[3] In this third Meet the Parents film, Robert DeNiro’s characters suffers a heart attack, causing renewed concern that his son-in-law, played by Ben Stiller, be able to carry on as the family’s patriarch when he’s gone. Little Fockers feels hastily concocted with a script that’s overly-contrived and an ensemble cast that is barely ever in the same room together. As much as I’ve enjoyed …
[6] Robert Altman uses the circus-like atmosphere of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show for a commentary on racism and the whitewashing of American history. It’s actually a pretty light-hearted film built around Buffalo Bill’s contentious relationship with Sitting Bull. Paul Newman is reliably good as the exasperated Bill, pushed to his wits’ end by a stubborn but commercially valuable Indian who quietly challenges his authority …
[7] While it lacks the pervasive chill that runs through The Silence of the Lambs, Red Dragon is a well-made thriller that engages from beginning to end, thanks to a briskly-paced script adaptation by Ted Tally (who won an Oscar for his treatment of Lambs). This is a prequel to the time Lecter met Starling, and also a re-make of Michael Mann’s stylish 1986 film …
[3] I don’t know what the hell I just saw. I could tell you what it’s about, but it’d be misleading. See, it’s about a discharged cop (Kevin Kline) who is roped back into the police to help them find a serial killer. Only very little screen time is actually devoted to that scenario. It’s mostly about this cop’s myriad relationships. There’s his old flame …
[7] I love movies. But unlike most other people who love movies, I don’t love Wes Anderson movies. To me they’re a case of too much style over too little substance. I never care about the story or the characters, and I’m usually more inclined to fall asleep than chuckle at anything. And while The Grand Budapest Hotel is probably my favorite Anderson flick so …
[10] A breath of cinematic fresh air that magically dignifies exploitation and elevates dialgoue to an art form. Writer/director Quentin Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill) assembles a stellar cast highlighted by the return of John Travolta, previously languishing in talking baby movie exile. In the chaptered non-linear screenplay, he’s paired with Samuel L. Jackson playing two hit men who wax philosophic between jobs. Bruce Willis …
[10] Holly Hunter picked up an Academy Award for her performance as Ada, a rebellious mute who finds solace and a means of expression only with her beloved piano in Jane Campion’s gorgeously crafted and erotically charged The Piano. Ada is married off to Stewart (Sam Neill), a sexually repressed land developer in Victorian New Zealand. When she and her young daughter (Anna Paquin) first …
[10] “You get what you settle for.” It’s a potent little theme that asks all of us to take stock of our lives. It probably helps that I saw Thelma & Louise at a time when, like the title characters, I was searching for escape and freedom, determined to become my own person and follow what I knew with all my heart was my calling …
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