RARA-AVIS: Out of Sight and other tangents
BaxDeal@aol.com
Wed, 22 Jul 1998 20:18:01 EDT
enjoyed the picture more than the novel, which felt padded to
me, and written
as if Dutch was on auto-pilot. while Soderbergh did a fine job
directing,
(particularly liked his freeze frames), thought all the actors
brought a lot
to the table, including the much maligned George Clooney, and
especially
Jennifer Lopez and Don Cheadle. adapter Scott Frank made an
interesting
contribution in adding Albert Brooks' character, who is
absentee in the book.
also enjoyed Michael Keaton's unbilled cameo reprisal of Ray
Nicolette from
Tarantino's Jackie Brown.
the latter film, IMHO, while a bit overindulgent of the actors,
is underrated
and quite restrained for Tarantino.
to me, the biggest botch of what seemed a slamdunk Leonard
novel is Abel
Ferrara's version of Cat Chaser. one would think as hardboiled
a sensibility
as Ferrara would have handled the material a bit more deftly.
worth renting
the unrated version however, to see just how courageous a
performance the game
Kelly McGillis gave. warning: scene where gangster husband
rapes her with a
gun may be difficult for some to watch. most inexplicable is
3rd person voice
over by what sounds like Peter Boyle, who doesn't even appear
in the flick.
Ferrara's NC-17 rated Bad Lieutenant and Dangerous Game are
much more
representative works and quite audacious.
Anthony Dennison, who some may remember as Crime Story's Ray
Luca, holds the
option on James Ellroy's Dick Contino's Blues, and has penned
his own
adaptation. Dennison of course is interested in portraying the
musician, but
says he'll step aside for the right production. 10 years ago,
who'da thought
Dennis Farina would become the bigger star?
John Lau
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