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FILM-REVIEWS:
C
California suite
Call Northside 777
Candleshoe
Candyman
Cape Fear
Cars that ate Paris, The
Central do Brasil
Charge of the light brigade,
The
Charley Varrick
China syndrome, The
Chinatown
City slickers
Client, The
Cliffhanger
Clockwise
Clockwork orange, A
Close encounters of the
third kind
Cold comfort farm
Color of money, The
Colors
Comfort of strangers
Cool hand Luke
Courage under fire
Crazy in love
Criss cross
Crossing Delancey
| Title: | CALIFORNIA SUITE |
| Year: | 1978 |
| Genre: | Comedy, Drama |
| Director: | Herbert Ross |
| The players: | Jane
Fonda
Alan Alda Maggie Smith Michael Caine Walter Matthau |
| About the film: | Four different stories, based on a Neil Simon play, all taking place on a luxury hotel in Hollywood. Fonda and Alda play a divorced couple both wanting custody of their daughter. Smith plays an oscar-nominated British actress who, along with her gay friend, played by Caine, goes to the oscar ceremony. These four persons are all very verbal and sarcastic, especially Maggie Smith’s character. All are well acted, Smith won an oscar (in reality, not in the film). Richard Pryor and Bill Cosby play two "friends" who, along with their wives, go on vacation to play tennis. This story is plain slap-stick and doesn’t remind of the first two at all. The fourth story is the funniest thanks to the comic talent of Walter Matthau. He was on a party without his wife, when he’s about to retire to his hotel room he finds that his brother has provided him with female company for the night. Big trouble the next morning when his wife arrives. Very talkative film. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | Plaza suite |
| Title: | CALL NORTHSIDE 777 |
| Year: | 1948 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Henry Hathaway |
| The players: | James
Stewart
Richard Conte Lee J. Cobb Helen Walker Moroni Olsen |
| About the film: | Based on a true story about two innocent men who were framed for the murder of a policeman. Stewart plays a stubborn journalist convinced of the men’s innocence. Stewart excels in parts like this, playing a nice guy working hard for what he believes in. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: |
| Title: | CANDLESHOE |
| Year: | 1978 |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Director: | Norman Tokar |
| The players: | David
Niven
Jodie Foster Helen Hayes Leo McKern Veronica Quilligan |
| About the film: | During the 60’s to 80’s Disney had given up animated pictures and made adventure films, often with kids in the leading roles, instead. Young Jodie Foster plays approximately the same part as she did in FREAKY FRIDAY, which she did for Disney right before this film. A street wise girl who helps a villain (McKern) find a treasure on an old farm. Niven is very good as Priory, the butler. Recommended for kids. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | Freaky Friday |
| Title: | CANDYMAN |
| Year: | 1992 |
| Genre: | Horror |
| Director: | Bernard Rose |
| The players: | Virginia
Madsen
Tony Todd Xander Berkeley Kasi Lemmons Vanessa Williams |
| About the film: | Horror-film that uses the shock-technique to keep the viewer in check; anything can happen at anytime. Candyman is a super-natural serial-killer who operates in a ghetto and strikes when his name is pronaounced five times in front of the bathroom mirror. A young bold female journalist goes to the ghetto to write an article about "the legend". Candyman starts to kill everyone in Helen’s surrounding so that she becomes the only suspect. Not exactly original. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | In the deep woods |
| Title: | CAPE FEAR |
| Year: | 1991 |
| Genre: | Horror |
| Director: | Martin Scorsese |
| The players: | Nick
Nolte
Robert De Niro Jessica Lange Juliette Lewis Joe Don Baker |
| About the film: | Remake of Cape Fear from 1962. Here Nolte and De Niro replaces Peck and Mitchum respectively although the latter two have parts in this version too. De Niro is uncanny, he shows that he is an actor of some range. The story is very close to the original but this film is much scarier. The plot is as follows: De Niro has just served a long sentence and now he wants to let his former counsel suffer as much as he has done himself during the last ten years. Nolte is very good as the counsel who lives in a big house with a beautiful wife, a nice daughter and a dog. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: |
| Title: | CARS THAT ATE PARIS, THE |
| Year: | 1974 |
| Genre: | Thriller |
| Director: | Peter Weir |
| The players: | Terry
Camilleri
John Meillon Melissa Jaffa Kevin Miles |
| About the film: | Australian director Peter Weir's first film should be looked upon as an experiment. The citizens of Paris (a little hole in Australia) supports themselves by arranging car accidents and sell the wrecks. Camilleri is one of the victims who survives and therefore is forced to stay in Paris. Little by little he starts to understand what’s going on. The film is bizarre, boring and so slow it’s standing in cement. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: |
| Title: | CENTRAL DO BRASIL |
| Year: | 1999 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Walter Salles |
| The players: | Fernanda
Montenegro
Marília Pêra Vinícius de Oliveira Soia Lira Othon Bastos |
| About the film: | Brazilian production about a kid who loses his mother and then sets out to find his father. Helping him on his quest is a middle aged woman who earns her living by helping analphabets writing letters. The film is notoriously slow and doesn’t make you care too much about the characters. What comes through is an image of life in Brazil. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: |
| Title: | CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE, THE |
| Year: | 1936 |
| Genre: | Action |
| Director: | Michael Curtiz |
| The players: | Errol
Flynn
Olivia de Havilland Patric Knowles Nigel Bruce David Niven |
| About the film: | Lavish early action film where Flynn plays an English major stationed in India who attacks a Russian fortification with his cavalry. There’s also a battle for de Havilland. |
| Rating: |
 |
| Rec.: | Adventures of Robin Hood, The |
| Title: | CHARLEY VARRICK |
| Year: | 1973 |
| Genre: | Thriller |
| Director: | Don Siegel |
| The players: | Walter
Matthau
Joe Don Baker Felicia Farr John Vernon Andy Robinson |
| About the film: | Walter Matthau is better than one might expect in a non-comic role, as Charley Varrick, a small time robber. He and his friends robs a bank and are surprised to find that they have just laid their hands on $ 75.000. That means that it’s probably mafia money and they won’t live more than two or three more days. But Varrick is a resourceful fella, lots of fun watching him always being one step ahead and one thought quicker than the mob. As a viewer you’re completely on his side, but the fact is that he is a low life, he has killed 4 cops in a violent bank robbery. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | Dirty Harry |
| Title: | CHINA SYNDROME, THE |
| Year: | 1979 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | James Bridges |
| The players: |  Jane
Fonda
Jack Lemmon Michael Douglas Scott Brady James Hampton |
| About the film: | Fonda and Douglas play two journalists who visit a nuclear plant to make a reportage when an incident takes place. The power company wants to black it out so that they don’t have to shut the plant down. Very tense and exciting with perfect performances, especially from Jack Lemmon. The film received much attention because a nuclear plant accident took place soon after its release. One of many films from the 70’s that shows how men in high positions misuse their power. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | All the presidents men |
| Title: | CHINATOWN |
| Year: | 1974 |
| Genre: | Film-noir |
| Director: | Roman Polanski |
| The players: |  Jack
Nicholson
Faye Dunaway John Huston Perry Lopez John Hillerman |
| About the film: | Elegant film-noir set in L.A. during a drought in the 30’s. Private eye Gittes investigates a drowning accident and clues leads him to the head of the water-company. Polanski does a tremendous job of keeping the film interesting and mysterious from the first minute till the end. Faye Dunaway plays a puzzling femme fatale and John Huston is brilliant as Noah Cross – a dangerous and powerful man who only cares about himself. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: |
| Title: | CITY SLICKERS |
| Year: | 1991 |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Director: | Ron Underwood |
| The players: | Billy
Crystal
Daniel Stern Bruno Kirby Patricia Wettig Jack Palance |
| About the film: | Three big city guys start feeling old and want to do something wild to make them feel young again. They go on a cattle-safari but get more than they asked for. Sporadically funny. Palance gives a good performance for which he won an oscar. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | City slickers: the legend of Curly’s gold |
| Title: | CLIENT, THE |
| Year: | 1994 |
| Genre: | Thriller |
| Director: | Joel Schumacher |
| The players: | Susan
Sarandon
Tommy Lee Jones Brad Renfro Anthony Edwards J.T. Walsh |
| About the film: | Based on the Grisham book with the same name. Renfro plays a young boy who hears the last words of a lawyer who then commits suicide. The FBI wants the boy to talk while the mob wants him to keep quiet. The boy understands that he needs some advice and support from someone who knows these situations and turns to Sarandon. The story is hardly original, rather slow and some of the scenes are superflous and doesn’t advance the story one bit making this a potential yawner (like The Firm). Sarandon gives a solid performance. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | Pelican brief, The |
| Title: | CLIFFHANGER |
| Year: | 1993 |
| Genre: | Action |
| Director: | Renny Harlin |
| The players: | Sylvester
Stallone
Michael Lithgow Michael Rooker Janine Turner Paul Winfield |
| About the film: | Lithgow and his villains goes to the mountains to collect some money. Stallone is better than usual as a mountain climber who has to face them. Beautiful photography; filmed in the Dolomites. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: |
| Title: | CLOCKWISE |
| Year: | 1985 |
| Genre: | Farce |
| Director: | Christopher Morahan |
| The players: | John
Cleese
Penelope Wilton Alison Steadman Stephen Moore Sharon Maiden |
| About the film: | Cleese plays a very punctual headmaster who’s going to a congress. Problems start when he takes the wrong train and believe me, it gets worse. The film is sporadically funny but Cleese sure could use some more charismatic co-stars. He carries this film all by himself. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: |
| Title: | CLOCKWORK ORANGE, A |
| Year: | 1971 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Stanley Kubrick |
| The players: | Malcolm
McDowell
Patrick Magee Michael Bates Adrienne Corri Aubrey Morris |
| About the film: | Strong, sometimes repugnant, tale about Alex, who along with his four droogs spend the nights terrorizing and raping innocent people just for the fun of it. Alex is a menace to the society, he always does what he feels like, he never restrains himself. He becomes subject to a political program that makes him feel pain whenever he just thinks about sex or violence. The subject of the film is clearly if anyone should have the right to change another persons thoughts or feelings or, does everyone have the right to an own will, even if it’s violence and rape? The film was banned in several countries because it "glorifies violence and takes a stand for Alex" which is not really the case. After the treatment Alex suffered a lot, the political program was criticized by the press, so eventually Alex received a new treatment, to get back to where he started from. With this film Kubrick has created a work of art; the film is set in London of the near future, the costumes are original, the camera-work fascinating and the classic music by Beethoven and Rimsky-Korsakov suits the film well. Alex and his droogs use very slangy language. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: |
| Title: | CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND |
| Year: | 1977 |
| Genre: | Science-fiction |
| Director: | Steven Spielberg |
| The players: | Richard
Dreyfuss
Francois Truffaut Teri Garr Melinda Dillon Cary Guffey |
| About the film: | Another civilization comes to visit us, and not with the purpose to wipe us out. The film is very mysterious until the end and like in 2001: A space odyssey we’re not spoon-fed with the answers. Some UFO-scenes are majestic and the end is wonderful but Spielberg has done much better than this. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | E.T. – the extra terrestrial |
| Title: | COLD COMFORT FARM |
| Year: | 1995 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | John Schlesinger |
| The players: | Eileen
Atkins
Kate Beckinsale Sheila Burrell Stephen Fry Freddie Jones |
| About the film: | Beckinsale plays an upper-class woman who moves in to a farm to find inspiration and ideas for a new book. On the farm she meets a lot of strange and unhappy characters who all want to get away from the farm but they’re forced to stay by an old grandmother. Beckinsale basically turns the place upside down. She sets out on a personal quest to make everyone on the farm happy. The quest seems impossible, but she’s young, bright and beautiful. It is very unlikely that she would succeed, chances are that she would ruin everybody’s lives. The action takes place in the 20’s and has a strong resemblance to Austen’s Emma. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | Emma |
| Title: | COLOR OF MONEY, THE |
| Year: | 1986 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Martin Scorsese |
| The players: | Paul
Newman
Tom Cruise Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio John Torturro Forest Whitaker |
| About the film: | Sequel to Newman’s hit The hustler from 1961. Newman eventually won an oscar as the infamous pool-player Fast Eddie Felson. Newman had been nominated a number of times without winning and didn’t attend the ceremonies any longer when he won. Felson discovers a young pool-talent and they team up to win some money together. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: |
| Title: | COLORS |
| Year: | 1988 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Dennis Hopper |
| The players: | Robert
Duvall
Sean Penn Maria Conchita Alonso Randy Brooks Damon Wayans |
| About the film: | Cool veteran police Duvall has to work with hot-headed youngster Penn who wants to earn respect on the streets. Duvall on the other hand wants to be like a father to the half-criminal kids. Unusually meaningless movie. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | Fort Apache, the Bronx |
| Title: | COMFORT OF STRANGERS |
| Year: | 1990 |
| Genre: | Thriller |
| Director: | Paul Schrader |
| The players: | Natasha
Richardson
Rupert Everett Christopher Walken Helen Mirren |
| About the film: | Everett and Richardson plays a couple who travel to Venice for their honeymoon. There they meet a frightful man who insists on showing them around. The couple try to avoid him but then visit him volounteerly at the end of the movie which doesn’t make sense and proves to be stupid. Walken is scary. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: |
| Title: | COOL HAND LUKE |
| Year: | 1967 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Stuart Rosenberg |
| The players: | Paul
Newman
George Kennedy J.D. Cannon Strother Martin Harry Dean Stanton |
| About the film: | Paul Newman plays Luke Jackson, a man who always walks his own way and therefore has trouble adjusting to life in prison. He gains the respect of the other convicts soon enough but the warders are about to teach him some manners. It’s a tragic and touching story about a funny and original man who cannot survive in prison. Oscar-winner Kennedy is superb as Jackson’s fellow convict. The most famous part of the film is the egg-eating contest. Jackson says that he can eat fifty eggs in one hour, something he has never done before and no one except Kennedy belives he can, a typical Jackson-whim. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: |
| Title: | COURAGE UNDER FIRE |
| Year: | 1996 |
| Genre: | War |
| Director: | Edward Zwick |
| The players: | Denzel
Washington
Meg Ryan Lou Diamond Phillips Michael Moriarty Matt Damon |
| About the film: | If not the first then certainly one of the first films about the Gulf-war. Washington plays a colonel who, by accident, commanded fire against an American tank, the memories torment him. We meet him after the war when he’s investigating whether or not Ryan (who was killed in action)deserves to be the first female to get a Medal of Honor. The process should be a mere formality, but by interviewing the surviving members of her team he notices that their "memories" of her and the situation differ a lot. We see by flashbacks what they remember from the situation, a situation where the viewer actually can doubt that what he sees really happened. It’s a technique frequently used in murder mysteries and that’s almost what this feels like at times. The documentary style of the film also makes it feel more like a film made for TV, than a big Hollywood-film and Zwick directed TV-series before going into movies. I think Meg Ryan should stick to comedies or lighter dramas instead of like in this film playing a screaming macho captain, someone like Geena Davis would probably be more suited for the part. The battle scenes are tense and realistic. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: |
| Title: | CRAZY IN LOVE |
| Year: | 1992 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Martha Coolidge |
| The players: | Holly
Hunter
Gena Rowlands Bill Pullman Julian Sands Herta Ware |
| About the film: | Holly plays a young woman who lives on an small island together with her mother, her grandmother and her sisters. The problem is lack of men. Her husband lives with them but she gets suspicious as soon as he goes to work. Assuming that he has affairs with other women she starts seeing another man. Nice performances all around but the story isn’t particularly interesting. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: |
| Title: | CRISS CROSS |
| Year: | 1992 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Chris Menges |
| The players: | Goldie
Hawn
Arliss Howard James Gammon David Arnott Steve Buscemi |
| About the film: | Hawn in a serious character part for a change, she plays an abandonned mother who struggles to give her son a decent childhood. Hawn is surprisingly good in this kind of role. The film focuses on what her son thinks and feels. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | Melvin and Howard |
| Title: | CROSSING DELANCEY |
| Year: | 1988 |
| Genre: | Romantic drama |
| Director: | Joan Micklin Silver |
| The players: | Amy
Irving
Reizl Bozyk Peter Riegert Jeroen Krabbé Sylvia Miles |
| About the film: | Cosy little film about a 35 years old woman (Irving) who still hasn’t found mr right which worries her old fashion grandmother Bubbie. Irving meets a sympathetic man at the bookstore where she works but her mother arranges dates with another bachelor. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | Frankie and Johnny |
