Resurfaced Short Reviews, Part XVI

These are Resurfaced short or quickie reviews written in 2002 or earlier. For more information, please visit this link: Resurfaced Reviews.

A Clockwork Orange

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Rating

Director

Stanley Kubrick

Screenplay

Stanley Kubrick (Novel: Anthony Burgess)

Length

2h 16m

Starring

Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates, Warren Clarke, John Clive, Adrienne Corri, Carl Duering

MPAA Rating

R (formerly X)

Basic Plot

The story of a young man whose life is changed forever when he leads a band of hoodlums on several destructive rampages through the city and outlying areas.

Review

A Clockwork Orange is a brilliant film from the director of the masterpiece, Dr. Strangelove. His treatment of sexual situations and perverse acts lead this film to be banned in Britain. The film is a visual pleasure, not with fancy visual effects or nifty sounds, but with obscure scenes, bizarre props and lively actors. Kubrick’s film will live on for years as the most outrageous and best bizarre-meets-bizarre films ever made.

Review Written

October 26, 2021

Murder on the Orient Express

Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

Rating

Director

Sidney Lumet

Screenplay

Paul Dehn (Novel: Agatha Christie)

Length

2h 08m

Starring

Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Martin Balsam, Ingrid Bergman, Jacqueline Bisset, Jean Pierre Cassel, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave, Rachel Roberts, Richard Widmark, Michael York, Colin Blakely, George Coulouris, Denis Quilley, Vernon Dobtcheff, Jeremy Lloyd, John Moffatt

MPAA Rating

Basic Plot

An adaptation of the Agatha Christie classic, Murder on the Orient Express. A train full of suspects is snowbound after one of them is murdered. Aboard is the famous detective Hercule Poirot to solve the case.

Review

Orient Express is one of the greatest works of talented ensembles and mystery films alike. Sidney Lumet is capable and the cast is up for the challenge. Albert Finney is superb as Hercule Poirot and Lauren Bacall is wonderful as the talkative Mrs. Hubbard.

Review Written

z-Review

Pinocchio

Pinocchio (1940)

Rating

Director

Norman Ferguson, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts, Ben Sharpsteen

Screenplay

Ted Sears, Otto Englander, Webb Smith, William Cottrell, Joseph Sabo, Erdman Penner, Aurelius Battaglia

Length

1h 28m

Starring

Dick Jones, Cliff Edwards, Christian Rub, Clarence Nash, Walter Catlett, Charles Judels, Evelyn Venable, Frankie Darro, Stuart Buchanan, Thurl Ravenscroft

MPAA Rating

G (formerly: Passed (National Board of Review))

Basic Plot

A lonely marionette maker creates a boy out of wood and wishes that he could only have a real one. A fairy grants his wish and the little wooden fellow becomes a real boy, with one catch, he’s still made of wood and everytime he tells a lie, his nose grows.

Review

An endearing tale, especially from Disney and its comedic moments suspend the films belief and some interesting doses of visual stimulants makes Pinocchio one of the Disney’s better films from the early days.

Review Written

z-Review

Addicted to Love

Addicted to Love (1997)

Rating

Director

Griffin Dunne

Screenplay

Robert Gordon

Length

1h 40m

Starring

Meg Ryan, Matthew Broderick, Kelly Preston, Tcheky Karyo, Maureen Stapleton, Nesbitt Blaisdell, Remak Ramsay, Lee Wilkof, Dominick Dunne, Susan Forristal

MPAA Rating

Basic Plot

His Ex-Girlfriend moves in with Her Ex-Boyfriend. Both want to make the new couples life miserable and begin an endless stream of vengeful venues, all the while falling in love themselves.

Review

A brighter comedy where revenge is sweet and often funny. A limited plot convoludes the film greatly, but the pieces of terror are quite worth it. Broderick and Ryan have natural chemistry and should do more things together. While not the greatest performances in the worldy are suitable and help bring the jilted lovers plot into focus. Maureen Stapleton is relatively funny and Preston is generall okay. The only poor performance is that of Karyo, he seems lost and listless, but has enough charm to keep from drowing. Since the film lacks some substance entertainment value must carry it and so it does successfully.

Awards Prospects

No Prospects for this Film.

Review Written

Unknown

Face/Off

Face/Off (1997)

Rating

Director

John Woo

Screenplay

Mike Werb, Michael Colleary

Length

2h 18m

Starring

John Travolta, Nicolas Cage, Joan Allen, Alessandro Nivola, Gina Gershon, Dominique Sqain, Nick Cassavetes, Harve Presnell, Colm Feore, John Carroll Lynch, CCH Pounder, Robert Wisdom, Margaret Cho

MPAA Rating

Basic Plot

After several long years pursuing a fiendish criminal, Sean Archer finally catches Castor Troy. After they have successfully subued him and he is presumed nearly deady decide to send Archer into his hideout with Troy’s face. After entering prison to flush out the location of a bomb planted by Castor, Archer retrieves the information by tricking Castor’s younger brother Pollux into telling him. The plot thickens when Castor revives, discovers his face gone and fixes it to where he gets Archer’s face and traps Archer in prison by pretending to be him and murdering the only people who know the truth.

Review

With a truly original plotline and a magnificent cast, including one of my least favored actors, John Travolta. He and Cage worked well together and they helped each other to match maneurisms better than most have in recent years. After seeing a string of duds for the summer including the boring Batman 4, Face/Off was a refreshing change of pace.