Reviews

Boring. Boring. Boring. Sure, some of the shots looked sort of pretty, but not unlike all the other films you've seen dealing with this period. Nothing new or interesting happens, so you can't even call the film daring or interesting. Some people will call the film well made (even the ones that don't like it), but what does that mean? If nothing interesting is shown and you care about none of the characters, is a film well made because it looks like it costs a lot? No, this film was badly written and directed, let's face it.

Though structured totally different from the book by Tim Krabbé who wrote the original 'The Vanishing' (Spoorloos) it does have the same overall feel, except for that Koolhoven's style is less business-like and more lyric. The beginning is great, the middle is fine, but the sting is in the end. A surprise emotional ending. As you could read in several magazines there is some sex in the film, but it is done all very beautifully. Never explicit, but with lots of warmth and sometimes even humour. It is a shame American films can't be as open an honoust as this one. Where Dutch films tend to go just over the edge when it comes to this subject, 'De Grot' stays always within the boundaries of good taste. 'De Grot' tells an amazing story stretched over more than 30 years. When you'll leave the cinema you'll be moved. What can we ask more of a film? Anyway, this film even gives more....

Director Oliehoek isn't being really original here, but his film is fun to watch. Sometimes really suspenseful, sometimes over the top and unintentionally funny. Anyway, if you take the age of the director in account, this is quite an achievement.

I know. All Stars was not the best movie ever made. But it was fun. Well made and effective. This TV-series that came out later, does not have the same feeling about it. The direction is just a bit less tight. The acting a bit sloppier. The scripts not as inspired. A shame. I'm sure they could have made a sequel for the movie theatres that would have been much better. Now they just made mediocre television.

Perhaps the best TV movie ever made. A strong visual concept, yet the movie succeeds to move me like few Dutch movies ever did. The actors are brilliant. Director and writer Paul Ruven never made anything remotely as interesting as this one. But, whoever made this, must have a lot of talent. So there is still hope.

Though not perfect, this low budget movie is a lot more interesting than most American productions. Strange in style: Both realistic scenes and grotesque over the top ones. Perhaps not even really original, but S.F.W. does offer some interesting ideas. A worthwhile watch.

What was Westdijk thinking? Why did he do this mediocre script? Why was his direction even more lame than the script? The acting is extremely bad and the story ridiculous. They tried to get some suspence in through the music, but it makes things even more toecurling. Yugh.

Such a shame that Lynch couldn't make more out of this prequel. Mostly slaughtered by press and public and if you see the film you'll know why. However, there are a few scenes that show Lynch's talent. Still, a incoherent film. Why didn't Lynch tell the untold history of Agent Cooper? There was a lot of mystery about his past in the TV-series, yet Lynch chose to tell the story we actually already knew. Fire Walk with Me (1992) became the film that brought down Lynch. It took him a while before he could make Lost Highway (1997), which became his most daring work and (luckily) his artistic comeback.

There are not enough adventure movies made, in my opinion. This is another great one. Though it is like an Indiana Jones adventure for kids, I enjoyed it immensely. Sure, the kids are loud and typiclaly American, but when the adventure starts rolling, it is hard not to enjoy this film. Though Spielberg didn't direct (but produced it), it is a movie that has his autograph all over it. I wish he would stop trying to impress the world with his lame so-called serious films and went back to doing at what he does best.

Okay, there is 'Treasure of the Sierra Madre'. There is 'Gunga Din' But nothing compares to this adventure, not even the sequels. Raiders has it all. It was Spielberg at his peak. This movie and ET are the best the man ever did, no matter how many Schindler's List's- or Color Purple admirers there are. Raiders is the wonder of cinema. Filmed in beautiful Scope, with a great score, fantastic action, wonderful effects and an exiting story-line, this film does still look like it was made yesterday. It was very successful and brought the adventure genre back in the race. After it many have tried to make an equally appealing adventure film. Some were nice (like 'Romancing the Stone' and 'The Goonies'), but others were terrible (like the Allan Quatermain films). It was only for a little while. I hope the genre will come come back some day.

The film starts out interesting, but can't live up to the first nice minutes. After a while things get a little boring. The film should have been 45 minutes long.

Technically there is nothing wrong with the film. It looks okay, it isn't cut bad, the composer has done it's best? Why is this then one of worst things i've ever seen on Dutch television? The story is awful, childish and stupid, the direction is lame and the actors are toecurling. Perhaps that has something to do with it. Alexander.

Good debut, but why has Westdijk made a mediocre TV-film, a really bad feature and another TV-film that was embarrassingly bad after this film? This film was good mainly because of the original idea, but it tells very little about the directing skills of Westdijk.

Probably this narcistic film of Van (why is she still making films?) Brakel is the worst ever made in Holland. Not strange it got such bad reviews and audiences ignored it.

Badly cut, terrible acting, horrible writing, slick cinematography that just cares about looking good. You're just thinking: 'So What?' Boring and stupid.

This might very well be one of the worst looking films around. With acting that will make your toes curl.

This is one of the best European films ever. Great story and acting. Wonderful, realistic sex scenes. The most romantic film ever made.

What Bas van Oers says is typical Dutch nonsense. Though the movie was not great, it is pretty dumb to say it is typical Dutch because 'it has a lot of sex in it'. First of all, this film shows very little sex. Secondly, I'll bet even Bas will agree that the best Dutch films were made by director Paul Verhoeven and there was a lot of sex in his films. Bas van Oers is just another Dutchman bashing Dutch films.