[5] I like the premise of this one. Cary Grant plays a beach bum who relays Japanese radio messages to the military during WWII. His life is a solitary one until a plane crashes on the island, introducing him to a school mistress (Leslie Caron) and seven little girls. As you might imagine, at first he hates this estrogen invasion, but soon comes to find …
[4] When I ask myself why I like so few Mel Brooks movies, I think the answer has to do with character investment. Even in a parody movie, I still need it. There just isn’t much to latch onto here. Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride) makes a good-looking Robin Hood, but the character doesn’t really come to life at all. I sorta chuckled once or …
[4] Brendan Fraser, Steve Buscemi, and Adam Sandler star as wannabe rock gods who take a small radio station in L.A. hostage until they play their demo over the airwaves. As serendipity permits, news of the siege hits the public and starts enough of a sensation that the guys become bonafide celebrities… and yes, they get their record contract. There are absolutely no surprises in …
[6] John Stockwell (Christine) stars as a teenage motor head who steals a bizarre piece of alien technology from a local junk yard to try and pass off as his high school science project. Trouble is, the device keeps depleting its surrounding of any electrical charge. And the more energy it consumes, the more it begins tampering with the space-time continuum. Before long, Stockwell and …
[8] Writer/director Paul Weitz (About a Boy, American Pie) creates a compelling star vehicle for Lily Tomlin with Grandma. Tomlin plays an irascible widower, who flits from girlfriend to girlfriend trying to fill the void left by her one true love that passed away years earlier. One day, her granddaughter comes to her for help. She’s pregnant and wants to have an abortion, but needs …
[6] The Coen Brothers are at it again, this time with a wonky tale of 1950s Hollywood studio politics mixed with political scandal. Hail, Caesar! is scattershot in its narrative. Josh Brolin’s character is marginally the main protagonist. Brolin plays a gruff studio executive who can barely keep all of his stars and starlets in line while another job offer tempts him away from the …
[5] At her sister’s funeral, an eccentric woman meets her uptight nephew and takes him globe-trotting to find an old flame. The combination of the great George Cukor and the ever-acerbic Maggie Smith doesn’t add up to anything compelling in this Auntie Mame wannabe. The screenplay, based on Graham Green’s novel, is distractedly episodic and Smith’s performance is over-the-top even for her. The tone is …
[8] The film adaptation of Robert Harling’s play is unabashedly melodramatic, nostalgic, and sentimental. Some of those qualities usually annoy the hell out of me, but the ensemble of great actresses and the slew of memorable one-liners make Steel Magnolias hard to resist. I care less about the dramatic Sally Field/Julia Roberts center story (mother, daughter, wedding, pregnancy, illness, blah) and more about the group …
[2] Swingers is the reason we cannot let college students with broken hearts have movie cameras. If I had to say something nice about the movie, which somehow launched the careers of director Doug Liman and writer Jon Favreau, it’s that Heather Graham has probably never been photographed more beautifully. And I guess the male leads, including super-skinny Vince Vaughn, are all attractive. But that’s …
[6] In order to make The Dark Crystal, Jim Henson and company first had to make the financiers a sequel to their successful Muppet Movie. And so The Great Muppet Caper was born. It’s not as epic or inspirational as the first film, and the songs are nowhere near as magical either, but the sequel isn’t too shabby in its own right. Kermit, Fozzy, and …
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