[6] This Dino DeLaurentiis production of the infamous tale of mutiny welcomes more shades of gray into the characters of Captain Bligh and Fletcher Christian than the 1935 original film, though I wouldn’t say it’s a better film overall. Bligh and Christian are portrayed by Anthony Hopkins and Mel Gibson, respectively. Bligh is a more complicated and sympathetic character; Christian is a more blindly passionate …
[8] Director Hugh Hudson (Chariots of Fire) delivers an emotionally compelling adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ vine-swinging legend. The first half of the movie, depicting Tarzan’s childhood up through his discovery by an Austrian explorer (Ian Holm), outshines the last, but the movie still works well overall. Christopher Lambert (Highlander) does a good job bringing out the extreme pathos of a character caught between two …
[5] Clint Eastwood plays a detective (who isn’t Dirty Harry) assigned to a case involving a serial rapist and murderer whose victims begin to include Eastwood’s acquaintances. This is a paint-by-numbers serial killer movie, full of all the old cliches — like the closeups of the killer’s feet, the old ‘close the refrigerator door to reveal the killer’ gag, and bare breasts galore. Eastwood’s performance …
[5] The Russians invade America and spark World War III in this Cold-War emblem from writer/director John Milius (Conan the Barbarian, Big Wednesday). Political correctness aside, the opening of this movie — the Russian invasion — is very effective. But the rest of the movie fails to live up to the promise of its first 10 minutes. It’s fun to see the cast, all of …
[2] This movie is just too silly and disjointed for me. I hate it and I always have. It’s a boring, cheap, un-inventive waste of time and talent. I truly don’t get its appeal. The plot is beyond me, and why are all the aliens Jamaican? Why is Jeff Goldblum dressed like a cowboy? Why can’t the amazing John Lithgow rescue me from this torture? …
[6] Supergirl is good cheese, one of those ‘so bad it’s good’ kind of movies. You’ve got Faye Dunaway vamping out as a frustrated witch living in an abandoned amusement park, smokey voiced Brenda Vaccaro as her wise-cracking sidekick, a total waste of Peter O’Toole, and a whole bunch of monstrous threats hindered by budget constraints. Take for example Supergirl’s exciting battle with… a tractor. …
[4] Peter Hyams (Capricorn One, The Relic) tackles Arthur C. Clarke’s sequel novel. It is, of course, a fool’s errand to follow so closely in the footsteps of Stanley Kubrick and his revolutionary and revered 2001: A Space Odyssey, but for whatever reason, that errand was run. And for a while, 2010‘s not so bad. 2001 leaves a lot of mystery in its wake, so …
[6] Prince and his Revolution members all play roles in this rock opera that’s equal parts cheese and cool. If you love Prince’s music (that is, if you have a pulse), that’ll be enough for you to enjoy the movie. It’s basically a concert movie where half the songs are performed and half serve as score behind the loose narrative. The script works best when …
[6] Splash is a sweet-enough fantasy rom-com from Ron Howard (his second feature). Tom Hanks stars as a man who falls in love with a mysterious woman who just happens to be a mermaid. Darryl Hannah plays the fish; John Candy and Eugene Levy ham it up in supporting roles. The best scenes are ones where Hannah tries to hide her true nature, including a …
[6] Christopher Collet plays a tenth-grader whose divorced mother brings a drug-dealing boyfriend home in this drama from Michael Apted (Nell, Gorillas in the Mist). The movie is pretty solid for its first two-thirds, ratcheting up the tension and creating a good deal of empathy for Collet and his little brother, played by the late Corey Haim (his film debut). The last act is a …
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