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Simpatico, a review by Rich

Simpatico



Vincent (NICK NOLTE) and Lyle (JEFF BRIDGES) were once the best of friends - training thoroughbred horses in 1970's California, tearing up the highway in a '58 Buick, spending nights around a campfire, dreaming about the future. Seduced by the highstakes world of horseracing, they plan the perfect scam. In the process, they destroy an innocent man's life and the friendship of a lifetime.
Twenty years later, Carter is the multi-millionaire owner of a Kentucky horse farm while Vinnie is a down-and-out deluded barfly living on the edge in California. The time has come, in Vinnie's mind, to settle the score.
Tricking Carter into travelling back to California, Vinnie sets off for Kentucky to ruin Carter and his wife (SHARON STONE) and offer restitution to Simms (ALBERT FINNEY), the man whose life was destroyed all those many years ago.

Very disjointed, contrived and purposeless film, despite an enviable cast list, you feel little sympathy for the characters and it all feels very awkward. The leads have little chemistry together and are generally unconvincing, the plot becomes ludicrous as it searches for entertainment, and the most unfulfilling ending imaginable is coughed up.
Perhaps the only interesting part of the film is watching Nolte clean himself up in a suit, and Bridges's decline to drink and a vest, a real role reversal.
Keeners role as the messenger in particular was unbelievable, seriously is anyone really that stupid?
I read this was adapted from a play, one can only be grateful we were not subjected to this on a stage!
   

**Catherine Keener mini-marathon


(From Riches Random Reviews on August 30th, 2009)

Fast and Furious, a review by Jon

Fast and Furious
3 out of 5





(From Jon's Random Reviews on December 19th, 2009)

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete Second Season marathon, a review by Achim

11. Self Made Man
Cameron never sleeps, so what does she do at night? Chase a T-888 that?s been lost in time.

My comments:
This episode concentrates entirely on Cameron investigating the past. We get a little of John and nothing of anyone else. Cameron has apparently paid regularly visits to the local library, where she bribed the night watch (with donuts) to let her in. She uses her time there to find someone in the past and looks for the connection to the future.

I mostly enjoys crime films where the story slowly unravels to eventually reveal the big picture and on occasion give as a moment. No exception here. There is quite a bit witty dialog (two of Cameron's bon mots made me laugh out loud) and the detective work runs along at a steady pace. But here's the rub, which happens often with this kind of stories: the "timing" is off. By that I mean that the entire investigation (plus Cameron's "problem solving at the end) happens in one single night. Going through records, finding film clips, having conversations, connecting the dots (no pun intended) and all they need is a couple of hours...? Fail (this is where I deduct one notch in the rating). Another problem is that I felt lots of lag, where I thought the story could speed up a bit and move along; luckily those are moments never lasted very long.

John's story is merely a side note and shows him getting closer to Riley. I did not like this section at all and him suddenly bursting put and almost beating the crap out of a guy who is already down felt out of place to me.



(From Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete Second Season marathon on February 11th, 2010)