Pete-17 Reviews

The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)

A Deeply Religious Movie

[9/10 · 25 September 1998]

Despite what its critics say (most of whom haven't even seen the movie), "The Last Temptation of Christ" is one of the most deeply religious movies I have ever seen. What makes it so powerful is that it does not portray Jesus as an all-righteous, preachy figure; it portrays Him as a man. He was the son of God, but more importantly He was human. He could hurt, love, feel pain and joy, and He could make mistakes just like any of us. He had to overcome temptation. Martin Scorsese, for whom this was a long labor of love, directs a beautiful movie with all around excellent performances, particularly Harvey Keitel as Judas and Willem Defoe as Jesus. The "Last Temptation" segment which draws most of the movie's criticism, is the most important part of all because it shows how close God truly is to us, if only those critics would watch the movie before judging it, they might realize that.

Chasing Amy (1997)

Smith's Best

[9/10 · 23 September 1998]

Kevin Smith gets serious and pulls it off beautifully. There is plenty of classic Kevin Smith banter in this (including a riff on the ol' scar comparing scene from "Jaws"), but he still manages to go for the drama. Ben Affleck is great as Holden, the guy who falls for a lesbian. Jason Lee is hilarious as his sidekick, some of the best gestures and facial expressions in the biz. And Joey Lauren Adams is just wonderful in her turn as the object of Holden's affections. Surprisingly honest, this casts out any doubt of Smith's abilities after the critically bashed "Mallrats". Keep your eyes open for a great scene with Jay and Silent Bob (from Smith's "Clerks" and "Mallrats"), who don't apear until near the end. By far, Smith's best film.

Raging Bull (1980)

Scorsese's Masterpiece!

[10/10 · 23 September 1998]

The best movie of the '80's, director Martin Scorsese pulled off what no one else would have attempted: the unsympathetic story of perhaps the most unsympathetic character in all of American cinema, Jake La Motta. Starring Robert De Niro, "Raging Bull" is not a boxing movie in the vein of "Rocky". There is plenty of boxing in it, some of the best boxing scenes ever put onto celluloid, and the movie does follow his rise as a professional boxer. However, all of that is a backdrop for Jake's real story, his fall as a human being. The closer Jake gets to his goal of winning the Middleweight Championship, the closer he is to destroying his own life. And once he achieves his goal, all of the energy and passion that went into fighting in the ring he turns to fighting out of the ring and he does just that, destroys his life. Shot in beautiful Black & White and co-staring Joe Pesci and Cathy Moriarty, "Raging Bull" is Martin Scorsese's masterpiece.

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

After the D-Day invasion, a platoon searches for an MIA whose 3 brothers were killed in combat.

[8/10 · 13 September 1998]

One of the most powerful war films of all time. The most intense, graphic direction to come from Steven Spielberg, with superbly innovative cinematography, editing and sound. Performances were all around excellent. Supporting characters are surprisingly as strong as Tom Hanks in the lead. Modern day bookend is the only thing that detracts from the rest of the movie.

Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)

Another shameless sequel

[1/10 · 13 September 1998]

John Carpenter (creator of the original 1978 horror classic "Halloween") must be doing one of two things: a) laughing his head off at this bore of a horror film and enjoying the royalties, or b) kicking himself for not doing it himself. The only thing that allowed me to survive the 90 minutes of sheer boredom was hearing Carpenter's original "Halloween" score, albeit transplanted from the original, being played over and over.

That's right, the movie is only 90 minutes long, and (not including the pre -credit sequence murders that try to get the proverbial ball rolling) not one person dies until an hour in. But there are plenty of Kevin Williamson -style false scares (he doctored the script and served as exec-producer) but they get old really fast. Janet Leigh (of "Psycho" fame) makes a cute little cameo to play the maternal character to real-life daughter Jamie Lee Curtis for a scene, but she really serves no purpose to the film.

The bulk of the movie takes place at the prep school Curtis runs which is situated out in the middle of the boondocks--perfect place for Michael Myers to get a few more practice killings in, right? Hence, all those false scares. And there is the little introduction of Curtis having changed her name and no one knowing her relation to the Michael Myers murders, except her son does know and it doesn't really factor in.

"H20" was originally scheduled to have the traditional Halloween opening but it was finished so fast they decided to push it up to summer so as to get a better chance of a profit. My advice: they should have spent more time on developing a truly scary script and taken their time making it. A lot of potential wasted there. And they would have had the perfect opening day, too. Halloween is on a friday this year.

The Truman Show (1998)

Strong premise, weak execution

[7/10 · 13 September 1998]

What occurs in the first act of "The Truman Show" is about as good as it gets. The expectations for this movie (and probably most of its overrated praise) are based on the first half of the movie in which the Ed Harris character describes "no scripts", "no cuecards", and most importantly that Truman (Jim Carrey, in not a "serious" role but one not nearly as silly as he's played before) is a genuine character, not artificially created. Now, if this were all true and the movie evolved as it should have along these lines, perhaps it would deserve all the praise it is getting. However, everything that happens in the later 2/3 of the movie completely undermines everything we've been lead to believe about this world Truman lives in. Imagine my utter disapointment when during what seemed like a truely emotional scene between Truman and his best friend, we cut to the control room to find the best friend being fed his lines! What was that about not cue cards? What follows completely destroys what was one a wonderful premise and gives no hope of redemption. Even when Truman finally goes against the odds and attempts to escape the small island, it turns out to be a case of too little, too late.