[7] A woman with amnesia begins discovering her past as a deadly assassin in this high-octane action flick from director Renny Harlin. The Long Kiss Goodnight is good hokey fun at a frantic pace. Geena Davis and Samuel L. Jackson are both good in an action movie, even if their chemistry leaves something to be desired. Screenwriter Shane Black’s dialogue is hit and miss, sometimes …
[8] A murdered man comes back from the dead to exact revenge on the people who killed him and his fiancee. The Crow is a dark visual delight featuring a charismatic performance from the late Brandon Lee as the title character. (Lee died in an on-set accident before the film was completed.) Stories of revenge always risk a boring second act where we’re forced to watch …
[8] A young boy who can see and hear dead people confides in a child psychologist who comes to believe the boy’s curse is a gift. The strength of The Sixth Sense lies most prominently in the scenes between Toni Collette and Haley Joel Osment. I’m hard-pressed to think of another on-screen mother/son relationship that is more realistic or affecting. Their final scene together, where they …
[6] This ambitious coming-of-age drama stuffs its short running time with a nearly incongruous overview of Ethan Canin’s novel, but at least it skims a provocative surface. The story about love and conflict between two brothers is serviced remarkably well by Nick Stahl and Jerry O’Connell (all buff and sexy after dropping his Stand by Me pounds). Sam Elliott also brings color as a self-righteous …
[8] Kathy Bates delivers a spooky Oscar-winning performance in Rob Reiner’s film based on the novel by Stephen King. Screenwriter William Goldman builds a tremendous amount of tension and suspense with barely more than two characters and one room. The payoff isn’t as interesting as the build-up, but Misery is still a fun, scary ride. James Caan is great as the victimized writer, and deserves …
[3] A detective and a rookie cop team up to find a bad guy. I know. How original. Charlie Sheen gets my nomination for least charismatic performance in a motion picture here. The word “driftwood” comes to mind. The Rookie is hokey in a bad way, probably the worst Eastwood-directed movie I’ve ever seen. The whole thing feels like a studio’s desperate attempt to come …
[7] If you love creature features as much as I do, you’ll enjoy Peter Hyams’ The Relic. Penelope Ann Miller stars as an anthropologist who teams with a cop (Tom Sizemore) to stop a supernatural creature after it wreaks havoc at a Chicago museum event. The monster effects are courtesy of the late, great Stan Winston, the museum setting provides plenty of creepy atmosphere, and …
[7] A rescue team investigates a seemingly abandoned spacecraft that has been inside a black hole and discover that its… well, basically it’s haunted. Sam Neill and Laurence Fishburne star in this haunted spaceship flick that plays like a cross between Alien and Hellraiser. Some nice moments of tension, especially involving airlocks and decompression, but the barrage of ‘is it real or is it imaginary’ …
[6] This film, along with What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, both released the same year, made young Leonardo DiCaprio a star. DiCaprio holds his own against the formidable Robert DeNiro, here playing an abusive step-father. The performances are good, but the story (based on the memoir of author Tobias Wolff) is predictable and protracted. Ellen Barkin is good in a thankless role. Look for Tobey Maguire, …
[5] In the ‘so bad, it’s (almost) good’ category, welcome to Troll 2. When a vacationing family discover a town full of goblins disguised as people, they have to escape before they become goblin food. This is one of the most famously awful movies ever made — a perfect storm of horrible writing, horrible acting, and horrible execution. What really sets the movie apart, though, …
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