Confounding piece of Hungarian whimsy about (or around) a pair of separated twins, electricity, the stars, the birth of the movies, women's rights, heaven knows what. At times the murk is lit up by splendrous black-and-white imagery, or by light bulbs, or both: a marching band with bulbs attached to …
Neat little 1952 suspense film remade as a big sloppy one. Gene Hackman, the doubtful protector of an important witness aboard a train, is typically enjoyable to watch, but Anne Archer, as the protectee, is turned all but invisible. Written, directed, and photographed (in dusty brown wide-screen images) by the …
Fiercely winking social satire centered around a Teutonic Kristy McNichol (Lena Stolze) who runs into stone walls and stiff opposition when she researches her school essay topic, "My Hometown during the Third Reich." The Brechtian distancing devices -- direct address to the camera, stage sets with black-and-white backdrops, spatial dislocations …
Arm-weary flag-waving about the commando unit formed by JFK for use in "low-intensity conflicts." Meaning, in this case, dull ones, against Middle Eastern terrorists. With Charlie Sheen, Michael Biehn, and Joanne Whalley-Kilmer; directed by Lewis Teague.
Another impenetrable piece of homemade mythology by Clive Barker (writer and director both), about an underground city called Midian (spelling?), which is "where the monsters live" -- and where, also, the makeup man does a booming business. Horror filmmaker David Cronenberg (The Fly, Scanners, etc.) has an acting job as …
The cannibal classic cannibalized. Why? How come? What for? The foremost answer that comes to mind (nudging out the goes-without-saying answer: "Money") is that it's for the generation we could diagnose as black-and-white-blind: the generation that can't or won't see, look at, focus on, a movie made in black-and-white; the …
Two fleeing gangsters (Robbie Coltrane, Eric Idle) hide out as nuns in a nunnery. Sort of a Charley's Sister, would you say? Or, you might better say, a drag in drag -- with a lot of dull closeups (after an early flurry of tilt shots) and dull color (institutional drab) …
It starts out with a methodical and unsensational killing spree, giving birth to "The Monster of Palermo." Naturally there's more to the case than meets the eye, not least a didactic meditation on the death penalty, with prompting from Dostoyevsky. And Gian Maria Volonte, a firebrand in his younger days …
Yuppie paranoia about a sinister lodger who won't be dislodged from his apartment in a renovated Victorian mansion in San Francisco. Hammering and sawing noises, along with an army of cockroaches, emanate from within. What's he up to? A nice slow buildup; a not-so-nice, long-drawn-out windup. Michael Keaton, fresh from …
Jennie Livingston's documentary cameras take you behind a door you might otherwise never have cracked open, or even known existed: the competitive gay costume balls of Harlem, or just "balls" for short. There's more to it than you might imagine: more categories of competition, for one thing (Fashion Model, Executive, …
Inside Hollywood, from the P.O.V. of a recuperating pill-popper with a stellar mother out of the old Factory System. It helps to know that these are pseudonymous versions of Carrie Fisher (who adapted the screenplay from her own novel) and Debbie Reynolds. This helps, that is, to keep your interest. …
The monster still is a good one when seen from the outside (the psychedelic visions from within are another matter), and it doesn't, this time, keep us waiting so long for its arrival. But the urban drug war (Colombians vs. Jamaicans) is a distraction, and the dialogue a disaster: "You're …
Murder mystery from the Scott Turow novel, about whose surprise ending (and its gaping defects) we are sworn to silence. But it really isn't necessary to go too deep into details. The movie starts out on an alarmingly pompous note, with an "I am a prosecutor" opening statement delivered in …
Cinderella story (or as one of the characters self-consciously puts it: "Cinde-fuckin'-rella") wherein Prince Charming is a corporate raider and the Pitiful Drudge is a Hollywood streetwalker: "You and I are such similar creatures, Vivian. We both screw people for money." Neither of the players (nor the screenwriter) gets inside …
Movie directing debut of TV actor Dennis Dugan, a Dennis-the-Menace comedy with every joke honed to a battering ram. John Ritter, Amy Yasbeck, Jack Warden, Michael Richards.