[6] You’ll find immense, beautifully dressed sets and breathtaking oceanside locations in the 1979 Dracula. You’ll also hear a richly romantic John Williams score. These elements go a long way in creating a mood and atmosphere that are more lush than any Dracula movie has ever had before — and are enough to warrant a recommendation. But I think the superlatives end there. Frank Langella …
[5] This Australian TV movie from Peter Weir is a subdued psychological thriller about a woman who grows increasingly frustrated and fearful of an eccentric plumber. Weir (Witness, Dead Poets Society) throws in a little commentary on the issue of class prejudice and does a good job building some suspense, but the stakes aren’t high enough, nor the motivations dire enough, for the movie to …
[4] In this fourth installment (and final, by my count) of the disaster franchise, George Kennedy returns to pilot a super-sonic plane to Paris. Trouble is, the bad guy (Robert Wagner) wants to blow the plane out of the sky to stop an on-board news reporter (Susan Blakely) from uncovering his corporate shenanigans. For the most part, the Airport movies are a guilty pleasure, but …
[7] Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) tries to slide into a normal life after the events of the first film, but Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) keeps insisting on a re-match. Rocky II follows closely enough to the narrative of the original movie to be annoying, and a pivotal moment where Adrian (Talia Shire) reverses an important opinion doesn’t sit well with me. But the characters are …
[1] A business man tries to capitalize on a town’s frequent Bigfoot sightings by capturing the creature for his own tourist attraction. This would be an awesome movie if it were 1979 and you’d never seen a movie before. Bigfoot is a big white fluffy thing that howls like a cat in heat. The music is the equivalent of Tangerine Dream throwing up. Plus, if …
[7] H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell) travels through time to 1979 in hot pursuit of Jack the Ripper (David Warner), who’s hell-bent on continuing his murderous rampage in a whole new century. In the hands of director/screenwriter Nicholas Meyer (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan), Time After Time is a solid romantic romp. I like McDowell and Warner in anything, and Mary Steenburgen is fine …
[2] Glaciers move faster than Robert Altman’s bleak post-apocalyptic drama. The ice-age backdrop is the only interesting thing about Quintet, but it’s completely irrelevant to the story line. Paul Newman plays one of the last survivors of the human race, all of whom hole up and play board games, waiting to die. One group of players ups the ante by wagering people’s lives. Something of …
[8] The teenagers of a sterile suburban experiment turn to drugs and violence as they rebel against cops, teachers, parents and city planners in Over the Edge, directed by Jonathan Kaplan (The Accused, Immediate Family). This is a surprisingly dark, character-driven coming of age story featuring terrific performances from Matt Dillon (his first film) and Michael Kramer. While the kids are the protagonists, I appreciate …
[6] John Huston tackles Flannery O’Connor’s gothic tale of southern evangelism. Wise Blood is a curious movie full of interesting ideas, not the least of which is a paradoxical main character who shuns Jesus while simultaneously torturing himself for some sort of redemption. Brad Dourif (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Child’s Play) stars as the son of a ‘hellfire and brimstone’ preacher (Huston in …
[8] It may have been Disney’s pallid attempt to cash in on the success of Star Wars, but The Black Hole is another kind of animal, a kitschy matinee sci-fi/horror movie that’s worth a look in its own right. It’s a cross between Frankenstein and The Old Dark House, falling more in line with Forbidden Planet than it does George Lucas’ famous trilogy. Robert Forster, …
Copyright © 2024 | Theme by MH Themes