|
Jennifer 8 (Widescreen Edition) Posters
Photos Art
Search for Posters Art Prints, photos and get
results from all the many categories from Amazon including
books, videos, dvds, toys, video games, and more.
|
|
|
Posters Art
Prints Photos collectables |
|
|
|
|
|
|
If for some reason you can't find what the
poster or art print your looking for try using the search boxes
below
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Rating:  -
The first thought that springs to mind is 'UNDERRATED.' Andy Garcia plays a cop who has recently relocated. He stumbles onto a case that is only a small part of a much bigger picture. What evidence is available leads him to an institution for the blind. He then meets Uma Thurman. Uma is able to give him some information, but obviously, her blindness limits what evidence she can offer. But she offers some interesting bits of information that she can. (What the different cars sounded like....knowing that the killer knew how blind people shake hands....etc) Eventually, Garcia and Thurman strike up a more friendly relationship, and there are some really beautiful scenes. (Like when Garcia takes her on the boat and she is enjoying the sensation of the water falling on her.) I don't want to say too much and possibly ruin the movie for you, but suspense gradually builds, and Andy eventually finds himself facing dangerous accusations, and of course Uma finds herself in danger as well. While the pace of this movie may seem on the slower side, it is well done. (Sometimes this is done so we get a chance to know the characters.) Without ruining the ending, there is an unusally frightening moment towards the end where Uma has to defend herself, and her blindness differentiates this climactic moment from other movies. This movie was made in 92, but it has charm from the 70s and 80s. The scenery is beautiful; the background music fits into the story (rather than being a commercial for new tapes/cds on the market). For some reason, a lot of people who made movies in the 90s decided that for a movie to work, there have to be an absurd amount of special effects; someone has to get beaten up or killed every 5 minutes; there has to be a lot of cursing; and humor only works on a slapstick level. Interestingly, this movie currently only has a few reviews, and some of them are on the lower side. To all of you reading this, sometimes a great deal of value is found in the more obscure things. WARNING: DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED BECAUSE THIS MOVIE ONLY HAS A FEW REVIEWS WITH SOME OF THEM NEGATIVE. YOU'LL MISS OUT ON A GREAT SUSPENSEFUL STORY THAT HAS A LOT OF BEAUTY.
Rating:  -
Where in the world are these negative comments coming from?!? This movie is insanely suspenseful and good. The atmospheric soundtrack is worth purchasing as well. The music and mood make this picture. You have to soak in the pace. The ending is great. All movies have to end, and sometimes they are disappointing, but this has a great twist. I saw it in the theaters and it was a shock. I immediately wanted to see this movie again the next showing.
The supporting characters are great...perfectly cast. They stand in their own right and never interfere with the stars of the movie. This movie isn't without its flaws, but it is very good. Don't watch it alone at night, especially when it is raining. A great movie watching with friends on a cold night.
Then there's Malkovich! This movie is my first witness to his masterful style and personality. He was great in In the Line of Fire and owns that type of character. Here, he plays such a stylistic FBI agent and you become drawn into his confidence...you don't hear a script with Malk, just his strong personality.
Great film, great soundtrack!
Rating:  -
One determined cop sets out to crack the case and instead falls in love with a vulnerable, defenseless, blind woman. As the evidence mounts suspicion falls on the cop as the murderous fiend ! His life begins to fall apart and only he can stop the real mad-man even if it means taking the law into his own hands !
I had a hard time with this one. Mostly because so many of the characters in the film were maladjusted losers. The cops, the killer, the victims. They all blended together for me. It was an average story that the actors couldn't quite improve upon.
Rating: -
'Jennifer 8' has a great cast and takes place in Humboldt County, California- so has some impressive scenery. The plot comes together like a finely slow cooked turkey (or potato), where at first you just get little whiffs of the magnum opus the dish is to become. The film is somewhat visionary in how it sculpts itself around magic north woods moments- the lone blind girl playing her viola before the window under the natural light; the lovers listening to 'silent night' on a quiet, north coast twilight eve; the initial drive through the redwoods; the final shots in the meadow- all these things help to capture that mystical attraction of the Humboldt region, all the while telling a very dramatic story of murder, courage, and love. A very different film that I would recommended.
Rating: -
Writer/Director Bruce Robinson, best known for his cult hit "Withnail & I", has crafted a creditable little thriller in "Jennifer 8". It gets all the technical elements right, features some fine work from its actors, and does its best to screw around with the genre. But it rarely adds up to anything more than the sum of its parts.
One of the strengths of Robinson's script is the stylish and effective dialogue he gives to his police officers. Most of the best bits come from the mouth of Sergeant Ross, like when he tells his wife he can't stay for dinner because it's "Friday night at City Hall... I've got a chance to frighten the fat." He's talking about securing a confession from a suspect, but it hardly matters, doesn't it? "Where are the ladies?" asks Sergeant Berlin, before a party. "Putting on the warpaint," comes Ross' reply. My favourite line, and probably the film's most ostentatious, is this little nugget which falls from the mouth of a visiting FBI investigator: "You're confused... you don't know if Tuesdays come in twos or happen once a week." It's the kind of raw poetry that Quentin Tarantino specializes in (or at least has learned to crib from Elmore Leonard).
Andy Garcia carries the movie on his shoulders. His John Berlin (quite the pregnant name, as the film was released three years to the month after The Wall came down; are John's walls ready to crumble too? Stay tuned...) is a rather complex man, burdened by a shady past that is slowly alluded to, but never fully explained ("I feel like I said sorry on every street in [Los Angeles]," is the closest he comes to an explanation). Berlin is a model of patience and intuition (although I didn't buy the one moment of inspiration that lead him to his key witness; it's a "movie moment" that takes away from the reality Robinson is trying to inject into the film), quiet and reserved for most of the film, but prone to fits of rage when pushed. It's almost like Garcia, fresh off of working with Al Pacino, was modeling his character on that actor's work as Michael Corleone in the first two "Godfather" films. That's high praise, indeed, but Garcia's work here deserves it.
Uma Thurman plays Helena Robertson, "the worst witness [Berlin's] ever had," a blind music teacher who may be the only witness able to identify the man that killed 'Jennifer'. And what fates do "only witnesses" usually have in suspense films? They're the next victim, of course! Which gives Berlin a great excuse to stay close Helena, and fall in love with her. Thurman here really only has two jobs: to look adorable and play blind credibly. The first, of course, she does with ease. I've always thought of Thurman as kind of a female-version of Keanu Reeves: she's at her best when not saying much, and letting her physicality and obvious screen presence carry much of the load. Which she gets to do here. As for that second job, portraying Helena's blindness, Thurman achieves some semblance of credibility there. Affecting a dead-eyed look, you believe her as a blind girl, albeit one with startling mobility.
Lance Henriksen does what Lance Henriksen does best: he makes a rugged, [angry], misanthropic and misogynistic cop, constantly stuck in fourth gear, come across as rather likable. In his hands, with that map of the world face and baritone voice, Sergeant Freddy Ross is almost endearing. He's a big fish in a small pond, the kind of small town man who would name his boat "Duke" and not think twice about vocally ogling the... of the local waitresses. He and Garcia have kind of an oil-and-water relationship, but Henriksen's over-the-top showiness meshes perfectly with Garcia's solemnity.
The one way in which the film doesn't play fair with its audience is in listing John Malkovich's name in the opening credits, and then making us wait eighty-minutes before the man shows up. But when he does, that distinctive whisper of a voice is heard before the face appears, it's vintage Malk.
He plays an FBI investigator named St. Anne, who locks horns with Berlin in several lengthy scenes. Watching Garcia match wits with Malk is a real treat, the latter man's cool and whimsical aura offering a perfect counterpoint to the former's repressed fire. In Malk's hands, St. Anne has seen it all, giving himself leeway to toy with Berlin, trying to catch him in verbal traps and constantly rolling his eyes. But, like Garcia, Malk is able to let his instrument loose, erupting in violent outbursts periodically, which show the character's true power. And in a silly bit of business, Malk, for some reason, chooses to play the latter half of his scenes with a rather comic stuffed nose.
Being an avid fan of the serial killer genre, I was looking forward to finally seeing "Jennifer 8". It lived up to my expectations, mostly, but for some reason I just couldn't fully give my heart to it. I liked it well enough, but it never gave me the visceral thrill I was hoping for. I suspect the reason for this is that this kind of story has been done many times before, often with much more verve and wit and fun. Seen in the shadows of the heavyweights of its genre, "Jennifer 8" is a workmanlike effort, sure to give a modicum of thrills. I recommend it on an intellectual level, but have my doubts about its effectiveness on an emotional one.
|
