rmc129-1 Reviews

The Boys (1962)

Misunderstood

[8/10 · 22 October 2001]

When I saw this film a couple of nights ago on late night TV I was struck by how much it captured the spirit of a time when I was a boy a little younger than 'The Boys' in the film

The Boys in question are four teenagers charged with murder of an elderly night watchman during a robbery.

Several social issues are 'on trial' Firstly, the generation gap. This was a time when 'teenagers' were a new concept in Britain (the four are described disparagingly by their elders as 'teddy boys'), and this perception his used by the defence to show that teenagers are harshly judged by their elders.

The four in question are rowdy and ill mannered enough but rather too well spoken for real working class teenagers (particularly teen idol of the day Jess Conrad). However their plight is gripping enough to hold the interest of the viewer.

In England in 1962 a) an 18 year old could hang for murder but not a younger accomplice (one of the most notorious incidents of the time was the hanging of 18 year old Derek Bentley - 1956 - while his younger accomplice who fired the fatal shot, could not be hanged) b) some types of murder - killing during a the commission of a crime - were capital, others not.

The film points up these anomalies and was making a serious social criticism at the time.

The film is a believable portrayal of poor lads on a night out that went disastrously wrong and has a nice little twist in the tail

Worth hanging about to see this one - 8 out of 10

Phoenix (1998)

A Gamble That Doesn't Quite Pay Off

[7/10 · 20 October 2001]

Ray Liotta ought to be one of the BIG stars of cinema. He's got the looks, charm and talent to bury the opposition, but somehow it hasn't worked out for him

Phoenix is a case in point. Excellent cast - even in the minor roles - and a sound plot that grips the attention but somehow it doesn't quite make the grade.

I suppose the problem is that it is a derivative movie which the viewrer mentally compares (unfavourably) with what has gone before

All the same it is quite a good film with Liotta making a sympathetic figure out of the gambling addicted cop-gone-wrong and Anthony LaPaglia dominating the action every time the corrupt being that is his character 'Henshaw' ouzes across the screen. There is sharp, sometimes Tarantinoesque, dialogue but we've been here before and even the excellent performances on screen don't quite compensate.

Nevertheless, a watchable movie and well worth 7 out of 10

Coma (1978)

You won't sleep after watching this !

[8/10 · 20 October 2001]

One of the best thrillers of the 1970's

An intelligent piece of work involving a mystery that unfolds in a convincing manner. Genevieve Bujold is excellent as a doctor who feels that something sinister is behind a series of operations whose recipients have emerged comatose.

A coma is the last thing that the audience is in danger of succumbing to as Ms Bujold is pursued by the agents of whoever is behind the conspiracy to turn hospital patients into organ fodder for the futuristic and scary Jefferson Institute.

One of the things I hate in movies is the cheap suspense creation trick of filming everything in partial darkness or bad light ('Alien' and 'Seven' being notorious exponents of this ploy) to hide the stalker or some disturbing sight from the viewer. 'Coma' has no time for this cheap trickery and creates genuine suspense by filming the stalking of Ms Bujold in the brightly lit, but deserted, corridors of a hospital.

An atmosphere of danger and menace pervades the entire film, and one is left with uncomfortable feeling that perhaps the trade in human organs for wealthy recipients may actually be going on somewhere. (As I write there is an allegation current that the organs of criminals executed in China are sold for such purposes)

Anyone who has not seen 'Coma' should do so and enjoy an absorbing, well acted and suspenseful thriller.

8 out of 10

Legionnaire (1998)

Geste A Minute - The Siege of Fort Cliche

[6/10 · 15 October 2001]

Jean-Claude Van Damme films often suffer from being plot lite and having a supporting cast that would struggle to hold up a jelly.

Legionnaire then comes as a pleasant surprise in that the plot is watchable and the action well paced and filmed.

Unfortunately, Foreign Legion films suffer from 'Gesteitis', never being able to break free of the characterisations first manifested in that enjoyable old warhorse 'Beau Geste'

Sure enough, we have the three staunch pals, the sadistic sergeant, the chap who finds being a legionnaire awfully hard going but dies a hero, not to mention a couple of sleazy traitors and an officer who doesn't know his dune from a sandhill.

Despite the fact that we have been here before, sterling support from Adewele (as the embittered but ultimately heroic Afro American) and Peter Farrell (as the disgraced English officer regaining his honour) march Monsieur Van Damme into some very watchable action.

Though at times more cliches fly than bullets - a creditable 6 out of 10

Q&A (1990)

Down These Sleazy Streets A Man Must Go ...Again

[7/10 · 13 October 2001]

This film is an improved version of Lumet's earlier work 'Serpico'

It wants to be so streetwise that you can smell the garbage in the street, and at first it succeeds.

Hutton is excellent as the young investigator on his first assignment, he has a laid back ingenuousness that fits the character perfectly, whilst Nick Nolte rages across the screen as the killer cop who is the focus of the enquiry. The character he plays is convincingly repulsive dripping with corruption and as menacingly violent as a broken bottle brandished in the face of the audience.

The institutionalised racism portrayed in the police is nasty to behold, particularly when cops from ethnic minorities are grossly insulted by such as Nolte's character and expected to laugh it off.

This film promises much at first, but as it progresses, it becomes bogged down in cliches and racial stereotypes. Hutton is an Irish cop whose dad was a street cop killed in the line of duty, who ultimately turns out to have been on the take. The Latino community is peppered with glamourous transexuals. Mafioso have skinny, elderly godfathers and grossly fat footsoldiers...The bent cop is a homophobe who is himself a closet homosexual.

Its all downhill from halfway, with predictable double cross following double cross. Eventually, after high body count, corruption triumphs (One of the characters actually says, justifying this - 'It's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it.')

As a critic (it's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it) I have to count this as a missed opportunity but the strength of some of the acting (particularly the menacing and foul Mr Nolte) prompt me to award Q & A 7 out of 10 (Ok I was gonna say 5, but someone corrupted me)

A Killing in a Small Town (1990 TV Movie)

Guilty As Charged

[4/10 · 13 October 2001]

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** What's going on here ?

Barbara Hershey, looking decidedly unsexy - as if she'd stolen her granny's spare wig - puts in an unconvincing performance as a woman who kills the wife of a man she has had an affair with 'in self defence' after hitting her forty odd times with an axe.

Like Lizzy Borden, she is acquitted but after the most unconvincing argument ever presented to a jury by the representative of a supposedly 'innocent' defendant I have ever seen.

Lizzy Borden took an axe and gave her father forty whacks When she saw what she'd done - she pleaded self defence

I don't think so

I find the defendants guilty of screening an unconvincing portrayal and have no alternative but to award this film a sentence of 4 out of 10 (which would have been lower but for the previous good behaviour of some of those involved)

Zero Tolerance (1994)

The Movie That Criticised Itself

[1/10 · 7 October 2001]

This movie is daddy no no brainer actioners.

Robert Patrick is a sort of bargain basement superhero, at times so wooden that if he was shot the splinters would fly.

Tip off that this is going to be a one way ride down the roller coaster is that Mick Fleetwood, former member of rock band Fleetwood Mac, is the arch villain.

We are asked to swallow, among other whole melon sized propositions, that no one but the hero can shoot straight (though sometimes he seems to have the capability of shooting round corners). His foes on the other hand seem incapable of hitting anything unless they are actually holding onto it.

Titus Welliver plays the chief villain, who seems to have gone to the Iago School For Scumbags, as he has no redeeming features whatsoever and comes straight from old style melodrama. (Promises the heroine a fate worse than death too - being in another movie like this, for one)

Then we have the FBI. It a wonder that J Edgar Hoover doesn't pop up through the floor to protest at the hatchet job done on his boys here ! Great films have been made in black and white, but great acting, dialogue and plotlines are never monochrome.

A rancid experience, not because it is violent but because if you believe this movie, you'll believe anything.

Rating: It rates itself ! A zero tolerant 0 out of10