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Reviews
Leave It to Beaver: Chuckie's New Shoes (1960)
Chuckie is a Nut
The neighbor has some nerve dropping this kid off onto June.
Then June allows Wally to take on the task.
Then, at Haskell's guidance, Wally hands it off to Beaver,
Beaver did his best, but he can't win.
This Chuckie kid is a total nut & hopeless without some kind of remedial oversight.
A History of Violence (2005)
Many satisfying stitches but somehow the quilt doesn't come out right ...
Much has been said by the others about the Cronenberg style, and this film continues in that tradition, with its dark, creepy, catastrophic tone ... but in departing from that tone, compromises have been made to move the plot along, and in the process of doing so, the smooth forward movement that the film needs becomes haphazard, awkward, & jagged.
I have some problems with credibility.
First, in the diner why is Billy (Greg Byrk) shooting (inaccurately) at the grill man (instead of Tom) while Tom is leaping over the counter to get Leland's (Stephen MacHattie)'s gun ?
Second, we are asked to believe that these gangsters only found out about Tom Stall's whereabouts from the media coverage of his heroics in the diner. Did news of this type make it all the way from Indiana to Philly?
Third, the Maria Bello character is just not plausible. We are asked to believe that she is a lawyer, but never once do we see her functioning as one, moreover in the home environment she comes off as overemotional & not level-headed, not like a lawyer.
Fourth, William Hurt is preposterously unconvincing as the mob heavy from Philly. The goatee, the accent, his lines, all make it even worse. How he ever was considered for a Supporting Oscar is unfathomable to me.
Fifth, Ritchie's (Hurt) warm greeting of Joey seems too sincere, genuine & heartfelt to be contrived - i.e. for a non-actor - and coming from one who is about to (attempt to) kill his brother.
Sixth, I wonder how Joey is able to kill five guys at the Philly compound after he's just told one of Ritchie's goons (and as we see ourselves) that he has driven 16 hours straight without sleep from Indiana. I mean is Joey totally superhuman? To do what he does in Ritchie's office in such condition with seemingly little effort?
In spite of all this, excellent performances by Viggo, Peter McNeill as the Sheriff, and Ed Harris as Carl Fogerty. The Indiana "feel" comes through nicely (even tho it is supposedly all shot in Ontario). And the action-based scenes are handled very well.