Change Your Image
valerie-86
Reviews
Rush (1991)
Intense but slow
I preface by stating I am a big fan of JJL and NOT one of Patrick. Therefore I watched this to see her performance and of course, it was excellent. I do not feel the director was adequate for the film as several very bad choices were made re: shot angles, blocking, etc. If the director was trying to give it a "realistic" feel, they failed and lost some good performances because of it. Nearly always felt that the camera was way too static, too far from intense facial reactions -- and so many times when the action depended on the intimacy of lead characters, the dialog was slow and plodding. This easily could have been resolved by cutaways or changes of camera angle. But the impression I got was that the budget was too small and only one camera was used! I also got the impression that perhaps scenes were shot multiple times and the energy coming from the actors was... used up.
Light Sleeper (1992)
It's American Gigolo with drugs
I was surprised to see this movie follow so closely the beats and phrases of American Gigolo in so many ways. SPOILER ALERT --- For Instance, the nice guy protagonist - feeling guilty about his profession, decides he has reached a moral high ground in his life and wants to change. As if by accident, he meets the woman capable of making him a changed man - in this case, it was an ex-wife. They rekindle their passions, only to find complications. Those complications, coupled with a homicide investigation (involving a client) makes life a living hell for our protagonist. In the end, both Gere and Defoe share that obligatory jail scene with their "loved one" claiming that they are "saved" by their love. Although the basic plot lines are similar, the movies are different in many ways. SLEEPER seemed to be less fleshed out in characterization. We never completely scratched the surface of the characters. All seemed to have more "submerged" beneath the surface than visible to the audience (which was frustrating) because we basically LIKE these people, even if they are Drug Dealers. Sarandon is superb in this movie - makes you wish she did more like this. But all in all, it mirrored American Gigolo so closely that by the time the final scene played out, I was laughing out loud at the obvious similarities to Gigolo. Not an homage - but a rip off, apparently.
The Kiss (2003)
Sappy Piece of Slow Moving Harlequin Romance
I usually like and can even withstand bad, sappy romantic stories. However, this piece was not just unforgivably slow it was practically incoherent! By the time it reached someplace meaningful you no longer cared. With a cast like this one, it was pretty unforgivable it could turn out as bad. It was obvious a lot could have been made better in the editing process. So many CUTS or fades to black were unnecessary and made the whole production appear sophomoric. I've seen better college student films. In my opinion, more time was spent on set decoration than in meaningful editing or pacing. There were no BEATS, nor forward momentum which made it intolerable. So many things it WASN'T... wasn't a buddy movie, wasn't a love story, wasn't a mystery, wasn't sex enough and wasn't worth watching! And all this from someone who DOES work in the publishing field and LIKED the concept of this story!