Slipstream |  | Director: Anthony Hopkins
Actors: Lana Antonova, Stella Arroyave, Lindsay Barth, Marshall Barth, Dean Bitter
Studio: Sony Pictures
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.94
Buy New: $1.42
as of 3/18/2010 02:53 EDT details
You Save: $18.52 (93%)
New (35) Used (60) from $0.65
Seller: newtownvideos
Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 53402
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 99
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 96 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: 22790
UPC: 043396227903
EAN: 0043396227903
ASIN: B00116GEJI
Release Date: February 26, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
For years, George Lucas has talked about going back to directing avant-garde films with limited commercial potential that would be bound to confound audiences. Venerable actor Sir Anthony Hopkins, 70, went ahead and did it with this daring, provocative dream-within-a-dream, movie-within-a-movie. Part David Lynch, part Pirandello, it throws viewers into the deep end of this "looking glass world" and "mad hatter's tea party." This much we know: Hopkins (who wrote, directed, and even composed the musical score) stars as a screenwriter, Felix Bonhoeffer. Most everything else is up for grabs. Slipstream unfolds in fractured fits and starts. Christian Slater and Jeffrey Tambor portray two actors in a wildly troubled movie ("the whole thing is going to hell in a hand basket" someone proclaims). John Turturro appears as a manic producer in a performance that makes his turn in Transformers look like a model of understatement. There is a Dolly Parton look-alike who introduces herself as "Dolly Parton Look-alike." Kevin McCarthy, star of Invasion of the Body Snatchers), turns up as a dottering incarnation of himself. There is an in-joke about "Hopkins" doing Hannibal 4. Fantasy and reality become interchangeable as Felix is visited by his characters ("You killed me in Scene 23," one protests. "I've got the script"). But that's only the beginning… or maybe the end, as the case may be. Slipstream is thrilling in a "what the what?" sort of way, and repeated viewings will reward adventurous viewers trying to plumb its secrets. --Donald Liebenson
Product Description
Aging screenwriter Felix Bonhoeffer has lived his life in two states of existence--the world of reality and the world inside his head. Hired to rewrite a murder mystery set in a desert diner and unaware that his brain is on the verge of implosion Felix is politely baffled when the characters from his movie start showing up in his life and vice versa. Felix tries to maintain his equanimity as reality and fantasy collide in an increasingly whirling slipstream while his memory banks fire off seemingly random references to songs and sci-fi movies from the Fifties.System Requirements:Run Time: 96 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/MELODRAMA Rating: R UPC: 043396227903 Manufacturer No: 22790
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 25
 Has Mr. Hopkins played Hannibal one times too many?! February 3, 2010
astrorev (Sacramento, CA USA)
Five minutes into this movie I realized I was in trouble. Eight minutes and I began my own "slipstream" with the fast forward button! I wasn't about to waste my time HOPING this movie would turn around. And yes, like many others here, I was baffled, to say the least, that our beloved world class actor Anthony Hopkins wrote, directed, and starred in this "film".
Actually, I ordered this film by mistake. I meant to get the other Slipstream movie, the one with Mark Hamill in it. I guess I clicked the wrong box and this is what arrived. Oh well, it's got Anthony Hopkins in it, probably gonna be good. Not. Afterward, I grabbed the packing sheet thinking to return it and realized the used copy I ordered cost $0.01. Yes, folks, just a penny (though $2.99 standard shipping). That should have been a clue. Actually, that should have been a BRIGHT NEON WARNING LIGHT. A store selling a dvd for a penny...??! Then again, I wasn't smart enough to catch that, so it may say something about my lack of intellectual prowess.
Hey, I respect each person's right to an opinion, and to those who liked or loved this film, more power to you. For me, it was so bad it was a waste of a penny.
 D R O W N I N G.......I N.......T H E.......S L I P S T R E A M December 3, 2009
Patricia (Queens, New York, USA)
I LOVE STORIES ABOUT TIME TRAVEL! The movie, "FREQUENCY" is amongst my favourites. I also like watching Anthony Hopkins on the screen -- he brings a reality and believablity to every movie I have seen him in. OK -- I've seen him in only two other movies:
"Hearts of Atlantis", (where he played a "remote-viewer" on the run from the authorities), and "The Silence of the Lambs", wherein his often chillingly normally-acting Hannibal Lector, (aka "Hannibal The Cannabal", (canibble?), gave a terrifyingly
real tinge to this fictitious killer. (I remember seeing the same moments of seeming-normality when I watched Tom Snyder's interview with Charles Manson. Manson would seem SO normal for a few minutes...then his eyes would light up like a demented Christmas Tree, suddenly come to evil life...and you again became afraid for Mr. Snyder's safety, despite all the precautions you knew had to be in place....) Looking at pictures of Mr. (or actually, SIR!) Anthony Hopkins, I think he would be PERFECT, to play one of my own personal heros -- Pope John Paul II -- in his older years, if ever such a movie was made. Sir Anthony is the consummate professional --and I was definitely prepared for a real treat in this movie, which he not only acted in, but wrote and produced. A movie about one of my favourite subjects -- time-travel. Not only this, but it also starred some of my favourite performers: JOHN TURTORRO, (who's done a wonderful job on the TV show "MONK", playing the lead character's, Adrian Monk's (TONY SHALHOUB's) brother, Ambrose Monk, KEVIN McCARTHY -- whom I, and just about every other sci-fi movie fan remembers fondly from "INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS", (a role he delighfully replays in this movie (!) -- but, sadly, it is never made clear in this movie whether it is the character or the actor whom we see here!, and CHRISTOPHER LAWFORD, whose other films I sadly have not seen, (yet!)...but whose name evokes fond memories of seeing films in which his late father, Peter Lawford, appeared.
I felt I was guaranteed a treat, and settled back to totally enjoy myself as I slipped the DVD disk of "Slipstream" into my DVD player.,,,,
I must sadly report that I have rarely been SO disappointed in any movie. This may indeed, be the brilliant production of a very brilliant mind -- but my -- quite honestly -- less brilliant mind had a hard time grasping it all, at least as it was presented. The action is disjointed -- as the situations, er...slip between and amongst each other with no seeming continuity. This is SUPPOSED to be a movie about an ageing screen-writer, (Hopkins), whose characters unexpectedly come to life before his eyes. But the line between what, (and who), is real, and what, (and who), is an illusion, is never truly defined, or at least, easily defined -- at least as far as I could see. Only from the period dress, (1940s) of some of the lady characters, do you know that they are, er... "not native" to the 21st century. Whether they are real or illusions is left up to the viewer to decide. But it's real difficult for at least THIS viewer to decide, when the scenes themselves do not follow each other logically, and in sequence. If this was done purposely to make the viewer realize the complications of the main character to distinguinsh between reality and fantasy, the ploy failed completely -- at least for me. In any movie-- or play, book, ballet, or any other media -- the distinction between fantasty and reality, (if there is such a difference in said artistic work), should be drawn, and explained so the audience can UNDERSTAND WHAT IS HAPPENING. For instance, if there was a "1984"ish type sci-fi made, and the people under the goverment's thumb kept their sanity, yet agreed totally with the dictum that "2 + 2 = 5", with no qualms whatsoever, it HAS to be explained to the audience that the reason for this seeming dichotomy is because....the people themselves have decided to secretly count numbers, "1, 2, 4, 5, 3". Without this information, the viewer is confused and left adrift. The many scenes in "SLIPSTREAM" which attempt to portray a dream-like atmosphere, and the difficulty of the main character to distinguish between reality and fantasy, are, sadly, not only dreamlike-- but utterly, and totally confusing. Where is this movie going? One really never completely finds out.
"SLIPSTREAM" is a very noble effort, in that it piled reality and fantasy together, hoping to impress the viewer with the difficulty the main character has in distinguishing one from the other -- but a little more logical sequencing, in both writing and editing
would have been SO welcome! Many episodes of the classic TV show, "THE TWILIGHT ZONE", dealt with the difficulty to differentiate between fantasy and reality, as well....BUT JUST ABOUT EVERY VIEWER COULD FOLLOW THE LOGICALLY-EVOLVING STORY-LINES OF THESE EPISODES. Here, the story-line does NOT logically evolve. It takes TIME for most people to realize the innuendos and subleties in this movie. Most are murky, and even the clearer ones, (such as a vulture quite unexpectedly uttering, "Have A Nice Day"), are quickly followed by even more of the confusing "is it reality or is it fantasy?" scenes which, as the scenes THEMSELVES do not follow in a logical sequence, vut seem to pile upon each other in a disjointed sequencing that makes just about no sense whatsoever, and thus make for an even more confused viewer.
Even so, I'm looking forwared, (eagerly!), to Sir Anthony's next science-fiction, science-fact, or fantasy film. "SLIPSTREAM" shows a brilliant mind at work -- it's just that people with just as much interest in fantasy and science fiction, but without quite as brilliant a mind as Sir Anthony, find it hard to follow a "scatter-scene" script, that seems, which is difficult for, I hazard to guess, most viewers to follow. So, I here respectfully suggest that Sir Anthony watch, (or re-watch), the original TWILIGHT ZONE episodes, the original episdoes of THE OUTER LIMITS, or even some of the episodes of Steven Speilberg's AMAZING STORIES. Amd perhaps, as well, ALICE IN WONDERLAND. Even the strangest stories should have to have a LOGICAL SEQUENCE to them, so that those not quite as brilliant, (and I DO mean brilliant!!!!!) as Sir Anthony can also follow them!
To make a point in a movie, the audience has to UNDERSTAND what's happenng. If the majority of viewers of this movie don't understand it, as I have not, the point is lost. And that is a great pity. Because, even though I couldn't entirely follow the story, the brilliance in the acting, and special effects, still leads me to strongly believe Sir Anthony was trying very hard to get SOME points of view over to the audience. I for one am very, very eager to know what those points were. Unfortunately, as I was not able to follow this disjointed film, I still don't know what they are. And, please believe me when I say I continue to want, very very much want, to know what they were and are. I'll be eagerly awaiting the next movie, to find out! : )
NO REASON WHY WE SHOULD LAUGH AT THE SAME THINGS November 23, 2009
drkhimxz (Freehold, NJ, USA)
I picked this up out of the sale bin because of the name Anthony Hopkins on it. Had read nothing about the film but have come to respect highly his acting. I did note that he had also directed and written it. I have scrupulously avoided reading any reviews or explanations regarding it till I finish this. Wouldn't want to be influenced in my intended guidance for other viewers.
With that out of the way, what about the film. Some reviewers called Neil Diamond's, Jazz Singer, a vanity production when it came out, that is, something that was financed and released only because it was something a big star wanted to do, not because anyone else thought he should do it. Somehow, knowing nothing about the financing of this film, I think the same terms could be applied to it. Yes, one can ultimately make sense of it, put it all together into a meaningful pattern, but, at least for me, by that time, I really only wanted the film to end and had no desire to see or hear any more of it or about it. Whether because it is overly "arty", or in a style that has an audience, but with which I am not familiar , I don't know. All I can say is that I thought it woefully lacking in what I like in a film and that it contained little that gratified me.
The emperor has no clothes. September 13, 2009
Steven Evans
This is one of those films that would probably cater to those who are able to see beauty in anything that is SUPPOSED TO BE beautiful, whether actual beauty exists or not. It reminds me of the story of the emperor who has no clothes. Some of you may know this story. It's the story about an emperor who wants a great garment-worker to make him a garment for a great event. The garment-worker has trouble coming up with a truly original design that will impress the emperor, so he chooses to tell the emperor that the garment is so unique and exquisite that it's invisible. The emperor puts on the "invisible" garment and goes to the event naked. Because the public is talking to, and about, the emperor, everyone comments on how beautiful his clothes are. Only a child points out the obvious by saying, "But Mommy, the emperor has no clothes". This film and films like it, fall into this category for me. If you show enough people something that is completely senseless, and chaotic, some will find it to be beautiful because it was made by a great name (In this case Anthony Hopkins). Or maybe they want to believe that it is designed to stimulate their intellect, so they make something out of nothing and call it genius. It may be possible that this film, and films like it such as "The Fountain", are simply over-my-head. But to me they're just chaos and confusion on the screen that is then passed of as being genius. My guess is that more than 99% of the population will find this movie to be crap. The other 1% is able to look at crap and convince themselves that something transcendent is taking place. So if you're like most people, you probably won't like this movie. If you choose to see it, you certainly shouldn't get your hopes up. I realize that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but it's still true that most people wouldn't choose the word "cute" to describe a spider.
 A Rarety March 4, 2009
India S. Turner (Seattle, WA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Slipstream is a rare kind of movie. Read the other reviews (not the 1 stars) if you want to get a fairly inclusive overview. What makes Slipstream so special is that it is experienced by the left brain as utter nonsense, but the right brain can catch on. It is possible to "get" this film without being able to say what you got. Isn't that delightful! The scenes are an indecipherable kaleidoscope that gave me a headache on my left side (true); there is a rhythm, rather than logic and a relatedness, rather than linear unfolding. Perhaps this film is even brilliant. If you can bear to be in a state of not-knowing, this movie can work for you. If you enjoy not knowing, if you enjoy not having complete control over your experience, you may thrill at this film. Early on, you'll realize that the "plot" is too complex for it to all come together at the end. So don't wait for it. Instead, let yourself enjoy your bafflement.
By leaving understanding entirely in our hands, the movie presents us with pure possibility. How often can we say that? Even though it was too violent for my taste, I felt exhilarated and inspired. What it left me with: Each of us is in a wildly individual, and often even significantly divergent, experience. What allows us to be related to another's experience is our ability to step out of our unique perspective and recognize the commonly held narrative in which we each have our own experience. I have no idea if the film delivered that or if my firing-furiously-at-novelty neurons invented it, but such is the wonder of this marvel, that I could be left with this delicious insight. What might you find?
The least of Slipstream's virtues are lighting, cinematography, editing that becomes a "character" and Hopkins' ability to get an excellent performance out of his actors. Bravo.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 25
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