Gareth's Movie Reviews - Past and Present
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Last added to 18th February 1999
The Graduate NEW!
Mrs Brown (aka Her Majesty, Mrs Brown)
The Shootist
(There's no review of The Lion King here!)
This is a great movie! The blend of funny, serious, happy and sad is perfect. The three stars, Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt and Greg Kinnear, are excellent. There's even a terrific performance from a small dog!
The character at the centre of the piece is wacky obsessive compulsive disorder bloke, Melvin Udall (Oscar-winning Mr Nicholson) who relies on his routine. His daily visit to a local restaurant sees him using his own plastic cutlery and being served by the same waitress Carol (Oscar-winning Miss Hunt). Melvin's life is turned upside down when Carol leaves work to care for her severely asthmatic son. Melvin's reaction is to pay for a doctor to give her his full attention and care for the young boy. Thus Melvin and Carol form an unlikely friendship, although Carol initially suspects Melvin's motives may not be strictly selfless.
At the same time, Melvin's gay artist neighbour, Simon (Oscar-nominated Greg Kinnear) is robbed and hospitalised by the subsequent beating. Melvin is forced to look after Simon's amusing little dog, further upsets in his formerly regular routine.
The film focuses mainly on the relationships the Melvin develops with both Carol and Simon. It's fascinating stuff and we find Melvin making certain sacrifices to apparently help his two new "friends". The thing is that what he does is utterly selfish. He is only helping these people to help his relationship with Carol with whom he is in love (although he is afraid to admit it). But as events progress Melvin's obsessive behaviour begins to show small signs of returning to something resembling normality. His relationships with Carol and Simon, although selfishly motivated, are bringing normality into his life and it's rubbing off.
The film is moving and very thought-provoking. The three main performances are impeccable with light support from Cuba Gooding Jr and Harold Ramis (he's putting on weight eh?). I think this is a movie you have to see. It is an insight into a side of human nature that we don't often confront. 9/10
This is another classic movie that I've only just got around to seeing. It's not that I couldn't be bothered, more like the BBC, in all their infinite wisdom, have only just got around to screening it again!
But enough of that, what did I think? Well, it's a lot of fun. You sense the actors are really enjoying themselves in Blake Edwards' 1961 romantic comedy. The story goes like this...Holly (Audrey Hepburn - bit wayward and fun-loving) meets Paul (George Peppard). Both embark on a very intriguing yet utterly watchable friendship. She is clearly flirting with him - subtly of course. He is laid back but immediately develops a caring interest in her. We spend most of the film wondering when (let's face it - it's not a case of "if" is it?!!) they will get together. In the meantime we see Holly waltz about in her own little dream world, trying to cop off with rich older men and supporting herself by accepting "tips" from guys for trips to the powder room, while Paul is there as her shoulder to cry on. At the same time it seems Paul is selling himself to a smothering patron played by Patricia Neal.
Neither Holly or Paul are happy. She seems to be trapped in this fast-lane lifestyle, seeming deep down to crave security. He is a frustrated writer with one book of short stories under his belt but pressure from his patron seems to hinder rather than help his prose. Holly and Paul find comfort in each other's friendship and enjoy numerous jaunts and adventures. Shortly after the inevitable snog and shag Holly decides she's marrying rich Latino Jose and is off to Brazil with him. Of course things go awry and Paul is there once again to pick her up.
The film sweeps along with some pace and is hugely enjoyable. One party scene is really funny as Paul tries to make his way around the room in various and amusing ways! Martin Balsam and Mickey Rooney provide some light-hearted support. Balsam is a Hollywood movie man while Rooney is dolled up as a raving Japanese man living upstairs from Holly and at his wits end from all her antics! The stereotype portrayed here is likely to offend the Japanese I think! But this is a minor gripe over what is a terrific date movie, utterly romantic and immensely enjoyable. 9/10
A gripping adaptation of Herman Wouk's novel about life aboard a clapped out old US Navy minesweeper, the USS Caine. Talk about a slap-dash crew! Shirt tails hanging out, designer stubble and dodgy haircuts are all par for the course until tough nut veteran Captain Queeg (Humphrey Bogart) takes command and immediately sets about tightening things up.
However his officers begin to question his ability to command after he makes some dubious mistakes and blames other people for them, refusing to admit he was wrong. The officers take exception and their resentment increases tenfold when they are ordered to tear the ship apart to look for an ethereal icebox key after some strawberries go missing. Ooh serious! Queeg is certain that someone had to have a key! We are left to wonder if he really is a bit nutty or maybe he is just trying to run a very tight ship in every possible way. (Although missing strawberries seem a bit excessive!)
Things come to a head when in a brutal typhoon, the ship is in danger of foundering and Queeg is barking orders to steer one way while his XO believes they should steer the other way, thinking it the safer option. Queeg freezes in the tension of the moment and does not seem to know what to do. In that instant the XO assumes command, backed up by the officer on deck. The ship is sailed into safety but a trial ensues once back in port and the two officers are charged with mutiny, punishable by death.
Without spoiling things by detailing the trial, the final scene makes this movie a bit special by a ruthless stripping down of our main characters, in whom we have trusted. Afterwhich they suddenly seem very small and they wonder if what they did was right and maybe THEY were to blame for the captain's paranoia. Excellent drama with some light-hearted moments to bring a smile to the face, but it was the final scene that provides sobering food for thought. 9/10
Yes, I only saw this for the first time in January! Believe it or not. This is widely reputed to be the greatest movie ever made. Well is it? I must admit that after my first viewing of this Orson Welles' story of allegedly ficticious media mogul Charles Foster Kane, I found it something of an anti-climax. Yes this is a good story about rags to riches and how money cannot buy you happiness and indeed, can bring loneliness. My first thought at the end was "what's all the fuss about?"
Now before I get burned at the stake, let me say in my defence that after I had time to think about the film for a while afterwards, I began to agree with the world's critics. The film has so many great attributes. The first to strike me was the discarding of the chronological running order routine, a feature we are used to now (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction to name but two), but in 1941 it was revolutionary. The second was the superb camera work by Greg Tolland. The use of obscure camera angles, making Kane seem to larger than life and allowing him to dominate almost every scene. So effective. The acting too was excellent, in particular Welles himself in the title role. The editting was tight and the musical score was perfect. What an achievement it was!
So as the sled inscribed "Rosebud" was thrown into the fire, an ironic and moving symbol of lost innocence, I felt that it was a good enough movie but perhaps lagged in places. However, as I said, it was only afterwards, when I thought about what I had seen, that I realised what a monumental film it is: the script, the plot, the characters, the score, the filming techniques, everything! Citizen Kane will stay with us until the end of time and will stand up to any criticism beyond then. I have enjoyed many other films a lot more but you have to put it in the context of when it was made - 1941!! When you do, you cannot avoid the fait accompli...maybe it IS the greatest movie ever made. 10/10
More comprehensive Citizen Kane review
Harvey Keitel and Stephen Dorff star in this crime thriller about a young whipper-snapper who tries to bump off his fellow bank robbers after a successful jewel heist. Dorff is the offending chap who succeeds is killing two if the gang but our man Harvey gets away, leaving his dead brother behind. Dorff gets the jewels while Harvey gets beaten up a couple of times as he tries to track down his brother's killer and avenge his death.
This movies passes the time and there're reasonable performances from the main protagonists, Keitel and Dorff with adequate support from a sultry Famke Janssen (Goldeneye). However there seems to be a few things lacking, rather important things in a crime flick, or in any movie for that matter! A decent script is absent for a start and we never really care about the characters despite some emotional character development. But it's the fact that City of Industry never delivers any real tension that means it will soon be forgotten, at least that's how I see it! My rating? Erm, what film was it again? 6/10
Official City of Industry website
Paul Anderson's sci-fi horror looks quite impressive. Lots of pretty computer FX. At one point I'm reminded of the bit in Star Trek 6 when blobs of Klingon blood float around only to plop to the floor when gravity is restored. Well similar stuff is on view in Event Horizon. But I digress...
What's the film like? Well imagine 2001 meets Hellraiser. I wonder if Pinhead woould have taken as much shit from HAL as Laurence Fishburne and crew take from the ghost ship Event Horizon?! The background is this. We're in the not-too-distant future and humankind has been busy exploring the solar system. Out of the blue a distress call is received from the explorer ship Event Horizon, which had vanished without trace seven years earlier. Earth immediately despatches a salvage ship to investigate and they soon fin themselves eyeball to eyeball with the good ship Event Horizon, somewhere in orbit around Neptune. Hampered by storms the crew, ably captained by fearless Laurence Fishburne, and accompanied by Horizon designer Dr Weir (Sam Neill), dock with the ghost ship. Despite receiving some strange life sign readings they embark (fools!) and begin their search of the ship.
However (there's always a "however" there somewhere!) strange things are afoot and the crew begin to have some weird encounters. It becomes apparent that the Event Horizon has been "somewhere" and returned, bringing with it God knows what - but it sure ain't friendly. The cause of the problem is the ship's core which should enable it to travel faster than light. It seems the core opened a gateway and off went the ship, returning seven years later with crew dead and the ship with a bad attitude. The ship, like HAl in 2001, seems intent on keeping Fishburne and his crew and subjecting them to all manner of evil activities (eyeball gouging seems high on the agenda).
And so the crew stumble round, most of them scared witless, as the ship takes a hold of their fears and Dr Weir loses his marbles. There are some scary moments and plenty of blood and gore. By the end the Hellraiser connection becomes a bit clearer. It all looks very nice (even the gory make up) but as the movie ended I didn't feel particularly impressed. It's pretty gripping and a few light-hearted moments kept me amused but the overall product is only average. 6.5/10
There's been a fair bit of hype surrounding this debut picture from young screenwriters Matt Damon and Ben Affleck but you'd better believe it! If you haven't already been to see this winner of 1998's Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, then let me sing its praises for a while!
It's really deep stuff - so many different issues are touched on here and for anyone who has anything in common with Will Hunting, it is likely to be a moving experience. Damon plays teenage genius Will Hunting who had a very rough and difficult upbringing, dodgy neighbourhood, alcoholic and abusive father spring to mind. He seems to be wasting his intellect when he is "discovered" by a university professor. At the same time, Will has just got into trouble with the Old Bill and finds himself in jail for hitting an officer (oops). The professor makes a deal with the judge and takes Will under his wing to help him harness his genius. The one condition of his release is that he undergo psychiatric therapy. The shrink who ends up taking Will's case is lecturer Sean Maguire (Robin Williams in superb Oscar-winning form]. The pair form a very close bond, both having their own deep-rooted difficulties and fears.
Along the way Will meets sultry Brit, Skylar (Oscar-nominated Minnie Driver), with whom he is afraid of falling in love. At the same time the professor is trying to find Will a job in which he can use his infinite intellect to good effect. Sean helps him decide which he should choose. Which do you think?
Essentially this is a character study, primarily of Will, but also of Sean. Both are very deep and well developed and the unfolding of the friendship make for compelling cinema. Films this deep, thoughtful and realistic don't come along very often. Screw Titanic as Best Film, this one's got a script!! Watch and be absorbed (even if you don't like constant swearing) 9/10
James Stewart shines as Elwood P. Dowd in Henry Koster's 1950 fantasy comedy about a lovable, well-meaning lush (although we never see him touch a drop) whose best friend happens to be a six foot white rabbit called Harvey. As you do.
The twist is that no one else can see Harvey, although this doesn't stop Elwood introducing him to all and sundry, much to everyone's bewilderment. Perhaps the funniest scene in the film is when Elwood is in the reception of the psychiatric hospital after a mix-up ended with his sister being committed instead of him. He is talking about his sister's "condition" to two doctors and he keeps trying to introduce them to his big-eared buddy. Stewart pulls off the scene in hilarious fashion. It really is Stewart's movie and I don't think ANY other actor could have made Elwood so believable!
The film is funny and endearing and I couldn't help but be touched by Elwood's naivety and complete trust in everyone around him (he persistently invites strangers to dinner). "Harvey" will warm your heart. Sit back and enjoy a simple story about a simple man and his simple friend, an invisible six foot rabbit called Harvey. 10/10 A gem!
Elizabeth's James Stewart Page
This is the scariest movie I have ever seen! Never mind the usual shite about razor-fingered dream demons or fairies in Halloween masks. This film, based on Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, oozes terror from every pore without the need for one drop of the scarlet stuff. And there's not a video or computer generated effect in sight (not that that would have been possible in 1963).
Richard Johnson plays Dr Markway who assembles a small group of people at a house reputed to be haunted. Of course it isn't long before things start to happen. This is a place where things DO go bump in the night. Julie Harris and Claire Bloom are on top form as Eleanor and Theo, two ladies who end up sharing a room for to comfort - or share in each other's terror more like! Russ Tamblyn is the jack-the-lad cynic, Luke Sannerson, forced to reassess his ideas when he too witnesses the paranormal events, which we too are party to - and some pretty pant-wetting stuff goes on! In fact it becomes apparent that the house, in some way, wants Eleanor.
As things come to a head, Miss Moneypenny arrives to join in the fun and promptly vanishes on her first night - would you believe she elects to sleep in the dreaded nursery?!! Silly woman! The good doctor Markway keeps a level head throughout and tries to maintain calm and order amid the ghostly proceedings, but he can't prevent the tragic but inevitable conclusion.
This is terror in the first degree as Empire magazine recently called it the best haunted house movie you'll ever see. What a triumph for director Wise (who also directed Star Trek 1 and Sound of Music!) who has pulled off a splendid ghost story through the power of suggestion and implication rather than visual frights. 9/10
This review has been moved here.
