roger-f Reviews

The Hitcher (1986)

an incredible thriller

[21 December 2000]

This movie is for me one of the best example of what a filmmaker can achieve with a great screenplay and actors that fit perfectly inside their characters.

The movie starts pretty quietly with a young man driving his car across the country. By taking a man (?) inside it, his destiny will change forever... What is, to me, fascinating, is the interaction between the two main protagonists (the hitchiker and the kid)... As one of the IMDb user wrote, it might be possible that the hitchiker is not really a man but rather a spirit or an entity meant to change the life of the kid. The viewer can take whatever he wants or just guess that the guy is just plain crazy...

The power of the movie is that you can choose to see is that way or go deeper into it and feel it with your own guts... In addition, some of the camera movements are great and the settings and landscapes add to the oppression and the emptiness of the rest of the life that awaits the kid.

I just love this movie...

The Hitcher (1986)

An awesome thriller...

[21 April 1999]

The Hitcher is a of movie which deserve to be ranked among the best thrillers ever made.

The plot is very effective and the performance of the two lead actors is breathtaking. The cinematography is great and succeed in creating a distinctive mood (empty desert and roads on the menu) and the soundtrack conveys a real sense of danger.

This is a blast...

Starsky and Hutch: Pilot (1975) Season 1, Episode 0

old-school TV series still rule

[21 April 1999]

"Starsky and Hutch" is a very enjoyable TV series with its lovable characters and funny plots.

Two of the best cops in the city, played by Paul Michael Glaser (Det. Dave Starsky) and David Soul (Det. Ken "Hutch" Hutchinson) fight the crime and try to restore peace and quietness in the streets. Bernie Hamilton (Capt. Harold Dobey) and Antonia Fargas (Huggy) are among the other principal talents. The former plays the part of a never-happy-kind-of-guy police captain and Fargas is the cool street guy which is always willing to give good tips. Those tips eventually lead to the arrest of criminals.

"Starsky and Hutch" might seem dated and freaky nowadays, nonetheless, it stays, in my opinion, one of the greatest cop series of all time.

Man Bites Dog (1992)

A vivid example of good cinema

[2 February 1999]

That's the one I was looking for...

Beautifully shot in black and white, this piece of art about a killer followed by a film crew is technically incredible.Camera movements or sound effects are among the most innovative I have ever seen. Besides, the dialogues are so funny...

We watch a lot of people being shot and this might shock a lot of people, but if the viewers bear in mind the real purpose of this "massacre" (to denounce the violence rather than glorify it), this movie is really funny.

I surprised myself talking with a Belgium accent and learning by heart the dialogues in order to make people laugh. It lasted 3 years...

This is definitely a masterpiece that I would not recommend to everybody, especially because of its visual violence, but filmgoers who would like to see something different should definitely check this one.