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Reviews
Nikita (1990)
GOOD FILM ART WEAK PREMISE
I agree with most of the comments that this film, from a cinematic point of view, was well made. The direction and acting were good. However, the bottomline of any movie is how well it tells a story. I had trouble buying the basic premise that the government would approach a recently convicted psycho murderer and decide it would be a good idea to train this person to be an assasin without any previous screening or training. How about we give Nikita a gun and put her on the street? Can we control her? Well, we did have a little trouble getting her to eat her vegetables, but what the heck. We'll just stay out of the way when the bullets start flying. As pointed out in other comments, this wasn't the only hole in the story, but it seemed to me it was the most important and no one in these comments seemed to catch it.
I also thought the pacing was slow. Besson needed some better editing. I found myself dozing off at some points. I also didn't like the ending that left you hanging.
I agree that Leon is a better flick for this type of movie. However, if you are a student of foreign films, or you think the look and feel of a film is more important than the story making sense, you will probably want to catch this one. I give it 6.5 out of 10.
Race to Space (2001)
Space Race used to provide positive multi-themed Family Entertainment
I had the unique pleasure to recently view Race to Space at the 2001 Marco Island Film Festival. I mention this because this is an excellent movie that somehow has escape getting picked up for distribution.
Race to Space is loosely set against the early 60s NASA space effort as led by Wernher Von Braun who has been fictionalized in the movie as Von Hueber and played very well by James Woods. Von Hueber has a 9 year old son, Billy who is the main character and who is excellently played by Alex D. Linz. Billy deals with several themes which are successfully interwoven. 1) Discrimination due to Billy being the son of a well known former German Nazi rocket scientist, 2) Billy's relationship with his father, the no nonsense rocket scientist, as it evolves following the death of his mother 3) Billy's maturation and relationships as he becomes involved with the training of the chimpanzees for the space program. My only negative comment is that I found the seemingly mandatory Disneyesque villain theme somewhat hokey and predictable. This doesn't seem consistent with the high quality of the other well integrated parts of the film. Perhaps this was inserted to make the movie more kid friendly. I also have some concern that people will think this film is historically accurate when if fact it is a fictionalized depiction set against actual historical background. Despite the fact that the movie tends to seamlessly phase in and out of historical authenticity, the themes are so well done, it may be difficult for some to distinguish fact from fiction.
Overall, this is one of the best films you will ever find that is entertaining and enlightening for the whole family. I strongly recommend that you make the effort to do whatever it takes to see this movie and to demand to have this film widely distributed. I saw this movie with my wife and 9 year old son. We all agreed that this was an excellent movie, with my son using superlatives "totally awesome" and "excellent". Find this movie and see it!!! I give it 8.5/10
Blue Streak (1999)
Blue Streak is a many faceted fun gem of a movie.
Blue Streak is very good light entertainment. It is about a jewel thief, played by comedian Martin Lawrence. During a heist, things go wrong, and he is forced to hide the huge diamond he just stole. While on the run, he finds himself in the air duct of a new building under construction where he decides to hide the rock. He then gets caught by the police. Two years later he gets out of jail and is obsessed with retrieving the diamond. He finds out that the building where he hid the gem is now the new police HQ. So, he must infiltrate the new building. He does this by eventually conning the police into thinking he is their new detective which is a great premise as ML if forced to stumble his way into being a very reluctant hero.
Martin Lawrence is very good as the street wise reluctant hero. He seemed like a wisecracking but more lovable Bruce Willis, in the body of Flip Wilson. The movie is funny and has good energy. If you are looking for a good escape, I recommend this move.
The Stormin' Norman Movie Review gives Blue Streak a 7.5 out of 10 ****** 1/2