buckaroo-6 Reviews

Peacock (2010)

Unable to suspend my disbelieve

[4/10 · 22 September 2017]

First off all, let me tell you (as lots of reviewer did before) that there's superb acting in this movie - Cillian Murphy does an awesome job, and so do his co-actors. Unfortunately all this good work comes to nothing - I just don't buy the plot. It's the same problem I'm having with Face/off - it's next to impossible to believe that no one recognizes that Emma is in fact John (or vice versa), or at least that Emma isn't a biological woman? Even in a rural town someone should get suspicious. It's just a much too big whopper to swallow.

Then there's a second problem: The plot sounds like a comedy: Getting a train car by accident into your back yards, being hit by the same car as being Emma, the mayor wanting to have a rally at the said car, John/Emma having to switch personalities and doing some fast thinking to keep the secret - this is a recipe for a nice, light hearted comedy. Unfortunately it's not - it's dead serious, no traces of irony/humour at all, not even played as a dramedy/tragicomedy.

So to me this movie fails - and fails big, because of the artistry, the effort of the actors.

The Train (1964)

A very realistic war epic

[10/10 · 21 November 2005]

This is one of the greatest and more realistic war movies I've ever seen - not just because the train scenes are made using *real* trains and engines, mainly because of the characters:

Burt Lancaster is portraying Paul Labiche, who's responsible for a train yard and is also a member of the French Resistance.

Labiche is very reluctant to sacrifice any human life to rescue the art stolen by German colonel von Waldheim; yet later he risks all to keep the art in France.

At the end of the movies one really has to think if it was worth it - hundreds of lives (including a boy's life) spend in defending art (rare and valuable art, true) - was it really worth it?

But then, would it be really be acceptable to let a German steal "France's pride"?

The movie doesn't give an answer to this question - which adds to the greatness of the film, because there really isn't an answer.

Van Helsing (2004)

A long and boring video clip

[2/10 · 1 April 2005]

Well, never mind that Van Helsing shamelessly copies elements of a couple of other movies (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Wild Wild West are just two examples which come to my mind) - a couple of movies did so.

Never mind the fact that the plot contains dozens of holes large enough to drive a whole fleet of trucks through - the same applies to a lot of other movies.

Also never mind that a lot of the action scenes are completely unbelievable and way over the top - there are some movies guilty of the same.

The main issues with Van Helsing is that this movie is boooooooooring. There is no climax, the pace of the movie never changes, it just stays at the same level.

Consider this: when watching the movie at home, I was so bored I stopped the film occasionally,I checked my mail, had a look at a couple of websites and so on. Only sheer willpower prevented me from giving up watching the film - well, I was really hoping that this mess would soon end.

So, basically Van Helsing a long and overblown video clip - full of CGI, no real story, no real climax. If you've got insomnia, VH might be a cure for you - I myself had a hard time staying awake.

Problem Child (1990)

Really refreshing!

[7/10 · 7 May 2003]

I really enjoyed this film - which was truly different.

To be honest, I'm absolutely fed up with portrays of children (especially in commercials and family movies). Children are always portrayed as so cuuuuuuute and nice - actually, I'm worried about getting tooth decay because of the sweetness involved.

Problem Child is just different - the child is a complete evil brat which causes havoc during the whole movie.

Basically, the film concentrates on showing the evil side of children - and yes, people, there is a cruelty in children. Do you remember your own childhood? The bully who loved to harass weaker children? How about children treat outsiders, like fat/ugly peers? What about kids torturing animals like flies or frogs?

Sure - this comedy is far of and unrealistic, but so are cuuuuuuute and sweet family movies.

So - I quite like the movie, it's a black comedy which is a nice counterpoint to sweet & cute comedies like Home Alone.

7 / 10

Face/Off (1997)

Completely unbelievable plot.

[2/10 · 1 May 2000]

• some minor spoilers follow -

Well, in my opinion it is one of the most constructed (and therefore unbelievable) action movies I've ever seen.

1. Just switching faces (surprise, surprise - no scars) and altering the voice (with minor adjustments like removing the fat) is ridiculous - don't tell me that a person's wife won't notice the difference - especially, if you think about rather private parts.

It would be much more believable, if this film had had a Sci-Fi element in it - for example, transferring your ego/soul/brain/whatever to another body, but doing this via plastic surgery? Come on. It might be possible to fool Pollux Troy in the prison - but living a different person's life?

If you take a look at the "Quantum Leap" series, where

this theme is being portrayed, it's much more realistic - the problems Sam faces when being someone else.

2. Sean Archer did commit crimes during his escape from the police (with Castor's face, of course) - actually, he did kill a couple of policemen. Do you really think that this would be pardoned?

Altogether - a disappointed 4 for this movie.

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

The best of King films

[14 September 1999]

Although I'm a big fan of Stephen King, nearly all of his movie adaptions just suck. There are two reasons for this: 1. A lot of directors which made adaption of King's stories are just inept.

2. Because King is such a great storyteller, it is extremely difficult to bring the story to celluloid.

But The Shawshank Redemption is one of the exceptions that proves the rule (Kubrick's The Shining is another one): it is relatively true to the original story ("Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption") and most of the characters are beautifully portrayed.

King has proven to a lot of his critics that he is definitely not solely a horror writer and that he is a anything but a writer of cheap trash - some critics seem to make the assumption that horror is equivalent with trash.

9 of 10

Regards, Mark

Schindler's List (1993)

One of the most important films in out time

[14 September 1999]

Schindler's List in my opinion one of the best films ever made - furthermore, it's a monument for all of those who did have to courage to do something good, however small.

Oskar Schindler was no stereotypical hero, on the contrary, he had many faults which were wonderfully portrayed in the film.

Strangely, the film - however serious it was - was entertaining, too, which is rather remarkable:

There seems to be a general belief in most of "serious" critics (and filmmakers) that a good, serious film with a difficult theme has to be unsuccessful - take a look at some film which critics did like, and you'll find a lot of commercial, unsuccessful, boring films, for example Fassbender's films.

If you take a closer look at the criticism uttered by some of "serious" critics, you'll note that they stick to the credo above - a "good" movie must not be a successful movie.

I've watched the movie 1994 and I'm not sure if I'm going to watch it again - it is till the present day the most moving, stirring movie I've seen - and the first (and only) only in which I've actually cried.

So, I've you're going to watch Schindler's List (which I strongly recommend), do yourself a favor: don't plan anything entertaining till the next day - I wasn't able to do so after watching it.

10 Points out of 10.

Mark

The Lift (1983)

A very bad movie

[8 September 1999]

Well, let's face it - this is one of the worst horror films ever made.

The plot is absolutely ridiculous, the ending is even more ridiculous - the solution is completely unbelievable.

Well, it does has some merits: it's so unbelievable stupid and bad that it's good - it's good for some laughs.

Toys (1992)

Mixed emotions about this film..

[5 September 1999]

Well, this is a very strange film. At the first part of the movie, I genualliy disliked the film, after this I rather enjoyed it but at the last part of it I disliked it again - my overall impression of this film is a very bad one, indeed, don't bother watching it.

Nothing But Trouble (1991)

Worst movie I've ever watched

[1/10 · 2 September 1999]

OK, I've watched a lot of bad movies (Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, Plan 9 from outer space, a lot of cheap action movies) but this one tops all - most of the bad movies I've watched are either low-budget productions or are trash on purpose; and of lot of them are funny in a way (which certainly was not the purpose of the directors).

But "Nothing But Trouble" doesn't match the categories - it was definitely not a low budget production with three very able actors (John Candy, Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd) and it most certainly was not funny - and the film was not trashy enough to qualify as unintentionally funny.