JFrawley032759 Reviews

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Sugar (2009) Season 11, Episode 2

I don't want this to be a trend.

[8/10 · 1 October 2009]

While the investigation of the main crime is handled reasonably well, and the frictions between Christopher Meloni's Stabler and Christine Lahti's Sonya Paxton appear likely to lead to an interesting payoff, this is at least the second episode in which the detectives are revealed as thoroughly incompetent in the most basic police work: (Spoilers follow: Do not look if you want to remain unfamiliar with the ending of this episode.)

maintaining control of prisoners and avoiding lethal violence within their own workplace. In the Season Nine Episode "Trade," apparently for no reason other than amping up the drama of the revelation of the true criminal, the detectives completely gave up control of the suspects, allowing the true killer to kill the previous, completely innocent, suspect. Now in this episode, pretty much the same thing happens. After the killer has made a full confession, they parade the previous suspect out, give the two privacy, and sacrifice another (relatively) innocent victim - just so the show can look edgy. That isn't edgy: It's moronic police procedure.

The Master Gunfighter (1975)

LeMat revolver may not be anachronistic

[5/10 · 27 May 2007]

This is not a good film, and much of the criticism of it is justified, but the comment that the use of the LeMat revolver is ahistorical may be mistaken. This film is set prior to the Civil War, and thus before 1861, but subsequent to California statehood, and thus after 1850. The LeMat was first manufactured and sold in 1856. If this is set between 1856 and 1861 the presence of the LeMat doesn't need to be a problem. The use of a katana, on the other hand, is a problem. Extremely few Japanese, or those familiar with the Japanese, arrived in the U.S. before the 1880s, and those who came then were almost exclusively farmers, rather than samurai: Katanas would be very unlikely to be found in antebellum California.

Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 (1972)

Tatantinoesque? This is from 1972: Tarantino is Joshuu sasori-esquire!

[9/10 · 4 February 2007]

It is unfortunate, but nearly unavoidable, that what is innovative and successful will be copied until new viewers find the original unchallenging or even imitative of the successive work they have already viewed. Tarantino has been entirely forthright in acknowledging his debts to the innovators in this and other genres. The primary difference between the approaches of this film and Tarantino's "tributes" is that these intend very little irony or parody, while his work is hyper-aware of such things. I think it is important to view the Scorpion films in the proper context: They are excellently produced potboilers which are very pleasing, and their use of Meiko Kaji as an unapologetically aggressive and vengeful woman looking out for herself, while praiseworthy today, was particularly innovative 35 years ago.

T.N.T. (1997)

Cynical B-Movie Star Slumming (or thinking he was) in a C-Movie

[3/10 · 27 October 2006]

Olivier Gruner doesn't disappoint too much. He's shown better moves elsewhere, and no one expects great acting from him, but he still delivers an adequate performance. The real problem is with the one-dimensional performance of Eric Roberts. I wonder how many hours he was even on the set! It is disappointing to see a performer in a movie taking it even less seriously than do the viewers. Perhaps I am giving him too much credit: Maybe he is really a C-Movie denizen of this appallingly low quality. Randy Travis comes reasonably close to making his poorly written character believable, but the movie wouldn't have been particularly different without him (and his accent isn't exactly typical for Colorado sheriffs, either).

It's just disappointing when the worst performance in an unambitious action movie comes from a supposedly competent big name, and the best from a martial artist for whom English is a second (or third, for all I know) language.

The Getaway (1972)

Great - Unless You Have Read the Book

[8/10 · 3 May 2005]

This is a highly entertaining film, but its conclusion has no connection with either the plot or the themes of the original novel. Happy, or even nearly happy, endings are almost nonexistent in Jim Thompson's novels, but someone, presumably Steve McQueen, the producers and financiers, felt competent to impose a traditional "triumph (sort of) of young (sort of) love." Doing this is comparable to letting Hester Prynn tell the busybodies off in "The Scarlet Letter" or imposing an improbably heroic ending on "The Natural" - yes, it can be done, but it undercuts what the author was trying to say. In the case of those other adaptations of novels to the screen, the originals were well enough known that such dissonances were obvious, and such was reported in reviews (moreso for "The Scarlet Letter," which was a bad film on any terms, than for "The Natural," which was, like "The Getaway," good unless you knew what had been done to the original material.)

Well, the primary requirement of a film is that it entertain on its own terms: I give it an 8, with the understanding that the novel's bleak end would have been not only depressing to the audience, but probably a bear to film. As is often the case, Jim Thompson's ending signifies more the deranged and deteriorated mind of the protagonist than any easily depicted "reality." Perhaps I would have found a faithful rendition of Thompson's original work less satisfying than this. McQueen is great, as are Ben Johnson, Al Lettieri and most of the supporting cast. Ali McGraw is a very limited actress, but I thought more of her performance here than a lot of viewers: She got the job done and made Ben Johnson's double dealing completely understandable.

Bullet in the Head (1990)

A Truly Stunning, Gory (No spoiler, just a Woo tradition!) Film

[10/10 · 18 April 2005]

This film is an excellent demonstration of the importance of a great director to achieving a film masterpiece. Reportedly, John Woo was originally going to make A Better Tomorrow III for producer Tsui Hark, using a large part of the storyline that appears in this film, but some rather outrageous tension on the set of A Better Tomorrow II and only slightly less difficulty on A Better Tomorrow caused him to back out of that project, which was rewritten and directed by Tsui Hark. This stunning movie is what John Woo created while Tsui Hark put out the much less worthy continuation of what Mr. Woo started. By this I do not mean to suggest that A Better Tomorrow III is a bad film: It is somewhat above average, but very far from being of Bullet in the Head's level of excellence.

Storyline: Three friends from Hong Kong find adventure, terror, tragedy and their own true natures when they end up in Vietnam during the war. Tony Leung, Jackie Cheung and Waise Lee are the friends, and Simon Yam is an initially enigmatic mercenary they meet in Vietnam. Leung is the star, but Waise Lee is outstanding, and Simon Yam shows that he is, indeed, capable of giving an excellent, nuanced performance. As for Jackie Cheung, I think that his performance here would be singled out for praise in most films, but he is competing with great performers, and doesn't quite measure up.

Zatoichi and the One-Armed Swordsman (1971)

Well, maybe there is a LITTLE bit of a spoiler

[8/10 · 14 April 2005]

Many people I otherwise respect believe this is among the best Zatoichi movies: I have yet to see one I didn't like, but somehow this one is just not as pleasing to me as many of the others. (Possibly my DVD is not the very best.) In any case, the behavior of Zatoichi is quite a bit more foolish and bloodthirsty than usual, and the skill level and intelligence of the one armed swordsman (Jimmy Wang Yu) are reduced from that in his own films, so that his fate is perhaps other than what it would be in a film made by and for the Chinese. To my taste, Jimmy Wang Yu's charisma is invisible.

All this being said, this is a reasonably good film, and should not disappoint greatly.