Oliver Stone's ballad of the alliterative Mickey and Mallory (Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis), who crisscross the American Southwest on a Charles Starkweather-ish murder spree, but multiplied many times for purposes of "satire." Also part of the picture, also part of the "satire," is a tabloid TV show called American Maniacs, …
A Wild Child tale, slow-moving and overcautious, concerning a backwoods Carolina hermit (Jodie Foster), sole surviving half of a brace of twins, and speaker of her own private language. Somewhat unsurprisingly, it develops into simply another chapter in Hollywood's continuing romance of the simple and the primitive: the local doctor …
An exhibit of the virtues of moderation. No melodramatic extremes; no emotional peaks or psychological valleys; no back-bending pressures; no ticking-clock deadlines; no convulsive climaxes. If someone hits the lottery, it will be for a few thousand, not a few million. If someone pivotal suffers a stroke, it will be …
Crossbows-and-animal-skins science fiction, set in a 21st-century penal colony. Some sternum-bruising directorial "touches" by Martin Campbell punctuate the general triteness and tedium. And Ray Liotta has a chance to "stretch" himself, a chance to find out whether he can be a Sylvester Stallone, a Jean-Claude van Damme. But why would …
Nonstop groaner: a Children's Liberation fantasy about a gifted but neglected lad who divorces his natural parents and entertains offers from prospective adoptive ones all over the globe. (Caricatures of differing degrees of broadness and insultingness.) Bruce Willis, in addition to narrating the action, pops up in various costumes in …
Sumptuously photographed (by Andrzej Sekula), but otherwise a big step backward for writer-director David Mamet -- back to one of his stage plays in preference to a screen original, a two-character piece to do with the balance of power in academe, and the tipping of that balance by one student's …
But now are guttersnipes. A Maori family in the urban squalor of present-day New Zealand. A life of boozing, bar fights, wife-beating (hideous post-beating makeup: one eye an inch lower than the other), gang initiations, reform school, rape, suicide, etc. The opening image is a striking, if unsubtle, shot of …
Steven Seagal expands his responsibilities from those of the mere star to those of the star-director (like Clint Eastwood, like Jerry Lewis), and it hasn't expanded his humility: his initial entrance on screen is heralded by the line, "Oh, thank God," and the camera thereupon kisses his boots and caresses …
Coyly girlish romance (written by Diane Drake), dealing with soul mates, destiny, happiness ever after, and other pajama-party topics: it catches a wave in the wake of Sleepless in Seattle, and Norman Jewison throws in several shots of the night sky to remind you that he once directed Moonstruck. The …
Monotoned lip service to the joys of reading (more familiarity is shown with the screen treatments of Dr. Jekyll, Moby Dick, Treasure Island, than with the original books), in the form of a Neverending Story-type fantasy. Part live action, part animation, but not really much of either: less than an …
Director Ron Howard continues to toss and turn and sweat profusely in the grips of bestselleritis: one of those multi-character Arthur Hailey-type things, set this time in the exciting world of newspaper publishing (the fictitious New York Sun: "It Shines for All"), where every day brings a new deadline, a …
Officially, Port Chester University. More descriptively, Politically Correct University. Until it turns into Party Central University, and beer, drugs, and George Clinton unite the motley factions (excluding the preppie Republicans). A last alias: Piddling Comedy University. With Jeremy Piven, Chris Young, David Spade, and Jessica Walter; directed by Hart Bochner.
A community of magical shape-shifting raccoon dogs struggle to prevent their forest home from being destroyed by urban development.
But is she or isn't she? Princess or imposter? A true, or true-ish, story set in 1817 England, where a beautiful vagabond is taken, on the flimsiest evidence, for Oriental royalty. A drowsy costume party, perked up briefly by John Lithgow as a multilingual pedant enlisted to pin down the …