Change Your Image
Archer-10
Reviews
The Crossing Guard (1995)
A must-not-see film from Jack
I guess I've been on a bit of a Jack Nicholson trip lately. I suddenly realised every movie I had seen him in I liked. On that basis, this little flick caught my eye in last week's teleguide.
But Jack can't save it. This movie is weak. The message is important, but Penn uses so many devices around such thin material that the whole thing seems artifically manufactured to generate a moral response. I always hate movies that try to tell you what to think, and this movie is a railway track for the mind.
The characters are wrong. They react wrongly. And the ending is the height of wrongness. I can't believe I kept watching for that- it lost me after half-an-hour.
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
Cheesy over scary
I rented this on DVD after successfully avoiding it for many years. But as a fan of Cruel Intentions, I must admit a morbid curiosity for another film starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillipe. Besides, how bad can it be if it is supposedly worthy enough of two sequels?
Well, I guess I was expecting bad. So coming from that standpoint I was impressed. It wasn't completely rancid. I mean, I watched it twice... Though perhaps that was more because I had it out for two nights than for any reasons of merit.
I should say that horror movies don't really scare me. But good ones do at least make me jump slightly, or cringe, or something. A sure sign that this film falls short is that I actually root for the killer. I really want these people too suffer. I mean, what kind of people dump human roadkill in the ocean with so little remorse?
So, it entertained me. But not for the reasons the "making of" documentary (advertorial?) cites- "truly scary". More for being so cheesy its funny. If you agree with me, take a look at The Faculty. Same deal, but better executed.
Ghostbusters (1984)
The best film of the eighties about the eighties
I've seen a lot of films from the eighties about the eighties, and this one is, for me, a clear winner. It never drops off, which is the only reason it beats Ferris Bueller's Day Off. While both are fast-paced comedies, there is a satirical wit and a strong self-critical overtone to both that is often overlooked.
Ghostbusters sums up so much of the get-rich-quick mentality which prevailed back then, and it puts us in the picture by making reference to all the little things which made the eighties the eighties. And it does it all in an even, witty way, that is funny to this day.
The eighties songs featured are not the popular ones, except perhaps Ray's ripoff of Huey Lewis And The News (he's probably still paying for that one), but they are classic tunes nonetheless. The score is brilliant, and I must admit I always watch the credits right through just to have an encore of it- and the pop tunes.
The effects are good enough, and the backstories offered on the DVD release give an entertaining insight into this and other aspects of the film's creation. In my view, the story behind Ghostbusters is the key to its proper appreciation, because I don't think there has ever been a more talented group of people involved in writing, directing, acting and creating a comedy movie. To hear them speak and comment on a movie they are so proud of, even to this day, is an experience I would recommend to anyone with the slightest interest in the genre.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997)
Eureka! I have found it.
I accidentally encountered this show while visiting my mum. On these occasions I am usually forced to watch the shows my much younger brother and sister want to watch (I am in my mid twenties, and they are yet to hit two digits). Buffy used to be one of their faves at 7:30, but unfortunately it is now in a much later slot (and has an M rating).
At first, I was critical (having seen the film). Then tepid, because the show was much darker, and the humour less obvious. Then the show was taken off air, and I found that I missed it. Which made me all the more devoted to it when it returned.
It's not the fighting that gets me: I'm a pacifist.
It's not the mythology that gets me: I'm a scientist.
It's the refreshing darkness of the stories contrasting against the lightheartedness of the heroes. The depth of the imagery, symbolism and characterizations is breathtaking. The final master stroke is the high production values which allow you to suspend your disbelief and immerse yourself in the fantasy.
Now I am genre-impaired, tending towards offbeat comedy and sci-fi drama. But I tell you, this show is one of the best on television, right up there with the X-Files and Seinfeld.