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bmelloy
Reviews
Road to Perdition (2002)
I'm ambivalent here...
...I guess I'm stuck in between the comments I've read. I enjoyed the film, the cinematography is top-drawer and all the performances are as they should be. Oh, and the score is very good (IMO a score can sometimes make or break a marginal film) yet this film can hardly be called "marginal". It just seemed, well, somewhat sterile and a tad predictable. In arguably a weak year in cinema, it will probably get its share of nominations come Oscar time but I would argue that there were no Oscar caliber performances here, just good solid work. Even the great actors in history had certain weaknesses and Hanks, quite simply, can't play a "heavy". Newman shows he can still muster his enormous talent up again and again. I agree with the earlier reviewer about Law's performance. A fine actor but character performances like these were a dime a dozen back in the golden era. To wrap up: Worth seeing; just don't expect a real classic here.
Violent Saturday (1955)
All the sub-plots...
...will make your head spin; definitely watchable but full of flaws; most notably Richard Egan...did he and John Agar get their acting licenses off a bubble gum wrapper? Particularly laughable is at the end when Egan breaks down and cries with his back to the camera no less; pure pathetic emoting at its worst....I will say the film's premise and ultimate payoff were interesting and the three crooks were believable...