TOYS (1992) ** I have to applaud the intent, scope, and quite nearly revolutionary intent of Barry Levinson, and no doubt others. American surrealism has never much took off, except in reality. This is a surrealistic attempt to combat that. Buñuel with hidden messages inside his cigarettes, because he knows the narks at JFK are gonna peek. The opening thirty minutes are grandiose art, on hardly a hidden scale, attacking something really big but demanding nothing. Admirable to the extreme, but you have to wonder whether or not things would improve with a plot. Then they give you one, and you realize it wouldn't. Robin Williams, Robin Wright, others...their hearts are all in it, but by definition they're not allowed to acknowledge that they have any idea where to do. The knowledgeable feigning fairy tale, backed up by big-time effects. The seemingly endless Armageddon scene is mainly endless, but also shot spectacularly, to the point that you're willing to be entertained and laugh and even coo, but surely none of that is really what they were driving at, to the extent that they were driving at something. And they were. And in a weird way they caught it. I'd have to recommend that you watch it, no matter what.
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