Category: 1995
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Seeing as how The Usual Suspects popularized the major twist ending–that contrivance having now plagued American cinema for the last dozen years–it’s interesting to see it again. I haven’t seen the film in years (probably ten, at least nine), but I remember the last time I watched it, I thought about what was true and…
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I remember the back of the laserdisc for Sabrina said something about how, going in to the film, one knows what’s going to happen, but the film’s about enjoying it happen. For a back of the disc blurb, it’s incredibly accurate. Sabrina is a joy from start to finish, mostly because Sydney Pollack has put…
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Rough Magic isn’t a bad idea, it’s just poorly plotted. Most of the movie takes place in Mexico, where it’s mildly engaging and generally amusing (except when Paul Rodriguez shows up to annoy and he is incredibly annoying). Notice all the qualifiers? The movie starts strong and even gives the impression of ending strong (it…
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Joel Schumacher once commented he was first credited with saving the Batman franchise (with Batman Forever), then destroying it (with Batman & Robin). I think I’d watched his second venture (or tried to watch it) more recently than I had seen Forever… anyway, it isn’t like Schumacher made one good one and one bad one.…
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Twelve Monkeys is one of the more unhappy films. Unhappy films are difficult to pull off–The Godfather Part II is the finest example–but Monkeys does it. When I say unhappy, I don’t mean a sad ending or an unpleasing one or an unrewarding one. Not even a cynical or downbeat one. An unhappy film, if…
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For the first thirty or so minutes, Home for the Holidays is exactly the film its trailer presented. It’s a genial family comedy with a recognizable cast, a mix of standard casting choices like Charles Durning (Dad), semi-standards like Anne Bancroft (Mom), and unknown ones like Geraldine Chaplin (crazy aunt). Even when Robert Downey Jr.…
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I wonder if, in the early 1970s, anyone could tell Robert Duvall was going to end up playing the scruffy-looking, ne’er do-well with the heart of gold over and over again. He doesn’t particularly act in The Stars Fell on Henrietta. He just shows up and does his thing. His scruffy-looking thing. There’s some attempt…
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Extended version of Kevin Smith’s pseudo-New Jersey, pseudo-mall culture comedy but really just pop culture references and bad dirty jokes movie tacks about a half hour onto the front before the movie even gets to the mall. Most of that added time is about Jeremy London, who’s terrible, his on-the-rocks girlfriend, Claire Forlani, who’s terrible,…
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Stupefyingly bad “steamy,” “sexy” thriller about San Francisco DA David Caruso getting involved in the shenanigans related to old pal Chazz Palminteri and old flame Linda Fiorentino. Fiorentino married Palminteri instead of Caruso, adding to the angst. Lousy script by Joe Eszterhas, lousy direction by Friedkin–the film utterly wastes its three leads, though–at best–it only…
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Outstanding drama about John Lynch and Jacqueline McKenzie, who both have schizophrenia, meeting, falling in love, and trying make a life together, contending with their treatment and Lynch’s concerned/disapproving family. Wonderful performances from Lynch and McKenzie, great script and direction from Rymer. Rymer establishes a wonderful sense of empathy, never letting the characters become pitiable…
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Comedic, tragic look at love in the (very mid-1990s) call waiting era. A group of New Yorkers try to make plans to hang out, hook up, and everything else but can never seem to manage to get off their phones long enough to actually meet each other in real life. Great cast, with Alanna Ubach…
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Mostly outstanding night in the life picture about three young men, one White (Vincent Cassel), one Black (Hubert Koundé), and one Arab (Saïd Taghmaoui); the city is rioting after police assault one of their peers. Writer-director Kassovitz never gets preachy, impressive given it’s shot in atmospheric black and white, but he does get predictable, constraining…
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Do the Brits have any major film movement? In the 1920s, the Germans had the expressionist movement. In the (what?) 1960s, there was the French New Wave. In addition to contributing more Greenhouse Effect-causing pollutants to the atmosphere, the United States has perfected the over-produced blockbuster. The British, however, have never really had a movement.…
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