The Gingerbread Man
1998
Kenneth Branaugh, Tom Berenger, Robert Duvall,
Robert Downey Jr., Daryl Hannah, Embeth Davidtz
A playboy Savannah attorney (Branaugh) gets caught up in a Body Heat type of situation when he takes a pro bono job representing a woman who claims her father (Duvall) is crazy and is stalking her and trying to kill her. Lots of promise early on with the big name actors and Altman directing, but after all, it only ends up being a typical (though good) crime mystery/drama.
Any Given Sunday
Al Pacino, James Woods, Ann-Margaret, Cameron Diaz,
Jamie Foxx, Matthew Modine, Dennis Quaid, LL Cool J,
Charleton Heston, Jim Brown, John C. McGinley,
D: Oliver Stone (who also has a cameo)
The end of a season in the lives of a football team and its head coach. No new content here, but a fresh take on the subject. Interesting photography and editing. Great ending celebrating the triumph of the individual over the corporate machine.
Scenes from a Mall
Woody Allen, Bette Midler, Bill Irwin, D: Paul Mazursky
Two West Coast professionals, married with kids, have a public spat when they reveal to each other on a shopping trip that they have been unfaithful. It took me a while to get into this one. It's a slow starter, even for Woody fans. But if you stick with it, eventually you begin to see the genius, which is more script than Woody. (It's not his movie.) Great scenes involving a mime. Worth seeing for that alone.
The Maker
1997
Matthew Modine, Jonathan Rhys-Myers,
Fairuza Balk, Michael Madsen
A "what I did on my summer vacation" type of plot wherein a thief returns to his adoptive home to free his younger brother from his illusions about their real parents and to entice him into his criminal lifestyle. Lots of twists and unexpected occurrences. Excellent resolution. Good casting re the younger brother. He looks, acts, and sounds like Modine. Good framing and subtle scenic photography. And an interesting use of Fairuza as a background sidekick, but they should have used her more. She dropped out after the first half on the flimsy plot excuse that her parents sent her into rehab. Maybe there was a rewrite after a contract dispute or something.
The Big Green
1995
Olivia d'Abo, Steve Guttenberg, Jay O. Sanders
A sheriff and a schoolteacher get together to teach kids how play soccer and end up entering a soccer league. Great opening scene involving the kids feeding birds with Cheetos. Excellent character setup between Guttenberg and the kids. But the film deteriorates early on into a typical underdog kids' sports mini-epic. Guttenberg is perfect, though, as a foil for the kid's humor and playful ridicule. Overall, a lightweight, but nice feelgood movie.
The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone
Vivian Leigh, Warren Beatty, Jill Saint John, Lotta Lenya
Interesting, but dated (in light of modern sexual and reputable values) Tennessee Williams's story about a has-been actress who moves to Rome after her husband's death and becomes involved with a young gigolo (Beatty). Interesting role for Beatty. The much debated-about ending is an excellent metaphor for how a woman's honor and integrity are compromised by sexual relations.
Return to Snowy River
1988
Tom Burlinson, Sigrid Thornton, Brian Dennehy
The horseman (Burlinson) returns, hoping to find his former lover (Thornton) still available, but barred from seeing her by her uppity father (Dennehy). I only watched this because I wanted to know what all the fuss had been about. Don't bother. It's a formulaic piece of conventionality with all of the usual plot points and complications. But this is the sequel. Maybe the original was better. But I doubt it. It does have one good theme though: a man's love for his horse--and vice versa.
The Rockford Files: Punishment and Crime
James Garner, Katherine Herrold, Joe Santos, Stuart Margolin
Rockford reunites with an old friend (Herrold) whom he had been romantically attracted to; and, of course, plot complications interfere with their rekindled romance. Sad, really, when old tv characters are recreated in an effort to lift sagging careers and provoke nostalgic memories.
One Against The Wind
Judy Davis, Sam Neill, Denholm Elliot, Kate Beckinsale
During WWII, an Anglo French countess, a veteran of WWI Red Cross front line action, "stumbles" into helping English and American flyers escape from occupied France, at great risk to herself and her family. Actually, it could be argued that her personality/ beliefs/experience
dictated that she become involved. Solid standard "true" war drama.
Session 9
David Caruso, Steven Gevedon, Paul Guilfoyle,
Josh Lucas, Peter Mullan, Brendan Sexton III
A small crew of men is hired to clean asbestos out of an old abandoned insane asylum. One of them finds taped records of a previous inmate and secretly reads it while everyone seems to be influenced by the "crazy" environment. A bit of awkward dialogue early on detracts from this otherwise excellent film. Interesting photography and music help to set up the mysterious and sinister mood.
Hard Ground
Burt Reynolds, Bruce Dern, Seth Peterson, Amy Jo Johnson
A marshall (Dern) gets his brother-in-law (Reynolds) released from Yuma Prison in order to help him track into Mexico an escaped sociopath. Standard western plot and characterizations.
Murder is Easy
Bill Bixby, Lesley-Anne Down, Helen Hayes, Jonathan Pryce
An American computer professor (Bixby) comes to England on vacation and becomes involved in an investigation of a series of murders at an estate. Typical Agatha Christie, but excellent acting and script keep the mystery well hidden until the end.
Gunfighter's Moon
Lance Henriksen
A gunfighter receives a telegram and heads on home, thinking his former lover wants him back. When he gets there, he discovers a different reality. Just one question. What's the title mean? I guess it has something to do with him still being in love. All the typical boring western stuff, but the film has an interesting mood.
Sister Street Fighter
Sue Shiomi
A karate expert, working for the police, is imprisoned by the bad guy. His sister, a karate expert herself, is enlisted to get him out. A Honk Kong cheapo movie. Bad production values, worse characterizations, and a terrible plot. Even the karate was at times lame, or at least filmed badly. But Sue Shiomi sure is a handsome woman. Watching her is better than watching Jackie Chan.
Jade
Linda Fiorentino, David Caruso, Chaz Palminteri,
Michael Biehn, Angie Everhart, Richard Crenna
The wife (Fiorentino) of a prominent San Francisco attorney (Palminteri) is suspected of murder and her ex-lover, the assistant D.A. (Caruso), investigates the case, against political and personal pressure. Good exposition--subtle and natural. But Fiorentino wasn't as appealing in this film as in some others,
Men in Black for instance, when she climbs the tree and exposes her exquisite thighs.
Saving Grace
1999
Brenda Blethyn, Craig Ferguson
When a woman's husband dies and she discovers he has left her penniless through bad business ventures, she sets out on an illegal business venture of her own to prevent losing her estate. This is one of those rare films where the middle is the interesting part and the beginning and the end are ordinary. Overall, an ordinary film, except for a few great character performances and the interesting interactions with the drug dealers. Even the clever postmod ending, although interesting itself, was ordinary.
Thin Air
2000
Joe Mantegna, Marcia Gay Hardin, Jon Seda, Luis Guzman
When a cop's wife, who has an unknown seedy past, disappears and the cop is shot and hospitalized in critical condition, Spenser (Mantagna) sets out to find the wife and her abductor. Spenser's psychiatrist-ex (Hardin) stays home in this one and Hawk is conveniently off in Bermuda, but they stick to the formula by substituting Chollo (Guzman) for him. Mantagna doesn't have quite the same charm as Robert Urich, but he makes a more seriously intimidating detective.
Dead Man's Walk
Keith Carradine, F. Murray Abraham, Brian Dennehy,
Edward James Olmos, David Arquette, Jonny Lee Miller,
Harry Dean Stanton, Chris Penn
Larry McMurtry's tv mini-series prequel to Lonesome Dove. Gus and Captain Call, as young men, head out from Austin with a makeshift army to attack Santa Fe. Good action and western lore, but it kind of bogged down in the second half. Endearing performance by Stanton. Great bit part by Chris Penn, whom I almost didn't recognize.
Howling II
Christopher Lee
A girl's sister is murdered in a cemetery, and a special investigator (Lee) helps her to track down the werewolves that did it. Pretty lame even when compared to the first one, which was pretty lame itself.
Take the Money and Run
1969
Woody Allen, Janet Margolin, cameo: Louise Lasser
Allen plays an inept thief who marries a woman he meets in a park by pretending to be a musician. But he continues his life of crime, ending up in jail and chopping the story line up into "bits." Allen's early pastiche style is funny, but this film is kind of weak, depending entirely on Allen to carry the show by himself. None of his later great characterizations here.
The Love Letter
Kate Capshaw, Blythe Danner, Ellen Degeneres, Tom Selleck
A woman finds an anonymous love letter and thinks it has been sent to her. Subsequently, others find the letter and think the same thing, or use the letter to their own purposes. [Haven't I seen this plot before? Oh, yeah:
Secret Admirer.] Meanwhile, the lovelorn and lovelost characters desperately try to find their less than perfect mates. A kind of an easygoing angst prevails, but it works. An interesting out-of-context subtext goes on as Ellen uses body language to get close to Capshaw. Were the filmakers trying to tell us something?
Don't Be a Menace to South Central
while Drinking your Juice in the Hood
1995
Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans,
Keenan Ivory Wayans, LaWanda Page
Parody of Boyz in the Hood and all the other 'Hood' movies. Some good gags, but mostly crude and boring stuff.
Spenser: The Judas Goat
Robert Urich
Spenser leaves his psychiatrist flame at home and travels to Canada as a persona non grata to solve the case of a contract killing of a rich guy's family. Of course, his thug buddy, Hawk, joins him there. When you have a successful formula, why mess with it?
The Sixth Day
Arnold Swartznegger, Michael Rappaport
Tony Goldwin, Robert Duvall
A charter pilot is mistaken for his partner and killed. Meanwhile his partner is cloned, so it turns out that there are two of him, and one of them spends the rest of the movie trying to get his identity back. But which one is it? Good special effects, and clones all over the place. Great premise and fantasy possibilities, but typical Hollywood action film ending. Some interesting chemistry between Arnold and Arnold.
From Dusk Till Dawn
Harvey Keitel, George Clooney, Quentin Tarantino, Juliette Lewis, Michael Parks, John Saxon, Kelly Preston, Cheech Marin
When on-the-run serial-killing brothers (Clooney and Tarantino) kidnap an ex-minister (Keitel) and his kids, who are on a vacation in their camper, it seems like it's going to be one of those "ordinary" killers-on-the-loose movies. But events take an unpredictable blood-chilling turn when the group arrives in Old Mexico. Tarantino is particularly effective as the dim-witted, sadistic brother. He and Clooney make a good team. They should do some road pictures. They could be an apocalyptic Hope and Crosby.
The Rockford Files: Friends and Foul Play
James Garner, Marcia Strassman, Joe Santos, Stephan Cierasch, Stuart Margolin, Wendy Phillps, Gretchen Corbin
Rockford gets beat up, shot, verbally abused, and psychologically intimidated when he tries to solve the murder of a waitress friend of his. Typical Rockford stuff, all the more tame with an aging cast. There's something sad about seeing old actors reprise their former roles, especially when they were tv series roles to begin with.
Best Defense
Dudley Moore, Eddie Murphy, Kate Capshaw, George Dzunda
Moore is a weapons engineer helping to design a new tank and Murphy is an army lieutenant who two years later has to command that tank in a Mideast war. This movie doesn't work on so many different levels for so many different reasons. Don't bother.
Career Opportunities
Jennifer Connelly, Frank Whaley, Dermot Mulroney, Barry Corbin
A loser, on his first day on the job as a night janitor at a Target store, gets locked in the building with a rich-bitch shoplifter. Good set-up, but not much after that. Even Mulroney's character fell flat.
The Muse
Albert Brooks, Sharon Stone, Jeff Bridges
cameos: Martin Scorsese, Rob Reiner
A screenwriter (Brooks), struggling with his work, is referred by another writer (Bridges) to a "muse" (Stone) who has apparently worked with a lot of other creative Hollywood people. Interesting premise, but not one of Brooks' best efforts.
Crime and Punishment in Suburbia
2000
Monica Keena, Vincent Kartheiser, Michael Ironside,
Conchata Ferrel, Ellen Barkin
A geek stalks and spies on a popular neighborhood high school girl, and when she commits the ultimate vengence crime, he acts to protect and guide her. This is a lightweight film that tries hard to be heavy. But there's something very disturbing about the juxatposition of its casual postmod style with its heavy modern police drama content. Maybe it's appropriate, after all, as a reflection of the basic conflict, to mix these genres. It gives the subtext a postmodern paradoxical tint.
Vampire's Kiss
Nicholas Cage, Maria Conchita Alonso,
Jennifer Beals, Elizabeth Ashley
A self-involved profession prick (Cage) who works as a manager in a literary agency loves women and leaves 'em, but one of them (Beals) is a little bit different. Or is she? At the beginning of the film, Cage's accent seems unnecessary, overly affected, and distractive, until you get to the end and see where he takes it. A postmodern masterpiece that relies primarily on Cage's ability to pull it off, which he does, magnificently. His end-of-the-film antics are classic, every bit as humorously over-the-top as Jim Carrey, except that this film turns out to be, despite it's humor, deadly serious.
Insomnia
Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Maura Tierney,
Jonathan Jackson, Hillary Swank
In order to take the heat off of them for awhile, management sends two LA detectives under investigation by Internal Affairs to Alaska to aid in a murder investigation. But their difference of opinion about the issue of their investigation precipitates drastic events. Excellent police drama that explores the gaps between right and wrong in the realms of the police and their criminal anti-types. Complex plot with an excellent resolution.
Spenser: Pale Kings and Princes
2002
Robert Urich
Spenser, his psychiatrist flame, and his thug buddy travel to the small MA town of Wheaton to investigate a murder and end up busting up a local Columbian drug dealer. Typical Spenser stuff. Good, but formulaic.
28 Days
2000
Sandra Bullock, Steve Buscemi, Elizabeth Perkins, Rene Santoni,
Viggo Mortensen, Diane Ladd, Loudin Wainwright III
A woman is committed to a drug rehabilitation facility after she disrupts her sister's wedding by arriving late and drunk and stealing the wedding limo and wrecking it into a house. In rehab, she learns to examine her life and face up to her addiction. Typical stuff, but cute and yet serious.
Amistad
1997
Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins, Matthew McConaughy,
Nigel Hawthorn, Peter Firth, Anna Paquin, David Paymer,
Pete Postlethwaite
Spielberg's historical account of how the slave ship La Amistad divided the U.S. and provoked the government to attempt to undermine the justice system once again) in order to enable the re-election of Van Buren and prevent a civil war. The acting and direction is magnificant, and the set with its subdued colors perfectly reflects the times.
Journey
1995
Jason Robards, Meg Tilly
A troubled woman (Tilly) leaves her two kids with her parents and takes off, and the kids have to learn how to deal with their abandonment. To this end, the grandfather (Robards) uses love and his developing (heh) hobby of photography to restore the damaged sense of family. Good family values film, but the plot and characterization, especially re Tilly's role, leave a lot to be desired.
Lost Angels
Donald Sutherland, Amy Locane, Adam Horovitz
A teenager is committed by his parents to a modern rehab facility. Interesting reverse morality tale about how affluent suburban parents and authorities fuck up kids. The ending is a bit of a let down/cop out.
Rose Hill
Four NYC kids, being chased by the cops, find a kidnapped baby girl and take her west with them, where they settle as a family, establish their own ranch, grow up, and prosper. But after a series of set-backs, the girl goes back east to try to find her real family. Typical family value themes couched in an alternative lifestyle format. This is almost revisionist Old West history, except that it doesn't quite rise to that level.
Moonlight And Valentino
1995
Elizabeth Perkins, Whoppi Goldberg, Kathleen Turner,
Gwyneth Paltrow, Jon Bon Jovi, Josef Sommer
A woman, struggling to deal with her husband's untimely death, shares her life with her best friend, her younger sister, and her step-mother, and together they learn to face their fears and anxieties. Pretty good for a chick flick.
The Lover
Jane March, Voice-Over by Jeanne Moreau
Simple, but effective story of a white teenage schoolgirl in Saigon who is seduced into an impossible relationship by a thirty-two year old, wealthy bachelor.
Polish Wedding
Gabriel Byrne, Lena Olin, Claire Danes
A baker (Byrne), who works nights, suffers in silence as his wife cheats on him. Meanwhile, his teenage daughter, who is not a virgin, is chosen to lead the Catholic Church's procession in honor of the Virgin Mary. But she gets pregnant and becomes preoccupied with finding a husband. Great ending, although the epilogue kind of turned it around a little. Interesting, provocative, and not at all conventional, despite its theme of an ordinary immigrant family in an ordinary neighborhood.
Sidewalks of New York
On the streets of New York, a documentary film crew interviews ordinary people (who are really actors; this is not a documentary) for a film about sexuality. These interviews are interspersed with scenes from the sexual lives of the interviewees. Pretty good stuff.
True Blue
Tom Berenger, Barry Newman
Film noir about an older, alcoholic cop who becomes involved with a young woman witness while investigating a murder. But things are not quite what they seem as several plot twists take the story to an unexpected conclusion. (But the title, if you think about it, gives away the resolution.) Best line: "The fucking you get ain't worth the fucking you get."
On The Line
2001
Lance Bass, Joey Fatone
An ad exec meets a girl on a train and let's her get away, and then spends the rest of the movie trying to find her and hook up with her. So-so. I guess you have to be an N-Sync fan. Best line: "When I'm up there on that stage, everything is just perfect--until they start booing me."
Rambling Rose
1991
Robert Duvall, Laura Dern, Lukas Haas, Diane Ladd, John Heard
A girl who grew up on a dirt farm and ran away after suffering physical and sexual abuse from her father comes to live as a young adult housekeeper with a southern family. But she ends up affecting the entire family and the town. Well-drawn characters and great storytelling. Dern and Duvall are excellent, and Haas is as endearing as he was in
Witness (but in a different way).
Little Nicky
Adam Sandler, John Lovitts, Harvey Keitel, Kevin Nealon,
Rodney Dangerfield, Quentin Tarantino, Michael McKean,
Patricia Arquette, John Witherspoon, Reese Witherspoon,
George Wallace, Dana Carvey, Henry Winkler, Dan Marino,
Regis Philbin, Ron Schneider, Ozzy Osbourne, Ellen Cleghorn
When their father (Keitel) decides that he's not going to retire for another ten thousand years, two of Satan's three sons decide to go to Earth and corrupt a lot of people before killing them so that they can start their own hell, and the third son (Sandler) is sent to bring them back. Surprisingly pretty good first half, but the second half sucked.
X-Men
2000
Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman,
Anna Paquin, Halle Berry
Surprisingly good production values and a great beginning. But I thought that the mutants were way too out there for my taste. (I'm not a comic book fan.) This would have been a great fantasy if they had made the mutants a lot subtler.
Five Corners
1987
Tim Robbins, Jodie Foster, John Turturro
A guy (Turturro) gets out of prison and returns home to the Bronx to pick up where he left off, creating havoc. He tries to go up against the guy (Robbins) who was responsible for putting him in jail, only to find out that he has had a change of heart about violence and is planning to leave for the south as a civil rights worker. Plot as satire, in the subtle exaggeration that increases throughout the movie, culminating in the proposal that there are Indians in the Bronx. Surprisingly upbeat ending for such a dark film, but it works.
Super Mario Brothers
Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, Samantha Mathis,
Dennis Hopper, Fisher Stevens
A Brooklyn plumber (Hoskins) and his brother (Leguizamo), whom he raised from orphanhood, while trying to eek out a living competing against a huge construction company owned by a rival, meet an archaeologist (Mathis) who is digging up bones in a stopped excavation for a new building. They discover she is from an underground alternate dimension that evolved from dinosaurs when the meteorite that supposedly wiped out their existence drove them beneath the surface--and the dinosaur people want her back. Thus beginneth their subterranean adventure. Pretty stupid, but more interesting that I thought it would be. Dumb plot and ordinary acting, but Hoskins and Leguizamo, and especially Mathis, are appealing. Hopper is his usual weird self.
The Ghost and Mr. Chicken
Don Knotts
Knotts plays a nervous (of course) typesetter and would-be reporter who spends a night in a "haunted" house in order to get a story. But the ploy backfires on him when he's sued for destroying the owner's reputation.
The Specialist
Sylvester Stallone, Sharon Stone,
James Woods, Eric Roberts, Rod Steiger
A woman (Stone), whose parents were killed by a gangster (Steiger), hires an explosives specialist (Stallone) to help her kill the murderers. One-dimensional movie with typical blow-em-up action. But it has a few good scenes and situations. Solid acting.
The Deep End of the Ocean
Michele Pfeiffer, Treat Williams, Whoopi Goldberg
Examines the reaction of a woman (Pfeiffer) who loses her youngest son when she goes to a high school reunion in Chicago with her two kids. Pathos abounds.
Ricochet
Denzel Washington, John Lithgow,
Kevin Pollock, Ice Tea, John Amos
A rookie cop (Denzel) busts a murderer who, years later, when the cop is a DA, breaks out of prison and initiates the elaborate revenge scheme he's been devising throughout his incarceration in an attempt to ruin the DA's reputation and career. Slow moving, basically uninteresting plot with a ridiculous ending.
The Amateur
John Savage, Christopher Plummer, Arthur Hill,
John Marley, Ed Lauter, Marthe Keller
The girlfriend of a CIA code expert (Savage) is killed by terrorists in Czechoslovakia and he sets out, against the organization's wishes, but with their tacit approval, to get revenge by killing the terrorists. Typical old style Cold War stuff, but with a few good gimmicks.
Phenomenon
John Travolta, Kyra Sedgwick, Robert Duvall, Forrest Whitaker
A dim-witted farmer (Travolta) is hit by a bolt of light from the sky that changes his level of intelligence and his life forever. Plays perfectly upon common audience expectation to establish a mindset that it sets about to unravel and "turn on its head." This is one of those rare films that doesn't fall apart and revert to formula halfway through. The beginning is strong and solid, and the ending is even stronger.
Men of Honor
Robert DeNiro, Cuba Gooding Jr.
A black navy cook aspires to become a Master Diver during a time when the prejudicial odds are against him. Based on a true story. Same old tired plot, but good, solid acting.
Dungeons and Dragons
Jeremy Irons, Billy Drago
Two thieves, a dwarf, a mage, and an elf set out on a quest to find a precious stone and save a kingdom from destruction. All the standard D&D elements and characters, and a stupid plot besides. Irons' talent is wasted here. In fact, you don't see any of it at all.
Run
Patrick Dempsey, Kelly Preston
A Boston law student (Dempsey), on a week-end excursion to Atlantic City, stops in a small town to get his car repaired and runs afoul of the local mobster who controls the town. Thus he must 'run' for his life. Non-stop action (running).
Bait
Jamie Foxx, David Morse, David Paymer, Tia Texado
A convict cryptically confides to another inmate (Foxx) information to be passed on to his wife in the event of his death, the secret of his stash of stolen gold. But Foxx doesn't know he knows, so that when the Feds question him, he can't tell. So they "wire" him without him knowing it, and they follow him, hoping he can lead them to the bad guy, who searches him out (Get it? He's the bait.) Once released from prison on a technicality, he discovers he has a son, which further enforces his desire to go straight. Foxx is good, but the rest of the film is typical, including the techno-bad guy, who does his best to look and act like John Malcovich. (His voice sounds just like him.) Best line: "You can kiss my ass with your tongue out." (Foxx)
Finding Forester
Sean Connery, Rob Brown, Busta Rhymes,
F. Murray Abraham, Anna Paquin
The story of an intelligent black kid from the Bronx, who underachieves in order to fit in. He transfers to a prestigious Manhattan prep school on the basis of his high aptitude test scores and basketball ability. But his real love is writing, and to this end he hooks up with a reclusive novelist who helps him out. It's a compelling story, though somewhat one dimensional. When it came to the novelist's back story, it seemed a bit thin.
The Little Vampire
Richard Grant
A kid moves with his mother and father from America to Scotland and befriends a group of vampires with family values. Light-weight film, mostly for kids.
Nurse Betty
2000
Morgan Freeman, Chris Rock, Rene Zellweger,
Greg Kinear, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Tia Texado
Two hit men (Freeman & Rock) track a waitress (Zellweger) after she witnesses them murdering her husband and goes into an altered state of reality where she believes herself to be a nurse in her favorite soap opera. Good characterizations, excellent acting, and sardonic and sarcastic humor highlight an ordinary, but interesting plot. Best Line: "Hey, I'm the law. I ain't gotta do nothin' " (Pruitt Taylor Vince)
A Home of our Own
1993
Kathy Bates, Edward Furlong
The Lacey family, sans father, struggles to get by in LA until mom loses her job through a sexual harassment incident. So she packs up her six kids and heads for Idaho, where they make a deal with a widowed nurseryman to buy an unfinished house on three acres in exchange for labor. There they settle into the community. A family values film in rural America that works on many levels.
The Amourous Adventures of Moll Flanders
warning
Kim Novak, Angela Lansbury, Vittorio DeSica,
Leo McKern, George Sanders, Lili Palmer, Hugh Griffith
An orphan is adopted by a wealthy patron for use as a servant, but she grows up and marries the son of the family, and when he dies in an accident, she is cast adrift in London, where she meets a con man who passes himself off as a wealthy sea captain, thinking she is a wealthy widow, because she's been as deceptive as he, trying to marry her way into security. They both end up in prison, but one of the men she married, then jilted for the sake of her true lover, the con man, dies and leaves her his fortune, which she uses to buy herself and her friends out of prison and onto a ship to be exiled to America, where she marries again, this time for love. Not a bad story, but it's been done better.
Metro
Eddie Murphy, Art Evans, Michael Rappaport
A hostage negotiator becomes the target of a jewel thief/killer. Ordinary stuff with not much to recommend it. Way overdone action sequences. Best line: "My eyes are still hurting from reading that movie." (Murphy)
Out on a Limb
warning
Matthew Broderick, Jeffrey Jones, John C. Riley, Heidi Kling
Featuring a grade school Siskel and Ebert team and two permanently drunken brothers, both named Jim after different people (a father and a grandfather), this story has a lot of crazy twists and turns indicative of the tall tale that's it's supposed to be as a girl tells her grade school class a story about what happened to her on her summer vacation: her older brother, Bill (Broderick), a high-powered businessman, stops by for a visit on his way to Mexico to conclude a hundred and forty million dollar deal and becomes involved in local shenanigans with a girl who steals his car and wallet and the twin brother of the mayor, just released from prison, who kills the mayor and takes his place. Good premise and characterizations, and not a bad plot, which does however get a bit conventional in the second half. John C. Riley and Michael Monks, steal this film with their portrayal of the drunken brothers.
Romeo is Bleeding
Gary Oldman, Lena Olin, Roy Scheider, James Cromwell, Annabella Sciorra, Juliette Lewis, Will Patton
A crooked cop (Oldman) sells the locations of federal witnesses to the mob. Things are going well until he meets his match in a female hitman (Olin). Crime drama with an excellent film noir soundtrack and extreme scenes. Could have done without the narration, though. Some flaws, but a unique attitude. Another performance from the extremity school of acting by Oldman, the master of the style, although Olin gives him a good run for his money. They make a great team.
Ruby Jean and Joe
Tom Selleck, Jobeth Williams, Ben Johnson
A rodeo rider meets a teenager on the road and helps her out, and despite their inital differences and the fact that they exasperate each other, a true affection develops between them as they point out each other's weaknesses and effect mutual changes. Noble and touching.
The Animal
Rob Schneider, Colleen Haskell, Ed Asner.
Cameos: Norm MacDonald, Adam Sandler.
After an auto accident, a guy (Schneider) is saved by a crackpot scientist with a lab in a barn in the countryside. He replaces his damaged organs with animal ones. But the transplants have unintentional effects, giving the guy animal powers. MacDonald's cameo was typically funny, bringing back memories of when he used to do good work on Saturday Night Live, before he started extending his act to movie length, where it began to fall apart.
Caravans
Anthony Quinn, Jennifer O'Neill, Michael Sarazin,
Christopher Lee, Barry Sullivan
An American woman (O'Neill), one of the wives of an Arabian Shiek, runs away with a Bedouin tribe, and an Embassy diplomat (Sarazin) is sent to find her, with predictable results. Quinn, of course, is great as the tribal chieftain, suggesting his role as Auda abu Tayi.
The Borrower
Ray Dawn Chong, Don Gordon, Antonio Fargas
An alien bug survives on Earth by borrowing the heads and lifestyles of its victims. Ghastly and gruesome, but with a genuine sense of humor. But the acting of the principles could have been better. (Huggy Bear is pretty good, though.)
Life Stinks
1991
Mel Brooks, Lesley Ann Warren, Jeffry Tambur, Steward Pankin
A millionaire (Brooks) bets his rival (Tambur) that he can survive for a month on the streets of a ghetto that they both hope to develop. The winner gets the spoils, but the opposition doesn't play fair. But it all works out in the end with the help of the areas destitute, whom Brooks befriends. Typical Brooks, stuff, although not the among the best, by far.
Croupier
Clive Owens
An experienced, but understated croupier, returned to England from South Africa, gets a job in a local club and struggles to remain straight in his profession while events unfold around him. Well-done, with excellent performances.
Primal Secrets
Meg Tilly, Ellen Burstyn, Bernard Hughes
A promising and talented struggling artist (Tilly) is hired by a wealthy woman (Burstyn) to transform a large room on her estate. As a bond forms between the two women, events unfold that suggest that the situation is not what it seems to be.
Tea With Mussolini
Judi Dench, Lili Tomlin, Maggie Smith, Cher
During WWII in Italy, English and American women struggle to survive as detainees. Excellent performances.
Curtain Call
Buck Henry, Sam Sheppard, Marcia Gay Hardin,
Frances Sternhagen, James Spader, Michael Caine,
Maggie Smith, Valerie Perrine, Polly Walker
After a couple move into a new home and then the guy balks at getting married, she leaves. But the ghosts who inhabit the new home help him to get her back. Silly, but well acted.
The Perfect You
Jenny MacCarthy, Paul Dooley
A guy and a girl, both looking for a loving and stable relationship, but unable to find it, keep passing each other by as they operate at cross purposes until they awaken to the inevitable, almost too late. Best line: "So what happens to people who never fall in love? You never hear about them."
Bad Company
1991
Lawrence Fishburne, Ellen Barkin,
Frank Langella, David Ogden Steirs
A competent and sexy business woman teams up with a newly hired employee to dethrone the owner. Completely realistic, with none of the usual over-dramatizations, and a potent and unexpected ending besides.
Homicide
Joe Mantagne, William H. Macy, Ving Rhames
Good psychological crime drama that uses set and setting to evoke a mood of mystery and suspense. I can't decide if Mamet's dialogue is stylistic or awkward. Whichever, it must be intentional, because the good actors that do his movies wouldn't put up with it if it weren't an intentional technique.
Bodily Harm
1994
Linda Fiorentino, Daniel Baldwin, Millie Perkins
Typical murder mystery with all of the stereotypes and cliches. But even though I thought I had it figured out pretty early on, I didn't. Interesting plot device.
Othello
Lawrence Fishburne, Kenneth Branaugh
Interesting rendition, successfully capturing both the tradgedy and the pathos.
Double Take
Eddie Griffin, Orlando Jones, Edward Hermann
A successful black urban businessman, after being scammed by what he thinks is a street person, discovers he is railroaded into an undercover operation of the FBI. Tries real hard to be a great buddy movie, but the chemistry just isn't there.
Return of the Living Dead
Clu Galagher, James Karen
Stupid sequel with none of the subtleties of the original, but with great scenes with Beverly Randolph in full front nudity.
Anywhere But Here
1999
Susan Sarandon, Bonnie Bedelia, Natalie Portman
A young girl struggles to be free of her crazy, domineering mother after she moves them from Wisconsin to LA. One of the better films I've seen. Practically no plot and a fairly one-dimensional story, with the whole film carried by magnificent performances by Sarandon and Portman.
Pitch Black
Vin Diesel
A convict (Diesel), a very bad man, is being transferred between planetary systems, chained up and cryogenically frozen with the crew of the ship and a few passengers when the ship crashes on an unknown world with bat-like aliens that only come out at night. And guess who ends up saving the day (but not most of the cast) and (somewhat) rehabilitating himself? A perfect role for Diesel.
Just Visiting
2001
Jean Reno, Christina Applegate, George Plimpton, Tara Reid, Malcolm MacDowell, Christian Clavier (who also wrote it)
Off the wall fantasy about a French nobleman (Reno) from the past who comes to the 21st century through the mistake of an English wizard (MacDowell) and meets his descendant (Applegate) who, influenced by her deceptive and cheating boyfriend, is about to sell off the estate. Pretty silly, but hilarious.
The Fly II
Daphne Zuniga, Eric Stoltz, John Getz
The son of Seth Rundlefly is raised in a sterile laboratory environment after the death of his mother in childbirth. He turns out to be a genius (of course) who ages far more rapidly than an ordinary human does. (By the time he's five, he's almost a mature adult.) But naturally his genetic inheritance begins to manifest itself. Not anywhere near the "human interest" of the first film.
Monty Walsh
Tom Selleck, Keith Carradine, Barry Corbin, Isabella Rossalini, Robert Caradine, Wallace Shawn, William Devane
A cowboy resists the transition of the Old West into the twentieth century. Made for tv flick. Nice period stuff. Good history. But not too much happening.
The Good Old Boys handled the subject matter and themes much better.
Native Son
Victor Love, Carol Baker, Matt Dillon, Elizabeth McGovern,
Akosua Busia, Geraldine Page, Oprah Winfrey, Willard Pugh
A black kid from the Chicago ghetto gets a job through a relief agency as a chauffeur for rich white folks. But he accidentally kills their daughter and then burns her body in the furnace. Good study in race relations.
Harvest of Fire
Patty Duke
Someone is burning Amish barns and an FBI agent is sent out from Chicago to investigate. Pretty tame and lame.
Labor Pains
2000
Kyra Sedgwick, Rob Morrow, Mary Tyler Moore, Robert Klein
A woman keeps her pregnancy a secret from her estranged boyfriend, planning to put the baby up for adoption. But love conquers all. Interesting, almost captivating (mostly because of Sedwick's sexuality). But there's something about the premise that bothers me: she tells him to get lost, and then she blames him for having done it. Isn't that exactly the way it is sometimes? Klein and Moore are hilarious as the parents of the mother-to-be.
Love and Basketball
Alfrie Woodard, Omar Epps, Sanaa Lathan, Dennis Haysbert
"True" story of a relationship between two basketball prodigies growing up, going through high school and college together, and developing careers as profession athletes. Good story, great acting.
Down Periscope
Kelsey Grammar, Rob Schneider, Rip Torn, Bruce Dern,
Harlan Williams, Harry Dean Stanton, William H. Macy
A renegade naval officer is assigned command of a WWII sub with a crew of fuck-ups and ordered on an impossible mission in war games. Somewhat entertaining for a stupid movie.