Change Your Image
Onyx-10
Reviews
Falsche Bewegung (1975)
A masterpiece
Many people spring to life when expressing their contempt for Wim Wenders' films, pushing themselves toward new heights of eloquence...and for that reason I usually keep my admiration for him to myself but this movie and the Goalie's Anxiety (not the easiest film to watch) really hit the nail on the head. Incredible portraits of people (in this case men) who have itches that they just can't scratch! In one scene the "hero" listens to the ex-Nazi make some crack about Jesse Owens getting the gold medal and he says,"..so you wouldn't have stood on the platform next to a black man?" and I thought, "I would give anything to see an American movie with a conversation as half as real as this!" You think Wenders is boring? Ok, fine, he's boring. But American movies are phony, like Mcdonald's french fries, they're treated with formaldahyde to maintain their "natural" color.
Big Trouble (1986)
Cassevettes Knockoff
This comedy according to Cineaste magazine was not directed by John Cassevettes but was lent his name after a young inexperienced director colleague of his fell into big...well, you know. This article went on to say that he was pretty grumpy on his deathbed knowing that this would be his last "credit". Well, that's a shame, because for a man who only made one comedy, a loopy one at that, this movie might have rounded out a legacy of angst, disillusionment and good old-fashioned middle-class American self-torture.
If that last labyrinthian sentence did nothing to sway you then consider this: the supporting actresses Beverly D'Angelo and Valerie Curtin are quite funny, too, enough to make this silly and completely unimportant take on one American's attempt to "send the boys to Yale" worth a watch. There is an unusual amount of improv in certain scenes that actually give the movie a satirical bite, hey folks,I heard on the radio yesterday that 60% of all Americans have $4500 of debt or more! Anyone who's lost sleep wondering "where will I get that kind of money?" will relate to Big Trouble.
Eyewitness (1981)
The perfect screenplay?
Are scripts art, like novels? Well maybe not,but everything every screenwriting teacher said one should do is in this movie. You may be surprised at how many stars of today turn up in this story, if you aren't knocked out by what each actor brings to his or her "small" role. Todays young actors can surely act, but Sigourney Weaver is a movie star and proves herself beautifully in this; for someone who was covered in sweat and grime in "Alien", she cleans up nicely, and William Hurt will remind you of any jr. high crush you ever wanted to forget you had. My favorites though, are by far the two cops played by...well just rent it. One of my all-time favorite movies.
Blink (1993)
Hitchcock meets Mamet
When I heard Michael Apted was bringing us the new James Bond movie, my expectations were high, partly because of his 7UP series - following British children throughout their lives - but mostly because of "Blink". There are two brief scenes with children in this movie that show what a subtle director can do with little or nothing, but the real difference in this film is the main characters: not exactly lovable people, these two have a way to go before anything approaching romance is on the horizon and Mr Apted manages to traverse this distance in 106 minutes, so if the world is not enough try this one out.
The World Is Not Enough (1999)
Mr Brosnan is Not Enough
Let me say two things first: I like Sean and Timothy too. Now before you hit the escape button let me add I also liked Goldeneye and saw it more than once. It's streamlined spy-story plot,and Sean Bean make it a cure for channelsurf blues, but something is missing from the Brosnan world, maybe I just think he's too skinny. This movie made me ask myself "Is it me or are the Bond bad guys getting smaller with each film?" Perhaps this is a petty point for real fans like yourselves, but can you see this guy standing up to Oddjob or TeeHee or even Grant in FRWL? Ouch!I can't look. The fight between 007 and Renard looked like two rambunctious teenagers fighting over a video game joystick! Before I start ranting (too late?) I implore you to rent NSNA and watch the fight between Sean Connery and the big Swiss guy SPECTRE hires to make him less of a nuisance. Maybe I like this fight because the film goes out of its way to suggest that 007 may be ready for retirement. I know the purists dislike that movie, but the elder Connery in that film could easily take Pierce Brosnan. I have fought this leaning, as hard as any Bond fan can,since TND came and went, but this latest chapter is, for some reason just as anti-climatic. Time for a new actor?
The Last Days of Chez Nous (1992)
Forget "smart","edgey",or "strong women"(?), try plain old GOOD!
I liked My Brilliant Career back in 1980, but after seeing this effort from the brilliant turned masterful Ms Armstrong I suspect that its traditional feminist message ("I won't give up my dreams for a man") made it more palatable for the times. Chez Nous doesn't let you off the hook so easily. What I found so compelling is its gentle but firm refusal to adopt a condescending attitude towards the characters or the audience. I rented this film with Jane Campion's Sweetie, which I found audaciously weird but riveting, in fact I now own Sweetie. Like Chez Nous, it deals with heroines and their family relationships, particularly involving sisters and to some degree, fathers. Both films are from the same part of the world. I was happy to find a used copy of Sweetie a few months after seeing it, but I watched Chez Nous twice before returning it, and that's the highest recommendation I can give.
The Living Daylights (1987)
Action, action, action!
As an action movie fan, I sometimes rent an old Bond film rather than subject myself to the latest Bruce Willis or Jerry Bruckheimer "vehicle". I've seen all the films more than once, and own four myself: Two Connerys and both Daltons. I grew up watching and liking Roger Moore but the two Bond films since Goldeneye (yuck) make me miss the last Bond, Timothy Dalton. This picture has an exciting prologue with some creative British professionalism in the stunts, also it contains two down and dirty fights, one with 007 and one with his co-workers. I am a student of judo (the British are big on it too) and appreciate a good well staged fight over some of the explosions passing for action here in Hollywood. Remember how you grimaced (amusingly of course) at seeing Sean Connery menaced by giant Aryans or smiled at by a 250 lb. killer Korean? This movie grabs a bit of the old glory! And folks, BMW's are fine, but 007 drives a British car!!