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I’ve raved over Bill Paxton before, and I’m gonna do it again now. Paxton is one of American film’s finest and most underappreciated actors — a fact obscured by his own supremely subtle talent. A Simple Plan, an outstanding film and an instant classic, should finally bring him the recognition he deserves.
Director Tony Scott (Crimson Tide, Top Gun) has crafted such a thrilling, edge-of-the-seat roller-coaster ride that you won’t realize till after the end credits roll how ridiculous it is, how much it relies on outrageous coincidence, and how it cops out in the end with a clever but cheap finale.
What a difference it makes to a movie when it’s real actors — as opposed to, say, studio executives’ personal trainers — blowing things up. The Fugitive stood out in the action movie genre by drawing its energy from the intense performances from both Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones (Oscar winner for a popcorn flick!). And now Ronin shows just how smart car chases and gunfights can be when thinking actors are the ones behind the wheel and behind the trigger.
If Shakespeare was alive today and writing science fiction, he might come up with something like the distopian GATTACA. GATTACA is real SF, not to be confused with the likes of Armageddon — GATTACA uses the conceits of science fiction not as an excuse for some really cool explosions but to explore what it means to be human.
Is The Truman Show haunting you like it’s haunting me? Do you find yourself digging through the layers of metaphors, finding new subtleties as you go? Are you in awe over Jim Carrey’s performance like I am?
Deep Impact isn’t about the audience watching the world end — it’s about us empathizing with the people watching the world end. Big diff. But the sold-out, opening-night crowd I saw Deep Impact with wanted none of that.
Why isn’t Bill Paxton a bigger star than he is? Sure, he’s been in some of the biggest movies of all time: Twister and Aliens and True Lies and now Titanic. But I bet most moviegoers couldn’t put a name to his hunky everyman face…
I’m particularly struck by one key to Titanic’s success: repeat business from teenage girls. Usually it’s the boys making testosterone-soaked action movies big hits, filling the theaters for second, third, and fourth viewings…
Titanic is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. If you haven’t seen it yet, stop reading this instant and run out to the multiplex. Titanic is simply a great film — and by *great,* I don’t mean *very good.* I mean *great* as in *epic and profound*…
Not that I know any IRA soldiers — at least, not that I know of — but Irish and Irish-American New York is the world I live in.
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