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Reviews
Twilight (1998)
Wasted performances
It's refreshing to see consummate actors plying their trade, especially one with the skill of Paul Newman. It's especially wonderful to see this skill applied to a film like "Nobody's Fool." In "Twilight," Newman is reunited with "Nobody's Fool" director-screenwriter Robert Benton and is essentially playing the same character. Only this time the character is placed in a manipulative plot that seems like retreads from better crime films. It's simply a window for Newman to show is talents. Other screen veterans--Gene Hackman, Susan Sarandon and James Garner (who is just as natural in front of a camera as Newman)--are also on display, but are not given the screen time to display their skills. It's really Newman's picture and the rest of the actors are simply "guests". Stockard Channing is underused in the role of a police investigator and one of my favorite character actors, M. Emmet Walsh is completely wasted in the role of a...well...a corpse, I guess. The message--about people in the "twilight" of their years--is heavy-handed and the story makes absolutely no sense logically. But it's good seeing Newman at the top of his form--now, if he will only pick out better projects in which to display his talents.
Dark City (1998)
A superb, visionary look at an original universe
An excellent combination of film noir and science fiction, and a marvelous display of imagination from director Alex Proyas. His previous film, "The Crow," while similar in its use of art direction and cinematography, did not prepare me for the complete originality of this effort. Not since "2001: A Space Odyssey" has a film so completely captured my imagination in its vision.