Thom-Yorke Reviews

Backdraft (1991)

Good mix of action, thrills and drama.

[7/10 · 27 July 2005]

Stephen(Kurt Russell) and Brian McCafrey (William Baldwin) are two brothers, who have, ever since their old man died, wanted to be firemen. Stephen is by far more experienced than Brian, his younger brother.

Stephen welcomes Brian to his team and Brian gets introduced to Stephen's friends. But after a short while, Brian doesn't quite feel like he fits in the team as the naive, rookie firefighter; so therefore he accepts Marty Swayzak's (J.T. Walsh, the man who is running for mayor) offer to work with Donald 'Shadow' Rimgale (Robert De Niro, the local fire investigator).

There have been three murders (all of them caused by fire), and Brian and 'Shadow' are convinced that these murders are connected to each other and their job is to find out who it is that has started these so-called "Backdrafts".

All in all, this is a suspense action thriller that is worth watching. Especially Kurt Russell and Scott Glenn are outstanding in this film.

Additional cast include Scott Glenn, Donald Sutherland, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jason Gedrick and Rebecca De Mornay.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Predator (1987)

Excellent!

[10/10 · 13 March 2005]

Predator; starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Bill Duke, Shane Black etc, etc...

Predator has got to be one of the best action flick that has ever hit the screen.

A team of commandos are sent to Central America to rescue downed airmen from guerrillas. The leader, Dutch, and his team begin a successful mission, but soon... strange things start to happen. Something is not right. There is something among them in the jungle, something that's not human. The soldiers do not have a clue of what they're up against until one soldier of the team is slaughtered by this unfamiliar creature. Located deep in the jungle, the commandos are being told that they can't be evacuated anytime soon, which leaves the team nerve-racking. Things get worse when this intelligent hunter strikes back. The team now realizes that they're the ones that are being chased and then decide to capture the creature. When the plan fails, they run for their life. Eventually, Dutch is the only one left and he knows in order to survive, he has to face the predator... and now I'm not going to say anymore and let you enjoy this outstanding action movie.

Rating: 9/10

Get Shorty (1995)

Funny, entertaining comedy with style.

[7/10 · 11 March 2005]

Chili Palmer (John Travolta) is highly into movies. He's a super-cool guy and he always knows what to say. So through his connections he tracks down a Hollywood producer by the name of Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman), wakes him up in the middle of the night and tells him that he has an idea for a movie. That is the first time Chili sees Karen Flores (Rene Russo) and is attracted to her right away.

So Chili and Harry agree on what actor they want in their movie. It is none other than the famous Martin Weir (Danny DeVito). Martin agrees with them to make this picture. Harry is still wondering if he should make this movie with his new friend, Chili, or the selfish Bo Catlett (Delroy Lindo), who wants nothing more than to get rid off Chili.

However, Chili's issues aren't over, because a tough guy, Ray 'Bones' Barboni, (Dennis Farina) that's never been out of Miami is looking for him to collect his money which Leo Devoe (David Paymer) has stolen.

Other supporting roles are Harvey Keitel as himself and Bear (James Gandolfini) as Bo's bodyguard.

If you liked Out Of Sight and Jackie Brown, which are also novels by Elmore Leonard, you'll enjoy Get Shorty.

There's lots of humor in here and some funny scenes for example: when Gene Hackman calls Dennis Farina and tries (tries a bit too hard, which is the fun part) to act tough over the phone like Chili does in real life.

Overall, good cast, enjoyable movie.

Rating: 7.5/10

Lethal Weapon (1987)

The Best Buddy Cop movie of all time!

[8/10 · 10 March 2005]

Mel Gibson and Danny Glover are perfect as a team.

Murtaugh, a middle-age family man that thinks he's getting too old for his job. His life is pretty much ordinary until he gets a new partner.

Riggs, a psychotic cop that's dangerous and likes to do things his own way and is always on the edge of things. He considers suicide everyday because of the loss of the woman he loved, but somehow he sees the bright side of life.

These two guys don't get along very well at first and are completely the opposite of one another, but when the bad guys kidnap Murtaughs daughter, Riggs and Murtaugh will go all the way to get her back.

This outstanding movie provides explosions, car chases, lots of action, great fight scenes, hilarious humor and plenty more that will keep us in a good mood.

Enjoy!

Rating: 8/10

Casino (1995)

Almost perfect

[9/10 · 9 March 2005]

This movie almost has it all. Acting is at its finest, the direction is excellent, the story is interesting and it has a good plot, however, this movie is not for everyone to see. The amount of violence is very high (a bit too much) and there's a lot of swearing in this.

As always, Robert De Niro is at his best, making sure he knows every little single detail of what's going on in his casino. He doesn't play the typical Italian here. If he sees someone cheating at a table, he lets them go with a warning instead of killing them.

Joe Pesci, on the other hand is very similar to the character he played in 'Goodfellas'. His job is to make sure that nobody messes with Ace. He ends up going too far. After sleeping with Ace's wife, not taking orders from the bosses back home and doing things his own way, it's obvious he has to suffer the consequences.

Sharon Stone is at her best here as the gold digger and drunk wife.

Overall, 'Casino' is a well acted movie, but as I said it's not for everyone to see. It contains a lot of "F" words.

Rating: 8.5/10

The Faculty (1998)

Great sci-fi, thriller

[7/10 · 14 February 2005]

I first saw "The Faculty" in the cinema with my sister. I was really excited to go see it, because it looked promising, and it really was. The only actor I knew of in the movie was Robert Patrick.

The cast is pretty good and if you're a fan of John Hughes, which I am, you will realize that these 5 main characters have certain similarities to the cast of "The Breakfast Club". We've got the jock, the goth, the popular girl, the geek and the criminal.

This movie has a lot of great soundtracks which are performed by Offspring, Creed, Class of '99 and more.

"The Faculty" is nothing extraordinary, however it is highly enjoyable and it would be great to show to your friends if you're having a party.

Rating: 7/10