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Reviews
Waterworld (1995)
Brilliant film
Waterworld is a post-apocalyptic story in which the polar ice caps have melted and people are left out in a gigantic ocean that is Earth to fend for themselves. Anyone who doesn't recognize the genius of the manipulation of the Universal Studios logo to illustrate this in the beginning is nuts. Yet, Waterworld does not preach about global warming or the irresponsibility of past generations that probably led to this catastrophe-it is a straightforward story of people searching for a myth called "Dryland."
Between interesting basic ideas (melted poles), amazing locations, incredible set designs (the trimaran boat that Costner has is awesome), fast-paced action, and well-delivered lines (cheesy one-liners are kept to a minimum)-Waterworld is a fantastic adventure. Dennis Hopper is a total psycho as the one-eyed badass Deacon and Costner fits the part of a brooding, difficult man-fish hybrid
The Genius Club (2006)
sometimes confusing but very good
Now I'll admit I'm not the biggest Tom Sizemore fan in the world, although he has been in two great films that I have seen, Black Hawk Down... and this. The Genius Club is a very enjoyable and involving drama, with many excellent turns from it's cast.
This was a movie that I was glued to and the time flew by, because it seems like you go on a 'journey' with this character and you end up at the end in time to look back on it and think 'Wow, so that's what it was about' or 'That's what that meant'.
The cinematography is quite beautiful, I like the earthly colours of the basement photos and Sizemore's apartment, so suggestive of steadiness, calm and control, contrasting nicely with the turmoil of Sizemore's characters inner life.
The ending with the death speech is downright cheesy and disappointed me. This film doesn't need such cheap trickery to make its point.
On the whole, well worth watching but parts of it are a bit too Hollywood.
A solid 8 out of 10 for me.
Predator (1987)
Terrific action film!
Wonderful action film! Really enjoyed it!
Predator is a film which can easily be enjoyed as a piece of entertainment. It isn't edgy, it isn't subtle and it doesn't give us much to ponder on but for a two hour roller-coaster ride I can't think of many films which can match this.
The acting in general is quite good, the actor who plays the PREDATOR does so very well as well as Carl Weathers. Many people have criticized the film for being a kill fest but there is depth here, it might not come from the characters but it certainly does from the plot.
The script is excellent and must have evoked a lot of imagination when first reading it. The films interpretation of the PREDATOR is very impressive, with very good special effects definitely deserving its academy award, indeed there is a lot of innovation here especially in CGI effects. This combined with John McTiernans great direction gives the film a brilliant visual look with steady cinematography which lets the story flow easily. However I couldn't help but think that the world was a bit too stereotypical.
Il postino (1994)
wonderfully romantic!
The postman is a terrific romantic film. The type of movie you want to watch in a Sunday afternoon. It has some god acting, a nice story, and it's good to look at, even if forgettable. The screenplay follows the book closely, so it has nice, uplifting subplots, engaging characters and a terrible ending. The narration was good, and it gave the movie a cute fairytale tone. The characters weren't very developed, sometimes they were clichéd, but all the actors are great, so it's easy to not notice that. The dialogs are OK, nothing brilliant but not bad, either. Michael Radford's directing is simple but effective; the Italian location is very well shot, and almost all the rest of the movie as a simple direction with no flashes of brilliance.
Cliffhanger (1993)
Great action film
Great action film that revolutionized the early-90's action film. Every so often, a film comes along that resets the standard for it's genre. Cliffhanger did just that very thing for action films.Any film that inspires copycats and wannabes really does it's job well. Stallone makes a very successful transition from an everyday Joe forced into being the hero. This film has all the necessary ingredients to qualify it as a great action film.All you have to do is see it for yourself. Particularly well done is the performance of Leon. You can come up with good arguments for many action films as to which is the best all time,and this one is no exception.Well done.