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Reviews
Without Limits (1998)
Makes me want to run again
One of the very best sports film ever made, WITHOUT LIMITS brings out everything that running should be. For anyone who has ever put on a park of racing flats and headed out for the track or the hills, this is the movie for you. This is a film, not necessarily about running, but as Donald Sutherland (playing Bill Bowerman, the running guru of U of O) puts it in his elegy for Pre, "testing the limits of the human heart." There was never a runner like Steve Prefontaine. There was never a man who tested the boundaries of running as he did. This is his story, magnificently placed up on the silver screen. The performances are real, the story is real, everything about this movie simply rings true. There is a reason that they inter-spliced actual footage of Pre in the 72 Olympics with the film. They work perfectly together. Having been a runner, and bolstered by the fact that this film had one of the most remarkable trailers ever created, I desperately wanted to see this film and now that I have, I feel nothing would better serve my life than to put my old racing flats on again and head out for the hills and tests the limits of the human heart.
The Dead (1987)
Joyce brought magnificently to life
This is really the only chance to see the magic of James Joyce's writing brought to life. His novels are all unfilmable (in any real sense) and this is the only long story he wrote. It was John Huston's last film and did not reach the screen until after he had died, and it is easy to see his touch of greatness. The Dead is poetical in its approach on the screen, telling us more about Ireland than any modern movie on the IRA and "the troubles" could ever hope to tell us. Hopefully more people will watch this film and get to experience the finest of both John Huston and James Joyce, and perhaps visit this story in your local bookstore (and discover that it is probably the greatest short story ever put on paper).
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
the great space revenge story
Star Trek II certainly ranks as one of the greatest science fiction films of all time. The problem with the first Trek film was that the story was sacrificed for the effects. Wrath of Khan suffers from no such problem. In fact, the story is the strongest, with only First Contact being comparable, and namely because it shares the same theme (revenge). For any film student who wishes to learn about editing and the application of music in a film watch the four minute (filmed in real time) Genesis countdown. Watch the way the camera finds each individual character contemplating what will happen. This is William Shatner's finest moment on film, the first real glimpse that he is, indeed, an actor. The only drawback from the movie is not a drawback, because it isn't in the movie. In the novellezation of the film, at the conclusion, Saavik asks Kirk what course. Kirk replies "second star to the right and straight on till morning." (a quote which turns up in Undiscovered Country). The important thing is that Saavik does *not* question the command, and simply executes it, something she never would have done at the beginning of the film. The film is a journey - one into hope and then tragedy for Kirk, one into death for Spock and one into humanity for Saavik. It is the most human of all the films, and certainly must rank with Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back and Aliens as one of the all time great space action films.
The Age of Innocence (1993)
the second best movie of the 90's
Outside of Scorsese's GOODFELLAS, this is simply the best movie of the 1990's. Any serious film student who really wants to learn how to make a film needs to watch Scorsese films. He was originally given this novel in 1980 by a former TIME critic who told him "it's guilt and conscience - the definitive Scorsese." This movie is the exact kind of romantic, class driven drama that TITANIC wishes it was. If there is any actor alive who can possibly compare to the magnificent repression and passion combined in one that Laurence Olivier used to show us, it is Daniel Day-Lewis. Here he comes fully into his own, bringing the character of Newland Archer alive. This is also where Winona Ryder finally comes into her own as an actress. Anyone who loves movie about the classes, about romance, about guilt, or simply anyone who loves movies should be heading to a video store to rent this one right away.
Goodfellas (1990)
the single best film of the decade
What can't be said about this film? It is the single best motion picture made this decade. It shows every aspect of why Martin Scorsese is the greatest living American director. It would have been simple enough to make a small budget gangster film from Pillegi's book, but Scorsese wanted to give us more than that. Reading the book makes me want to see the film again and vice versa. If anyone ever wants to know what Judas felt like just like at Ray Liotta's eyes at the conclusion of the film. He's right, he's just an average schnook who's sold his whole life out for nothing. What more can be said?
The Spirit of Christmas (1995)
Sick but fun
This is probably the sickest, most demented thing ever put on film. Which, of course, is what makes it so brilliant. It is disgusting and banal, not to mention perverse and profane. But simply the idea of Santa and Jesus fighting it out at a Mall to decide who Christmas is really about is something worth watching. There's a reason SOUTH PARK is such a brilliant television show and it's all here.
Titanic (1997)
the epic that isn't
Probably the most over-rated film of the last few years, Titanic is not the great epic that every teenage girl has made it out to be. In many ways it is like Gone With the Wind - beautiful to look at, with some fine acting (mostly by Winslet), but with a horribly contrived, trite plot and horrendous dialogue. The characters are paper thin and are ridiculous. What a waste of 200 million dollars.