Time is divided between broad satire, or outright farce, and earnest preachment of the type in made-for-TV "issue" movies. (At issue: a breach-of-promise lawsuit brought by an illiterate high-school grad against his alma mater.) Arthur Hiller, who once upon a time directed Hospital, seems to want to do something of …
Unpretentious and fast-moving science fiction, not at all swelled up or slowed down by the Biblical overtones of its plot. A half-human, half-robot assassin (Arnold Schwarzenegger, well within his acting range) has been sent back through time from 2029 A.D. to the present day, under Herod-like orders to kill the …
A romantic thriller several polite steps from pornography. Given the conceptual starting point -- a married woman has her secret diaries stolen, along with much else, by a professional burglar, who then presents himself to her as the fantasy lover depicted there -- it could have gone either way. In …
Its fictitious director, Marty DiBergi, only too happy to subscribe to the journalese du jour, labels this movie a "rockumentary." We might suggest in that same spirit, and in that same Time Inc. style, that its actual director, Rob Reiner, describe it as a "mockumentary": a put-on (or -down) of …
A cinematic wake and eulogy for the gay-rights militant, San Francisco city councilman, and ultimately martyr, when assassinated in 1978 by fellow councilman Dan White. Comfortably informal (with a genial group of interviewees and a good collection of still photos and film clips); not overly solemn or vehement; but touching …
What starts out as a spoof of the Cold War spy adventure ends up as a spoof of the Second World War underground adventure, with side trips into other genres along the way. The directorial triumvirate of Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker (Airplane!, Airplane! and Airplane!) has come …
Experience the original Saturday morning cartoon for the first time on the big screen and relive its evolution over the years with a sneak peek of the new season of Transformers EarthSpark.
John Huston's total externalization of Malcolm Lowry's highly internal novel, about the last drunken daze of the former British Consul to Cuernavaca. The externalizing process works all right in the focal performance of Albert Finney, who tempers the most extreme degrees of intoxication with pathetic attempts at dignity and self-control. …
Appreciative photography of Parisian exteriors, interiors, and environs, as well as of Karen Allen's freckles and Thierry Lhermitte's baby blues. It all looks good enough to eat, but tastes no better than to spit out: a rancid collection of romantic banalities about the provincial female tourist (named, in this instance, …
A plodding cavalry-and-Indians story set in 19th-century New Zealand, all green and damp where American versions are brown and dusty, and with a predictably high content of anti-colonialism and White Man's Guilt. (It's true that Robert Aldrich's Ulzana's Raid tends to spoil a person for cavalry-and-Indians stories, but still.) Even …
An update of the 1960 document (with Connie Francis) on spring break in Ft. Lauderdale, and a valuable experience for anyone who wants to study the changes in sexual mores, in college slang, in swimsuit fashions, in popular music (but not classical music: the young keyboard prodigy still composes piano …
American translation, and quite faithful in letter, of the Yves Robert comedy, Pardon Mon Affaire. But something has been lost. The attempt to broaden (or simplify or clarify) the humor, and thus the appeal, doesn't just cheapen it; it changes it. This is true even down to the casting level. …