Reviews

All of you talk rubbish, this movie was FANTASTIC. The only reason I can think of why it has been so slated here by most people is that it is an absolute one hundred per cent SERIOUS film. It is not far-fetched, the plot is not ridiculous, this movie portrays an aspect of REAL LIFE that many of us are not aware of and that is why it is so mesmerising. It is tragic to think that people need their movie screens to explode with spectacular but utterly ridiculous premises in order to enjoy a film. Okay, those films are good fun but more films should have the same level of realism as 8MM. It is a dark, disturbing film that brilliantly handles its horrific subject matter. We have to imagine that we are Tom Welles, a normal everyday guy who as a private detective investigates the underworld of porn. By the end of the film, he has been changed by what he has seen. 'You can't change the devil, the devil changes you.' This film makes us realise that terrible things happen in life that are invisible to normal everyday civilians and that is a daunting thought. The villains are the most despicable ever depicted on film. They do the most monstrous things imaginable yet off duty they appear to be normal people who could easily be your next door neighbour or even your son. We realise that these people show no signs of the vile atrocities that they commit and this makes them all the more terrifying. There are some truly amazing sequences that display high degrees of all kinds of emotion and horror. Watch this movie with an open mind, concentrate hard and soon you will become immersed in the journey the plot takes and it will leave you with things to think about.

I am a huge fan of big, loud, trashy, completely stupid action movies such as The Rock, Con Air etc. All of these are great fun to watch but, when you think about it, extremely silly. IN THE LINE OF FIRE tells a story and it tells it well. With plausibility as well as excitement and suspense it also addressed several important moral questions that really make you think. The last shot of the movie is Eastwood and Russo sitting together on the steps of the White house watching the pigeons to gentle, peaceful music and I felt a deep feeling of satisfaction. This was because I cared about the characters and I was happy for them that their story had come to a happy conclusion. It felt like a true story. As the aging secret service agent tormented by the fact that he failed to protect JFK on that fateful day in Dallas, Clint Eastwood is fantastic. He brilliantly conveys his paranoia and his personal need to stop his adversary. On the other side of the spectrum is John Malkovich, as the creepy predator who tortures Eastwood about what happened in 1963 by openly telling him of his plan to kill the current president. This Oscar nominated performance really gets under your skin. Throughout the movie, Malkovich talks to Eastwood as if they are friends. He doesn't threaten him, he doesn't lie to him, he doesn't laugh at him, but he tortures him with his unbearable friendliness right up to the last moment. As well as this thrilling main plot, there is a charming love story involving Rene Russo, another agent and Eastwood. Despite the age difference, they have superb chemistry on screen and the director wisely does not let this dominate too much but keeps it as part of the backdrop which works nicely. To sum up, I love this film because it has a mind.

I tend to enjoy movies that have loads of stuff in them, if you know what I mean. Movies with loads of varying characters, exciting action scenes, many different locations, cool settings with loads of possibilities, interesting villains, lots of yelling, one-liners that make you crack up, wickedly cool music, a bit of sex, car chases, helicopters, two-way mirrors, stand-offs, mutinies, hostages, rockets, love, VX gas, revenge, cigars and a bomb disguised as a baby.

THE ROCK has it all. Not only do you get two very different heroes for the price of one, there is also one of the most fascinating bad guys I have ever seen in Ed Harris. His intentions are not evil or greedy or sadistic or pleasure-seeking like most other film villains but instead, General Hummel merely wants to honour the memory of his forgotten comrades who were killed under his command in Vietnam. As we are shown in the pre-title sequence, he has tried again and again to get the government to take back the lies told about their deaths to their families and give them compensation. So, General Hummel is not an evil man. His intentions are justified. However, what he does next is not so wise. By taking 81 tourists hostage on Alcatraz Island and threatening to launch poison gas into San Francisco Bay unless reparations are paid, he does not make too many friends. But the real nasties are his awful henchmen who would like nothing better than to launch the gas and so kill millions of innocent civilians. One of the best things about this movie is Ed Harris' performance as the troubled General who battles with his conscience. He is well-balanced by Gregory Sporleder and Tony Todd as the two evil captains who are the real bad guys of the story.

So, as well as villains, as I mentioned above, we also have two heroes. They are Nicolas Cage, as the intelligent but weedy Stanley Goodspeed and Sean Connery as the highly dangerous 60-year old convict John Patrick Mason who somehow find themselves in The Rock with the task of stopping the rockets from being launched in time. Connery and Cage make a superbly funny double act who always seem to be arguing and taking the p**s out of each other while depending on the other's skill in a certain field. Goodspeed's is diffusing the rockets, Mason's is killing the bad guys.

The set up is nicely rounded off with a brilliantly watchable array of supporting characters. Angry FBI director Womack, cool agent Paxton, strict Commander Anderson, loyal Major Baxter and Goodspeed's beautiful girlfriend, Carla.

There is something very unusual about L.A. Confidential in that, unlike in most features, there is no central character to be played by a well known Hollywood star. Instead, the plot is driven by three cops in 1950s Los Angeles. They are Bud White (Russell Crowe), Ed Exley (Guy Pearce) and Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey). The former two actors are both Australian (Guy Pearce was in Neighbours back in 1990) and before this film were virtual unknowns in the movie business. The fact that two of the leads are played by someone who the audience has never seen before is what makes them so fascinating and interesting to watch on screen. They are both absolutely breathtaking as the two very different police officers and they seem very at home in the glitzy and glamorous atmosphere of the 50s that the movie creates. As for Kevin Spacey - he too manages to surprise us with his laid back approach to the role of Jack Vincennes who is frequently called The Big V, a movie star among cops. The storyline deals with a multiple homicide that takes place one night in a café. Among the victims is a bent cop who had just been fired for starting a riot in the police station. From here the story progresses through a number of twists but it is really about the relationship between Ed Exley, the by-the-book career climber and Bud White, the loose cannon psycho who has a thing for helping women. Even if you don't understand all the numerous details of the plot (some of which can be quite hard to pick up on the first time round), the film is still incredibly watchable and tremendously exciting - partly because of the general feel of all the corruption, scams, gangsters and betrayal that existed in 50s LA. There is something about this movie - you have to see it to understand what I mean

There are so many amazing things about this film. I decided to rent it after I had seen the appalling The Jackal (1997) which tells the story as a tangled up completely gratuitous action movie. The Day of the Jackal is none of those things. In fact the way in which the story unfolds is so systematic that it is rather like a documentary. We start with a brief background spoken in about 4 lines by a narrator. Then we see various scenes which show the turmoil that existed in France at the time of 1960. This is followed by the scene in which the Jackal is hired to assassinate President Charles de Gaulle. The Jackal himself is a fascinating character. Played by Edward Fox, he is not the clichéd silent, deadly type, instead he is boyishly charming, quick-witted and wonderfully arrogant - especially during the meeting with the OAS. When going about his job, step by step, he is a dedicated professional and will do whatever it takes to get to the next step. He can be very dangerous and if someone tries to outsmart him or take advantage of him, they meet a sudden, unexpected end. Simultaneous to the progression of the Jackal, is the police investigative work. The case is headed by a detective called Lebel, played with great modesty by Michel Lonsdale. As the Jackal goes through various stages in preparing for the assassination, so too does Lebel and the audience are really allowed to become involved in the case as the police attempt to pin the Jackal down before it is too late. This is a fascinating insight into the work of a detective and proves very exciting as the Jackal must always keep one step ahead of the police. To sum up, despite being made 25 years ago, this is one of the most skillfully made movies I have ever seen.

Apart from being an extremely informative account of Nick Leeson's escapades at Baring's Bank, this film manages to integrate a great deal of suspense and drama into what could have been a dull, documentary-style catalogue of events. Ewan McGregor perfectly captures the bullish arrogance of the rogue trader who we still are able to like and admire. Some of the most energetic scenes take place in the big trading room where we see the split-second buying and selling which makes fantastic drama that really gets the adrenalin flowing. A huge amount of imagination is shown in the directing department, especially when Leeson begins to realize where he is heading. Definitely worth seeing!