribisi, who eventually gets so ticked off during his monologue - the entire movie is monologues, most of which are given while Dylan sits silently next to a B-list cameo actor - that he jumps off a bus and deliberately gets shot. Uh huh. Like most Dylan songs, "Masked and Anonymous" is rich with everything but discipline - if it ekes every so slightly toward Making A Definitive Point it recedes, Dylan-style, back into a squint and shrug - and listening to a happy accident is great deal more fun than watching it. If The Truth is that everybody's hands are dirty, fine - use that as a line a dialogue and make the other 90 minutes about something else entirely. Of course, if Dylan and director Larry Charles were so enamored with authenticity, they wouldn't have credited themselves as Sergei Petrov and Rene Fontaine for writing the screenplay.
Rating:
Summary: Buy the music not the movie.
Review: I love dylan, he is a great song writer and I listen to his music more than I probably should. However the movie is a waste of talent. It seems like it was done by a bunch of college students with a case of beer and no thought given to story or sense. It is not a movie with a message other than some sort of wasted 1960s fantasy of us against the man. The shots of dylan and his band are great. If they had stopped there it would be worth it, however, like so much in entertainment it is pretentious and sophomoric. Buy a music CD instead.
Rating: 
Summary: My New Favorite Movie
Review: Many an intelectual would probably argue that this movie was not written with the liberal media or mainstream audience in mind and that is why it failed to connect with either. I would say it failed to connect because on some level it critizes both. Which is why its my new favorite movie. Anyone can write a script that almost everyone will like (i.e Titanic, Good Will Hunting etc.)... it takes a brave genius to write a script that only a select few will even understand. This is art imitating life and doing a dandy job... its not the "feel good movie of the year" and Siskel and Ebert did not give this movie "two thumbs up". The bottom line is folks would rather be entertained than think about their entertainment. If your not one of them, I highly recommend you see this movie. Bob Dylan may not be a great "actor"... but, for his part he really doesn't have to be. And with a cast like this... acting is really not an issue. Val Kilmer and Micky Rourke's performances (though brief) merit special attention. As for the plot... well, trying to take it all in with the first viewing is probably not possible. However, repeated viewings produce more pieces of the puzzle. You may never put it all together, but you will at some point have a partial or near complete picture. If your not the sharpest tool in the shed... good luck coming up with more than two or three pieces which don't appear to fit together... write another bad review.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth A Look
Review: This film is full of good ideas - sadly they never come together. However, there's enough interesting content to warrant a look if you're into Bob Dylan, experimental films, political satire or any of the lead actors (although they are sometimes left to flounder with little or no direction the writers & director are genrous to the leads, giving them plenty to do and lots of screen time). The frighteningly Bush-like speech by the new president (too complicated to explain) given at the climax makes this film worth watching.
Rating:
Summary: Love the music hate the movie
Review: Perhaps this will help some folks who are considering this movie. I understood the premise just fine, but the awful dialog and sincere but pathetic acting (John Goodman seems like a nice guy, but it doesn't mean you should watch all of his movies, and Jessica Lange was as surprising as a cardboard cutout) reminded me of one of those movies that disappears quickly only to re-emerge as a depressing Sunday matinee you find on cable TV while folding your laundry. Bad acting, stereotypes, tired concepts. Maybe we missed out, but we couldn't watch the whole thing.
Rating:
Summary: Put on your leopard skin pill box thinking cap
Review: What a great film. It has many layers, and I am sure will reveal even more with each seperate viewing.It looks to have a bibical under-tone running throughout as a theme. Is John Goodmans role supposed to be symbolic of organized religon? Is Dylan's Jack Fate supposed to be Dylan, or god (with a small "g")? Or both at differant times? Is Dylan being blamed for the Youth Revolution and any kharma it carried? Is Val Killmer supposed to be Noah, or Saint Francis, or a burned out Jim Morrison? I have watched it twice and still keep spotting more symbolism. It is huge fun for anyone who enjoys "reading into" music,literature, and artsy films.
This entire movie is much like Dylans more abstract songs, such as "Shelter From the storm." It could mean anything or anyone.
The entire cast was fantastic and convincing. Jessica Lang, Dylan, Jeff Bridges and so on. The films dialog/conversations are strange. One charector will ask or state one thing, and the other person's reply will not even really be germain to what was asked or stated originally. But it means something, and it's the viewers job to try and figure it out. Good luck, and have fun!
Rating:
Summary: What do you mean- you don't "get it"?
Review: One ticket- $6.50, One pop-corn- $4.75, One Coke- $4.00. Being the only person in the only theatre in town to run the movie... PRICELESS! People who don't get this film are likely the same ones who don't get his music. And that includes those who booed him when he went electric, laughed when he went country, scoffed when he went gospel, cried when he went un-gospel, booed when he went unplugged... Get it?
I loved the whole thing. Great soundtrack. Great cast. (Val Kilmer is hilarious). I don't claim to understand everything about it, I can't even understand him when he sings songs I've known for 40 years! If you missed it in the theatre, the DVD is out...GET IT!
Rating:
Summary: A Movie Filled With Powerful Symbolic Images
Review: The movie is sometimes hard to understand and that is why there has been so much negative views on it, but really the film plays out like a piece of literature. The story is of Jack Fate and his journey through playing in a benefit concert to help out the victims of the revolution. The revolution is fictitous one that is happening in a fictitous country, but the message is real. The story is addressing the powers of imperialism, the pities of human nature. Throughout the film the audience hears thunder in the background, and in the end a storm erupts. Physically and symbolically. Bob Dylan's performance is somewhat dry at points, but he is merely playing himself. You can not judge him as an actor because he is a singer, a songwriter. The music in the movie was done entirely by him, even the songs not sung by him were written by him and they all have a connecting theme, imperialism. There are many cameos in the film and to the average moviegoer they will seem pointless, but in fact each of these cameos are symbolic representations of human characteristics. If you notice in the credits each person is labled as either "the soldier", "the drunk", etc. That soldier and that drunk can represent every soldier and drunk in the world. The movie is so powerful and the audience will only see it if they look at it critically, not literally. To quote Penèlope Cruz in the movie "You have to look through the windshield, not at it".
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: This film will interest, move and fascinate anyone who can appreciate bob dylan's art. If you've come to some basic understanding of how to interpret the man's songs, this movie will tickle you in ways few other movies ever could. A lot of terrific actors playing a bunch of interesting characters. there are many many good things to say about this DVD. If you are a fairly open minded person you'll dig it.
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