Slipstream

Impressions before seeing it
Never heard of it until I caught the trailer on one of my DVDs. Looked cool and original.

How was it?
The most impressive thing about Slipstream is that Anthony Hopkins pulls a quadruple threat: he wrote, directed, starred, and composed the music. It's impressive because this is a smart movie. Too smart. Lucky for them I don't usually quit watching a movie unless it's unbearable, because it was hard to get into at first. The characters aren't that interesting or sympathetic, and a plot barely exists (there's even a character who screams "WE LOST THE PLOT!"), so that and the fast but seemingly random editing made it confusing, and there was really no reason for me to keep watching except out of curiosity for where it was going.

This is the first piece of avant-garde cinema I've seen since my film classes, and possibly also the most accessible - although still confusing. From what I gathered, the movie is about an aging writer going senile, and his real life begins to blend with his career and the world of cinema and filmmaking so much that he can no longer differentiate between the two. The fourth wall is constantly broken, the characters often break character, and plenty of self-referencing goes on. Sometimes it's fun and cool, and again, sometimes it's confusing. But I suppose not knowing what's going on makes you feel exactly like the senile old man, so it works.

Recommendation
I was expecting a lot different, and it's definitely a unique and bold project for Hopkins to take on, but when a movie goes too far over the heads of audiences it ends up being unsatisfying, so it's not for most people. I did like parts of it though - there are some scenes that redeem it.