eastbourne17 Reviews

The Trigger Effect (1996)

A good movie, well-acted

[8/10 · 7 December 2002]

Although this movie has an average rating of 5 point something, based on feedback from over 1000 voters, I'd like to put in a good word for it, if only to offset the very negative comment that is posted here.

It dramatizes an interesting situation (what happens when there's a power failure and the resources we've come to rely on suddenly aren't there), and I think the leads, Kyle McLachlan, Elizabeth Shue, and Dermot Mulroney do an excellent job, as well as the supporting cast.

This is a movie I'd buy and watch again. Do yourself a favor and judge for yourself.

Off Season (2001 TV Movie)

Definitely a Christmas Classic

[10/10 · 30 December 2001]

This beautifully done movie has all the makings of a Christmas classic. As soon as it's available, I'm going to buy it. The writing, the acting, the photography (done in warm, glowing reds with touches of green), and the story are all perfect. It's done with taste,imagination, wit and subtlety.

The movie is a perfect blend of reality (depicting real-life people and situations) with fantasy (the Santa angle)-- the two essential elements of a moving Christmas classic, in the tradition of Miracle on 34th St. and One Magic Christmas (underrated and unjustly neglected).

Try by all means to see it while it's on this season. If you miss it, make sure you catch it next year.

The Cell (2000)

An act of hatred

[1/10 · 14 April 2001]

This movie is filled with such vile images that I can only assume that the screenwriter wanted to hurt the people who watched it. His imagination is capable of conceiving such sickening violence that he frightens me. Don't watch this movie. Don't let anyone who took part in it gain anything from it. It has no redeeming value whatever. It is anti-human. It was written by someone who hates humanity.

A Christmas Carol (1999 TV Movie)

An Excellent Version of a Great Christmas Classic

[9/10 · 5 December 1999]

This is an excellent version of A Christmas Carol, surpassing, I think, the 1984 version starring George C. Scott. The acting is excellent -- Patrick Stewart, Richard E. Grant, Saskia Reeves, and the unnamed (on IMDB) actors who played Marley's ghost and Fred Holywell, Scrooge's nephew, in particular. The supporting cast is wonderful. One of the most entertaining scenes is one that I never enjoyed in the 1951 Alistair Sim version or the Scott version -- the scene where the old women sell the dead Scrooge's scavenged possessions to the rag-and-bone man. Their acting is marvelous. Visually it is a wonderful visitation of mid-19th-century English life. Some of the effects are impressive, while others, notably the ghosts hovering over London streets, seemed amateurish to me. The music, too, seemed perfect. Some of the songs sounded like they might have come from a later era, but never mind -- it all seemed so AUTHENTIC! Overall, fantastic, moving, well-done. I plan to watch it every year, and get it on video as soon as it's available.

The Forsyte Saga (1967)

The prototypical "Masterpiece Theater"

[7 November 1999]

To my knowledge this series was the first of its kind, and established the style and tone for all the programs which the term "Masterpiece Theater" now stands for. It is a mystery to me why it seems to have been forgotten completely, and why videos of the series are not available. Its successor, "Upstairs, Downstairs" seems to have usurped The Forsyte Saga's rightful place as the favorite high-toned soaper. Because it was the first, it should be honored for that reason alone.

What Happened Was... (1994)

Fantastic film

[17 September 1999]

I discovered this film while channel surfing, and left it on it because it because it looked like an interesting indie film. The characters were so like real people, talking about what regular office people talk about. I was about to leave it to go on the computer when Karen Sillas's character, Jackie, read her story to Michael (Tom Noonan). It was at this point that the movie went from being a realistic, low-key indie to something unique, approaching art. Jackie's story reveals how different she really is from the smooth, flirtatious secretary she appeared to be. Part of the appeal of this film is the way Noonan turns our expectations upside down, revealing the one who seems most together to be the one most hopelessly wounded.

Using sound and lighting, Noonan creates an atmosphere of near-madness. He is brilliant at evoking the painful and disturbing feelings of his female character. Through lighting he transforms Jackie from superficial secretary to deeply disturbed and desperate woman.

The final scenes, in which the characters have revealed some hint of their true selves, instead of the cardboard characters they display in the office, are moving. The movie has something important to say, and says it in an original and creative way. It's grossly unfair to highlight the asinine comment of the first "user". That quote does nothing to show the true value of this film. Instead, "What Happened Was..." proves the truth of my favorite quote: "The only interesting thing is what happens between two people in a room."

Till the End of Time (1946)

Complex and interesting

[8/10 · 9 March 1999]

I'll admit it, looking at Guy Madison is probably 50% of the reason for watching this movie, but it really is pretty good. Not art, but good. The story is not typically patriotic and saccharine, but is about the dark side of being a World War II veteran.

It suggests that re-adjusting to sunny American life was not so easy, that some people want to gloss over bad feelings and pretend that everything is fine. It has its beautiful hero falling in love not with the pert young thing, all bouncy and uncomplicated, but with the war widow, someone older than he is and old enough to know that life is not simple.

It's true, Guy Madison is not a very good actor, at least when he speaks, but there's a wonderful scene in the beginning, when he first arrives home, where he looks at something his mother has baking in the oven. It was all gestures and expression, and he was great at it.

And yes, it has Robert Mitchum, in one of his less interesting roles, but when has Robert Mitchum not been interesting?

All in all, worth watching.