Absolutely Fantastic

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

I've heard a spectrum of descriptions when it comes to this film, even to the extent of it being labelled masturbatory - however if I could, I'd give it an 11.Bob Dylan and Larry Charles, two phenomenal storytellers in their own right, soak their self- contained dystopia in the kind of metaphor that would leave Wes Anderson and Tarantino stumped.Coen brothers favourites Jeff Bridges and John Goodman, Pre-AHS Jessica Lange and Angela Bassett, Penelope Cruz and Mickey Rourke with award-worthy performances, Val Kilmer and Giovanni Ribisi with the monologues of the decade. All that and the man himself, winding his way through his visual lyric, singing songs and just trying to make sense of it all.It's a weird one that triggers all sorts of reactions, and certainly raises a lot of questions - whether reflective of our own world views, or simply "why are we watching this at 2am?" Personally, I'd call this the cinematic equivalent of "Waiting for Godot"; a perfect reflection of the irrationality of 20th century dogma.By no means casual viewing, but a great one for moments of existential crises.

In a dystopian Latin-American future, cynical has-been rock star Jack Fate (really? Is that the best name you could come up with?) supplies the soundtrack to revolution, which is not televised, and isn't a real revolution anyway.You may remember the first time you ever heard one of Dylan's classic songs, and began to realise that it didn't matter that it made no sense. The point was just to let it wash over you and grin inwardly at the sharp sardonic points, the clever bad rhymes and the surreal metaphors. M&A is like that with moving pictures and stunt casting. Jessica Lange is the best, John Goodman (doing his usual crooked hard-drinkin' hustler shtick) is the worst. Bob himself is best when performing with the band, but if you remember that he was (only!) 60 when this was made, it's surprising how tired and frail he looks and sounds. No Bob, we don't like it when your singing sounds like you're going to cough something up, even if you do. And he still can't act, or should that be 'doesn't bother to act'? Masked and Anonymous is fun for Dylan fans and cameo-spotters - what more could a Dylan fan want? Just don't expect to be spoon-fed.

This is a great movie, great visuals, great music, great acting...it's not for everyone but if you like intense emotional outbursts by some great actors, like you've never seen them before, which are really funny, the costumes remind me of 1969 in LA, if you can dig a totally acid drenched setting, ambiguity, mysticism, magical colors and above all, some great Dylan performances..check it out. It's worth it for just his performances. Made me go and dig out Nashville Skyline and listened to it this morning. I happened to catch it on HDNet and was hypnotized. I didn't see it from the beginning so clearly must do that, but I don't think the plot line matters, it's just fun, weird, annoying but some great lines and some great performances. Makes you think, about what I don't know but somehow it's a hopeful sort of movie. Got to get the DVD.

This is just so "Dylan". It's like hearing Dylan's songs for the first time way back in the 60's. We said back then: "What IS he trying to say? And he can't even sing!" It is the same with this film: "What IS going on? And he can't even act!" Everyone will have their own interpretation. Some will like it, some not. Some will understand it, some not. But I'm sure, just like his first songs, it will be a classic. People will want to watch it over and over again, for generations to come. I've seen it 5 times, and passed it on to my sons. Who knows what they think. Like poetry, it's food for the intellect, and who can explain poetry.