jedobi Reviews

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

OVERRATED

[1 July 2004]

This film has to boast some of the most atrocious acting committed to screen. It's not scary, it clunks along at about one mile an hour and the zombies and 'action scenes' are laughable. A critique of 70's America and its citizens who are consumed by consumerism? Well, it didn't need to take almost 3 hours of mind numbing tedium, acting that would have made plywood appear like Pacino, and dreadful 70's synth music to tale us that. Of the three Romero made, the third is the best, pacy, not too long and great effects.

The remake of 'Dawn...' had everything this didn't - tension, decent acting, a great beginning and a brilliant and thankfully non happy ending.

Apocalypse Now (1979)

THE GREATEST

[10/10 · 27 June 2004]

The greatest war movie ever - the helicopter attack is still one of the great set pieces in cinema history, Robert Duvall with one of the most quoted lines in cinema history, and a film that captures the overriding insanity that war is propelled by and generates. Martin Sheen's performance has always been undervalued in this film - he is the heart of the movie, as he his dragged further and further into the nightmare of Vietnam - he is a professional solider, a special forces officer but even he is overwhelmed by the chaos caused by Kurtz in what was the hidden war on the Cambodian border. Sheen is a great actor and vividly portrays a character who has been finally been submerged by the horror and brutality of the American policy towards the Vietnam conflict. Brando is on a different planet, but that is the intention, given Kurtz has become completely removed mentally from the war around him.

The Cooler (2003)

ALEC BALDWIN

[20 June 2004]

The Cooler is worth seeing just for Alec Baldwin's performance alone. An old style casino boss, his inability and unwillingness to accept the new Vegas sends his volatile nature over the edge. Baldwin has always been an underrated actor- at the start of his career, the big studios made the mistake of trying to market him as a star, rather than as the quality actor that he is. He is also helped by working alongside another great actor, William H Macy, who can do more with a look than most can do with 6 OR 7 pages of dialogue ( See the scene when he realizes Maria Bello is still in his flat ). See this film for the acting. It's good to see that films like The Cooler and 21 Grams are doing well and being recognised - it is a triumph for acting and strong scripts as opposed to continual FX and CGI in modern cinema.