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FILM-REVIEWS:
J
Jacknife
Jane Eyre
Jaws
Jaws 2
JFK
Jubal
Jumanji
Jurassic park
Juror, The
| Title: | JACKNIFE |
| Year: | 1989 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | David Jones |
| The players: | Robert
De Niro
Ed Harris Kathy Baker Charles Dutton Loudon Wainwright III |
| About the film: | Small film about two veterans from Nam. They both have problems to lead a normal life but one of them makes progression while the other one gets drunk every night. The film feels realistic and has good acting, especially from Harris who handles his character with finness. Actors tend to overact when playing unstable and mentally ill persons, Harris doesn’t. The film is dismal and gloomy. |
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| Rec.: | Deer hunter, The |
| Title: | JANE EYRE |
| Year: | 1944 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Robert Stevenson |
| The players: | Joan
Fontaine
Orson Welles Margaret O’Brien Henry Daniell John Sutton |
| About the film: | One of several films based on Brontë’s novel about Jane Eyre, an ugly girl, played by Joan Fontaine(!), who has a very tough childhood. She develops high moral standards and gets a job as a nurse in a strange castle where Rochester, an older man, lives. Welles gives a beautiful performance, his low voice and quiet style makes Rochester mysterious and interesting. Joan Fontaine does basically the same part as in Rebecca, a mild, self-conscious woman, dominated by the people that surround her. |
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| Title: | JAWS |
| Year: | 1975 |
| Genre: | Horror |
| Director: | Steven Spielberg |
| The players: |  Roy
Scheider
Robert Shaw Richard Dreyfuss Lorraine Gary Murray Hamilton |
| About the film: | A young Spielberg whose past work was pretty thin was reluctant to direct a film about a shark terrorizing a small island. One problem was that they couldn’t make a shark that looked real, that’s one reason why we don’t see much of it. Actually our imagination does more than could have been shown on screen. The viewer identifies with Scheider, the chief of police, a sensible man who’s the first to realize there’s a shark problem. To solve it he receives help from a shark-expert, played by Dreyfuss, and an old salt, sensationally played by Robert Shaw. To watch the three of them set out to catch the fish is entertainment of the highest order. Great score by John Williams. After the film’s release fewer people visited bathing places for a couple of years. |
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| Title: | JAWS 2 |
| Year: | 1979 |
| Genre: | Horror |
| Director: | Jeannot Szwarc |
| The players: | Roy
Scheider
Lorraine Gary Murray Hamilton Joseph Mascolo Jeffrey Kramer |
| About the film: | The shark-problems continues on Amity Island. Brody realises the danger but the reluctant mayor turns a deaf ear to the situation and fires him. The mayor should really know better after what happened in Jaws. Szwarc has taken over Spielberg’s job, John Williams music isn’t there when needed, two colourful actors, Shaw and Dreyfuss, is out of the game and what’s left is one of the most meaningless sequel’s in the history of American cinema. |
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| Rec.: | Jaws |
| Title: | JFK |
| Year: | 1991 |
| Genre: | Thriller |
| Director: | Oliver Stone |
| The players: | Kevin
Costner
Sissy Spacek Tommy Lee Jones Kevin Bacon Jack Lemmon |
| About the film: | I get the feeling that this is the result of Stone’s personal investigation. Looks like a documentary which suggests that Oswald was a scapegoat and supports the conspiracy theory. The film is comprehensive but overlong and not as exciting as it tries to be. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | All the presidents men |
| Title: | JUBAL |
| Year: | 1956 |
| Genre: | Western |
| Director: | Delmer Daves |
| The players: | Glenn
Ford
Rod Steiger Ernest Borgnine Valerie French Charles Bronson |
| About the film: | Western version of Othello where Ford arrives at Borgnine’s farm looking for a job. One of Borgnine’s lads, Steiger, heartily dislikes Ford; Ford is succesful both with women and also becomes the best worker on the farm. Steiger is very good as powerful and mean characters like in this picture. Still the film is little more than a standard-western. |
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| Title: | JUMANJI |
| Year: | 1995 |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| Director: | Joe Johnston |
| The players: | Robin
Williams
Bonnie Hunt Kirsten Dunst Bradley Pierce Bebe Neuwirth |
| About the film: | This one’s for young kids. Some children find an old game called Jumanji which they start playing. They shouldn’t. Everytime someone rolls the bones something dangerous happens. Birds, monkeys, lions etc. it doesn’t stop until they finish the game. Good computer animations. |
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| Rec.: | Honey, I shrunk the kids |
| Title: | JURASSIC PARK |
| Year: | 1993 |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| Director: | Steven Spielberg |
| The players: | Sam
Neill
Laura Dern Jeff Goldblum Richard Attenborough Bob Peck |
| About the film: | Scientists manage to give life to dinosaurs which becomes a big tourist attraction. Problem starts when the security system doesn’t operate like it should and the dinosaurs get loose. The dinosaurs are soon all over the place, but I don’t think their movement looks real, it’s too mechanic. With such great computer animations and models Spielberg made the mistake to show too much of the dinosaurs, after a while even a T-rex isn’t the least scary and that’s definetely not what Spielberg intended. In Jaws they didn’t posses the technology to show much of the shark and that made it more fearsome. |
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| Title: | JUROR, THE |
| Year: | 1996 |
| Genre: | Thriller |
| Director: | Brian Gibson |
| The players: | Demi
Moore
Alec Baldwin Joseph Gordon-Levitt Anne Heche James Gandolfini |
| About the film: | Baldwin plays a mobster who blackmails a female juror into swinging the jury’s opinion from "guilty" to "not guilty", which seems impossible. With a short speech she manages to do it – ridiculous. The film lacks interesting and real characters. Moore plays some sort of an artist who spends her time playing computer games with her son. You never know until the end what kind of guy Baldwin is; he’s just strange. |
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