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chas_devlin
Reviews
The Five Heartbeats (1991)
Needs a pulse...
Just watched this again on cable last night and had a few thoughts on it: In better hands (and bigger budget), this would have been terrific. As it is, it comes off like a crummy TV movie-of-the-week or a soap opera. I always assumed it was based (loosely perhaps) on The Temptations or a similar Motown group. And while it has all the ingredients of a great story, every scene is played out soooo dramatically.
Make no mistake, the cast are talented, but the material hardly let's them show it. The dialogue is standard, bargain-basement rock and roll fluff. And the cliches are all here; drug addiction, cheating, sleazy record execs, meteoric success, speedy downfall etc., and while I don't doubt they occurred, the movie just piles it on and wrings out every emotion for all it's worth.
Of course, the movie never bothered to go beneath the surface. Strictly a mainstream, safe look at a fictional group - all handled nicely. No painful drug scenes, no devastating wrecked marriages, no genuine look at how the record industry worked back then.
Considering how many groups fell in to the same trap (Frankie Lymon would be a great story), The Five Heartbeats at least leaves you wondering what really happened.
Buddy's Song (1991)
One of the worst...
A friend and I snuck into a preview of this at a small theater off the Tottenham Court Road in London some time before it was released. I don't remember too much, except that it was a fairly routine story with deplorable acting (Chesney Hawkes being among one of the absolute worst actors I've ever seen) and a laughable script. God knows why this was made.
Would make a nice companion piece with 1987's Hearts of Fire.
The Castle (1997)
Terrible
This may be somewhat biased, as I could only stomach the first ten minutes, but this movie came highly recommended and I cannot, for the life of me think why.
It seemed like a very 'regional' movie, by that I mean, you'd have to know the residents and geographical locations to fully appreciate and understand its finely tuned humor. The characters came across as 'oh wow - aren't we quirky'. Instead they were irritating.
The Castle strived to be the kind of kitchen sink comedy by Mike Leigh - with his impeccable dialogue (ad-libbed or otherwise), memorable characters and piercing social commentary - but The Castle came up poorly.
And all this in the first ten minutes... Oddly enough, I also rented Amazon Women on the Moon - an old favorite of mine and twice as enjoyable...
Lost in America (1985)
Quite possibly, the funniest movie ever made...
Boy, reading the comment from that 'anonymous' couple made me question their entire relationship, but that's another story. A friend turned me on to LOST IN AMERICA a few years ago and nothing I've seen since has compared - in any way, shape or form.
Basic outline: A successful, middle-aged couple from New York gather up their nest egg and decide to drop out of society. With everything in tow, they embark on a journey in a deluxe R.V. First stop, Las Vegas. I won't reveal too much, but it's the way the various situations are handled that makes this film so superior. Without resorting to throwaway gags or lame slapstick, the movie is painfully funny. There are too many scenes to mention that stand out as genius (a word applied carefully here), but they resonate deep in to the mind.
I'm unsure why the other couple assumed you were meant to feel sorry for them, as this is far from what the movie intended. At the very least, it is a truly hilarious commentary on money, society, marriage and survival. From Julie Haggerty to 'Skippy', all the performances are exceptional. Albert Brooks *rarely* makes a bad movie. He's absolutely watchable in anything. In this he shines. I can hear his desperate plea to the casino boss in my head (see it and you'll understand).
The film is immensely enjoyable, vastly underrated and virtually impossible to appreciate with one sitting. They should put this in a time capsule.
Higher Learning (1995)
One of the worst...
In contrast to the reviewer that praised this movie, I felt compelled to say something. I saw this only once, on its release and remember being very disappointed. The story and concept were fine, no problem there. What I did have a problem with was how it was handled - extremely overdone and sanitized by Hollywood. And that's ironic when you consider the movie tried desperately to be so 'real'.
The stereotypes of the various cliques were laughable at best. Most racists, either on the street or in the college dorm are not that obvious and pronounced. Not every racist is a 'skinhead' that goes around in Doc Martins reciting Mein Kampf! The worst type of racists are the ones you're completely oblivious to - smiles on the outside but simmering with hate on the inside -- it could be the guy behind the counter at the local deli or your DMV instructor. I'm not saying they are, but that's the point...
I just wish the movie had played it down and showed some restraint. It could have been just as powerful. I recall the acting and dialogue were not that great either - which was a shame, considering the talent involved.
At all costs, see GHOSTS OF THE CIVIL DEAD (1988) and you'll see how pedestrian and immature Higher Learning was.