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Reviews
The Mummy Returns (2001)
An insult to Indy !
I've never really managed to watch either of the Mummy films uptill a few days ago, when I decided to give The Mummy Returns a try.
I've always liked these kinds of adventure/fantasy/quest kinds of films, and so I expected to have a great time watching it, without really having any high hopes.
Well, what a dissapointment it was. It doesn't happen often that I don't even finish watching a movie, but this was just too bad...no fun, no excitement, no tention and no beautiful settings like we've been spoiled with in Indy films.
It started all in the very first scene, where this 'Scorpion Warrior' is played by one of the most pathetic actors I've ever seen in such an expensive movie....he's just not convincing....it's just a wrestler or something that is just too idiotic to act a guy that's angry, or almost dying. The moment when he's the only one left in the desert, and falls to the ground from exhaustian is just an insult to any similar film ever made. What a disgrace!
And it just goes on like that, although the main actors are very good...not a bad word about them.
The scenes that have computer generated backgrounds (so that the actors are playing in front of a blue/green screen) are just as terrible and unfinished looking as in Star Wars Episode I.....when you make something like that you have to be carefull that the light, contrast and colors in your background are the same as in the part where the actors play. It's ofcourse not easy to do these things, but if you're not too experienced don't overdo stuff.
The result is that the studio sets are very small and cheap looking, which doesn't give you the idea that they are really there.
The film gets even worse because of the childish humour and story, but most of all the directing just completely fails. The guy who directed it doesn't seem to be any good at telling stories....there's no build up to anything, and characters just 'pop' onto the screen....Why do we see a detailed story of 'the mummy' and then suddenly find our 'heroes' in the middle of a quest already ??
This film makes all the Indy movies look ever better....I always thought it was a great idea to find him in the middle of a meaningless quest, after which he returns home and then the real story begins...but with a slow build up.
No, the scene where they were driving that buss in London almost made it look like it was a parody on Indy.....it could have been done by Mell Brooks.
Okay, even a badly made movie can be okay to waste a few hours on a rainy day, but it just wasn't fun.
Bangkok Hilton (1989)
Reason enough not to deal with drugs.
This series has been one of the most impressive I've seen sofar, that deal with someone who is locked up in a jail, in a strange country - after being arrested for trying to take drugs out of the country, without knowing it.
A lot of people think of prison as a simple hotel, with locked doors. People who've seen this series know what it's like to be locked up. And not only that, but also what it's like to be in trouble in a strange country who's language you don't speak.
And when you think about the fact that you've never done anything against the law in your life, and that someone who pretended to be a kind and helpful person actually used you to get his drugs through the customs, you can probably imagine what kind of trouble you are in.
When you think that this poor girl came to this strange country to look for her father, and isn't used to the 'rough' kind of people who are in jail, you'd think that she'll never get out again.
But with the help of a good friend (A great performance by the great Denholm Elliot) she tries to fight against it all, with the thruth on her side.
It's the first time I saw Nicole Kidman and Denholm Elliot, and they are both brilliant. Everytime I see their faces, I think about this.....and just think about it that I've only seen this series once...when it was just released.
If that doesn't show what kind of an impression that made on me, I don't know what does :)
Very well done, especially for a tv series!
Bart
Any Given Sunday (1999)
A great opportunity wasted....
Although you can't argue about taste, people have to admit that Oliver Stone has made some of the most interesting, exciting, shocking and fresh, new movies of the last 20 years. Most of them have their own style, pace and even really good soundtracks. Now, Al Pacino is someone who I always like to watch, even when the movies themselves are terrible. He's really unique, and keeps on becoming a better actor every single time. Even people like Dennis Quaid and Cameron Diaz are very skillfull actors, although mostly underrated....
Now throw in some wonderful cinematography, incredible sound and the normal Stone-ish film length of almost 3 hours and you are in for a real treat - a masterpiece, or at least an enjoyable and interesting experience that will keep you thinking and talking about it for some time.
Looking at all that, it was a complete shock to see this movie. No, not even the word 'seeing' completely covers the feeling of having to endure this 3 hour pile of complete nonesence and abuse of great potential. I am sure that your opinion will be a bit more positive if you truly are a football fan, but as a filmfan with a broad interest there still is nothing I really like about this movie.
First of all unlike some what some people might say, the story of this movie is incredibly thin and shallow - it is made up of things 'you already have seen so many times before'. The only basic elements are simply an old player that is about to get sacked, but is still clinging on because of his old 'milestones', a new guy who can hardly cope with the pressure but is about to be discovered, a good coach having a bad time, and an annoying manager who knows as much about the game as the average fan.
But without doubt the most terrible thing about this movie are the characters. There are no private lives, no drama, no joy....all people are completely shallow, hollow, uninteresting, without having any other things to talk about than football: the results, contracts, etc.
The beautifull cinematography and sound doesn't make up for the completely failed 'behind the scenes' type of story.
Oliver Stone has showed us what we -the spectators- usually see on the field, and read & see in the media.
The only inside information is when the young Quarterback shows us all his last night's dinner on the field, something which onitself is a ridiculous way of portaying someone who's being bothered with nerves. Aside from it being disgusting to watch, it's hardly realistic and makes this movie rather ridiculous and annoying to watch.
Like Oliver Stone ? Have a look at JFK if you like suspence, Natural Born Killers if you like action and great music, or Platoon if you like to see people dealing with death, nerves or failure. Like Al Pacino ? Have a look at all his other movies....but just ignore this one.
Bart
Frantic (1988)
Underrated, brilliant masterpiece!
I really don't understand how this movie could have such a low score at this site. Perhaps the European atmosphere doesn't appeal as much to Americans as it does to Europeans.....just like most french top-films never made it to the US.
Nevertheless, Roman Polanski is terribly underrated as a master of suspence. In fact, looking back at Hitchcock's movies (which is unfair, since they've been made in a completely different era) I don't think he ever made movies written this well.
For some reason most of the time film making starts with putting the director together with some of the best or most popular actors of that period. But this one certainly doesn't.... It shows that Polanski wrote this himself, with his close friend and film-writing-partner, because he really knows what this story is about - he knows where to be funny, where to make it tense, where to make things kind of 'sensual'.
The weird thing is, that looking at all the things that happen in this movie, it's still so relatively shot, and doesn't feel at all too paced, or rushed. No, it rather feels like you are watching a 4 hour movie.
Anyway, those who have ever lost track of someone (for a short moment) in a strange, big city or those who have ever tried to find out something in France, will know and recognize exactly what Harrison Ford's character is going through - people not taking you seriously, people who don't care, people who refuse (or aren't able) to help you in your own language. All these things are put in this movie, so well, that -at least for me- it is really very realistic.
Most writers and directors nowadays seem to ruin most great movies/thrillers by not being able to make a good ending to the developing story. At one point our main character has got to find out what is happening....and how to do that, without taking away the suspence is incredibly difficult. Roman Polanski has done this very well, by not making this story too complicated and slowly unraveling a -looking back- simple mistery. There is no need to glue parts of the story together to make it all fit, or just skip parts to make it easier for him/you.
No, this is the first movie I've seen where when someone looses his shoes on a roof, he has to walk barefoot the next day. Most movies just ignore these little facts, but Roman makes it always difficult for himself in order to make it more easy (or, more easy to believe) for us.
There are no things that make me wonder 'how this is possible' - no, if you are a well known surgeon, many other surgeons from all over the world will know you. And if you will go to a convention in Paris, it's not at all unrealistic that you will run into a few of your friends...even when it's such a big city. Having problems with luggage when you're flying, isn't unrealistic too...nor is the story of this movie, the reason why what happened, happened.
Although I've never understood why our friend wanted his own wife back, instead of staying with the beautifull french girl ;) Again, that's what most people would do in real life....
Bart