[8] Spike Lee explores racism from multiple angles in Do the Right Thing, a provocative but entertaining ‘day in the life’ flick set in a Brooklyn community on the hottest day of the summer. Films that deal with racism tend to be either maudlin or one-sided, so I was glad to see Lee present the issue as the complicated one that it is. Scenes between …
[8] After impulsively wishing her baby brother away, a teenaged girl must brave a dangerous labyrinth and rescue the tot from a nefarious Goblin King in Labyrinth, the product of a bizarre but winning combination of creative talents. Director Jim Henson reunites with Dark Crystal conceptual designer Brian Froud for a comic fantasy adventure scripted by Monty Python’s Terry Jones. The movie is further energized …
[4] At a government facility where psychics can enter people’s dreams, a wave of deadly nightmares begins claiming lives. Once the President of the United States is affected, two psychics square off — one wanting to save the president, and one wanting to continue his killing spree. Despite a worthy cast that includes Dennis Quaid, Max von Sydow, and Christopher Plummer, Dreamscape never hits its …
[6] Prior to Tron, computer animation appeared in a scene here and there, in films like Star Wars and The Black Hole, but Tron marked the first extensive use of it. So it’s something of a cinematic milestone, the great-grandfather of modern CGI fests like Avatar. Tron looks and sounds like no other movie with its austere digitally-rendered landscapes, the characters in glowing tights, and …
[9] It’s hard to believe we once lived in a time when superhero movies didn’t monopolize the multiplexes. Such a time was the summer of 1989, when Warner Brothers’ very first big-screen version of Batman was due to be released. Many declared the film a folly. Indeed, a superhero film hadn’t been successful since Superman II nearly ten years earlier and most of the world …
[10] This superb dark comedy blows apart any precious John Hughes-like notions of high school life. Winona Ryder stars as Veronica, a high school girl caught in an elitist bitch-clique with three other young women (including Beverly Hills 90210 star Shannen Doherty) — all named Heather. But when the dangerous and alluring JD (Christian Slater) rides into town, Veronica falls under his spell as the …
[9] Underwater oil drillers are forced to work with the military to recover lost nuclear warheads, but they discover far more lurking in the depths of the ocean… This unique underwater sci-fi/thriller from James Cameron (Terminator, Aliens) is an ambitious, somewhat uneven film with thinly-drawn stereotypes and a pretentious alien subplot, but you know what? I like it anyway. I really like it — in …
[9] This delicate fantasy about regret and second chances casts a powerful spell that brings many grown men to tears before the credits roll. To that effect, Field of Dreams is a beautiful indictment of the unspoken, unrequited nature of father-son relationships — the main ingredient in any male weepy. It helps that Kevin Costner is the lead. He has an ‘everyman’ quality that allows …
[9] An off-duty police officer takes it upon himself to stop a gang of German terrorists who take an office Christmas party hostage in John McTiernan’s iconic action film, Die Hard. Let me put it another way: Die Hard is The Action Movie. It built a new paradigm for the genre and launched a movie star’s career. Bruce Willis can’t be given enough credit here. He …
[9] As far as monster movies go, this is the one to beat. It’s the only film directed by the late Stan Winston, the special effects wizard who brought so many creatures and otherworldly characters to life in movies like Jurassic Park, Terminator 2, and Edward Scissorhands. I always wished he’d directed another movie, because Pumpkinhead is creepy as hell, a superb dark fairy tale …
Copyright © 2024 | Theme by MH Themes