alaindellow

Risky Business made Tom Cruise a star, and then there was no looking back. As for the film, Risky Business was unique in some ways, but comfortable enough not to chase away its core audience of 17-to-25-year-olds) This was one of the first '80s teenage romantic comedies. In an era when the teen film was gravitating toward the sex comedy, Risky Business bucked the trend by using the skeleton of a tried-and-true "boy meets girl and falls for her" formula. The production employs some drastic tone shifts that are not entirely successful, but they make for an interesting viewing experience. The least effective aspects occur when the story shifts from its core lightweight, fairy tale elements to the ones involving Guido. The unnecessary car chase is out-of-place and the late-film gambit involving the "buying back" of household items strains credulity beyond the breaking point. All said and done, however, this is a great teen movie.

Johnny Depp in a Hunter S Thompson movie? It seems legit, but The Rum Diary falters more often than it shines. Most of the problems relate to the source material and the fuzzy, hazy nature of the narrative. From a cinematic perspective, it's an impressive production with an evocative re-creation of 1960 Puerto Rico. Depp is suave and charismatic, Aaron Eckhart, one of the few working actors who can convincingly wear a white hat or a black one, is in full mode. And Amber Heard is as sexy as a woman can be, especially during a nightclub dance. The Rum Diary fails because of the screenplay, and the screenplay stumbles because it shows too much reverence to its source material. The contrived romance is half-presented. The comedy is hit-and-miss. The main character's arc, which transforms him from a drunken libertarian to a crusader for the undertrodden, is half-described. The conflict between the protagonist and antagonist is left unresolved. In fact, the entire story has an unfinished, half-baked sensibility.

I am not a die-hard fan of this genre but will notice a good movie when I see one. Chimera Strain (when I seen it twas called Chimera only) is a great debut film by the Indian Maurice Haems who manages to not just make a good film, but also a bold one. One of the things a science fiction film should do is make the audience ponder, and this one does that effortlessly. One could say it's a meditation of sorts (especially with the blueish ethereal hue that emits from the set designs) on the nature of scientific ethics. If this is the debut of Haems I would love to see his follow up.