Jack's Reviews

The Edge (1997)



Director: Lee Tamahori
Cast overview: Anthony Hopkins, Alec Baldwin
Running time: 117 minutes

This is an excellent survival thriller, and probably the best film of 1997. Centring around a plane crash in the Alaskan wilderness, and the struggle of a billionaire and two other men to survive in those conditions, it's well-made, well-directed, and is probably the most underrated film I've seen in a long while. Titanic took the plaudits for 1997, but I'd say this beats it hands down.

Hopkins and Baldwin are two respected actors in their own right, particularly the former, while director Lee Tamahori has proven himself an adept filmmaker, though also made one of the worst Bond films in Die Another Day. While that was a blip on his career, this is probably the high point. But what makes it so great? Firstly, the cinematography. The shots of Alaska are simply stunning, and it looks so good on film. The sense of isolation is heightened but there exists also a true sense of the beauty of the region. Secondly, the acting is top-notch, with both Hopkins and Baldwin turning in realistic performances that show the stresses and flaws of their individual characters. The nuances and strains of such a perilous situation are all-too-present onscreen, and Tamahori shows this well. Jerry Goldsmith's score is stirring and evocative, both grand yet subtle, and rounds off the film nicely.

In short, this has become instantly one of my favourite films, and an underrated gem among those I've watched. It's perfect in every way, from the Alaskan setting, to the wonderful acting, to the music, to the thrilling qualities and sense of danger and adventure. It also happens to be, in my view, extremely underrated, and that's part of what adds to its appeal. Surely one of the most underrated films of all time.



Quotes
Charles Morse: You know, I once read an interesting book which said that, uh, most people lost in the wilds, they, they die of shame.
Stephen: What?
Charles Morse: Yeah, see, they die of shame. "What did I do wrong? How could I have gotten myself into this?" And so they sit there and they... die. Because they didn't do the one thing that would save their lives.
Robert Green: And what is that, Charles?
Charles Morse: Thinking.

Stephen: A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.

Charles Morse: Today, I'm-a-gonna-kill the mutha ****a.

Trivia
Anthony Hopkins had a brush with death during shooting in Alberta, Canada. During filming he was taking painkillers for a neck problem. He fell in a river, and didn't feel how cold he was becoming until he began to suffer from hypothermia. He had to be rushed to hospital to be treated.

This film inspired a highly successful TV reality show of the same name in Brazil, where participants were selected from normal people, including executives, graduates and clerks, left in a wild and deserted area of Brazilian landscape and had to survive using techniques similar to the ones mentioned by Anthony Hopkins's character.

The rifle they find in the house is a Winchester Model 1886 45-70.

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You hit one I haven't seen. I was always interested because of Hopkins, who I love, but probably stayed away because of Baldwin, who I hate. Might be time to catch up with it.

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Letterboxd

Yeah, I'd certainly recommend it, as you've probably guessed.

I know you didn't ask, but 1997: Starship Troopers, Donnie Brasco, L.A. Confidential, Jackie Brown, U Turn, Private Parts, Grosse Pointe Blank, Romy & Michelle's High School Reunion, Good Will Hunting, Breakdown, 4 Little Girls, Cop Land and Gattaca. There's a good few others that I know other people would recommend to you, but I'd point you in the direction of these.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Thanks very much. Are they general suggestions of what you think I'd like?

Nope, they're what I like.

Carrie (1976)



Director: Brian De Palma
Cast overview: Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie
Running time: 98 minutes

This is one of several Stephen King novels adapted into TV and film, although I don't think it's my favourite. That honour would have to go to Misery, closely followed by The Shining. It's a well-told story, it succeeds in doing what it intends to, despite appearing to feel slightly unsure of itself at certain times, but I don't feel it breaks into the upper echelons of film simply by feeling at times like a dark comedy, rather than the serious horror film it was surely intended to be.

Sissy Spacek plays Carrie White, a teenage girl with the ability to use telekinesis, well, and Piper Laurie is terrific as her overbearing and nutty religious mother. There are also appearances of varying degrees of importance from John Travolta, PJ Soles - known for her role as Annie in Halloween (1978), and Edie McClurg, who would become famous in a Planes, Trains & Automobiles scene. The acting talent is there, and it's often seen, but the comedic and lowbrow elements of some parts of the film reduce it a bit for me.

Brian De Palma at the helm was a promising sign, and he uses many of his typical visual elements in this, but it doesn't - in my opinion, at least - stand up as one of his better films.

It starts off well, and appears to be an interesting and unusual horror film - by virtue of not really being one in the traditional sense - but soon loses its way for the middle third until a solid ending rounds things off. This is a decent film, but I think it's been slightly overrated by some, and I don't think it's among the strongest of Stephen King's adaptations.



Quotes
Margaret White: [Referring to Carrie's prom gown] Red. I might have known it would be red.
Carrie: It's pink, Mama.
[Presenting corsage]
Carrie: Look what Tommy gave me, Mama. Aren't they beautiful?
Margaret White: I can see your dirty pillows. Everyone will.
Carrie: Breasts, Mama. They're called breasts, and every woman has them.

Tommy Ross: [Points to a humiliated Carrie after the pig's blood is spilled on her; his voice is blocked out but viewers can clearly read his lips and tell that he is upset and yelling] WHAT THE HELL!

Margaret White: I should've killed myself when he put it in me. After the first time, before we were married, Ralph promised never again. He promised, and I believed him. But sin never dies. Sin never dies. At first, it was all right. We lived sinlessly. We slept in the same bed, but we never did it. And then, that night, I saw him looking down at me that way. We got down on our knees to pray for strength. I smelled the whiskey on his breath. Then he took me. He took me, with the stink of filthy roadhouse whiskey on his breath, and I liked it. I liked it! With all that dirty touching of his hands all over me. I should've given you to God when you were born, but I was weak and backsliding, and now the devil has come home. We'll pray.
Carrie: Yes.
Margaret White: We'll pray. We'll pray. We'll pray for the last time. We'll pray.

Trivia
Stephen King based Carrie White on two girls he knew while at school, both were social outcasts from deeply religious families and both died while still in their twenties.

Sissy Spacek asked Brian De Palma how he wanted her to react when Carrie first realizes that she is bleeding in the showers at the start and De Palma told her "It's like you've been hit by a truck." Spacek talked to her husband Jack Fisk (art director), who as a child had been run over by a car when he was standing in the streets looking at Christmas lights a neighbor had put up, and used his description of the experience as a basis for the scene.

Nancy Allen claims that she never realized that her character was going to be so evil until she saw the finished film, she thought that she and John Travolta were playing such self-centered, bickering morons that they were there for comic relief. Piper Laurie also thought that the character of Margaret White was so over the top that the film had to be a comedy.

Trailer

Manhattan (1979)



Director: Woody Allen
Cast overview: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton
Running time: 96 minutes

I'll make an admission immediately - I struggled to get through this. I managed, just about, but it certainly wasn't due to the movie's positive qualities. I'm a Woody Allen fan, of sorts, but this felt completely pointless, and couldn't keep me interested. OK, it wasn't that bad, but I didn't think it was a patch on Annie Hall, the only other Allen film I've seen thus far. It dragged terribly, I didn't much care about the characters on show, and - apart from the usual subtle humour (and even that seemed less prevalent than it should have been) - there really wasn't much here to interest me or keep me involved.

The opening shows a film that is extremely promising, and George Gershwin's "Rhapsody In Blue", coupled with an Allen voiceover, worked well to introduce the film and give a sense of place, the New York that Allen has used in virtually all of his films. It wasn't the black-and-white cinematography that was off-putting either, rather the lack of a script that managed to draw me in and the sheer boredom I experienced through most of this.

Yes, it does feature a strong cast - Allen himself, Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton, Mariel Hemingway - but that alone isn't enough to drag it above the depths of weakness and mediocrity, in my view, and it's not a film that'll be featuring high on my seventies list. What puzzles me is that this is one of the most highly rated Woody Allen films - it must just be me...



Quotes
Isaac Davis: My analyst warned me, but you were so beautiful I got another analyst.

Isaac Davis: I had a mad impulse to throw you down on the lunar surface and commit interstellar perversion.

Isaac Davis: I think people should mate for life, like pigeons or Catholics.

Trivia
Apparently, there exists a clause in the studio's contract for the film that mandates that the movie must always be shown in letterbox format in any home video release and/or TV/cable broadcast.

Woody Allen disliked his work in this film so much he offered to direct another film for United Artists for free if they kept Manhattan (1979) on the shelf for good. Allan later reportedly said: "I just thought to myself, 'At this point in my life, if this is the best I can do, they shouldn't give me money to make movies'."

First film in black-and-white directed by Woody Allen.

Trailer

Speechless.

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

Even Woody Allen hates it. I can only go by what I see, and that's what I've done.

There is some Allen that I hate but this certainly is not one of them. I am surprised you disliked it so much after your Annie Hall review. It will be interesting to see how you feel about his films going forward. Sorry you didnt enjoy Jack.

Yeah, I was expecting to enjoy it as well. I think Annie Hall is widely regarded as being more accessible, perhaps that was one of the reasons? Just couldn't get into Manhattan at all.

Watched Carrie recently myself and didn't really like it. I think it suffers from what I call "Mad Max Syndrome" in that the film synopsis that you can read everywhere (like the IMDB mini one, TV information etc.) basically gives you 80% of the movie, and you're only left with 20 minutes of stuff actually happening, and then there's other things I didn't like too, which I will talk about when I do my movie tab post on it.

Carrie - it's called Grand Guignol.

Miller's Crossing (1990)



Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Cast overview: Gabriel Byrne, Albert Finney
Running time: 115 minutes

Miller's Crossing, the third Coen brothers film, is also among the best I've seen. It starts off in quite a confusing fashion, with a plot that initially appears hard to digest and hard to understand. But it becomes far clearer as the film progresses, and once you realise it appears quite simply - a crime boss adviser stuck between two warring mobs. The story itself is decent enough.

I prefer this to the two Godfather films I've seen, and I think a comparison to those seems natural given the subject matter, for the simple reason that I think it's paced far better and far more smoothly. The Godfather films, while epic in proportion and undoubtedly very popular, are also extremely long and slow-paced; here, the Coens create a film that is fairly brisk while also managing to be sufficiently deep and thought-provoking. It also features the violence that has become synonymous with gangster films.

Some have criticised what they see as overacting within the film. While I can understand where they are coming from, I didn't really notice it too much and I'm sure that most crime figures of this nature had the tendency to be larger-than-life, anyway, so overacting can be forgiven in a film of this nature. Carter Burwell's - who also produced great scores for Blood Simple and Fargo of the Coens' filmography - music is exquisite and evocative, and the cinematography is stunning, creating a 1930s landscape that is rich and realistic.

In short, this is by far my favourite gangster film, with a fairly brisk pace accompanying solid acting, a great script, stunning cinematography and evocative music, and it all comes together to create one of the greatest films of the 1990s, in my opinion, and a relatively underrated one up until recently.



Quotes
Johnny Caspar: When you're right you're right, but you never say 'I told you so'.
Tom Reagan: So what am I right about?
Johnny Caspar: Well, I'll tell ya, but first you gotta promise not to say 'I told you so'.
Tom Reagan: I don't say that and I don't like people who do.
Johnny Caspar: Mink was robbin' me right along with the shmatte.
Tom Reagan: What convinced you of that?
Johnny Caspar: Mink Larouie took a powder. We can't find him. Bluepoint's makin' excuses for him, but personally, I think you were right. I think Mink and Bernie was in it together. I think Mink heard you'd bumped the shmatte, and lit out. The lousy sonofabitch.
Tom Reagan: I told you so.
Johnny Caspar: Hahahaha! You got a lip on you!

Tom Reagan: Think about what protecting Bernie gets us. Think about what offending Caspar loses us.
Leo O'Bannion: Oh, come on, Tommy. You know I don't like to think.
Tom Reagan: Yeah. Well, think about whether you should start.

Eddie Dane: How'd you get the fat lip?
Tom Reagan: Old war wound. Acts up around morons.

Trivia
Cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld told the Coen brothers that the forest scenes should be shot during overcast days only. The brothers did not want to delay the filming based on the weather, but as luck would have it, on all but one of the scheduled days, it was overcast anyway. Sonnenfeld further muted the colors by using Fuji film instead of Kodak for the forest scenes. In one scene, when the Dane, Tom, Frankie and Tic-Tac are in the woods at Miller's Crossing, some sunlight can be seen faintly and out of focus in the background.

Bernie is referred to as a Schmatte. 'Schmatte' is a Yiddish word for an old rag and was also used colloquially as a label for things of poor quality or anything worthless. Caspar's use is derogatory, labeling Bernie worthless both as a man and as a Jew.

While there's only an approximate time period given for the film setting, the 1930s, the exact year has been provided by the calendar in Johnny Casper's office. The month is not visible on the calendar however, the first is on a Saturday and is in red which indicates a holiday. As the only holiday on the 1st of the month in the US is New Years Day and using the Model A Fords seen throughout the film as a measure, and that automobile was introduced in 1927, that would put the year as either 1927, when New Years Day fell on a Saturday or 1931, also a Saturday for New Years Day. Any Saturday New Years Day before or after those two years and the car models would be different. As the plot summary states, "1930s" the film has to be set in the year 1931.

Trailer

Coen brothers, nice. You liked it a bit more than me but I think it's pretty great.

Was it you who recommended Coen brothers earlier in the thread? Sorry, can't remember and haven't checked.

I think I might go for Barton Fink of theirs next.

I've never been able to get into Monty Python or Terry Gilliam films, even though I used to love The Flying Circus.

I wasn't crazy about Badlands, but I only saw it once, and I've always felt that it's one I should watch again.

I thought The Vanishing and The Edge were both very good, entertaining movies.

6 months ago, Carrie was a lock for my 70's list. That's not necessarily the case anymore, but it'll always be one of my favorite horrors. I think part of it just stems from the fact that I saw it at the movies when I was very young.

I liked Manhattan about the same as Annie Hall,

Miller's Crossing is right at the top of my to see list when I'm done focusing on the 70's.

Django Unchained (2012)



Director: Quentin Tarantino
Cast overview: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz
Running time: 165 minutes

This is the first Tarantino film I've seen, and I was pleasantly surprised to an extent. I don't think I'd have it as an 8.5, as IMDb does, but it's a good film and I'll probably give it another watch sometime. It's a decent western, a genre that Tarantino was bound to try eventually, given his penchant for violence and his love of the genre.

The plot itself, like many of Tarantino's, is full of violence, gore, and controversial themes. Centring around Dr King Schulz, a bounty hunter played fabulously by Christoph Waltz, who hires Jamie Foxx's slave character Django to help him identify three brothers with a bounty on their heads. DiCaprio gives a far more assured performance than some of his others - he seems to be maturing into a very good actor, a far cry from his younger days. Samuel L. Jackson gives perhaps the best performance of the lot, though, as Stephen, one of DiCaprio's black workers, though he's a cruel and uncaring character. It's a simple enough plot that draws you in.

I will say that I found the first half of the film to be more engaging than the second, as it seems to lose its way a tad in the second half. This is a long film, and I'm not sure whether that contributed in part to the lack of engaging material in the second half.

Having said that, it is a decent enough film, even if it may not be Tarantino's best - I think I may try Jackie Brown of his next as that seems pretty good. It manages to keep the viewer entertained for most of its running time, even if it does seem episodic and messy at other points.



Quotes
Django: I like the way you die, boy.

Dr. King Schultz: [aiming .45-70 rifle at fleeing Ellis Brittle] You sure that's him?
Django: Yeah.
Dr. King Schultz: Positive?
Django: I don't know.
Dr. King Schultz: You don't know if you're positive?
Django: I don't know what 'positive' means.
Dr. King Schultz: It means you're sure.
Django: Yes.
Dr. King Schultz: Yes, what?
Django: Yes, I'm sure that's Ellis Brittle.
[Schultz shoots Brittle off his horse]
Django: I'm positive he dead.

Dr. King Schultz: How do you like the bounty hunting business?
Django: Kill white people and get paid for it? What's not to like?

Trivia
When Leonardo DiCaprio's character Calvin Candie smashes the palm of his hand on the dinner table, the actor broke a glass under his hand and really began to bleed. DiCaprio ignored it, stayed in character, and continued with the scene. This take was the one used in the film.

During the filming of one of the dinner scenes, Leonardo DiCaprio had to stop the scene because he was having "a difficult time" using so many racial slurs. Samuel L. Jackson then pulled him aside telling him, "Mother****er, this is just another Tuesday for us."

After working on this film, composer Ennio Morricone said he would probably never again collaborate with Quentin Tarantino since he didn't like the way the writer/director "places music in his films without coherence" and "never giving enough time". Morricone and Tarantino had also worked together on three previous movies.

Trailer

The Two Faces of January (2014)



Director: Hossein Amini
Cast overview: Kirsten Dunst, Viggo Mortensen
Running time: 96 minutes

I've just got back from seeing this at the cinema, so I'll write a review while my thoughts are still fresh. Firstly, I found it to be a very good film, with a sound story adapted from Patricia Highsmith's 1964 novel, very good acting from Mortensen and Isaac particularly, and wonderful settings and cinematography that thrust you straight into the heart of locales such as Athens and Istanbul. I've not read the novel, but I'll be sure to try to find a copy as I greatly enjoyed the story.

So, the positives: well-made, particularly for a directorial debut (it felt far more assured than that); solid story, acting, and cinematography, and a more broader success at creating suspense and tension - due to this, it had a very Hitchcockian feel, and this improved the film as a whole.

There were a couple of negatives. Firstly, while I thought the story was well-anchored, it did occasionally feel like it didn't push itself enough, if that makes sense. It felt too safe at times, and felt a tad too predictable at times. That said, that is a minor quibble and it didn't too much detract from my enjoyment of the film.

A very good film that achieves its ultimate goal of being a successful thriller, thanks to the very assured acting, the evocative settings and also the time period in which it is set - it has very much a period feel, and that's no bad thing. Recommended.



Quotes
[last lines]
Chester MacFarland: I'm sorry I disappointed you.

Trivia
The month of January is named after Janus, the Roman god of transitions, beginnings, gates, doors, doorways, passages and endings, and as such is usually portrayed with two faces, one looking to the future and the other to the past.

Trailer