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HellGerm
Reviews
Black Tar Heroin: The Dark End of the Street (2000)
amazingly horrifying and heartbreakingly informative
This documentary came on HBO at 3:45 in the morning, and having skipped it in the past when I had other things to do, I decided to forego sleep for the night in order to see this. I was expecting it to be depressing, but no one could really be prepared for the horrible stories and images of the lives these young people have lived and are currently living. They resort to prostitution, robbery, anything to get their costly daily fix(es), and we are right there watching them follow their downward spirals to what we sadly know will inevitably be a slow, lonely, painful death, whether it be on or off camera. I agree wholeheartedly that this movie is too disgusting to look at at points, yet one that everyone should see, just don't expect to come out of it in too good a mood. If you found yourself affected by the plight of the characters in Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream,check out the even more saddening (I know it's hard to believe) stories of some real, live addicts.
Space Cowboys (2000)
Ok, but a disappointment from the talent involved
Space Cowboys is a well-made movie but nothing really happens and what does happen does not really make any sense. The movie is about the four members of Team Daedalus, the airforce's space flying project before NASA was formed, being called back to present day Houston for one last mission to repair, a Russian telecommunications satellite (or so they think). The whole plot about the satellite though is just the excuse for getting these four old guys into NASA training and up into space. There is nothing really original in this screenplay and key explanatory points are left out. And once the action shifts to outer space every twist and turn in the story is a textbook Hollywood cliche. The saving grace for this movie is the acting and directing, with Clint Eastwood falling into both of those categories. Every one of the actors gives a great performance, the biggest surprise being from William Devane as the flight commander. All four of the leads are good, but it is not good enough to save Space Cowboys from its script problems. The bad guy isn't even brought anywhere close to justice!!! The worst from Clint in a while, but still a fairly amusing, if slow, ride. 7/10
Mumford (1999)
Great film about quirky,lovable people in small-town america
Mumford, the latest film from writer/director Lawrence Kasdan, is a highly enjoyable movie about the quirky lives of the inhabitants of the quaint town of Mumford, Indiana(?) and the man posing as a psychologist whom they tell all their most intimate secrets. The man in question is Doc Mumford, a man with many dark secrets of his own, is played excellently by Loren Dean, as is every other character in the film (excellently, not by Loren Dean). The standouts of these well-crafted characters include a young skate-boarding multi-billionaire modem mogul and a heavy-set pharmacy owner whose life is taken over by his old-fashioned, pulp-fiction sexual fantasies, to name a few. Mumford has a good story arc with exception to the slight abruptness of the ending. Overall, a great film with an excellent script. 9/10
The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)
A pleasant surprise
Though this film has a lack of action, which is surprising for director John McTiernan (Die Hard, Predator), and an excess of Pierce Brosnan's aft portions, it was a pleasant surprise and held my interest throughout. It focuses mainly on the romance between Thomas Crown, billionaire art thief and CEO of Crown Acquisitions, and the insurance agent sent to retrieve his most recent "acquisition." The movie does have a few action scenes with some nifty gadgets that I definitely would have liked to see more of, due to their masterful execution and very high coolness factor. Overall The Thomas Crown Affair is a nice change of pace and definitely worth seeing. 8/10
Blackjack (1998)
very good for a made-for-USA (the network) movie
I think the fact that this film was directed by John Woo makes us rate it on too high a standard. It is definitely not a good movie but it is not bad. It seems as if John Woo was not really enthusiastic about the production of this film and that he was only making it because he was contractually bound to do so. Even without enthusiasm, John Woo cannot help but to put his wonderful style into the action scenes making this film somewhat enjoyable. The action is lacking when compared to his other work but exceptional for a made-for-cable movie. After a promising action filled beginning the film picks up with its excrutiatingly boring plot of protagonist Jack (Dolph Lundgren) being a bodyguard for a supermodel who is marked for death. There is a long absence of action here and that is surprising for a Woo film. I personally was impressed by Dolph's performance in this film which is far superior to that of his other films and makes him a bit more likable than the big mindless oaf he usually portrays. I wouldn't recommend renting this movie and if you see it on tv watch the beginning and then flip back to it every 20 minutes to check for action.
Go (1999)
pretty good but nothing special
Go is an entertaining piece of work from director Doug Liman (Swingers, which by the way is on my most boring movies of all time list) but though it has some interesting and original plot elements, as a whole it is nothing new. It follows the same kind of time sequence as Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown (I know everyone says that but they say it because it's that it is true) by showing one person's story and then looping back and showing that same period of time from another point of view. Then, as in almost every temporally unhinged movie, it ends up right back at the first scene and proceeds a little bit farther to bring all of the stories together. The best way the abnormal sequence of time was put to use was in one scene when you see one end of a phone conversation and then a half hour later you hear the other end of it (even though it is obvious that it is going to happen.) It had some exceptional performances as well, including Sarah Polley as a supermarket clerk trying to scrounge up enough money to pay her rent, William Fichtner as a very creepy narc, Desmond Askew as a mischievous young British dealer (whose section of the film was definitely the best and most exciting), and Taye Diggs as his best friend. A good film overall with some great performances and some interesting plot points that make up for the unoriginality of the movie as a whole. 7 out of 10
Strangeland (1998)
One of the worst of '98: An Awful Attempt at a Thriller
I watched this movie on video the other night and found myself dozing off throughout this uninspired snoozefest. First of all, one of my biggest pet peeves is when movies like this are characterized as horror movies. It is a THRILLER! get it right!It has no monsters or anything supernatural. It is simply a movie about a twisted serial killer (Actually there is a very small body count so it is more of a serial torturer movie and it did a good job of torturing me.) The basic premise of a man luring teenagers to his house of horrors through online chat rooms could have made for a great movie but we only see him lure one pair of teen girls through the internet at the very beginning of the film. One of these girls turns out to be a local detective's daughter and he gets emotionally involved in the case. The film quickly changes from a potentially intelligent sado-masochistic thriller to a boring old cat and mouse game between the incredibly dull detective and the psychopathic Captain Howdy/Carleton Hendricks played adequately by writer/producer/Twisted Sister frontman, Dee Snider. The occasional attempts at meaningful poetic one-liners about the positive effects of pain and the like from Snider are laughable. If he is attempting to get people to subscribe to these opinions through this film, he fails miserably and (unintentionally) makes light of them. The directing by John Pieplow (whose only previous directing effort was Jurassic Women, which I will let the title speak for itself) was uninspired and there was something wrong with the editing which resulted in the film being disjointed with a few scenes completely unrelated to the plot, unless the screenplay is at fault (which is quite possible.) This film a completely unsuccessful attempt at a thriller trying to pass of as a horror movie that's only achievement was making me squirm at the sight of a few graphic bodily piercings. If you see it at your video store don't waste your money but if you need something to laugh at one night and Strangeland is on cable, you might as well watch. 3 out of 10