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Shoot to Kill (1988)
Shoot To Kill - A review in seven snide remarks
Explication, complication, tons of screenwriter clichefication.
Mmmm! Ham and corn, my favorite. The only thing missing is the saccharine.
One way to put it would be to say that Sidney Poitier anchors this cast of B movie actors and TV celebs. But Poitier is pretty good. It's the screenplay that's the real anchor.
Someone is going to die but it ain't gonna be the A or B stars.
No chase scene is complete without at least 3 different false endings.
You can drive your testicles straight up into your rib cage by diving into the water like that.
Did I mention there's a storm coming in?
Spoorloos (1988)
Don't watch this if you're claustrophobic
and you ever want to go to sleep again. I just saw this for the second time* and I wasn't going to watch because it scared me the first time. But...it's so well done that it just pulled me right in. And I sat there, this time knowing what was coming, and watched right to the very disturbing end. The lead actor Donnadieu and the supporting cast are all convincing in a very believable story. And the psychology behind the motivations of the various characters was well thought out and shown.
Also, my heading may be a spoiler, I'm not quite sure, so I've indicated that just in case.
*It was showing on IFC where they bill it as The Vanishing. There also seems to be a 1993 Hollywood remake.
Lord Jim (1965)
Not half bad!!
Peter O'Tooles eyes are disturbingly blue. Lots of visual detail, good cinematography, cheap special effects. It moves slowly and doesn't really explain the motivations of the main character very well. O'Toole is good but oblique. The movie doesn't really pick up until Eli Wallach shows up. He is quite good, cheerfully cruel and sadistic, and I think he may have taken things from this role that he later expanded on in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Curt Jurgens is delightfully seedy, a sweaty and cowardly drunk who needs a haircut. I don't know anything about the rating system here but I'm giving it a seven for just for watchability.
The Counterfeit Traitor (1962)
Authentic locations, good performances
Well made with good elements of suspense and done before spy movie characters became stereotypes and devices such as cyanide pills became cliches. There are several good performances, including Holden at his grim best and a very good cameo by Klaus Kinski who plays a refugee Jew dying of fever. I thought he looked familiar but I couldn't place him until I saw the credits on IMDB. The boy who played the Hitler Youth member was also very convincing. The locations gave a nice sense of authenticity and the escape scene through Copenhagen traffic was very moving.
Goya en Burdeos (1999)
Don't forget the actors
The review completely ignores some very good performances in this film. Francisco Rabal was terrific and also notable were the Duchess of Alba and the young girl. I enjoyed some of the musical pieces as well. All in all there's a lot more than cinematography to this and it's definitely worth a look.