Showing posts with label David Mamet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Mamet. Show all posts

Thursday, April 16, 1998

The Edge

100695 / 16 / US / 1997 / Tamahori, Lee / / adventure / thriller
Edge, The / Reunalla. © 20th Century Fox. P: Art Linson. D: Lee Tamahori. SC: David Mamet. DP: Donald M. McAlpine. CAST: Anthony Hopkins (Charles Morse), Alec Baldwin (Robert Green), Elle Macpherson (Mickey Morse), L.Q. Jones (Styles), Bart the Bear. Shot on location in Alberta, Canada. 117’. Scope. MPAA 35275. R = 17. Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Janne Staffans. DIST: Columbia Finland. Viewed in Helsinki, VET, Thursday 16 April 1998. *** ”Why is the rabbit not afraid? Because he’s smarter than the jaguar.” A good survival thriller about three men stranded in deepest Alaska forest after a plain crash. Anthony Hopkins is the millionaire who can never know whether others really like him and has had to learn to trust only his own resources. A bookworm, he learns to master the skills needed in the wilderness with no fire, no food, no shelter, and no weapons against the man-eating kodiak bear. Hopkins even learns to create fire with ice. - Visually majestic, with no razzle-dazzle. This is good solid story-telling, and it’s not even story-driven but character-driven.

Monday, March 09, 1998

Wag the Dog

100647 / G / US / 1997 / Levinson, Barry / / political satire
Wag the Dog / Häntä heiluttaa koiraa. © New Line Productions. P: Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro, Barry Levinson. D: Barry Levinson. SC: Hilary Henkin, David Mamet - based on the novel American Hero by Larry Beinhart. DP: Robert Richardson. M: Mark Knopfler. CAST: Dustin Hoffman (Stanley Motss), Robert De Niro (Conrad Brean), Anne Heche (Winifred Ames), Woody Harrelson (Sgt. William Schumann), Denis Leary (Fad King), Willie Nelson (Johnny Green). 97’. 1,85. MPAA 35158. R = 17. DIST: Warner Bros. Finland. Viewed in Helsinki, VET, Monday 9 March 1998. **** Brilliant political satire about media wizards who can manage any situation when the President’s reputation is at stake. It is 11 days to the election, and the President has been implicated in an intimate encounter with a Girl Scout. The President’s spin doctor (De Niro) hires a major Hollywood producer (Hoffman) to manage an international crisis with Albania where the President has several opportunities to show off. The story is brisk and devilish, and the dialogue is so full of sharp jokes that one has to see the film a few more times to fully enjoy them.