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Soultaker (1990)
Don't let MST3K ruin it for you
This is not a bad movie at all, in my opinion. Though I love MST3K, I was disappointed that they chose this movie for one of their episodes.
The story is pretty good. The acting is pretty good. The "effects" are certainly no worse than average. The only thing remotely "cheesy" about it is the "eighties" feel to it, and HELLO it was just about that time period, so that should be expected. Really, the music could have been much, much worse.
Vivian Schilling contributed to something that was, all-in-all, very well-done! I kinda resent MST3K's Pearl referring to her as an "ambitious young lady". Schilling's performance wasn't "hammy" or anything like that. I thought she brought just the right sweetness and intensity to the character of Natalie.
The only thing I'd change about it is more of a background story of the relationship between the soultaker and the woman Natalie so closely resembled.
Panic (2000)
Macy's portrayal of killer tortured with guilt very moving
You may feel revulsion for this hitman, played by William H. Macy, but you may also feel a bit of uncomfortable empathy, too. I was prepared to be offended by this movie about a man who kills people for money, especially since when this man, the central character, is supposedly made sympathetic because he seeks out the help of a psychologist. Perhaps this would be a dark comedy? I'm not sure what type to consider it as a whole, but all in all, I found it very moving. Alex, the hitman, is trained from early childhood to exercise cold control and use a gun to take a life, first a squirrel, years later as a young adult, a stranger in a car. His father, Michael, establishes the business of being a hired killer, by wedding a woman who could "help him get started in the business". Alex's life is contradictory from early on: he exhibits the professional detachment needed to carry out hits, yet he lacks the confidence, even as a middle-aged man, to defy his father and quit the business. Yet it is obvious that Alex wants out. He finds himself to be considered "old" by a young woman he finds beautiful, yet he is helpless to turn his life in a more moral direction. He is a fairly good and certainly gentle husband and a wonderful father, despite having been raised by his seemingly sociopathic parents who are also absurd control freaks. It is not beneath his dignity to dress up as a monster to delight the children at his son's birthday party. But he is deeply, deeply sad. As the movie progresses, it seems that Alex truly believes that a way out for him is pure fantasy. One can, in their mid to late forties, turn one's life around if the faults are less severe than Alex's. But one cannot give life back to those who were murdered. Still, he yearns for a miracle, and to me this plays out in his half-hearted pursuit of a much-younger beautiful woman, Sarah. He knows that a real, lasting relationship with this fantasy woman would be very unlikely unless he could transform himself into a young man of her age....perhaps when he killed his first victim. It seems that Alex believes only time-travel could save him....back to a time before he crossed the line that he could never uncross.
SOME SPOILER Alex, to me, is resolved to the idea that he doomed, yet he does eventually show the moral courage to stop his father from committing any more murders or recruiting anymore children into the business, and also to stop himself. It is, ironically, his father's contemptuous remark to Alex of "Who says?" (Alex had just told his father that he should not have taken Alex's son and Michael's grandson, Sammy out to the woods to experiment with shooting a squirrel). Finally, Alex has an identity, and it is a braver one than he had known.
To sum up, VERY good movie!!
Wilbur Falls (1998)
A very disjointed, rambling story
So much so that it is distracting and it's very difficult to get into the story. It seemed like about ten different movies, randomly pieced together.
Were the actors and actresses making up the story as they went along?
The actress playing Renata is a beautiful and apparently gifted musician. Danny Aiello is one of the most magnificent actors ever, but I gotta wonder if he read the script before he took the part.
Bait (2000)
Really Enjoyable Movie
I really liked this movie. Of course the idea is pretty much out there...the federal government arranging to have a tracking device implanted into the jaw of an small-time thief to lure a more dangerous thief/computer hacker out of hiding. But Alvin Sanders, the man who the feds have "volunteered" to be implanted with the device, is a very likable person and it turns out to be a lot of fun getting in his head with him for a little while. Alvin even eventually proves himself to be much more than a good-humored but passive or one-dimensional character when he shows that he is not nearly as easily manipulated as he may seem. Definetly worth a watch.