jack_onthenet Reviews

Without Evidence (1995)

Not Over Yet

[6 December 2004]

*** possible spoilers ***

I come across this film today and I like it very much. The film is very solid, very logical, very real, presented no evidence but every clue pointing to the suspected mastermind behind the murder -- the "suit", a state officer in the Correction System, came from some other state, got trouble in some sex deal which was in the newspapers.

Quite naturally they could not put the name in the film but that's enough information to inspire me to Google up a little more. I simply started with "Michael Francke murder" and the first match popped up answered it all and revealed, to my surprise, the case is having fresh new breakthroughs.

The Willamette Week news story dated Nov. 17, 2004 says, "Now the old case is heating up thanks to a document that never surfaced in the trial of Francke's murderer or his subsequent appeal. It was discovered not by a zealous defense lawyer but by the dead man's brother, who found it last month in an old box of evidence..." Anybody interested can just search it and read more details. It's very interesting to read and tallies with different clues in this film, or even not-the-clues in this film.

This is an amazing story because it's real. It's no Hollywood. It's no hamburger. It's no Tom Cruise or Sylvester Stallone fighting a two-hour quick shot. It takes fifteen and probably even more years of a man's life to fight against not only a single bad apple but a bad apple tree. Not for himself, but for his brother.

I like this film and I expect the sequel, both for the case and this film.

Sharpe: Sharpe's Rifles (1993) Season 1, Episode 1

Comparing to Hornblower...

[5/10 · 26 October 2004]

Comparing to Hornblower, Sharpe is a disappointment. Plot is too flawed, performance is too modern, direction is too weak. However, after reading former comments here I understand the plot of this series is dramatically altered from that of the original book. So maybe I'll still give a shot on the book someday.

What amazed me is that, two years after last episode of Sharpe, there is Bravo Two Zero (1999), also directed by Tom Clegg and starring Sean Bean. And that one is PERFECT, just like Hornblower, my all-time favorite.

I still remember one IMDb user's comment on Hornblower, which says, "When British decide to do something well, they do it extremely well." I think everybody agree with it after watching Hornblower. But after watching Sharpe and Bravo Two Zero, I'd say, "When British decide to do something well, they ehh... hopefully do it extremely well."

Heart of a Dog (1988 TV Movie)

What a waste of time

[1/10 · 13 August 2004]

This film is totally garbage. Some imbecilic intellectual comforting himself by making all his best to claim superiority of aristocrat over working class. Nothing more than a piece of self-complacence catharsis. Disgusting.

If this kind of a movie is set in US, it will sure make itself a big joke. And simply because it comes out from 'the other side', it makes itself a masterpiece, a wonderful amusement for certain brain-washed and/or brain-washing westerns (some George W. maybe:). A typical cold-war sequelae, some kind of joke anyway.

I would say, if this -- like expressed in this film -- is all what Soviet intellectuals had been thinking about all those years, then maybe they deserve all the miseries they claim they had gone through. BUT NO! 'cause like many others, I've read and watched real masterpieces made by real outstanding Soviet intellectuals. For example, something also relevant with dog, "White Bim Black Ear" -- both Gavriil Troyepolsky's book and Stanislav Rostotsky's movie -- is a real masterpiece. Real life, real tragedy, real sad, real pride and dignity, one of the real best of the Soviet era.

Life Is Beautiful (1997)

No life nor beautiful

[1/10 · 20 July 2004]

I don't see any point in this film. Life IS beautiful, but in this film it's no life nor beautiful, just a boring slapstick.

Simply the idea of putting comedy and holocaust together doesn't mean they are put together. Everything in this film is far-fetched and overdone, even without novelty. The scene the protagonist broadcasts to his wife in concentration camp -- It's a crude fake out of the real beautiful scene from The Shawshank Redemption (1994).

And this guy, Roberto Benigni, this guy is a clown without a spirit. I've seen several movies he made, each and every one sucks. Somebody says he is "Italian Chaplin". Sorry, he's no par with Chaplin in an way. A clown with a spirit is with a crown, a clown without a spirit is just a clown.

Nell (1994)

5 + 0 + 1 + 1 = 7

[7/10 · 3 July 2004]

*** spoiler ahead, read at your own risk ***

The first half of this film is Great. Second half is a big joke which ruined everything.

The joke begins when Nell is taken into city to the hospital. The Sick-City-Syndrome-at-First-Sight is formula and shallow. The big speech at the court is sheer Hollywoodish or simply trash. And the pastoral happy ending 5 years later? Just forget it.

7 out of 10. 5 to the first hour, 0 to the second hour, 1 to Jodie Foster (including 0.5 for Ellie Arroway in CONTACT, 1997), 1 to Liam Neeson (including 0.5 for Michael Collins in MICHAEL COLLINS, 1996).