[8] Dreamworks Animation’s maiden voyage is a stunning achievement of sight and sound. Impressionistic background paintings blend with sexy, angular character designs, all set to a brilliant soundtrack by composer Hans Zimmer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz. It kills me that stories from The Bible still pass as family entertainment, but I’m glad they do — how else am I going to find a mature, animated …
[8] This version of Hairspray disarms you from the very beginning notes of “Good Morning, Baltimore” and builds to one of the most joyful finales of any movie in recent memory. The musical numbers are all superbly choreographed and staged by director Adam Shankman, but it’s the last half-hour of this movie that really seals the deal for me. The climactic performance of “You Can’t …
[8] [Warning: This review contains spoilers.] Joanna moves with her husband and children to idyllic Stepford, where the women love making cookies, cleaning house, and servicing their husbands. Yes, ladies, it’s a horror movie. And one that holds up remarkably well. Sure, it’s a little campy. But a dose of dark humor hardly lessens the film’s horrific revelation — that the men of Stepford are …
[8] Brian DePalma serves up a twisty Hitchcockian thriller about a female slasher hunting a prostitute who witnessed her last murder. Michael Caine stars as the shrink who tries to help the call girl, who’s played by Nancy Allen (Mrs DePalma at the time). But it’s Angie Dickinson who delivers the film’s most memorable performance as a married woman who nervously initiates a one-night stand. …
[8] The Disney Animation Studios took Shakespeare’s Hamlet and transplanted it to the African savanna with an all-animal cast. Buoyed by a hit soundtrack, lush visuals, memorable characters, and a daring blend of intense drama and whacky humor, the film became the critical and financial climax of the late ’80s/early ’90s Disney renaissance. For me, the truly exceptional elements of the film are the music, …
[8] Jay Baruchel voices a pre-pubescent Viking who fancies himself a dragon hunter — that is, until he accidentally befriends one of the creatures and dubs him Toothless. That’s when How to Train Your Dragon becomes a romance between a boy and his dragon. I was not prepared for how much I would enjoy this movie — great script, endearing characters, well-choreographed (and sustained!) action …
[8] This one is often regarded as the first quintessential Alfred Hitchcock film, and what’s not to like? A little girl is kidnapped and her family are forced to go through the hoops for her safe return. Peter Lorre steals the show as the baddie, complete with a scarred brow and white streak in his hair. There are some wonderfully understated moments of horror, like …
[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 …
[8] It may be one of the most atypical Disney animated film, but I thoroughly enjoy The Emperor’s New Groove. It’s by far the funniest Disney flick I’ve ever seen, reminding me more of a Warner Brothers Looney Tune than anything Walt might ever have conjured. The irreverent script focuses on four very engaging characters, two good and two evil, and lets them run the …
[8] Steve McQueen plays a millionaire who robs a bank just for shits and giggles, and Faye Dunaway plays the insurance investigator who will either turn him in… or fall in love with him. Director Norman Jewison embraces the French New Wave to give the film a unique tone that favors style slightly higher than substance, and I’m okay with that. The result is a …
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