Sam-68 Reviews

The Vanishing (1993)

The original is way better; evidence against the Hollywood film system

[3 December 1998]

This film is way inferior to the Dutch original (the fact that the same director directed both is another story). This movie has obviously been toned down for American audiences, which is insulting if you've seen them both (I stumbled onto the remake on cable late at night). The original is a thriller in the truest sense of the word, and is far more intelligent, disturbing, and scary than the Hollywood version. I bet the producers assumed American audiences couldn't handle disturbing well so they gave us a more friendly version, very insulting. If you're going to see this version, make sure you rent the original too and watch it first, just to see how much the remake pales in comparison. If you don't like psychological, disturbing, riveting, and no-downbeat-endings in your thrillers, the 1993 version is for you. But if you want to be truly blown away, the Dutch original is very highly recommended over this one.

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

not a perfect "10" but what's the big deal?

[13 September 1998]

Even though this movie was excellent I did agree with some comments, about how the old man Ryan scenes were played for sympathy and how character development was a bit stunted, but I think that's part of the point. These aren't supposed to be complex characters with inner demons or personal problems, they're supposed to be ordinary joes, just like the millions of others who fought and died. If you were going to develop personalities you 'd either have to cut out the fighting or make that movie REALLY long. In that respect I had no problem. About the believability of rescuing one man, have you at all been paying attention?!! The Sullivan Law which prevents all of a family's sons from being killed in combat had been mentioned ad nauseam, so they had to rescue him, it was the freakin law! How is that "romantic Hollywood"? Someone also said that the point of the movie was to say "war is bad, well duh." Well then,. I say "duh" right back to you because don't you think Spielberg already assumed we know that? He's not that stupid to make a movie with such a superficial, obvious message. One of the main goals, in addition to depicting the reality of war, was to show all of us how much we take freedom for granted. Example: how many of you actually celebrate Veterans or Memorial Days in memoriam for people who served in combat, and how many of you simply go "woohoo, no school/work today", like it's just a holiday? People celebrate martyrs, and that's good , but how are the poor shlubs who went to die when freedom really was on the line any less important? To paraphrase a source, if they failed, whether or not you can imagine it, we'd all be doing the "Zieg heil". I have been nowhere near a war and wouldn't want to after having seen this film, but the only people whose opinions about the honesty and treatment of the subject matter matter at all to me are those who have been through and seen such carnage as in the war. Of all the veterans of WWII who I've seen interviewed about this film, I have yet to see one who says that movie sucked or was only okay. The reason I trust the realism of it, for one thing, is because they had advisors who experienced sh*t like that firsthand. Truth is everything is subjective. You can read lots of stuff and watch tons of films on war and have a good imagination but you honestly can't say a damn thing about it until you've been through one yourself. I am part cynic, but I do not think the purpose of this movie was to win Oscars. Why shouldn't a movie like this deserve to win anything but sound and visual awards anyway? Platoon did. After seeing this movie I have a greater understanding and appreciation of our history. I'm all for the freedom to express opinions, but I'd like to see someone do as good a job or better with such profound material (a statement not yet, if at all, applicable to The Thin Red Line). I'm no filmmaker but that movie was pretty darn good. Oscar-worthy? I don't know. There are still months left in the Oscar year.