1995

[7] Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas play rival assassins stealing each others’ contracts. When Stallone discovers the mysterious contractor has hired Banderas to take him out, he teams with a hacker and would-be target (Julianne Moore) to gain the upper hand. This cat-and-mouse thriller is surprisingly more subdued and character-oriented than you might expect from a mid-90s action movie. Stallone gives one of his best …

[5] Whoopi Goldberg, Mary-Louise Parker, and Drew Barrymore star in this ‘girl power’ road trip movie from director Herbert Ross (Steel Magnolias, Footloose). Goldberg plays a singer who wants to leave New York for Los Angeles and decides to make the trip with a woman (Parker) looking for a traveling companion to San Diego. Along the way, they rescue Goldberg’s friend (Barrymore) from an abusive …

[6] What if a widowed U.S. president started dating again during an election year? This question is the premise for director Rob Reiner (Stand By Me, Misery) and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network, Moneyball) in The American President. Michael Douglas stars as the leader of the free world, who begins seeing an environmental protection lobbyist played by Annette Bening. While the relationship is perfectly …

[5] Sigourney Weaver plays an agoraphobic expert on serial killers summoned to help a San Francisco detective played by Holly Hunter when a murderer starts imitating serial killers of the past. The two phenomenal stars of Copycat are its greatest attributes. Weaver’s part is a terrified paranoid — a little one-note, but certainly within her wheelhouse. Hunter gives the more remarkable performance, giving nuance and …

[7] A group of teenaged computer ‘hackers’ are blamed for unleashing a virus that will capsize oil tankers. Before they’re all captured by police, they band together and seek the aid of hackers worldwide to help unmask the real bad guys — a pair of corporate embezzlers working from inside the company. The premise of Hackers requires a hefty suspension of disbelief regarding what teenagers …

[6] Screenwriter Callie Khouri’s much anticipated follow-up to her Oscar-winning script for Thelma & Louise is a more conventional romantic comedy, but not one without bite. Julia Roberts stars as Grace, a busy wife and mother who discovers her husband (Dennis Quaid) is cheating on her. Her family encourages her to keep it a secret and deal with it privately, but that’s just not Grace’s …

[6] Director Paul Verhoeven (Spetters, RoboCop) and screenwriter Joe Eszterhas (Basic Instinct) reteam for this stripper-style twist on A Star is Born and All About Eve. Elizabeth Berkley (Saved by the Bell) stars as a tough but naïve young woman with Las Vegas showgirl aspirations. She quickly learns how devious the environment and its denizens can be. She learns their wicked game and plays it …

[3] Chris O’Donnell and Drew Barrymore star in this teenaged drama/romance about high school students who hit the road after Barrymore’s parents put her in a psychiatric ward for attempting suicide. The young lovers think the open road and fresh air will cure whatever ails Barrymore, but it turns out that her mental illness is real — and potentially dangerous. I’m glad a movie like …

[6] Dustin Hoffman and Renee Russo star as an estranged married couple both working government jobs in the area of infectious disease control. When a fast-acting deadly virus begins spreading in America, the two find themselves working together to control the spread and locate the source of the outbreak — an African monkey let loose in suburban California. The screenwriters weave in a layer of …

[8] Ralph Fiennes and Angela Bassett star in this tech-noir thriller from director Kathryn Bigelow (Near Dark, The Hurt Locker) and writer James Cameron (Titanic, Avatar). It’s late in the year 1999 (four years into the future for when the film was released), with Fiennes playing a disgraced cop who resorts to peddling illegal recorded memories, complete with sensory input, to people looking for virtual …

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