By The poster art can or could be obtained from Fox Searchlight Pictures., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1061448
One Hour Photo - (2002)
I've always enjoyed
One Hour Photo, but watching it yesterday, I found myself wanting a little more from it's anticlimactic ending - overall, most of the film's enjoyment comes from watching Robin Williams and his tour de force performance as "Sy - the photo guy". I went through the 1980s becoming more and more antagonized by Williams and his manic, oppressive and overbearing style, which carried over from his standup into his acting. It got so I pretty much hated Robin Williams. There were always exceptions - such as his shy and reserved doctor in
Awakenings and eccentric and damaged vagabond in
The Fisher King. But come the 2000s, after numerous terrible films, he took a leap, playing a serial killer in
Insomnia, and the deranged Sy in
One Hour Photo - and boy, he was good in those roles. I saw a whole different side of Williams - the reserved, inner man who impressed me with intelligence and acting ability. Mark Romanek captures a lot in this film, but we never take our eyes from Williams the whole time, and his lonely, deluded, desperate character with a quiet rage building up from a lifetime of torment.
7/10
By http://www.impawards.com/1994/speed.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1398334
Speed - (1994)
Action films belong to editors, who should nearly have their name placed above the directors - as such films are their babies. Editor John Wright was nominated for an Oscar for
Speed, but somehow lost out to Academy favourite Arthur Schmidt and that darn
Forrest Gump. I'm pretty sure John Wright should have won. Anyway, I caught up with this famous action film yesterday, with it's brilliant set-piece on a bus which will explode if it slows to below 50 miles-per-hour. This film had the added advantage of Dennis Hopper, who chewed the scenery marvelously, channeling his Frank Booth from the decade before. Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock fit their respective niches perfectly, and with a great score everything comes together. It's nothing more than an action movie - but everyone did right by it, and I don't know anyone who didn't love
Speed in the 90s. It may have dated a little, but it will always remain a classic of the genre.
7.5/10
By impawards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9949333
Speed 2: Cruise Control - (1997)
One day I'll have to write a full review for
Speed 2: Cruise Control. Obviously, the entire formula that made
Speed related in any way to speed was lost in this, and the action elements were forced and confusing. It's set on a lumbering cruise ship. Keanu Reeves read the script and opted out, being replaced by a wooden Jason Patric.
Speed felt a little excessive at 116 minutes, but
Speed 2 doubled down, and went for 126 minutes. Yet for all of that, if you sit down and dispassionately examine
Speed 2 like I did last night, you'll see what this was meant to be - and you'll notice that the spectacular excess is kind of interesting, and at times damned impressive. It has all the hallmarks of a revised
Die Hard screenplay, and also borrows from films such as
The Poseidon Adventure and
Titanic. The final, record-breaking stunt - where the ship collides with an island harbour - is jaw-droppingly stunning. There's too much wrong with this film to just sum it up neatly, but as far as failures go
Speed 2 is a cinematic mess that aimed to be history's greatest blockbuster and ended up being a forgotten flop. My partner accidentally hired it on video one night, and we
endured it, but looking at it last night was really interesting.
4/10