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FILM-REVIEWS:
L
L.A. confidential
Lady of burlesque
Lady vanishes, The
L.A. story
Last seduction, The
Last sunset, The
Last time I saw Paris, The
League of their own, A
Legends of the fall
Letter of introduction
Liebestraum
Life and times of judge
Roy Bean, The
Little lord Funtleroy
Lock, stock & two
smoking barrels
Longest day, The
Long kiss goodnight, The
Long walk home, The
Look who's talking
Love affair
Lover come back
| Title: | L.A. CONFIDENTIAL |
| Year: | 1997 |
| Genre: | Thriller, Film-noir |
| Director: | Curtis Hanson |
| The players: | Kevin
Spacey
Russell Crowe Guy Pearce David Strathairn Kim Basinger |
| About the film: | Sharp film-noir with no less than three interesting and well acted characters in the leading roles. Ed Exley is a young detective who’s very honest and diligent, Jack Vincennes is the one who wants his name on the front page of the newspapers and Bud White only follows his own moral codes in order to achieve justice. They all change during the film. The place and time is Hollywood during the 50’s, a place for corruption, crime, movie-stars and prostitution where a murder takes place and clues lead to a man who hires out prostitutes that look like movie-stars. Basinger won a supporting actress oscar for her small part as a Veronica Lake look alike. The film has a complex story with a lot of plot twists. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | Chinatown |
| Title: | LADY OF BURLESQUE |
| Year: | 1943 |
| Genre: | Mystery, Comedy |
| Director: | William Wellman |
| The players: | Barbara
Stanwyck
Michael O’Shea J. Edward Bromberg Iris Adrian Pinky Lee |
| About the film: | Unsuccesful attempt to make a light-spirited mystery. Someone is killing vaudeville girls at a theatre, and everytime it happens no one has an alibi. The character development is non-existent, so as a viewer you can’t really suspect or feel for anyone. As the story takes place at the theatre the atmosphere is rather light-spirited which takes away all suspense. Not Stanwyck’s usual type of part. |
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| Rec.: |
| Title: | LADY VANISHES, THE |
| Year: | 1938 |
| Genre: | Thriller |
| Director: | Alfred Hitchcock |
| The players: | Margaret
Lockwood
Michael Redgrave Paul Lukas May Whitty Cecil Parker |
| About the film: | Hitchcock’s last film before going to Hollywood is an up-tempo adventure with a superb mix of suspense and humour as only he can do it. Hitchcock has the ability to know when the audience have had enough excitement and then throws in some jokes without losing focus on the story. Naunton Wayne and Basil Radford make a great comic duo as a couple of Englishmen only interested in cricket. Lockwood plays a young woman travelling by train together with an older lady who vanishes and none of the passengers can recall that they’ve seen her. The film has some weak spots: Some of the early hotel-scenes with Lockwood and Redgrave are very silly and if the lady is a spy, why can’t the Bandrikan Republic arrest her instead of dealing with her in this very unorthodox way? |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | 39 steps, The |
| Title: | L.A. STORY |
| Year: | 1991 |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Director: | Mick Jackson |
| The players: | Steve
Martin
Victoria Tennant Richard E. Grant Marilu Henner Sarah Jessica Parker |
| About the film: | Steve Martin’s film right from the beginning. He plays an L.A. weather man who gets hints on how to win real-life wife Tennant’s adoration from a sign-post. It’s an original and insightful look at life in California. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | Parenthood |
| Title: | LAST SEDUCTION, THE |
| Year: | 1994 |
| Genre: | Thriller |
| Director: | John Dahl |
| The players: | Linda
Fiorentino
Peter Berg J. T. Walsh Bill Nunn Bill Pullman |
| About the film: | Fiorentino plays a woman who runs away with her husbands money, but she’s much more evil than that. Fiorentino is good. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: |
| Title: | LAST SUNSET, THE |
| Year: | 1961 |
| Genre: | Western |
| Director: | Robert Aldrich |
| The players: | Rock
Hudson
Kirk Douglas Dorothy Malone Joseph Cotten Carol Lynley |
| About the film: | Douglas plays O’Malley, an outlaw who, along with a sheriff (played by Hudson) help Malone drive her cattle to Texas. The sheriff believes that O’Malley has killed his sister and makes a promise that he’s going to kill O’Malley as soon as the cattle drive is over. This promise is what keeps the movie alive, but barely so, it’s rather dull most of the time. A romantic story is also included, they both like Malone, although O’Malley seems even more interested in her (and his!) daughter. So the only question is: Will the sheriff kill O’Malley? Watch it if you really want to know, otherwise skip it. |
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| Rec.: |
| Title: | LAST TIME I SAW PARIS, THE |
| Year: | 1954 |
| Genre: | Romantic drama |
| Director: | Richard Brooks |
| The players: | Van
Johnson
Elizabeth Taylor Donna Reed Walter Pidgeon Eva Gabor |
| About the film: | Fine spun romantic yarn with a young but already experienced Elizabeth Taylor and Roger Moore in his screen debut. Shallow but pleasant. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | Waterloo bridge |
| Title: | LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN, A |
| Year: | 1992 |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Director: | Penny Marshall |
| The players: | Tom
Hanks
Geena Davis Madonna David Strathairn Rosie O’Donnell |
| About the film: | Women get their own baseball-league and Davis plays one of the stars. The problem is that the audience wants to see beautiful girls and not good baseball. Tame comedy. |
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| Rec.: |
| Title: | LEGENDS OF THE FALL |
| Year: | 1994 |
| Genre: | Romantic drama |
| Director: | Edward Zwick |
| The players: | Julia
Ormond
Brad Pitt Anthony Hopkins Aidan Quinn Henry Thomas |
| About the film: | Extensive drama set in the beginning of the 20th century in indian territory. Pitt is cast as Tristan, one of three sons of a retired colonel who rejects war. Tristan is as untamed as nature itself, he always follows the voice of the bear inside of him, wild and unpredictable. The film is beautifully shot, but I think they should have put some more effort into character development. The film is over 2 hrs, but that is nothing considering the number of events that are put into the film. Deaths, good-byes etc etc succeeds each other throughout the film. There’s no depth whatsoever, there’s really no time for it. Take Tristan’s marriage to Isabel II. Two takes after their marriage they have two sons, about two takes later she’s dead! Wooden acting from everyone involved gives the film epic-type atmosphere. It’s a romantic drama where all the three brothers love Ormond but she only cares for one of them. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | Dances with wolves |
| Title: | LETTER OF INTRODUCTION |
| Year: | 1938 |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Director: | John M. Stal |
| The players: | Adolphe
Menjou
Andrea Leeds Edgar Bergen George Murphy Eve Arden |
| About the film: | Pleasant, cosy comedy where Menjou plays a has been who reunites with his daughter. Bergen’s ventriloquism lights up the film when needed. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | Hi diddle diddle |
| Title: | LIEBESTRAUM |
| Year: | 1991 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Mike Figgis |
| The players: | Kevin
Anderson
Pamela Gidley Bill Pullman Kim Novak Catherine Hicks |
| About the film: | Gloomy and tedious failure where Anderson plays an architect who goes to a city to visit his dying mother. He learns that a fine building is going to be demolished and his old friend is responsible. Most of the dialogue is low unnatural whisperings. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: |
| Title: | LIFE AND TIMES OF JUDGE ROY BEAN, THE |
| Year: | 1972 |
| Genre: | Western |
| Director: | John Huston |
| The players: | Paul
Newman
Victoria Principal Ava Gardner Jacqueline Bisset Anthony Perkins |
| About the film: | Roy Bean founds a city in the middle of the desert and names a bunch of gunmen sheriffs and himself judge. This is an engaging and fine-spun story. |
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| Rec.: |
| Title: | LITTLE LORD FUNTLEROY |
| Year: | 1936 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | John Cromwell |
| The players: | Freddie
Bartholomew
C. Aubrey Smith Guy Kibbee Dolores Costello Mickey Rooney |
| About the film: | Over sentimental, heartwarming story about a young American boy who has to move to England to live there with his peevish grandfather the Earl of Dorincourt. Bartholomew is a much too splendid boy, not the least childish, not quite credible. The Earl’s heart soon melts and they become good friends. Smith is outstanding as the Earl of Dorincourt. |
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| Rec.: |
| Title: | LOCK, STOCK & TWO SMOKING BARRELS |
| Year: | 1999 |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Director: | Guy Ritchie |
| The players: | Jason
Flemyng
Dexter Fletcher Nick Mooran Jason Statham Vinnie Jones |
| About the film: | Cool British film about four guys who pay £ 25,000 apiece to get one of them into a poker game. He not only loses the money, but becomes £ 500,000 in depth with one week to pay! The four guys decide to get tough, the problem is that they aren’t. There are multiple linked subplots with lots of twists and turns that run smoothly together. The characters aren’t deep but well-acted and funny. The film has a style of its own although it resembles Tarantino’s films. Although the film circles around really low and violent persons it’s never disagreeable, it’s just a lot of fun. Has definitely got cult-status. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | Pulp
fiction
Trainspotting |
| Title: | LONGEST DAY, THE |
| Year: | 1962 |
| Genre: | War |
| Directors: | Ken
Annakin
Andrew Marton Bernhard Vicki |
| The players: | John
Wayne
Henry Fonda Robert Mitchum Richard Burton Sean Connery |
| About the film: | A war film if I ever saw one. It’s one of few films that just throws you right into the action. So actionpacked that after a while you get fed up with all the shooting and hand-granate throwing. Shot in B&W, it feels like a documentary. It might very well be as close to it as is possible, it gives a very detailed account of what happened during d-day. The chaos that takes place, as soon as the combat starts, and even before; the problems to co-ordinate an attack. The shooting is interrupted now and then for some of the major stars to say some great words, like Steigers talk about history being made and what a great feeling it is to be part of it. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | Saving private Ryan |
| Title: | LONG KISS GOODNIGHT, THE |
| Year: | 1996 |
| Genre: | Action, Thriller |
| Director: | Renny Harlin |
| The players: | Geena
Davis
Samuel L. Jackson Craig Bierko Yvonne Zima Tom Amandes |
| About the film: | Davis plays a woman who leads a harmonic family life but she has amnesia; she don’t know what she did before eight years ago. With the help from a detective (Jackson) she learns that she was some kind of trained assassin. Geena’s type of character is normally played by a man but she worked out hard in the gym to get strong enough. The movie contains several high-calliber action-scenes and it’s no surprise; Harlins earlier works includes Cliffhanger and Die hard 2. He likes to "paint with a big brush" but still manages to have a better story and character development than most action-movies. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: |
| Title: | LONG WALK HOME, THE |
| Year: | 1990 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Richard Pearce |
| The players: | Whoopi
Goldberg
Sissy Spacek Dwight Schultz Ving Rhames Dylan Baker |
| About the film: | Goldberg plays a hard working domestic for a family in the south. She has to face many problems because of the colour of her skin and has a large family to support. Whoopi is not replaying her part from The color purple, in this film her character is more normal mentally. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | Color purple, The |
| Title: | LOOK WHO’S TALKING |
| Year: | 1989 |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Director: | Amy Heckerling |
| The players: | John
Travolta
Kirstie Alley Olympia Dukakis George Segal Bruce Willis |
| About the film: | Pathetic comedy where Alley is looking for a father to her baby. The taxi driver who drove her to the hospital seems nice but has he got what it takes? The baby, of course, can’t speak but through Bruce Willis’ voice we get to know what the baby thinks, and he thinks quite a lot for being a baby. The film has not many good moments. You probably won’t have to see more than ten minutes to figure the rest out. The plot is very thin, too increase the running time some totally meaningless problems with Travolta’s father is added. The small kid is not funny either. They’ve failed to make a good romantic part and to make a funny comic part, left is nada. Travolta should have better film-offers than this. Keep away from the two sequels too. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: |
| Title: | LOVE AFFAIR |
| Year: | 1939 |
| Genre: | Romantic drama |
| Director: | Leo McCarey |
| The players: | Irene
Dunne
Charles Boyer Maria Ouspenskaya Lee Bowman Astrid Allwyn |
| About the film: | Romantic yarn with a surprisingly thin story. Dunne and Boyer fall in love and decide to meet in one year at the top of the Empire State building (I think). That’s all, which make it terribly slow. Beautiful end and ok chemistry between the two leads. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | Waterloo bridge |
| Title: | LOVER COME BACK |
| Year: | 1961 |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Director: | Delbert Mann |
| The players: | Doris
Day
Rock Hudson Tony Randall Edie Adams Jack Oakie |
| About the film: | Day and Hudson plays two executives on different companies. Day is serious while Hudson is not and she hates everything he stands for. Nice and funny easy-going comedy. |
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