|
|
FILM-REVIEWS:
B
Backdraft
Bad influence
Band wagon, The
Barfly
Basic instinct
Bathing beauty
Batman
Batman forever
Bean
Beetlejuice
Ben Hur
Big chill, The
Big country, The
Big Red
Big trouble in Little China
Black beaty
Blade runner
Bloodbrothers
Blood in blood out
Born on the fourth of July
Born yesterday
Boxing Helena
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Brassed off
Breaking the waves
Brewster's millions
Broadcast news
Bullitt
| Title: | BACKDRAFT |
| Year: | 1991 |
| Genre: | Action |
| Director: | Ron Howard |
| The players: | Kurt
Russell
William Baldwin Robert De Niro Donald Sutherland Jennifer Jason Leigh |
| About the film: | Baldwin and Russell plays two brothers whose father was a fireman who died on duty. Russell became a fireman anyway and now Baldwin has the same intention but Russell thinks he’s to weak and does his best to alter his brother’s plans. Howard’s goal with the film seems to be that he wants to show how heroic and tough firemen are, but the plot is weak. |
| Rating: |
  |
| Rec.: |
| Title: | BAD INFLUENCE |
| Year: | 1990 |
| Genre: | Thriller |
| Director: | Curtis Hanson |
| The players: | James
Spader
Rob Lowe Lisa Zane Christian Clemenson David Duchovny |
| About the film: | Spader plays a succesful young man who meets Lowe who seems nice but not for long. Nothing new, but still rather exciting. Spader plays a part he was made for, he fit in in the upper-class and seems defenceless against a man like Lowe. |
| Rating: |
|
| Rec.: |
| Title: | BAND WAGON, THE |
| Year: | 1953 |
| Genre: | Musical |
| Director: | Vincente Minnelli |
| The players: | Fred
Astaire
Cyd Charisse Oscar Levant Nanette Fabray Jack Buchanan |
| About the film: | Backstage musical where actor/director Cordova agrees to direct a musical although he has never done it before. Starring in his musical are aging star Tony Hunter and ballet queen mrs Gerard. Cordova decides to make the musical very dramatic and heavy instead of entertaining which proves to be a terrible mistake. The films theme, a group of people puting on a show, is a common musical plot but this one has a little bit more to offer. The film has two or perhaps three good musical numbers plus "The girl hunt" which is a small film within the film that spoofs the hard-boiled detective genre. |
| Rating: |
|
| Rec.: | Easter parade |
| Title: | BARFLY |
| Year: | 1987 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Barbet Schroeder |
| The players: | Mickey
Rourke
Faye Dunaway Alice Krige Jack Nance Frank Stallone |
| About the film: | Rourke plays Henry, a drunkard who’s some kind of a gifted poet. He’s always broke and often involved in bar-fights. He’s bright enough to earn his living on his poetry but can’t stop drinking and doesn’t seem to want to either, he likes to live in his own way without any responsibilities. He meets another outcast of the society, Dunaway, who’s also constantly drinking. Misunderstood by the rest of the world they sort of understand each other. Although one starts to like them I wouldn’t want to live anywhere near them. Rourke has a very personal way of acting, very slow talking and moving. The film is dark and gloomy. |
| Rating: |
|
| Rec.: | Leaving Las Vegas |
| Title: | BASIC INSTINCT |
| Year: | 1992 |
| Genre: | Thriller |
| Director: | Paul Verhoeven |
| The players: | Michael
Douglas
Sharon Stone George Dzundza Jeanne Tripplehorn Denis Arndt |
| About the film: | Douglas plays a cop investigating an ice-peak murder. He is soon playing with fire when he falls head over heels for the bold and sexy suspect (Stone). The film is very tense and enthralling and of the type where you never know wether the suspect is guilty or not. The final shot should have been cut; it doesn’t make sense. |
| Rating: |
|
| Rec.: | Disclosure |
| Title: | BATHING BEAUTY |
| Year: | 1944 |
| Genre: | Musical |
| Director: | George Sidney |
| The players: | Red
Skelton
Esther Williams Basil Rathbone Ethel Smith Xavier Cugat |
| About the film: | Silly comedy about Skelton, who meets beautiful girl and wants to study at the same school as she does. He becomes the only male student there and basically turns the place upside down. Skelton doesn’t come to his right. Most musical numbers are forgettable, Williams’s water-finale is the highlight of the film but that isn’t saying much… |
| Rating: |
|
| Rec.: |
| Title: | BATMAN |
| Year: | 1989 |
| Genre: | Adventure, Film-noir |
| Director: | Tim Burton |
| The players: | Michael
Keaton
Jack Nicholson Kim Basinger Robert Wuhl Billy Dee Williams |
| About the film: | The first film in the series describes a dark Gotham City, too dark to make the film pure entertainment. Keaton makes a very weak Dark Knight, the Joker, played by Nicholson, totally steals the show away from him and everyone else. Like the sequels this film is too much of a spectacle; effects, sights and sounds instead of plot and character development which is to be expected from a director like Tim Burton. |
| Rating: |
|
| Rec.: |
| Title: | BATMAN FOREVER |
| Year: | 1995 |
| Genre: | Crime |
| Director: | Joel Schumacher |
| The players: | Val
Kilmer
Tommy Lee Jones Jim Carrey Nicole Kidman Chris O’Donnell |
| About the film: | The third film in the series – with a new Batman and a new director. Schumacher makes the film a little bit lighter but totally overblown. Tommy Lee Jones is a class actor but he was definitely not meant to play the colorful Two-Face. Lot of fun, though, to see Jim Carrey being perfectly cast as Edward Nygma – the Riddler, a part none could have played better. Much special effects and sound, not much heart or brain. |
| Rating: |
|
| Rec.: | Batman |
| Title: | BEAN |
| Year: | 1997 |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Director: | Mel Smith |
| The players: | Rowan
Atkinson
Peter MacNicol Pamela Reed Harris Yulin Burt Reynolds |
| About the film: | Bean is going to represent the museum where he works on a congress in the U.S. Everybody believe he’s an art expert and treat him thereafter. But they soon realize how retarded he is. There are several reasons why this film doesn’t measure up to the TV-series. Bean shouldn’t have co-stars, he’s best alone trying to stay awake in church or make an exam or whatever. It should be just him and his grimaces. That’s not the case in this film, there’s a big plot and Bean is given too few scenes where it’s just him and the camera. I also think Bean is at his best when he’s trying to behave like a grown-up but just can’t. In this film he doesn’t even try to hide the fact that he’s a big child, his biggest interest is getting to the theme park. Still plenty of funny sequences but it’s not what it should have been. |
| Rating: |
|
| Rec.: |
| Title: | BEETLEJUICE |
| Year: | 1988 |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Director: | Tim Burton |
| The players: | Alec
Baldwin
Geena Davis Michael Keaton Jeffrey Jones Catherine O’Hara |
| About the film: | Perhaps Tim Burton’s best film, a very funny and imaginative comedy about two ghosts trying to get rid of a family from New York that moves into "their" house. Vice versa would probably be more natural but here the ghosts, played by Baldwin and Davis, are the most sympathetic characters. They need help and get it from Beetlegeuse. The family is quite odd, O’Hara is very funny as the mother who’s some kind of sculptor (her works look horrible), Ryder plays the sad daughter who’s the only one that takes notice of the ghosts. Keaton stands out as Beetlegeuse, he’s absolutely hilarious. Very funny special effects and suiting, original score. Famous Banana boat song scene. |
| Rating: |
|
| Rec.: |
| Title: | BEN HUR |
| Year: | 1959 |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| Director: | William Wyler |
| The players: | Charlton
Heston
Jack Hawkins Stephen Boyd Haya Harareet Hugh Griffith |
| About the film: | In order to bring people back to the cinemas from the TV-sets the Hollywood studios made some truly big films during this era, and Ben Hur tops the list. The costs were kept to a "reasonable" level by moving the whole production to Italy, where parts of old Rome was rebuilt. Filmed in the unusual and extreme format MGM Camera 65 (2.75:1), it’s definitely not meant for a TV-screen (1.33:1). The film is based on Lew Wallace’s book about Juda Ben Hur’s adventures in and around Rome about 30 AD. It goes on for 3 h 30 min and for that time Ben Hur travels from one fantastic adventure to the next, he knows it’s his destiny. I think that is a problem with the film, there’s no obvious red line, and this guy Ben Hur is too special, and so is most of the things that happen to him. Heston is cast in the title role, no doubt he’s easily the best choice for the job, he was reunited with Wyler, who directed him in THE BIG COUNTRY. But although Heston won an Oscar his play was even stronger in THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. English quality actors were hired to play the Roman officers but the acting is dated, very wooden. The film is a large spectacle that won a record setting 11 Academy awards, the most impressive sequences of the film are the sea battle and the chariot race. In the 1926 version of BEN HUR the sea battle ended in disaster, it’s uncertain whether all extras survived. Wyler didn’t want to make the same mistake and therefore used models instead. Stunt legend Yakima Canutt helped stage the impressive chariot race. Also very good is the way Jesus appears in the film, we never see his face or hear his voice, but we see the impact he has on the other characters. Most of the scenes are great but when you put them together the result is just good. |
| Rating: |
|
| Rec.: | Ten commandments, The |
| Title: | BIG CHILL, THE |
| Year: | 1983 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Lawrence Kasdan |
| The players: | Tom
Berenger
Glenn Close Jeff Goldblum William Hurt Kevin Kline |
| About the film: | Ex-friends of a deceased man get together for a couple of days and talk, party and fall in love. The film is lacking in action, the plot is very thin. Decent acting and a good soundtrack make up for it partially. |
| Rating: |
|
| Rec.: |
| Title: | BIG COUNTRY, THE |
| Year: | 1958 |
| Genre: | Western |
| Director: | William Wyler |
| The players: | Gregory
Peck
Charlton Heston Jean Simmons Burl Ives Chuck Connors |
| About the film: | Epic tale where Peck plays a gentleman who moves from the city to the country. Some cowboys led by Heston starts to harass him but Peck stands upright in the storm. Heston is not as wooden as he use to be but Peck is just that. Country-singer Ives won a supporting oscar. |
| Rating: |
|
| Rec.: |
| Title: | BIG RED |
| Year: | 1962 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Norman Tokar |
| The players: | Gilles
Payant
Walter Pidgeon Emile Genest Janette Bertrand Doris Lussier |
| About the film: | Meaningless formula film about a young boy who helps a dog owner, played by Pidgeon, to take care of his Irish Setter. The boy and the dog, Red, develope a friendship, which is the reason why Pidgeon forbids the boy to see Red anymore. Pidgeon wants to break Red by hitting her when she does anything wrong. These are the conflicts of the film, but being a Disney film of course there’s a happy end. |
| Rating: |
|
| Rec.: |
| Title: | BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA |
| Year: | 1986 |
| Genre: | Action, Adventure |
| Director: | John Carpenter |
| The players: | Kurt
Russell
Kim Cattrall Dennis Dun James Hong Victor Wong |
| About the film: | Kurt Russell plays Jack Burton, a truck-driver from NY who gets involved in a fantastic adventure in old Chinatown. He has to fight some ancient super-natural monks to save a green-eyed beauty from marrying one of the immortal lords. The whole film is made for pure entertainment, tongue-in-cheek with perfect Carpenter music to go long with some funny kung-fu fights. Russell delivers some of the best lines of the film, he’s very good as the dumb hero who’s not afraid of anything. |
| Rating: |
|
| Rec.: | Entrapment |
| Title: | BLACK BEAUTY |
| Year: | 1994 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Caroline Thompson |
| The players: | Sean
Bean
David Thewlis Jim Carter Peter Davison Alun Armstrong |
| About the film: | We follow the life of a horse. It fall’s in love, gets traded, injured and so on. The horses are given human qualities which I’m not particularly fond of. Through a voiceover we learn about Black beauty’s thoughts and feelings. The horses are beautiful and certainly well-trained, so horse fans may like this film, especially young ones. The film is sickly sweet and sentimental. |
| Rating: |
|
| Rec.: |
| Title: | BLADE RUNNER |
| Year: | 1982 |
| Genre: | Science-fiction |
| Director: | Ridley Scott |
| The players: | Harrison
Ford
Rutger Hauer Sean Young Edward James Olmos Daryl Hannah |
| About the film: | The dark, soaked streets with large neon-signs and marketplaces with people from all parts of the world. It’s a visually stunning film, Ridley Scott created a unique atmosphere that several filmmakers have tried to copy. Suiting score by Vangelis. The film takes place in the near future when we’ve created artificial humans to work for us as slaves in space-colonies. These workers have the same intelligence and looks as real humans but are stronger and programmed to live for only four years. Some have escaped from their colony and are terrorizing LA. Ford plays a blade runner, a person who "retires" these creatures. The reason why they have come to earth is to meet their creator and get more life, they have only little time left and they know it. So who’s the villain? Ford also begins to doubt that he himself is human. Basically the plot is thin; Ford hunts down the villains one by one in the city. Harrison Ford didn’t like the filming because the scenery were more important than his acting. |
| Rating: |
|
| Rec.: |
| Title: | BLOODBROTHERS |
| Year: | 1978 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Robert Mulligan |
| The players: | Richard
Gere
Paul Sorvino Tony Lo Binco Lelia Goldoni Danny Aiello |
| About the film: | One of Gere’s best but least known films. A fine slice of life about a working class family in the Bronx. Gere plays the oldest son who has to choose between following his fathers advice and become a construction worker, or his heart. |
| Rating: |
|
| Rec.: | Saturday night fever |
| Title: | BLOOD IN BLOOD OUT |
| Year: | 1993 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Taylor Hackford |
| The players: | Damian
Chapa
Jesse Borego Benjamin Bratt Enrique Castillo Lanny Flaherty |
| About the film: | Violent epic, spinning over ten years, about gang life in East LA. Miklo Velka is a young white guy whose older cousins live in East LA and fight in gang wars. Miklo has a very strong will to join them and so moves there. There are a few problems though, he’s the only non-hispanic there and is perhaps too young but he proves to be very determined and couragous. Miklo seems to be a crazy kid. Although he has never been part of gang fights before he is more than willing to go to extremes even before he knows who he’s fighting and probably not why either. The overacting in this film is among the worst I’ve seen and that goes for everyone in the cast but especially Chapa. Everybody are so tense and serious all the time, not relaxed or natural for one moment. And the language – if I were a hispanic I would be offended. Nevertheless it’s a big film about brotherhood and loyalty in a violent environment. 3 hrs long. |
| Rating: |
|
| Rec.: |
| Title: | BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY |
| Year: | 1989 |
| Genre: | War, Drama |
| Director: | Oliver Stone |
| The players: | Tom
Cruise
Willem Dafoe Raymond J. Barry Caroline Kava Kyra Sedgwick |
| About the film: | The second of Oliver Stone’s three anti-war films. Cruise plays a young man with pride in his heart, Ron Kovic, who’s ready to give his life for Uncle Sam. He goes to Nam, gets injured and is sent to a miltary hospital in the US, he becomes handicapped for life. Kovic expects to be treated with respect for what he’s done for his country but people preach peace and many even feel that he’s a burden to the society and was dumb to go there. This must be the case for many Viet Nam-veterans, which of course, is tragic. Stone also shows how the war went on, a chaos where one might hit one’s best friend with a bullet and women and children are shot down on sight. The part where Kovic goes to Mexico is pointless and could have been skipped. Fun to see Tom Cruise in this type of part, not being the tough confident winner but a loser for life. Oliver Stone won a best director oscar. |
| Rating: |
|
| Rec.: | Platoon |
| Title: | BORN YESTERDAY |
| Year: | 1950 |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Director: | George Cukor |
| The players: | Judy
Holliday
Broderick Crawford William Holden Howard St. John Frank Otto |
| About the film: | Holliday’s first film as the "dumb" blonde, a character she was to repeat in almost all films of her short career. In this film she shows a magnificent sense for sophisticated comedy. Holliday lives with a loud racket-boss who’s treating her bad. To make her more grown-up he hires Holden to educate her, the result is that she begins to use her head for the first time of her life, which is not to Crawford’s liking. Very good performances, especially from controversial oscar winner Holliday. One set-back is that the characters are too extreme to exist for real. Holden too good natured, Crawford too screamy and Holliday too mindless. |
| Rating: |
|
| Rec.: |
| Title: | BOXING HELENA |
| Year: | 1993 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Jennifer Chambers Lynch |
| The players: | Julian
Sands
Sherilyn Fenn Bill Paxton Art Garfunkel Nicolette Scorsese |
| About the film: | Sands plays a doctor who has a car accident with Fenn who gets severly injured. Sands decides not to take her to hospital but to take care of her himself in his home. Her dissatisfaction and his complications due to her are utterly uninteresting. |
| Rating: |
|
| Rec.: |
| Title: | BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA |
| Year: | 1992 |
| Genre: | Horror |
| Director: | Francis Ford Coppola |
| The players: | Gary
Oldman
Keanu Reeves Winona Ryder Anthony Hopkins Richard E. Grant |
| About the film: | This American Dracula picture is one intense glorious mess of moonlight, garlic, blood and wolves without any sense of tact. It doesn’t come close to the classy, stylish English Dracula pictures. Overblown. |
| Rating: |
|
| Rec.: | Horror of Dracula, The |
| Title: | BRASSED OFF |
| Year: | 1996 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Mark Herman |
| The players: | Pete
Postlethwaite
Tara Fitzgerald Ewan McGregor Stephen Tompkins Jim Carter |
| About the film: | British film taking place in a small town where most men work in the coal mine, which is about to close, so they’ll all lose their jobs. The film focuses on some of these miners who play in a brass band. Many of them feel so depressed they’re about to quit playing but then Fitzgerald turns up and changes their minds. Pete Postlethwaite is excellent as the band leader who will play in sickness and in health, the brass band is all he has to live for. Touching film. |
| Rating: |
|
| Rec.: | Raining stones |
| Title: | BREAKING THE WAVES |
| Year: | 1996 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Lars von Trier |
| The players: | Emily
Watson
Stellan Skarsgård Adrian Rawlins Katrin Cartlidge Jean-Marc Barr |
| About the film: | This is a very tragic story about Bess, an emotionally retarded woman, brilliantly played by Watson, and the love of her life, Jan. Bess’ closest friend tells Jan that he must be very careful with his fragile wife because she’ll do anything for him. That proved to be true and the consequences fatal. Jan has an accident on an oil-platform but Bess is a marture who sacrifices herself for someone not as good as she is out of love. The movie is filmed with a hand-camera that almost makes you dizzy at times. |
| Rating: |
|
| Rec.: |
| Title: | BREWSTER’S MILLIONS |
| Year: | 1984 |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Director: | Walter Hill |
| The players: | Richard
Pryor
John Candy Lonette McKee Stephen Collins Jerry Orbach |
| About the film: | Montgomery Brewster will inherit $ 300 M if he manages to spend $30 M in 30 days without owning anything afterwards. And he mustn’t tell anyone about it. Fast-paced comedy with Pryor and Candy in top form and working well together. |
| Rating: |
|
| Rec.: |
| Title: | BROADCAST NEWS |
| Year: | 1987 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | James L. Brooks |
| The players: | William
Hurt
Holly Hunter Albert Brooks Robert Prosky Jack Nicholson |
| About the film: | We get to follow the private lives of some TV-newscasters. Hurt isn’t a journalist, nonetheless he gets the job as anchor-man. Although Hunter doesn’t respect him she can’t help but fall in love with him. Not more than your ordinary love story. |
| Rating: |
|
| Rec.: |
| Title: | BULLITT |
| Year: | 1968 |
| Genre: | Action |
| Director: | Peter Yates |
| The players: | Steve
McQueen
Robert Vaughn Jacqueline Bisset Don Gordon Robert Duvall |
| About the film: | McQueen plays the detective who suspects mischief when he is to protect an accused man before trial. Exciting classic car-chase in San Francisco. McQueen is in top-form. |
| Rating: |
|
| Rec.: | Getaway, The |
