Apt Pupil
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Movie Reviews of Apt Pupil
Movie Review: Masterfully executed!
Summary: 5 Stars
Based on a Stephen King novel, `Apt pupil' directed by Brian Singer tells the story of a hunted Nazi who is identified by a sixteen year old student. The student rather than reporting to authorities his discovery, attempts to blackmail the old man: he won't tell anyone if he tells him stories from the dead camp he was in charge of.
This incredible thriller takes some surprising twists as the story unfolds. The acting is superb, Ian McKellen as Dussander (the Nazi fugitive) and Brad Renfro deliver some of the most disturbing sequences of the film, from the stories being told by McKellen (excellent flashback scenes) to the sequence in which he wears the Nazi uniform again, the performance delivered by these two actors is one of the highlights of the film.
A story of how evil may present in the less expected ways and how a teenager falls under the clutches of the Nazi killer he thought he had under control. The directorial style of Singer is all over the film, the score composed by John Ottman is the perfect complement in some of the key scenes. Some of Singer `regulars' are here on brief cameos and there is the special appearance of David Schwimmer (even though he tries to portray a serious character, the stigma of Ross Geller won't leave him) Bottom-line, an excellent thriller filled with surprising twists, excellent sequences from the Nazi's dead camps and a shocking ending.
The DVD comes in both Widescreen and Full screen versions. Special features in the DVD are a `making of' documentary, cast and bios and the theatrical trailer. English 5.1 and Dolby surround available with subtitles in English only.
Movie Review: "Todd Bowden......You Said Was His Name?!"
Summary: 5 Stars
Rarely do films have a first rate all around cast, that really brings you into the story and keeps you there! This film does so very well and then some! Brad Renfoe (Todd Bowden) is a very bright high school student with a great future ahead of himself!However in his small souther California town one day he discovers a secret no one would ever even think of. A Nazi war criminal lives right down the block from him. This man is Sir Ian McKellen (Kurt Dussander) and is living in his home without a clue that his past could catch up with him. It does....but in no way he could have thought! So after Bowden tells Dussander he knows his secrets, he wants him to tell of all the things that aren't in the text books at school. Here is where the movie picks up. They form a friendship if you dare call it that. That goes into a twist even more twisted when Dussander meets Bowden's parents. So instead of having this old man in his plam like he thought, Bowden discovers first hand that evil is very close too him and it didn't die when Dussander left Germany after the war. Bryan Singer shows his steady hand as the film has many different twist and turns. A supporting cast that features Elias Koteas, David Schwimmer and Bruce Davison (Todd's dad)! This film brings a new twist to the table, was done very well and goes to show that blackmail can go both ways. A solid well acted, directed and written thriller! Grade:B+
Movie Review: What Is Evil?...
Summary: 5 Stars
I loved Stephen King's Different Seasons, except for one thing. I always thought that the story APT PUPIL was about fifty pages too long. The film version takes care of this concern, distilling PUPIL down to it's basic elements: old evil passing itself on to a young, all too eager student. Ian McKellen (yep, Gandolf himself!) is perfectly, quietly malevolent as the ancient nazi war criminal, hiding out in suburbia. Brad Renfro plays Todd Bowden, the normal-looking high school kid, concealing a darkness that appears to be insatiable and without limits. Todd fools his family, friends, and guidance counselor (David Schwimmer), into believing he is just another highly gifted teenager. In reality, he is a sociopathic wretch, coasting along by gaining the misplaced trust of others. Studying the holocaust in history class brings out Todd's blackened interior, causing him to hunt down and ensnare McKellen's character. What follows is a study of twisted evil in the midst of apparent normalcy. Todd and his "teacher" develop a seemingly symbiotic relationship that is in actuality purely parasitic. They are destroying each others souls. APT PUPIL's horror lies in it's use of demonic evil in broad daylight. Most of the movie is played out in the sunny afternoon. Evil doesn't wait for nightfall. It hides in plain sight, looking clean-cut and well-adjusted...Movie Review: Brilliant and chilling
Summary: 5 Stars
Like "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Stand By Me", this is a King adaptation that actually works. It does so because writer Boyce and director Singer wisely ditch most of King's by-the-numbers gore in favor of a far more interesting focus on his two amazing characters. This is a more tightly constructed narrative than the novella, and it replaces the unnecessarily violent climax with a scene which is more subtle, more credible, and therefore far more chilling. The young Brad Renfro strikes an exquisite balance between innocence and menace, and Ian McKellen is at times legitimately terrifying as the aged Nazi. (See "Richard III" for another of McKellen's Nazi variations.) So why did this film do so poorly at the US boxoffice? From the tone of most of the criticism, it's apparently because it deals with a difficult subject and argues an unpopular case: that the horrors inflicted in the name of Nazism were not necessarily a manifestation of a particular time, place or national perversion. Rather, they represent the activation of a potential for evil which exists in us all - yes, even in the heart of the all-American boy. That's not something most of us want to be told ... at least, not on a Friday night at the movies. Thanks to Bryan Singer for saying it anyway.Movie Review: Stephen King Tackles the Holocaust
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the story in which Stephen King Tackles the Holocaust, a dangerous and difficult topic at best of times, an explosive one if it is not handled well. But the King of Horror pulls it off with great skill, sensitivity and panache. A uniquely insightful psychology thriller about an aged SS officer living under an assumed identity in idyllic American suburbia, whose true identity was discovered by a teenager and who was subsequently 'blackmailed' into telling the youth his true-life experience as a death camp commandant in Poland. Stephen King handled this potentially difficult subject with his usual consumate skill at managing the dramatic, and the director skilfully translated this on-screen with a relentlessly masterful control of the build-up of plot tension. This is the best, and like the very best of DARK chocolate it is also very dark and bitter. One of the better on-screen treatment of the Master of Horror, Stephen King. A remarkably keen-eye and un-preachy treatment of the issue of ex-Nazis and their subsequent lives living incognito amidst their arch-enemy, America. If one is interested in this topic one should also watch MOTHER NIGHT (1996, starring Nick Nolte) for a dramatic adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's 1961 novel of the same title.