Word: monster
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Shabby and pathetic, the monster serves as a reminder of why life needs death in order to retain its dignity. This modern Grendel has really let himself go: With his long, greasy hair and dirty suit, he could be a bum in any of America’s cities. Because Beatrice takes pity on him, even after discovering that he ate her boyfriend, the monster decides to trust her with his story of cosmic disillusionment. “I tried cracking humans open to find out what makes them think they’re so special...
Another unanswered existential problem: Why, if he has lived since the beginning of time and currently resides in upper Iceland, does the monster talk like a New York cabbie? The long, drawn-out conversation between Beatrice and the monster confirms the suspicion that this film is determined to dreamily meander as it pleases...
...handling of the monster by the news media and the government produces both the most wry, as well as the most allegorical moments of No Such Thing. Beatrice and the monster strike a deal—the monster will return to society and not kill anyone if Beatrice agrees to find the scientist who can destroy him. But what’s the use of a monster in a society that has lost its collective capacity for awe? “I mean, don’t you think the idea of a monster today is just so irrelevant...
...presence of the monster stimulates a simultaneous display of both the best and the worst humanity has to offer. On the side of brutality are the thugs who beat up the monster in a back alley, and on the side of greed, there is the government researcher who tortures the monster in a mad quest for grant money. Representing the more noble aspect of humanity, there is of course Beatrice, as well as Dr. Arto, a physicist and musician bedazzled by the rhythms of the universe and endowed with the power to destroy the monster. (You’ve seen...
...commentary on the future of humanity after Sept. 11, No Such Thing serves as an alternative to the current spate of nationalistic war movies. However, for all its whimsical parody, the film falls far short of a clear conclusion about monsters and mayhem in the modern world. The monster’s disgust with history and evolution is so exagerrated that we lose out on any millenial 2001: A Space Odyessey-type insights. Perhaps if his character hadn’t been written so inebriated and whiny, the monster could have held up a more penetrating criticism of his human...