Movie Renter's Guide
Current Movies - Part 29 - September, 1997
Staff
Ratings: | ||
Extraordinary | ||
Good | ||
Acceptable | ||
Mediocre | ||
Poor |
"The Devil's Own", Columbia
Pictures, 1997, Color, Filmed in Panavision and presented at measured aspect ratio
(laserdisc) 2.32:1, Surround Sound, 1 Hr 51 min, Rated R; Harrison Ford, Brad Pitt,
Margaret Colin; In Northern Ireland, 1972, little Frankie McGuire (Pitt) witnesses his
father's murder at the hands of the IRA's foes. So, as an adult, he becomes an IRA
assassin. He travels to New York under a new name, supposedly to work in a construction
job, and stays with Tom O'Meara (Ford), a New York cop who does not know McGuire's real
identity. McGuire's plan is to buy Soviet hand held missiles and take them back to
Northern Ireland. The sale is put on hold, but the arms dealer wants his money now, and
tries to steal it from the hiding place in Tom's home. Tom becomes suspicious, finds the
hidden cash, and confronts Frankie who escapes. Tom tries to capture him before the arms
dealers do. The story starts out with a bang, but then is much too slow for most of the
way. It has an exciting finale though, and Pitt does a pretty good job with the Irish
accent. - JEJ -
Entertainment: | |
Video Quality: | |
Audio: | |
Photography: | |
Violence: | yes |
Sex: | no |
Language: | the "F" and "S" words |
"Smilla's Sense of Snow",
Fox Searchlight Pictures, 1997, Color, Filmed in Panavision and presented at measured
aspect ratio (laserdisc) 2.32:1, Surround Sound, 2 Hr 1 min, Rated R; Julia Ormond,
Gabriel Byrne, Richard Harris, Robert Loggia, Vanessa Redgrave; Smilla Jaspersen (Ormond)
is a glaciologist (specializes in ice formations), whose young neighbor apparently falls
off a snowy roof to his death. Although the police consider it an accident, Smilla
believes the footprints indicate that he was forced off the roof. She pursues her theory,
and along with a friend (Byrne), finds that Greenland Engineering, run by a man named Tork
(Harris) will resort to anything in order to prevent her from discovering why the little
boy died. The film is captivating, but the "secret" that Greenland Engineering
is supposedly hiding, is a little off the wall for a murder mystery. - JEJ -
Entertainment: | |
Video Quality: | |
Audio: | |
Photography: | |
Violence: | yes |
Sex: | mild |
Language: | the "F" and "S" words |
"Evita", Hollywood Pictures, 1996, Color, Filmed
anamorphically and presented at measured aspect ratio (laserdisc) 2.27:1, Surround Sound,
AC-3, THX, 2 Hr 15 min, Rated PG; Madonna, Antonio Banderas, Jonathan Pryce; The stage
musical "Evita" comes to the big screen, chronicling Eva Peron's rise from
poverty to becoming the wife of Argentina's President Juan Peron in the 1940s. As an
illegitimate child, and later, a prostitute, Eva Duarte (Madonna) will not let anything
get in her way of achieving success. She meets Army Colonel Juan Peron (Pryce), and
becomes the woman-behind-the-man who helps him get elected to the Presidency. Argentina
peasants love her, but the aristocracy does not. She becomes very ill, and dies from
cancer in 1952. The story is musically annotated by a peasant named Che (Banderas). Most
musicals have songs and speaking mixed liberally, but this one is 99% singing. Yet, Andrew
Lloyd Webber's score is sheer genius, and Madonna does a fine job of acting. - JEJ -
Entertainment: | |
Video Quality: | |
Audio: | |
Photography: | |
Violence: | riots |
Sex: | no |
Language: | no |
"Donnie Brasco", Mandalay
Entertainment, 1997, Color, Filmed spherically and presented at measured aspect ratio
(laserdisc) 2.32:1, Surround Sound, 2 Hr 7 min, Rated R; Al Pacino, Johnny Depp, Michael
Madsen; FBI Agent Joseph Pistone (Depp) goes undercover as Donnie Brasco, to infiltrate
the New York mob, and befriends a hitman Benny "Lefty" Ruggiero (Pacino). Lefty
sponsors him so that he can become a "wiseguy". The FBI asks Pistone to go to
Florida and expand the operations. Pistone must vouch for the undercover agent in Florida
to the mob (they think he is just a nightclub manager), and in doing so, endangers his own
life for the sake of someone he never met. The pressure causes his marriage to fall apart
since he has to keep the entire operation a secret from everyone, including his family.
The first hour and a half of this film are very boring, with little to no action. We are
simply "educated" about terminology used in the mob, such as the difference
between "our friend" and "my friend". The last half hour has all the
good stuff. - JEJ -
Entertainment: | |
Video Quality: | |
Audio: | |
Photography: | |
Violence: | extreme |
Sex: | yes |
Language: | the "F" and "S" words |
"Shadow Conspiracy",
Hollywood Pictures, 1997, Color, Filmed in Panavision and presented at measured aspect
ratio (laserdisc) 2.29:1, Surround Sound, AC-3, 1 Hr 44 min, Rated R; Charlie Sheen,
Donald Sutherland, Linda Hamilton; When a group belonging to the Center for Civic
Responsibility is brutally murdered, Special Assistant to the President, Bobby Bishop
(Sheen) tries to contact their leader, only to have an attempt made on his own life. White
House Chief of Staff, Jake Conrad (Sutherland) wants to help, but an assassin seems to
always show up. An investigative reporter, Amanda Givens (Hamilton) has information on a
Shadow group in the White House, and together, Bobby and Amanda try to uncover it. The
plot is a good one, but the direction leaves something to be desired, and the story flow
does not gel. - JEJ -
Entertainment: | |
Video Quality: | |
Audio: | |
Photography: | |
Violence: | yes |
Sex: | no |
Language: | the "F" and "S" words |
� Copyright 1997 Secrets of Home Theater & High Fidelity
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