Sixth post in my series cinéma88, after the previous five articles. Impossible to find a theme this time: 9 new films from very different origins and genres: comedies, thrillers and voyeurs. They came to me from TV, theaters or SVOD services. Only thing in common: they were released in 1988.
The Presidio
Peter Hyams has a long and interesting filmography. I've only seen his clearly underrated 2010: The Year We Make Contact, the impossible sequel to 2001. Otherwise The Presidio is … not great.
Meg Ryan is the best surprise of the film, so charming despite the dated hairstyle. She was busy at the time: Top Gun in 1986, Innerspace in 1987 (I only have vague memories from TV, I should watch it) and her big breakthrough in 1989 with When Harry Met Sally…
She also starred with Dennis Quaid in D.O.A. the same year, I'm adding it to the 1988 watchlist.
I'm not a fan of Sean Connery in general, and this performance is clearly forgettable.
The hero, played by Mark NCIS Harmon, isn't particularly clever or brave, and comes across as somewhat unsettling, failing to gather much sympathy.
The stunts lack impact and the ending is disastrous, phew!
The cinematography is the only nice part, it looks like Tony Scott's with moody lighting.
For me, Presidio will continue to be a map in Rainbow Six Vegas.
Fun fact, the IMDb page features numerous lobby cards for this film. These 11x14 inch promotional items were used in movie theaters from the 1920s to the 1970s, showing scenes from a film in the lobby to attract viewers. They were a preview of the story and characters before trailers were common.
Twins
I thought it was a simple comedy, but it starts like a tale. Fish out of the water, of course.
I thought I had watched it already on TV as a kid, but I maybe confused it with Junior. Or not.
It was the first comedy for Arnold, who also did Red Heat the same year. His golden streak started after this movie and ended with the next Ivan Reitman one, Junior.
"I'll be back" joke and friendly beef with Stallone already?
In the end, a light easy comedy that doesn't go deeper than its premise: two totally opposite individuals, physically and mentally, are brothers.
Life Is a Long Quiet River
A comedy of manners (une comédie de mœurs, in French) that depict well the class struggle.
Delightful to see the moral panic of the bourgeois when a bit of rebellion is introduced in the catholic family.
It's the Benoît Magimel's first role, at 13 years old.
There is a Catholic song in the film, "🎵 Jésus revient 🎵", that everybody was chanting back then and it stayed in my head through the years. I still hum it from time to time.
A Short Film About Love
A voyeur, and the story of a woman who doesn't know how to receive an unconventional but innocent love from her young voyeur. Starts a bit weird with the main character as a young stalker, but ends on a bittersweet and tender finale.
It's the expanded film version of Dekalog: Six, from the TV series Dekalog, by the same Polish director. In the same fashion, he also made A Short Film About Killing the same year.
Days of Eclipse
This is also the goal of this little cinema88 experience I've started years ago: going to see films I would not watch by myself. So when I saw that a film I'd never heard of before, from the USSR and a science-fiction flick at that, was showing at the cinema, I couldn't miss the opportunity.
Days of Eclipse is adapted from Definitely Maybe, a novel by the Strugatsky brothers (Stalker). So it's your typical Soviet sci-fi: no spaceships and a lot of existential doubt.
It's the story of an awesome topless Russian doctor writing a thesis in Turkmenistan about religion. I think. I'm not sure. I'm confused. There were weird fantastic scenes, but the characters didn't react to it. And it was looooong.
Some nice shots and good music for an unsettling atmosphere. If you love Tarkovsky's films, you could give it a try.
I saw it at the Uitkijk, an Amsterdam cinema, in a series called THE FUTURE WE LIVE IN. I also discovered Hackers thanks to that program, and what a gem! Go watch Hackers with friends!
Jane B. by Agnès V.
I never saw a film from Varda, but I knew a bit what to expect, even if I'm not familiar with the French New Wave.
The film is not too weird, but has some nice surrealism. Jane Birkin is an actress, so it makes sense to make her play multiple little scenes with new costumes and new actors. The production value is satisfying for a documentary.
But the meta commentary is a bit too much. You don't need to put in your film why you are making the film, … just do the film! It's like a blogger starting a post by apologising they didn't write in a long time. I truly know it can be tempting, but nobody cares.
In the end, it was too boring for me, on the verge of falling asleep. Mostly because the subject of the film itself is not that interesting.
Did I learn anything about Jane Birkin? Not really. Did I learn more about Agnès Varda (she is in the title after all)? Yes, but not much.
To be fair, the film is technically beautiful, most of the shots are not dated at all. It looked like a restoration.
Track 29
I knew it was going to be bad just from the poster, but I was intrigued by the cast: Gary Oldman, Christopher Lloyd, Colleen Camp and Sandra Bernhard. But also the crew: George Harrison (what?) and Rick McCallum (Lucasfilm) as producers and Nicolas Roeg as director.
Nicolas Roeg has a weird career, from the little I've seen of it. I still want to watch The Witches, which has a georgeous poster.
But I saw The Man Who Fell to Earth, which put me in a state of physical distress. And the problem is Track 29 is in a very similar vibe.
I'm wondering if it's a lack of budget, or skills, or care, but they don't even clean the lens on some shots.
To be honest, I’ve forgotten what happens in the film, all I’m left with is the impression of a feverish dream.
It's the last time I'm checking a film on Plex (free with ads). I feel like I said that before.
Amsterdamned
Maybe the most famous film about the city of Amsterdam.
To put some context first, Amsterdam organises a boat festival every 5 years called SAIL. It happened for the first time in 10 years (last one was cancelled because of covid) in August 2025. It was fun. If you like boats, or just very popular open festivals, I recommend you come next time.
So the Eye cinema organised some screenings during the festival around the theme of Amsterdam and its canals. Besides very interesting old documentaries about the city, they invited the actress Tatum Dagelet to present a copy of Amsterdamned.
It's a good thriller about an inspector investigating a series of bizarre murders in Amsterdam. Not my favorite genre, and the film is very traditional, besides the crazy long speedboat chase. It's an impressive stunt, that was actually filmed on the canals of Utrecht, the neighbourgh city. I recommend to check it out on Youtube, or even better, to check the original chase scene that inspired it: the one in Puppet on a Chain (1971).
It was a pleasure to watch a beautiful 35mm film version, with buggy moments, normal for an old film and hear the Carpenter-esque soundtrack. The final theme song is charmingly outdated.
As it's a fun B-movie, shot in the city and with a funny title, this film has become a cult classic in Amsterdam. So much so that a sequel was released in 2025 with the same director and leading actor. Unfortunately, judging by the trailer, Amsterdamned II looks a bit too generic.
Tiger on the Beat
This Hong Kong classic was on my watch list but it's not easy to watch online.
Thanks to the new Letterboxd video store, I rented its new 4K restoration for 6€.
First time I'm seeing Chow Yun-Fat in his prime, in a HK production. Funny that I knew him from a video game, Stranglehold, the sequel to Hard Boiled.
I love the very clear and soft cinematography. The colorful shirts, aerobic, Mini Clubman and leather visor cap: the HK eighties vibe is delightful.
The film is a mix of buddy movie, martial arts and gun fights. Sadly, the humour is too goofy for my taste and Chow Yun-Fat's character is very unlikable. The first half stacks up scenes without connection. With good fighting scenes, but nothing remarkable. Until the last piece, which made me sit up straight on my sofa.
The long final scene brings a crazy shotgun move and an insane chainsaw fight that I will remember.
Fin