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ArthurHeath
Reviews
Mission: Impossible (1996)
My Problem With Star Vehicles
Mission: Impossible is not as terrible a film as everyone would have you believe.
Brian De Palma is a masterful director. Watch for extended scenes without cuts, watch for gorgeous shot compositions.
M:I also teams a score of brilliant actors, albeit briefly.
My problems with Mission: Impossible are purely based on an actor's egomania.
Mission: Impossible was a pet project of Tom Cruise for a long time. The film was doctored by Robert Towne. The character pieces involved were brilliant. But they were too few and too brief. Tom Cruise has attempted to define himself akin to Sean Connery in his role as James Bond. Unfortunately, there is no Ian Fleming here.
If Tom Cruise had let go a little bit... but he didn't. And so the film is what it is.
Sadly, it is not Mission: Impossible.
Brilliant performances by Vanessa Redgrave and other supporting characters. Tom Cruise would be an excellent Superman. But his Ethan Hunt is no replacement for the patronly Jim Phelps we have all spent so long growing with and growing to love.
You do not take the fanbase from Star Trek, pack them into a theatre, and then show James Kirk killing his crew slowly and meticulously and then destroying the Federation from within. With Luke Skywalker you could pull it off, but not with James Kirk. Not with Jim Phelps.
And the computer graphics show so many tells that it distracts from the film.
This could have been a great film. Unfortunately Paramount wanted a summer blockbuster and Tom Cruise was more than willing to supply.
YOU DO NOT CARE ABOUT THIS YOUNG, RECKLESS PUNK THE SAME WAY YOU ALWAYS HAVE FOR THE GROUP OF SUAVE PROFESSIONALS YOU HAVE GROWN TO EXPECT FROM MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE.
Vanessa Redgrave has delivered an Oscar-worthy performance, once again. But one comes to expect that.
But this film is not what it could have been.
Still good.
A success, undeniably, for Brian De Palma.
A failure for Tom Cruise.
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)
One of the few perfect tens I've ever given.
On a scale of one to ten, this is one of the few perfect tens I've ever given.
Roddy McDowell returns to the Planet of the Apes franchise as Caesar, known in the previous film, albeit briefly, as Milo, newborn son of Zira and Cornelius.
This is the apocalyptic tale of the slavery that eventually leads to man's final end.
The cruelty in this film is so harsh, so harshly real. This film was returned again and again from the censors. They refused to release it without cuts. The cuts were made and yet still this film feels to me to be one of the most harshly realistic films I've ever seen. I pride myself on my inability to be shocked. Yet this film struck right through all the layers of protection my life has wrapped me in.
The riot scenes were so stunningly authentic. One needs not change much to find oneself staring at our own violent past. Let us hope that it will not be, as some have feared, our future as well.
It inspired me.
In a very Shakespearean way.
The reconditioning camps... the men dressed like soldiers of the Reich... the cruelty... the electrocutions... the conspiracies of men in power...
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes was made with a very limited budget. Caesar's prosthetics works were the only high grade appliances in the film. But it works very much with what it had. And it has a finely crafted story. Several steps removed from the rampant idealism of Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Conquest deals with the rage that was bound to result from those events. This is a most important metaphor. A most important film.
If all films were made with such unrestrained passion, with such verve, we would all be better off.
Also it was interesting to me to watch this film because I as able to see inspiration and how it works between peers. Recently I had the oppurtunity to read George Romero's first draft to Day of the Dead -DRASTICLY different from the project that culminated. There were many scenes of the undead legions separated into units, red overalls and green overalls, learning different skills. Being taught. Very similar in every respect to the ape conditioning sequences in this film.
In the end, Romero's film works better WITHOUT those sequences, but still it is quite interesting to be able to see from whence some ideas spring.
Digression aside, this is a very potent film. One that teaches us, if allowed, much about our humanity.
Excellent reprisal performance by Ricardo Montalban. Performance by Roddy McDowell of such a high calibre that it makes up for his relative absence in the previous feature.
Wonderfully adept script by Paul Dehn. Visionary direction by J. Lee Thompson, known for his excellence in his field. Thompson has also been responsible for such highly regarded films as the original Cape Fear and The Guns of the Navarone.
I wish there were more films like this, more films that just go balls to the wall and are so unabashedly free. This movie is not afraid to be what it is. It makes no apologies for the violence it's heroes are forced to resort to. Nor should it. Sometimes bad things happen. And sometimes good men must take to arms to stop the bad men from taking over.
I fear, knowing the result. Knowing the new regime is no better than it's predecessor. The true fear of any freedom fighter.
This will be a film that I watch over and over and over again.
Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971)
Escape From The Planet Of The Apes is by no means a terrible film
Escape From The Planet Of The Apes is by no means a terrible film.
Their world on the verge of destruction, Dr.'s Zyra, Milo, and Cornelius escape into the heavens.... only to find themselves thrown back into time. The arrive on Earth circa 1970.
It's story was designed by necessity. There simply wasn't the money to pay for all the appliances necessary for a larger Ape cast. Two was the perfect number. And so, Zyra and Cornelius narrowly escape the destruction of the future to return to Taylor's world.
Ricardo Montalban plays a delicious bit part. Sal Mineo dons the appliances to become the ill-fated Dr. Milo.
The only TERRIBLE part of the film was the the "gorilla" in the zoo infirmary. Don't even get me started.
The ship the three scientists pilot back to our present day earth still stands up to the tests imposed by time. It still looks realistic, makes sense. It still seems futuristic and, in this writer's humble opinion, seems much more believable than the similar plot device in Tim Burton's new Planet of the Apes film.
I know that I am removed from the climate this film was originally released into. I realize this. But still it seems to me that they overuse the point of Zyra's feminine independence. It would seem they do so at the cost of Cornelius, leaving not much but set dressing.
This is not a bad film. It is also not a wonderful film. And for it's time I think it is certainly an achievement to be proud of.
It could have been a better film. But looking back it is easy to see how so many things /could/ have or /should/ have been better.
It has a good ending. That I will give it for sure.
Most of the actors never seem to deliver lines with any sort of character. Montalban, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, and William Windom obviously excluded from that previous statement.
Eric Braedon's performance was abysmal, though I did appreciate the way his character was written to doubt himself and the validity of his choices. "By doing this am I an instrument of God or am I working against his great plan?" and so forth.
Certainly not a film for everyone. Certainly not a film I will see again and again and again. But not a terrible film. Worthy of it's rerelease. And hopefully warranting some kind of adaptation by reclusive genius Tim Burton.
The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
Far From The Finest Of Bond Films
The human element in this Bond film is all but absent.
It works only in the case of Goodnight.
Roger Moore, once my favorite Bond, lacks any touch of human feeling in this film. The script would have been much improved if Tom Mankewiecz' had completed the script all in himself.
Maud Adams could use a little time back in the real world.
Even Bernard Lee and Desmend Llewellyn seem out of place here.
Scaramanga, while an improvement from the novel's version of the self-same character, stills leaves much lacking. Though I would do virtually anything to own his yacht.
This film, while no Never Say Never Again, seems more like a film pretended to be a Bond film than a Bond film.
And Roger Moore, whom I love as Roger Moore, seems less like Bond than Woody Allen in Casino Royale.
Planet of the Apes (2001)
A different film than the original. Appropriately.
I'm tired of hearing all the complaints about this film. Burton's Planet Of The Apes reprise is ambitious, and ambitious undertakings are always subject to harsh criticisms by the unenlightened masses.
Credit must be given to Tim Burton even if alone for coaxing out the single decent performance of Marky Mark's overabundant career.
Superior performance by Helena Bonham Carter.
Worth seeing again and again.
The characters of Ari and her loyal companion the former general remain with you long after the film ends. As do many of the ancillary characters.
Rough transitions between model shots and CGI can be excused due to the studios refusal to grant director Tim Burton further time.
5 endings were shot and until postproduction concluded last week, just three days before release, no one was sure which Burton was electing to use. This DVD should be good.
Burton is a masterful director.
Here is a prayer for sequels.
American Gothic (1995)
not afraid to be original
when tv is not afraid to be original... it should always do so to the sound of applause. such a powerful medium should promote those qualities that diversify and cause growth. American Gothic was not afraid to be different. /It wasn't always good/... but it was usually more than a copy of ground severely trod down, and by such I refer to most of what passes for modern popular entertainment.
American Gothic proved to be an excellent showcase for two excellent actors, Jake Webber and Lucas Black, who found ways to rise above on occasion what could politely be called odius scripting.
The Alamo (1960)
Wayne as director.
One would be hardpressed to say, with straight face, that John Wayne is not deserving of his legend status. Who has become more a member of popular iconography?
The Alamo proves that John Wayne was more, perhaps much more, than a simple muse. Wayne the director shines in this film... as a director of action, as a director of horses and animals and as detailer of the habits of the inebriated. His blocking, his cinematography... for the most part much exceeds that of our presesnt "modern" filmmakers. John Huston lauded this movie, and with good reason.
Good acting for the most part.
Just such a shame that Wayne should help to brainwash entire generations with his ersatz patriotic agenda. "Public... that word brengs ah tear tah my eye... like the first time your boy makes a sound like a man... " Commission on Unamerican Activities, indeed. Physician heal thyself.
Wag the Dog (1997)
satire at it's best
excellent, timed performances by DeNiro, Heche, and Hoffman raise this movie to orchestral proportions.
watching Wag the Dog is very much like listening to a good symphony.