[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 …
[3] Ill-conceived both corporately and creatively, Grease 2 lacks any reason to keep you watching. The plot is basically a gender-reversal of the first film’s storyline, but without any interesting characters to latch onto. The songs are horrendous. Repeat: the songs are HORRENDOUS. The only reason to watch Grease 2 is to gawk at the beautiful faces of Michelle Pfeiffer and Maxwell Caulfield. It ain’t …
[6] Paul Newman stars as an alcoholic ambulance chaser who tries to redeem his career with a high profile medical malpractice case. Directed by Sidney Lumet from a script adapted by David Mamet, The Verdict is a solid combination of character study and courtroom drama. Good supporting performances from James Mason, Lindsay Crouse, and Charlotte Rampling. One thing I especially liked about the film is …
[10] In Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster classic, a young boy named Elliot (Henry Thomas) takes care of a stranded alien, helping him send a message into space for the mother ship to return and rescue him. E.T. is about loneliness and friendship. While E.T. has been physically left behind, Elliot and his family — Robert MacNaughton and Drew Barrymore play siblings and Dee Wallace plays the …
[10] A suburban family seeks the help of paranormal investigators after their youngest daughter is kidnapped by malevolent spirits inside their own home. Poltergeist, written and produced by Steven Spielberg and directed by Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), is an emotional and visceral thrill ride that I have cherished since childhood. The story’s family, the Frelings, are quirky but entirely believable. You get invested …
[10] Blade Runner tackles one of science fiction’s biggest questions: what makes us human? The story by Philip K. Dick is a sci-fi allegory for soldiers returning home with post-traumatic stress, wrapped in the veneer of a neo-noir detective story — all in all, a beguiling blend of genres and content. Harrison Ford plays the detective, Dekkard, a world-weary loner hired to hunt androids (here …
[10] This movie does two things extraordinarily well. It transports me and it terrifies me. Before anything scary even happens, director John Carpenter succeeds in creating an atmosphere of mystery and suspense that locks me into the film and chills me to the bone. The story features a group of men holed up in an Antarctic research station who discover an alien (the outer space …
[10] Jen and Kira, the last of their kind, must restore a missing shard to a magical crystal in order to unite two warring races and bring peace to their fractured world. The story may be too dark and dreary for young children, but The Dark Crystal is really more of an art film than family fare. The film relies entirely on puppets and animatronics, …
[9] To save her sick child and move her home from the path of the farmer’s plow, a timid field mouse seeks out a colony of hyper-intelligent rats who are the product of medical experimentation. The Secret of N.I.M.H., based on Robert C. O’Brien’s Newbery Award winning novel, came along during a great Disney dryspell, when the most profitable animated films were a couple of …
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