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Reviews
Lampje (2022)
Dutch charity stars at work?
It's hard to fathom for me why the media are so uniformly exultant about this. Granted, the production design and cinematography are gorgeous, and the source material is one of the best Dutch children's books to be published in recent years. But neither the story nor the characters have not survived the transfer to this medium. The pacing is mind-numbingly slow. The acting feels wooden and stilted, lines delivered abrubtly and without conviction. It seems to have been edited without any sense of either rhythm or pacing. And to top it off, the childish, over-the-top, redundant voice-over by the unnecessary storyteller made both my kids cringe. This must be yet another case of stars assigned for effort and the mere fact of being an ambitious Dutch production. Such a shame...
Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001)
Good Film, Read Book Afterwards
Here's a well-made war story, nicely shot and well-acted. The portraying of the Italian and German occupancy of Greek island Kefalonia is well-done. John Hurt as Pelagia's father and the island doctor is superb, Nicolas Cage does a good job as the Captain from the title, Penelope Cruz does a good job of being beautiful and batting her eyelashes at Cage. There's heroics and humor, there's drama and romance, and it is all set on an idyllic island.
Oddly enough, a very similar, or should I say almost identical, storyline, with the same characters going through the same series of events, is told in a novel by the same title, written by Louis de Bernieres. This wonderful historical novel tells the story of beautiful Pelagia, daughter of doctor Iannis, and their life on Kefalonia during WWII. Pelagia's fiancee, local fisherman Mandras, enlists when the Italian Army invades northern Greece from Albania under false pretenses. When the Axis finally prevails, with a lot of help from the Germans, a garrison of Italian soldiers is stationed on the island, and Captain Corelli plays a big part in keeping the occupation a peaceful time. As Mandras joins the partisans, charming Corelli and his mandolin are quartered with the doctor and his beautiful daughter. Of course, this makes it a novel about love. But it is also a war novel, a summary of Greek history, a tale of Communist uprising in post-war Greece, a portrait of the madness of Mussolini, and, most importantly, an ode to island life on Kefalonia.
Some of these elements return in the movie, but in general, it is an impossible book to film. I am glad nobody ever tried.
The movie 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin', however, is worth seeing. Just make sure you read the book *after* you see the movie.
Dancer in the Dark (2000)
Horrible, Depressing Movie
A word to the wise - stay away from this film!!! If you've seen any of Lars von Trier's work (I hadn't), and based on what you've seen you decide to watch Dancer in the Dark, DON'T! It is horrible, depressing, sad, unhappy movie with an ending that makes Sommersby look like a comedy, and Seven a Disney flick. I hated, hated, hated it!!! (Okay, okay, it is an excellent movie, technically, and the acting is superb, especially by Bjork.) I've decided, based on this movie, that Von Trier is a sick, sick man, possessing a deep black cynicism (?) without parallel. Bleh!
Double Jeopardy (1999)
Predictable Entertainment
It is always nice to see that some people know how to cast Ashley Judd. While she doesn't actually know how to act, she does very well in this predictable thriller. Don't expect too many surprises, but the movie is entertaining enough. Tommy Lee Jones is great as ever, and with Judd in place, the casting seems good - though Roma Mafia in jail is a big no-no. While far from an unforgettable edge-of-seat thriller, this movie will give you two hours of viewing pleasure without any obvious and/or irritating imperfections. Good to rent, just don't buy!
Starship Troopers (1997)
Lame, Lame Lame: Paul Verhoeven Crashes & Burns
This movie is lame. Based on what probably is not one of Heinlein's best, the script-writer produced a horrible screenplay. Casting botched their job, resulting in an ever smiling and pretty Denise Richards (otherwise yummy) trying to be a tough space ace and failing - and she's the best of the bunch. With terrible acting, stupid dialogue, a rickety story full of holes, incredible amounts of blood and gore, and a nude mixed shower scene out of nowhere, just because Verhoeven needs to show bare breasts at least once in each of his movies, this movie deserves only one word: LAME! Though I give it a 3, I shudder at the thought of any moving scoring lower... (Except The Man in the Iron Mask, of course)
Kiss the Girls (1997)
Another Good Book Murdered
The only believable murder that takes place in this entire movie is that of the original James Patterson novel of the same title. Based on a close-to-brilliant serial killer thriller by the writer of 'Along came a spider', this film fails in almost every respect. Moving way too slow, with a rambling script and terrible casting, it's a predictable and boring piece of routine Hollywood produce. Morgan Freeman tries to save the film, and Ashley Judd does her best, but they alone can't save it from failure. Especially noteworthy is the terrible performance by Bill Nunn, who plays Freeman's partner. Don't bother seeing this movie - read the excellent book instead.
The Green Mile (1999)
Excellent adapation of excellent novel
As far as I'm concerned, King adapations are notoriously awful. (Take any film version of wonderful IT, for example.) But this marathon of a movie, based on - and closely following - the novel of the same name, is all but perfect. With a script that captures both the atmosphere and the story of the 'serial novel' The Green Mile perfectly, it's still mainly the acting that excels - though the director deserves a lot of credit too. Tom Hanks is wonderful as always, James Cromwell and David Morse do their thing and do it as well as expected of them, and Graham Greene sets down another convincing old Indian (excuse me, Native American). But Michael Duncan is the real star here. I remember thinking, after reading the book, that it would be impossible to find a convincing actor for the role of John Coffey, but in Duncan the casting has found the perfect match. This movie is worth seeing all three hours of. Don't miss it!
Knock Off (1998)
Boring beyond belief
I've seen many a silly and stupid action flick, and would have even given passing marks to some of Van Damme's work. But this is way too stupid and boring. I watched it in a bus on my way to a skiing holiday, and even with absolutely nothing else to do, this movie could not hold my attention for more than 10 minutes.
The Straight Story (1999)
Wonderful cinematographic valium
Take a story that spans two months in which hardly anything happens at all... Tell that story in 111 minutes of film and skip the highlights... Shoot the film in Iowa and Wisconsin, in a landscape devoid of anything even remotely resembling an interesting feature... Give all the leading roles in the film to old geezers... And limit the spoken parts to a maximum of two statements per dialogue.
This could have been a terrible movie, boring beyond belief.
But somehow, David Lynch made it into one of the most beautiful, sweetest, and certainly most calming movies ever.
The Straight Story is a really, really sweet movie. I loved it. The acting is superb, the pictures pretty, the music (Badalamenti again) lovely, and the pace refreshingly slow.