[7] A well-structured, lovingly-crafted sword and sorcery flick. Arnold Schwarzenegger, limited as he may be, was born for this role and Basil Poledouris’ score is among the best ever recorded for film. Writer/director John Milius seems rushed at times, but some scenes are extraordinarily polished. I love the first half-hour most of all. The death of Conan’s mother could not be done better. It’s all …
[7] SPOILER REVIEW: Sylvester Stallone returns both as star and director, this time pitted against a one-dimensional and downright evil opponent named Clubber Lang (Mr. T). Carl Weathers returns as former opponent Apollo Creed, offering his training services after the death of Mickey (Burgess Meredith). The film gains dramatic heft from Mickey’s departure, and I was glad to see supporting players Talia Shire and Burt …
[7] While we were all enjoying the happy horny homogeneity of early ’80s teen sex comedies, along came The Last American Virgin, a remake of a 1978 Israeli film Lemon Popsicle. It starts off like any other of its ilk, with three teen boys trying to lose it, whether it’s to coked-out party girls, an over-sexed Spanish pizza delivery customer, or a hooker with crabs. …
[7] Barbara Hershey plays a single mother who is repeatedly sexually assaulted by an invisible force. I was impressed with how brutal and explicit the attacks are, right down to some creepy special effects that simulate the squeezing of Hershey’s breasts by unseen hands. Though the rapes are supernatural, they’re among the most terrifying I’ve seen on film, due largely to Hershey’s fearless performance. The …
[8] George Romero directs an anthology from Stephen King in this homage to colorful horror comics of the 1950s. All five tales are pretty good. In Father’s Day, a deceased patriarch comes back to life to torment his heirs. Then Stephen King steps in front of the camera, playing a goofy hillbilly who discovers a deadly meteor in The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verill. Leslie …
[6] Reviled in its initial release for lacking any appearance of Michael Myers, truth is Halloween III ain’t that bad, it’s just mis-titled. It plays like an expanded episode of Twilight Zone or Outer Limits, centered around an oafish hero (Tom Atkins) and a stereotypical hot chick (Stacey Nelkin) who team up to uncover a conspiracy involving deadly Halloween masks. Halloween III is silly and …
[7] Eddie Murphy made his big screen debut opposite Nick Nolte in this action-comedy from director Walter Hill (The Warriors, Southern Comfort). Nolte plays a cop who begrudgingly seeks the help of Murphy’s character, a thief serving the last few months of his jail time. Together they try to track down a killer (Dexter‘s James Remar), and gosh darn if they don’t start to become …
[8] Meryl Streep snared the best actress Oscar for her disarming performance as a Polish refugee forced by a Nazi soldier into one of the cruelest scenarios a mother could imagine — choosing which of her two children will die. The Auschwitz scenes, which unfold via flashback, are probably the most memorable ones in Sophie’s Choice, but I was equally (if not more) enthralled by …
[6] It’s mawkish, awkward, and in need of a subtlety injection, but I like Making Love anyway. As one of the earliest big studio mainstream films to feature openly gay characters who are neither serial killers nor flaming queens, I have to give the flick some cred. Michael Ontkean (Twin Peaks) and Kate Jackson (Charlie’s Angels) play best-friend newlyweds whose relationship begins to deteriorate when …
[5] Somehow, Roger Corman’s rip-offs tend to be the best around. This one takes aim at Alien, centering around a team of scientists who accidentally breed a genetic mutant that escapes and starts eating them, all one by one. The dialogue is atrocious in a ‘so bad, it’s good’ kinda way and the special effects are hit-and-miss, but Tim Suhrstedt’s cinematography is far better than …
Copyright © 2024 | Theme by MH Themes