tstone
01-04-2007, 07:40 AM
Romancing The Stone-A Stone Film Review
There are films that get better with time and more sophisticated sensibilities, like Blade Runner. Then there are those that, well, don't. Airheads is an example for me. Radio station, Adam Sandler before he began wearing out his welcome, etc. Thought it was funny back in the day. Now, not so much.
Romancing the Stone was one I very much enjoyed when I saw it low those many years ago. A very young Michael Douglas as Jack Colton struck a very Indiana Jones profile. Kathleen Turner was fun as successful but sheltered romance writer Joan Wilder. Pre-Penguin Danny Devito played Ralph, a two bit hood in on a plot to find a very large emrald.
Joan gets a call from her sister. Some thugs are holding her hostage and unless she shows up with the map to this emrald, her sister is dead. Joan goes to Columbia and ends up waylaid in the jungle, where she runs, literally, into Jack Colton. He's not inclined to take on this waif and guide her through the jungle. But he's out money, she's offering, and she's kinda cute, so, hey, what could happen?
So, we're off on a race of adventure, romance and scenic vistas.
And this go around, I was kinda...eh...
Rober Zemeckis directed, and for me, he's kinda a hit or miss guy. He's like a Peter Hyams with heart. Hyams directs very technically sound films, but very cold feeling. All about view and spectacle, but not very engaging. Zemeckis can be very engaging, like in the Back to the Future films, Castaway or even Forrest Gump. Here...over twenty years removed, it felt all contrived. Oh, believe me, Douglas, Turner and DeVito did wonderfully with their characters. But they were like oasis in a pretty but empty desert.
Ah well...
There are films that get better with time and more sophisticated sensibilities, like Blade Runner. Then there are those that, well, don't. Airheads is an example for me. Radio station, Adam Sandler before he began wearing out his welcome, etc. Thought it was funny back in the day. Now, not so much.
Romancing the Stone was one I very much enjoyed when I saw it low those many years ago. A very young Michael Douglas as Jack Colton struck a very Indiana Jones profile. Kathleen Turner was fun as successful but sheltered romance writer Joan Wilder. Pre-Penguin Danny Devito played Ralph, a two bit hood in on a plot to find a very large emrald.
Joan gets a call from her sister. Some thugs are holding her hostage and unless she shows up with the map to this emrald, her sister is dead. Joan goes to Columbia and ends up waylaid in the jungle, where she runs, literally, into Jack Colton. He's not inclined to take on this waif and guide her through the jungle. But he's out money, she's offering, and she's kinda cute, so, hey, what could happen?
So, we're off on a race of adventure, romance and scenic vistas.
And this go around, I was kinda...eh...
Rober Zemeckis directed, and for me, he's kinda a hit or miss guy. He's like a Peter Hyams with heart. Hyams directs very technically sound films, but very cold feeling. All about view and spectacle, but not very engaging. Zemeckis can be very engaging, like in the Back to the Future films, Castaway or even Forrest Gump. Here...over twenty years removed, it felt all contrived. Oh, believe me, Douglas, Turner and DeVito did wonderfully with their characters. But they were like oasis in a pretty but empty desert.
Ah well...