Reviews
Nightwatch (1997)
I hated this movie with a passion heretofore unknown.
I love movies, and I am very forgiving of most of them. (I usually like thriller/suspense movies.) But Nightwatch I gave a 1. I never give movies a 1. It's especially odd in this case as I usually LOVE Ewan McGregor. But even he (and all of it's other big-name stars) could not save this poorly written, badly executed, gross, retarded-plot movie.
A law student has a whacked out, bored best friend, a really nice but under-defined girlfriend, some sort of poorly outlined, difficult childhood past and then gets a job as a nightwatchman in a morgue to pay for school. (This involves checking to make sure that the bodies are okay each night.) The plot just gets worse from there. I won't go into details, but realize that it's set in a morgue (just go with that image for a second), involves really icky mental disorders, hookers, bored twenty-somethings and a serial killer.
Perhaps Nick Nolte's worst role EVER. Ewan McGregor just looks embarrassed, as do Josh Brolin and Patricia Arquette. Filled with gratuitous nastiness and gross-out violence, this movie, rather than being redeemed by such a good cast, serves only to add a black mark to their career resumes.
As I said, I love movies and rarely, rarely, rarely diss them this hard, but I honestly believe that this is the worst movie I have ever seen.
Prayer of the Rollerboys (1990)
"Cult fave" in my neck of the woods
Amazingly enough, I think it's cute. Tongue-in-cheek teen flick about semi-post-apocalyptic world ruled by a racist, drug-dealing, high-tech, self-obsessed, rollerblading street gang. The characters were interesting, the relationships explored to a somewhat greater depth than I expected, and the actors gave it their all.
Corey Haim in probably the last thing I saw him in where he seemed to care, establishes great rapport with the other characters in the movie and makes you actually care about his life. (As I said, amazingly enough--I wanted to just laugh this movie off, but really did like it...)
Don't expect Speed or something that polished, but see the movie if you would like to have an enjoyable couple of hours where you won't have to think too much.
My Last Love (1999)
Who in the world expected it to be this good?
My roommate and I were bored, and it was on. That is the sum total of why we watched. And okay, Scott Bairstow played a factor. But we really didn't expect much. And we were absolutely floored.
The story is of Susan, a woman in her late thirties/early forties suffering from cancer who moves with her daughter from Chicago to California because she wants to be close to home and her parents when she dies. She doesn't want her parents, loving but controlling people, raising her 11-year-old, Carson, but has no one else. In California, she meets Michael, a 26-year-old busboy with no goals who she takes to be a fluffy airhead. Much to her surprise, he turns out to be intelligent and, as she puts it, "has depth." After learning of her condition, Michael tries to run from the mother and daughter, but moves on to become an integral part of their lives, providing both with true love as Susan prepares to die.
These were honest-to-goodness three-dimensional characters, who grew and learned over the course of the movie. The emphasis was on people surviving difficult situations and growing beyond themselves. The one plot point that could have spiraled into maudlin triteness was the obligatory custody battle, but instead was turned into a chance for all concerned to grow as characters, and was handled more tastefully than any such situation handled on film in years.
I will say it again--I was floored by the honesty and truth in this made-for-TV movie.
Nancy Travis, Scott Bairstow and the girl that played the daughter give stunning performances. All are complex and multi-faceted and will truly surprise you.
Watch this movie. What could have been a sappy movie-of-the-week instead stands as a true work of film.