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Eli_Zardo
Reviews
The Silent Partner (1978)
Very Disappointing
There are some interesting ideas and unusual plot elements strewn about but overall this movie is a leaden-paced mess.
Gould sleepwalks, York seems lost and both their character's actions make no sense, Celine Lomez is adequate but her character as well does inexplicable things.
The only solid performance was Christopher Plummer, what his character does makes some sense and is consistent.
During the first 45 minutes (up to the point Gould calls his own apartment and steals the truck) almost nothing of sustained interest takes place and the intriguing parts are belabored long after the viewer is well aware of what is going to happen. The film seems to be trying to flesh out the characters but Gould and York are just odd, not interesting and on top of that the performances are bad. The Celine Lomez character is also introduced in a horribly obvious manner.
The film also fails to maintain a consistent tone (Farce? Caper? Thriller? Escapism? Romance? Character?... etc), there are gigantic plot holes and towards the end a slasher-film style murder obliterates the small pleasures. How is the viewer supposed to be entertained with character details and plot twists after a sympathetic persons head is sawed off on jagged glass and then dumped in a cement pit? WTF?? I am supposed to care who gets some money after that?? I sought this film out due to Roger Ebert's glowing review and all I can think is that he was drunk (evidence being how many obvious details he gets embarrassingly wrong).
All that having been said though the film IS unusual and I would understand someone treasuring it for that alone after so many years of cookie-cutter thrillers.
Addio zio Tom (1971)
Vile racism masquerading as condemnation
This film's raison d'etre is to display the denigration of Black people for entertainment. That's it, so stop making excuses.
The first 100 minutes or so are just an endless series of scenes where Blacks are humiliated. During many sequences it becomes impossible to think of the cast as anything other than people being manipulated by the filmmakers into degrading themselves.
The stunning aspect is that while an effort is made to expose the slave trade participants as beastly and ignorant through their actions there is no effort made at all to refute their stance or present any Black characters in a positive way. They are either savages, meek, accomplices or given no voice at all.
During much of it the incredibly insulting things the slave trade participants say about Blacks isn't even challenged. Now that could be taken as a style of 'indictment with their own words' but the filmmakers present it all in a way that visually seems to support what is said. Basically they cut from a white character saying Blacks are savages and then they show a scene of Blacks acting like savages!
Change a few lines of dialog and this grotesquerie would be perfect fodder for White supremacists. Even the last few minutes where a speechless Black guy in "modern" America reads from The Confessions of Nat Turner perpetuates negative violent/sexual stereotypes.
There is however one great scene... a gaggle of white wives discussing the reasons given to them by their husbands explaining why the female slaves keep having babies with paler skin or blond hair.
If you're a fan of exploitation of the truly lowest order this thing is a treasure trove, I would actually recommend it based on that criteria, it's genuinely outrageous, inept and shameless. Just don't fool yourself regarding what it's really doing or rationalize it.
Masters of Science Fiction: A Clean Escape (2007)
Moderately well made but 20 years too late.
It has some effective moments, the performances are excellent and the concept is good... but the basic doomsday weapon plot is really dated and it seems like a revenge fantasy for people who think George Bush is evil incarnate.
It skips over any details that might create doubt in the viewers mind about its conclusions and contrives some real howlers for emotional shock. The Major is whisked away from her family to the bunker, told they can't come. Is that how it works? Close up of the Presidents wife's wedding ring still on the incinerated corpse. Future President told his weapon system could destroy the world... he ignores it. The whole thing is just too transparent and blunt.
Oh, and they toss in a bunch of environmental gotchas at the very end, just to cover all the "Evil U.S. destroys the world" bases. ... who says Liberals aren't patriotic? Sheesh.