Film
Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
- Home
- Box Office
- Listings
- Trailers
- Features
Bookmark this page- Edition:
Slipstream (2007)
Director: Anthony Hopkins
Movie review
From Time Out New York
Last year Anthony Hopkins starred in and executive-produced Emilio Estevez’s vanity turd Bobby. The experience must have inspired Sir Anthony to buck the system and embark on his own narcissistic enterprise; he said in a recent interview, “The politics of Hollywood were beginning to get under my skin.” In Slipstream, Hopkins—who wrote, directed, scored and stars—wants the audience to get inside his head. And he’s brought along his wife (Arroyave, a former antiques dealer and the film’s producer) and an assortment of C-list talent (Slater, Camryn Manheim) to crack that noggin wide open.
Playing Felix Bonhoeffer, a screenwriter whose waking and dream lives begin to bleed into his latest script—in which besuited thugs menace diner patrons in a desert—Hopkins isn’t content to bore his viewers silly with nonsensical time-bending. Like Estevez, the knighted Welshman must “say” something about the 20th century, via superfluous clips of Nixon, Stalin and the Vietnam War (the surname of Hopkins’s character is that of the German theologian involved in a plot to kill Hitler). Slipstream fails miserably as a film about moviemaking, writing, REM sleep and historical atrocities. Let’s hope Hopkins has no more visions to share before he returns to scenery-chewing in The Wolf Man.
Author: Melissa Anderson
Time Out New York Issue 630: October 25-31, 2007
User reviews of this film
-
- Mahone Dunbar said...
-
Posted on Jul 14 2008 17:01
This was an EXTREME version of the style of movie-making I call pretentious and boring. I kept asking myself . . . what was the intent in making this film? I dig stream of conscious writing and movie-making, but disjointed and pointless, erratically jumping story lines can not hold my interest if they never reach a point of coherance. Being stubborn, I hung in for maybe an hour before I started fast-forwarding, searching to find some point where an actual storyline or plot kicked in. It never happened, and the gaps in watching made absolutely no difference.
My suggestion is: if you hate someone, or want to break off a relationship, give them a copy of this movie and tell them you thought they would enjoy it. What was Hopkins thinking? A collage' of fast-moving imagery and piecemeal dialogue does not induce me to mentally try and figure out a plot that would fit it. If Hopkins thinks this was either a) entertaining, b) enlightening or c) thought provoking, then I hope he's receiving adequate psychiatric care. He is definitely out of touch with reality -- and the movie making industry. I cared not what happened to any of the characters, nor where the jumbled story would land, if anyplace. However, the movie had one good benefit: For years to come in film schools around America it can stand as an exemplar of how to make a bad movie.
If I ever see Anthony Hopkins' name on a movie again -- in any capacity except actor -- I'm running like hell. - Report as inappropriate
-
- Mahone Dunbar said...
-
Posted on Jul 14 2008 16:58
This was an EXTREME version of the style of movie-making I call pretentious and boring. I kept asking myself . . . what was the intent in making this film? I dig stream of conscious writing and movie-making, but disjointed and pointless, erratically jumping story lines can not hold my interest if they never reach a point of coherance. Being stubborn, I hung in for maybe an hour before I started fast-forwarding, searching to find some point where an actual storyline or plot kicked in. It never happened, and the gaps in watching made absolutely no difference.
My suggestion is: if you hate someone, or want to break off a relationship, give them a copy of this movie and tell them you thought they would enjoy it. What was Hopkins thinking? A collage' of fast-moving imagery and piecemeal dialogue does not induce me to mentally try and figure out a plot that would fit it. If Hopkins thinks this was either a) entertaining, b) enlightening or c) thought provoking, then I hope he's receiving adequate psychiatric care. He is definitely out of touch with reality -- and the movie making industry. I cared not what happened to any of the characters, nor where the jumbled story would land, if anyplace. However, the movie had one good benefit: For years to come in film schools around America it can stand as an exemplar of how to make a bad movie.
If I ever see Anthony Hopkins name on a movie again -- in any capacity except actor -- I'm running like hell. - Report as inappropriate
-
- pc said...
- Posted on Mar 06 2008 14:42 I couldn't agree more. This movie is a waste of electrons.
- Report as inappropriate
Cast & crew
Director: Anthony Hopkins
Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Stella Arroyave, Christian Slater full cast
Rated: R
Duration: 97 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.
What do you think?
Post your review now