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jonathanv_00
Reviews
Where's Marlowe? (1998)
A sadly ignored film
I love this flick. I went to a test screening in L.A. a year or two (?) before its release, had the opportunity to make comments about the film, etc. Was looking forward to it coming out... and then never heard of it again until it came out two years or whatever later on. I must have been the only person in the screening who liked it.
Took the wife to it when it came out in theaters, and it still made an impression on me the second time. Sure, it's a bit uneven and takes a while to figure out where it's going, but it's a fun movie with some neat twists and more originality than many other films out there these days.
The Game (1997)
When will they learn to leave well enough alone?
Aggghh... Watched this film on TNT the other night -- missed the last half-hour, so stayed up late until early in the morning to see the end on the "encore" presentation. What a disappointment. I had heard mixed things about this movie, but became intrigued by it while watching. What piqued my interest was the question as to what kind of "game" it was.
Warning, many SPOILERS FOLLOW.
The notion that they started messing with your mind was very interesting. Then it starts to degenerate -- they really just want to steal your money. OK, I can deal with that, that makes it at least an interesting plot twist and makes a comment -- things you do for fun sometimes get out of your control. And of course the complete breakdown of the world's wealthiest and most self-centered man was fun to watch.
I was even with them for the first (trick) ending. After Conrad was "shot," I was thinking it was an interesting movie, and when Nicholas pitches himself off the building, I was truly impressed. At that point, that was his only way out after killing his brother as the result of a prank. It made perfect sense and I felt a good sense of relief that the film would end that way, even if the shot of him dropping to the pavement went on for a while.
Then he starts crashing through the glass, not once, but twice, and then lands on a big safety air mattress. Until I noticed the big X in the center, I was thinking that it was there for another reason unconnected to him, and that by some freak of fate he was going to live through this and have to deal with the consequences. Even better.
Then the whole thing falls apart when Conrad walks in alive. Sure, there's a moment of "wow," but then you have to think what your reaction would be. I'd have killed the little punk, not hugged him. I'd go and find real bullets for that gun after what he put me through, if I was Nicholas. Would have wrecked the party, but hey, that's what you get if you mess with someone's head like that.
Like other Hollywood movies, it seems that more folks had their hands in the pie and dictated a happy ending. Had it ended with both of them dying, it would be a great movie. This way, it's just another schlocky movie that panders to the perceived need for a happy ending, and tries unsuccessfully to make some comment about the dangers of being wealthy and self-centered. And ultimately, those dangers and the repercussions are not real, so the lesson is completely lost.
Event Horizon (1997)
Sorry, it's bad
Warning -- this review has a few SPOILERS . . .
What makes this a bad movie is its assumption that no one will be interested in exactly what it is that happened in the "black hole" (or wherever it went -- that was not entirely clear). I hate to agree with Leonard Maltin, but he's right -- it starts out kind of interesting, but then disintegrates as most Hollywood movies do toward the end as more and more studio execs and market-research people come to influence the plot. Gotta have a big fight at the end between the hero and the villain. At least the hero was allowed to sacrifice himself (probably because Laurence Fishburn realized they were going want to do a sequel and wanted nothing to do with it. Smart boy). And heaven forbid that we bother explaining anything, audiences will swallow whatever we feed them if it's gory enough. And plot holes, schmlot holes -- wouldn't _you_ stick your hand in a shimmering vertical pool of what looks like mercury in the middle of what is essentially a nuclear power plant?! Sure, that's believable . . . because everyone in horror/sci-fi movies automatically lose about 50 IQ points or something.
It would be one thing if the "infinite terror" in the movie was never shown, or didn't acquire a face -- then you could get away without explaining anything. But once Dr. Weir (Neill) becomes the bogey man, we need to know why it was him and not someone else, for example. There's no particular reason why the ship picked him, except that he designed it.
"Somebody to listen to" asks in another comment if the crew on the escape pod died -- no, I assumed they all live happily ever after . . . until the sequel. BIG SPOILER -- why else have Weir's face show up, except to tell the audience that -- surprise (!) -- Evil's not dead yet. Well, of course -- they escaped in the front part of the ship (not an escape pod). The _entire ship_ was supposedly alive, not just the engine room with the black hole drive. Cripes, the more I think about it, the more disappointing this film was. Could have been really interesting. Sad.