Tag: 1998

Categories
Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – 1990s Movies – U – U.S. Marshals (1998) Movie Review

Director: Stuart Baird

Writer: John Pogue (Screenplay) Roy Huggins (Characters)

Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Wesley Snipes, Robert Downey Jr, Joe Pantoliano, Daniel Roebuck, Tom Wood, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Irene Jacob

Plot: U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard and his team of Marshals are assigned to track down Sheridan, who has been accused of a double-murder.


Tagline – The cop who won’t stop is back. But this time he’s chasing down a lot more than a fugitive.

Runtime: 2 Hours 11 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: U.S. Marshals starts when Mark (Snipes) is arrested for a double-homicide he didn’t commit and on his transfer on a prison plane, with US Marshal Samuel Gerard (Jones), the plane crashes, giving him a chance to escape.

With Mark on the run, Samuel puts together his team along with an agent from outside his circle Royce (Downey Jr), who isn’t willing to play by his rules. Mark is searching for the truth about the murders he is accused of committing.

Thoughts on U.S. Marshals

Thoughts – U.S. Marshals will see Samuel Gerard return to track down another fugitive free in the US, like the first film, the man is innocent, with his job just to capture the guy before what could be a danger to the world is freed, in his eyes. Much like the first film, we are left with the mystery of what is really going on, with a bigger picture this time. Tommy Lee Jones shines as Gerard, being the dominate leader of the team, while Wesley Snipes was on top of his game in this era of films. The action is just as big, with the plane crash starting things off, before the relentless amounts of chase sequences through different territories looking for answers. The other big plus is that you don’t need to have seen the first film, because it is only another story for Samuel Gerard a US Marshal that is assigned to track down criminals.

Final Thoughts – U.S. Marshals is an all out action thriller never giving you a chance to breath.

Categories
Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – 1990s Movies – N – The Negotiator (1998) Movie Review

Director: F Gary Gray

Writer: James DeMonaco, Kevin Fox (Screenplay)

Starring: Samuel L Jackson, Kevin Spacey, David Morse, Ron Rifkin, John Spencer, J.T. Walsh, Siobhan Fallon, Paul Giamatti

Plot: In a desperate attempt to prove his innocence, a skilled police negotiator accused of corruption and murder takes hostages in a government office to gain the time he needs to find the truth.


Tagline – Chicago’s two top negotiators must face each other. One of them is holding hostages. The other is demanding surrender. And everyone’s holding their breath.

Runtime: 2 Hours 20 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: The Negotiator starts when Chicago’s best negotiator Danny Roman (Jackson) finds his life turned upside down when his partner is murdered while investigating corruption within the department. Danny becomes framed for the murder, facing defeat in the courtroom, Danny takes a drastic step.

Danny takes the Internal Affairs office hostage, demanding another negotiator from outside the department Chris Sabian (Spacey) to talk to him, demanding to get the truth of his innocence out and clear his name.

Thoughts on The Negotiator

Thoughts – The Negotiator is an action thriller that will see a specialist negotiator using his skills to take hostages and maintain control of the situation while the whole police force is trying to take him down. This is a story that will keep us guessing from start to finish, as we look to learn the truth, with the one thing we truly know being that Danny is innocent. This is a story that is relentless once Danny takes control where the 2 hours 20 minutes will fly by without even considering what is going on or letting you take a breath. Samuel L Jackson and Kevin Spacey proved they were on the best of their games during this film. We have a great supporting cast too, with Paul Giamatti getting plenty of laughs along the way. For the late 1990’s this is one of the very best thrillers you will see.

Final Thoughts – The Negotiator is one of the best thrillers of the 1990s.

Categories
Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – 1990s Movies – M – Mercury Rising (1998) Movie Review

Director: Harold Becker

Writer: Lawrence Konner, Mark Rosenthal (Screenplay) Ryne Douglas Pearson (Novel)

Starring: Bruce Willis, Miko Hughes, Alec Baldwin, Chi McBride, Kim Dickens, Robert Stanton

Plot: Shadowy elements in the NSA target a nine-year old autistic savant for death when he is able to decipher a top secret code.


Tagline – Someone knows too much.

Runtime: 1 Hour 51 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Mercury Rising starts as disgraced FBI agent Art Jeffries (Willis) finds himself drawn into a case of what is thought to be a missing child Simon Lynch (Hughes) an autistic 9-year-old who solved an unbreakable government code.

Nick Kudrow (Baldwin) wants this covered up, sending assassins to clean up any loose ends to make sure this secret code is safe, while Art isn’t going to let another child die under his watch.

Thoughts on Mercury Rising

Thoughts – Mercury Rising is an action thriller that will see a FBI agent doing everything in his power to protect an autistic young boy who has become a target of the NSA. The first thing that will need to be addressed is the way the autistic boy is addressed, being dismissed by most of the film, with language that would never be used or accepted today. Outside of this flaw in the film, we do get a great story that will give us an FBI agent that will do anything to make sure he does the right thing even if everyone else is trying to hunt him down, it will follow a traditional style of storytelling that we have seen many times before, with some people willing to help, while others look to get in the way. Bruce Willis is still in his good form as the agent doing the right thing, while Alec Baldwin will always make fore a strong political villain. The action is routine, with lots of shooting going on around which is held back on more than you would have imagined due to the struggles of Simon around the noises. This is one of the more underrated thrillers of the late 90s one that is entertaining throughout.

Final Thoughts – Mercury Rising is an intense entertaining thriller.

Categories
Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – 90’s Movies – D – Doctor Dolittle (1998) Movie Review

Director: Betty Thomas

Writer: Nat Mauldin, Larry Levin (Screenplay) Hugh Lofting (Story)

Starring: Eddie Murphy, Ossie Davis, Oliver Platt, Peter Boyle, Richard Schiff, Kristen Wilson, Jeffrey Tambor

Plot: A doctor discovers that he can communicate with animals.

Runtime: 1 Hour 25 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Doctor Dolittle starts when Doctor John Dolittle (Murphy) is preparing for his biggest business deal with his doctors surgery with this partners, Dr Weller (Platt) and Dr Reiss (Schiff). With the deal pulling him away from his family, Lisa (Wilson), Charissa (Symone) and Maya (Pratt), John gets involved in a car accident avoiding a dog.

This accident will change his life, leading to John learning or remembering he can communicate with animals, leading to him getting caught up in helping the animals in need, with him being the only one that can help solve their problems, while maintain his is not going insane.

Thoughts on Doctor Dolittle

Characters & Performances – Dr John Dolittle is a well-respect doctor who is seeing his practise looking to bought out with his partners, he has the picture perfect family, with everything together in life. When he is involved in an accident, he starts to be able to communicate with animals, helping them out medically, while trying to prove to everyone that he isn’t losing his mind. Eddie Murphy is great in this role, he handles to comedy with ease through the film, while bringing a more sensible side to everything he is going through. Dr Weller and Dr Reiss are the partners that are preparing for the takeover, Weller is all about the money, while Reiss is more cautions about losing the personal approach to treating people. Both Oliver Platt and Richard Schiff both make us believe the two characters care about two different things. We get to meet the family that fill in the stable side of John’s life. The animals add a lot to the film with Lucky the dog being the friend that John needs, with many of the others getting laughs along the way.

Story – The story here follows a successful doctor that finds his stable life turned on itself head when he starts being able to communicate with animals, putting a takeover, his family and the life he knows at risk for doing the right thing. This is of course the remake, that brings Eddie Murphy into the central characters, bringing his comedy to the story, which is mostly reactional to each different animal that visits him. The idea that we are seeing him battle with himself to prove he isn’t losing his mind works very well for the story, giving us plenty of comedy along the way, showing us the risk reward for doing the right things.

Themes – Doctor Dolittle is a family comedy that will get laughs along the way from the different reactions that Murphy brings to meeting each animal and will give us a big heart with how John connects more with his daughter for the first time in a long time. We get the san Francisco backdrop, which will give us the hectic life that John is current living too.

 

Doctor Dolittle is a fun family comedy that will get laughs along the way with a story with a nice heart.

Categories
Movie Review

Taxi (1998) Movie Review

Director: Gerard Pires

Writer: Luc Besson (Screenplay)

Starring: Samy Naceri, Frederic Diefenthal, Marion Cotillard, Manuela Gourary, Emma Wiklund, Bernard Farcy

Plot: To work off his tarnished driving record, a hip taxi driver must chauffeur a loser police inspector on the trail of German bank robbers.

Runtime: 1 Hour 26 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Fun

Story: Taxi starts as slick pizza delivery man and scooter racer Daniel (Naceri) finally gets his dream job, as a taxi driver in Marseilles, his driving skills means he can complete the fares which others wouldn’t get completed. Police officer Emilien (Diefenthal) is still struggling to pick up driving, which is making his own position a problem, when the latest job is to stop German thieves.

When the two meet, Emilien sees a chance to redeem himself, while letting Daniel off the misdemeanours he has been committing behind the wheel, as the unlikely duo look to capture the German thieves.

Thoughts on Taxi

Characters – Daniel is a speed demon, he races scooters and once he gets his taxi licence, he uses this passion for racing as a challenge to get fares to destination on time, only this sees him speeding with Emilien in his car, needing to make up for his mistake, he offers to help Emilien crack the case he is working on, as the two become friends. Emilien is a clumsy cop, he can’t pick up driving, with his actions leading to more problems, he knows his time is limited and uses his new found friendship to crack the case that will impress the super intendant. The pair work well together showing they can fill the weaknesses they both have. Lilly is Daniel’s girlfriend that is always missing the chance to spend time with him. Camille is Emilien’s mother that is the only person he has in his life, with her ever positive mood reflecting onto him.

Performances – Samy Naceri and Frederic Diefenthal together are great to watch, with excellent chemistry together through the whole film. Marion Cotillard in the supporting role is fun, but we don’t get to see enough of her character.

Story – The story here follows a speed demon taxi driver that reluctantly joins forces with a down on his luck cop to try and take down a group of German thieves in France. This is a buddy comedy, with two different people working together for the greater good, the pair get laughs as they plan for the next robbery. It does show us how sometimes you must find a way to outsmart the criminal and is designed to get more flash out of the car chases, with the comedy in the partnership. We don’t need to get much deeper with everything, letting the simple idea shine through.

Action/Comedy – The action in the film is very entertaining, with flash car chases all the way through, with the comedy coming from seeing how the two as they get through the days together.

Settings – The film is set in Marseilles, which does bring together a couple of tighter streets and a different location for the car chases, that we would have seen before.


Scene of the Movie – The final chase.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Not enough of Lilly.

Final Thoughts – Fun action comedy that doesn’t hold back on the action, while letting the comedy flow nicely.

Overall: Enjoyable.

Signature Entertainment presents Taxi on Digital HD July 31 and on Amazon Prime August 3rd

Categories
Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Action – W – Who Am I? (1998) Movie Review

Director: Benny Chan, Jackie Chan

Writer: Jackie Chan, Susan Chan, Lee Reynolds (Screenplay)

Starring: Jackie Chan, Michelle Ferre, Mirai Yamamoto, Ron Smerczak, Ed Nelson, Ton Pompert, Glory Simon

Plot: A Secret Agent loses his memory after falling from a crashing helicopter. He is then chased by several other agency operatives, but he has no idea why.


Tagline – Fight now. Ask questions later.

Runtime: 2 Hours

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Standard Jackie Chan Movie

Story: Who Am I? Starts when a special agent (Chan) gets betrayed on a mission, he survives a helicopter crash in South Africa, bought back to health by a local tribe, before looking to get back into his life, only to learn that other agencies are looking to uncover the secret to what they have discovered.

The agent who is going by the name Who Am I starts to learn what injuries he suffered, when he starts to meet the agencies that are all offering him a chance to learn about his past, only they might not be as true as they are letting on, can he learn the truth to save the world from a new dangerous threat.

Thoughts on Who Am I?

Characters – Who Am I is a special agent that has lost his memory after an accident on his latest mission, he still possesses the survival skills to make it out of sticky situations, only he doesn’t know who to trust about unlocking the truth about his past, seeing him trying to escape any threats coming his way. Christine Stark is a reporter looking to make a story out of Who Am I, she will always be there at the right time, only she is getting to close to the story. Yuki is a lady that Who Am I helps in the desert, she is a tourist that is always looking to get involved in help him learn the truth. Morgan is one of the many people trying to track down Who Am I, he is looking to make a major business deal which would see him make billions.

Performances – Jackie Chan is always an entertaining watch, which is nothing less than we expect, he handles the fighting sequences with ease, being the best part of this film. The rest of the cast do struggle to make an impact, despite how involved they should be in the film.

Story – The story follows a special agent that loses his memory after a mission turns sour, only to find himself being hunted down by most intelligence agencies from around the world. This is an entertaining story, which is filled with twists and turns along the way as the agent is trying to stay ahead of a game, he just doesn’t know who to trust. A lot of the story is planning, when we aren’t following the agent in his fight sequences, which can slow down the story for large parts too.

Action/Comedy/Sci-Fi – The action is everything that you would imagine from a Jackie Chan movie, we have excellent choreographed fight scenes, mixed with stunts to escape, a nice mix of serious and comedic too, which lets us get the laughs along the way. The sci-fi side of the film focuses on just what the danger in the world is going to be.

Settings – The film uses the settings well, with some being used for the scales of the fights, which adds peril to them, while others show typical business meeting locations, for scheming.


Scene of the Movie – Handcuff escape.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Too long for what it is.

Final Thoughts – This is an entertaining Jackie Chan film, it does rely on his skills more than anything, despite being slightly too long for its own good.

Overall: Entertaining.

Categories
Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Favourites – E – Enemy of the State (1998) Movie Review

Director: Tony Scott

Writer: David Marconi (Screenplay)

Starring: Will Smith, Gene Hackman, Jon Voight, Lisa Bonet, Regina King, Stuart Wilson, Laura Cayouette, Barry Pepper

Plot: A lawyer becomes a target by a corrupt politician and his N.S.A. goons when he accidentally receives key evidence to a serious politically motivated crime.


Tagline – The only privacy left is inside of your head

Runtime: 2 Hours 12 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Fast-Paced Tension Filled Thriller

Story: Enemy of the State starts as a lawyer Robert Dean (Smith) shows off his skills dealing with criminals, he is out shopping for Christmas when he bumps into an old classmate Daniel Zavitz (Lee) who has footage of the NSA and Thomas Reynolds (Voight) murdering a congressman, he is being hunted down for the footage and leaves a cassette with Robert.

With the team believing Robert has the footage, he must go on the run from the team using the satellite system to track him, turning to conspiracy man Edward Lyle (Hackman) with any chance of escaping the man hunt.

Thoughts on Enemy of the States

Characters – Robert Dean is an labour lawyer who knows how to get the cases closed at all times, he has been working on his latest case which has seen a gangster coming after him, he has been unfaithful in the past, but has managed to clean up his act, while still working with the lady he had an affair with. Robert does become a target by the NSA who target him after they start to cover up a murder which will expose a big plan, where he must work to stay ahead of them and figure out why they are after him, learning to go under the radar. Edward Lyle is the conspiracy theorist that has been living off the radar that reluctantly helps Robert, knowing how much trouble he has gotten himself in. Thomas Reynolds is the man pushing for the surveillance system being used, he wants the win the votes, which means getting rid of the problems that were against it, which means he is running the operation to keep things under cover. Rachel is the source for Robert, though she does have a past with from their previous relationship, there working relationship is always going to be difficult, she sees her life spiral out of control too.

Performances – Will Smith is wonderful in this role, he showed us a much more mature performance than we are used to after the fun performances he did before. Gene Hackman is great to watch too, you completely agree with his mindset through the film, while Jon Voight will always make for a great villain. We have such a big cast in this film, which sees all the actors performing strong through the film, which could be considered an early role for most of them.

Story – The story here follows a man who’s live is turned upside down when he gets targeted by the NSA who believe he has evidence which could ruin a bill being put into place by congress. This story does focus on the idea that the country wants to use surveillance to watch over the people for the greater good, while arguing where the lines could be drawn about privacy. We do see how quickly Robert has his life taken apart and how is almost feels too easy to make happen. This is a fast-paced story which might have become something that has dated because the surveillance world is now here and the warnings are here for the characters to get through.

Action – The action here is mostly filled with chases sequences that are entertaining to watch and show how the cameras keep everything on edge.

Settings – The film is set mostly in the big cities, showing they would have an almost endless amounts of cameras watching over everybody.


Scene of the Movie – You made a phone call!

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The end is slightly ridiculous.

Final Thoughts – This is a great action thriller that keeps the pace flowing showing just how the surveillance world has evolved through the years with wonderful performances throughout.

Overall: Great Action Thriller

Categories
Movie Review

Ground Control (1998)

Director: Richard Howard

Writer: Mark Shepherd, Robert Moreland (Screenplay) Talaat Captan, Robert Moreland (Story)

Starring: Kiefer Sutherland, Bruce McGill, Kristy Swanson, Robert Sean Leonard, Kelly McGillis, Margaret Cho, Ruben Paul

Plot: A disgraced former air traffic controller is called back into service when the airport’s traffic control system malfunctions.


Tagline – No Radar. No Contact. No Control.

Runtime: 1 Hour 33 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Nice Smart Thriller

Story: Ground Control starts as air traffic controller Jack Harris (Sutherland) loses one of his planes in an accident, with nothing being his own fault. Jack is out the game working on developing a video game in air traffic controlling when his friend T.C. Bryant (McGill) comes to him in need of help because of the workload thrown upon his team.

When Jack reluctant agrees to work for one night, he must face his past, even with hot shot new trafficker Cruise (Leonard) not wanting to work with him and rookie Julie (Swanson) willing to learn off Jack.

Thoughts on Ground Control

Characters – Jack Harris was once one of the best air traffic controllers in the business, he does suffer the nightmare of all the air traffic controllers have, losing a plane, turning to the drink to blame himself for what happened. He has turned to designing video games, but it talked into return on a business night, where he must finally face his own past and deal with the pressure once again. T.C Bryant is the friend of Jack’s who has turned to him for help deal with the added pressure piled onto him, he controls the team with his work, which sees him showing off his micromanagement skills. Julie is the rookie on her first night in the team, nervous at the start, Jack offers to help her, while Cruise is willing to put her under pressure. Cruise is the hot shot that gets through the day with his abilities that could make him the best in the business, his attitude has been the one thing that has always held him back, where he is the closest to a villain we have in this film.

Performances – Kiefer Sutherland was a strange choice for this role, when it comes to being in the controller persons, he is great to watch, but when it comes to the unsure nervous filled with regret side of the character he does seem slightly miscast. Bruce McGill, Kristy Swanson and Robert Sean Leonard are all great to watch in their roles in the film.

Story – The story here follows one night in an air traffic control station which has had increased number of flights thrown onto them and the pressure forces the boss to turn to his old colleague to help even though he has been battling his own problems. This is a story that does come from a strange angle because instead of doing anything glorified or over the top, it simply just looks to focus on the pressure these teams will be facing while working on daily basis. We do have the incidents that will show how calm they need to be and how easily they can work to solve the problems they face and by the end you will find yourself gripped to what is happening.

Action/Adventure – The action involved in the film is mostly off camera, it follows what could happen with the planes during difficult decisions, while it does have an adventure tone through how Jack wants to overcome his problems.

Settings – The film is set within the air traffic control station which shows us how close the team must work together for when the pressure grows.


Scene of the Movie – The last plane to land, it is an intense scene.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Sutherland doesn’t seem to fit the nervous unsure figure.

Final Thoughts – This is a tidy thriller that does keep us guessing just to what will happen next with the pressure being piled upon the team, it does keep everything feeling realistic too by only showing the team at work.

Overall: Air Traffic Thriller.

Categories
Movie Review

Point Last Seen (1998)

Director: Elodie Keene

Writer: Ronni Kern (Teleplay) Hannah Nyala (Book)

Starring: Linda Hamilton, Kevin Kilner, Sam Hennings, Kieren Van Den Blink, Mary Kay Place, Kory Thompson, Holly Bishop, Dana Reilly

 

Plot: Fact-based story about a tracker who searches for a little girl who was lost in the desert, but suffers internally because her own children were kidnapped by her ex-husband.

 

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Standard TV Movie

 

Story: Point Last Seen starts by warning us that this is based on actual events. We meet Rachel (Hamilton) and Frank (Hennings) who get a visit from local sheriff who needs Rachel’s help tracking a missing little girl called Mandy. Rachel has been dealing with her own problems when her husband Kevin (Kilner) has kidnapped her own children and they have been missing for over a week.

We watch how Rachel starts her tracking while we learn how she became an expert tracker because of her abusive husband. The film continues to flick between the two timelines showing just how desperate Rachel situations are becoming.

Point Last Seen really takes a concept which could actually very exciting and makes it very slow moving and rather dull. We don’t need narration through the whole film while we watch Rachel walk around the desert. This really is one of those films that you see was made for TV and think, ‘yep 100% TV movie’. I understand how it is meant to be set on real events but a little imagination could have made it more interesting. In the end this really does come off badly with little positive about it. (2/10)

 

Actor Review

 

Linda Hamilton: Rachel Harrison is an expert tracker who gets called upon to find a missing girl all while battling her own personally problems where her own children have been taken by her abusive ex-husband. Linda doesn’t show all her skills in this film and ends up just mailing it in. (2/10)

 

Support Cast: Point Last Seen has a supporting cast that turn up through the film either in the flashbacks or the investigation but none of them are that interesting.

 

Director Review: Elodie Keene – Elodie does manage to make an easy to watch TV movie but I don’t see much of a career in feature films. (2/10)

 

Drama: Point Last Seen is one of the slow moving dramas that all end up make this hard to watch. (3/10)

Settings: Point Last Seen uses the settings very well to make the idea work but really could have been any desert. (2/10)

Suggestion: Point Last Seen is one to miss, it is too slow to really enjoy. (Miss It)

 

Best Part: Hard to find one.

Worst Part: Too dull.

 

Believability: Based on actual events. (8/10)

Chances of Tears: No (0/10)

Chances of Sequel: No

Post Credits Scene: No

 

Oscar Chances: No

Runtime: 1 Hour 36 Minutes

 

Overall: Point Last Seen could easily have just be an episode in a television series rather than a full film.

Rating 20