Reviews
Chinatown (1974)
If you don't like this, never enter a movie theater again!
Roman Polanski directed this film set in 1940's Los Angeles before his wife, Sharon Tate was murdered by Charles Manson's Family' and before he fled the country to avoid charges of statutory rape of an under-aged starlet. Jack Nicholson plays a detective who is dragged into the middle of a mystery too large and too strange to describe. Along the way he encounters Faye Dunaway and John Huston and receives a nasty wound from director Roman Polanski. Lots has been said about the direction of Roman Polanski and the acting of Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway and John Huston in this classic (and I don't mean to diminish their accomplishments here at all) but major credit has to go to Jerry Goldsmith for the music, John A. Alonzo for cinematography, and Richard Sylbert for art direction. When you look at lists of best movies written by most critics you are bound to run into some that may be classics but are just plain boring, this isn't one of those. It's a classic film that is also a great movie!
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
70's Cool Hand Luke
I've seen One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest more times than I can remember and each time I view it again I'm struck by the parallels between it and the 60's hit Cool Hand Luke.
Jack Nicholson's McMurphy is very similar to Paul Newman's Luke in that they are both in a place where they don't really belong. McMurphy wasn't really crazy and Luke was really only guilty of destructive mischief. They also become the life of their new homes showing their new friends and fellow inmates that they are only broken if they choose to be broken by their jailers. And they both suffer the same fate....
In watching One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest its hard to imagine a film more deserving of the Oscars it received. I must disagree strongly with a previous comment by Brandon (horrormvfn@aol.com) who referred to Louise Fletcher's Nurse Ratched as "soft but strong willed." I consider her to be more of a psychopath than anyone in the movie. She has her ward running in a way that suits her and she isn't going to allow anyone to disrupt it. Just as McMurphy sets out in the beginning to get under her skin she resolves to destroy him to show who is really in control. If Nurse Ratched were a real nurse she would be guilty of malpractice for the things she does in this movie.
The ensemble cast of OFOTCN is a real treat to behold. If you haven't seen this one and choose not to you can't consider yourself a real movie fan.
Muriel's Wedding (1994)
Kind of a "Revenge of the Nerds Down-Under"
Muriel's Wedding is a feel good movie for the outcasts of the world. That means most people of course. At some time in our lives we all feel like the one who is left out of everything. Muriel's life is like that. Her "friends" put her down constantly and her father reinforces it by telling her how useless she (and every other member of her family) is while boosting his own ego by bragging about his connections.
There is no life in Porpoise Spit for Muriel. So after a couple of catastrophic embarassments and a chance meeting with an old school chum and fellow outcast she moves to Sydney. There she reinvents herself and discovers that despite what has been said about her and some pretty bad things she has done she is still a good person. Muriel stumbles on the way but finally frees herself (as does her mother) from the oppression of her hometown, her father, and her life.
Muriel isn't a totally likeable character. She steals, lies, and at one point does a perfectly terrible thing to her only friend. In the end however, Muriel recognizes that despite her shortcoming, physical and spiritual, she isn't the worthless creature her classmates and father have told her she is. To the credit of the filmmaker's they didn't do a complete remake of Muriel in the film to make her a beauty at the end. She gets a better hair cut but for the most part the improvement on her looks comes from within.
Muriel's father on the other hand is a completely despicable man. A local politician who tries to impress everybody with his connections he also put considerable effort into the degradation of his wife and children. His motto, the same as the town of Porpoise Spit, is "You Can't Stop Progress" but he manages to stop the progress of everyone in his family except for Muriel.
This is a very enjoyable film and a good example of the idea that a movie doesn't have to be a big Hollywood production to be great. I'm glad that it was produced in Australia. If it had been done in France then Hollywood would have done a remake in English and probably ruined it.
South Pacific (1958)
More comments on the color wheel
This is indeed one of the classics of musical theater but the use of the colored filters during many of the musical numbers was very distracting. I have this movie on laser disc and every time I watch it I want to choke whoever was responsible for giving the go ahead to this failed experiment. There they are in one of the most beautiful places in the world to shoot a movie and they use colored filters to take out most of the color during the best moments of the film. I also felt that with certain songs (particularly Mitzi Gaynor's) that there should have been considerably more dancing. Instead she sings 70% of most of her songs directly into the camera. Why did they hire a dancer for that role in the first place if they weren't going to have her dance?
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
Must see caper comedy
This movie is a perfect example of the fact that American audiences don't pay enough attention to flicks that aren't either big action, big bucks, big stars, or American. Here you have a 'laugh your ass off' crime caper comedy that is every bit as funny as 'A Fish Called Wanda' and nobody goes to see it! Don't make that mistake! Four small timers save up their money to back their card shark mate in a card game that they don't know is rigged. He ends up losing not only their money but his dad's pub too. With a week to raise half a million pounds a plot develops which ends up with so many twists and turns and so many hilariously likeable thieves, murderers, drug producers, and knee breakers that it can't be explained in a short review. SEE THIS MOVIE!
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
Paul Newman's Greatest!
Paul Newman was born to play Luke, the misfit sent to the labor camp for cutting the heads off of parking meters. An amazing ensemble cast. The movie is just over two hours long but the pacing makes you feel the boredom that the prisoners feel and rejoice at the little bit of daylight brought to their lives when Luke joins them. There are a lot of 'classic' movies that are just plain boring but this is one that entertains from beginning to end.
Pecker (1998)
Must See!!!
John Waters is a genius! Not only has he been successful at the box office but has managed to squeak out a few films that fall into the 'Art Film' category and are still funny. Pecker is one of his art films and is a real hoot. In the film the title character is one of those movie stereotypes, a guy who is known and loved by everybody in his neighborhood. But then you realize that everybody else is a kind of stereotype, happy people. The characters are all pretty two dimensional but that's OK when its intentional and it really does make them funny. So Pecker goes around taking pictures of all of these happy people who are thrilled to see their pictures at his first art show which just happens to be on the walls of the sandwich shop where he works. Of course, a New York gallery owner walks in and 'discovers' Pecker which means fame, fortune, and ridicule of his neighbors by the outside world. Of course this now makes all of Pecker's neighbors unhappy! The ending is pretty 'John Waters' but carries a nice message...."Screw you! I don't need your permission or approval to be happy!!!"
Slacker (1990)
Cult film must!
I agree with the other people who have praised this film, it is terrific. I also own a copy and find that I seldom make it all the way through. Still I keep it and periodically go back to it because I can't wait for a particular character to show up or to be reminded of one that I'd forgotten. And best of all....I think that I've known most of these people at some time in my life! As bizarre as all of these characters are they are very much like some of the wackos everybody encounters throughout their lifetime. Linklater did a very good job of his caricatures and drew excellent performances out of his cast.
The Man in the Moon (1991)
Great, Sentimental, Well acted
Reese Witherspoon (Pleasantville) in her first film. Syrupy tear jerker about a thirteen year old girl's first love who happens to fall in love with her older sister. A three hanky chick flick! Real men aren't afraid to watch chick flicks!
What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
On the town in Endora, Iowa
Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio live with their 700 pound mother and two sisters in Endora, Iowa and still manage to come up with an interesting story. Johnny Depp is very good at picking his material and knows that he does well with off beat films as he does here. However, the real stars of this film are Darlene Cates (Momma) and Leonardo DiCaprio. Leonardo proved in this one that he CAN act but he got the part in Titanic anyway.
The Man in the Moon (1991)
Great, Sentimental, Well acted
Reese Witherspoon (Pleasantville) in her first film. Syrupy tear jerker about a thirteen year old girl's first love who happens to fall in love with her older sister. A three hanky chick flick! Real men aren't afraid to watch chick flicks!
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)
Disturbing
If this true story doesn't disturb you then you are disturbed yourself. This isn't told from the point of view of the law trying to track them down it simply shows the unbelievably sick life of a real life serial killer. It makes no apologies and pulls no punches. The low budget of this film added tremendously to the realism. Not a Hollywood version of a Hollywood Serial Killer, this is the real thing!
Purple Rain (1984)
Its a good thing Prince has his music to fall back on!
Proof positive that if you could buy Prince for what he's worth and sell him for what he thinks he's worth you'd be rich. The music by Prince and Morris Day and the Time are outstanding but that is it. From what I've read Prince had never even visited a movie set when he started working on this (and it shows.) The story is very disjointed and of course it glorifies the character played by Prince. Worth seeing for the music but that is it. If he hadn't had so much control over the film it probably would have been great!
The King and I (1956)
One of the classic musicals of the fifties
Deborah Kerr runs around in huge hoop skirts while Yul Brynner wears no shoes. And people wonder why this movie is still banned in Thailand. Actually this is a musical (and pretty shallow version) of a diary entitled `Anna and the King.' The Thais feel that it makes the king look foolish and backward but of course they just don't understand that musicals like this make everybody look foolish and backward. If you like musicals you'll love it. If you don't like musicals you'll REALLY hate it. True to form for the fifties they managed to make this movie using nobody who was actually from Thailand.
Empire of the Sun (1987)
One of the best Spielberg has ever done.
I can't understand why this film isn't better known. It not only addresses issues of a boy becoming a man but also deals with international relations and the absurdity of war. This ranks right up there with Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan.