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Reviews
Deep Blue Sea (1999)
Waterlogged
If you don't go into your local multiplex expecting too much from this waterlogged cross between JAWS and THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, you won't be overly disappointed 104 vacuous minutes later.
Really, Renny, all the action in the world is marvellous, but you should at least TRY with other elements like character and substance.
The cinematography (by expatriate Aussie Stephen Windon) is the most successful element of this film, encompassing as it does some nifty 'shark's-eye' shots and the virtually obligatory scenes of Saffron Burrows warding off the monsters from the DBS dressed only in her bra and panties.
The Miracle (1991)
Easily Neil Jordan's most underrated film.
This charming, low-key drama about an Irish teenager and his troubled family relationships is one of Neil Jordan's best pieces of work.
It's certainly his most underrated film, and leaves ALL his American efforts a long way behind.
The gentle, yet disciplined pace of the script and direction shows that Jordan was well and truly on track for the Best Original Screenplay Oscar he went on to collect for his next project, THE CRYING GAME.
The Last Boy Scout (1991)
Oh, Brother!
It's still very hard to believe that the director of this film, Tony Scott, and the director of ALIEN and BLADE RUNNER, Ridley Scott are brothers [even though Ridley has blotted his copybook in recent years with 1492: CONQUEST OF PARADISE and G.I. JANE.]
This film is immediately hamstrung by the script's total lack of originality in dealing with elements as diverse as pro football, political corruption and teenaged delinquents.
Scott's uneven and ultimately heavy-handed direction of the mish-mash also shows that his brother's command of visual style and storytelling complexity definitely doesn't run in the family.
Highlander II: The Quickening (1991)
Abysmal!
Sean Connery need not be overly embarrassed by THE AVENGERS given that this putrid offering will forever languish like a dead fish at the bottom of his c.v.
I'm sure the making of this film "seemed like a good idea at the time" - because, with films this bad, that's always the case - but Connery's participation represents the undoubted lowpoint in an otherwise lengthy and distinguished career.
This film is utterly, UTTERLY ridiculous in all respects, and will deservedly stand as a glaring blunder on the records of everyone concerned with its manufacture.
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
It's a sequel, Jim, but not as we know it!
Elderly explorers, geriatric journeymen, altogether antiquated alien adversaries - call them what you will, but the crew of the USS Enterprise were looking decidedly jaded by the time this (almost) final installment of the original Star Trek's cinematic series hit the big screens.
STAR TREK VI was released just after the conclusion of the Cold War, and the movie's themes were supposedly inspired by the Perestroika-inspired New 20th Century World Order, but surely we'd seen it all before in the previous five episodes.
The most interesting features of this feature were Christian Slater's uncredited cameo (reportedly included at the insistance of his mother, a Hollywood casting agent and devoted "Trekkie") and the increasing obviousness of William Shatner's hairpiece (or, maybe that was just a Tribble - remember the original tv episode - resting on his head).
This film should have been earmarked as the 'Final Frontier' for the group of weary travellers, but, as soon as those hokey signatures came up at the end in the ritual "Signing Off", you just KNEW that At least some of them would be suiting up again.
Le violon rouge (1998)
5 Rather Longish Short Films About a Violin
A beautifully crafted and designed film which succeeds quite well despite its unnecessarily long two-and-a-half hour running time.
The film charts the life of the mythical musical instrument of the title in five distinct segments: Its manufacture in Renaissance-era Italy; its initial life as a teaching instrument in a monastery; its possession by, and inspiration of a Victorian English composer; its clandestine life in a Chinese attic during the Cultural Revolution; and its sale at an up-market auction house in modern-day Montreal.
Director Francois Girard and screenwriter Don McKellar haven't mastered the fragmentary style and structure as comprehensively as they did in their earlier 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould, but the superb cinematography, costumes and original score more than make up for that.
In the ensemble cast, the best performances come from Samuel L Jackson as the instrument's present-day discoverer, Colm Feore as the Auctioneer, and Carlo Cecchi as the Violin Maker. Fans of Greta Scacchi be warned, however; although she appears naked again after a long period of on-screen modesty, she and Jason Flemyng (as lecherous composer Sir Frederick Pope) are wasted in the film's least successful segment
Erskineville Kings (1999)
Thank God He Met Hugh!
An excellent performance from Hugh Jackman, in his first straight dramatic role after an exalted career in stage musicals, is the only saving grace for Erskineville Kings, the debut feature from former advertising whiz Alan White.
This is a highly self-indulgent and pretentious piece, filled with laughable nomenclature, savagely stilted dialogue, and the shoddiest technical direction seen in an Australian film for well over a decade.
I saw this film when it was selected to open the 1999 Australian Film Institute Awards screenings in Perth. Aside from Jackman, who has some chance for an award in a lukewarm year for male actors in Australia, Erskineville Kings will undoubtedly disappear without trace when its cinematic release concludes in about a month's time.