Escape from Wildcat Canyon
Dennis Weaver
A boy is upset when his parents announce that they are moving to NYC because Dad needs a new job. The boy goes with Grandpa on one last camping trip, but--you guessed it--the private plane crashes in the wilderness. Insipid script and bad acting make this movie almost painful to watch. If you listen very carefully in the quiet moments, you can almost hear a hushed echo through the canyons: "Marshal Dillon...Marshal Dillon..."
Gossip
James Marsden, Lena Headey, Norman Reedus,
Kate Hudson, Joshua Jackson, Edward James Olmos
Interesting, though rather morose crime mystery about three college roommates who start a malicious rumor in order to examine its effects for a class project. Excellent photography and artistic themes add to the downcast mood.
American Pie
Jason Biggs, Shannon Elizabeth, Tara Reid, Eugene Levy
Four high school seniors make a pact to get laid before prom night, and they each set out on their particular schemes. Not much as far as plot or story goes, but an interesting, if somewhat light, examination of the problems and values of growing up in teenage America. The best part was the difficult relations between father and son, rendered in that painfully embarrassing way that Levy is so expert at.
Bones
Snoop Dog, Pam Grier
Modern rendition of the "move into the haunted house" theme where, in a run down 'hood, an old mansion that was once the scene of multiple gangsta murders becomes the focus of four young adults who want to open a new club. Better than average for the genre, with gruesome special effects.
Liar Liar
Jim Carrey, Jennifer Tillie
A lawyer cannot tell a lie for a whole day as the result of a wish granted to his neglected son. You think you're a truthful person? This movie will change your mind about that illusion. In his typical fashion, Carrey acts like an asshole, but the out-takes at the end make the movie worth seeing, that and the way Jennifer Tillie is packed into that dress.
Meet the Parents
Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller,
Blythe Danner, Teri Polo, James Rebhorn
A nerdy guy who works as a male nurse goes with his girlfriend to meet her parents, but he's not allowed to tell them they're living together. Of course, everything goes wrong and the father, an ex-CIA operative, hates him. And I hate Ben Stiller. I hated his father too. They're competent actors, but they play only one type of character, and it turns me off. Nevertheless, the movie had some interesting moments--in an otherwise ordinary film.
A Soldier's Tale
Gabriel Byrne, Marianne Basler, Paul Wyett
In WWII France, a sergeant happens across a French woman who is accused by the Resistance of collaboration with the enemy and about to be arrested. But he acts to protect her from them, at least for the three days that he will be in the area. The patriots back off and wait for him to leave. The plot is cleverly developed so that no one could predict the ending; yet it makes sense. A good film that takes a neutral position on the problem of fraternization and presents all sides fairly.
Phantoms
Peter O'Toole, Ben Affleck
Two sisters, one of them a doctor, arrive in a small resort town and discover some of the residents dead of mysterious causes and all of the others missing. Three cops show up, and together the five of them begin to try to piece together what happened, even as whatever killed the residents still threatens the town. A good first act, but then the movie deteriorates into a typical monster film. Peter O'Tool was hardly essential in the film. Any old actor could have done as well. Ditto Affleck, as the cop-in-charge (any young handsome hunk, that is).
Seabiscuit
Jeff Bridges, Tobey Maguire, Chris Cooper
A well-done film with an excellently structured storyline; but not as good as I expected it to be. It does have, however, a highly affective second act. And Chris Copper continues to amaze me. He's becoming one of America's great character actors. He almost stole the show here, but his role sort of tapered off toward the end.
Money Kings
Peter Falk, Lauren Holly, Timothy Hutton,
Freddie Prinze Jr., Tyne Daly, Colm Meaney
A well-established bookie in Boston resists take-over when the mob tries to muscle in on his operations. Typical Falk stuff, which is to say, fairly interesting.
Angel's Dance
Jim Belushi, Sheryl Lee
A trainee who isn't cut out for the job is coached by a professional hit man, but their randomly chosen target is not quite so random as they thought. Interesting plot, but typically boring action scenes.
Brainscan
1994
Edward Furlong, Frank Langella,
Amy Hargreaves, Jamie Marsh, T. Ryder Smith
Better than average horror film that uses postmodern technology as a device to probe the mind of a teenage who was maimed in an accident in which his mother was killed. The psychic energy that's released during the probe acts to create an alternate reality in which the kid becomes a murderer. Cool villain. I'd kind of like to be him.
The Road from Coorain
Juliet Stevenson
PBS Masterpiece Theatre production of Jill Ker Conway's memoir about her life on a sheep ranch in Australia, before she emigrated to America to become the first woman president of Smith College.
The Santa Clause
Tim Allen, Judge Reinhold,
Wendy Crewson, Peter Boyle, Mary Gross
Cute, but ultimately worthless movie about an ordinary guy who takes over Santa's job after an accident on the roof. Allen as his usual self-deprecating character.
Diabolique
Sharon Stone, Isabelle Adjani,
Chazz Palminteri, Kathy Bates, Spalding Gray
Good mystery about a prick headmaster of a boy's prep school whose wife and girlfriend conspire to kill him. I didn't like the primary plot turn; I thought the movie was going somewhere else. But it's a good mystery with a clever resolution, and Kathy Bates plays a good investigator.
I Love You ... Don't Touch Me!
warning
Marla Schaffel, Mitchell Whitfield
A twenty-five year old virgin doesn't love the guy, her best friend, who loves her, but instead searches for the perfect man. Who didn't know right from the beginning how this was going to turn out? But it didn't; that is, not quite. The ending is an interesting variation on the theme, but the beginning and middle is the same old stuff. This film may prove once and for all that women are as fucked up as men are? And this Whitfield guy. Is he related to Bradley Whitfield on The West Wing? They kind of look alike. And what about the role(s) that Michael J. Fox played in
The Secret of My Success. Weren't their names Bradley and Whitfield? I could be wrong about that.
Dead Man Walking
Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon, Margo Martindale,
Robert Prosky, R. Lee Ermey, D: Tom Robbins
Based on Sister Helen Prejean's encounter with a death row inmate who is about to be executed, this film weighs both sides of the death penalty issue and pits
true Christian love against the very human desire for vengeance. First rate. Penn and Sarandon are perfect, and the rest of the cast is right behind them.
Man of the House
Chevy Chase, Farrah Fawcett,
George Wendt, Jonathan Taylor Thomas
When a boy's Dad leaves his family to go and live with his secretary, the kid and his mother adjust to life on their own, only to have their routine disrupted when the mother finds a new boyfriend that she's serious about. Could have been an okay movie, despite the lame plot; but it's juvenile content just didn't work.
Twins
Arnold Swartzeneggger, Danny DeVito, Chloe Webb,
Kelly Preston, Trey Wilson, David Caruso, Hugh O'Brian, Nehemiah Persoff
An experiment by scientists combines the DNA of six exceptional men to produce a child by one exceptional woman. The result is two very different twin brothers, who are separated and destined for very different fates. But when the "superior" brother discovers that he had a twin, he sets out to find him. Standard plot and shallow themes, but the character/actor charisma and the humor make it worth watching anyway.
Riders of the Purple Sage
Amy Madigan, Ed Harris, Henry Thomas,
Robin Tunney, G.D. Spradlin
Excellent script, fairly true to Zane Grey's novel (in a p.c. bid, they leave out the fact that the evil religious sect is Mormon), and a good production effort by Harris and Madigan, despite some shaky production values that leave a lot of the dialogue muffled, fuzzy, and overwhelmed by sound effects. You might have to watch it on tape and rewind frequently to get it all, or watch it several times; but if you do, it's worth it. Stories don't come any better than this, and better actors couldn't have been cast.
The Plague
William Hurt, Sandrine Bonnaire, Jean-Marc Barr,
Robert Duvall, Raul Julia, Lautaro Murua, Victoria Tennant
Fascists react to a plague in a South American city by quarantining the victims in a soccer stadium as a doctor and associates struggle to find a cure for the illness and moderate the desperation. The drab and morose cinematic environment perfectly captures the mood of the Camus masterpiece.
Les Risque du Métier
[Fr.]
Jacques Brel, Emmanuelle Riva
Interesting but dated story of a schoolteacher who is accused of the statutory rape of a student and the attempted rape of several others. Notable primarily because Jacques Brel stars in it.
Distant Thunder
1988
John Lithgow, Ralph Macchio, Kerrie Keane,
Janet Margolin, Denis Arndt, Reb Brown
Vietnam Special Forces, unable to reintegrate into society when they return home, survive in a Northwest forest. But one of them wants to see the son that he abandoned years ago, which precipitates a disastrous chain of events. Pretty good, despite the overworked alienated vet theme.
Storyville
1992
James Spader, Joanne Whalley Kilmer, Jason Robards,
Michael Parks, Woody Strode, Piper Laurie
Intriguing crime drama about a rich young lawyer, heir to the wealth of a dominant southern family, who runs into serious trouble while running for political office, but deftly steps his way through the muck by virtue of his social and legal skills. A particularly good example of Spader's unique technique in mid-development.
Mermaid
Ellen Burstyn, Samantha Mathis
A touching mini-story based on real events about a little girl who experiences difficulties after her father dies. She tries to contact him by tying a letter to a balloon and sending it off into the sky in the hope that it will reach him in heaven. This story could have been done just as well as a fifteen-minute piece on a news magazine tv show. But the trailer showing the actors and their real life correlates that's included at the end of the film is worth waiting for and would have little effect without having first seen the film.
Sprung
1977
Tisha Campbell, Rusty Cundeff
Friends try to break up a couple because they're jealous of the deep love they have for each other. Not so much in the plot department, but a cute little romantic film with lots else to recommend it. Not the way I would have done it, but nicely done. It was shot in Pittsburgh, so I had fun recognizing all of the familiar places.
A Time to Remember
Doris Roberts, Dana Delany
Topical, but superficial story about two grown daughters trying to deal with their mother's onset of Alzheimer's disease. The story is plagued with a lame and awkward script that couldn't be saved by these excellent actors. And I guess you have to be a woman to appreciate this movie. It may be a time to remember, but as far as I'm concerned it's a movie to forget.
Brilliant Lies
1995
Anthony LaPaglia
A woman charges her boss with sexual harassment, and the matter is referred to arbitration, where the egos of both sides will not allow them to come to an agreement. So the case is referred to a tribunal. Meanwhile, the girl and her siblings are dealing with their pasts, and in particular, with their father, who has a heart problem and, it is revealed, had been somewhat sexually abusive toward his daughters while they were growing up. The story is presented in such a way as to indicate that none of the participants are exactly right or wrong, so that it is difficult to decide which character is the culprit and which the victim. In the end, as is usually the case, I suspect, it becomes a matter of point-of-view.
Navigating the Heart
1999
Jacklyn Smith, Tim Matheson, Tantoo Cardinal
Lightweight but appealing story about a high profile reporter for a New York magazine who is vindictively assigned by a new managing editor to a petty story on the high cost of Salmon. She goes north, where she meets a hardened fisherman, with whom she immediately clashes. Of course, you know what happens. Women's libbers might have a problem with the overly romanticized ending.
Morgan's Ferry
Kelli McGillis, Billy Zane, David Galecki,
Roscoe Lee Brown, Henry Rollins
Three escaped convicts take a lone farmwoman hostage on her farm. But the inner strength of the woman and the goodness of one of the convicts work to resolve the situation very nicely. Typical story of the individual winning out over suspect social forces, but the relationship between the principals takes it to a higher level.
Finding John Christmas
Valerie Bertinelli, Peter Falk, David Cubitt, William Russ
Supernatural forces work to bring the long-lost brother of a nurse home for Christmas after he left twenty-five years ago after a fire he was fighting as a fireman. Based on a Paul Theroux story. Eh?
Little Women
Winona Ryder, Gabriel Byrne, Samantha Mathis, Kirsten Dunst, Claire Danes, Christian Bale, Eric Stoltz, Susan Sarandon
A woman whose husband is away at war wisely raises her four daughters in an enlightened and liberated way amid nineteenth (as opposed to twentieth) century narrow-mindedness. Appealing rendition of the Louisa May Alcott's classic that was way ahead of its time.
Sarah Plain and Tall: Winter's End
Glenn Close, Christopher Walken,
Jack Palance, George Hearn, Lexi Randall
Jacob's father returns to the farm to die. But Jacob can't forgive him for having abandoned the family when Jacob was a boy. Much better than the first sequel, and maybe even better than the original, mostly due to the excellent performance by Palance as the grizzled father.
Dude Where's My Car?
Ashton Kucher
Two guys wake up one morning after a party and can't remember what they did the night before. Good idea. Bad execution. Boring. I really shouldn't be reviewing this film. I fell asleep at the beginning of the third act--but I don't feel like I missed anything.
Max Keeble's Big Move
2001
Jamie Kennedy, Josh Peck, Larry Miller,
Nora Dunn, Robert Carradine
His parents tell grade-schooler Max that the family is moving to Chicago, so figuring he has nothing to lose, he sets out to get revenge on all of the kids and adults who have been tormenting him. But, guess what? His father takes Max's advice to heart and decides not to move, leaving Max to face the consequences of his actions. Lots of ambition, but not much in the payoff department.
Tortilla Soup
2001
Hector Elizondo, Constance Marie, Jacqueline Obradors,
Tamara Mello, Rachel Welch, Paul Rodriquez,
Elizabeth Pena, Nikolai Kinski
A retired chef cooks dinner every Sunday for himself and his three grown daughters who are still living at home. But his life seems like it's unraveling as his daughters begin to move out and establish lives of their own. One of the best films I've seen in a long time, this film provides continual payoffs as it details the extraordinary and everyday events of the family. Not one sour note in the whole thing.
Skinwalkers
Adam Beach, Wes Studi
A police officer and a detective work together to solve the murders of three Navaho medicine men. A Robert Redford/PBS production of a Tony Hillerman novel. Like the follow-up
Coyote Waits, it has a compelling atmosphere and interesting characters, but plods along like a typical murder mystery. But it's a noble effort on the part of the filmmakers to provide non-stereotypical role models for Native Americans, both in the characters and in the cast and crew.
Promise
James Garner, James Woods, Piper Laurie
After the death of his mother, a man fulfills his promise to her to care for his schizophrenic brother. But the effort soon overwhelms him and he begins to look for alternatives. The kinds of roles that Garner has been playing in the latter part of his career don't require much acting ability. Usually, he's playing his same old mildly sardonic Rockford-oriented self. But in this film he really does some acting. Yet, typical to his style, he doesn't upstage his acting partners, which is another plus in the film, because Woods is at his best here too. The two of them together, playing off each other, turn in excellent performances.
Decoration Day
warning
James Garner, Judith Ivey, Ruby Dee, Larry Fishburne
When an old veteran refuses to accept his belated WWII Congressional Medal of Honor, ostensibly because he was relegated to menial chores during his tour of duty because he was black, a retired judge who was his childhood friend becomes involved with his case, only to discover the real reason for the old man's refusal. Typical performances and plot structure, and a bit of a lame plot device. But Garner was good in a few scenes, and Ivey was at her best playing a disenchanted cancer victim.
Coyote Waits
2003
Adam Beach, Wes Studi, Keith Carradine, Graham Greene
Full-length PBS Mystery Series mystery about a Navaho reservation policeman who feels guilty because he wasn't there to help him when his partner was murdered. He and a detective (for reasons of his own) set out, on their own time, to solve the case that has been closed, apparently as the result of a cover-up. Good atmosphere and some good acting, but not much else. The story itself was fairly ordinary.
Grace of my Heart
1996
Ileanna Douglas, John Turturro, Matt Dillon, Eric Stoltz,
Bruce Davidson, Patsy Kensit, Jennifer Leigh Warren
Starts out as an ordinary singer/songwriter-goes-to-New-York-to-make-it-in-the-big-time movie, but the charismatic characters slowly suck you into the story until you realize you're the middle of an important film. A thinly disguised story of the career of Carole King, with equally thinly disguised portraits of famous show biz people in her life. Good biopic.
She's The One
Jennifer Aniston, Edward Burns, Mike McGlone, Cameron Diaz, John Mahoney, Maxine Bahns, Amanda Peet
Two brothers, who are still trying to deal with the sibling competition of their childhood, are involved with the same woman, who causes turmoil in their marriages. Good study in relationships. The theme, played out across generations, proves that it is not necessarily true that the young should take lessons from their parents. Nothing very compelling about the acting, though. Everyone was just so-so, although Burns' laid-back style is refreshing; kind of reminiscent of a cool early Robert Mitchum.
Replacing Dad
1998
Mary McDonnell, Tippi Hedrin, William Russ
After a woman discovers that her husband is cheating on her with a woman who works for him, she kicks him out, with all of the typical consequent behavioral results for the whole family. This story started out okay, but it quickly turned into the same old ordinary crap we see everyday on tv. They should have replaced the whole damn family, or at least the writer and director. One exception: Tippi Hedrin. She looked good for an oldster, quite sexy in her tight jeans; but even
her performance fell apart at the end.
April Morning
1988
Tommy Lee Jones, Rip Torn, Robert Urich,
Susan Blakely, Meredith Salinger
Standard story of the Battle of Lexington and Concord that began America's Revolutionary War. Well-written characters and solid performances make this film a worthy insight into the mindset of the farmers and townspeople before and during the founding of the new nation.
Pursued
Teresa Wright, Robert Mitchum, Alan Hale,
Dean Jagger, Harry Carey, Jr., Judith Anderson
After a young boy witnesses the murder of his family, a woman with two kids of her own finds him and adopts him. He grows up haunted by memories of the event that he can't quite remember. But the cause of his troubled past, delayed, comes back to haunt him after he returns home from the Spanish War planning to marry the girl he grew up with. A good story that is badly handled in production, resulting in uneven characterization and superficial treatment of themes. This could have been a masterpiece in the hands of a different director.
Held Up
1999
Jamie Foxx, Nia Long, Barry Corbin, Jake Busey, Julie Hagerty
A guy and his lady on a vacation in the desert begin to argue when she learns that he spent the money intended for a down payment on a house on his classic car. After she leaves him, heading for the airport, inept Mexican robbers take him hostage. This is one of those rare movies with a stupid and badly written plot that should have been terrible, but turn out to be rather entertaining, due mostly to the quirkiness of the cast. Corbin is outstanding as the local sheriff. In fact, all of the characters upstage Foxx at every turn.
Exception to the Rule
William Devane, Kim Cattrall, Sean Young,
Eric McCormack, Stephen Mendel
A sociopathological woman has sex with a diamond dealer and then blackmails him in order to relieve him of a fortune in diamonds. Not too bad, but fairly ordinary. Devane plays a good guy for a change.
Saving Jessica Lynch
2003
Laura Regan, Nicholas Guilak
TV movie based on the true story of Jessica's ordeal in Iraq. Whatta buncha hype. Lots of blowing sand and long takes without dialogue while slow musical strains in the background attempt to play the scenes for every drop of pathos they can wring out of them. Some day maybe some independent filmmaker will make a movie that tells the whole truth. I'm not holding my breath.
Tall Tale
Patrick Swayze, Oliver Platt, Scott Glenn, Nick Stahl,
Catherine O'Hara, Scott Wilson, Roger Aaron Brown
Folk heroes materialize to help a boy save the homestead when unscrupulous railroad barons seriously injure his father. Not much of a story, but unpretentious in the way it's told. And Patrick Swayze actually comes across as a half-decent actor. Maybe it's the disguise.
The Case of the White Chapel Vampire
Matt Frewer, Kenneth Welsh
Sherlock Holmes is hired by a monk to investigate deaths at a monastery that have all the marks of being done by a vampire. Ordinary Sherlock stuff.
What Women Want
Mel Gibson, Helen Hunt, Marisa Tomei,
Alan Alda, Delta Burke, Valerie Perrine.
An ad executive, passed over for a promotion in favor of a woman, resents the move and sets about to subvert it. While trying out a series of women's products in his bathroom, he falls into the tub and is nearly electrocuted with a hair dryer. The shock somehow mysteriously changes his brain chemistry enough to allow him to hear women's thoughts. This becomes a source of disturbing revelation, which after adapting to it, he uses to his advantage in his ploy to get rid of his new boss. Of course, predictably, his plans are compromised by love. I don't know why this film got bad reviews. I found it to be cute and charming--and funny, especially the scenes with Burke and Perrine.
Sabrina, The Teenage Witch
Melissa Joan Hart
A girl, on her sixteenth birthday, discovers that it is her heritage to become a witch, which she has a bit of difficulty adapting to. Good flick for teenagers. If you like the series, you'll like the movie, and vice versa. Good content for the girls and lots of good bathing suit scenes for the guys.
Run the Wild Fields
Joanne Whalley, Sean Patrick Flanery, Cotter Smith, Alexa Vega
While waiting for their husband and father to return from the Pacific during WWII, a mother and daughter allow an itinerant to stay on their farm and help out after he is bitten by the neighbor's dog and they take him in to fix him up. But the guy has a secret past, which he covers up by making it seem even worse than it is. Good family values film that is not so syrupy or sappy as most. A good story with excellent plot structure and resolution.
The Canterville Ghost
1996
Patrick Stewart, Neve Campbell
An American family moves into an English castle and encounters a ghost, a resident of former times. Mostly ordinary stuff, a bit overacted. The beginning was boring and the ending was mundane, but it had a good second act with Stewart and Campbell interacting to produce some good scenes.
The Feud
Rene Auberjonois, David Straithairn, Anthony Tucci
Offbeat, tongue-in-cheek comedy about redneck reaction to a hardware store that burns to the ground. Auberjonois plays perfectly the part of a small town asshole railroad detective who tries to stir up the locals into a feud between two adjacent towns. Characters run the gamut from a pregnant young lady who tries to seduce men into thinking they are the father so that they will marry her to a nerdy teenage genius who experiments with blowing things up. The character- izations are perfect, taking each performance just to the edge of believability without crossing the line.
Once Upon a Texas Train
Willie Nelson, Richard Widmark, Angie Dickinson, Dub Taylor, Jack Elam, Chuck Conners, Stuart Whitman, Kevin McCarthy, Royal Dana, Shawn Cassidy, and "Festus"
An old outlaw (Nelson), immediately upon being paroled from jail, reconstitutes his gang, robs a bank, and plans a re-enactment of the train robbery that got him put in jail in the first place, thus inciting the vengeance of his nemesis, an old lawman (Widmark), who married the girl (Dickinson) they both loved. Sounds like a good premise, but loses a lot in the execution. Low production values, a lousy script, and some shaky acting all combine to prove that old cowboy actors never die; they just make bad movies.
Ring of the Musketeers
1992
David Hasselhoff, Cheech Marin,
Corbin Bernsen, Alison Doody, John Rhys-Davies
A "Charlie's Angels" format has descendants of the Four Musketeers carry on their exploits in postmodern LA, running around on cycles helping people out of their serious difficulties. Good character appeal, but not much else. It plays like it may have been the pilot for a series that never made it to the little screen--for good reason.
Goodbye Mr. Chips
Martin Clunes
Masterpiece Theater production of the James Hilton story about the life and love of a liberal Latin teacher at an authoritarian English boy's prep school at the turn of the last century. Excellent. The best version so far. Initially, I didn't want to accept Clunes in the role; but it didn't take me long to warm up to him. I didn't think anyone could outdo O'Toole, but Clunes does.
Footsteps
Candice Bergen, Bryan Brown, Bug Hall, Michael Murphy
A crime novelist, retiring because her books have spawned real life incidents that have caused her to become a mulitple phobic, is accosted at her beach house by a young fan and a would-be detective. Good acting is wasted in the typical home invasion plot. Just another tv mystery.
Warrior Queen
Alex Kingston
PBS Materpiece Theater production of the legend of the early tribal Celtic queen who led united Britons against the Roman army in a 60 A.D. revolt. Human nature hasn't changed much in 2000 years.
Jane's House
1994
James Woods, Anne Archer
A year after the death of his wife, taking his cue from neighbor's and friends as to what he should be doing with his life, a man with two kid's begins to date again, with all of the usual family difficulties. But love conquers all. A slice-of-life film with no real plot and not much of a story.
Against Her Will: Incident In Baltimore
1991
Walter Matthau, Susan Blakely
When a woman is retained in a mental institution after, on bad advice, having voluntarily committed herself, an aging lawyer who has been hired as a partner by an ex-judge out of a mistaken belief that he has ruined the guy's career (in a previous movie), challenges the long-standing tenet that you can't sue a sovereign govern- ment. He researches the history of English law and files suit against the state of Maryland to have the woman released.
Red River
James Arness, Bruce Boxleitner, Ray Walston
A cattleman builds a herd and hires a group of cowboys to drive them to the rail head, encountering all of the typical complications along the way, including Indians, dissent among the cowboys, and desertion. That's about it. Not much of a plot, really. A lame remake of the much earlier John Wayne movie. I didn't like it when John Wayne did it, and I don't like this remake. The original is a far-overrated film and this one remains true to the original. The character motivation is underdeveloped, the dialogue is trite, and much of the story relies on audience expectations of the old west to do the work that the scriptwriters didn't do. A shallow movie overall with an equally shallow ending.
Ready To Rumble
David Arquette, Oliver Platt, Joe Pantoliano, Martin Landau
Two local losers go on the road in search of their wrestling hero when he is deposed as the champion. A basically stupid movie, but with a lot of funny one liners. Arquette plays his usual airheaded, but clever role. Landau plays an interesting part as a fit ex-wrestler who coaches newcomers to the "sport". The intentional miscasting of Platt as a world champ wrestler is supposed to have been funny, I think; but it doesn't work. Not a must-see movie.
The Tender
John Travolta, Ellie Raab
A hard-luck single father tries his best to get enough money to raise his daughter, but he goes from bad to worse and has to flee the area, only to find that his troubles follow him; also following him is a Doberman, a fighting dog left for dead, that his daughter had been secretly caring for. Disappointing and a bit unbelievable. The script tries hard to provide a vehicle that captures that Travolta charm, but falls a little short.
A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich
Cicely Tyson, Paul Winfield, Larry B. Scott
A ghetto kid struggles with the initial appeal of heroin abuse as he battles his stepfather to establish his identity within a demanding social setting. Good performances and character interest, but the story has been done a lot better since, and with better production values. Still, though, it's a compelling story, despite the typical upbeat cop-out ending that belies the more serious content of the rest of the film. Features Winfield in his lean and mean days, before he gained weight and a reputation and began getting the cake roles. The film features a great ghetto angst scene where the young hero confronts his former friend as they unwillingly but defiantly go their separate ways. Some good acting here.
Incident in a Small Town
Walter Matthau, Harry Morgan, Stephanie Zimbalist
A judge's estranged daughter calls him and asks him to come and help her when a man from her past shows up and tries to insinuate himself back into her life. Heavily plotted, in that it relies on typical plot complications and turn-arounds, this movie is otherwise ordinary.
Flight of the Navigator
Billy Cramer, Veronica Cartwright, Cliff DeYoung,
Sarah Jessica Parker, Howard Hesseman
A boy loses eight years of his life due to alien abduction. A low budgeted and hokey "close encounters" story that nevertheless manages to maintain interest through its humorous lightheartedness. Parker in a small role before her dubious trans- formation into a "Sex and the City" personality. Hesseman minus the Dr. Johnny Fever appeal. Cartwright in a role that disallows the appeal she had as a crew member aboard the ill-fated ship where only Sigorney survived, although her very appearance connotes that appeal. There's something about bug-eyed women that I find very attractive.
Walking Shadow
Joe Mantegne, Marcia Gay Hardin, Ernie Hudson,
Tamlyn Tomita, Eric Roberts, Christina Moore
Spenser takes on the West Coast Chinese mob when his lady asks him to do her a favor and help out her theater group manager, who is being stalked. Despite some early dialogue and voice-over narration that was overly literary, this could be the best of the Spenser movies. The characterizations are far better than usual and the acting is outstanding. Roberts is the bad guy who is so compelling that you want him to turn out good in the end. Though not as intimidating, Hudson is a far more adorable Hawk than past actors who have played the part. And Moore is absolutely sensational. Well-done mini-fantasy flash sequences and special cuts add to the interest.
See Spot Run
2001
David Arquette, Paul Sorvino, Angus T. Jones, Leslie Bib,
Michael Clark Duncan, Anthony Anderson, Kim Hawthorne
A mailman with a dog obsession babysits for a single mother neighbor for a day and takes her overly protected kid on a series of adventures involving dogs and the Mafia. A stupid movie, really, but funny and with a cute ending. Arquette is his usual adorable self, but the kid (Jones) steals the show.
Yesterday's Target
1996
Daniel Baldwin, Levar Burton, Stacy Haiduk, Malcolm McDowell
Three, no four agents are sent back in time to rectify the past in order to prevent the destruction of the human race. Sounds like a typical sci-fi premise so far. But when they each suffer from amnesia as a result of the trip and forget their purpose, the story becomes a bit different. Interesting.
Save the Last Dance
Julia Stiles, Sean Patrick Thomas
A white middle class girl, trying to get admitted to Julliard as a ballerina, after the death of her mother, goes to live with her father in a low class neighborhood and attends a city school, where she meets a black guy and falls in love with him, with the usual consequences. The Turning Point meets Saturday Night Fever and Dirty Dancing in the 'hood. Not bad, but filled to capacity with the typical cliches and pathos.
A Promise To Keep
1990
Dana Delany, William Russ, Adam Arkin, Mimi Kennedy
After her husband is killed in a train accident, a woman, dying of cancer, elicits a promise from her brother, who has three kids of his own, to keep her three boys and not allow them to be split up. But the ordeal of raising six kids takes a heavy toll on his marriage. A triumph of real life over artistic ideals. (Boo!) Good acting, but SOS as far as the content/plot goes. (Nice scene with Delany taking off her blouse and acting in her bra. She's a hot babe.)
Before Sunrise
Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy
Cute little film about an American guy who meets a French girl on a train on the way to Vienna and they end up spending twenty-four hours together before he has to catch a plane home. A bit unbelievable that two people so young could come to the full spectrum of philosophical and psychological conclusions that they do about life and love and sex, but otherwise it's a touching story about the instinctual and social difficulties in relationships between men and women.
Follow the River
Sheryl Lee, Ellen Burstyn
Shawnee Indians attack a frontier home, kill a few people, and kidnap a pregnant woman, her son, and her sister-in-law. But human values prevail, even among the "savages." The woman, after the birth of her baby, meets an older immigrant woman who was kidnapped separately, and they escape and return home by, you guessed it, following the river. And it all works out so neatly in the end, which only goes to prove that Indians are human too.
Marine Life
2000
Cybill Shepherd, Peter Outerbridge, Alexandra Purvis
A film about crazy women and the ineffectual men who love them. A middle-aged woman, uncertain of herself and her career as a lounge singer, divorced with a son and two daughters from previous marriages, each of whom has their own personal problems, lives with a man much younger than she is. The movie is told from the point of view of the youngest daughter--sort of. There's a lot of point of view violation going on, but that's the least of the film's difficulties. The bit of male bashing this movie engages in is counterbalanced by the unflattering picture it presents of women. Not too much good feeling here, despite the attempt to make the ending come out all right. It does, but in a kind of difficult way. Too strained, and too morose (for such an attempt at redemption).
Skylark
1993
Glenn Close, Christopher Walken
A Hallmark Production sequel to
Sarah: Plain and Tall. As with most sequels, the idea that was a good premise in the original is overworked. In order to ensure their survival after battling drought and fire, Sarah begrudgingly returns home to Maine for a visit with her aunts, taking the two kids with her. But love prevails, of course. The plot is a bit stilted, the pathos seeming more contrived than real; or maybe I mean more pathetic than tragic. The character motivation is real enough, I guess. It's just that I don't recognize the terribly affective nature of separation like Sarah does. But then, I'm not a woman. But that explanation doesn't account for Walken's character's motivation, which is equally motivated by love. A woman must have made this film. Or a man with feminine sensibilities. It's definitely a film for women and the men who love them.
Invisible Child
Rita Wilson, David Dorman
It's hard to decide how to take this movie. On one hand it's riddled with cliches and awkward acting, with a less-than-fully-believable story premise, and a "movie of the week" kind of pathos; on the other hand, it's a riveting story that is nevertheless difficult to watch because of the embarrassing and painful situations that are created. The ending is maybe a bit immoral in that it justifies in a way the actions of the husband in having enabled his wife's mental problems. On the other hand, it accurately depicts the meddling and yet ineffective incompetence of child welfare agencies. A difficult movie to review. Maybe it's good; maybe it's pathetic.
Quadrille
(Fr.)
An American film actor meets a French stage actress and seduces her, causing problems between her and her long-time lover. A "drawing room" comedy that is sophisticated and subtle in that way that only the French seem to have been able to master. The subject matter is mature and the turn-around ending is particularly clever and very continental. Worth seeing for the colorful pastel hotel room scenery and the stylistic setting alone.
Missing Pieces
2000
James Coburn
A painter, estranged from his father after an auto accident in which he was driving resulted in the death of his mother, reopens old wounds by returning for Christmas from Mexico, where he has been living in a self-imposed exile. Returning to Mexico after the holidays and renewing his artistic lifestyle, he becomes involved in another auto accident. The intrigue that follows is a mystery that the father has to solve when he travels to Mexico to take care of his son's affairs and discovers a situation that he had no idea existed. A pretty good mystery with excellent acting and fair production values. Typical syrupy ending, though.
The Three Stooges
Paul Ben-Victor, Evan Handler, John Kassir, Michael Chiklis
Good biopic about the lives of the slapstick trio. Maybe just a bit superficial, although the film did depict some minor depth psychology. The characterizations were well drawn and the acting was excellent. It was a bit difficult at first to accept the actors as the Stooges, but they ended up pulling it off pretty well.