Q List of Movie Reviews
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Q&A (1990)
Rate:
10
Viewed:
6/16, 10/24
6/16:
I hadn't realized this until now that when it came to corruption among boys in blue, Sidney Lumet was the master storyteller.
Q&A is the third such compelling movie in his oeuvre with Serpico
and Prince of the City being the first two. Nick Nolte is a badass and uses his massive
body size to tear up everybody. He's a force to be reckoned with. The mustache is a brilliant move on his part.
I'm always surprised that Luis Guzmán has yet to receive an Oscar nomination; he's very talented and makes acting look
effortless. Timothy Hutton turns in a decent performance and is a better actor than I give him credit for. It's a shame about
what happened to his career during the 90's.
Whenever I see Armand Assante on screen, I've always felt he was capable of giving just one great performance. Hence, it's
about time that he did in Q&A. The plot is intricate, and it's very multilayered. So, what a great job by Sidney Lumet for keeping up with the task which
seems difficult. By the way, here's an obscure fact: Edward Torres was a New York State Supreme Court judge and wrote three
books: Carlito's Way which starred Al Pacino, the sequel to it, and Q&A.
All in all, Q&A is the Miami Vice version of New York City.
10/24:
The last time I saw Q&A, I gave it a '9', and now, it's a '10'.
The storytelling is very good in a complicated way with lots of streetsmart people from all sides. Even more outstanding
are the performances, especially by Nick Nolte, Armand Assante, Timothy Hutton, Luis Guzmán, Charles S. Dutton,
Paul Calderon, and Lee Richardson, among others. I thought Bobby Texador would survive the boat explosion, but he didn't.
All in all, Q&A is a brilliant neo-noir film by one of the best directors ever: Sidney Lumet.
Quadrophenia (1979)
Rate:
8
Viewed:
5/19
5/19:
Quadrophenia is an excellent coming-of-age British picture with lots of music from The Who.
Of course, Pete Townshend couldn't resist from having a picture of himself on the wall in the boy's room. It's a funny
moment. I thought at first the movie might be somewhat pretentious, but the longer the show rolled, the more I got into
it. At the end, Quadrophenia turned out to be a great picture, envoking memories from
American Graffiti and The Warriors.
The cast is all natural, and the boy in lead, Phil Daniels, is the winner who showcases a wide range of emotions. The
young-looking Ray Winstone also stars as Kevin. I thought I recognized him at first and couldn't be mistaken, but
yes...it's him: Sting who was 28 years old at the time in the first role of his career. During the theatrical run of
Quadrophenia, Sting and The Police weren't yet popular.
The best part is the mod subculture. It's something I never knew about which looks interesting
with kids taking pride in what they wear and the scooters they ride. I love the fight at Brighton with a cliffhanger
ending at the White Cliffs of Beachy Head. It's when I became bowled over enough to give the film a final rating of '8'.
All in all, The Who made a wise decision to produce Quadrophenia which is now a timeless British youth picture.
Queen Bee (1955)
Rate:
3
Viewed:
5/17
5/17:
Queen Bee is the kind of Southern melodrama Tennessee Williams and Douglas Sirk wouldn't be caught dead with.
My goodness...Joan Crawford. She looks absolutely fucking ridiculous! What's with her black caterpillar eyebrows? Eek! They
don't even match her lightly-colored wig. If there's proof Joan Crawford had no talent and was more fitting for daytime
soap opera shows, then look no further than Queen Bee which was 100% pet project of hers.
As a matter of fact, Joan's adopted daughter, Christina Crawford, wrote in her autobiography Mommie Dearest that
Queen Bee brought out the real her which is exactly the reason why I wanted to see the film in the first place. So,
yep...it's fitting: Joan's venomous anger.
There's nothing much to like. Bad acting is all over the place; nobody tries to put in any effort to make the
story believable. I don't feel anything for the characters. Betsy Palmer is well known as Jason Voorhees' mother from
Friday the 13th. I hadn't seen her in anything prior to Queen Bee. Afterwards,
I could see why. She only did four pictures in between with the final one going way, way back in 1959.
All in all, the only reason for Queen Bee is to see the real Joan Crawford at her campiest and then be either horrified
or incredulous at the sight of her.
Quick Change (1990)
Rate:
3
Viewed:
8/12
8/12:
Quick Change is a hopeless comedy despite the all-star cast.
The only surprise is it wasn't made during the mid-80's. I laughed twice: the scene on the bus and what happened
in the dark alley. The latter is a lot funny if I think back to
A Streetcar Named Desire. I'm sure there are plenty
more references including Dog Day Afternoon. Otherwise, not much is happening.
The plot doesn't make any sense. After setting up the bank robbery scheme, the characters don't bother with the thought of an
escape plan, but then again, it's a common error in real life.
All in all, Quick Change is a big miss for Bill Murray fans, and the always-reliable Randy Quaid is awful, too.
Quicksilver (1986)
Rate:
3
Viewed:
9/11
9/11:
Quicksilver is so bad that it's a waste of Kevin Bacon's acting talent.
I'm sure, like Footloose, he must have uttered to himself upon seeing the screenplay, "You
have to be shitting me," and then proceeds with it by putting on a straight face as hard as possible.
Some have classified Quicksilver as part of the stock market genre. Well, there's so little of it that the film hardly
qualifies. If I look at the locale harder, the setting is actually San Francisco when it's supposed to be New York City,
hence my confused viewing experience.
Meanwhile, Kevin Bacon has to work with some of the worst thespians to come out of the 80's: the blatantly lame Paul
Rodriguez, the obscenely mannequin Jami Gertz, and the astronomically corpulent Louie Anderson. Given Jami Gertz's looks, there's
no way that she's reduced to a bike messenger. Please do better in realism for next time. Hm, the story of
Quicksilver is...I don't rightly know. It's all random to me, but throw in the typical cheesiness of that decade and
you've got the perfect 80's flick.
The bikes used are Raleigh models which are, in my experience, heavy as fuck. Now, why do you think they're able to
spin the bike around at the front? It's because there are no brake wires attached to the handlebars.
All in all, if you want to see a great bicycle picture for the hell of it, ditch Quicksilver and go with either
Breaking Away or American Flyers.
The Quiet American (2002)
Rate:
7
Viewed:
12/04, 11/19
11/19:
Well, The Quiet American is about Michael Caine slaying everybody with his superior acting, hence his sixth and possibly
final Oscar nomination.
A remake of the 1958 version, it's predictable as the Vietnam War will be imminent (duh). Hence, the best time to make the
film is right after the release of Graham Greene's book just like James Jones'
From Here to Eternity. That way, the
cinematic power can be retained. As a matter of fact, they actually did in 1958, but I haven't seen it yet and
this is a remake.
Nonetheless, the acting is passable, but the cinematography is even better as it's shot on location in Hanoi, Saigon, Ninh Bình
and Hội An, Vietnam. Appearing miscast, Brendan Fraser does drama for a change and isn't bad himself as Alden Pyle. Armed
with a bare-bones résumé of film credits, Đỗ Thị Hải Yến is nothing special. Once again, Michael Caine is too good and therefore
needs a stronger cast to throw his weight around with.
The story works well for a while, but it abruptly feels rushed in the last twenty minutes which is a signal as in "Oh, shit.
We're running out of time." The gist I've gotten from this picture is: Thomas Fowler's life with his Vietnamese mistress was
blissful until a young white man entered the picture, he didn't like that and had him killed through a clever means, and things
returned to normal thereafter.
Speaking of predictable, I even knew a mile ahead that Alden Pyle was going to be revealed as a CIA agent. Let me thank
Phillip Noyce of Patriot Games and
Clear and Present Danger for tipping me off by having his name in the opening
credits. Who can believe Pyle as the bumbling ophthalmologist in, of all places, Saigon, Vietnam? It's interesting to see him
handle the gun quite well and take cover like a pro during the ambush of a watchtower.
By the way, you might hear "French Indochina" from time to time. The term is now no longer in use as the region was comprised of
Annam, Tonkin, Cochin-China (or Quinam), Guangzhouwan, Cambodia, and Laos. After the Vietnam War, the first three is merged as
Vietnam, the fourth is part of Zhanjiang which is a city in China, and the last two are apparent enough.
All in all, given the same theme, The Ugly American with Marlon Brando is my
recommended choice over The Quiet American.
Quills (2000)
Rate:
3
Viewed:
9/03, 6/08
6/08:
Quills doesn't work for me.
The performances are okay; I've got nothing bad to say about anyone. The cinematography is fair. Although the screenplay is
fitting enough to match the period, the biggest problem is the deathly slow pace. Therefore, the movie is so boring that it
shouldn't have been two hours long.
As Marquis de Sade, Geoffrey Rush doesn't give me much of a reason to care about him although I'm familiar with his notoriety
and where the word "sadism" derives from. The content as seen in the film comes off as tame compared to the graphic novels he
authored.
All in all, Quills does Marquis de Sade injustice by holding back what he was really about.
Quiz Show (1994)
Rate:
8
Viewed:
1/03, 5/19
5/19:
"What motion picture won the Academy Award for 1955?"
That's the question Herb Stempel will have to live with forever. Often cited as his favorite movie, he feigned not knowing the
answer to the question: Marty. It was the beginning of the end of Twenty-One, one of many
rigged game shows on television during the 50's.
Why it did have to happen is the pilot episode was a disaster with both contestants not knowing the answer to any of the
questions which resulted in a 0-0 tie. How could they for these "who cares" questions such as "Name the second, third, fourth,
and fifth wives of Henry the Eighth and describe their fates" and "Four great voyages were made by Columbus, different places
were among his discoveries, tell us on which voyage (the first, second, third, or fourth) each of the following places was
discovered"?
Before becoming Twenty-One's most infamous contestant, Charles Van Doren, as in "Van Doren Van Doren," hailed from an
eminent family which included two Pulitzer Prize winners. Knowing full well he was cheating by being fed the answers
beforehand caused him to sell out his family's reputation due to the irresistible temptation of winning over $100,000 in a short
amount of time when the teaching salary at Columbia University was only $4,400 a year. Hence, a movie had to be made:
Quiz Show.
It's a great history lesson even though there are some liberties with the truth. I bet you never knew this: nearly all of the
contestants were from the New York City area. If you watch the actual episodes on YouTube, it's easy to tell they were all
faking it with their well-timed pauses, hesitant comments, and worried looks. In short, these fraudsters were bad actors. By
the way, Vivienne Nearing, who "defeated" Charles Van Doren to end his long reign, also cheated by knowing the answers
beforehand. Some lawyer she is, having been disbarred for six months after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor perjury charge.
Charles Van Doren passed away last month at the age of 93 while Herb Stempel is still alive. To this day, the latter says
he still gets calls from time to time whenever the movie is on TV: "What motion picture won the Academy Award for 1955?" At
least, he can rest assured that John Turturro gave the performance of his career by playing him. Ralph Fiennes is excellent,
and so is the Oscar-nominated Paul Scofield as his father.
By the way, a split infinitive means there's an adverb between "to" and a verb which is considered to be grammatically
incorrect. An example is "to soundly ring" when it should be "to ring soundly." "To boldly go where no man has gone before" is
popular as it's from Star Trek.
All in all, Quiz Show is a very interesting movie at the hands of Robert Redford.
Quo Vadis (1951)
Rate:
8
Viewed:
9/12, 10/21
9/12:
Ironically, quo vadis means "whither goest thou," and it's what I had been asking myself while trying to figure out the
film's direction.
Before I yell that Quo Vadis is a rip-off of Ben-Hur, it was actually made eight
years earlier. The Ten Commandments? Not for another five years. So,
Quo Vadis is sort of the originator although there have been a few during the silent era. After the two well-known
darling pictures were made, Quo Vadis had paled in comparison over time. Sadly, it's now outdated.
The acting is awful, most especially Leo Genn who plays Petronius and Marina Berti as his sycophant. The lines...my
goodness, they're so bad! Robert Taylor has the worst of them all. My favorite is when his character will sacrifice a "dozen
of doves" to proclaim his love for Lygia. Yeah, she's a looker...NOT. Even Wayne Campbell of
Wayne's World will have a hard time mustering enough energy to schwing on her. Lygia wears
too much makeup, and there's zero chemistry between her and Marcus Vinicius.
On the other hand, the interior sets are impressive, being one of the fewest saving graces. So is Peter
Ustinov. He's good but not that good enough for me to go crazy about his performance. In fact, Peter Ustinov is the only reason
why I survived this three-hour borefest. Yet I think he could've done better by going a step further to create a defining
movie moment. He has one with the personal note, but the accomplishment of that particular scene is ultimately a letdown.
The final part when Marcus Vinicius and Lygia were thrown into the ring at the Colosseum and, considering the fact that so many
had died, it would be natural for them to suffer the same fate as well. But no...they miraculously survive and go on to change
Rome for better. Well, it's pure Hollywood crap, and not to forget the attempts to rewrite history. Hey thanks...but no thanks.
Finally, going for a massive deduction of points, Quo Vadis is largely a Christian propaganda. One can't have the girl
unless he believes in God and Jesus Christ zzz... People let themselves burn because God and Jesus Christ are worth dying for
zzzzzz... Oh, please...spare me the holy bullshit. People should know better as there's only one life on Earth, so make most
of it.
All in all, Moses didn't put Quo Vadis on his The Ten Commandments
because Ben-Hur had already run over it.
10/21:
My impression of Quo Vadis is now more favorable, giving it a '4' the last time.
Right off the bat, the cinematography is terrific which is in the same league as the colorful old-style epics such as
Ben-Hur, The Ten Commandments, and
Spartacus. Although it has been done in silent pictures,
Quo Vadis is really nice...a spectacle, indeed. Of course, it's easy to see some superimposed images against the traveling
matte.
Despite the occasional showy dialogue, the primary trouble is the running time; it's much, much too long.
Either something dramatic must happen in more than one way or the film has to be cut down by an hour. My patience got tested
plenty of times. Yes, I can listen to all of the dialogue, and the costumes look nice which must have been a world record for
a film: 32,000.
The acting is fine for the time, and it holds up well now. The best performance comes from Peter Ustinov who
steals the movie whenever he appears; it's a brilliant job. I have to mention how good Leo Genn is as Petronius. Happily, both
were nominated for Oscars. Robert Taylor is better than usual, but Deborah Kerr sure finds a way to apply makeup on her face
even in the worst of times. Marina Berti has her beat in the looks department despite her goofy acting.
All in all, Ben-Hur may have replaced Quo Vadis as the Roman film of choice, but
it's nevertheless a fine epic.