Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

SunnyHello Nice effects though.

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Kodie Bird True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

kellyf-30288 Robert Altman was a master director and it is great that with the advent of the internet the new generation can know and watch films of his that they would never have gotten an opportunity otherwise. Short cuts, much like most of his films is an ensemble piece featuring top notch actors playing distinct characters in the city of Los Angeles. All are connected- some literally, all thematically. This is a great piece by a master and it inspired many filmmakers, among others PT Anderson. Go watch it now.

breakdownthatfilm-blogspot-com Ensemble cast movies have been proved to be both great and terrible ideas. There are plenty examples of movies that represent both ends of the spectrum. Of this particular type of casting, the most familiar are movies that have intertwining story lines that overlay in some fashion. Initially the plot threads feel a bit out of place and non-related, but in due time they all end up crossing paths and lead to some kind of climax. This kind of execution isn't always the case, but it is more or less the one that is frequently used. Examples of nonlinear story telling would be like V/H/S (2012), V/H/S/2 (2013), V/H/S Viral (2014) and Movie 43 (2013). This is where the stories are fragmented and made into shorts instead of an actual feature length product. The movies that have a more interwoven storyline are works like Crash (2004) and Reach Me (2014). But it wasn't just the start of the 21rst century that screenwriters had come up with this concept. Back in 1993, avant-garde director Robert Altman decided to take a crack at it. The end result was this movie. Based on the writings by Raymond Carver (the same writer to that of Birdman (2014) was based off of) and adapted by Altman and another writer, this movie focuses on the lives of several couples living in Los Angeles. As simple as this sounds, these collaborative threads that make up the film are not very exciting. What truly works in favor for the viewer are the more technical elements. Cinematography by Walt Lloyd (The Santa Clause (1994)) is adequate. Several of Lloyd's shots contain accurate background scenery to L.A. and anything around that has clear lighting. The music composed by Mark Isham is easy going too. Isham as a composer who tends to create music that is more aesthetic than engaging, yet for this score it has all the cool jazz sounds using the double bass and other jazz instruments. It's almost like a precursor towards Christopher Lennertz style,…almost. Lastly is the acting by all cast members. They can act and they do a great job at making the viewer feel the appropriate way for their roles. Sadly, the problem is their roles. This is where unfortunately so many things go wrong. The cast to this movie is enormous. You have Andie MacDowell, Bruce Davison, Jack Lemmon, Julianne Moore, Matthew Modine, Anne Archer, Fred Ward, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Chris Penn, Lili Taylor, Robert Downey Jr., Madeleine Stowe, Tim Robbins, Lily Tomlin, Tom Waits, Frances McDormand, Peter Gallagher, Annie Ross, Lori Singer, Lyle Lovett, Huey Lewis, Robert DoQui, the list goes on and only a couple of the characters this entire list play are sympathetic or likable to some degree. This is actually quite a frustrating watch. Almost no character has respect for anyone or anything. This is not to say that the characters were intentionally written to be mean spirited, but the attitudes portrayed just make the viewing experience feel entirely hateful.In some cases as well, the characters act very strange. Sometimes they don't care how foul their mouth is around other people. One character is a mother who makes a living by making phone-sex calls and she does this from while she takes care of her babies. That's just wrong. Another individual cheats on her husband and has no problem cursing him out in front of her son. How careless. Robert Altman as a director has been known to push boundaries but there are some points that even he should find questionable. It's understood that people in general take on different personalities during different times of the day and some activities diverge a lot further from others but some are just beyond uncomfortable. My question is, what is supposed to be taken away from this viewing? What is the message specifically? Life is what you make it? Life does not always end happily for everyone? What? The list of questions can go on and on because of how little clarity there is in the film's screenplay.The only credit that can be given to the writers is the connectivity they give each storyline. At some point or another each thread will cross one another and it's interesting to see who knows who. That's it though, not even all subplots are or feel properly concluded the right way. There's something going on in L.A. about some MEDfly and the air is being crop dusted and people think they'll get cancer; but that goes nowhere. With that, there is very little buildup to the climax of this three hour movie. Worse yet is that this movie is three hours long and couldn't develop its characters in some fashion to make them likable or at least make them realize how destructive they're behaviors are. Suzy Elmiger and Geraldine Peroni who work as the editors don't do a good job either. Some scenes pertaining to a certain thread last all of a quick 10-20 seconds long and it transitions to another. That's quicker than the editing in Reach Me (2014). It's unfortunate that it feels this poor.Aside from its acting, camera-work and music, nothing else is worth it here. Almost all characters are unlikable, of which most of their behaviors are uncomfortably strange and their development feels somewhat nonexistent. The script also suffers from unfinished subplots, annoying editing and a long running time.

SnoopyStyle Helicopters are spraying for Medfly infestation in Los Angeles. Various residents live their lives. There is TV commentator Howard Finnigan (Bruce Davison) lives with his wife Anne (Andie MacDowell). Dr. Ralph Wyman (Matthew Modine) and his wife Marian (Julianne Moore) are at a concert. Claire (Anne Archer) and Stuart Kane (Fred Ward) are also at the concert. Limo driver Earl Piggot (Tom Waits) stops at the diner where his wife Doreen (Lily Tomlin) works. Honey Piggot Bush (Lili Taylor) and Bill Bush (Robert Downey, Jr.) are out with their friends. Sherri (Madeleine Stowe) and Gene Shepard (Tim Robbins) are a combative married couple. Lois Kaiser (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is a pro phone sex operator in front of her husband Jerry (Chris Penn) and their kids. Stormy Weathers (Peter Gallagher) is one of the helicopter pilots and Betty (Frances McDormand) is his ex-wife.That's not even every main characters. I think I missed a few. It's an impressive cast. I'm just not sure what I'm looking at. The all-star cast actually makes it a bit artificial. It's not a story of these various characters. It's watching these great actors doing their bits. It's fascinating to a certain point but it's not really compelling to me.

tomsview "Short Cuts" is made up of a number of Raymond Carver's brilliant short stories. Although Carver wrote them as separate stories, in the film they are linked in clever and unexpected ways.I was surprised to learn that a number of reviewers criticised Altman's tone, and the fragmentation the stories underwent to create the script. However, I think it shows his genius in pulling the stories together to make a continuous narrative.The film opens as helicopters spray Los Angeles to eradicate Medfly. As the helicopters pass over the city, the camera zooms down and selects a number of people from the millions below. The lives of these people are brought into sharp focus, allowing the audience to share their pain, secrets and desires. Self-absorption is a trait shared by many of the characters; they appear to be concerned only with themselves. Even when they learn that terrible things have happened to others, their reactions are often superficial and unaffected.Altman has been criticised for having too cynical an attitude towards the characters, anticipating their failure in a way that Carver did not in his stories. However, a number of the characters in the film grow though adversity and many of them are basically good people.Of them all, it is the highway patrolman played by Tim Robbins, the character who seemed to have the least chance of redemption, who undergoes the most dramatic transformation.Neighbourhood watch takes on a new meaning when neighbours ask a couple played by Lili Taylor and Robert Downey Jnr, to mind their apartment, but they move in, throwing parties and having sex in the bed.Jennifer Jason Leigh plays a phone sex worker who deals with her client's calls while she feeds her baby, however she is never in the mood for sex with her husband played by Chris Penn. His repressed feelings erupt in the film's most disturbing sequence.It almost seems reasonable when three guys on a fishing trip decide not to report a dead body until after they have finished fishing. Later, the morality of their decision becomes an issue.Much of the film centres on two families who live side by side. Bruce Davidson and Andie McDowell play the Finnigans whose eleven-year-old son, Casey, is in hospital after being hit by a car. Before the accident, Mrs Finnigan goes to a bakery to organise a cake for her son's birthday. The baker, played by Lyle Lovett, becomes enmeshed in their lives in an unexpected way.Tess and Zoe played by Annie Ross and Lori Singer live next door to the Finnigans. They each react differently to Casey's accident but it leads to a tragedy just as great. Tess and Zoe are the only characters not drawn from Carver's stories.Jack Lemmon plays Howard Finnigan's father. It's a role filled with regret for past actions and lost opportunities.The structure of "Short Cuts" is not unlike Paul Anderson's later "Magnolia". Both have multiple, intersecting story lines. The similarities become more marked when towards the end of "Short Cuts", an earthquake intercedes as does the rain of frogs in Magnolia. However, the earthquake doesn't change the course of the characters lives or provide redemption. The film ends leaving the characters to deal with their lives as best they can.Altman couldn't always pull off a masterpiece as Prêt-à-Porter proved, but he came pretty close with this compelling movie.