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briandaniel67
Reviews
American Experience: T.R.: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt (Part I) (1996)
Good documentary
The title is actually, "TR: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt." It is part of PBS's American Experience series.
I enjoyed it, even though it runs around 4 hours. TR was an especially energetic president and would most likely be an Independent today. He romanticized war (a Republican characteristic), but supported labor (Democratic). He was chauvinistic, but a conservationist and did more to preserve land and parks and animals than probably anyone.
Grubin (the director) left out a good deal of history, but at 4 hours I suppose he had to leave out a lot. I recommend supplementing this documentary with a few biographies beforehand.
Also, this film tends to err on the side of "the good TR," rather than one we might disapprove of. Still, it's a good work and I recommend it.
Provocateur (1998)
Good movie, give it a try
I also do not understand the poor comments I see here. I just watched "Provocateur" and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I'd have to go buy a film student's textbook to see if it is full of genre cliche's or not--if I care to.
Even though the bonehead earlier gave away the ending, it was still filled with tension for me--because I cared about the characters.
I think this is as good as "The Bourne Identity." Not as much action, it's got more drama, but I prefer that anyway.
I must admit the front cover of the video looks extremely like "La Femme Nikita," though. They should put this on DVD.
Stille dage i Clichy (1970)
Extremely disappointing
I am a fan of Henry Miller and have read many of his books. When I saw a DVD of "Quiet Days in Clichy" on my local video store's "Staff Pick's" shelf, I excitedly plucked it off and read the back.
It sounded great, an artistic rendition of one of Miller's works. I took it home practically rubbing my hands.
As the previous reviewer commented, the acting is abysmal. Painful to watch. What a disappointment.
The photography is good. There are some (filming) tricks employed, but do nothing to salvage this failure.
Blessing (1994)
A down-to-earth, honest film
Contains Spoiler!!! I'm not from Wisconsin, but I watched the credits roll and saw thanks to that state, so I'm guessing it was filmed there.
It's evident this is a low-budget film, but I wouldn't call it B-grade, and I never found the acting a distraction. I think they all did well.
It is a sad movie. I found the ending believable and satisfying. This is not to say it was "happy."
My only criticism is: I didn't find the turnaround of the parents, their sudden reasonableness after the shooting on the grain-tower, quite believable. (Quite frankly I expected something else to happen up there, it's okay it didn't.) When they came down from the tower it's as if three years of therapy had suddenly kicked in, only they hadn't been to any therapy.
I suppose a MORE believable ending would've been even more unpleasant though.
A bleak but honest film, worth your time.
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)
disappointing
My friends and I spent the last four months watching the TV series in sequence, and we really enjoyed it.
(The following may be spoiling.)
For me, the ending to the series was not a surprise, I'm used to Lynch's predilection for the unintelligible and the surreal.
For me (a realist) an artists purpose is more to communicate the meaningful than to portray the uninterpretable. I usually see Lynch's endings as a cop-out, and a disintegration of the plot.
Unhappily, I saw the whole of his "Fire Walk With Me" in this fashion. None of it made much sense and it never came together as a whole for me. I also missed many of the regular characters: Audrey, Sheriff Truman, Mr. Horn, Pete...
I voted this film a 3 out of 10.
Les filles ne savent pas nager (2000)
Good film, good actresses
Being a long-time viewer of French cinema, I had no problems with the pacing or style of this film. In fact, that's why I like European film in general, for a break from the predictability of Hollywood/American cinema.
Actually, I didn't think the pace of this film was particularly slow. "Gwen" seemed constantly on the move, one crisis quickly followed another in her family.
Both girls, as perhaps most people, seemed to have positive natures, but life was dealing them some hard blows, and neither had the tools to overcome the difficulties being dealt them.
Both needed affection and love, but were going about getting in unhealthy ways. They seemed to be searching for affection almost blindly, or instinctually, to me.
I felt empathy for both characters; and as for the comment that "the lead needs to be better looking," I disagree. I thought both were very attractive in their own way.