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Reviews
Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out (2006)
Great inside out look at the rise and rise of a seminal band
Just got back from seeing this at Sundance, and I have to say (as an unabashed Police fan) that this is as great a perspective as you will get of a band's eye view of their world. From the initial chaos of life on the road, to the passion of those fans for whom your world is theirs, to the eventual strange, quiet normalcy of touring, the film is a unique postcard to a time when The Police were truly the world's biggest band.
What the film lacks in narrative conflict, it more than makes up for in its candid perspectives on the dynamics between the Police -- Andy Summers in particular is a hoot, and it's only a shame that Sting's tortured genius couldn't find more of a release in front of Stewart's camera.
No "warts and all" view of the band this, rather (as appropriately titled) it is as much a documentary of the fans who made the band what they were, as it is of the band itself, and is all the better for being so.
A History of Violence (2005)
The term "wretched" doesn't really sum this film up.
Neither does the term "god-awful." Nor the terms "pretentious, overweening, overlong, plodding." Seriously, if Cronenberg wants us to see the tragedy of the violence we inflict on one another, he should start by making us care about the characters he's going to foist on us, instead of shooting them blown-out, grainy, poorly-lit, and directing them to give performances where even WE don't care about what happens to them.
Seriously, this film is not just a failure -- it is a monumental failure. The audience I saw this with demanded their money back. Hollywood -- here's a tip. Make films with people we care about. Give it a shot. Maybe you'll be surprised at what you find.
And until you do, give your poor actresses a break, and carpet the stairs.
No Way Out (1987)
A twisty-turny masterpiece
A great eighties thriller that actually delivers on what it promises. Hackman, Costner, and Patton give great performances, with only Young lagging slightly -- the viewer is never entirely sure what attracted Brice to Susan in the first place. Perhaps the scene in the limo is an example of her four-sheets-to-the-wind personality. It certainly ensnared Costner.
Much has been said about the last five minutes of the film. It's a great use of the "Yuri" red herring that runs throughout the film, though it doesn't necessarily add anything to the story, other than to reinforce the paranoia that no one really is who they seem, and no one can be trusted. An ideal twist is one that isn't needed to enjoy the film -- here, it's not needed but only muddies the water in terms of where sympathies lie.
The one aspect of this film that truly doesn't stand up is the score. A horrible late-eighties synth soundtrack fills in where a Bernard Herrmann-esquire orchestra would have done nicely and reinforced the Hitchcockian nature of the story. Still, however, a well-done film.