Change Your Image
Angelo Defanti
Reviews
LavourArcaica (2001)
A film by Selton Mello
Raduan Nassar is that kind of guy that has a totally different vision of the world. His books are always in surreal language, which is good but this time didn´t work at all. The story itself is weak. A man has to take his brother back home to his family because eveyone is suffering and nobody can take anymore, not even his father. The thing is "Lavoura Arcaica" is a excelent book but doesn´t work on the screen. This movie is brought to life as a Brazillian contemporary classic and in fact is not that much. People get excited and all, but they don´t really think what they are watching. It is true, Luiz Fernando Carvalho did a great job with the cast but that was all. He couldn´t put all the magic of the book to be present in this THREE HOUR movie that has a lots of good poetry that only Nassar can geniously write. Some sentences are said that touches you but are better written. Raul Cortez gives a normal performance that people insist that is remarkable but is not. The only thing remarkable in this movies is Selton Mello´s performance. One of the best of all time without a doubt. Worth a watch just to see this guy rock the screen taking all the poetry out.
"Lavoura Arcaica" is , of course, a good movie with a lot of beautiful stuff in it but is not all that people think. THREE HOURS are just too much boring but is worth to see a talent like Selton Mello giving everything he has and more. He steals every single scene he´s in. 7 out of 10.
O Xangô de Baker Street (2001)
Clever and Funny But Not As Good As The Novel.
I had my doubts if this movie would be good given the success of novel and the Jo Soares' book rhythm. But I was really surprised by the adaptation. Miguel Faria Jr. did a great direction and the cast was amazing. Joaquim de Almeida is great as the goofy Sherlock Homes and Marco Nannini was at his finest. The art direction is the best in a brazilian movie ever. But still something was missing. This story on the screen just lost its style. A great two-hour spent though, worth the ticket.
If possible, I'd give it a 7 1/2.
The Peacemaker (1997)
Mimi Leder's perfect direction, Michael Schiffer's clever screenplay, Clooney's great performance and.........Nicole Kidman
Maybe the subject here is old, another terrorist nuke flick but "The Peacemaker" makes you forget all that and see that this is much more than that cat and rat chase. This is one of the best action movies of all time and deserved more attention and another eyes.
Dream Works believed in this film to be their first one and they end up doing a really classic. Mimi Leder delivers scenes that makes you remember sometimes Spilberg. It was first Michael Schiffer film after "Crimson Tide" and he did it better. George Clooney gives his best performances (if not the best) in his career. And the movie still has Nicole Kidman in a not that bad performance, but come on she is Nicole Kidman. The support cast is great too with all the Russians and stuff.
Make yourself a favor and go watch this movie again. Probably you didn't got all the details.