Brenda Starr carries a 1989 release date, but it was really produced a couple of years earlier. Legal troubles kept it from release, otherwise it might have been seen as a precursor to the “comic book” revival begun in ‘89 by Batman, instead of as just another attempt to cash in on a fad. […]
Pink Floyd The Wall is director Alan Parker’s fever-dream adaptation of the well-known rock opera/album. Now, Parker was (and is) no stranger to films with significant musical content, having directed Fame, Birdy, Evita and The Commitments, to name a few. With The Wall, however, he actually hit a wall named Roger Waters and […]
A-ha! A short month because I started to curtail my viewing to try and get back on track. So, only 16 films for the month of May, but still a nice array of choices for awards.
Best Supporting Actor
Pat Hingle as Judge Adam Fenton in Hang ‘Em High (1968)
A strong performance by Clint in […]
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century is the theatrically-released pilot for the similarly named television show starring Gil Gerard as Buck and Erin Gray as Col. Wilma Deering. As I mentioned in my review, Flash Gordon (made around the same time) tried to recreate the comic strip on the big screen. Buck, on […]
National Lampoon’s Van Wilder attempts to recapture some of National Lampoon’s past glory by returning to college and trying to define an era in much the same way Animal House did. While it never reaches the inspired levels of that earlier film (and all to often goes into that unfortunate land we call “gross-out […]
I am probably unduly fond of Graffiti Bridge, Prince’s 1990 sequel to his groundbreaking Purple Rain. On almost every level (except the music - mor on that later), Bridge is inferior to Rain. The story is more convoluted, the dialogue more stilted, the sets look more fake. But there’s something deep inside […]
I don’t have a whole lot to say about Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. It has always been my least favorite of the original crew “Star Trek” films. This is mainly because it feels to me like an obligatory film, not one that grew organically.
Wrath of Khan had proved that Star […]
The original, 1968 version of Mel Brook’s The Producers and its 2005 remake naturally have a lot in common. But there are almost as many differences. As I mentioned in my original review, the biggest change is the expansion of the storyline to include a love story for Leo.
These changes alter the dynamic […]
The Bride and the Beast is another film for which Ed Wood only wrote the screenplay. That he didn’t direct this particular opus doesn’t take away from its Woodian flavor in the slightest.
This film tells the tale of newlyweds Dan and Laura Fuller (Lance Fuller and Charlotte Austin). Dan is a hunter, basically […]
Robin Hood is considered by many to be a weak point in the Disney Animated Feature canon, but I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for it. Watching it again after all these years I can agree that it doesn’t measure up, but not, perhaps, for the same reasons others feel that […]
Spite Marriage is Buster Keaton’s second film for MGM and his final silent feature. He had, in fact, wanted to make this film as a talkie (he was very enthusiastic about sound), but was overridden by studio honchos. This film marks the true transition for Keaton, as the studio began taking full control […]
I’ve said about all I needed to say about Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in my original review. There’s little to add, really.
But I would like to point out that like a lot of the films that have become personal favorites, there’s always something that I notice each time I watch it. This time, […]
The Beastmaster was one of the rare early-eighties attempts at bringing the sword & sorcery genre to the big screen. Unfortunately for its box office, it released the same year as the much higher-profile Conan the Barbarian. Beastmaster quickly faded from theaters. But it was one of the first films to really […]
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius is the theatrical debut of the popular character better known for his Nickelodeon television series. It established the basic premise and characters, essentially making it like a longer episode of the show. (It was, in fact, produced as a way of forming a fanbase for the later show.)
We meet […]
What’s to be said about Johnny Dangerously? Made in the wake of Michael Keaton’s success in Night Shift and Mr. Mom, it is a big, showy comedy about 1940s gangsters. It tries, soemwhat, to emulate the Airplane!-style of over-the-top comedy, but only partially succeeds. It is resuced by spirited performances from its […]
Hang ‘Em High is my favorite Clint Eastwood Western. Yes, most would choose a true spaghetti western like The Good, The Bad and the Ugly or A Fistful of Dollars, but Hang ‘Em High is an American film through and through. And if there is a genre that benefits from true American roots, […]
Pete’s Dragon is an odd film that marked the last time Disney had animation and live action interact onscreen. (There was, of course, Who Framed Roger Rabbit in 1988, but that was released as a Touchstone film.) It has a lot in common with the animated films of the day and less with […]