[Search for users] [Overall Top Noters] [List of all Conferences] [Download this site]

Conference bookie::movies

Title:	Movie Reviews and Discussion
Notice:	Please do DIR/TITLE before starting a new topic on a movie!
Moderator:	VAXCPU::michaudo.dec.com::tamara::eppes

Created:	Thu Jan 28 1993
Last Modified:	Thu Jun 05 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	1249
Total number of notes:	16012

669.0. "The River Wild" by MDNITE::RIVERS (ribbit) Mon Oct 03 1994 18:42

    "The River Wild" stars Meryl Streep (the woman who looks like my cat!),
    Kevin Bacon, the always understated David Strathairn, and the little
    boy from "Jurassic Park", Joseph Mazz-a-something.
    
    The story, in a nutshell, concerns Mom, Son and estranged Dad rafting
    it down a river -- she's trying to salvage her married, and Dad is
    trying to salvage his marriage as well as re-bond with the son who
    doesn't think Dad likes him anymore.  Along the way, they meet up with
    less-than-savory Kevin Bacon (who's looking beefy these days) and his
    somewhat dimwitted friend and things get a little unfriendly from
    there.
    
    The movie should really have been titled "The River Mild", because it
    doesn't provide those white-water rafting thrills and
    hold-onto-your-seats action the previews (and some reviews) would have
    you believe.  It moves along, well, like a river, with a few
    interesting rapids and lots of quiet pools where the story
    still move forward, but at a meandering, often frustrating pace.
    
    Streep is OK as SuperMom, but the script feeds this very good actress
    some very bad lines.  In fact, the script feeds most of the actors 
    some very awkward and often unintentionally funny lines.  The pacing of 
    the movie is all off -- it'll be going along and then grind to a halt 
    for no apparant reason.   Streep emotes strangely throughout, as does the 
    kid playing the son.  Bacon is adequately thuggish as the adversary (did 
    I say he looked beefy here?  Oh yeah, I did.)  Maggie the dog does a fine
    job, but she has no lines other than "Woof!".  David Strathairn, whom I
    like a lot, has the best time of it -- he looks a little uncomfortable
    being there, but David Strathairn *always* looks like he's a bit perplexed.
    
    The action scenes are altogether too short and a testimony to how quick
    editing can make a trailer seem much more exciting than the actual
    movie.  I would imagine it's pretty hard to shoot movies on a boiling
    river, but even allowing for that, it could have done much, much
    better.  It should have been done much, much better, given the quality
    of the cast. 
    
    It wasn't a total loss though.  The scenery is very nice to behold (my
    mother lives in Rogue River, OR, named--astonishingly :) -- after the 
    river that runs through it.  Parts of the film was shot near there, and
    I think I recognized some of the scenery. Always fun.), and the story,
    isn't half bad of an idea.  Still, the pacing, if nothing else, drags 
    the film down like a rubber raft getting sucked under a waterfall.  
    
    ** out of ****
    
    kim

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
669.1		DSSDEV::RUST		`Tue Oct 04 1994 11:23`	8
	I've been torn about seeing this one; I love Strathairn, but I hate Streep. [Well, that's a bit strong; let's just say that I have yet to see her in a performance where I believed it was anybody but Streep acting. Not sure why this is, but she just doesn't _convince_ me, somehow... But wouldn't "Streep" be a terrific name for a cat? ;-)] From the sound of things, maybe I'd better wait for video... -b
669.2	i'll wait	SWAM1::MEUSE_DA		`Tue Oct 04 1994 13:08`	4
	Looks like a rental to me.
669.3	see it for Streep, but not for much else, apparently	HUMOR::EPPES	I'm not making this up, you know	`Tue Oct 04 1994 17:40`	5
	Reviews I've seen in the Boston Globe, Time magazine, and on "Siskel & Ebert" have said that Streep's performance is fabulous, but that the movie/script/plot is not too good. Thumbs down from both S&E, fwiw. -- Nina
669.4	Loves M. Streep____	OFOS02::RAGUCCI		`Tue Oct 04 1994 22:56`	4
	re: 2 hates Streep? Can we hear your Danish Accent among others? Or how about playing opposite Bobby DiNiro???
669.5		DSSDEV::RUST		`Wed Oct 05 1994 10:23`	16
	Re .4: Beg your pardon? I've got to do better than she does before I can criticize? Humph! [Besides, for all you know, I might _be_ Danish. So there.] The problem I have with Streep is that I always _see_ Streep, rather than the characters she's supposed to be playing. With DeNiro (most of the time), I see his characters, and (especially in his earlier roles) often didn't realize it _was_ DeNiro until I saw the credits. I realize my view of Streep's abilities is in the minority, but there it is; I guess I'll just have to live with it. ;-) I'm still tempted to see this because of Strathairn, but I think I'll wait for video. [But if they'd cast, say, Amy Madigan or Jeanette Goldstein instead of Streep, I'd have gone to see it already!] -b
669.6	I keep thinking of the Muppets "Swedish Chef" now...	MDNITE::RIVERS	ribbit	`Wed Oct 05 1994 10:46`	19
	Re. 4:Danish accents do not an actress make. Now, I am neither cold nor not on Ms. Streep, and while she's seen as the finest actress ever to set foot on American cinema these days, I don't quite get the hype. On the other hand, I won't dispute that she's a good actress. That said, I really thought her performance in this, was quite poor. Even with the weak script, I think someone else might have done better with it. For those who are torn between waiting for rental and going to see it, try to catch it at a matinee price. It wasn't a total waste of two hours, but it wasn't really worth the $5.50 I paid (which is full price at this particular theater). Cheers, kim
669.7	my 2 cents	USCTR1::HSCOTT	Lynn Hanley-Scott	`Mon Dec 05 1994 14:16`	16
	I liked the movie. Streep seemed more real in this film than in others she's done, and came across pretty realistically as a former river guide. I agree that the plot was somewhat thin, and especially that they made her husband out to be too much of a woos - he went from pathetic underdog to superhero! I thought the whitewater was great - having rafted many times I definitely felt like I was in the raft and could really appreciate the difficulty of running the Gauntlet - that part of the movie was exciting and well filmed, in my eyes. Kevin Bacon showed glints of the dashing-criminal-type but they reverted to monosyllabic utterances. He had promise but the script didn't give him much leeway.
669.8		ATZ02::RHOTON	John Rhoton @AUI - DTN 754-2345	`Wed Feb 01 1995 10:50`	14
	I went to see this mainly because I know Arlene Burns who doubled for Streep in the white water. Like others I thought the plot was a little weak, in particular the beginning smelled too much like a set-up to me. But then I wasn't expecting anything great so I wasn't really disappointed. It did at least keep my attention. I think it's a pity that they didn't show more rapids during the course of the film. The gauntlet at the end was impresssive enough to turn my stomach but I am not too sure how much people who haven't paddled/kayaked in big water can appreciate the feeling... John