Heart and Souls (1993)
It has been a for*age* since I last posted something that was not Horrible Histories squee.
What has happened since then? Well, I still love Horrible Histories. A lot. Maybe even more than before.
Just before Christmas I passed my driving theory test. With better marks than any of the practices I took. This should not be taken as an indication of the fact that I shall soon be taking my practical test. This should be taken as an indication of the fact that they were apparently changing the rules this year and I wanted to pass it before they did. I say this because I am getting a little fed up of people going on at me for not passing yet. As if there is an exact amount of time it is supposed to take. And that amount of time is precisely how long it took them. I haven't even been learning for a year yet, so I really don't think I'm doing terribly. I got quite snappy at The Other Grad a couple of days ago because he said I "should" be taking my test next month. As if he knows how my driving is going better than me. As you might be able to tell, it got me a little. But seriously, learning to drive is like having a baby, *everyone* has advice, everyone has a story to tell and everyone wants to give you the benefit of their advice. And it gets wearing.
But anyway, I passed and I was pretty psyched. And spent a nice Christmas and a quiet New Year with my family, and I caught up with friends as well.
And just last week I bought myself an awesome new TV as a Birthday / Christmas present. I'm a little bit in love with it.
But most excitingly, I'm going to be in Cardiff next weekend. w00t!
Anyway, on with the review:
Heart and Souls (1993)
So this film means there is apparently a subgenre of "films about the afterlife starring Robert Downey Junior". But this is a ton more awesome and 0.0001% as Chances Are (the creepy-ass reincarnation film (lol, I just mentally moved the hyphen))
So the film starts (in 1959, apparently) by introducing us to 5 sets of people. There's a Small Time Crook, who is having a very intense conversation with a mob boss. About stealing stamps. Small Time Crook feels bad cos they were worth loads of money, and he stole them off a kid to give to the mob boss. Because mob bosses can be philatelists too.
There is an Aspiring Actress who has moved to the Big City in order to Make It. (She may not be an Aspiring Actress. I may have mind that up. The point is she's moved to the Big City) She is currently working as a waitress. Her boyfriend comes to visit her from whatever Small Town they come from and demands that she stop keeping him hanging on, and decide if she's going to marry him. Cos it's been forever since she first moved out or something. She gets annoyed and chucks him or something. It's been a while. Anyway the point is, she breaks up with her boyfriend. A short while later, she realised she's Made a Mistake and runs after him.
The third is an Shy Singer. He has a lovely voice, but he goes to audition for the chorus in The Theatre but is too scared to sing. It is implied this is not the first time he failed.
The fourth is a Hard Working Black Mother who has several kids but she has to leave them in order to work her night job.
All of these four people end up on the same bus. The fifth set is a couple driving to the hospital to have a baby.
Then the bus driver is too busy perving on a couple getting it on in a car in the next lane so he drives the bus off a bridge and they all die. Bus Driver floats up into the sky, but all of the passengers are stuck on Earth.
Cut to: About a year later, previously pregnant couple's house. Child is about a year old. All the dead people are hanging around. It is revealed they are somehow linked to this kid, and they can't move more than a few metres away. No one can see them but the kid. Oh, and over the past year they've been able to work up a sweet A Capella sound.
Cut to: The kid is about 6. And apparently, having 4 friends no one else can see, talking to them, arguing with them and working up complicated dance routines with them and insisting they are real makes your parents worry. Well that and letting the invisible people convince you into sneaking to the dog track and placing bets for them. Anyway, then the ghosts decide that it's better for the kid if he can't see them, say goodbye and make themselves invisible to him also. But they're still stuck around him.
Cut to: The 80s. The kid is all grown up and Robert Downey Junior. He is a Cold Hearted Businessman. The ghosts aren't happy with the way their boy turned out. Anyway. The bus they all died on turned up and The Bus Driver tells them he's come to take them to heaven as they've had enough time to Do What They Needed To Do. Turns out, no one told them that the reason they were stuck on earth was that they had unfinished business to complete and they were supposed to use the kid to do so. Oh yeah, and they could possess him in order to do it. And the bus driver has been condemned to drive the the Bus To Heaven for Eternity as punishment.
They plead with the Bus Driver and he agrees to give them some extra time. So they make themselves re-visible to RDJ. Who is... somewhat shocked as, to him, the hallucinations he had a child have come back. They convince him they're real. And to help them with their unfinished business.
The Small Time Crook gives the stamps back to the kid,
The Shy Singer possesses Robert Downey Junior and sings the national anthem at a concert.
The Hard Working Black Mother finds out what happened to her kids and gets to possess Robert Downey Junior in order to hug her now grown up son.
The Aspiring Actress thinks she is supposed to tell her ex that she loved him and made a mistake. But then she realises that actually she has to get RDJ and his girlfriend back together. Cos turns out that the reason that Robert Downey Junior is a Cold Hearted Businessman is that his best friends in all the world, the people he loved, left him when he was six and he never saw them again.
And they all go to Heaven and RDJ lives happily ever after.
As my use of capital letters may have showed you, this film is cliched as hell. But it's sweet and charming and cute. Oh and did I mention that at one point Robert Downey Junior sings and dances down the street?
Also, it makes much of the relationships between these four disparate people, stuck together for the past 30 odd years, which gives the film more emotional depth.
Also, Robert Downey Junior gets to show his acting ability when his character is possessed by the four ghosts. The different characterisations are subtle but distinct.
And did I mention that he sings and dances down the street?
So, Heart and Souls. I liked it.
What has happened since then? Well, I still love Horrible Histories. A lot. Maybe even more than before.
Just before Christmas I passed my driving theory test. With better marks than any of the practices I took. This should not be taken as an indication of the fact that I shall soon be taking my practical test. This should be taken as an indication of the fact that they were apparently changing the rules this year and I wanted to pass it before they did. I say this because I am getting a little fed up of people going on at me for not passing yet. As if there is an exact amount of time it is supposed to take. And that amount of time is precisely how long it took them. I haven't even been learning for a year yet, so I really don't think I'm doing terribly. I got quite snappy at The Other Grad a couple of days ago because he said I "should" be taking my test next month. As if he knows how my driving is going better than me. As you might be able to tell, it got me a little. But seriously, learning to drive is like having a baby, *everyone* has advice, everyone has a story to tell and everyone wants to give you the benefit of their advice. And it gets wearing.
But anyway, I passed and I was pretty psyched. And spent a nice Christmas and a quiet New Year with my family, and I caught up with friends as well.
And just last week I bought myself an awesome new TV as a Birthday / Christmas present. I'm a little bit in love with it.
But most excitingly, I'm going to be in Cardiff next weekend. w00t!
Anyway, on with the review:
Heart and Souls (1993)
So this film means there is apparently a subgenre of "films about the afterlife starring Robert Downey Junior". But this is a ton more awesome and 0.0001% as Chances Are (the creepy-ass reincarnation film (lol, I just mentally moved the hyphen))
So the film starts (in 1959, apparently) by introducing us to 5 sets of people. There's a Small Time Crook, who is having a very intense conversation with a mob boss. About stealing stamps. Small Time Crook feels bad cos they were worth loads of money, and he stole them off a kid to give to the mob boss. Because mob bosses can be philatelists too.
There is an Aspiring Actress who has moved to the Big City in order to Make It. (She may not be an Aspiring Actress. I may have mind that up. The point is she's moved to the Big City) She is currently working as a waitress. Her boyfriend comes to visit her from whatever Small Town they come from and demands that she stop keeping him hanging on, and decide if she's going to marry him. Cos it's been forever since she first moved out or something. She gets annoyed and chucks him or something. It's been a while. Anyway the point is, she breaks up with her boyfriend. A short while later, she realised she's Made a Mistake and runs after him.
The third is an Shy Singer. He has a lovely voice, but he goes to audition for the chorus in The Theatre but is too scared to sing. It is implied this is not the first time he failed.
The fourth is a Hard Working Black Mother who has several kids but she has to leave them in order to work her night job.
All of these four people end up on the same bus. The fifth set is a couple driving to the hospital to have a baby.
Then the bus driver is too busy perving on a couple getting it on in a car in the next lane so he drives the bus off a bridge and they all die. Bus Driver floats up into the sky, but all of the passengers are stuck on Earth.
Cut to: About a year later, previously pregnant couple's house. Child is about a year old. All the dead people are hanging around. It is revealed they are somehow linked to this kid, and they can't move more than a few metres away. No one can see them but the kid. Oh, and over the past year they've been able to work up a sweet A Capella sound.
Cut to: The kid is about 6. And apparently, having 4 friends no one else can see, talking to them, arguing with them and working up complicated dance routines with them and insisting they are real makes your parents worry. Well that and letting the invisible people convince you into sneaking to the dog track and placing bets for them. Anyway, then the ghosts decide that it's better for the kid if he can't see them, say goodbye and make themselves invisible to him also. But they're still stuck around him.
Cut to: The 80s. The kid is all grown up and Robert Downey Junior. He is a Cold Hearted Businessman. The ghosts aren't happy with the way their boy turned out. Anyway. The bus they all died on turned up and The Bus Driver tells them he's come to take them to heaven as they've had enough time to Do What They Needed To Do. Turns out, no one told them that the reason they were stuck on earth was that they had unfinished business to complete and they were supposed to use the kid to do so. Oh yeah, and they could possess him in order to do it. And the bus driver has been condemned to drive the the Bus To Heaven for Eternity as punishment.
They plead with the Bus Driver and he agrees to give them some extra time. So they make themselves re-visible to RDJ. Who is... somewhat shocked as, to him, the hallucinations he had a child have come back. They convince him they're real. And to help them with their unfinished business.
The Small Time Crook gives the stamps back to the kid,
The Shy Singer possesses Robert Downey Junior and sings the national anthem at a concert.
The Hard Working Black Mother finds out what happened to her kids and gets to possess Robert Downey Junior in order to hug her now grown up son.
The Aspiring Actress thinks she is supposed to tell her ex that she loved him and made a mistake. But then she realises that actually she has to get RDJ and his girlfriend back together. Cos turns out that the reason that Robert Downey Junior is a Cold Hearted Businessman is that his best friends in all the world, the people he loved, left him when he was six and he never saw them again.
And they all go to Heaven and RDJ lives happily ever after.
As my use of capital letters may have showed you, this film is cliched as hell. But it's sweet and charming and cute. Oh and did I mention that at one point Robert Downey Junior sings and dances down the street?
Also, it makes much of the relationships between these four disparate people, stuck together for the past 30 odd years, which gives the film more emotional depth.
Also, Robert Downey Junior gets to show his acting ability when his character is possessed by the four ghosts. The different characterisations are subtle but distinct.
And did I mention that he sings and dances down the street?
Click to viewSo, Heart and Souls. I liked it.