Starring:Michael Douglas, Sean Penn, Deborah Kara Unger
Directed by:David Fincher
This eagerly awaited follow up from the director of Seven - the deeply shocking but thoughtful grim-flick of last year - is a stylish pile of absoulte kack.
The big idea involves Douglas' standard ruthless super-rich guy, in this case also a recluse unable to conduct even the most basic of relationships with any kind of humanity. His life becomes considerably more complicated when his brother (Penn) gets him a surprise birthday present - an invitation to use Consumer Recreation Services. Not an escort agency, the mysterious CRS is a highly sophisticated role playing games company with a difference - you get on with your life, and the game will find you.
So far so good, a fine premise. But from the moment he steps through the office door, it all goes horribly wrong. It is one thing that we don't particularly care for our lead character, but quite another to find him more imbecilic than Jim Carry and Jeff Daniels put together. No! Don't do that! No!!! What are you doing??!! How did he ever make any money? Every decision he takes is so monumentally stupid that the resulting increasing violence and horror earn not our dread, but our derision.
This is a shameful waste of talent, right down to whoever had the story idea in the first place. Of course I can't even hint at what happens at the end, except to say it is so ridiculous it provides a sense of ironically fitting one-upmanship to the rest of the tosh.
Douglas has done this before, Fincher makes it all look great and provides as much surface tension as the madness allows, and at least there is a genuine attempt to make a big budget thriller different. But however worthy the aim, the result is dire. And that should have been spotted long before Fincher got anywhere near the script.
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman & Jude Law
Directed by: Andrew Niccol
Sci-fi has, by now, been well and truly flogged to death. What new angle is there anymore?
Gattaca comes from the school of thought which says that sci-fi is really about contemporary social commentary. The "big oidea", as Alan Partridge would say, is that in the future all legitimate births are subject to genetic screening - eugenics if you will. If you have a natural birth, you are registered an "invalid", unable to get insurance or a decent job.
You certainly couldn't get to be an astronaut, for example, and Ethan Hawke works as a cleaner at Gattaca, a space acadmey, while dreaming of the stars. Desparate, he calls in a Jimmy Saville style character to fix it for him - Saville presents him with Jude Law, a "valid" swimmer in a wheelchair following an accident. With a bit of jiggery pookery and a lot of planning, Hawke nicks his DNA, becomes Law, and he's whizzing through the space academy faster than you can say "but there's trouble ahead". But there's trouble ahead, following a murder at the space corps, and the authroities find evidence of an invalid on board.
All of which is a perfectly fine idea, yet the end reult is strangely unsatisfying. The whole thing seems to have been filmed in the seventies, with gleaming hermetically sealed sets and soulless characters. This points at the main weakness - the inherant tediousness of the people we are supposed to care about.
It also suffers from an insipid sub-Blade Runner voice-over throughout, and an unimaginatively structured script which gets contrived before it gets cliched. Yet it is not without its strengths, and the murder enquiry rasies a smattering of interest from time to time, helped by Loren Dean - so good in a bit part of Apollo 13 - as the chief investigator.
Compared to the standard shoot-em-up fare, this should be a thinking person's bit of sci-fi. However, the makers clearly didn't have to think all that hard themselves - so why should we?
Starring: Brendon Gleeson, John Voight and Adrian Dunbarr
Directed by: John Boorman
Based on a very recent true story, Gleeson plays the eponymous General, an almost mythical not-quite-Robin Hood criminal in Dublin. Thumbing his nose equally at the police, the IRA and the loyalists, The General and his band of merry men set about ever more ambitious robberies and ever more devious ways out of avoiding imprisonment.
This is an engaging tale which cracks along with veteran Boorman at the helm. The General certainly has his fair share of luck, not least in having the mutually consenting "support" of two gorgeous sisters (Maria Doyle Kennedy and Angeline Ball, two of the three singers from The Commitments - why stop at two?). There is a lightness of touch throughout much of this, with a good deal of humour between the sporadic and painful violence.
The pace does start to slacken off before events reach their inevitable conclusion, but this is an extremely well told tale of a fascinating and enigmatic man, brought to life by Gleeson in a career-making performance. Although filmed in black and white, there's a lot of colour here.
Starring: John Travolta, Gene Hackman, Rene Russo and Danny De Vito
Directed by: Barry Sonnenfeld
Well, who'd have thought it. John Travolta appearing in "Look Who's Talking Interminably!" seemed somehow unstoppable, yet the huge success of Pulp Fiction has hurtled the ex-dancing king's career into maximum overdrive. Here, even more than in Quentin's finest two-hours, we see that the man has more style than Georgio Armani's Roller getting valet-parked at the Ritz.
It's Bullets over Hollywood, and Travolta plays an ultra-savvy loan shark, assigned to retrieve $300,000 for his new boss in Miami from a very alive supposedly dead man. En route, he picks up another job retrieving money owed to a Vegas casino by none other than the producer of Silme Girls 3 (Hackman)! Smitten by the Hollywood bug, he quickly develops an interest in not only producing a movie based on his own (very current) life starring Martin Wier (DeVito), but also in the girlfriend of the producer (Russo). However, a multitue of wronged inept or very ept (?) gangsters and hoodlums conspire to cut short his rise to the top of the box office.
This puts The Usual Suspects into perspective - great scott, you've got to pay attention to avoid getting corkscrewed under the plot twists. Director Barry "Addams Family" Sonnenfeld keeps the ultra-savvy satirical tone pretty much throughout, bar the few moments of reality which come as something of an ill-fitting shock. An excellent supercool jazz/R&B score adds the finishing touch to Travolta's splendid hip-but-likeable hood, Hackman plays superbly against type as the hopeless producer, Russo has plenty of moments which more than aquit her transformation from action-girl to "proper" actress, and DeVito splendidly sends up both himself and the collective zeitgeist of Hollywood itself.
At times Get Shorty seems a little to pleased with it's own cleverness to engage the soul, but theres no denying those excellent performances and some terrific lines in the faithfully adapted screenplay. Despite the fine work by the large ensemble cast however, it's Travolta's that you remember after the final in-joke zooms away during the closing shot.
Starring: Demi Moore & Anne Bancroft
Directed by: Ridley Scott
So the last bastion of sexual inequality comes tumbling down. At the behest of ambitious senetor Bancroft, the Navy SEALS have to join the 90's before it's too late, and thus recruit ace intelligence officer Moore as the first female candidate. But, of course, like all SEALS she has to get through what amounts to the toughest training course on earth before she can earn the accolade of being The Real Deal.
There are many, many pitfalls to avoid here, and G.I. Jane amazingly avoids the vast majority. Moores's Jane wants to pass like anyone else, bond with her course mates and not be treated as a special case, all of which are, of course, near impossible. This is an ideal role for Demi, and (bonus silicone enhanced chest aside) she looks and acts the part superbly.
While not exactly full of surprises, the story chugs along nicely enough, and it all looks fittingly awful at the hands of Scott (another strong female lead, Ridleywatchers). Indeed, the question rightly changes from "Why does she want to do this?" to "Why does anyone want to do this?". When Moore asks this of the female medic, she replies that the men tell her it's "to blow shit up". Moore laughs and replies "Well there you go". Well, there you go...
Starring Matthew Broderick & Jean Reno
Directed by Roland Emmerich
Well, what do you want out of a film like Godzilla? I, for one, want to laugh. Surely we can't, as grown adults, be expected to take this seriously. So my main concern is - how much fun do we have?
From the off, it transpires that Godzilla appears to take itself quite seriously, and more so than makers' own Independence Day. Nevertheless, the first half hour is nicely done - maybe they've pulled it off - can we really suspend disbelief?
Nah! It's no secret that the lizard reaches New York, and from the moment when he quite literally puts his foot in it, things go green-belly up. The plot makes not one iota of sense, the effects, initially impressive, fall apart when the film turns into a video game, some of the human relationship scenes are beyond awful, and none of it is interesting, exciting, funny or scary. In true Emmerech style, we can at least pass the time playing "spot the steal", as we count references from Jaws, Alien, Aliens, Alien 4, Jurassic Park (of course) and most unintentionally and obviously, The Lost World. But the only real laughs to be had are from Harry Shearer, the voice of the newsreader in The Simpsons, here playing a newsreader. Very surreal.
Thank goodness that with half an hour to go, things ratchet up a notch, with a sequence that is almost original, gasp, and quite a bit which, though totally unbelievable, is a lot of fun. One or two lines of dialogue are quite good here too, which is a shock.
So it's not as dull as Deep Impact, and the Producer / Director (and scriptwriter) team of Dean / Emmerich try to pull off their bigger and better rehash of other peoples stuff again.
But here is the main problem. This film is sold on the tag line "Size Does Matter". It makes the assumption that, having becoming bored of Jurassic Park, we'll all think this must be better because the monster is even bigger. Hmm. Well, for my five quid, Godzilla is just too big! I was never at any point actually scared of the thing - there can be no "relationship" between something so big and a human so small. Anyhow, were Godzilla to end my days on this mortal coil, I'd just be instantly crushed. I was MUCH more scared of any one of the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park who could eat me alive as soon as look at me. Yuck.
So does size matter? Not in the way the makers seem to think.
Starring: Peirce Brosnan, Isabella Scorupco & Sean Bean
Directed by: Martin Campbell
Oh lawks, what a riot. Let's take away all the tedious raging about whether or not the new 90's James Bond is too PC, not PC enough, obsolete, blah, blah, blah, and ask the only question worth asking - is it fun? The answer - yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, YES!!!. Bond is back with an almighty great multitude of bangs.
Following a suitably daring escape from a Russian military base nine years ago, Bond is on the trail of the Goldeneye - a key to a terrific nuclear type space weopan, which destroys all earthly electric circuits or something.
There you go - what more do you want? The plot is interesting enough to hang the various stunts and set pieces together, and whereas they may lack the high-tech finese of last years great pretender True Lies, they more than compensate in pure adreneline audaciousness - what a tank chase. Brosnan makes the best Bond in years, apparently slipping into the role as easily as the immaculate suit, Scorupco is a splendid looking and - hey! - decent acting Bond girl and the baddies are all up to the job. Interestingly, Joe Don Baker turns up as Bond's CIA helper - wheras it was only eight years ago he popped his clogs as Chief Bad Guy in The Living Daylights. You'd think Timothy Dalton would have tipped Brosnan off.
Even above Peirce, however, director Martin Campbell must take main credit for rejuvenating the ancient series (if Bond was 30 in Dr No, he'd be 62 now - very well preservred). The film takes it's time - tearing through the action at a rate of knots but also allowing a bit of space and silence when needed - something the like of Drudge Jedd and Batman Forever forgot.
Oh, and Judi Dench is splendid as M. And Desmond Llewellan has is funniest line yet as Q. And... oh, forget your prejudices and just go see it. It is, of course, a blast.
Starring: Matt Damon, Robin Williams, Minnie Driver and Ben Affleck
Directed by: Gus Van Sant
Damon is a Harvard boy, possesed with a mathematical mind so brilliant he solves near-impossible problems in a blink of an eye. Student? Lecturer? Ah ha - he's the cleaner.
So the boy has an attitude problem, but aside from numerous public order offences, seems happy enough with his mates down the bar telling rude jokes and getting plastered. The lecturer who discovers his genius quickly realises that if his abilities are ever to be used to something worthwhile, he's gonna need a shrink. Enter estranged old pal Robin Williams.
This really is an intelligent film, and for this it stands out from almost every other American movie, independent or otherwise. It beggars belief that the script was penned by the two young stars Damon and Affleck. Perhaps it is not coincidental that the film is partially about not drawing snap judgements about people. Maverick director Van Sant handles the cast brilliantly - with Williams perfect and Driver very natural in her home accent - and the camera with flair.
Yet despite all these plusses, the film falls a little short near the end. Having created such a complex world for Damon's character, ending the story in a satisfying way was always going to be tricky. It's not a bad effort, and has some great aspects, but overall the impact of the previous hour and a half is somewhat dulled. But hey, I feel mean griping. Films this good - warts and all - are rare enough without me spoiling the party. Go see.
Starring: John Cusack, Minnie Driver & Joan Cusack
Directed by: George Armitage
DVD Review **
Picture the scene - it's another High School reunion, and a chance to catch up on what you've all made of your lives. A chirpy man in black gets asked, and he tells you all he's now doing very nicely, thank you, as a professional killer. What a card. No, he is, he assures you all, including his childhood sweetheart and now local town shock-jock, he really is. What a card!
This essentially is the one joke premise of the black comedy Grosse Pointe Blank, but John Cusack tells it so well that it's a pretty damn funny joke. Ably assisted by a great supporting cast (including, again, his equally talented sister), his machine-gun-like delivery is reminiscent of his superb early roles in The Sure Thing and the now legendary Say Anything. With this and Con Air, it's good to have him back.
The film is nicely woven together by Armitage, and manages to just stay the right side of hipper-than-thou in its post-modern take on the routine lifestyle of being a killing machine. Very nice.
All reviews / articles copyright Guy Rowland (1998).