Reviews

Oddly enough i saw this movie a few times as I worked at a theatre and well could never afford film school and dreamed of what would never be. oddly enough as i recall now in hindsight MORT ABRAHAMS was in the theatre with me watching the movie. Wish i would have recognized him then. A curious thing but well, a footnote in my past now. the film is a cross between psycho and the REBECCA LYONS version of THE LADY THE TIGER AND THE DOOR and a "on the lamb movie". The film mixes courtroom drama with a race against time as a judge must be judged by the derrainged survivor of a murder spree who lost his wife. The judge must try to save his wife while racing through SEATTLE to find clues and being pursused by vicious street gangs who do not want the truth to come out. A great modest budget movie which features a fine cast including some very talented extras. the film was an independent feature from TRANSWORLD, before they went primarily straight to video. The film sports good directoral and production values. I liked the "dream like" otherworldly sequences which added a human touch to the judge and a artsy feel. The film did more monetarily on video tape after theatrical release. A fine movie relesed in sleeper status with little fan fare or advertisement. Several films did this one the year before in 1987 was THE HIDDEN.

This made for tv film was about a group that was similar to the allied DUSTERS in vietnam. The plot was about a OSS commando unit flying experimental helicopters circa 1943. Mariette hartley plays JACKIE in this film about women braving the odds under fire during the war against Hitler in europe. A great tv movie for the time the film mixed vintage clothes along with a original story some say was anchored in some truth. I had watched this film several times during it's network runs and always admired hartley as a boy, and her acting. i also liked the premise of women as butt kickers instead of helpless pawns. A great movie that even the ERA/NOW groups would love. Currently unavailable on video.

THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT caters to myths and legends stemming from the 1700's and 1800's and things that go bump in the night. The film also touches onn 1970's myths about william peter blatty sect demonism 9 not the writer) and a possible entitiy or cult in the woods three people are investigating before they end up missing. A film that was retro 1930's and had a minimum or gore, this film was a student film which fared better story wise and plot wise than the sequel which at times had things in it that looked like they were out of a 1970's outerfringe film. The sequel was released but no one can argue the first one was original and so was it's hype machine. This student production had great acting and a sense of class that is not seen often in theatrical relese movies. A inventive film that was fun to watch and very creative. Low budget and smarts can eran you alot. This film did that for the producers who showed it at sundance and possibly telluride festivals. Not since the old UNIVERSAL ERA of horror films (the black and white days) has a movie made scares fun. Few gory scenes. A film that achieves scares by the concept of the unknown and bargain basement tactics like a old radio show...all of which work.

The subject matter of this film is combat between two opposing forces of angels..those who sided with the trinity and those who did not and sided with Lucifer during the great war in heaven. The film also comments somewhat on the guardian angel/demon myth tied in with the occult and Christian circles. Being a Chrisitan I was not offended by this film which was a fantasy set up in a big city and on an indian reservation. The film was a interesting premise and was a good small film. The man who wrote and directed this film conceived HIGHLANDER, another great fantasy film which was almost high art visually. Both this film and HIGHLANDER were original concepts and not boring. This film had a small draw theatrically but scored a hit at the box office. (at least in my area)

FALLING DOWN is the tale of a man who loses his career and everything falls apart after it. In anger he turns to the streets with a arsenal of small arms and shoots everything up. The film is like something out of the newspaper (with the LAWS rocket scene being over the top). I know a guy who lost a promising career amid a flurry or is it fluery of corporate lies and religious lies. The man had to deal with a spectrum of emotions and moved on. Me. i get into the japanese train of thought. Suppose a man, a ronin is cast from the noblemans house and is left to fend for himself. Should he waste his tiem with a foolish violent attack on the nobleman and his clan? No. What he should do is side up (if possible) with the noblemans chief rival or rival house and plot the corporate or destruction of the noblemans house system from within. (Knowledge of the noblemans trade secret etc. could be useful to a enemy.) This is the best revenge there is as opposed to killing human beings, even those who have wronged you. i see the footage from columbine and I think...what a waste of life. the two students could have amounted to something in life and gotten married stated a computer business and instead they murdered a bunch of their classmen in a wall of bullets. Flooishness many times comes from the barrel of a gun. I do not live by this creed. Strategy in life even when we are down can propell us to greaer things after we have fallen like LUCIFER. (Even when we have not deserved it.) This film portrays the number one american response to loss of career and estee REVENGE WITH A GUN. Instead of plotting to kill a person who has wronged us, why not plot a new course for our lives. This film shows the downside. Something not mentioned in the film, the downside of killing people is jail time with two other inmates in a cell who want to make love to your butt. Something to think about. The wise man moves on and uses strategy (in business) to seek retribution. Who knows ten years from now a jilted employee could stage a hostile takeover of the company that screwed him by having joined a rival firm. (without murder and hurting people.) Killing, what profiteth a man to kill others in cold blood...nothing. granted we may never stage that ecomomic coup..yet who knows what the future holds.

This film has a romance angle as KEVIN COSTNER falls from a woman he must protect from a bad guy.I am not drawn to celebrity. Not in the least.In fact if it ever came my way i would kiss it off (granted it never will..sort of like me owning the buffalo bills). This film is a fantasy action adventure romance in which Costner plays the nice guy action heavy against all the bad guys in a story about a guy who operates in the world of the cult of personality. Personality and being seen witht he rich and famous are things I have never craved in this film Costner plays a PI/bodyguard who has to keep it in perspective and do his job. The bright lights and spotlight can be distracting to some yet his character is a professional who is not distracted. A interesting concept.

GILLIAN ANDERSON does several episodes where she gets caught by the villian one is obsession the other is well, gosh there are so many. Some men find this alluring but after watching a few again is her acting good or is she drawing on something else? who knows. A great show in it's early seasons. The show well, isn't that bad. if carter was smart he'd draw on watergate era problems with john doggett, yet what would he or I know about that. Say..is jeewell starr group coming for me I mean cumming?

I love this movie. The film was about two seattle cops who go on a stakeout and one of them gets laid (which has never happend to me). The film revolves around 1980's sexpot/renowned actor ADIAN QUINN who escapes from prison only to get hunted down by RICHARD DREYFUSS and EMILIO ESTEVEZ who watch his girlfriend played by MADELINE STOWE. I like the first film alothugh the second was fine. One of the best filsm by this director of note is the cinematography during the car chase when the startetrooper kicks out the windshield etc. A good funny movie and a good romance movie. One of a million I saw alone or with friends in the 1980's. The film meshes comedy and crime drama and makes a interesting restrained FILM (IE. NOT TOO FAR FETCHED). There was somehtign else I liked like SHOOT TO KILL, the location of washington state as a backdrop. Everyone in the casrtt did well in this movie along with Dreyfuss and Emilio ESTEVEZ who directed a 1980's movie called WISDOM I liked. A guy like me on borrowed time likes to remember the things that made life fun in the 1980's. The plus points on this: 1. crime drama 2. romance thriller 3. comedy relief by Emilio estevez 4. good characters....gee I hope ken starr of jewell starr group isn't cumming to get me.

For those on short time I offer this for your amusement. BLUE THUNDER the mega hit about cops, and military industrial corruption set against the backdrop of pre olympics LOS ANGELES is a fine movie. Plus points: good plot, great actors including WARREN OATES, and a believable story and screenplay. I once read a stralog with ainterview in it with DAN O BANNON in which he recounts how him and DON JAKOBY came up with this story. great story in itself. the movie is a cautionary tale about those who want military policing in the united states and our own backyards and a FUTURESHOCK spy society. The film was also a morality tale set to the good guys bad guys genre. The helicopter sequences were well filmed. I think my only problem was stock sound effects. (common in those days ie. sound of weapons fire etc.) As a boy i loved to read on film makers and making of note is the french gazelle doing a loop. At the time of the films release the AH 64 was in testing at aberdeen and could do the same thing. Completely plausible, they should do a remake. I like the air footage and the exchanges between antagonist and protagonist.

I'm almost on vapors here..like vespers. SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER was a meshing of religious overtones and secularism for a commentary on a generation and a clash between the religious world (briefly) and the secular world. The film tells the tale of lost souls at the disco as seen through the eyes of father frank and the higfh flying antics of a popular disco celebrity played by TRAVOLTA. The film is high art and pop culture rolled into one. The film captures the spirit of the disco era and set a new standard in soundtracks and soundtrack marketing. (along with STAR WARS and GREASE) The movie has a moral to it about life and the cruelty of it and trying to get by yet the clash between father frank and his walking away from the clergy was a great subplot I loved. That subplot gave the film believability and substance. The family setting for the character played by travolta was also believable. It was almost like a real family. The plus points:plot, music and acting. A film about nobodys who are trying to be somebody having been a nobody all my life I have nothing to hide. One of travoltas best movies. I liked him as a villian in BROKEN ARROW.

This film deals with the biblical "alluded to" later played upon myth of deceiving spirits tempting people. This ties in with the era in which works like the canterbury tales were written and works since. There is another system in myth used by kings and nobleman, using angels and demons as messengers the only problem is the people using the system usually get destroyed, this is a age old ,myth along the lines of the one commented on in this movie. A myth like BIG FOOT or willa the whisp, or the legend of succubs etc. This is usually derived from the superstitious and silly masonic sects.

KNIGHT RIDER was a family show with a long run about a guy who fights crime with a super high tech car that can do anything. It was very popular in it's long run despite the critics pans of the show. The show was about a cop who gets a face surgery and fights crime for a secret think tank. The show was a action sci-fi hour in the "man from uncle" escapist tradition. The series one was of NBC's most popular genre shows of the 1980's.