Superstar (1999)
[6] Molly Shannon is one of the funnier women to come out of Saturday Night Live the last few decades. If you agree, you'll probably find Superstar moderately entertaining. If not, this formulaic comedy could be a rough slog for…
Cecil B. DeMented (2000)
[6]
In this opus from writer/director John Waters, Stephen Dorff (Blade, The Gate) plays the title character, a cult movie director who gathers a flock of teen drug addicts and whores to join him in a literal war against mainstream film making. Their efforts attract media attention when they kidnap a Hollywood star (Melanie Griffith) and force her to be in their underground flick. I can certainly appreciate the desire to obliterate an industry that markets drivel to the masses, but I’d have preferred a little more meat on these bones. Griffith’s character in particular is hard to get a handle on, her transformation from bitchy diva to Demented acolyte fitting too conveniently into the needs of the plotting. And I’d like for Waters to have pushed Dorff further over the edge as well. Everyone is a neat stereotype and things are played strictly for laughs. But, hey – that’s the Waters way.
Back to School (1986)
[7]
Rodney Dangerfield stars as a corporate tycoon who enrolls in college to help inspire his son (Christine‘s Keith Gordon) to stay in school. Now, I’m hard on comedies and I honestly don’t like very many of them — but I really enjoyed Back to School. It’s a terrific vehicle for Dangerfield and his direct, throw-away sensibility. When a stand-up comic is featured in a narrative film, the formulaic plot usually ends up constraining the talent and strangling all the fun out of the movie. But Back to School keeps things loose enough for Dangerfield to shine. It even allows him to keep his balls after the obligatory third-act character catharsis. (Learning lessons can be so castrating.)
Premium Rush (2012)
[4] Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as a New York City bicycle delivery man engaged in a never-ending cat-and-mouse chase with a nasty copy (Michael Shannon) for possession of a very valuable package. Premium Rush reminds me of movies like Rad and…
Frozen (2013)
[8]
Disney’s Frozen borrows ideas from Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen and follows closely in the footsteps of Tangled before it, but it’s also a bit more. For one thing, there’s an interesting sister dynamic at play here. One royal daughter, Anna (voiced by Kristen Bell), is the care-free sort, while the older daughter Elsa (Wicked‘s Idina Menzel) is born with a curse – the power to turn things into ice. After a childhood display of her magical powers nearly kills Anna, Elsa hides herself away for fear of hurting anyone. That’s all prelude. The story proper takes off when Anna inadvertently upsets Elsa on her coronation day. When the citizens of Arendelle discover their queen is a sorceress, they freak, she freaks, and a hard snow comes to fall. Elsa flees the kingdom and builds an ice castle for herself on the side of a mountain, leaving it up to little sister to later beg her for a return to warmer times.
All the President’s Men (1976)
[4] Alan J. Pakula (Sophie's Choice, The Pelican Brief) directs the big-screen story of how Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein cracked the Watergate scandal that lead to President Nixon's resignation. I love Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman…
¡Three Amigos! (1986)
[5] John Landis (Animal House, An American Werewolf in London) directs comedy heavyweights Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, and Martin Short in this goofy flick about three silent film stars who accept a job in Mexico only to realize it's not…
Any Given Sunday (1999)
[4]
I really like Oliver Stone about half the time, but the show-offy style he used with Natural Born Killers and J.F.K. doesn’t service Any Given Sunday. Those other films, with their multiple perspectives and drug-induced visions, felt right to employ rapid editing and multiple media. But Any Given Sunday is (or should have been) a reality-based ensemble drama about the rigors and tribulations of everyone who works in football. Freeze-frames, stock photography of rolling thunder clouds, and ecclesiastic Moby music don’t work here — they only serve to portray football as something holy and sacred, and the players as celebrities or gods.
Veronica Guerin (2003)
[6]
Cate Blanchett stars as the real-life Irish journalist who paid the ultimate price for exposing the burgeoning drug problem in mid-90s Dublin. Outraged after discovering children playing in streets littered with used needles, Veronica Guerin decided to bring the epidemic into the national limelight, risking the life and safety of not only herself but her family as well. Blanchett, always reliable, does a great job portraying Guerin as a woman with a brave public face, even after a shot is fired into her home and a drug lord punches her repeatedly in the face for daring to step foot on his property (the film’s most brutal and disturbing scene).
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
[8]
Director Sidney Lumet showcases a true story ripped from the headlines, about two amateur bank robbers who started a media sensation that exploded further when the public learned of their unusual circumstances. Al Pacino stars as the master-mind of the heist plan that goes to hell and Charles Durning costars as the police captain who tries to manage the 24-hour siege. What’s most remarkable about this story is the robbers’ unexpected courtesy toward their hostages and law enforcement, as well as the reason Pacino’s character needs the money — to pay for his lover’s sex change. Lumet’s unadorned, fly-on-the-wall approach neither sensationalizes nor condescends to any of the material or its characters. Dog Day Afternoon is a mesmerizing mash-up of the gritty and the oddly touching, the darkly comic and the emotionally tense. Frank Pierson took home the Academy Award for his original screenplay, while the film also earned nominations for Best Picture, Director, and Editing (Dede Allen). Pacino was nominated for Best Actor and Chris Sarandon (Fright Night, The Princess Bride) was nominated for his supporting role as Pacino’s exasperated boyfriend. With John Cazale and Carol Kane.