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Reviews
Traded (2016)
Stupid doesn't begin to describe it
Camera, sets, costumes... all quite ok.
But storyline? Only good thing about that script is that you will be able to see how stupid this film is just 5 minutes in.
I gave it a 2/10 because Sizemore and Kristofferson at least tried to do their job right. Sizemore pulled a semi decent impersonation of Ceech Marin, and it was nice to see that Kris is still alive, but they shouldn't have bothered an 80yo man for this garbage.
Blood Work (2002)
How to chase a bad guy and not get a hear attack?
This film casts us back to the "old days" when Clint Eastwood was playing police detectives in that unique way that became his trade mark. All this is not enough of a challenge for an actor/director he is today so he throws in a twist: this detective had a recent heart transplant and now sets out to find a killer of his heart donor.
As the story unfolds a whole array of questions will arise regarding the modern day society and it is interesting to see how these are weaved into the fabric of the story. For instance: what do you owe to the organ donor that saved your life while at the same time loosing his? Would you die to prove your gratitude? Or should you even feel gratitude? And in the end should you be grateful to your donor or the hit-and-run driver that killed him?
I enjoyed seeing old Clint Eastwood, the crime-story is excellent, philosophical aspect of the film is very intriguing, the whole cast is great and apart form C.E. you'll see Wanda De Jesus and Anjelica Huston and i personally liked it very much and gave it 9 out of 10 points.
Blind Side (1993)
superb dialogs
This film has a unique quality in the way the story is layed out before us. Imagine an optimal pace of the film and then slow it down a bit. In other films this would be a drawback because you would feel bored, but here the superb dialogs between characters create so much suspense that you will be far from bored and the slightly slower pace of the film will create a tension that you will physically experience in every muscle as you sit on the edge of your seat and watch the story unfold. This film shows us how when you feel guilty about something, everything you hear sounds like a prosecution. Otherwise this would be just one more of those nothing-special films, but the subtle insinuations in dialogs and an excellent cast led by Rutger Hauer make it a masterpiece. It feels as if everyone involved in its creation did a perfect job while at the same time being careful not to overdo it.
This is why I rated this film 10 out of 10.
True Lies (1994)
This is the worst film i have ever seen.
Never have i seen something as dumb as this. I usually like Swartzy's films and i accept the low level of reality in them as a rule that applies throughout his opus. I am known to like several films that are even less realistic and in which the only link with the real world is the occasional use of gravity like "Lai Wong (1991)". "True Lies (1994)" is out of "Schwarzenegger's style" and he badly lacks acting skills to brake out of that style so the whole feeling of the movie is like watching John Cleese in a film that is not funny, or like Leslie Nilsen in his black&white-Canadian-Mountie roles as opposed to his later works with Mel Brooks.
There is no need to go into details that make this film stupid like lack of any aviation knowledge on the behalf of writer and director and particularly absolutely no idea of how the R-R Pegasus engine works. If i was to list all the bad stuff in this movie i would end up retyping it's script.
My advice for all Schwarzenegger fans is to see it because if you like him that much you will have no trouble to forgive him this blunder and also, knowing how bad this is, you will appreciate his other films more. To all others i suggest that you check your IQ and if it has a value below zero than you should see it, and if your IQ is higher than zero than you shouldn't.
Beware: Spoiler ahead!
However some satisfaction could be found in one scene where Jamie Lee Curtis is in her underwear and the fact that she wears short skirts and dresses throughout the whole movie and she does have a pair of fine legs.
3000 Miles to Graceland (2001)
Action movie like any other from US market.
You'll hear people say all kinds of stuff about action movies, but there are two axioms in this genre:
* action movies are based on violence, sex, bad language and tons of lead followed by gallons of blood. (and if you have the stomach for it, this is very relaxing, and that is why i like them)
* US made action movies are bad action movies because they are always stingy on all afore mentioned elements.
So as far as US made action movies go, this one is excelent. :) There are few car-chases, gunfights, and none of them has anything new to show, but tehnically they are done quite well, and i must say that i really liked flares from guns blazing and the sound they make. It's no better of worse than any US made action movie, so if you like robberies, chases, gunfights, etc. this movie should be seen.
The story is actually good for an action movie, and Courtney Cox is excellent (as far as the roll permits), and Curt Laser and Kevin Costner are (much to my surprise) also quite good.
Blade Runner (1982)
Gilgamesh from 1982
I've seen over 30,000 movies and this one is the best i've ever seen. I love this movie. It is perfect as a whole and in every single detail as well. Very little compromises were made with the audience and none relating to the story and its development.
Roy Batty [Ruger Hauer] completly takes over the movie from the first appearance on screen, and you'd think it is a story about him actually, but it is the story of all of us and Roy is just like one of us only to the tenth in everything, and this way every problem that we live our lives, often not even avare of it, is clearly depicted on him and haunts him like hounds from hell. His emotions and his problems are just like Deckard's only it shows more on him.
Roy struggles troughout the movie with the ideals of Gilgames, the oldest ideals known to mankind, and along the way he raises the questions that will have weight on human existance only now 20 years after the movie has been made: how much of the man do you need to make in some genetic engineering lab to OWN its soul, and have the right to manipulate it or sell it; even to decide who will live and love and who will not?
All these both little and big questions it raises trough the conflict between the ordinary people and what appears at first sight to be the uber-man lead us the full sircle to the knowledge that Martin Luter King was in fact right when he stated that "...all men are created equal...", and today, with knowledge of genetics reaching the critical mass this movie teaches us that this apply not only to the ones born natural way but to all of us including those that will emerge from labs or latter possibly even factories.
To my belief the importance of these questions must have been the lifeforce that pulled trough this immensly complicated film that is perfect in every little detail.
Those that do not understand the basics of genetics will probably have problems to follow the story and its hidden goals.
16.12.2001