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FILM-REVIEWS:
D
Dances with wolves
Dangerous game
Dawn rider, The
Dead calm
Dead man walking
Dead men don't wear plaid
Deer hunter, The
Deliverance
Delta force, The
Demolition man
Devil's advocate, The
Dial M for murder
Dillinger
Dirty Harry
Disclosure
Divorce American style
Dog day afternoon
Do the right thing!
Dragnet
Dressed to kill
| Title: | DANCES WITH WOLVES |
| Year: | 1990 |
| Genre: | Western |
| Director: | Kevin Costner |
| The players: | Kevin
Costner
Mary McDonnell Graham Greene Rodney A. Grant Floyd Red Crow Westerman |
| About the film: | Costner plays a disillusioned soldier who makes a manoever on his own on the battlefield with the intention to get killed. He miraculously survives and becomes a hero. He’s then stationed at an abandonned hold near the Sioux-indians. This is where he little by little befriends these peaceful indians. It’s a beautiful film with fine photography and touching story that collected seven Academy awards. Draw-backs are that it’s slow and three hrs long. It’s interesting to see how Hollywood’s look on indians vs whites have changed through the years. In the old westerns the white men were attacked by the blood-thirsty, aggressive and barbaric Commanches. Here the white man is the baddie, intruding on the peaceful, quiet, minding their own business Sioux. Costner’s directorial debut. |
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| Rec.: | Robin Hood – prince of thieves |
| Title: | DANGEROUS GAME |
| Year: | 1993 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Abel Ferrera |
| The players: | Harvey
Keitel
Madonna James Russo Reilly Murphy Victor Argo |
| About the film: | Keitel plays a director who falls in love with his film’s principal person, played by Madonna. Film and reality get mixed up in strange fashion. All involved in this movie probably want to forget all about it. |
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| Title: | DAWN RIDER, THE |
| Year: | 1935 |
| Genre: | Western |
| Director: | Robert N. Bradbury |
| The players: | John
Wayne
Marion Burns Dennis Moore Reed Howes Joseph De Grasse |
| About the film: | Before his breakthrough in 1939 John Wayne played in lots of b-westerns, which were filmed somewhere in between 3 days and 2 weeks on a minimal budget. Because the studios owned the cinemas there was always a market for these movies, it was usual that the audience saw two movies a night, one a-movie and one b-movie. There is no need to see this film unless for die hard fans of the Duke. He plays a stranger in town who helps the sheriff bring order by taking care of the bad guys. No character development, just bad guys, good guys and cowardly guys. The runtime is less than an hour. |
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| Title: | DEAD CALM |
| Year: | 1988 |
| Genre: | Horror |
| Director: | Phillip Noyce |
| The players: | Sam
Neill
Nicole Kidman Billy Zane |
| About the film: | A married couple tries to get over their dead son by taking a long sea journey by themselves. One day, however, they discover a large sinking ship with only one survivor. They save him which is the beginning of this unusually suspense picture. |
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| Title: | DEAD MAN WALKING |
| Year: | 1995 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Tim Robbins |
| The players: | Susan
Sarandon
Sean Penn Robert Prosky Raymond J. Barry R. Lee Ermey |
| About the film: | Very powerful drama about a man sentenced to death for having brutaly murdered some kids. The film is neither pro or anti death penalty, it merely shows the different point of views those involved have. As a viewer you can’t help but feel sorry for the man as he awaits his execution, yet you feel like he’s deserved his fate. The direction is very effective, although nothing much happens the film doesn’t let you rest for a second. It’s certainly not entertainment, it’s not relaxing, on the contrary you’ll need a rest after having seen it. Performances are top-notch, Penn has played low-lifes before, but not quite as well as this time. Surandon, directed by her husband, also puts in a flawless performance as a nun with a big heart, which won her an oscar. She is willing to do whatever it takes to give Poncelet’s case a serious investigation, and be with him till the end. The film shows the great complexity of the situation. Behind every sentenced man there’s a family, behind every victim there’s also a family. |
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| Title: | DEAD MEN DON’T WEAR PLAID |
| Year: | 1983 |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Director: | Carl Reiner |
| The players: | Steve
Martin
Rachel Ward Reni Santoni Carl Reiner George Gaynes |
| About the film: | Interesting parody that tries to capture the mood of the old film noirs. Scenes from classics with Ingrid Bergman, Charles Laughton, Cary Grant, Joan Crawford etc are interwoven with the plot, an original idea that doesn’t quite succeeds. The story is often strained and many of the old stars have very short appearnaces that doesn’t add much except a familiar face. Contains a large dose of odd sense of humour, like in THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS and LA STORY but one notch below. Steve Martin himself is not too proud of the film. |
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| Rec.: | Man with two brains, The |
| Title: | DEER HUNTER, THE |
| Year: | 1978 |
| Genre: | War |
| Director: | Michael Cimino |
| The players: | Robert
De Niro
John Cazale John Savage Meryl Streep Christopher Walken |
| About the film: | A risky project; anti-war wasn’t exactly the optimal choice of theme in ’78 and Cimino had hardly any merits when he was to direct this large budget picture. We follow some steel-workers who goes to Nam where they’re captured and forced to play Russian roulette against each other. This change their psyches forever and returning to US they have problems adjusting to normal life. Very strong and tragic story with De Niro giving one of his best performances of his career. Winner of five Oscars. |
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| Title: | DELIVERANCE |
| Year: | 1972 |
| Genre: | Thriller |
| Director: | John Boorman |
| The players: | Jon
Voight
Burt Reynolds Ned Beatty Ronny Cox Billy McKinney |
| About the film: | Four big-city guys get more than they bargained for when they decide to go canoeing a couple of days. They travel only a few miles to come very far from what they’re used to. It’s very seldom that we have to prove to each other what we’re all about in a dangerous situation that we’ve never faced before. That’s the strength of this film; in the beginning we see what impression they try to give each other, by the end we know what they’re really made of. Terrific acting from all four. Interesting to see Reynolds in an early role, before he started doing b-comedies. Debut for Beatty and Cox. |
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| Title: | DELTA FORCE, THE |
| Year: | 1986 |
| Genre: | Action |
| Director: | Menahem Golan |
| The players: | Chuck
Norris
Lee Marvin Martin Balsam George Kennedy Robert Vaughn |
| About the film: | Norris is captain of the delta force on a mission in the Middle East. Some of the action sequences are corny and the plot isn’t waterproof either. Unusual for Norris to have serious co-stars. |
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| Title: | DEMOLITION MAN |
| Year: | 1993 |
| Genre: | Action |
| Director: | Marco Brambilla |
| The players: | Sylvester
Stallone
Wesley Snipes Sandra Bullock Nigel Hawthorne Bob Gunton |
| About the film: | Films predicting a black future aren’t too unusual but this film takes place in LA 2022 AD when the city hasn’t had a murder in five years! Naturally the police force isn’t used to deal with dangerous criminals, most of them are frozen alive and others are kept in the sewer system. A dangerous criminal is awakened to kill the leader of the people living in the sewers but he has other plans too. The police force get a bigger problem than they can cope with. They have to wake a cop of yesterday. Totally ridiculous story is partially saved by nice action-sequences, cool characters and comic sequences (most of them concerning Stallone’s problems to adjust to life in the future). |
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| Title: | DEVIL’S ADVOCATE, THE |
| Year: | 1997 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Taylor Hackford |
| The players: | Keanu
Reeves
Al Pacino Charlize Theron Jeffrey Jones Judith Ivey |
| About the film: | Reeves plays a skilful lawyer who works in the country but gets an offer he can’t resist from New York. He and his wife move in to an old house where his boss, Pacino, also lives. Pacino seems to have supernatural qualities. The film is very tense but the plot doesn’t make sense, it’s just strange. The film raises a few notches as soon as Pacino is around adding a comic touch to an otherwise overblown film. A lot of tiring husband and wife quarrel. |
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| Rec.: | Rosemary’s baby |
| Title: | DIAL M FOR MURDER |
| Year: | 1954 |
| Genre: | Thriller |
| Director: | Alfred Hitchcock |
| The players: |  Ray
Milland
Robert Cummings Grace Kelly John Williams Anthony Dawson |
| About the film: | Milland and Kelly plays a married couple, Tony and Margot Wendice. Tony suspects that Margot is about to leave him for another man and that would be bad since they both live on her assets. Tony blackmails Swann into murdering her but the unexpected happens. The plot is very well thought out except for one thing; Margot should be much more curious about a certain phonecall. Milland is superb and the rest of the cast is very good. Almost all action takes place in the Wendices’ living room. In that sense this movie much resembles Rear window, also filmed in 1954. This is the work of a master, with very small means Hitchcock makes the film exciting and interesting. Filmed in 3D. |
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| Rec.: | Rear window |
| Title: | DILLINGER |
| Year: | 1973 |
| Genre: | Action |
| Director: | John Milius |
| The players: | Warren
Oates
Ben Johnson Cloris Leachman Richard Dreyfuss Harry Dean Stanton |
| About the film: | Purvis (Ben Johnson) sets out on a personal quest to get the world rid of some of the most infamous gangsters including "Machine gun" and "Baby face", but above all: John Dillinger. Oates plays the part of his career in this violent and romanticized yarn. |
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| Title: | DIRTY HARRY |
| Year: | 1972 |
| Genre: | Action |
| Director: | Don Siegel |
| The players: | Clint
Eastwood
Harry Guardino Reni Santoni John Larch Andy Robinson |
| About the film: | Eastwood got the perfect opportunity to change the direction of his career from westerns to action-films. Paul Newman, John Wayne and Frank Sinatra were all considered for the part but now it’s obvious that Clint was the correct choice. He plays Harry Callahan, a San Francisco cop who doesn’t care much for authorities, he deals with the criminals according to his own moral code. A sick serial killer pesters Frisco so Harry and his monstrous gun go to work. The film’s theme is how to deal with maniacs. The killer talks about his civil rights which infuriates Harry but the authorities agree with the mad-man. Should the cops decide themselves what is right and what is wrong, putting them, perhaps, on the same level as the criminals? Is this the case already? |
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| Rec.: | Escape from Alcatraz |
| Title: | DISCLOSURE |
| Year: | 1994 |
| Genre: | Thriller |
| Director: | Barry Levinson |
| The players: | Michael
Douglas
Demi Moore Donald Sutherland Caroline Goodall Dylan Baker |
| About the film: | Moore and Douglas plays two workers on a big company. Moore tries to seduce him in her office and when she fails she tries her best to get him framed for sexual harassment. Most of the other employees take her part and Douglas is living a nightmare. The story is effective and Douglas is good as usual. |
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| Rec.: | Basic instinct |
| Title: | DIVORCE AMERICAN STYLE |
| Year: | 1967 |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Director: | Bud Yorkin |
| The players: | Dick
van Dyke
Debbie Reynolds Jason Robards Jean Simmons Van Johnson |
| About the film: | Nice downbeat satire about the problems of being married and divorced respectively. The place is California where all kids at least have two mothers and two fathers. It’s also the place where men work overtime to earn enough money to support their ex-wives. Reynolds and van Dyke plays a married couple, but they’re considering a divorce. The early bathroom scene is a very unusual scene that says a lot. They prepare to go to sleep. They both have their routines which runs smoothly although the bathroom is small. Still they irritate each other. When they finally divorce it doesn’t take long till they realise married life wasn’t too bad. |
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| Rec.: | Tender trap, The |
| Title: | DOG DAY AFTERENOON |
| Year: | 1975 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Sidney Lumet |
| The players: | Al
Pacino
John Cazale Charles Durning James Broderick Chris Sarandon |
| About the film: | Sonny and Sal try to rob a bank but things don’t exactly run smoothly. The police soon has the place surrounded but Sonny and Sal have eight hostages so they have the upper hand. The police try to accommodate to all their wishes. Although the film is based on a true story the style of the film sometimes seems fake. Until the very end I had the feeling "Can’t the police do anything at all?" then the film takes a dramatic turn. A film that proves Pacino’s exceptional talent. |
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| Rec.: | Serpico |
| Title: | DO THE RIGHT THING! |
| Year: | 1989 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Spike Lee |
| The players: | Danny
Aiello
Ossie Davis Ruby Dee Giancarlo Esposito Spike Lee |
| About the film: | Lee’s directorial debut gives the viewer plenty to think about and is at the same time very entertaining. It takes place during a couple of hot summer-days in NY. People get easily irritated and sooner or later they have to let it all out… Very talky, ready witted film where we really get to know the people who live there and see the opposition grow. The end stands in stark contrast to the rest of the film and attracted much attention. Sometimes when we’ve had to much of it all we don’t think rational any longer and these things might happen. |
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| Title: | DRAGNET |
| Year: | 1987 |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Director: | Tom Mankiewicz |
| The players: | Dan
Aykroyd
Tom Hanks Harry Morgan Christopher Plummer Dabney Coleman |
| About the film: | Aykroyd and Hanks play the odd police couple, Aykroyd is a bore and a real stickler for clauses and paragraphs while Hanks just has girls on his mind. The film starts out good but as they get involved in a much too unreal case the film loses momentum. |
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| Rec.: | Blusbrothers |
| Title: | DRESSED TO KILL |
| Year: | 1980 |
| Genre: | Horror |
| Director: | Brian De Palma |
| The players: | Angie
Dickinson
Nancy Allen Michael Caine Keith Gordon Dennis Franz |
| About the film: | Scary, exciting film and although many elements are taken directly from Hitchcock’s films this one’s De Palma’s all the way. Not too hard to figure out who the killer is but the directing is very steady which makes it worthwhile anyway. |
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