Max
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Movie Reviews of Max
Movie Review: Really dumb
Summary: 2 Stars
Some time ago British TV made the sitcom "Heil Honey I'm Home", an over-the-top Honeymooners/All in the Family send-off featuring lovebirds Hitler and Eva Braun living in a Lebensraum-challenged flat in suburban England, next door to their wacky neighbors the Goldensteins. Now imagine that someone took that show, deleted the laugh track and marketed it with some serious sounding tag line like "a disturbing look into the heart of Evil." That is basically what "Max" is. I mean, for crying out loud, is it even possible to think up a more ridiculous premise than a 30 year old Adolf Hitler becoming best buddies with a decadent, left-wing, upper-class Jewish performance artist? What's the next project for dramatic revisionism? Josef Stalin's early career in a lesbian ballet troupe?
Even if one could accept such a far-fetched conceit, the historical and stylistic blunders are too large to overlook. For some reason Hitler has a funny, foreign accent; Cusack does not. The movie leads us to believe that Hitler was converted to anti-Semitism by a puppet show produced by right-wing army officers, when in reality his pre-war experiences in Vienna had already turned him against the Jews. Most jarring of all is that this movie's Hitler is a diminutive, charmless, greasy nerd rather than a man who, as we know from history, was a charismatic, magnetic leader from earliest childhood.
The movie isn't totally laughable; the sets and costumes and general atmosphere achieve an admirable effect. However, the storyline is a bad joke and the characterization consists of the same stock caricature that Hollywood has been using since the war. It's a bore and a failure. Avoid.
Movie Review: Less than one star . . .
Summary: 1 Stars
John Cusack seems to have been delusional when he said that Hitler was portrayed in this film as a "human being," rather than as a "monster," a "cartoon caricature," or as "pure evil." That is exactly how Noah Taylor's character came across on the screen.
Let us assume that Hitler was the vilest, most sinister character in the history of mankind, the fact is that he conquered Europe in the 20th Century and might have conquered even more of the world if he had not succumbed to a Russian winter, just as Napoleon did.
There is no conqueror in history who was not ruthless, driven and tragically brutal, from Alexander the Great through the Caesars and Genghis Khan, and Napoleon, Stalin and Hitler. However, none of them would have risen to the pinnacle of power if they were anything like the bumbling idiot and creepy, inarticulate nobody depicted in this film.
Indeed, the Normandy invasion was dicey at best; and if we had not succeeded, the history of the world would have been far different than it is today. Clearly, an utter buffoon did not hold Western Civilization in the balance, much less the one portrayed in this film.
While Cusack is a fine actor, as his performance here reaffirms, surely he is better than lending his talents to being part of such a meaningless farce. The audience is kept waiting for Taylor's character to morph into a "conqueror," or even the faintest shadow of one, but it never happens, by design.
This movie was a waste of the money that it took to film the credits, leave aside everything else. Apparently it grossed $540,000 worldwide, yet it is surprising that it made a dime. Perhaps it would have been more believable if the Hitler character had been omitted altogether, and if the somewhat-interesting story of Cusack's "Max" had been expanded.
Finally, Taylor is a fine actor too, but this role does nothing positive for his career.
Movie Review: Dumb & dumber
Summary: 1 Stars
This sophomoric little movie is not to be believed. Where to start? It has its art history wrong. It has its politics wrong. It has its psychology wrong. And yet it repeatedly trumpets its silly message loudly in almost every line of dialog: All Hitler needed was a good therapist & some positive reinforcement. Unh-hunh.
It even has its idiom wrong. An intellectual German in 1918 saying "I gave at the office" (referring sarcastically to his amputated arm) or "Listen Hitler, the train has left the station" sounds more like John Cusack doing his Grifters shtick than a 1918 upper-middle class art dealer. And his character calling everything "kitsch" (as in "camp") - smacks of 1980s art or interior style mag language.
Noah Taylor, the actor playing young Hitler, looks like Iggy Pop doing David Bowie or vice versa. Or both channeling Klaus Kinski. (We get the message: AH was a monster.) In some scenes he sports a germanic accent. In others, such as Hitler's first public speech (one of the few incidents in this travesty to be based on a true event) he turns into a limey. Great.
The greatest travesty has to be Rothman telling Hitler that he must learn to put his feelings on canvas, like Max Ernst does. Good grief! Max Ernst's genius reduced to psychobabble.
I can't give this folly any more time. 0 out of 5 *s.
Movie Review: Possibly the worst film ever made...
Summary: 1 Stars
As a serious student of European history I found this joke of a movie a horrendous waste of time as well as a highly offensive. That anyone could take this farce seriously--or worse, actually think that facts played any role in its production-- just goes to show you how much ignorance is out there. I'm just wondering who, if anyone, was in charge of research on this flop. Apparently they either a.) were illiterate or b.) couldn't be bothered to pick up a history book.
Like many history fans I was curious about this film and bought it before previewing its actual content. After struggling through it I brought it back to the store the next day and got my money back. There is nothing positive I can say about it. I'm just hoping that I can save someone else in my situation from wasting their time and money.
But seriously, for those few enlightened of you who are actually serious about historical truth, read August Kubizek's book if you haven't already. Don't waste your time with this nonsense. No one has the right to re-write history, although many idiots try, and this steaming pile of lies is just a more recent example.
"Vomitrocious" pretty much sums it up.
Movie Review: Portrait of the Hitler as a Young Artist
Summary: 1 Stars
This has got to be one of the worst movies I have ever seen, excluding movies with words like "bikini" and "car wash" in the titles (that is, movies which aren't trying to be good). Yes, it explores the connection between power and aesthetics... but not in an interesting or entertaining way. John Cusack's acting was absolutely horrible as this role is clearly far too ambitious for his limited range. Don't get me wrong--I loved him in "High Fidelity," but he stunk up this film something awful. It takes what might conceivably be an interesting premise--that Hitler was, at heart, a frustrated artist who turned evil after he couldn't succeed at art but integrated art and aesthetic considerations into his rhetoric and other aspects of the reich--and makes it funnier and more ridiculous than any post-Dana Carvey-era SNL sketch. Everything about the film was unconvincing, from the young Hitler, to Cusack's missing arm... I was absolutely shocked to see the number of positive reviews this film had gotten. AVOID this movie. It is just bad, bad, bad. Take a cue from the fact that they are being sold used for under four dollars... SUCKS! See other reviews for discussions of historical inaccuracies.