Ron Silver

  • Timecop (1994)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Google Streaming, October 2022) I have dim memories of watching Timecop in the mid-1990s, but few of them include much past the first third, and nothing at all after the first half of the film. Much to my dismay, this is probably going to be what I’ll say about this viewing as well in a few years: For all of the fun and games of the film’s first third, which delves into the criminal (and counter-criminal) uses of time-travel while showing a gently futuristic world, Timecop becomes increasingly generic the longer it goes on, all the way to a generic climactic showdown inside an isolated house. Jean-Claude van Damme does have one of his better roles here (in one of his best movies) as a, well, timecop who goes around apprehending people who go into the past for crimes. Don’t look too deeply into the film’s ideas—they get progressively more ridiculous the longer you think about them. But, for a while, Timecop maintains the façade of a fast-paced Science Fiction thriller. Ron Silver is deliciously slimy as a corrupt politician, while I did like Gloria Reuben in the too-short time she had on-screen. Director Peter Hyams keeps things moving just fast enough that we don’t ask too many of the questions that would puncture the film—in this case, running fast is better than running on cool. (My favourite/worst example is the rocket sled that sends people to the past, but disappears… when it doesn’t slam in a wall that’s there for no good reason.) Anyway—this is not a film for nitpickers: it’s there for fun, for van Damme doing the split to avoid being electrocuted (if you’re looking for a reason, might as well reach for that one) and for a minor mid-1990s vision of a future.

  • Garbo Talks (1984)

    Garbo Talks (1984)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On TV, July 2021) Classic movie fans may get an extra kick out of Garbo Talks, a slight comedy that has its protagonist frantically tracking down Greta Garbo in early-1980s New York City as a favour to his terminally ill mother. Much of the film hinges on Garbo’s famous reclusiveness, as she left acting in 1941 at the age of 35 (after twenty years in the business) and lived a private life until her death in 1990. By the time Garbo Talks was made, she had become this enigmatic Manhattan figure, sometimes seen but rarely heard. It’s in this situation that our protagonist (a likable but otherwise bland Ron Silver) starts acting like a detective, trying to find Garbo in order to relay to her his mother’s dying wish to meet her. There are a few low-octane hijinks along the way, but Garbo Talks never takes it to a consciously comedic level. Director Sidney Lumet, working with what he has, keeps things going at a tepid boil — the film should be more interesting than it is, either by leaning on the detective elements of the story, or its comic potential. What we have instead is a film that runs a long time on the Garbo mystique, but otherwise walks through the motions. Although, the final scene is amusing enough.