Movie review - A Dog's Breakfast
Jul. 6th, 2007 11:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
castaliaHaven't done a David Hewlett movie review in a while, so it's nice to be adding to the list again. Major spoilers and pics under the cut, so don't click if you want to watch the movie and be surprised. Trust me, going into it blind is much more fun.
I'll be splitting this into two posts just b/c of the picture load.
After all the hype and anticipation, I was very worried the actual film wouldn't stand up to it all and I'd be disappointed. However, this was totally not the case and it was worth every second of the wait. I've watched it twice now, and this one is up there with Nothing as one of my favorite films, Canadian or otherwise. What a fun ride.
The beginning is a tad slow, but David as always pulls it off and keeps your attention. He's the main character, Patrick, who lives alone, has OCD on top of some other personality quirks, and has little in the way of furniture other than a rolling desk chair. He likes spiders, his dog Mars, and has an unfortunate number of sweatervests in his wardrobe. I think he stole those from the alternate Daniel Jackson from Moebius, sadly.
Patrick eating breakfast with Mars. Note the poor dress sense. He eats Frooties, which look like Froot Loops, but he puts each color into a separate bowl first.
Kate Hewlett plays Patrick's sister Marilyn, and is just as lovely here as she was in McKay and Mrs. Miller. She drops by with a "surprise", namely her new fiancé Ryan as played by Paul McGillion. For some reason, Patrick feels it's appropriate to greet her dressed like this.
Unfortunately, Patrick mistakes Ryan for a creepy stalker guy and whacks him in the head with a cricket bat before they're introduced. Whoops.
Ryan is an actor, the star of the TV series "Starcrossed" (a "space soap"), and Marilyn is his make-up artist. Patrick seems to view both of these occupations as less than acceptable careers, and claims he's only watched the show once, "by accident". Ryan and Marilyn (who Ryan calls "Mookie") are cute together, giggling and sharing private jokes, much to the annoyance of Patrick.
Patrick and Marilyn don't seem especially close siblings, and Marilyn is painted as the long-suffering sister who has had to put up with her brother's weirdness on her own since their parents died. Despite all his quirks, she does love him and wants him to remain part of her life, so she's very keen on him accepting her choice of marriage partner. However, she's less than certain this will happen without Patrick screwing it up.
Marilyn: "If you screw this up for me, I'll kill you, I mean it, so just be normal."
Patrick: "I'm just being myself."
Marilyn: "Right. Instead, be normal."
Rachel Luttrell's character is Ryan's costar on "Starcrossed", and you only see her on the show as it's played, several times during the movie. It's quite amusing, with Ryan's character "Colt" as the rugged, lone space explorer and Rachel as the presumably alien woman he falls for, but of course circumstances won't let them be together. The whole thing looks like a leftover Stargate set much like the Odyssey, and all the dialogue is purple and syrupy and overly dramatic.
Marilyn and Ryan end up in Marilyn's old bedroom, which shares a wall with Patrick's room. Patrick spends a lot of time shouting through the walls to them, mostly to ensure they don't have sex while they're staying with him.
They're not particularly happy about that.
The next scene almost made me sporfle my tea all over the screen. Sometimes I think David purposefully tried to write in as many weird and possibly embarrassing positions, physical moments, and wardrobe choices as possible for Paul. I mean, dude. *snicker*
I'm not sure who owns the robe, as both Ryan and Marilyn wear it during the movie. *g*
Ryan cooks breakfast, giving Patrick a bit more of a view than he wanted.
Ryan: "You hungry?"
Patrick: "I will never be hungry again."
Breakfast goes over well, but first Ryan pisses Patrick off by destroying (while cleaning the gutters for Christmas lights) the spider web Patrick was watching with his binoculars and then Patrick overhears Ryan on the phone saying things like "she means nothing to me" and talking about getting rid of "her", etc. This convinces Patrick that Ryan is out to kill Marilyn.
So, of course the next logical step is for him to prepare for combat. Karate style. He trained himself by playing video games, the deadly, nasty martial arts ones. "I'm a human X-Box." Patrick convinces Ryan to spar.
It doesn't end well.
What follows is a series of failed attempts on Patrick's part to kill Ryan. First he cuts the brakes on Ryan's car. Which promptly rolls back down the hill, hits Patrick's car, and careens into traffic (we don't see this, just hear it while watching Patrick wince). Then we get the log splitting scene from the preview, and the first instance of Patrick screaming like a little girl when he misses and accidentally hits his leg.
By this time, Ryan clues in on Patrick's murderous if inept intentions, and when Patrick turns on the gas in the kitchen and shows up with a sparking candle and an offer of sundaes - "Spoons are in the kitchen next to the stove" - he doesn't fall for it. Of course, this doesn't prevent the need for the fire department to come out.
His next attempt involves coating the bathtub with petroleum jelly, which of course leads to several masturbation jokes.
Next he electrifies the ladder Ryan is going to use to hang the Christmas lights.
With painful results for himself.
He tries to electrocute Ryan, but is thwarted by a too-short extension cord. However, when he goes inside to take a phone call from Marilyn, who has gone to get groceries, he gets his wish. Ryan falls from the ladder and is "killed". Patrick dumps the body in the basement, rolls him up in the rug, and buries him in his rather swamplike back yard.
Now that he's rid himself of the evidence, Patrick starts hearing things and acting guilty. It's pretty obvious early on that Ryan isn't really dead and is totally playing tricks on Patrick as revenge.
Part two found here.
I'll be splitting this into two posts just b/c of the picture load.
After all the hype and anticipation, I was very worried the actual film wouldn't stand up to it all and I'd be disappointed. However, this was totally not the case and it was worth every second of the wait. I've watched it twice now, and this one is up there with Nothing as one of my favorite films, Canadian or otherwise. What a fun ride.
The beginning is a tad slow, but David as always pulls it off and keeps your attention. He's the main character, Patrick, who lives alone, has OCD on top of some other personality quirks, and has little in the way of furniture other than a rolling desk chair. He likes spiders, his dog Mars, and has an unfortunate number of sweatervests in his wardrobe. I think he stole those from the alternate Daniel Jackson from Moebius, sadly.
Patrick eating breakfast with Mars. Note the poor dress sense. He eats Frooties, which look like Froot Loops, but he puts each color into a separate bowl first.
Kate Hewlett plays Patrick's sister Marilyn, and is just as lovely here as she was in McKay and Mrs. Miller. She drops by with a "surprise", namely her new fiancé Ryan as played by Paul McGillion. For some reason, Patrick feels it's appropriate to greet her dressed like this.
Unfortunately, Patrick mistakes Ryan for a creepy stalker guy and whacks him in the head with a cricket bat before they're introduced. Whoops.
Ryan is an actor, the star of the TV series "Starcrossed" (a "space soap"), and Marilyn is his make-up artist. Patrick seems to view both of these occupations as less than acceptable careers, and claims he's only watched the show once, "by accident". Ryan and Marilyn (who Ryan calls "Mookie") are cute together, giggling and sharing private jokes, much to the annoyance of Patrick.
Patrick and Marilyn don't seem especially close siblings, and Marilyn is painted as the long-suffering sister who has had to put up with her brother's weirdness on her own since their parents died. Despite all his quirks, she does love him and wants him to remain part of her life, so she's very keen on him accepting her choice of marriage partner. However, she's less than certain this will happen without Patrick screwing it up.
Marilyn: "If you screw this up for me, I'll kill you, I mean it, so just be normal."
Patrick: "I'm just being myself."
Marilyn: "Right. Instead, be normal."
Rachel Luttrell's character is Ryan's costar on "Starcrossed", and you only see her on the show as it's played, several times during the movie. It's quite amusing, with Ryan's character "Colt" as the rugged, lone space explorer and Rachel as the presumably alien woman he falls for, but of course circumstances won't let them be together. The whole thing looks like a leftover Stargate set much like the Odyssey, and all the dialogue is purple and syrupy and overly dramatic.
Marilyn and Ryan end up in Marilyn's old bedroom, which shares a wall with Patrick's room. Patrick spends a lot of time shouting through the walls to them, mostly to ensure they don't have sex while they're staying with him.
They're not particularly happy about that.
The next scene almost made me sporfle my tea all over the screen. Sometimes I think David purposefully tried to write in as many weird and possibly embarrassing positions, physical moments, and wardrobe choices as possible for Paul. I mean, dude. *snicker*
I'm not sure who owns the robe, as both Ryan and Marilyn wear it during the movie. *g*
Ryan cooks breakfast, giving Patrick a bit more of a view than he wanted.
Ryan: "You hungry?"
Patrick: "I will never be hungry again."
Breakfast goes over well, but first Ryan pisses Patrick off by destroying (while cleaning the gutters for Christmas lights) the spider web Patrick was watching with his binoculars and then Patrick overhears Ryan on the phone saying things like "she means nothing to me" and talking about getting rid of "her", etc. This convinces Patrick that Ryan is out to kill Marilyn.
So, of course the next logical step is for him to prepare for combat. Karate style. He trained himself by playing video games, the deadly, nasty martial arts ones. "I'm a human X-Box." Patrick convinces Ryan to spar.
It doesn't end well.
What follows is a series of failed attempts on Patrick's part to kill Ryan. First he cuts the brakes on Ryan's car. Which promptly rolls back down the hill, hits Patrick's car, and careens into traffic (we don't see this, just hear it while watching Patrick wince). Then we get the log splitting scene from the preview, and the first instance of Patrick screaming like a little girl when he misses and accidentally hits his leg.
By this time, Ryan clues in on Patrick's murderous if inept intentions, and when Patrick turns on the gas in the kitchen and shows up with a sparking candle and an offer of sundaes - "Spoons are in the kitchen next to the stove" - he doesn't fall for it. Of course, this doesn't prevent the need for the fire department to come out.
His next attempt involves coating the bathtub with petroleum jelly, which of course leads to several masturbation jokes.
Next he electrifies the ladder Ryan is going to use to hang the Christmas lights.
With painful results for himself.
He tries to electrocute Ryan, but is thwarted by a too-short extension cord. However, when he goes inside to take a phone call from Marilyn, who has gone to get groceries, he gets his wish. Ryan falls from the ladder and is "killed". Patrick dumps the body in the basement, rolls him up in the rug, and buries him in his rather swamplike back yard.
Now that he's rid himself of the evidence, Patrick starts hearing things and acting guilty. It's pretty obvious early on that Ryan isn't really dead and is totally playing tricks on Patrick as revenge.
Part two found here.
