Pacific Heights
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Movie Reviews of Pacific Heights
Movie Review: Prompt shipment
Summary: 4 Stars
I still haven't had time to watch the video to comment about the quality, but it was shipped promptly and seems to be in good order.Movie Review: Sociopathic behavior hits a remodeled Victorian house in San Francisco
Summary: 3 Stars
Pacific Heights is a prettt solid three star movie. It's not the greatest thriller ever, but it's definitely not entirely unbelievable. It's somewhere in between.
A couple (young couple, if you believe the back of the DVD) pools their life savings to purchase an old Victorian house in San Francisco, with plans to rent out the two rooms on the bottom floor in order to pay the mortgage each month. What they don't count on is Michael Keaton's sociopathic creation Carter Hayes moving in. Terrible events ensue.
It's a pretty solid premise and plays out fairly well, except that in order for Hayes' plans to unravel correctly, you have to assume that any landlord would be rash enough to accept you as a tenant without receiving any payment and without a rental application, shut off your power if you're loud at night, physically attack you and knock you through a glass window, and ultimately be unsuspecting enough not to watch out for you making bail once you've been discovered and arrested. These flaws, which feel more and more forced throughout, seriously damage the chilling nature of the film, and also damage what would otherwise be a very credibly psychological thriller.
Michael Keaton is the only credible actor in the film a well, although Beverly D'Angelo also has some good scenes. Melanie Griffith and Matthew Modine give stilted performances that also hurt the movie, Modine more so than Griffith.
Now that I've said all the bad stuff about the movie, I'm changing my tune to say that it was still interesting to watch and for a movie made 17 years ago, it held on to quite a bit of its twists and intrigue. Identity theft is much more technologically advanced these days, but the idea of someone walking around pretending to be you is equally disconcerting in 2007 as it was in 1990. Pacific Heights is definitely still worth a watch.
Movie Review: Don't be a wimpy landlord!
Summary: 3 Stars
It seemed like a good idea at the time. Fix-up an old Victorian home in a fashionable San Francisco neighborhood, rent out some of the rooms to help pay the mortgage, and keep the best part of the house for yourselves. However, when the young couple Patty Palmer (Melanie Griffith) and Drake Goodman (Matthew Modine) do just that, their great plans turn into a horror story.
In this film the couple inadvertently let Carter Hayes (Michael Keaton) take possession of an apartment in their home before he pays any rent. Hayes soon exploits California's liberal tenant-rights laws and cannot be evicted. Hayes then slowly terrorizes the couple and the other tenant by making noise, starting an insect infestation, and damaging the newly-remodeled home.
Furious about the situation, Modine's character lashes-out and soon finds himself on the wrong side of the law. As the situation deteriorates, the couple begins to argue over money, fear living in their own home, and seek revenge on the renegade tenant.
''Pacific Heights'' shows the dangers that exist when an evil person chooses to exploit others and has no remorse about doing so. Although the film is somewhat depressing, it does show the dangers of being too trusting or naive when dealing with others.
While I liked the plot of the movie, the acting by Modine and Griffith, was mediocre at best. They often seem wooden and stilted when delivering their lines. And Modine's character became annoying as he initially downplayed the situation then lashed-out at others for his own mistakes. But the drama and exciting final few scenes make the film a good horror-drama.
Movie Review: Essential viewing for new landlords. + Dvd special features below
Summary: 3 Stars
Pacific Heights is not a haunted house movie in the classic sense however this house is haunted, not by a ghost but by a man named Carter Hayes, if that's his real name. Carter Hayes is a con artist played by Michael Keaton. Hayes isn't a smooth con artist like Gordon Gecko in Wall Street or as smart as Frank Abagnale Jr. in Catch Me If You Can who always seems to be one step ahead of the law on the contrary Keaton's character needs and manipulates the laws to pull off his cons they serve to protect him more than his victims, also victims to a flawed system. He is also a psychopath, we get glimpses into his childhood that may explain why he is the way he is.
The victims in this movie are a couple who take a risk and buy an investment property depending a great deal financially on the rent of the two apartments they'll be renting out. One of those apartments gets rented to our psycho con artist who wants the house for himself and so begins our game of cat and cockroach.
This is for fans of thrillers, it'll have you voicing your opinion to the screen or whoever you are watching it with about what you would do in that situation. It taps into that fear that most of us can relate to, that is hardwired into us the fear of losing what we have, paying bills, and protecting what is ours.
Pacific Heights is also ranked #93 on Bravo channel's scariest movie moments list.
DVD features:
Special Features: Soundtrack Remastered in dolby digital 5.1 - Interactive Menus Theatrical Trailer-Scene Access- Languages: English and French.
Movie Review: Should Have Been Better.
Summary: 3 Stars
Viewed: 6/07
Rate: 6
6/06: Pacific Heights has this sort of film noir look but doesn't carry enough sense to give me the awe look. The casting is small and nice, but Matthew Modine usually has this cornball quality about him. It is not usual that Melanie Griffith pulls out a fine performance, but in Pacific Heights, she nails it. Michael Keaton is less than effective, and I feel that he could and should have done better. The story of Pacific Heights makes little sense to me, and it is one of those films that has all the right ingredients but falls short of all possibilities. It's a disappointment, actually. John Schlesinger has pretty much lost his touch since his days of Midnight Cowboy and is probably a one-time wonder. Pacific Heights is good enough to be made for TV, but theatrically, it lacks. Honestly, the picture should be retried with the same looks and same characters, but with higher intensity, more taut story, and more infused intelligence. I see a lot of potential in Pacific Heights, but it falls in the category of "should've been."