The Horseman On The Roof (5.5)
(French, English subtitles)
Olivier Martinez plays an Italian Hussar fleeing from Austrian assassins across Provence during 1832. If you know your history then you'll also know that Provence was in the grip of a cholera epidemic at the time.
Directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau (he of Cyrano de Bergerac fame), this struck me as a sort of 19th century road movie as our hero rides from one dying town to another. Eventually he meets up with Juliette Binoche and a romance begins to develop.
Not bad but not entirely gripping, and at 2 hours 15 minutes it could well do with editing to the tune of 30 minutes. Worth seeing purely to appreciate how a scene in which a man massaging alcohol into Juliette Binoche's breasts can be truly romantic. (I kid you not - that is the right word!)
Seven (7)
Entertaining and intelligent thriller in which Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt are cops pursuing a serial killer intent upon recreating the seven deadly sins.
Noteable for its atypical Hollywood ending (though I spotted it coming from a clue about two thirds of the way through). Hopefully it might encourage a few more. Good performance from Morgan Freeman. Pete Posthlethwaite may have to pick his next few roles carefully or he may end up typecast as the 'plot twist' villain after this and The Usual Suspects.
A charming and engaging tale about a man (Johnny Depp) who believes that he is the world's greatest lover and Marlon Brando as the psychiatrist who listens to his tale.
A charming blend of comedy and romance. Johnny Depp is truly dashing in his 'Zorro' outfit. And the scene in the restaurant scene near the beginning is most definitely a classic.
Fair Game (5)
Thin on plot but high on untintentional laughs. Cindy Crawford is a civil lawyer pursued by the most inefficient KGB hit squad ever! (They've obviously got rusty since the end of the Cold War). William Baldwin plays the cop caught up in the middle of it all.
Totally unbelievable, but compensated by some action scenes that are filmed with a bit of gusto. Many of them are hilarious - setting the trend is a scene where Cindy Crawford's apartment blows up and Baldwin dives sideways into the water to save her, gun blazing from the hip at her would-be assassin.
Cindy's acting actually isn't as bad as might be expected from a model turned actress. (Better than Kim Basinger anyway!). Casting her opposite William Baldwin was probably a shrewd move - he's not exactly in the Pacino / De Niro league!
Fun while on the screen but instantly forgettable - even Cindy because personally I think she's much too tall!
The Innocent Sleep (5.5)
A British thriller in which Rupert Graves plays a homeless down-and-out who witnesses the murder of an Italian businessman underneath Tower Bridge. Sounds familiar? Yes it is inspired by the 1982 Roberto Calvi affair. (Obviously Blackfriars bridge wasn't considered photogenic enough!)
The police seem to think the death is a bizarre suicide but then their outlook is tainted (Just one of many little plot twists). Only a female journalist (played by Annabella Sciorra) believes there might be some truth to the murder story.
Hardly edge of the seat stuff but watchable enough. Most of the action takes place on the rain-sodden streets (doesn't it always!) of London. Plot twists are served up at regular intervals (though some are foreseeable), including the final frame (Always a plus in my book).
Sabrina (6)
Once upon a time the Larrabees were a rich family who lived in a big house with lots of servants. William Holden was the playboy brother and Humphrey Bogart was the brother who managed the family business. But that was 1954 when Billy Wilder was directing. Fast forward to 1996 and Sydney Pollack directs a remake with Harrison Ford, Julia Ormond and Greg Kinnear.
In case don't know the plot of the original ... Chauffer's daughter (teenager) has crush on playboy brother. Her father sends her to Paris for a while in the hope that she will get over it. Meanwhile playboy meets and proposes to daughter of the manager of a big business company. This pleases the whole family because it will help to cement a business merger. Then Sabrina returns from Paris and gets noticed by the playboy brother. This upsets the proverbial apple cart and business brother is forced to step in to sort out the mess.
I can't honestly claim to remember much of the original though I'm sure I've seen it on TV on a Sunday afternoon long ago. However this romantic comedy is an entertaining piece of fluff with a solid cast and enough laughs to while away a couple of hours. Julia Ormond is not quite in the Audrey Hepburn league but she is still very easy on the eyes. Harrison Ford is never bad.
I can't help comparing this with the recent 'An American President'. In many ways the 2 are similar because they are very much 'old style' romantic comedies.
However, Sabrina lacks the pace and the wit of AAP though it is deliberately a more gentle comedy. And even though the plot partially dictates it, the romantic element never really gels properly.
Mute Witness (6.5)
A mute girl working on a movie in Moscow is inadvertantly locked in the studio one night and witnesses the making of a snuff movie - or does she?
It's part woman-in-peril chase thriller and part mystery thriller. The plot is a little contrived but the plot twists are entertaining enough though some of them border on the far side of credibility. However there are also some genuine surprise moments in among the more obvious twists.
Good central performance from Marina Sudina and a surprise cameo from .. (That would spoil the fun!). Stylishly directed by Anthony Waller (British, no less!) who has been awarded directorial duties on An American Werewolf In Paris on the strength of this. Reminded me in many ways of FX Murder By Illusion.
Heat (6)
At the heart of this film is a straight forward cops and robbers yarn set in Los Angeles. However, with Michael Mann (Manhunter, Last Of The Mohicans) directing Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in their first ever on-screen pairing you can rest assured that this is a cut above most films in the genre.
It is sylish, violent and thoroughly enjoyable, made all the more so by great characterisation and a set of intelligent cops vs a set of intelligent villains (very rare to see both in the same movie). 3 hours flashed by.
La Haine (4.5)
(French, English subtitles)
The story follows 3 youths for 24 hours on the streets of Paris following a night of rioting during which a policeman lost a revolver. No prizes for guessing who has it. One of the youths (a Jew) vows to use the gun if an Arab boy (hospitalised after the previous night's rioting) should die.
Filmed in black and white, stylish and witty. Unfortunately I could never quite connect with the characters or their environment. Not helped by the fact that many of the sub-titles were difficult to read.
Directed by Peter Jackson (better known for his extreme low budget horror movies), this tells the true-life story of a crime which shocked New Zealand back in the early 1950s. Two bright and imaginative teenage girls form a close friendship and create a fantasy world of their own. When their parents threaten to keep them apart, the girls decide to take drastic action.
Thought provoking, intelligent and beautifully shot period drama. Good performances from all concerned but Kate Winslet, in her debut performance, outshines them all.
Dr Zhivago (6.5)
I've seen bits of this movie enough times over the years on TV but this is the first time that I've ever seen it on the big screen.
It contains an all star cast but I've seen more inspired performances from the likes of Alec Guinness, Rod Steiger, Julie Christie and Omar Sharif. David Lean's direction is reasonable and some of the set pieces and panoramic views are very enjoyable. Interesting to note that this seems much too drawn out at 3 hours, yet as a love story set against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution I much prefer Warren Beatty's 'Reds' which is nearly 4 hours long.
Casablanca (9.5)
I've seen this countless times on TV and I also have it on laserdisc, but this is the first time I've seen it on the big screen.
It has plot, romance, wit, intrigue and music plus Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, an enjoyable supporting cast and all those memorable lines. If I had to find fault it would be that some of the dialogue is delivered too quickly - a few pregnant pauses would add more dramatic effect. Nonetheless a classic. It just gets better as time goes by!
With a mark like this it would be my film of the year if it hadn't been released back in 1942.
Desperado (5)
This film is a triumph of marketing over product. It oozes style from every pore. Unfortunately this has little charcterisation and even less plot. Not that I was expecting much - but when the action asks you to suspend disbelief to such an extent, you have to be left with something to cling onto. (Salma Hayek, perhaps?).
Robert Rodriguez could easily become the next John Woo - but Woo's films had characters and plots before he went to Hollywood and directed the disappointing Hard Target (which incidentally, looks densely plotted compared to Desperado). On the plus side are the appearances by Steve Buscemi (easily the best performance), QT and of course Salma Hayek goes without saying! And then style, style, style ... and nothing else.
Good movies need more! Having said that, it will make a good Friday night 'beer and pizza' video.
Casino (8.5)
Robert De Niro is hired by Mob bosses to run a casino in Las Vegas circa 1973. He makes a big success of it at first but then things start to go wrong - mainly due to his marriage to hustler Sharon Stone and his long-term friendship with vicious hoodlum Joe Pesci.
Pesci and De Niro are good as ever. Sharon Stone gives her best performance to date and deserves her Best Actress nomination After all, it is no mean feat to produce a stand-out performance opposite Robert De Niro!
It's not a fast paced movie but it never drags either. The acting, direction and story are all very enjoyable. The only thing that spoiled it a little for me was that I felt some of the violence was portrayed much too graphically. Otherwise great!
Leaving Las Vegas (7.5)
Nicholas Cage is the drunk who has lost his wife and his job and moves out to Las Vegas to drink himself to death. There he meets a hooker (Elizabeth Shue) who takes a shine to him, partly because she likes him and partly because he is the only man who doesn't try to take advantage of her.
Depressing certainly, but this movie proved to be less difficult to watch than I had expected. Cage must surely take the Oscar. Elizabeth Shue - not so sure, but certainly she has come a long way since Adventures In Babysitting! Her performance is good but there are times in this movie when I was reminded of Michelle Pfeiffer as the 'dowdy Russian' in The Russia House. What are all us single men doing wrong if even a drunken wreck can attract a woman like her?!!!
The soundtrack is good - fits the mood of the movie perfectly since a lot of it is what I'd call 'late night bar music.' I suspect it might be a little depressing to listen to as an album.
And the verdict - Great performances but a depressing subject. Of course, I'd turn to alcohol too given the chance to lick it off Elizabeth Shue's breasts!
Strange Days (7)
Ralph Fiennes stars as an ex cop making a living selling "clips", real life virtual reality recordings which can be replayed through some weird hair net device so you actually "see, feel and experience" the action. When people around him start being murdered, he sets about finding out what's going on.
Angela Bassett co-stars as a tough kick-ass body guard suffering from un-requited love for the anti-hero and Juliette Lewis plays the dumb broad with a nice line in short skirts - when she bothers to wear them!
It's quite a long movie but it never drags. The second half fair zips along as action follows plot twist follows action etc. Underneath it all is a ho hum average thriller but the near fururistic setting (Well 4 years anyway!) and the 'thought technology' (Quite believable considering much of the VR sci-fi crap in some movies) helps to hide the rough edges.
Also worth a is that the movie contains a rape scene which, if not controversial, is definitely bordering on voyeuristic. In some ways justified because it brings home some of the salient points about the technology being portrayed, but 5 people walked out of the cinema during that scene and that's quite a high number on a Sunday evening in Garston!
Not the greatest movie of the year by any means but definitely a 'fun Saturday nighter.'
Les Miserables (9)
(French, English subtitles)
This is not the film of Victor Hugo's famous novel. It is actually a very clever and intricate reworking of the story. If you know the original (and it definitely helps if you've read the book or seen the West End stage play) then you'll know that the core of the original tale takes place in Paris just prior to the French Revolution. In this film the place is still Paris but the period has been updated to the Second World War.
It's a French film (naturellement!) directed by Claude Lelouche and starring Jean-Paul Belmondo as an illiterate boxer who learns of Victor Hugo's novel and comes to compare himself to the hero Jean Valjean and those around him to other characters within the novel. Unfortunately there are lot of characters and comparisons to keep track of, especially when the film cuts without warning from the 1940s to the 18th century (depicting Hugo's original) and back again - several times! At times it comes close to being a little too clever for it's own good when weaving all the plot strands.
Nonetheless it is typically French and very watchable. The cast are good but never outstanding. However, whether intentionally or otherwise, some scenes reminded me very much of similar ones from movies such as Papillon, Cinema Paradiso, The Great Escape, Schindler's List and Empire Of The Sun. It also contains some beautifully shot set-pieces and one or two very touching moments.
Not a film that will have faded from memory by the end of the year.
Trainspotting (5.5)
A group of Scottish youths doss about doing heroin and trying to get laid. That's the plot really. Okay so there's social comment, satire and sometimes the occasional belly laugh.
It's based upon a well known book by Irvine Welsh (which I've not read, though those in the office who have say it's excellent) and has been brought to the screen by the team that gave us Shallow Grave. So it's British and it's well made and the acting is quite reasonable. It's also getting great reviews in all the right mags. I tried very hard to like it but ultimately it never really clicked with me. Perhaps because it's fairly depressing but most likely because I just couldn't relate to a bunch of heroin addicts.
A charming and witty period comedy drama with a script by our Em which sort of does for Jane Austen what Ken Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing did for Shakespeare (ie It removes the starchiness!)
The plot revolves around a set of relationships and emotions in 19th century Devon. The cast, featuring Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant, Hugh Laurie, Robert Hardy among others, are all good but for me the outstanding performance comes from Heavenly Creature Kate Winslet. She most definitely receives my vote for Best Supporting Actress come the Oscars.
Get Shorty (6)
John Travolta is Chilli Palmer, a two-bit loan shark who gets embroiled at the low end of the movie business. This mixes Mob comedy a la True Romance and Married To The Mob with witty Tinseltown Farce. A good supporting cast includes Gene Hackman as a film producer, Rene Russo as a B-movie actress and Danny DeVito as a film superstar. John Travolta is great throughout in what amounts to an entertaining comedy.
Toy Story (9)
Disney's first computer animated full length feature in which a boy's set of toys try to come to terms with the arrival of a new toy Buzz - an intergalactic space ranger. Not only is Woody, formerly the boy's favourite toy, upset by the new arrival's immediate 'favourite' status but said new arrival also believes he is actually a real space ranger. When Buzz falls out of the bedroom window, Woody sets out to rescue him.
So begins a computer animated adventure which is not only a marvellous technical achievement but which is a lot of fun and very witty. Some of the lines will go straight over the kids' heads but that won't detract from their enjoyment. Meanwhile adults will enjoy it just as much merely because it doesn't just cater for the kids.
Thoroughly endearing all round family entertainment.
The Kingdom (7.5)
(Danish, English subtitles)
Phew! Where to begin? Directed by Lars Von Triers (Europa) and originally made as a 4 part Danish TV series in 1994, now stitched together and running for 4.5 hours.
The Kingdom is a general hospital built in the early 1900s on the site of Copenhagen's ancient bleaching ponds. The story is set in the present day and revolves around an assortment of staff and patients in the neuro-surgery ward who could have just stepped off the set of Twin Peaks. The main plot concerns an old woman hypochondriac and spiritualist who stumbles across the ghost of a little girl. Who is she and why is she there? Sub-plots include a Swedish surgeon who hates the Danish, another surgeon determined to conclude his medical research, a masonic lodge type fraternity within the hospital, medical student pranks and one or two potential staff romances.
This is a ghost story and a medical drama rolled into one and laced with a large dollop of black humour. A bit like Coma with ghosts and a touch of Poltergeist.
It's not quite shot in black and white but nor is it colour. It's looks like everything was filmed though a murky brown filter. In some ways this adds to the atmosphere. There's plenty of that and always a hint of suspense in between all the black humour. Also one or two (thankfully short) operation sequences for those Casualty fans among us.
At such a high running time (and with it's made for TV credentials) you can't really expect it to be edge of the seat stuff, but it is compelling viewing and I never once found myself looking at my watch. In fact I could have quite happily watched another hour or so, especially if it had explained the ending a little clearer. One of those, like The Usual Suspects, that could possibly benefit from a second viewing.
Cutthroat Island (5)
Pirate adventure on the high seas with Geena Davis at the helm.
So the story is pretty thin and very cliched and the dialogue is one which makes you mourn the day they ever invented sound; but for all that I actually enjoyed this slice of 17th century hokum while it was on the screen. Geena Davis was watchable though she couldn't deliver a throwaway one-liner if her life depended upon it. Matthew Modine just seemed terribly miss-cast and probably only got the part because he was the only person available at short notice after Michael Douglas walked the plank. The fact that he can fence probably helped too.
But hey! This is a Saturday morning show with plenty of action and lots of impressive stunts (Renny Harlin can always be relied upon for that!). And even if the plot is thin, there is still more story than in last year's Waterworld. Besides, I'm a sucker for a bit of good old-fashioned swordplay - especially when it is as well choreographed as this.
Dead Man Walking (5.5)
Sean Penn is the guy on Death Row for murder and rape, Susan Sarandon is the nun (credibility gap, perhaps?) comforting him through his final week before death by lethal injection.
I didn't really enjoy this movie because so much about it enraged me, yet I admire it for that because that was probably the emotion it was supposed to evoke.
The main issue being debated here is the capital punishment question - both sides of the argument given equal weight. Personally however, I found it was the secondary issues which evoked an emotional response - those of racism and religion. Maybe it was just me, but I found nothing to like in any of the characters. OK so Penn thrives on playing nasty pieces of work, but I had little sympathy for Sarandon's character either. And as for the parents of the victims, portrayed with a heavy handed hint of bible thumping "We can do what we like in the name of the Lord" white supremacism, I could have happily seen them strapped down alongside Penn.
Good direction worthy of oscar nomination. Penn's performance also worthy, though not his best - I think his performance as the Lawyer in last year's Al Pacino thriller was better. Sarandon is good but not that good - she goes through the same range of facial expressions as in Lorenzo's Oil but in that one her performance contained more passion. I think perhaps her Oscar nominations are beginning to suffer from the 'Meryl Streep' factor.
Never gripping and always difficult to watch. Good production values but just not enjoyable as a movie
Devil In A Blue Dress (6.5)
Denzel Washington is a proud man trying to make good in 1950s Los Angeles - no easy thing when you're black. After losing his job, he is offered $100 to track down the girlfriend of a former candidate for mayor. What should have been simple starts to get complicated when bodies begin appearing and DW becomes the prime suspect.
Pleasant 1950s sleazy gumshoe type movie. Easy on the eye, and with a good jazz and blues soundtrack. Cue double-crossing, politics, and Jennifer Beals as the femme fatale. The intelligent plot pulls a few nice twists but never just turns things on its head. The clues are all there if you spot them for what they are.
Broken Arrow (6.5)
Die Hard with nukes! John travolta is the airforce pilot who turns bad guy and steals 2 nuclear missiles from a stealth bomber. Christian Slater is the co-pilot who goes after him. Most other characters are superfluous in this entertaining Saturday Nighter.
The basic plot is pretty straight forward but some of the details are handled with more intelligence than we've come to expect from recent Die Hard and Under Siege sequels and rip-offs. Travolta makes for a cool bad guy considering he's not British. Slater unfortunately is a little mis-cast.
The real stars are the action set pieces which are handled competently but for the most part lack the flare that I would normally expect from John Woo. Possibly this has something to do with having too few characters for him to gun down in slo-mo shoot-outs. In the hands of a different action director (John McTiernan or Renny Harlin perhaps) this could have been a real roller-coaster of a ride, especially if there had been some more heavy-weights in the cast. As it is, it's enjoyable hokum.
City Hall (5)
When a 6 year old kid gets caught in the cross-fire between a cop and a hood on the streets of New York, it ignites a chain of events with far reaching consequences.
Considering that this has a cast list including Al Pacino, John Cusack, Bridget Fonda, Danny Aiello and more; this really should have been better. All the performances are solid but none are outstanding. The story plods along with no great surprises and while it's never too slow, it never gathers any momentum either. Entertaining but instantly forgettable.
Mighty Aphrodite (5.5)
Woody Allen is er ... Woody Allen and Helena Bonham Carter is his wife in (you'll never guess where) middle class New York (Now there's a surprise!). They adopt a baby and Woody gets curious about the real parents so he tries to search them out - enter Mira Sorvino as the kid's real Mum.
This is standard Woody Allen fare but with comparisons drawn to Greek drama. The story itself is relatively dull. Only 2 things redeem the movie. The first is Mira Sorvino's performance. The second, and by far the best, is the Greek drama troupe who act as a sort of narrative interlude between scenes. They have all the best lines and are wonderfully funny. They even sing and dance! Shades of the trio from Little Shop Of Horrors. Don't expect much from the rest of the film but see it just for this.
Twelve Monkeys (9)
Bruce Willis is the central character who may or may not be a convict sent back from 2036 to gather information concerning a deadly virus which wipes out most of the human race towards the end of 1996. On the other hand he could be completely schizo! Madeleine Stowe is the psychiatrist who tries to help him.
It's a good plot, if a little confusing at times - but hey! That's the nature of time travel. Extra enjoyment is derived from Terry Gilliam's visuals (reminiscent of Brazil) and a terrific performance from Bruce Willis (quite possibly his best to-date). Madeleine Stowe isn't bad but I normally expect better from her.
Enough twists and turns to keep you guessing all the way to the end of that tub of popcorn. Indisputably an addition to my laserdisc collection.
Sudden Death (5.5)
Die Hard in an ice hockey stadium starring Jean Claude Van Damme.
An above average DH rip-off with a touch of Two Minute Warning. JCVD is OK in the role, mainly because he doesn't have to say a lot. Even the obligatory throwaway one-liners are kept to a bare minimum. It's inevitably very derivative but the action flows at a decent pace. The last 10 minutes throws even the merest hint of plausibility right out the window but as a slice of UMV (unmitigated mindless violence) I found it entertaining while it was on the screen.
The Birdcage (6)
A Hollywood remake of a famous French movie starring Robin Williams hardly bodes well for an entertaining night at the movies but I was pleasantly surprised.
Some of the comedy is very funny and this is definitely a return to form for Robin Williams. The rest of the cast are equally impressive with the exception of Gene Hackman who somehow just doesn't seem to fit. The dinner party is extremely funny but events leading up to this seem a little drawn out - to my mind the whole film could have had 20 minutes trimmed without much difficulty. Ultimately spoilt for me by the most blatant unexplained upbeat ending tacked on to a movie in recent times.
Hackers (4.5)
A bunch of college kids do battle via their modems with a corporate baddie who is trying to pass the blame onto them for a computer virus which he has created in order to cover his tracks while he embezzles £25 million from the system.
It's fun while it's on the screen - but only if you're a computer nerd like me. Plenty of conversations about modems, baud rates, back doors etc. Some of the college pranks are very funny and the female hacker is a real babe, but the film is undoubtedly at its best during the hacking scenes. Cue thumping soundtrack, stylish visuals and the obligatory 'file directories represented as wire-frame tower blocks' type imagery. I didn't spot the director's name but they must certainly have directed a few pop videos in their time.
Smoke (6)
Yet another of those 'slice of life' movies in the tradition of Short Cuts and Grand Canyon. This one centres around a cigar shop in Brooklyn run by Harvey Keitel.
Good ensemble cast including Harvey Keitel, William Hurt, Stockard Channing and a remarkably good performance from Forest Whittaker. Good characterisation with attention to detail. Nice photography too. In fact it would have scored a lot higher if only something had actually happened. I was never bored but it never really drew me in either.
Barb Wire (5)
The year is 2017. The 2nd US civil war is all around. Only one city has yet to succumb to Congressional law. The landscape resembles a Mad Max movie and the plot has a definite sense of deja-vu. This involves small time hoods, big time hoods (the best of the baddies is none other than Jabba The Hutt in human form!), the local law, the Congressional law (sporting the latest in neo-Nazi uniforms) and a group of resistance fighters. Mixed up in all this is Barb Wire (Pamela Anderson Lee), night club owner and bounty hunter - a blonde gun-toting bimbo of the first order with a nice set of wheels (usually two) and a wardrobe full of tight leather outfits. Oh yes - and she never takes sides!
Have you sussed it yet? Let me give you another clue ... The nasty Nazi chappies have mislaid a couple of prisoners carrying some special contact lenses that render the wearer immune from being identified by electronic retinal scan, thereby allowing them safe passage across the border. The suspense builds as we wait to see whether they will have the cheek to set the final scene at an airport ....
Of course it's all pure hokum and Pammy struggles to deliver the throwaway one-liners. Fortunately for the Baywatch brigade, she has no such trouble bursting out of her low-cut leather jacket at every opportunity. The opening titles scene in which she performs a slo-mo Flashdance number in the nightclub wets the appetite on that score.
Sure it's utter crap really and for the most part forgettable - but I wonder if when I watch Casablanca next time, I won't be thinking that Humphrey Bogart lacks that certain something!
So pop along to your local flea-pit and play spot the difference with this to that 1942 classic.
Copycat (8)
Superior serial killer yarn with Holly Hunter as the cop and Sigourney Weaver as the criminal psychologist. An intelligent plot with a few surprises along the way. Good performances from both women, especially Sigourney - who seems to have cornered the market in playing tortured souls (Copycat, Death And The Maiden, the Alien trilogy).
Executive Decision (6.5)
I still can't decide whether this is utter rubbish or a bloody good Saturday night movie. Perhaps a bit of both. Arab terrorists hijack a jumbo bound for Washington. But this is no ordinary hijacking. They have smuggled enough DZ5 explosive on board to wipe out an entire city. (Don't ask me how they got it through airport security !!!). So US intelligence is faced with the possibility of having to shoot the plane down. Hoping to avoid this, they allow Steven Seagal and Kurt Russel to lead an elite team on board (in mid-air using a technique not previously seen outside of a Gerry Anderson series with a stealth bomber standing in for Thunderbird 2). Once on board, all they have to do is disarm the bomb and wipe out the terrorists. Needless to say, it's not quite that easy!
As far as the plot and characterisation are concerned, this could almost be Under Siege 3 with a touch of Fail Safe and Airport thrown in for good measure. What keeps it flying at high altitude is that it never lets up. Plot cliches come thick and fast but so does the tension and the action. Hell, the cinema hasn't seen this much fun on an airplane for 20 years. Not likely to be showing as the in-flight movie on any airline!
Leave your brain at the check-in desk and enjoy.
Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead (6)
Andy Garcia is a former low-life mobster recalled by his boss (Christopher Walken) to do a simple job. The job goes wrong and Walken calls in Steve Buscemi to eliminate Garcia and his gang.
There's too much talking and too little action. The acting is good but it's difficult to have any real sympathy for any of the characters. Ultimately forgettable.
Primal Fear (6)
I have never been a great Richard Gere fan but I found him almost likeable in this entertaining courtroom drama. Gere plays the defence lawyer who takes up the case of a choirboy who has seemingly been caught red-handed fleeing the scene of a murdered bishop.
The plot twists mount up as the case continues, each one a bigger cliche than the one before. Not so long ago I would have condemned this as utter drivel but in the aftermath of the O.J. trial almost anything seems believable.
Spy Hard (4.5)
Disappointing spoof of the Bond series which also insists on taking side-swipes at any other movie along the way. If you've seen the trailers then you've seen most of the best bits. However the pre-credit sequence has one or two half decent jokes (especially the self-destructing tape).
Leslie Nielsen bumbles his way through the movie as agent Dick Steele in his usual manner. Most of the gags have been done before and really the whole idea of spoofing this genre seems to me to be at least 20 years too late! Turning the Rowan Atkinson Barclaycard ads into a full length feature would probably be funnier. However, it's not a complete loss and there is one definite highlight - Full credit to the guys responsible for the title credit sequence and the theme tune (a superb Thunderball rip-off). If only the rest of the movie had been this good.
Mr Holland's Opus (7.5)
A welcome return to form for Richard Dreyfuss in this heart-warming tale of a man who wants nothing more than to write his own symphony and ends up being distracted by life as a highschool music teacher. During this 30 year span we are treated to joy and tragedy in equal measure. I won't say more as that might spoil it for you.
It's easy to be cynical and say this is a clever example of audience manipulation; of course it is, but it's also a lot of fun. Not sure that Drefuss was worth an Oscar nomination but he is certainly good, and most of the supporting roles are equally good too. I think the movie probably has a couple of valid messages but unfortunately they are wrapped in sugar-coating. Yes, it all gets a touch sentimental at times (Understatement? Me?) but it just manages to remain on the right side of corny. Oh yes - the music isn't bad either!
James And The Giant Peach (6.5)
This is one weird kids story! For those who don't know, James is a normal little boy whose parents dote on him and everything is wonderful - until they get eaten by a giant rhinocerous (like you do!). That's the first 30 seconds. Then it gets weirder as James ends up living with his aunts, a situation somewhat akin to Cinderella. One day Pete Postlethwaite turns up with a bag of glowing green things and before you know it there's a giant peach in the garden. What happens next makes everything that's gone before seem positively normal!
I liked this a lot because it was so very different. The visual effects are great and some of the characters very funny. My favourite scenes were those with the shark and the pirate ship (a clever reference back to The Nightmare Before Christmas). Joanna Lumley also deserves mention as one of the nasty aunts. Unfortunately, good as the majority of the film is, the beginning and end let it down. Only when James crawls inside the peach does the film really get under way and the last 5 minutes were a real anti-climax.
Great for the kids though and likely to be a big hit this Summer judging by the applause it received at the Odeon West End this morning.
From Dusk Till Dawn (8.5)
The opening scene in a small town store near the Mexican border sets the tone of this movie and even before the opening credits went up I knew I was going to like this. The plot is fairly straight forward. 2 brothers (Quentin Tarantino and George Clooney) wanted for shooting a few cops and a bunch of other people take some hostages (including Harvey Keitel and Juliette Lewis) and set off to a rendezvous at an interesting little nightclub just the other side of the border. They arrive at dusk and the rendezvous isn't 'til dawn, and there's one tiny problem - the place is infested with vampires!
When a film is directed by Robert Rodriguez and includes Quentin Tarantino in a major role you have a fair idea of what to expect. This film delivers it in spades! Wise-guy cop killers enter the truck stop from hell and mayhem ensues. The film has a wicked sense of humour and nicely sends up some of the cliches from the horror genre. With Juliette Lewis and Salma Hayek (she of Desperado fame) in tow, you can be sure this isn't PC either!
Cerebral this isn't. But the best Saturday night movie in town - definitely! Pass me that laserdisc order form now!
The Juror (6)
Demi Moore is one of the jurors selected to serve on the trial of a mafia boss accused of murder. Alec Baldwin is the tough guy with a smooth tongue sent by the mob to ensure that she returns a Not Guilty verdict.
Unlike the recent Primal Fear, this has an intelligent and very believable premise and succeeds in making people wonder how they would react. As a Friday night thriller it is enjoyable enough - a few predictable twists and turns, though there are some surprises. Let down a little by the final 5 minutes.
Demi Moore seems to treat the role like she had something else on her mind (Perhaps her directorial effort - Then And Now?) but Alec Baldwin comes across as a genuinely scary guy full of understated menace. Though I certainly wouldn't put him in my A list, this is probably his best performance to date.
Fargo (6)
While many are proclaiming this as the best Coen Brothers film to date, I must have seen a different film with the same name! Though never dull, I found parts of this (especially the first 25 minutes) rather tedious. It took 35 minutes for the first (indeed ONLY) likeable character to turn up - the female cop investigating a murder. The story was enjoyable and never too formulaic but I felt it lacked that magic Coen touch which lifts most of their movies into a class of their own (Hudsucker Proxy, Barton Fink, Millers Crossing, Raising Arizona).
Some nice cinematography, you could almost touch the snowy wastelands of Minnesota. But somehow difficult to warm to any of the characters except the cop. A good performance that one - Frances McDormand, I think. Steve Buscemi was also good but not nearly at his best (Reservoir Dogs, Desperado).
The Rock (7)
An above average adventure yarn in which Nicholas Cage and Sean Connery attempt to thwart terrorists who have set up base on Alcatraz and are threatening to launch biological weapons on SanFrancisco.
A bit thin on plot but makes up for it in sheer thrills and entertainment. Connery is beginning to look a bit jaded in these sort of roles but Nicholas Cage makes a good action hero. But the acting honours definitely go to Ed Harris who just keeps getting better! An entertaining car chase but it doesn't compare with the one through the streets of San Francisco that began them all (Bullitt).
Empire Records (5.5)
An amiable comedy which centres around 24 hours in the lives of a group of American teenagers working in a record store. Thin story but great music soundtrack. All the musical numbers are fun to watch and the cast obviously had a lot of fun doing them.
Richard III (6.5)
A pared down Shakespearean text is updated and set against the backdrop of a mythical English civil war sometime during the 1930s.
Solid acting from an all star cast though Ian McKellan easily outshines them all in the lead role. The updated period works extremely well, but it probably helps to know the original story.
Tom Cruise stars in this big budget movie version of the popular 1960s TV series. Plot twists galore and a theme tune to die for!
Entertaining enough but I was rarely on the edge of my seat. Very true to the original series with the notable exception of the identity of the villain. Some excellent set pieces including exploding fish tanks and an exciting raid in CIA headquarters, though the effects during the finale in the channel tunnel seemed a bit amateurish.
The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (7)
This French literary classic probably counts as a bit of a departure from normal Disney fare. I seem to recall that it's a very long story full of sadness, poverty and tragedy - and has a hideously deformed man as it's central character. Not quite what we would normally expect from Disney and not exactly what we get either.
The film contains the basic elements of the story and adds one or two (well OK three) embelishments of its own. Quite what Victor Hugo would have made of the talking gargoyles I'm not quite sure (especially as 2 of them are named after him) but they do lend a pleasant comedic touch. Quasimodo sports a hump and a pair of bulging eyes but is hardly likely to frighten the kids. But if you thought Princess whatsit in Aladdin was a bit of a looker, just wait until you see Esmerelda. Not only is she voiced by Demi Moore but it is obvious that her physical features have been used as a template for the character. The lord protector of the city is suitably evil but as for the captain of the guards - why am I reminded of King Graham from Sierra's Kings Quest series?
There's enough charm, action and comedy here to keep the kids amused aswell as the adults. It's not a classic but it's still a lot of fun. However, I don't think there are any potential oscar winning songs here, even though all but the best one are quite obviously inspired by that little West End Musical that has been running in London for well over 10 years.
The Truth About Cats And Dogs (6)
An amiable romantic comedy for a Sunday afternoon. Abby (Janeane Garafolo) runs a radio phone-in pet advice programme. Brian (Ben Chaplin) is a guy who phones in for advice when he has problems with a roller skating dog (I kid you not!). Brian likes Abby's voice and asks her out for a drink, but when asked to describe herself Abby is afraid he won't like her and so gives him a description of the girl next door (Uma Thurman).
Of course, Uma is the attractive blonde bimbo and Abby is the intelligent but ugly one. (Personally I preferred Abby. Uma Thurman doesn't appeal to me in her natural hair colour. Or was it something to do with the fact that Janeane Garafolo is only 5'1" tall!). And so develops a comedy of misunderstandings, some of which are very funny but all of which are very predictable.
Janeane Garafolo is impressive in her first starring role but the dog stole the show for me. Entertaining enough for anyone who owns a cat or a dog.
Cable Guy (6)
Jim Carrey stars as the sad and lonely man who installs cable television in Matthew Broderick's apartment and then tries to make friends with him.
The film contains some very funny scenes but my personal favourite was the evening out at a Medieval theme restaurant, especially when Matthew Broderick is forced to do combat with Jim Carrey while Carrey draws comparison with 60s Startrek episodes in which Kirk and Spock were frequently forced to do likewise - complete with incidental music and sound effects.
An interesting opportunity for Carrey to do something a little darker than normal. Very funny in parts but a bit too hit and miss overall. Could have been much better if someone had had the guts to make it darker still. Unfortunately it all fizzles out a little towards the end.
Twister (6.5)
Yes, the plot is thin, the special effects are terrific, and the acting is at best mediocre. But sat there with my brain in neutral I found this an exhilarating roller-coaster ride for the eyes.
If I'd seen the film without any other background knowledge I might well have enjoyed it less. It doesn't exactly go overboard to explain the role of the NSSL or much of the science involved in trying to predict where a twister may strike next. But having seen a couple of recent documentaries about Tornado Alley, I have to say the subject is quite fascinating. Indeed - I began to remember how much I enjoyed meteorology as part of the A Level geography syllabus. Unfortunately though, field trips never included chasing twisters in a jeep!
Okay so strip away the risible rival 'corporate' team subplot and the barely passable divorce papers love interest subplot and we're left with a bunch of scientists trying to gather data by getting instruments as close to the twisters as possible. Which actually isn't too far from the truth. So Jan De Bont takes a bit of poetic license in order to crank up the special effects. At least it's exciting.
Independence Day (7.5)
Thoroughly enjoyable Sunday morning hokum. The special fx are fab. Pity the same can't be said for the storyline. OK so it's fairly much an update of War Of The Worlds with a few extra touches to appeal to the X Files contingent. And for the first 90 minutes, while it plays mainly as a disaster movie, it is actually rather good. But once Earth seriously starts to fight back it takes a serious nosedive in plot credibility.
Drunken crop dusting pilots flying military fighter planes, pah! Bi-pedal Earthlings flying spacecraft designed for multi-tentacled aliens - dodgy - but then Jeff Goldblum closely resembles a multi-tentacled alien and has even played an alien (Earth Girls Are Easy). As for introducing a computer virus into an alien computer system when we've only had contact for 48 hours - lucky for us the hardware was compatible and JG knew the correct IP address of the machine to which he was transmitting the virus! I never particularly liked HG Wells' ending but at least it had credibility.
Visually spectacular. Mentally unbalanced. But still the best Summer blockbuster so far.
Eraser (5.5)
Arnie is a US Marshall with the Witness Protection Programme. So guess what, he's assigned to protect a woman who is planning to testify in a big arms dealing trial. Naturally enough there are some powerful people who don't want this to happen. Cue lots of gun-play and other set-pieces as Arnie erases those that attempt to erase his witness.
This is a very by-the-numbers Arnie movie. It's fun on the screen but not very memorable. Some of the humour works well - usually when it isn't Arnie delivering it. As Arnie movies go - this probably ranks alongside Commando as 'fun but unbelievable'. Not one of his best but not as bad as some (The Running Man, Red Heat, and that one where he's pregnant!).
The Last Supper (7)
5 American post-grad students share a house in the middle of nowhere. Occasionally they invite a guest to dinner. One night their dining companion proves to be a Desert Storm veteran whose right wing views do not meet approval from his hosts. So they kill him! (It's not quite as straight forward as that). Anyway this gives them an idea for livening up their dinner parties.
The idea is good and the ensemble cast ,Including Cameron Diaz and Anabeth Gish (I don't think I've seen her in anything since Mystic Pizza), acquit themselves well. Unfortunately the story loses it's way a little during the second half but it is always entertaining and the humour is definitely on the dark side. A good attempt for an American production but it's hard not to imagine how much better this could have been if Britain's Shallow Grave team had handled it.
Les Diaboliques (6)
(French, English subtitles)
A black and white film, made in 1955. Directed by H.G.Clouzot and starring Simone Signoret, Vera Clouzot and Paul Meurisse.
Mainly set in a boys school run by a tyrannical headmaster. His disillusioned wife won't grant him a divorce so he has taken in one of the teachers as his lover. However, he treats her no better than his wife. Together, both wife and mistress hatch a plot to murder him. But complications arise!
A well paced dramatic thriller with 2 strong central performances from the women. An entertaining plot with some nice twists. In its creepier moments it exudes a very Hitchcockian atmosphere. Well worth a look before spoiling the surprise by seeing the Sharon Stone / Isabelle Adjani remake (which Barry Norman has already termed 'Diabolical').
Stealing Beauty (7)
Liv Tyler is the 19 year old American girl (Lucy) who visits some extended family and friends living in Tuscany. Her arrival arouses passions and rivalries among this group of expatriates. But Lucy has a secret agenda of her own - firstly to lose her virginity to an Italian neighbour which she met on a visit 4 years previously and secondly to unravel the mystery surrounding her real father which is hinted at in one of her mother's poems.
Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, this is a gentle and steadily paced film. The Italian scenery is very pleasing on the eye, as is Liv Tyler - a fact which was never missed for one second by the camaraman! Tyler is very accomplished in the lead role - this and her recent performance in Empire Records must make her her hot property indeed. But there is also a real sense of voyeurism throughout which at times only just borders on the arty side of justifiable. A solid supporting cast is enhanced by a splendid performance from Jeremy Irons as a man slowly dying from some terminal illness.
Altogether a gentle and beautiful film. It also has an excellent soundtrack album.
Mulholland Falls (5.5)
Nick Nolte leads a quartet of 1954 Los Angeles cops who answer to their own law in order to uphold the law. The other 3 members are Chaz Palminteri, Chris Penn and Michael Madsen - and all wear cool hats and drive around in the coolest car to grace the movies in recent years.
When a woman is found squashed in the desert, the team is involved in the homicide investigation. This is complicated by the fact that Nolte recognises the victim as someone he was having an affair with behind his wife's (Melanie Griffith) back. However it also transpires that she was seeing a A-bomb test general (John Malkovich).
Given the subject matter, the hats and the car (not to mention an all star cast), this could have been a good noir thriller. Unfortunately, the acting and the script let it down badly. Predictable but still enjoyable. But it could have been so much better!
Dead Presidents (5)
A black college graduate heads out to Vietnam to fight for Uncle Sam. Upon his return he finds that life isn't easy for an ex-army officer. Life in the Bronx still sucks and the only way he'll ever make any money is to steal it. The first 90 minutes of this movie details the circumstances by which, for the last 25 minutes, he comes to lead a team of armed robbers against a truck delivering bank notes to the federal furnaces.
Part Vietnam movie, part heist movie, part blacks in the ghetto movie. It's absorbing without ever being gripping. And even by Vietnam movie standards, it is excessively violent!
Emma (6.5)
British talent plunders yet another of Jane Austen's novels and comes up smelling of sweet English roses. It's a romantic comedy with an uncomplicated plot. Basically Emma takes a less socially fortunate friend and attempts some well-meaning match making on her behalf.
Entertaining but fluffy. A good supporting cast including Jeremy Northam, Greta Scaachi, Juliette Stevenson and Ewan McGregor among others. But the real acting honours go to Gwyneth Paltrow (Brad Pitt's other half) as Emma, whose big screen debut was opposite Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams when she played Wendy in Hook. Paltrow glides through each scene like a 19th century Alicia Silverstone (Of course, the comparison is natural since the plot of Clueless was lifted from Jane Austen's novel) and is very probably this year's Kate Winslet. Worth seeing for her performance alone.
A Time To Kill (7.5)
Yet another film adaptation of one of John Grisham's legal thrillers, containing all the usual elements - big name stars, plot contrivances, scant regard for courtroom etiquette etc etc. There are however 3 big differences that raise this above previous Grisham adaptations. One - neither Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts or Susan Sarandon spend half the movie being chased across beautiful locations by the bad guys. Two - the starring role is filled by a virtually unknown actor, which lends to the suspense of the final verdict. (With TC or JR in the starring role would the verdict ever be in doubt?). Three - rather than spinning some fraudulant conspiracy yarn this tackles the very serious topic of racism. And it is the latter which will fuel after-dinner conversations for weeks to come.
A 10 year old black girl is raped and almost murdered by 2 white men. Before they can go to trial, they are viciously gunned down by the girl's father (Samuel L Jackson) who is then put on trial for murder. Hollywood's 'new Paul Newman' Matthew McConaughey plays the white defence lawyer, Kevin Spacey plays the lawyer for the prosecution, Sandra Bullock is a hotshot law student eager to lend a hand. Then there's Donald Sutherland, Kiefer Sutherland, Brenda Fricker, Ashley Judd, Patrick McGoohan .... they must have queued round the block to get in on this one!
There are some typically contrived scenes and a few sacharine moments (Worst offender of all is McConaughey's Gazza tactics during the courtroom summation when the whole audience fell into hysterics), but this is more than compensated for by fine performances from Jackson and McConaughey - the latter may or may not be the next 'new thing' but he certainly comes across as a natural. Above all it's a movie that dares to air issues and it is impossible not to come out of the cinema without some kind of viewpoint.
How To Make An American Quilt (6)
Winona Ryder plays a 26 year old woman who's boyfriend has just proposed to her. She immediately goes to visit her Grandmother and friends for a couple of months to think it over. As the older generation of women stitch together her wedding quilt so Winona stitches together their various tales spanning several generations.
It's a gentle film and one in which not an awful lot happens, but solid acting and some nice photography prevent it from ever becoming boring. And of course the quilt is a metaphor for life's rich tapestry.
Escape From L.A. (3.5)
If a good slice of UMV (unmitigated mindless violence) is your cup of tea then don't look here. This film is low on 'V' and high on 'M'. I have never considered Kurt Russel's acting ability to be above this level but John Carpenter directing it? Surely another director with the same moniker!
Yes. It's the year 2018 and Snake Plissken, the man that single-handedly saved Donald Pleasance from a New York full of sleaze and scumbags (so no change there!) back in 1981, now has to venture into Los Angeles Island (it was seperated by an earthquake in the year 2000) to retrieve some gizmo which can render every computer in the world completely useless (Surely, we have Windows 95 for that!).
The plot is discarded after 5 minutes; the acting doesn't make it that far! The only thing that works in it's favour is the comic book style of some of the sets. This at least makes the comic book action and dialogue more acceptable. And don't expect anything from the special effects. Only Steve Buscemi as an L.A. low-life (What else?) manages to inject anything at all into this but I bet he won't add it to his CV.
It's not all bad. There are a few laughs - but you'll probably have forgotten most of them before you arrive home. At least Barb Wire had you-know-who and some half decent music!
Striptease (5)
Demi Moore works as a stripper at the Eager Beaver club in order to raise money to finance her appeal against the court ruling which has given custody of her daughter (Played by real-life daughter, Rumer Willis) to her scumbag husband. One night she inadvertantly gets caught up in an incident which ultimately leads to blackmail and murder.
Okay so the story is thin but this was not nearly the disaster of a movie that the press might wish to make out. Certainly the 'dancing' scenes last too long to defend this as a serious movie and none of them are even vaguely erotic. Strangely enough, the one scene where Demi looked really good was when she was wrapped in a bath towel! Having said that, her breasts aren't bad though!
From what I've heard, I understand that the book is extremely funny. There are times in this movie when the wit and hilarity surface but unfortunately such occasions are few. Acting honours most definitely go to Burt Reynolds as the kinky congressman. A totally OTT performance and certainly the best I've seen from him for many a year. Ving Rhames as the club bouncer also puts in a solid performance. But I wonder how Rumer will feel about her silver screen debut in a few years time?
Le Mepris (Contempt) (5)
(French, English subtitles)
Directed sometime in the 1960s by Jean-Luc Godard, this is a movie which depicts the increasing contempt which a woman (Brigitte Bardot) develops for her husband (Michel Piccoli), a scriptwriter on a troubled Italian co-production of Homer's "The Odyssey." The scriptwriter himself is caught between an aging director (Fritz Lang playing himself) detrmined to capture the story's authentic spirit and an American producer (Jack Palance) whose only concern is the box office.
Good performances from Bardot and Palance, some great camara work, and a superb pivotal scene in the scriptwriter's apartment when Bardot decides that she no longer loves Piccoli.
There appears to be an attempt to draw parrallels between what is happening on the production set and the actions of certain characters within The Odyssey but, not being well versed in literature, I couldn't tell you whether I missed something here or not. I suspect there was more here than I was able to appreciate.
Multiplicity (4.5)
Starring Michael Keaton, Michael Keaton, Michael Keaton, Michael Keaton and .. erm .. Andie MacDowell. And from the director of Groundhog Day. This fails to achieve the same successful blend of comedy and romance, mainly because the script runs out of steam half way through. The basic premise is just as unbelievable as GD and the plot has potential. It is just never fully realised.
Basically MK plays an overworked man trying to support a wife and family and realises that he just doesn't have enough hours in the day to do everything he wants. So when he meets a professor who can clone humans, he thinks his problems are over.
Michael Keaton is good in all four roles and is only outshone by the special effects technology which enables you to completely forget that MK cannot really be in four places at once.
Funny on screen but instantly forgettable.
Last Man Standing (5.5)
Bruce Willis is a gun-slinger who turns up in a one-horse town near the Texas border. It's the Prohibition era, so no prizes for guessing the name of that horse. Trouble is, there are 2 stables. In a series of crosses and double-crosses, BW plays both sides against each other in order to earn some money. Things begin to get a little out of hand.
Essentially a Western even though the period is unusual. Walter Hill directs with one eye on period detail, the other on on-screen style. Bruce Willis is alright as the man with no name. Unfortunately neither Bruce Dern as the sheriff nor Christopher Walken as the nastiest of the rival gang members give completely satisfactory performances. For the second time this year, Walken proves that he can't quite cut it as a co-star and should stick to well scripted cameos (eg True Romance and Pulp Fiction).
Ultimately this film fails because none of the characters are likeable enough to gain the audience's sympathy. Therefore no-one is likely to care that much about who survives the final showdown. The incidental music and the voice-over narration are highlights of a very average and extremely violent Western.
I've never been a fan of boxing as a sport. I think it's boring, barbaric and, above all, stage-managed. So to my mind this movie's send-up of the sport is spot on. Samuel L Jackson is a boxing promoter whose extravagant lifestyle could take a dive if he can't find some way of boosting public interest in the big fights. Unfortunately there is just no real competition for the current heavyweight champion. But who needs REAL competition. If the public want it then it's real enough and what the public want is a white contender.
The plot is wafer thin and some of the acting isn't much better but this hits the mark often enough with the comedy to be entertaining popcorn fodder. Damien Wayans plays the champion and Jeff Golblum plays the journalist who becomes Jackson's PR man.
It's all pretty stupid but it's also quite funny.
During the Gulf war, in the middle of a night-time tank battle, Denzel Washington gives the order to fire on what he believes to be an enemy vehicle only to discover that he has just killed a fellow American tank crew. After the war he lands a desk job investigating proposals for medals. One of these is a posthumous Medal Of Honour for a helicopter pilot (Meg Ryan). But conflicting reports lead him to delve a little deeper.
This isn't so much a war movie as a story about a man gradually coming to terms with his own actions through the examination of those of other people. It is the first mainstream Gulf War movie and probably the first ever movie to tackle the 'friendly fire' issue. The story is well structured and unfolds nicely. Washington has already proved to be accomplished in this sort of role in Crimson Tide and looks as though he's just stepped off the aforementioned submarine and changed uniforms. Ryan is a little harder to swallow as the helicopter pilot but nonetheless gives a worthy performance. Unfortunately some of the other characters are a little sketchy.
A war movie with a difference. Fairly predictable but with one or two surprises.
I was torn in 2 minds whether to see this movie. Barry Norman said it was utter drivel and barely gave it a mention, while Empire gave it a 4 star rating. So I consulted my friend Robert who said it was OK and quite funny in parts. All I can say is that Empire and Robert have a lot to answer for. Bazza was most definitely right.
The plot (if you can call it that!) involves horizontally challenged professor Sherman Clump (Eddie Murphy) lusting after a new college tutor. She prefers the company of slim Buddy Love, not realising that the two are one and the same thanks to the professor's discovery of a drug which allows fat people to shed all that extra weight.
If fart jokes and fat jokes are your kind of humour then perhaps you'll enjoy this. However, I rate it the least funny comedy of the year and quite possibly the most offensive movie of the decade! If this is Eddie Murphy's 'return to form' then let's hope he sinks without trace.
Jude (6)
Apparently, Thomas Hardy's bleakest novel, Jude The Obscure, was so harshly received by critics and public alike that he never wrote another. This may be a period drama set in the late 19th century but don't expect a light hearted costume romance in the mould of Emma or Sense And Sensibility. This is a bleak tale and no mistake!
Jude (Christopher Ecclestone) is a stonemason who yearns to gain a place at the university of Christminster. His plans are interrupted by a short and bitter marriage to a pig farmer's daughter. After they separate he moves to Christminster to resume his studies. But then he meets and falls in love with his cousin Sue Bridehead (Kate Winslet) and from then on life really begins to go downhill. And when real tragedy strikes there were audible gasps from some members of the audience.
The bleakness of the tale is matched by the bleak look of the film - it's raining in nearly every major scene! But holding this together are 2 sparkling performances from Ecclestone and Winslet. I think the film is too English to gain a much wider audience, otherwise I'd talk oscars, but these are almost certainly best actor and actress nominations for the BAFTAs.
The background music is a haunting classical score by Adrian Johnston which I purchased just as soon as I could find it. Compensation for those men dragged along to see this by their wives/girlfriends comes in the form of a naked Kate Winslet.
Dragonheart (6)
Dennis Quaid is the eponymous knight betrayed by a boy king (David Thewlis) for whom he once mentor. The boy's soul has apparently been tainted due to an accident necessitating his receiving of half a dragon heart in order to survive. (Folklore has hitherto neglected to mention that dragons were ancient masters of complex surgery!). Quaid avows to rid the land of all dragons but ends up befriending the very one whose heart is shared by the boy king.
This otherwise average sword and sourcery adventure yarn is lifted by a big dose of special effects magic curtesy of CGI in the shape of the dragon. It is evident that a lot of time and effort, not to mention a large proportion of the budget, has been spent in making this mythical beast look appear both fearsome and agile. With a creature this impressive, only the voice of Sean Connery would do. And for once no-one can complain about the Scottish accent!
Ultimately it's a kids film, released to coincide with half term. Judging by audience reaction on Sunday morning, it should fare well. Certainly the 5 year old kid sitting next to me sat mesmerised through all 103 minutes.
Alaska (4.5)
An ecologically correct kids adventure yarn set in (you guessed it!) Alaska. Family moves north after Mum dies. Dad (Dirk Benedict), previously a 747 pilot, takes a job flying in emergency supplies in a light plane. When the plane is downed in bad weather and rescue crews begin to despair, brother and sister team up to form their own rescue party. Along the way they rescue a baby polar bear from an evil poacher (Charlton Heston).
Rather too formulaic for my taste, and the polar bear is designed to melt even the coldest heart. There is an exciting cliff-top rescue finale which is almos a sort of junior Cliffhanger, but it will come as absolutely no surprise to most adults and older children that the polar bear reappears in the nick of time to save the day. However, small children will probably love it.
Tin Cup (6.5)
Kevin Costner is the semi alcoholic small town golf pro who runs a driving range in Texas, assisted by his buddy Cheech Marin. Romance crosses Costner's path with the arrival of Rene Russo as the local psychiatrist interested in taking golf lessons. The only problem is that she is dating Don Johnson, Costner's former partner - now bitter sleazoid rival. Deciding that only a grand gesture can make an impression on Russo, Costner sets out to win the US Open.
An engaging lightweight romantic comedy that hits the mark more often than it misses. Costner re-affirms his romantic lead status and Russo gives possibly her best performance to date. The plot is thin but the comedy, romance and golf all tie on the leader board so golfers and spectators alike should leave contented. Even the soundtrack has some catchy tunes, my personal favourite being 'The Double-Bogie Blues.'
It almost makes you want to go out at sunrise and shoot a few holes before breakfast.
A devout, innocent young woman on a remote Scottish island marries a Scandinavian oil rigger. Concerns about the relationship at first seem strange since the audience is led to assume that these are directed towards him, but only when he returns to work on the rig and she can't bear to be parted from him is her past as a mental patient revealed. Then an accident paralyses him from the neck down and he tries to persuade her to take another lover because he no longer has the ability to satisfy her, but she sees this as a perverse test of her love for him.
A curious film directed by Lars Von Trier. There is no doubt that Emily Watson's performance in the central role is indeed powerful, but this alone is not enough to carry the film. How these two ever met and fell in love is never properly explained. Some of the plot twists (especially in the second half) stretch credulity. Given her actions, I can't imagine any woman sympathising with the central character. The final scenes suggest that this is supposed to be an upbeat tale of love conquering death but the preceding 2.5 hours are pretty heavy going.
Chain Reaction (5.5)
If scientists could only harness the energy from the hydrogen atoms in water molecules cheaply and safely, the world could shed its reliance on other fuels overnight and reduce pollution at a stroke.
Within 24 hours of this scientific breakthrough, an explosion rips apart the test lab and demolishes 8 blocks of the Chicago suburbs in the process. Only Keanu Reaves (as one of the scientists on the project) knows it wasn't an accident but someone appears to be setting him up. Consequently, once the police and the FBI deduce foul play, it is Keanu and 'the token female team member' who end up on the run.
What might have promised to be a reasonable conspiracy thriller rapidly dimishes into a distinctly average chase movie. As is unfortunately so often the case, the police and FBI are nothing but a bunch of bumbling idiots though even they look professional in comparison to the heavies working for the real bad guys. If they were up against James Bond it might be funny, but instead it is merely laughable.
Certainly no acting honours. Quite why Morgan Freeman is in this escapes me completely! However, the film doesn't lack for pace and energy and there are some nice THX moments amongst the set pieces to test those sub woofers when this gets released to laserdisc.
Twelfth Night (5.5)
Considering the star studded cast, this is a surprisingly lack-lustre adaptation of Shakespeare's novel. Director Trevor Nunn serves up a darker version of the standard tale, and while that makes it different from the norm it also makes it harder to follow for those not well versed in the plot and the characters. Only in the last half an hour when all the interwoven cross-dressing mistaken identity plot details unfold does this really come alive - mainly because the tone becomes lighter and funnier.
However, there are some delightful performances, not least among the supporting roles. Most notable of these are Richard E. Grant (Sir Andrew Aguecheek), Ben Kingsley (Feste) and Imelda Staunton (Maria).
No doubt a clever adaptation, but it lacks the lightness of touch and sparkle of Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing.
The Fan (4)
Robert De Niro is the man whose marriage has broken up and his sales job is in the doldrums. All he has left are visiting rights to his son and his obsession with baseball. Wesley Snipes is the player whose legendary form is expected to bring glory to De Niro's team. But Snipes hits a bad spell and the fans begin to turn against him.
The film never quite makes up its mind whether it should be a baseball movie or somekind of psychological thriller, and ultimately it ends up being neither. The plot is thin and Snipes' performance is thinner. Ellen Barkin in a supporting role as a sports correspondent for the local radio station is completely wasted. As expected, however, De Niro manages to bring a little more depth to his own character but it is still little more than a pale immitation of Travis Bickle.
Okay, so De Niro on a bad day is still not bad but it is not enough to carry a film with as little thought and direction as this.
The First Wives Club (3.5)
I'm beginning to abandon all hope regarding the intelligence of the American cinema-going public. First they liked The Nutty Professor and now this!
Reunited following the suicide of former college friend Stockard Channing (Obviously she read page 1 of the script and decided to get out fast!), Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn and Bette Midler meet up and plot revenge upon the husbands who have dumped them for other women.
Evidently the producers didn't think it necessary to have a decent plot with a star line-up like this. What ensues is some weak romantic comedy and slapstick. Goldie Hawn and Bette Midler I can understand, but quite why Diane Keaton should get involved with this, I really don't know. Fortunately there are some good moments - all supplied courtesy of the supporting cast which includes Maggie Smith, Dan Hedaya and Sarah Jessica Parker.
On reflection, Stockard Channing had the right idea!
The Pillow Book (5)
Peter Greenaway's films are invariably highly stylised affairs and often difficult to follow. This is no exception. Inspired by the writings of her father and a thousand year old book, a Japanese girl (Yoshi Oida) becomes a devotee of calligraphy. In order to avenge her father, who has in the past been forced to pay off his publisher with sexual favours, she begins to send him books written on the live skin of their mutual lover (Ewan McGregor).
Awash with sensuality, nudity (mainly Ewan McGregor), violence and symbolism. Unfortunately, save for the skin as paper analogy, no explanations are immediately forthcoming. I came away almost none the wiser.
The film's saving grace is it's visual style, employing a multitude of images many of which are presented within a picture-in-picture format.
The Craft (5.5)
Typical teen movie in which a new girl joins a middle American high school and is befriended by 3 girls who think she will make an excellent fourth for their circle (of witches, that is!). As with any school, petit jealousies and rivalries are rife. Only these four now find they have the power to fight back.
This tries hard to be another Heathers, and in brief moments it almost succeeds. Ultimately it fails because it chooses to employ too many flashy special effects and too little real menace and barbed wit.
Amiable popcorn fodder.
Samantha Caine is a small town school teacher and mother of a 7 year old daughter. She's suffers from amnesia and can't recall anything beyond a point 8 years previously when she was 2 months pregnant. But she has hired seedy gumshoe Samuel L Jackson to help track down her past. An obscure investigative lead coupled with a local TV appearance by Caine in a Christmas pageant alert both government officials and terrorists to the fact that she is alive, for they know her true identity to be that of a highly trained CIA assassin whom both sides believed to be dead. Thus begins all manner of conspiracy and mayhem with Davis and Jackson bang in the middle of the cross-fire.
It's hardly the most original plot but if you're prepared to leave the brain at home then this makes for an entertaining Saturday night movie. After the distinctly below par Cutthroat Island, Renny Harlin again directs his wife but this time she proves herself to be a very respectable all-action heroine. Schwarzenegger and Stallone won't lose any sleep over this but it is a very refreshing change to see a woman take on this kind of role.
It's difficult not to compare this with True Lies since Shane Black's screenplay sets the mix of action and witty dialogue at much the same level. This is obviously the poor man's version since it doesn't have all the military hardware contained in Schwarzenegger's movie but there are enough set pieces to still make this highly enjoyable hokum.
And my favourite moment - it has to be Geena Davis strapped to a water mill!!!
The original was a deliciously dark and macabre love story starring Brandon Lee (who died in an accident on set), containing stylish visuals and some haunting music. It became one of my favourite films of 1994.
In this sequel Vincent Perez emerges as a new character (Ashe) who teams up with the young girl (Sarah) from the first movie. Beyond that, however, this is almost devoid of any coherent storyline. First time director Tim Pope fails dismally to recreate the style and timelessness of the original and instead ends up with something that looks like an elongated pop video which lacks any decent music.
Fear (6.5)
Above average psycho thriller in which Mark Wahlberg is the new-found boyfriend of babelicious Reese Witherspoon. William Petersen is the father who tries to do right but only gets everything wrong in the eyes of his daughter. Inevitably she comes to realise just a little too late that his fears about her boyfriend are indeed justified. But by then the family home is besieged by 5 psycho youths.
Derivative of many previous films in this genre, not least Fatal Attraction and Straw Dogs. However the slow build up is well handled. Whilst the finale is rivetting stuff, the last few minutes somehow let the whole thing down. Some solid acting in the leading roles.
Enough to give a few fathers nightmares about the whereabouts of their teenage daughters.
101 Dalmatians (7)
The live action update of what is surely one of the all-time best Disney classics certainly begins well enough. Joely Richardson and Jeff Daniels meet in a London park during some riotious scene-stealing set pieces involving their Dalmatians, Perdita and Pongo. It's a forgone conclusion that wedding bells and puppies will follow. Enter Glenn Close as every dog's nightmare, the wicked Cruella De Vil who wants the fur from her former employees designer puppies in order to complete a new coat. The dogs get stolen to order by a pair of bungling villans and the threat of The Skinner (a character I don't recollect from the original) looms large and menacing.
So far so good and traditional. But then things start to slip a little. An Airedale terrier (in a series of antics reminiscent of Benji the wonder dog) organises the biggest cinematic escape not to involve Steve McQueen. Cruella and the aforementioned bungling villains take up the chase. Unfortunately the animated antics of 35 years ago translate into live action stupidity which is very much sub Home Alone standard. This is a great shame because any real sense of danger rapidly dissipates. Cruella De Vil who for the first half is this year's screen villian to die for (no pun intended) is reduced to a slapstick shadow of her former self.
No doubt it will still be a huge Christmas hit. All the kids at the screening I saw thoroughly enjoyed it. The dogs are suitably cute, the visuals are impressive and Glenn Close is fabulously evil when the script allows her to be. Dog lovers everywhere will enjoy it. Commercially it may become a classic but critically it is flawed because Disney haven't had the sense to appreciate that the intelligence of today's audience is that much greater than in 1961.
The Borg are back in town and this time they're messing with history!
The film opens with the Enterprise helping to defeat the Borg in a monumental showdown and then returning to Earth only to discover that they have won the battle and lost the war - Earth is solely inhabited by the Borg! So it's left to the crew of the Enterprise to travel back through the same time vortex which the Borg have slipped through and save the Earth from takeover by ensuring that 'First contact' is still achieved in 2063. As if all that is not enough, they also have to fend off a Borg takeover of the Enterprise itself.
This is indeed one of the better Startrek movies and certainly the first one in which Jean Luc Picard has been able to prove that he is the best captain ever to command a starship called Enterprise. Although complaints can be levelled that some members of the crew have little to do, this has always been true of individual TV episodes. Jonathan Frakes (Commander Riker) also has the added excuse that he was busy behind the camara directing the action.
And action there certainly is! Not always of the 'set phasers to stun' variety but in more subtle ways as fans of STTNG will appreciate. The plot is well paced. The bad guys are the Borg - need I say more? Except to mention Alice Krige as the Borg Queen, a wonderfully menacing villain who somehow manages to make a centuries old woman with a bald head full of cables seem sexy!!!
The humour is also pitched at just the right level. There are some great one-liners, though Trekkies will spot at least one from Data which he uttered almost verbatim in a memorable episode from series 1 of STTNG. In a seperate incident a brief appearance by a character from Startrek Voyager got one of the single biggest laughs of the evening. Even memories of some of the best hollodeck adventures are drawn into the mix during a scene in which it would not have looked out of place for Indiana Jones to drop in!
One of the film's biggest strengths is that it panders to the fans. Those unfamiliar with Startrek trivia are left to figure it out for themselves. Generations was so much the opposite that it left little room for plot or real action. Noticeably though, one or two of the special effects are a little ropey; some of the acting is a bit stilted - though this certainly doesn't apply to Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner or Alice Krige; and there are no major surround sound hi-lites such as the crash in Generations or the explosion at the beginning of The Undiscovered Country. Nevertheless, Trekkies everywhere can be assured of an enjoyable night out at the movies.
Sleepers (7)
Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Kevin Bacon and Brad Pitt all star in this tale of 4 kids who accidentally kill a man in 1960s Manhattan and are consequently sent to reform school.
The movie breaks down into 3 parts detailing how they come to be convicted, their time at the reform school, and the revenge which they subsequently exact upon one of the prison warders.
It's a nicely paced, well acted drama. And for once De Niro doesn't play a deranged psychotic!
Jerry Maguire (5)
Tom Cruise plays a sports promoter who has an attack of conscience one night and blows a very lucrative career. As his former colleagues seek to rob him of his clients, Jerry comes to realise just who his true friends are and how much they mean to him.
It's a romantic comedy in which the sport plays second fiddle. Essentially a date movie which has its moments but not enough to really recommend it.