Movies
Somewhat pedestrian drama. I'm sure some of the themes were a bit more eye-opening back then (the culture shock, the LGBTQ angle), take that away and there's not all that much left. Frear's direction is way too functional and the performances are a bit too stilted for a drama, but it's not the worst classic either. Omar is a young Pakistani boy. His uncle is giving him the opportunity to run his laundrette. Omar is excited and hires Johnny to clean up the place. Johnny is somewhat of an outcast, who doesn't fit in with either the white and Asian communities in London. Omar doesn't care though, and he develops a crush on Johnny. The characters are pretty nice, the pacing is decent and the film isn't too depressing. On the other hand, the drama didn't really move me, the direction is bland and the film lacks any truly memorable scenes. Not all that great, but it's better than Frear's American films I've seen, so that's at least something.Read all
Stephen Frears has yet to impress me. The Grifters sees his tackling a more crime-based story, but the film fails to stand out in any way. It doesn't help that Cusack is there again, it's one of the few actors I really can't stand, but it's really Frears's saltless direction that lets the film down. Roy is a small-time hustler who ends up in the hospital after a failed con. His mother works at the race tracks and meddles with the results, Roy's new girlfriend is also a con artist who makes good use of her body to trick men. Roy's mother and girlfriend don't get along too well, which is a real pain in the ass for Roy. The performances aren't great, the cinematography and the score are dim and the plot isn't all that interesting. It doesn't help that the film is almost two hours long either. It's pretty generic genre fluff, I'm not entirely sure where the film got its reputation from, but it sure didn't stand the test of time.Read all
A pretty popular costume drama, with a star-studded cast, lots of romance (at least, sex and relationships, not sure how much actual romance there was), but very little beyond that. Of course, I don't really care for the setting, illustrated by the fact that I'd never even seen this film before. Vicomte de Valmont is a charming man, so much so that a countess challenges him to mess up the upcoming marriage of her ex-husband. Vicomte obliges, but he gets distracted when he meets Madame de Tourvel, a married woman. The countess doesn't believe he can, which only makes him more determined. Some familiar faces here, who do a pretty decent job. But I didn't care much for the characters, I wasn't really impressed with all the easy flirting and I have little love for the classic setting. Things move along quite swiftly and it wasn't that the film was too longwinded, it's just that 120 minutes is quite long if there's nothing of note.Read all
