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jeffnamber1
Reviews
Mystic River (2003)
Cliché-ridden, ham-fisted, coma-inducing waste of time!!!
That Sean Penn won the Oscar for this overblown bore-fest is bad enough, but that it was over the truly great performance of Bill Murray in LOST IN TRANSLATION (a film that isn't a waste of time), makes it all the more painful. Penn has had some great acting moments (SWEET AND LOWDOWN for one), and so has Tim Robbins (THE PLAYER, SHORT CUTS and SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION for three), but the only worthwhile acting in this film belongs to the relative unknowns portraying the younger roles. Clint Eastwood is a talented director, who has contributed some great films (UNFORGIVEN is the top of it's genre, and BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY stomped any other pocketbook romance adaptation), but this is real amateur night. The script is an unrealistic (bad) joke. Penn's character looks like Michael Douglas' hit-man from ONE NIGHT AT MCCOOLS (not a serious film, but still leagues higher than M.R.), and acts like some by-the-numbers thug, complete with his own circle of goons, that do super-cool macho things like charging through police lines and ordering cops around. I recommend randomly standing in line instead of watching this drek (at least with standing in line you may get something worthwhile for your time). Congratulations Hollywood, you've out-lamed yourself yet again, pushing your credibility (hold the laughter please) even lower than previously thought possible. "Name" critics bought and paid for...thanks for your cooperation sellouts.
Born to Speed (1947)
B-Grade with some A-Grade production values.
Basically a drama about Midget Racers (small, sleek single-driver race-cars with normal-sized V-8 engines that helped to kill many drivers in their era) and the hotshot son of a great driver who died behind the wheel. The only way I saw this is because I got a 35mm print of it in a film collection I bought. I don't know if it's public domain or not, but it's fairly entertaining. The lead actors are all no-names, but they look good and can act just enough to make it work. The Midget Racer footage is the highpoint, but sometimes the use of stock footage gets pretty bad (the grains and contrasts don't match up at all). It would be a 4 or 5 B-Movie without the higher production values, but the sets look A-Grade and lift it a couple points higher. Not a must see, but not a waste of time, good 40s fun.