Kurt Russell

  • Backdraft (1991)

    Backdraft (1991)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Second viewing, On Cable TV, June 2016) My memory may be playing tricks on me, because I remembered Backdraft as a more iconic film than this second viewing suggests. Despite the far better picture quality of watching this in HD as compared to standard television (maybe VHS) resolution, the film feels a bit smaller this time around. Oh, don’t misunderstand me: I still think Backdraft is the iconic firefighting movie. Fire plays a lead character in the film, the script manages to play with enough suspense elements to keep things interesting. Ron Howard’s direction is the apogee of early-nineties slickness, while a group of great actors do interesting things together, from a dynamic Robert de Niro (back when he wasn’t playing a caricature of himself), to the incomparable Kurt Russell to an unusually strong turn by William Baldwin. Even Donald Sutherland (seemingly as old then as he is now) turns up in a pair of memorable scenes. The firefighting action sequences remain unparallelled, especially than last scenes with the exploding barrels. But in my mind, I had built up Backdraft as something a bit more grandiose than it is. I’m certainly not calling for a remake, but I’m welcoming this as a reminder not to set my expectations too high as I revisit blockbuster movies I haven’t seen in a long time.

  • The Art of the Steal (2013)

    The Art of the Steal (2013)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, August 2014) I’m a sucker for fast-moving crime comedies, and so it is that Canadian low-budget The Art of the Steal manages to hit all of the right buttons.  From the get-go, it presents itself with narration-heavy stylish grace, zipping along its plot points while keeping a pleasantly cynical tone throughout.  Kurt Russell stars as the protagonist/narrator, a master thief who’s been burnt once by an accomplice (Matt Dillon, as slickly slimy as he can be).  When both of them are reunited for One Last Caper, you can guess where the story goes.  Jay Baruchel becomes another good neurotic oddball (alongside veteran Terence Stamp for an added touch of class), but it’s writer/director Jonathan Sobol who delivers the most stylish performance.  While The Art of the Steal liberally borrows from other similar films down to the expected twist ending, the result is pleasant enough to excuse any familiarity: sometimes, comfort is what we’re after, and fans of caper films should be more than happy with the result.  Best of all; this is a cheerfully Canadian film both in origins and in setting: For something shown partially to fulfill CanCon requirements for home-grown cable channels, it’s surprisingly entertaining and slickly made as a bonus. 

  • The Thing (1982)

    The Thing (1982)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, July 1999) This suffers considerably from nearly twenty years of inspired derivatives, multiple homages and endless plain rip-offs. Stories of alien possession and isolated humans threatened by monsters have proliferated since 1982, and the grand-daddy of the genre, while still pretty good, simply doesn’t seems so fresh. Unfortunately for this Special-Effects-based horror film, the effects haven’t aged well either. Finally, the muddy-black cinematography and hesitant direction don’t flow as well as they should, and The Thing is, all things considered, more of a disappointment than still an enjoyable film. Not bad, actually, but not as good as it probably once was.

    (Second Viewing, On UHD/4K, September 2024) What was I thinking in the above review? Sure, some special effects are a bit dodgy now; sure, The Thing has been imitated countless times. But it’s still a heck of a thriller — absorbing, tense, crazy when it hits the high notes. Great performance from Kurt Russell; an even better turn by John Carpenter as the director. It’s not perfect, but it holds up very well against the 1954 version, and it’s certainly better than the 2011 one. It looks superb in UHD/4K, and the lengthy making-of documentary answers more questions than I had.

  • Executive Decision (1996)

    Executive Decision (1996)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Second viewing, On TV, September 1998) I first saw Executive Decision in theatres the first week of its release, and kept a fairly good impression of this tense techno-thriller. I was surprised to see, watching it again on the small screen, that it still held up pretty well upon a second viewing. The terrorist-take-over-plane plot is serviceable, but given a kick in the pants by the screenwriters’ originality. The craftsmanship of the tension is obvious; so is the director’s portrayal of the characters and the superb casting. (Never mind Kurt Russell’s charming everday man: This is Steven Seagal’s best movie, y’know?) The abrupt tone change of the last few minutes, which had annoyed me a lot the first time, didn’t seem to grating on second viewing. Not only one of my favourite movies of 1996, but one of the best thrillers ever made.