FILM-REVIEWS:
R
FILM-REVIEWS:
R
Radio days
Ragtime
Raining stones
Rambling Rose
Rebel without a acuse
Red
Remains of the day, The
Reservoir dogs
Return of the jedi, The
Return of the Pink Panther, The
Return to Oz
River's edge
Robin and Marian
Robin Hood - prince of thieves
Rocky III
Rocky IV
Rope
Rosemary's baby
| Title: | RADIO DAYS |
| Year: | 1987 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Woody Allen |
| The players: | Mia
Farrow
Seth Green Michael Tucker Dianne Wiest Danny Aiello |
| About the film: | This is Woody’s nostalgic look back at the time and place where he grew up; 40’s N.Y. These were the days before television when people listened to radio all the time, or so it seems in this film. Most of the film is Woody’s own radio memories, presented in a personal and funny way. However, these memories probably mean more to him than to the viewer. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | Manhattan |
| Title: | RAGTIME |
| Year: | 1981 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Milos Forman |
| The players: | Howard
E. Rollins Jr
Elizabeth McGovern James Cagney Mary Steenburgen Donald O’Connor |
| About the film: | Criticized for just concentrating on the most dramatic parts of El Doctorow’s book with the same name. However this is a well-acted drama set in the beginning of the 20th century. This was Cagney’s last film, made after a twenty year long absence from the screen. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: |
| Title: | RAINING STONES |
| Year: | 1993 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Kenny Loach |
| The players: | Bruce
Jones
Julie Brown Ricky Tomlinson Tom Hickey Gemma Phoenix |
| About the film: | Fine British film about a struggling working-class man with a family to support. His situation becomes desperate when his car gets stolen. Although he’s dead broke he’s very firm about buying an expensive communion dress to his seven year old daughter. The film has a warm human touch seldom seen in American movies. |
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| Rec.: |
| Title: | RAMBLING ROSE |
| Year: | 1991 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Martha Coolidge |
| The players: | Laura
Dern
Robert Duvall Diane Ladd Lukas Haas John Heard |
| About the film: | Duvall and Ladd play a married couple that hire a young girl as a domestic during the depression. This quickly causes problems because Duvall feels attracted to her and vice versa. There’s much to enjoy in this film; beautiful acting throughout, a fine script and set decoration that really brings a great atmosphere. Ladd and Dern became the first mother and daughter to be oscar nominated the same year. |
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| Rec.: |
| Title: | REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE |
| Year: | 1955 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Nicholas Ray |
| The players: | James
Dean
Natalie Wood Sal Mineo Jim Backus Ann Doran |
| About the film: | Dean’s most famous film spoke right to the heart of a whole generation. After the success with EAST OF EDEN, where Dean plays a young man who has communication problems with his father, the studio cleverly decided to let Dean play a similar part but the story moved to America of now (’55 that is). This proved to be a very good decision, as no films at the time dealt with parents contra youth problems. Dean displays his full range of emotions as he plays a kid who’s new in town and has to prove to the guys at school that he’s not a chicken. He tries to explain the situation to his parents but they simply don’t talk the same language. Still powerful but a little dated. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | East of Eden |
| Title: | RED |
| Year: | 1994 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Krzysztof Kieslowski |
| The players: | Irène
Jacob
Jean-Louis Trintignant Frédérique Feder Jean-Pierre Lorit Samuel Le Bihan |
| About the film: | Slow, stylish, philosophical, well acted drama where Jacob plays a young good-natured woman who accidentally runs over a dog with her car. She returns it to the owner who is a cynical ex-judge who spends his time listening in to other peoples phonecalls. He’s not very sympathetic but with time we get to know him better and he becomes more human, much thanks to Jacob who with her innocent warmth makes him that way. He becomes a man of great control and, eventually, a man of great deeds. The camera work is unusual, often using long moving shots together with quiet lights. This is the last film of the trilogy and clearly the one with the most positive approach to life. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | White |
| Title: | REMAINS OF THE DAY, THE |
| Year: | 1993 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | James Ivory |
| The players: |  Anthony
Hopkins
Emma Thompson James Fox Christopher Reeve Hugh Grant |
| About the film: | Outstanding drama set in the 1930’s England. Hopkins plays the difficult part as lord Darlington’s callous butler (mr Stevens) to absolute perfection. The best feeling Stevens knows is going to bed thinking that this day he has done everything in his power to serve his master. Thompson is brilliant as another much more sensible member of the staff who with time starts to like mr Stevens. Tragic thing he can never return any feelings at all although maybe he has some. The small confined world in which the servants live is capturing enough, but there’s also a bigger story. Lord Darlington, their gullible master, is supporting the nazis although Reeve does his best to stop him. Perfect all the way. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | Howard’s End |
| Title: | RESERVOIR DOGS |
| Year: | 1992 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Quentin Tarantino |
| The players: | Harvey
Keitel
Tim Roth Michael Madsen Chris Penn Steve Buscemi |
| About the film: | Five guys are hired for a bank-robbery but something goes wrong. Afterwards they try to understand what happened and they suspect each other. The film raises thanks to the brilliant use of flashbacks and a good cast, especially Keitel. Contains much blood and sadistic violence, for example the scene where Madsen enjoys killing a policeman slowly. Quentin’s directional debut. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | Pulp fiction |
| Title: | RETURN OF THE JEDI, THE |
| Year: | 1983 |
| Genre: | Science-fiction |
| Director: | Richard Marquand |
| The players: | Mark
Hamill
Harrison Ford Carrie Fisher Billy Dee Williams Anthony Daniels |
| About the film: | Episode VI in this fantastic space adventure is the weakest of the three first films but still a worthy sequel. The empire is once again building a death star (cheapish plot) and the Emperor is coming to inspect the work himself. Very striking that the Emperor doesn’t look or sound like he did in episode V. Here he’s an old man with squeaky voice, he doesn’t at all possess the authority he should. This film is slower than episode six and not as exciting. The Ewok war takes away a some of the great adventure feeling. This film is much more sentimental than the other two, which it should because it’s the end of it all. The end is what makes this film good. Luke refuses to accept that his father is evil inside and in one powerful scene his feelings are confirmed. Lucas has a knack for giving great character’s inglorious ends which becomes only too obvious in this film starting when Boba Fett by accident gets pushed into Sarlaccan and then the huge Jabba gets strangled to death by princess Leia – ridiculous. And if that’s not enough the mightiest of them all, Darth Siddius, is completely defenceless against his own pupil! The music is used to perfection. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | Star
Wars
Empire strikes back, The |
| Title: | RETURN OF THE PINK PANTHER, THE |
| Year: | 1975 |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Director: | Blake Edwards |
| The players: | Peter
Sellers
Christopher Plummer Catherine Schell Herbert Lom Burt Kwouk |
| About the film: | Peter Sellers returns as chief inspector Jacques Clouseau of the surité after an 11 year hiatus. The Pink Panther (an invaluable jewel) is stolen and Clouseau knows immediately that the Phantom, sir Charles Litton, lies behind the theft. Plummer replaced the better David Niven as the Phantom for this one picture. The film is often hilariously funny, for example when Clouseau talks to some bank robbers’s lookout with a monkey while the robbery takes place, or when he disguises himself and goes to a bar to spy on lady Litton. Some funny sequences are pure slapstick as when he "helps" lord Litton fixing his telephone, or when he "cleans" lady Litton’s hotel room. Clouseau has the same kind of diffuculties with everything practical as Buster Keaton in his silent films. The funniest sequences of the movie are the fights between Clouseau and his sidekick Cato, unbelievable! Note how dull the film becomes as soon as Sellers or Lom isn’t on screen. Fourth Clouseau movie, third starring Sellers. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | Pink Panther, The |
| Title: | RETURN TO OZ |
| Year: | 1985 |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| Director: | Walter Murch |
| The players: | Fairuza
Balk
Nicol Williamson Jean Marsh Piper Laurie Matt Clark |
| About the film: | Sequel released 46 years after the immortal M-G-M classic THE WIZARD OF OZ. This film strikes at something deeper and darker, in that sense it’s closer to the Baum-books. Dorothy can’t sleep because she thinks about Oz. She’s just about to be treated by electro shock therapy when she’s teleported to the land of Oz. The yellow brick road is destroyed, the Scarecrow is locked up in the witch’s tower and the wheelers guard the land. This is an expensive Disney film that flopped, not because it’s bad, but who’s going to watch it? It’s too scary for kids and grown-ups are probably not interested in this kind of films. Many effectful scenes and memorable characters and lines, especially the Army of Oz, but the 1939 film is much more entertaining. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | Wizard of Oz, The |
| Title: | RIVER’S EDGE |
| Year: | 1986 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Tim Hunter |
| The players: | Crispin
Glover
Keanu Reeves Ione Skye Leitch Roxana Zal Dennis Hopper |
| About the film: | Capturing drama about a bunch of misfit teenagers, one of them has killed a school-mate. Some of them want to turn him in and some want to protect him. The killer himself doesn’t care too much. The young cast does very well and Hopper is good as an old strange man, who killed his wife a long time ago but has no understanding for the boy who killed his schoolmate. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: |
| Title: | ROBIN AND MARIAN |
| Year: | 1976 |
| Genre: | Adventure, Drama |
| Director: | Richard Lester |
| The players: | Sean
Connery
Audrey Hepburn Robert Shaw Richard Harris Nicol Williamson |
| About the film: | Not your normal Robin Hood-story. Robin returns with king Richard after the crusades and meets a middle-aged Marian. The film is very sentimental, for instance when Robin encounters his arch-nemesis the sheriff of Nottingham there’s a mutual respect between them and it’s like they both feel it’s a shame they have to fight. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | Robin Hood – prince of thieves |
| Title: | ROBIN HOOD – PRINCE OF THIEVES |
| Year: | 1990 |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| Director: | Kevin Reynolds |
| The players: | Kevin
Costner
Morgan Freeman Alan Rickman Christian Slater Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio |
| About the film: | Large-scale tale with Costner in the title role during the years when nearly all his projects were big hits. The story is well known, Robin steals from the rich and gives to the poor and fights to get his Marion. Rickman is so charismatic as the sheriff of Nottingham that you might sympathize with him instead of Robin. The film is long and sometimes too slow. Bryan Adams topped the charts with "Everything I do", recorded for this movie. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | Braveheart |
| Title: | ROCKY III |
| Year: | 1982 |
| Genre: | Action |
| Director: | Sylvester Stallone |
| The players: | Sylvester
Stallone
Talia Shire Burgess Meredith Carl Weathers Mr T |
| About the film: | Cocky Mr T, one of the most ridiculous movie-characters ever, wants a fight against Rocky. In the last minute Rocky finds inspiration to practice and wins the fight in dramatic fashion. The film has style and good score. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | Rocky IV |
| Title: | ROCKY IV |
| Year: | 1985 |
| Genre: | Action |
| Director: | Sylvester Stallone |
| The players: | Sylvester
Stallone
Dolph Lundgren Carl Weathers Talia Shire Birgitte Nielsen |
| About the film: | The Rocky movies are basically the same story over and over again. In this one Dolph plays a steroid eating Russian who kills Rocky’s sparring-partner Apollo. Rocky motivates himself into hard training to meet the monster. Dolph is so much bigger than Sly that Sly shouldn’t stand half a chance. The end is stupid but effective. Boys in the age ten to twelve are probably those who enjoys this film the most. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | Rocky III |
| Title: | ROPE |
| Year: | 1948 |
| Genre: | Thriller |
| Director: | Alfred Hitchcock |
| The players: | John
Dall
James Stewart Farley Granger Cedric Hardwicke Joan Chandler |
| About the film: | Hitchcock hated the way the film-moguls interfeared with his filmmaking, so at the end of the 40’s he started his own company, which produced only two films. This is the first of them. You could call it an experiment because it looks as though the whole film has been shot in only one take (actually it’s eight) and everything happens in just one room. This technique make you feel like an invisible observer standing in the middle of the room seeing everything that goes on there but nothing else. Normally a director would use suspenseful music and close-ups which is not the case with this film. A college student looks upon himself as a super human with the right to kill lesser persons. He and his friend murder a classmate and to make it the perfect crime they invite his parents, girlfriend and their teacher to have a dinner, on the coffin where the body lies… Suspenseful in spite of the fact that it’s pretty clear where it’s heading. Interesting psychological dilemma: What good is the perfect crime if no one gives you credit for it? That’s why the teacher is invited, they think he’d understand and appreciate it. Fine acting all around but especially by Dall and Stewart. |
| Rating: |
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| Rec.: | Dial M for murder |
| Title: | ROSEMARY’S BABY |
| Year: | 1968 |
| Genre: | Horror |
| Director: | Roman Polanski |
| The players: |  Mia
Farrow
John Cassavettes Ruth Gordon Sidney Blackmer Ralph Bellamy |
| About the film: | Farrow and Cassavettes play a newly wed couple that move into an old house in Manhattan. Little by little we understand that this isn’t an ordinary apartment. How did the couple that lived there before die? Their closest neighbours, the Castevets, are obstinate and seem to care too much about Rosemary. At least she has her husband, but his career is waning and when he stays to talk with the Castevets one night we understand that she’s now alone. Farrow is absolutely perfect as Rosemary, vulnerable, observant and paranoid. We feel her frustration and fear, the apartment being a prison where she cannot find friends and can’t get out. Everyone is involved in a conspiracy against her. Ruth Gordon won an oscar as Minnie Castevet. Polanski’s first American film. |
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