Change Your Image
Jonnie Comet
Reviews
10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
The young female intellectual.
This may just be one of the most significant pieces of accessible idealism to come round in a long while.
As a literature teacher I have used this film as an example in the classroom. The concept of a THINKING teenaged girl who is able to make rational judgements about the attitudes and actions of others, and then to actually live by her extraordinarily high standards, is an invaluable example. We've seen enough bimbos diving into the sack. If only more girls were like Kat--!
But shrewish Katrina is more than an intellectual snob. She's been hurt, and her deeply-closeted motivation is to spare her sister the pains she herself has known: 'Not all experiences are good.' It's appropriate that the story takes place at a school-- for the real purpose of education is to learn from the mistakes of others instead of stupidly repeating them yourself. That alone makes the film worth watching for young people, younger teenagers... and maybe even tweens.
Some observations: 1. The producers seem stuck in a '70s-'80s musical rut, choosing Cheap Trick and Joan Jett numbers. But the hook in Nick Lowe's tune 'Cruel to be Kind' comes from 'Hamlet', a connection that Kat (and perhaps no other character) probably appreciates. 2. NO public-school teacher would EVER get away with Mr Morgan's behaviour in the classroom. This is the worst drawback in the story, and it's major. 3. Why don't we ever see Bianca and her date go sailing? It's a wholesome sport requiring brain power and responsibility, and seeing them actually go would assuage the audience's concerns as much as Dr Stratford's. 4. I can't help it-- I just keep seeing Katrina as.. DARIA!
Shaker Run (1985)
More than just a car-chase.
This is one of my favourite films, just because it's fun. Cliff Robertson and Leif Garrett might have been down-and-out as actors at the time, but they play a down-and-out race team and as Americans in a country noted for a very tough films industry they are a treat. The interplay between what they expect and what Lisa Harrow's character knows better is a big part of the fun. In the end there really is no bad or good guy-- both NZ and the US are guilty of underestimating the heroes and each other; and the heroes have underestimated everyone but themselves.
As a car-oriented film it will please the car-chase fans, but there is more to it than that. First of all you may never see more of the South Island's intense countryside than here, with scenes of wide-open landscape being covered at greater than highway speeds. As a scientific thriller the plot centring round an AIDS-type virus provides food for thought-- just what DO you do with a strain that deadly anyway? Thus the boy-racer speed-thrills and the taut intelligence-vs-science conflict aptly convey the clueless desperation of these three characters as they search for the truth about each other and the next hint of truth about what's going to happen next.
Some observations:
1. Too much gunfire! I can't imagine NZ cops using automatic weapons in the middle of a neighbourhood.
2. I find it hard to believe Robertson shifts the TH-400 automatic gearbox into top at over 100 MPH! Yet the Chevy-powered Trans Am's speedo appears to be in MPH, not KPH.
3. With driving like this the heroes never seem to stop for petrol. And although it's cold season in Queenstown they also never seem to slip on ice.
4. Shona Laing and her band are wonderful in the pub scene. (Whatever happened to her?)
Order in pizza, watch it again and look closer.