Check Out the Trailer

Are the HARRY POTTER films really getting better? This one doesn’t have the whimsy of the first two films, but as we grow up with Harry, Ron and Hermione we do expect them to tackle issues more sinister and dangerous like dating. Because of the huge length of the fourth book a lot has been cut from the movie, but none of it is missed.

The fourth film does not start at Harry’s aunt and uncle’s house but jumps right into the Quiddich World Cup where Lord Voldemort’s Death Eaters make their first appearance, including a mysterious Voldemort servant (David Tennant, BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS) who appears in Harry’s dreams. This year at Hogwort’s the school will play host to the Tri-Wizard Tournament, where one wizard over 17 from three schools will compete for the coveted title. Hogwort’s champion is the nice jock Cedric Diggory (Robert Pattinson, VANITY FAIR). From the French school, there’s Fleur Delacour (Clémence Poésy) and, from the Eastern European school, there’s professional Quiddich champion Viktor Krum (Stanislav Ianevski). But what’s this? The Goblet of Fire, which picks the names of the contestants, has spit out a fourth — Harry Potter!

Read the rest of this entry »

Check Out the Trailer

This Chevy Chase vehicle from the early ’80s is a total mess. The plot moves all over the place and a lack of a consistent tone leaves the film completely repulsive.

Max Fielder (Chase, FUNNY FARM) is an air traffic controller who is so paranoid about his girlfriend Darcy (Patti D’Arbanville, THE FAN) cheating on him that he bugs her. Early in the film she breaks up with him. Depressed Max tries to find comfort from his ex-wife Lorraine (Mary Kay Place, SILVER CITY), who ends up falling for Max’s high school friend Brian Stills (Brian Doyle-Murray, GROUNDHOG DAY), who has become a publisher for egotistical relationship guru Mark (Dabney Coleman, 9 TO 5). Brian’s personal assistant is Dorita (Nell Carter, TV’s GIMME A BREAK), who is into voodoo.

Read the rest of this entry »

Check Out the Trailer

Director Bob Fosse (ALL THAT JAZZ) tackles the story of groundbreaking and controversial stand-up comedian Lenny Bruce (Dustin Hoffman, THE GRADUATE). The film takes a faux documentary approach to recapping the rise and fall of the funny man, who pushed the boundaries of what could be said on stage in an effort to expose American hypocrisy.

In the interviews, Lenny’s drug-addicted wife Honey (Valerie Perrine, SUPERMAN), his manager Sally Marr (Jan Miner, MERMAIDS) and his smarmy agent Artie Silver (Stanley Beck, WHO KILLED TEDDY BEAR) reminisce over the life and career of Bruce, who died of a drug overdose right before he was to go to jail. Bruce was a genius who bordered on madness. His obsession with the stage and pushing the boundaries of social norms to make his point, lead him to cult fame, but also down a path of paranoia-fueled drug abuse.

Read the rest of this entry »

Check Out the Trailer

In 1990 when this film became one of the all time box office champions, I loved it. I was 14. I’m a bit older now and find the film so implausible that it was hard for me to be engaged with it as I was back then.

The premise has the McCallister family heading off to Paris for Christmas. Due to a power outage, they are running late and in the rush to make their flight they miscount and leave 8-year-old Kevin (Macaulay Culkin, SAVED!) behind. So many plot contrivances have to pile up to make this scenario work that the film lose a lot of credibility. However, when I put myself in the mind frame of Kevin, I was able to sit back and have fun.

Read the rest of this entry »

Check Out the Trailer

GODSEND is not a godsend. Ugh, this is film is dumb. Paul and Jessie Duncan (Greg Kinnear, AS GOOD AS IT GETS, & Rebecca Romijn, X-MEN) love their son Adam (Cameron Bright, BIRTH). So when he is killed, they are distraught. At the funeral, Jessie’s former teacher Richard Wells (Robert DeNiro, RAGING BULL) offers them a morbid proposition — he can clone their son.

The film goes through the typical reluctance to the idea then clones the kid. Everything seems fine until new Adam reaches the age of old Adam and he begins to see and hear strange things. The film plays along typical thriller lines until the end when it tries to twist things and ends up twisting the entire plausibility of the plot off the rails.

Read the rest of this entry »

Check Out the Trailer

The original GINGER SNAPS is arguably the best horror film of the new millennium so far. GINGER SNAPS 2: UNLEASHED was a solid sequel that continued the tale from the first film and took it into an interesting direction. The third film in the series is a huge departure and made me wonder if the franchise was dead. However, despite being an odd choice, the third film is still engaging and entertaining.

Outsider sisters Ginger (Katharine Isabelle, FREDDY VS. JASON) and Brigitte (Emily Perkins, PROZAC NATION) return, but they aren’t modern girls anymore. The story takes the characters and places them in 19th Century Canada. Their parents have died and they become lost in the woods. After Brigitte is injured, a mysterious Indian hunter (Nathaniel Arcand, ELEKTRA) leads them to an outpost where the inhabitants are very leery of strangers. This is because on a nightly basis the fort is attacked by werewolves.

Read the rest of this entry »

Check Out the Trailer

This film just makes you smile… until it breaks your heart that is. Unlike any other musical, director Jacques Demy creates a grand tale of young love that in an artistic way heightens the feelings and emotions to an operatic level.

Part of the film’s charm is that all the dialogue is sung in French. It just seems right that young lovers should be singing in French. 17-year-old Geneviève (Catherine Deneuve, BELLE DE JOUR) is in love with 20-year-old mechanic Guy (Nino Castelnuovo, THE ENGLISH PATIENT). Her mother (Anne Vernon) doesn’t think that her daughter is ready for a serious relationship and really doesn’t know what love is all about. But that can’t stop Geneviève and Guy.

Read the rest of this entry »

Check Out the Trailer

This Technicolor extravaganza had six directors and began filming in the U.K. until the blitz of WWII forced the production to move to the States. Fans of Disney’s animated ALADDIN will find a lot of similarities in this film about the rightful heir of Bagdad whose advisor tricks him out of this throne as well as steals his true love.

The film begins with Prince Ahmed (John Justin, 1978’s THE BIG SLEEP) as a blind beggar on the street with his dog who is actually his faithful ally — the thief Abu (Sabu, BLACK NARCISSUS). Ahmad’s advisor Jaffar (Conrad Veidt, CASABLANCA) has come back to woo the Princess of Basara (June Duprez, THEY RAID BY NIGHT) away from her father the Sultan (Miles Malleson, PEEPING TOM). As the story progresses, we learn how the prince and Abu got in such a predicament.

Read the rest of this entry »

Check Out the Trailer

When Woody Allen is on, he is simply brilliant. This is a statement I find myself saying every time I discover another one of his older classics. He is one of — if not — the best comedy director of all time.

Cecilia (Mia Farrow, ROSEMARY’S BABY) is a waitress trying to support her philandering husband Monk (Danny Aiello, DO THE RIGHT THING) during the Depression. She finds great joy, comfort and peace from her hard life at the movies, which she goes to almost every night. A new film called, THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO, has come to town and she just loves it, especially the pith hat wearing, young explorer Tom Baxter, played by Gil Shepherd (Jeff Daniels, THE HOURS). One day when things are at their worst for Cecilia, Tom Baxter walks out of the movie screen and declares his love for her. For once in Cecilia’s life, the magic of the movies has entered her drab existence.

Read the rest of this entry »

Check Out the Trailer

When it comes to haunted house films, this one is one of the best. The story knows what scares people and plays on a lot of the common fears that people have as kids. The spooky tree, the strange doll, the monster in the closet are all examples of the film collecting and tapping into very relatable chills that many have firsthand experience with.

The Freeling family lives in a planned community in California. Steve (Craig T. Nelson, TV’s COACH) is the top realtor for the community. His wife Diane (JoBeth Williams, FEVER PITCH) is a stay-at-home mom for their three kids — teen Dana (Dominique Dunne), middle child Robbie (Oliver Robins, AIRPLANE II) and pre-schooler Carol Anne (Heather O’Rourke, POLTERGEIST II: THE OTHER SIDE).
Read the rest of this entry »