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amalex5
Reviews
War Stories (2003)
Very moving
I turned on NBC one wednesday night at 9:01 expecting to see The West Wing.
Instead, this was on. Even though I only saw the last hour, it was very moving, and far better than the West Wing.
Still, the movie feels very much like the West Wing. The writing is similar, except clearer and easier to understand, and the directing is again similar but clearer. Jeff Goldblum is back in his archetypal charecter, the nerdy yet smart and passionate loyal man. In this case, his career happens to be a journalist, and he does quite a good job at it - just imagine Goldblum talking about how important journalistic impartiality is.
The charecters are also extremely well developed.
The film really presented several points of view, allowing the viewer to decide which one he believes in - the sign of a good film.
This can't be called a TV movie - it's far too good for that. If it was on video, I would buy it in a heartbeat. I'm really disappointed that I only saw the last half of it, but still, I was really moved. Veyr powerful, deep themes. It makes you wonder how often things like this really do happen.
Cliffhanger (1993)
Not a film about climbing, but Die Hard in the Rockies
When I first heard about Cliffhanger, I expected it to be an action film about climbing. It's not, and that's why i was fairly letdown the first time I saw it. In fact, Cliffhanger is just "Die Hard" set in the Rockies. With that in mind, Cliffhanger is a very acceptable action flick.
Cliffhanger stars Sylvester Stallone, Michael Rooker (JFK), Janine Turner (Northern Exposure), and John Lithgow (3rd Rock from the Sun, Shrek) in his usual role as a villain. After a fatal accident in the Rockies which he blames himself for, Gabe Walker (Stallone) retires from climbing. Nearly a year later, he returns to say goodbye (!) to his girlfriend, Jesse (Turner). Walker discovers that some climbers are caught in a storm high in Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park, and his nemesis Hal Tucker (Rooker) has gone out alone to rescue them. Walker follows, and the pair of them soon discover that whom they were trying to rescue were not climbers. Instead, a small jet used by international criminal Eric Qualen (Lithgow) and his gang crashed in the storm, and $100 million in cash was lost. The criminals then enlist the climbers to recover the money
Although it has a thin plot and some unbelievable scenes (remember Sly: guns and water don't mix), it pulls through quite nicely, with Oscar nods for Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Effects, and Best Sound. Filmed in Italy's Dolomites due to enviromental concerns by the DoI. One of the beginning scenes saved the day for the President's family at the end of Air Force One
What Lies Beneath (2000)
The perfect horror film!!
SPOILER ALERT Thrillers have always freaked me out. I can't take the suspense, during a good one I'm scared stiff that Mr. Bad Guy will pop out and do something really unexpected. I was scared to death during WLB. It is, in my opinion, a perfect thriller. During the last twenty minutes in fact, I don't think my pulse dropped below 30!!!
The movie was entirely unpredictable, you never knew what would happen next. And Harrison Ford as the bad guy... that's a new one