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eddie15845
Reviews
Saved (2006)
A "Rescue Me" Ripoff
I'm not one for beating about the bush. If you watched Saved and found it to your liking, then you owe it to yourself to tune in Rescue Me on FX and see how exciting this type of show can be when done right.
Saved has been modeled after Rescue Me, and in that respect, lacks originality. Rescue Me's Tommy is battling alcohol and pill addiction, Scott on Saved has a bad gambling problem. Tommy's fire house has a Puerto Rican, a woman fire fighter proving she belongs, and a probational fireman (probie) who's picked on by the vets. On Scott's ambulance there's a black paramedic, a Hispanic woman paramedic, and a young, white-bread, paramedic that's the butt of hurtful remarks (think probie). I can forgive that, but it's not even close to Rescue Me in quality of plot or acting.
Let me conclude by saying I've only seen the pilot so I'll likely give Saved a second chance provided I can muster the stomach to watch.
The Virgin Suicides (1999)
Was This Movie a Comedy?
This movie is superbly cast, and puts the public on notice of the bright future awaiting Kirsten Dunst and Josh Hartnett and is worth watching if just for them, but I failed to see any other reason to watch it. Granted, I'm long past my teen years, but I can still remember the emotional pain of acne and the awkward search for popularity and the approval of my peers. But please, what's the problem with these beautiful Lisbon girls? Maybe the local department store doesn't carry their shade of blush or their cell phones are on the fritz, but none of these girls would suffer from a lack popularity or male attention. This movies fatal flaw is that it never builds and conveys the cause of the Lisbon girl's depression that must precede an act as desperate as suicide. In fact it mocks the act.
Black Cat Run (1998)
A Classic "B" Movie Stinker
Don't stay up late to watch this film as I did. In the morning, you'll be left both disappointed and tired as well. This film's a compilation of tired, well-worn subplots that totally suspend reality. Roadside chain gang is unchained and escapes of course. Boy's girlfriend is taken hostage. Whassup with the ending? Deputy takes multiple gun shot wounds in the chest, but refuses an ambulance. Instead he rides off with the boyfriend to rescue the girl. Later on, the boyfriend takes a 44 magnum hollow-point in the leg while rescuing the girl, but doesn't even register pain. Folks that bullet can stop a moving car! And what the heck is a truck driven by two Deliverance-types doing carrying plastic 55 gallon barrels of gas on an open highway? What happens to tank trucks you ask? The couple-dozen barrels of gas explode for a spectacular ending, while the boy and girl hug each other from 50 feet away without so much as a singed eyebrow. All I ask for in an action film is a little realism. Well, careful what you ask for, you might just get it. In this case that's very little realism.
Panic (2000)
Alas, It Had Potential
Panic has a great cast. The acting is superb. An illogical and unrealistic plot, however, dooms the film. Maybe, I've been spoiled by the Godfather movies or other well-constructed crime films, but big-time hit men earning the money it takes to live in Macy's neighborhood, as depicted in this film, don't walk, talk and live like college professors. They have heavy mob connections or if international killers, live shadow lives away from common life. Macy is obviously pushing 50, yet we are to believe that after earning his living by contract killing since his youth, he is suddenly overcome by the realization that his chosen "profession" and his father are evil? What planet do you live on people? That's a farce!
Riot on Sunset Strip (1967)
A low-budget bomb
As Reefer Madness was to the youth of the 30's, so Riot on Sunset Strip was to the Baby Boomers. So out of touch, it is actually funny, not serious as intended. This film lacked a grasp of the time, mood and the music. The mood of the 60's was anti-war, not I don't like my mommy and daddy. I've wasted 90 minutes before, but it was seldom less fun. In short, this film is trite and definitely out of touch with the era of peace and love.