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Reviews
Nou, dat was het dan! (2005)
For die-hard verhovfans only
I saw this and reveled at the chance of seeing the contrast of Paul in at 1980 pre-American movies, and 2005 probably post-American movies. Unfortunately what you get is two films neither of which is very good.
The first is an unfinished documentary comparison of two of the more famous Dutch filmmakers as of 1980 which is a one night dialog/interview and some follow up discussion in the lobby of a theater screening Wim's latest movie. This part is probably of more interest to Dutch film students, but sadly there are some oddly indulgent shots by the film makers which include irrelevant parts of how they can't shoot in the lobby and the screening portion doesn't really add much to the earlier footage. Some of the commentary is interesting, but its mostly about the sad state of Dutch production facilities and other minutia of the day.
Next is 2005 at Cannes when Wim is dead and filmmaker Ruud makes a diva entrance further dragging out what little content there is. The 2005 footage is Paul reflecting on politics and some of his successes, but there are few nuggets. Again there is annoying editing where shots and discussions fade in and out focusing on buildings and scenery.
Ultimately what you have essentially about half hour of interesting information padded to about an hour 70 minutes.
Hit Man (1972)
Less than the sum of its parts but still worth watching
It appears Roger Corman's brother Gene had an idea, black films are hot, you can get actors on the cheap and use plots from old crime movies. The results were this movie and a remake of the Asphalt Jungle called Cool Breeze. Now Get Carter wasn't known for having a great plot, more of a character study, so there's not much of a story here. Trying to follow it will only make your head hurt so just look at the scenery, dig the groove and don't worry about the details like the black ninja death squad. If your familiar with Get Carter you can practically see Armitage going through the original dialog "blacking it up". While I'm usually Bernie Casey fan, he's only with the program half the time here, but I'd put the blame on director/writer Armitage as a number of scenes are poorly written, some bordering on ridiculous. That said Casey, who's usually more of a straight man, has some good turns a stone killer. Despite the second billing, "Pamela" Grier only has a small role here, but if your a fan of her looking to see all of her, in her prime, you won't be disappointed. Overall the movie's no hidden gem like Detroit 9000, but if you're a fan of the era/genre like I am, it's well worth watching. It is has decent production values, there's a lot of on location shooting in LA, and enough interesting scenes and characters to make up for the movie's numerous failings. All you have to do is compare this to the Stallone remake to realize how far the low end has fallen, Hit Man hearkens back to an era when even bad films had some value. Maybe Fox will see it's in their interest to release it some day in the interim would be customers will have send our money elsewhere.