Reviews
The Mask of Zorro (1998)
Movie 100, Critics zero
Excellent. Sparkling humour throughout the movie. I can't see why the critics hated it. Anthony Hopkins as the original Zorro - driven by his need for his daughter to know him - is superb. Antonio Banderas always seems to know how to have fun, his character is less driven than in Desperado but still fuelled by revenge. Catherine Zeta Jones is wonderful; sensual and (sometimes) in control.
Overall, the best movie I have seen in a long time. Can't wait for it to come out on satellite, then I can watch it again.
Letters from a Killer (1998)
Clever, nice twist in the tail
You start off hating Patrick Swayze, there he is on death row gratuitously manipulating the emotions of several women at once. When the guards reveal his secret, you start to feel sorry for him. Then he gets out and people start to die. Did he or didn't he commit the murders (the new ones or the originals).
Watch out for an all-girl C&W band guesting in the middle of the move. "Mr Dyers Daughters" have a future. They don't seem to have a record deal yet but they have their own web site and have cut their own CD.
Swayze is at his best, and Gia Carides is good too (I haven't seen her before).
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Sultry, sleazy and caring, all at once. Superb.
Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe and Kim Basinger have equal weight here. All three are superb, but Kim takes it for me.
After her troubles in recent years, this is one heck of a comeback movie!
This will be remembered with some of the Bogart-Bacall movies in a few years, and so it should.
Sleaze sharing the screen with honour and integrity will always make a good movie when it is done well, but this is better than merely good.