As Good As It Gets

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

Blistering performances.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Unfortunately the plot is full of interesting ideas thrown together with no internal logic, so that the story is just dumb.Just one example - (may contain spoilers if you have not read any of the other reviews.) Towards the end Arquette's character suggests to the audience that they are wrong to try and believe in some other life and that what if there is only this and shouldn't we live for it.A fine and noble thought - but hardly likely to be voiced by a character that is in herself providing proof that there is something more. Since she has discovered that she is getting true messages from beyond, she would be far more likely to say at this stage that maybe once it was all an act but now she is compelled to believe in a next life ...And then at the end she sits in a chair and disappears .., so if she was a ghost why the hell was she doing the act for her father and getting upset by it and worried about their money... not to mention screwing around ... Or was she just a regular human vulnerable girl for most of the movie (and this acted brilliantly) and then transformed suddenly into a ghost in that chair, or did she suddenly learn teleportation ...Fuzzy, insultingly sloppy thinking ruins what could have been a really good movie.

A traveling medium who "performs" in front of large audiences, Martha Travis relays messages from deceased loved ones to their relatives in attendance. Having pushed her into this way of life, her alcoholic father is more than happy to be making (and blowing) the money her shows bring about. One night, however, Martha receives a message from a man who's wife claims he isn't dead. He soon is though, killed just the way Martha had envisioned. Word spreads, and soon skeptical reporter Gary Wallace is on her trail, as is the hit-man responsible for the killing.Black Rainbow is a grimy, slow-burning little southern Gothic. Directed by Mike Hodges, the film is equal parts horror yarn, crime thriller and chastising of fake mediums. Before she begins foretelling deaths, we never are clearly sure if Martha's gift is all an act. Whether it is or not, the image she uses to describe her connection to the afterlife, that of a rainbow, is about to become very blackened indeed. Low key and mysterious, the film is laced with atmosphere that, while often dreary, in reality is quite hypnotic.In a film like this, the characters have to be well-drawn. These are believable, broken people. As Martha, Rosanna Arquette is intensely ethereal. I don't think she's ever looked more stunning, and likewise, I don't think she's ever given a better performance than the one delivered here. She vividly conveys the essence of the character, a woman who turns to sporadic bouts of nymphomania for her only form of gratification. Emotionally worn and hardened by the existence that's been forced on her, Martha lives an empty life giving hope to others while keeping none for herself. Jason Robards plays her father, a louse of a man using his daughter as a cash cow while deriding her every step of the way. Tom Hulce is the cocky reporter, and I recognized the mechanic from The Night Flier as Ted Silas.At one point in the film, Martha is branded a witch due to one of her predictions. The same woman was more than happy to take part in her showings when they were reassuring, but the moment she foresees something bad, the woman does a 180 and puts her down. Ah, good ol' human nature! This leads to Arquette tearing into her final audience with a speech about the affirmation of their own lives through the afterlife. Terrific stuff.Hodges peppers his film with many themes, a key one clearly being the human need for assurance. Under his direction, everything comes together beautifully. One scene is a real stunner, as we bear witness to the force of an unseen explosion. I didn't realize what I was seeing at first, but once it became clear, I had to go back and watch the scene again. A lovely example of creativity through subtlety. Really, despite the run down locations, despite the macabre nature of the proceedings, the entire film has an underlying beauty radiating throughout it. It's a delicate balance, but one that's fully achieved.Wrapping up with an ambiguous ending, the film concludes on a fitting note. This was a great discovery. Never talked about, but utterly satisfying, anyone looking for a real sleeper need look no further. Wonderful film.

A man named Gary Wallace (Tom Hulce) looked for a medium named Martha Travis (Rosanna Arquette) who disappeared after her father's death. Gary found her living in the woods and he had been tracking this girl down for 10 years.This was confusing in the beginning because, you see her father alive! Weird. This movie began where it ended. Anyways, here's the rest of the review:Martha worked at a church as a medium and she lived with her father named Walter Travis (Jason Robards) at a hotel. And that day, she saw a vision of a woman's husband, her name was Mary Kuron (Linda Pierce). And her husband's name was Tom (Olek Krupa) and Martha believed that he was dead! And when Mary returned home, he was okay until she went out of the lounge. Tom got shot while he was watching t.v. BIZARRE! After the incident, Martha and Walter went to go speak to a guy named Jack Callow (Jon Thompson) to discuss the incident. Fortunately, Jack's wife Eva (Helen Boldwin) refused to say who Mary was with. That guy was the person who shot Mary's Husband! He certainly was looking for TROUBLE!Again, at the church. Martha said to a woman named Jacky Adams (Marty Terry) that her deceased friend had seen her husband, Bill. And then, she said to a woman that her brother named Louis is with his twin brother Jimmy, when in fact one of them was dead! And soon, Jacky believed that her husband Bill was dead.And not so soon, Martha was told to go because, everyone thought she was a witch. And when Wallis popped in to the church to see Martha, she had left. And he finally found her and he warned her about Tom Kuron's murderer was going to kill her that evening. And that night, the murderer came after her while she was communicating to another person's deceased love one. Martha shrieked, she told everyone in the church to run , gun shots went off, and everyone ran out like crazy people.And when Martha came home, her father took off with her the moment she came in! And the killer shot out of Martha's room and he tried to shot Martha down the passage. But strangely, the bullets went through her and they killed her father! And followed by an investigator named Irving Weinberg (Ron Rosenthal) when he was coming out of the elevator. And when the killer came downstairs, he got shot and he went through a wood and glass door.And before Gary left the church, Martha told him that her father didn't know that all this was not a dream. And she disappeared. And Wallace went back into the wood's , to Martha's house to find her. NOW! This was the strangest moment that I was talking about: A car that was seen stuck in a leaf pile was seen again and Martha's house was totally shambled. And as you all knew....it was in the woods. Weird END!

Black Rainbow is a low-budget mystery with supernatural overtones, a rare genre that I'm particularly fond of. The sound and the picture quality on the print I saw was not great but was certainly watchable. I really enjoyed the premise: a fake psychic starts actually prophesizing people's deaths -- both the why and how -- which makes her a target for a hit man. Arquette is pretty good in the role -- kind of a mystical and ethereal nymphomaniac and Robards is great as always. The plot meanders a bit and sometimes gets a little slow, but I still enjoyed it. The ending didn't really make a lot of sense to me -- maybe I missed something earlier in the movie -- but I was surprised by this ending and liked it even if though it didn't seem to be supported by the rest of the movie.