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I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Thanks for the memories!

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

After hearing so much about Hal Hartley and being an art-house fanatic I deftly jumped onto all the titles I could find. I started off with the utterly disappointing "No Such Thing", watched a couple of his shorts and finally got to watching one of his most known movies - "The Book of Life"... and I much regrettably say I have lost all my faith in this director.Story definitely has potential: Jesus, the Devil and Christ's assistant Madgelina discuss the end of days. Jesus is having second doubt's, so whilst stuck up in a hotel he tries to contemplate his actions.I'll ignore the low budget and lack of proper cinematography (done on a hi-def digital camera), as with these types of movies you have to take it at face value. I can even ignore the pathetic acting of most of the cast (although seeing how sub-par most actors are in Hal Hartley's movies I am led to believe he is incompetent of directing actors, which sorely drops his value as a movie auteur). But I just can not gloss over the mostly abysmal dialogue, lack of pace and no story-build. I sincerely searched for anything worth real mention in this movie and the best I came up with was the immensely interesting plot and quite decent story. Also some of the dialogues are intelligent and intriguing, although most of them fall flat as a pancake of superficiality.It is impossible however not to wonder if Hal Hartley wouldn't have made a much better career as a writer or even a playwright, given his lacking concept of filmmaking. As a play this story would work perfectly and after some more thought put into the dialogues it could be a brilliant theatre spectacle. All in all however it looks like a poor man's "Dogma" (nods to both von Trier as well as Kevin Smith's flick) gone awry.

Though not Hal Hartley's best work (my personal favorite is "Surviving Desire"), there is still much to like about this movie, especially for fans of Hartley's dialogues. Even to audiences new to Hartley, I would definitely recommend this movie over the sophomoric "Dogma." This movie is more intelligent, truer to its source material (the Bible), and more fun than any of the other pre-millennium apocalypse movies. This movie is actually part of the French "2000 As Seen By." (2000 Par Vu) series; as such, it is perhaps even a lower-budget film than Hartley's other works. While the need for simple scenes shot with digital camera is understandable in this context, the main problem with this movie is the unfortunate overuse of the blurry/jittery effect. I'd be happy to never see this effect used in a movie again; especially at the beginning, it almost makes the movie unwatchable. But overlook this flaw, and you'll be treated to a fine film. Especially notable is Magdalena (played by P.J. Harvey) relating how Jesus saved her from being stoned to death; a short scene I found surprisingly moving. (Despite the fact that it was NOT Mary Magdalene that this happened to; the woman in the Bible was unnamed.)

Spoilers herein.Hartley is a different kind of film experience for me. Usually, one can just receive, which of course depends on there being something WORTH receiving. Sometimes (often in fact) there is a sort of dialog between filmmaker (and/or actor) and viewer, but that is almost always a matter of the story itself and how it is presented.Hartley enters into a different kind of dialog: we have to invent almost everything in the experience, while he spends most of his time challenging how we go about it.I haven't seen many, only "No Such Thing" and this. "Thing" was a tough, exhilarating challenge, with ideas so novel even the notion of playing on that ground was unfamiliar. But this lacks that spirit. Here we play in an area where all vegetation, all life has been pounded flat by countless examinations of "religion." The level of THIS game is somewhere around that of the "Silver Surfer," not trivial, but not novel either.But it is still a good game because of the method: especially the women. They are all that matter, and it is plain that this man loves women and loves to invent them and live in that invented aura."Do you want soup with that" on west 28th Street. That will stick in my mind for a very long time.An absolutely side issue: we really ARE engaged in a minor skirmish between the forces of good and evil for influence over freedom in our imagination. Part of that battle is this film itself, which exercises some small degree of freedom from the machine. Part is the role played by Apple in the computer space, on much the same turf. The PowerBook as a character more powerful than Beelzebub, controlled by Mr and Mrs DW Griffith. What a gas.I?m really impressed with the voice casting. Most of the abstraction comes from talking, and the selection of tones is hypnotic. Polly Jane. The best I've heard since Jarman's Tempest featured Toyah Willcox.Ted?s Evaluation -- 2 of 4: Has some interesting elements.

I found the movie to be extremely thought provoking. I watched it twice.I was not annoyed by the digital video aspects. In fact I am encouraged by them. It further illustrates that as the cost of technology comes down so will the walls that bar worthy artists from entering the field of cinema.As I said it was thought provoking. I continue to enjoy Thomas Jay Ryan. He was wonderful in Henry Fool, and his portrayal of Satan in this small movie is at least interesting. He is the kind of Satan I'd like to sit down and have a conversation with.My thoughts after viewing the movie…There are now less than 5 days until the turn of the century. After spending the better part of the year considering the aspects of technology related problems that I have some control over, I now find that I have been quite unexpectedly run over by the human and spiritual aspects that I have no control over.It is as if suddenly, out of the corner of my mind's eye, I am now catching a glimpse of the true significance of the coming millenial shift, and it has nothing to do with the latest Y2K compliance patch to WindowsNT 4.0.It does have everything to do with the seemingly endless number of "directionless human beings" surrounding me and bombarding me with their "insignificant hopes and dreams," and the realization that my own hopes and dreams are also horribly insignificant. In essence I am being beaten down by our collective spiritual deficit and our quixotic quest for meaning.It has everything to do with the fact that out of the corner of my mind's other eye, I am seeing with all too much clarity the fact that there may indeed be forces far beyond my ability to comprehend at work here, struggling eternally to do little more than maintain the current state of human affairs, because a slight shift in one direction or the other, could truly lead to the apocalypse.It has everything to do with the fact that out of my mind's center eye, I see that there may indeed be an immortal soul, and that it is flawed, and that it is the source of intimacy between human beings and between human beings and God, and where you find intimacy you find expectations, and where you find expectations you find disappointment."…we are destroyed by expecting more than there is…" - Charles BukowskiEastern religions suggest living without hope. Another paradox. Hopelessness could ironically be the key to happiness.The clocks on my wall are suddenly extremely loud.12.31.99Forgive me for my irrelevance, and allowing this life to so far remain "unremarkable," I was the good son, and ironically, I find that divine retribution is aimed at me, and if Armageddon is at hand, it serves little purpose other than underscoring my own cosmic impotence. 01.01.00Denial no longer serves me.See the movie