bhicks56 Reviews

Election (1999)

outstanding black comedy satire on morals and ethics

[10/10 · 23 December 1999]

Anyone who has lost faith in the acting ability of Reese Witherspoon due to very wimpy roles in recent years MUST check this movie out. At least that's only one of the reasons.

She plays one of the greatest and sinister characters from a high school movie, which I shouldn't title this underrated masterpiece. I would never put it in the same category as AMERICAN PIE or IDLE HANDS. Witherspoon's Tracy Flick is so unbelievably on target, which goes well with the rest of the marvelous cast (just study Matt Malloy's portrayal of the vice principal). She's the "popular loner", cursed with Macbeth-sized ambition, that she doesn't care about meeting friends or having fun in highschool. She cares about getting ahead of everyone else, bing on top, and above all, being noticed. She even gives RUSHMORE's Max Fischer a run for his yearbook club memberships.

Matthew Broderick has also been an many special-effect extravagant duds, it is more than refreshing to see him here as the sincere, bored and down-on-his-luck Government teacher.

I think it was sheer brilliance for director Alexander Payne to make you root for Broderick as he tries to sabatoge Tracy's chances of winning class president, even though you find that in retrospect it's no big deal. The reason kids vote for Tracy isn't because they're good friends or even like her. They just don't care. The only person who cares about the election is Tracy.

This is pointed out by another wonderful character, Tammy Metzler played by fresh newcomer Jessica Campbell. Campbell doesn't only play one of the best gay high school characters on film but gay characters period. "I'm not a lesbian," she states in an interior monologue all the main characters share. "I believe everyone needs someone to card for, and I just happen to like girls." Well, that's not exactly how she says it, I'm paraphrasing. But you get the idea.

The reason why Payne uses so many interior monologues is because he doesn't want his film to be looked at with one point of view. He's not that kind of satirist. Maybe a very ambitious and spoiled teenager like Tracy will see this film and feel sympathetic toward Tracy as her life is almost ruined by Broderick's teacher. Maybe someone, like myself, will cheer Broderick on and hope that Flick learns her lesson and that there is such a thing as defeat and you shouldn't trample over people and abuse your power. Or maybe someone will be like Tammy Metzler and not even care of the outcome. Just enjoy the hilarity of it all.

Also check out Payne's CITIZEN RUTH, another great comedy on the different sides of the abortion issue.

Go (1999)

TANTRA, BABY!!

[10/10 · 22 December 1999]

The glitz of a rave is what influences this movie, it is also the sort of definition of this time-twisting, oddly beautiful, bright and dimensional sophomore film of Doug Liman, who, as he did with SWINGERS, uses a brilliant script to smother his exhilirating vision with.

This is an ensemble piece which may be compared with the likes of PULP FICTION, but it has a whole rave-generation feel of its own, not to mention this is anything BUT a teen film. It's almost like setting the kids of AMERICAN GRAFFITI out in stylish and fun misadventures involving crime, drugs, strippers, and money. All in the rhythm of the moment, a practice of indulgence. That's how I see John August titling his after-dark masterpiece, GO.

Sarah Polley is always, always wonderful and she blends in well with the neon, candy-colored intimacy of GO. Doing a much better job than the boring, out-of-place Katie Holmes. Polley is smart and deceiving and (my God!!) beautiful under whichever mask she wears in a film.

Also outstanding is the hilariously cocky Brit William Fichtner and the suave, level-headed Taye Diggs, along with the perfect-as-a-"nice drug dealer" Timothy Olyphant and his menacing eyebrows.

How this never became a hit in theaters, I'll never know. But it is a sure cult fave, no matter if you're a rave fanatic or not. Also, Jay Mohr and Scott Wolf give their most convincing performances in the most fitting roles yet!

Bravo for Liman who uses his film to remix the plot structure and sync the edit effects with the pulsing music.

Men Don't Leave (1990)

sweet surprise.... good movie, bad title

[8/10 · 22 December 1999]

Paul Brickman's American remake of the inferior LA VIE CONTINUE is one of those kind of movies you stumble on by mistake. That's what made it even more enjoyable as I viewed on HBO. I have never heard of it, though the ensemble cast is energetic and full of famous faces of the present.

The story has the ability to be funny and honest even as it becomes slightly melancholy with both death and near-death experiences.

The performances, again, are great, especially Jessica Lange, because her character isn't a single mom who struggles hard to keep her family together. Things get so incredibly rough that she becomes uneasily passive, letting her oldest son sleep with an older woman (the wonderful Joan Cusack as a nurse living in the same building) and spending most of her unemployed days in bed.

Other good performances come from Charlie Simon, proving you can be charming and sexy even with male-pattern baldness and Kathy Bates playing a character completely different from her usual sweet and struggling woman typecast (and it isn't even due to a Stephen King novel!!).

It's strange how you can explain the story to a person and they take it as a depressing tale, while Brickman sprinkles so much hilarious moments in this feel-good-feel-bad-feel-good-again movie. Witness the great scene between Lange and her son played by Chris O'Donnell involving the use and authority of the S-word.

Pulp Fiction (1994)

I'm not gonna sing the same ol' praises

[10/10 · 15 December 1999]

I'm sure everyone has covered the obvious genius of this movie, so I'm just going to write about the little things I enjoy.

I'm sure many people love to see this movie over and over again, but since I have so many things memorized (as all of you, I'm sure, Don't Lie!!) I like to space it out and look at it in a fresh way each time. Too bad it can never be as fresh as the first time, but the exhiliration and thrill is still there.

It's so cool how Tarantino can put everything he loves about cult movies and throw in some very spicy international women into the brew. Not to mention surf guitar and cartoon homages and present ethnic slurs in such an inoffensive way that it shows the whole inanity and ridiculousness of it all.

I also like how Quentin puts little things that you can catch brand new after 20 or so viewings. You might not have noticed (or even have cared for that matter), but in almost every scene there's a little thing going, sometimes on the edge of the screen that makes this more than a hip, ultraviolent cult fave. I like how the scene involving Christopher Walken and the young Butch. Walken almost changes every word in explaining Butch's father's death for the sake of Butch and his mother. Also at the end, if you pay attention to the extras in the resteraunt, they look like real bystanders in a hold-up.

I also sometimes find myself asking questions about the characters and imagine them outside the movie. Like Rosanna Arquette and Eric Stoltz. I always imagine them getting high and cheating on each other. Not to mention Tarantino putting questions out there for us. What is in that suitcase after all?

The Iron Giant (1999)

What a joy

[10/10 · 14 December 1999]

It's such a relief to see an animated film that goes against the annoying elements of Disney: the Broadway music and songs, the irritating comic sidekicks, the heavy-handed morals. It's become such a cliche that kids aren't being entertained like they used to (don't fear TARZAN, though, a wonderful movie).

I knew I was going to enjoy this movie's retro 50s-like animation immensely, but I was surprised how much more I enjoyed. The movie isn't concerned how life-like the characters are, because ultimately it's the actions that make them more realistic than how they appear.

Eli Marienthal's voice is incredibly convincing as the young boy Hogarth and the title robot is the most enjoyable and friendly creature to watch since E.T. almost twenty years ago. The Iron Giant is voiced with mechanical authenticity by Vin Diesel who marvelously makes the audience not only believe but love and sympathize for this colossal metal man. There are also good (voice)performances by Harry Connick Jr. (who sounds like a cajun Bruce Willis here) and Christopher McDonald (who I was convinced was Tim Allen). One of the great moments are when Hogarth teaches his new mechanical buddy about Superman, and the Iron Giant decides he wants to be a hero.

It is almost inevitable for a movie like this not to have a message, but the great thing is that not only is it a good and heartwarming message, but it isn't handed to us in a heavy and literal way. Guns are bad and they are only used for killing. Near the end I almost felt ashamed that I was starting to get a bit misty. But that doesn't matter, it only shows how great this so-called children's movie actually is!

Bringing Out the Dead (1999)

NYC EMS: So close to being GREAT

[8/10 · 7 December 1999]

I think Martin Scorsese has a lot of potential in dark comedy. Rent AFTER HOURS, one of my favorites and one of his greatests, and you'll see just what I mean. When the exciting trailers of this film popped up in movie theaters, I was expecting a twisted black comedy that only Marty's visuals could deliver. When I went to see this, that's ALMOST what I got.

The problem with this movie, which is set on a few nights in early 90s NYC, is that it wants to be serious along with that evil, foaming grin underneath. Nic Cage plays paramedic so deadpan, you'd wish someone would pump him full of adrenaline! But, like the stonefaced DeNiro, it is only to show the almost innocent protagonist in the center of urban mayhem. Besides, he hardly has much to be happy about, since he hasn't saved too many lives lately, and it turns out to be right in sync with Patricia Arquette's quiet-riot acting.

Scorsese knows how to give us the news. He focuses on Cage's tired, steel blue eyes as it is drowned by red light from the ambulance. He also has an equally good ear for music. The great, great, great blues riff "T.B. Sheets" by Van Morrison opens up our odyssey in the graveyard shift of EMS. The squealing harmonica goes perfect with Cage's despair, as he just wants to get a vacation and some sleep, instead of having another life in his hands that will only die in his care.

When the film opens, he is joined by John Goodman (who is always good, but plays it light here) as they head to save a heart-attack victim from the directions of dispatcher Martin Scorsese himself. When I first saw them head for the rescue, I wondered why they were moving so sluggish and calmly up the stairs. Then I got the idea. It's late, they do this almost every half hour, and all they look forward to is the drink afterwards (especially depressive Cage). This is where Cage meets Arquette, and after saving her father from dying (through the almighty voice of Sinatra on vinyl) they rush him to a full-as-it-is hospital.

With every call to duty, there comes something new and exciting to watch, and this is where the film grows on you, in time, as it moves on, instead of hitting you from finish to end. I kind of liked that, and I have a feeling that the second time I see this, I'll like it even more.

The supporting cast is truly great, especially Ving Rhames as Cage's very religious partner, Marc Anthony as a whacko who is dying of thirst and wants to die himself from time to time, Afemo "Don't make me take off my sunglasses!" Omilami as Griss (a great character), the very funny, tounge-in-cheek Captain Barney played by Arthur J. Nascarella, and the smooth "respectable" drug dealer Cy played by Cliff Curtis. Tom Sizemore has played too many psychopaths, but this is one of his best characters. As for Cage, he gradually got into the rhythm of the film, but I felt Scorsese's constantly moving picture was trying to make the film look exciting over Cage's stiffness.

All and all, I do think this is a good movie. I did want another AFTER HOURS (I still do as a matter of fact), but the direction Paul Schrader's story went was quite the opposite of disappointing. There are some great shots, especially one with Cage in a parked ambulance with Goodman. He looks at his partner with envy as he takes a cat nap, and his face fills half the screen while the other half contains blurred street lights of blue and yellow. It's beautiful. And the sequence where Cage takes a pill to relax at Cy's "oasis" and goes into a trip, is one of the best in the movie!

Se7en (1995)

Fincher's first descend into greatness

[10/10 · 7 December 1999]

David Fincher's last three movies have been so individually great and unique, they all speak for their own in different categories. What he does here is take a smart, clever, and grisly script by Andrew Kevin Walker, pull down the shades and throw Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman in a cinematic game that will stand with THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS as the greatest thriller of the 90s.

Set in a city that is almost always gray and wet with rain, this movie does have a depressing feel, but watching this film over and over again, I always feel a bit giddy, as I know that Freeman's Det. Somerset isn't going to retire so easily and that Pitt's rookie Det. Mills is going to get one heck of a first case. They are great together from the start. Neither one has much of a sense of humor, but it's funny how odd of a couple they are. Somerset is patient, intelligent, and raises his voice as much as he reveals a smile. Mills look like a young lion as he jumps into enthusiasm when he works, caring more about action than about research.

The thing (and flaw) about Fincher movies is that there is hardly any women characters in them. Gwyneth Paltrow is very weak in her role as Mills' wife. She is only used for the climax in which the film is going. But the movie is such a distraction from that minor detail, it almost doesn't matter. The best sequence, hands down, is when Mills chases John Doe in his apartment, out of the window, into another building, onto a ledge, and into the murky streets of the nameless city.

One very smart move the movie has is not only revealing the character a good half hour before the movie is over, but giving him a speaking part which portrays him miles high over the usual cliched killers in cliched thrillers. You'll find very new things to watch in this movie, like other Fincher masterpieces THE GAME and FIGHT CLUB.

If the kids in SCREAM wanted more creative psycho killers, they got one, with murders like methodical and detailed puzzle pieces all coming to a wicked conclusion that puts everything in a bad game of jeopardy.

Edtv (1999)

TV people

[7/10 · 6 December 1999]

As I watched this pleasantly funny, surprisingly entertaining flick by Ron Howard, of ANDY GRIFFITH and HAPPY DAYS fame, I noticed that the movie consists of alot, ALOT of television actors. Rob Reiner from ALL IN THE FAMILY, Ellen DeGeneres from ELLEN, Woody Harrelson from CHEERS, Walter Matthau from MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, Jenna Elfman from DHARMA & GREG, and even Ralph Malph from HAPPY DAYS.

I don't know how Hollywood works. It seems like every year there has to be two similar movies coming out near the same time and compete with each other. Whether its volcanos erupting or meteors hitting the earth or even computer-animated bugs, there's always a pair. The difference is usually that one plays as intelligence or serious drama and the other is popcorn fare. This movie, which battled the inventive and intelligent TRUMAN SHOW as a movie about real life on television, is of the popcorn kind.

This movie is hardly a mirrored image of THE TRUMAN SHOW. Matthew McConaughey, as Ed, KNOWS he's on camera, LIKES his fame, and comes to exploiting himself. The only similarity, I can think of, it having with TRUMAN, is the numerous scenes in which real people are watching.

EDTV is more of a satire of MTV's THE REAL WORLD, where producers try to exploit real dramas and conflicts of young people living together and sculpt them into likable and dislikable characters through editing.

EDTV is LIVE on the air, so it's hard to sculpt Ed or the people he comes in contact with, but that's what is so fun. The people in his hometown watch his travels eagerly on T.V. and when they see him come walking on their street, they stick their head out of the window and yell for Ed, so they can be on TV. There's even a gang that follows Ed from time to time, and he is even asked to give out autographs. Ed's phenomonal show gets so popular, that there is a poll of whether he should dump his shy girlfriend (Elfman) or go with a sassy model he met on the Tonight Show (Elizableth Hurley). The high percentage go for Hurley because they want to see someone sexier and more attractive on the show, no matter how well she fits with Ed. Hurley's model hardly cares. She just wants to be on television, and the (near)sex-scene they have, all recorded live(!) is RED HOT (something TRUMAN lacks).

I thought this movie would be more predictable than it is. You know Ed is going to eventually hate the popularity and fame and try to wiggle out of it as the network tries to keep him on to keep the high ratings, but how the movie ends was something even I couldn't have predicted. Jenna Elfman is very likable here, maybe because she isn't her usually aloof self. I like McConaughey, but he played his character so slacker-ish and gruff, he seemed drunk and high even as he was sweet and good-hearted. Harrelson shined, with the few scenes he had, as the brother who writes a book with the funniest title ever.Oh, and Jay Leno makes a very funny appearance.

In conclusion, this isn't better than THE TRUMAN SHOW, because it doesn't strive to be. It's a Ron Howard film, so it's quite high-lit even as it tries to be risque. There are many scenes that are touching and sad, especially the one containing Dennis Hopper, but ultimately it's a movie that has more strength on video than in theaters. It fits your television nicely (maybe because it was intended that way). Where TRUMAN deserves an A, this runner-up deserves a marginal B+.

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

That's how the censors eyes were, I gather

[7/10 · 6 December 1999]

I happened to enjoy this film, probably because I saw it before many critics put it down. I'm a Stanley Kubrick fan, but I know when he doesn't hit his mark. He hits it here, but not dead on like, say, FULL METAL JACKET or A CLOCKWORK ORANGE.

At first you wonder where this film is going. It doesn't get moving until Tom Cruise takes a walk out of the house. I felt like I was right with Cruise in the New York City set in London (what was all that about?) and though critics snuffed his performance, I thought it was more than "decent", though Nicole Kidman had more to work with, since she had more emotions.

The thing I didn't like were the crowds around the "exhibitions" going on in an underground society Cruise falls into. They were digitally added because Warner Bros. didn't have the guts to go with an NC-17 the MPAA had the nerve of giving this film with the uncensored "watchers". This completely ruins Kubrick's art. It also makes the so-called "inappropriate" imagery more distasteful and disturbing than it actually is.

There are parts in this movie that come out of leftfield (though most of them, I think, describe certain sexual opportunities and erotic fantasies) and that just adds onto the length of this long film. It does make the movie more interesting and unpredictable, but at the same time they seem unnecessary.

This film has been helmed as a disappointment. Maybe it is, in Kubrick standards. Maybe this isn't the cut he intended before his untimely death. But I can actually watch and enjoy this one again and again compared to, say, THE SHINING.

Happiness (1998)

Better than AMERICAN BEAUTY

[9/10 · 5 December 1999]

This movie is the definition of disturbing. It has the power to entice you and also makes you raise some interesting questions, without you even knowing it. Should I feel sorry for this pedophile even while his actions are morally, ethically, and naturally wrong?

I liked Todd Solondz's WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE very much, but should I prefer it over HAPPINESS just because it's easier to swallow? I still don't know.

The more I think about HAPPINESS, the more genius I see it as. When you look at a movie like AMERICAN BEAUTY, you see beautiful people trying their hardest to look ugly and use dysfunction as a trend, something cool to watch in a movie. That's stupid. And the more I think about AMERICAN BEAUTY, the more I see what's wrong with it.

HAPPINESS contains a barrel full of unhappy people, whose personal stories intertwine with each other's. Some stories are easier to take than the others, and that's what is kind of funny in a way. One scene you're squirming in your chair and the next you can breathe easily in relief, but the easiest way to take this movie is to know it's a comedy. A corrosive and DARK adult comedy, where the laughs come nervously and you don't even know if you should laugh at what you're seeing.

One character I can't get out of my head, that relentlessly made my skin crawl, was the child molesting father played by Dylan Baker. He's not exactly a villain, yet I find him creepier than Hannibal Lecter. That's because he's a real guy, or at least a real guy played by a professional actor. And what an incredible actor! Anyone who has the power to taunt the audience without playing some serial killer or other overplayed antagonists, deserves fine raves and acknowledgement. I hope Dylan Baker finds other great works in the near future, that is, if producers aren't disgusted of him!

Dogma (1999)

blasphemous?

[9/10 · 5 December 1999]

I was really surprised about how uplifting this movie truly is, despite the hearsay of heresy going around. Think about it, what has been the truly religious film out this year? STIGMATA? END OF DAYS? Where they use religion like a B-movie?

I am very tempted to say this movie was better than CHASING AMY. But it's hard to compare the two. Though it features alot of the same characters from AMY, and uses the same Kevin Smith elements as in all his movies (Jay and Silent Bob have the longest screen time than in any of the others), DOGMA uses a good chunk of special effects and violence, but surprisingly it doesn't ruin the film, though it comes to the verge.

Linda Fiorentino was such a smart choice for her main role as the only one who can stop fallen angels (Ben Affleck and Matt Damon) from re-entering Heaven and thereby proving God fallible and destroying everything living. It's confusing, I know, there's so many other things going on also. But don't fret, it's not MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE or CHINATOWN.

You'd think you would be sick of seeing Ben Affleck and Matt Damon together again, but they work so well as Bartleby and Loki. Ben Affleck's character is the one that truly changes over the course of events, but I was surprised at how good of an actor Matt Damon is. For a long time he's played the same sort of characters, but here, he plays the sidekick masterfully (somehow his voice sounds different too).

There's alot of characters and cameos in this movie, which I think is also different for Kevin Smith. Sure, he's always had a handful of slackers thrown in to keep the comedy flowing, but you were always paying attention to the main characters, which usually consisted of a guy, his oddball friend, and the one or two love interests. But here, due to the much more serious subject matter, we have an epic cast. George Carlin, Salma Hayek, Alan Rickman (seriously, folks!!), and Chris Rock all have important roles. Not to mention Jason Lee, who is menacingly good here, and cameos from Smith alumni Dwight Ewell and Brian O'Halloran.

One more thing I would like to mention is Chris Rock. At first I thought he was going to be this hollering apostle using his usual black vs. white schtick comedy routine. Not to mention a bad actor (hopefully this movie will redeem him from CB4 and LETHAL WEAPON 4), but as the movie went on he conquered both hilarious and dramatic obsticles. He even came off as sweet a few times. This is his best appearance on film since the pork rib purchase in I'M GONNA GIT YOU SUCKA!!

I didn't know if I was going to like this movie at first. It sounded promising, but the trailers in the movie theater weren't too funny. But I think that was Smith keeping all the good parts behind the curtain (smart move). SEE THIS MOVIE!! The only thing that MIGHT be offensive, I thought, was Carlin's cigarette smoking, sell-out priest, but like the message in the beginning says (among other things) it's all a comedy fantasy!

Pump Up the Volume (1990)

Is this the missing link between REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE and MY SO-CALLED LIFE??

[6/10 · 4 December 1999]

Not really. But nice try.

The problem with this movie is that it tries to juggle so many serious teen issues and still make a Hollywood movie. Take the teen suicide, for instance, which comes early in the movie. It's so underdeveloped that you see it more as a plot point than a tragedy. The movie tries to handle topics like homosexuality with one student, but like the kid that shot himself, there isn't really much to say. It's more like the writer-director wanted to make his movie as interesting as possible, but all we get is this gay kid with a sad story and that's it! The actor who plays him has such an attitude that we can't even sympathize for him.

I thought the idea was cool. A highschool loner who just moved in from the east starts a pirate radio show and becomes the teen messiah of his angst-ridden public. But too bad all the characters are practically cardboard cutouts of punks, yuppies, shy geeks, and jocks who all have one thing in common: they can't express their innerself or something.

The only character that comes out with more than one dimension is Sarah Matheson as outgoing Nora. Her character might have been thought out more than the others, but Matheson still pulls it off masterfully.

I don't want to give this movie a total negative review, because it's on the right track. It's just too bad it's all played safe.

Pi (1998)

Guerrilla filmmaking of mathematic nightmare

[9/10 · 3 December 1999]

There are many scenes that I can't get out of my head from this very smart debut of Darren Aronofsky's. Most notably is when Maximillian (played by co-writer Sean Gullette) rips open his brain. Why? Don't let me get into it, you will have to see it for yourself.

I don't know how PI was thought up, but it's a dark, disturbing, and interesting creepy-crawly sort of brain stimulator. You don't have to be a math whiz to enjoy it (I am certainly not one) but at some moments it helps. This is almost a science fiction sort of thriller, in a socialistic way. You have to be a big thinker, like the main character, Max.

Max is a genius, he constantly computes equations given to him by a neighbor kid in the building he shuts himself in at. He is also a mentally tortured genius, obsessed with a number he tries to calculate with his homegrown computer. He is also a weirdo, who shaves his head after too many violent headaches, which may be caused by his abnormal gift (which may had come from staring at the sun when he was a child). Odd premise, eh?

But back to the number, which ultimately sets up the stage for the cyberkinetic noir/video-droned Hitchcockian thriller. The number is mythically the key to either the stock market or God. Either way, he is hunted down both by shady Wall Street henchmen and a gang of Rabbis (?) who desperately need him to compute the number for their great fortune. But Max believes he is the chosen one and searches for the numerical answer himself, even as it pulls him into an abysmal downward spiral of madness.

This movie is as weird as it gets. But screw traditionalism. This is one of the most thoroughly creative and oddly developed pieces of work in modern film.

Swingers (1996)

You are so money, and you don't even know it.

[10/10 · 3 December 1999]

One of the weakest trends we've had in the nineties is the horrid return of swing music. I'm sorry, but I have no wish to jump into a zoot suit and jive and wail to rockabilly played by jerks whose minds are lost in an era when they never even existed. Nostalgia is one thing, but can we move on TOWARDS the future as the millennium closes?

I think Doug Liman's kicky, clever nightlife movie SWINGERS is somewhat guilty of pulling underground swing music into the mainstream (it launched Big Bad Voodoo Daddy into a brief success on MTV and music catalogs), but who cares. Jon Favreau gives us a story that's funny and so true of men, no matter what their taste of hip is.

Jon Favreau plays Mike, a comedian from New York who now resides in sunny L.A. and slumps into the depressing stages of being dumped by his long-time girlfriend. It's funny watching other people's reactions to him. Either you think he's a chump or a really sweet guy. He is, honestly, the latter, because you are either the kind of guy who wants true love in a relationship or a long list of digits from girls you met at a club just so you never have a boring night without sex.

The foil is Mike's best bud Trent (showstealer Vince Vaughn) who desperately tries to get Mikey back in the game. Trent drags Mike to Las Vegas in one of the movie's best scenes.

The main point of this film is to show the nightlife rituals of young single men. To show their real feelings under a slew of masks they wear just to attract some pretty babies. Oh, and Jon Favreau's script is chopfull of hip lingo from Swingers sub-culture: "money", "babies", etc. Most of it sounds like oldskool hip-hop slang (i.e. the Nike commercials with Spike Lee and Michael Jordan), but whatever. This film rocks.

And it's not just the screenplay. Doug Liman has a flare with his optical lens as he paints the town of Los Angels, adding so many in-jokes and smirky, sharky point of view shots. There's also an appearance from Heather Graham (post-DRUGSTORE COWBOY, pre-BOOGIE NIGHTS) near the end in a sweet, lovely role no matter how small.

This is a good movie to watch with the guys, but probably (in a strange way) makes an even better date movie with your own personal baby. Are better still, if you can't stay still on the couch, check out the nearest bar and nightclub to get your game on. Just watch out for the old couple live entertainment playing "Staying Alive" out of tune.

Menace II Society (1993)

cool title, bad movie

[5/10 · 3 December 1999]

The movie sounded so promising with its reviews and the promising Hughes directors behind it. But after pushing play, I was waiting impatiently for it to end.

Maybe it was bad timing, because I viewed it waaaaaay after BOYZ N THE HOOD (one of my favorite movies of all time) came out and this movie was being spoofed everywhere. But then again, I don't think that really mattered.

This movie is more bleak than BOYZ, and that's to its advantage. It has a chance to go into darker depths. But in the end, it seemed pointless and it never really went anywhere, even though it took its sweet time getting to that destination. The structure is terribly shaky, and not every movie needs a story, but the film still didn't intrigue me or leave me meditating to its lifestyle.

I got the idea after the first few minutes. There is no hope. And though the beginning was energetic and controversial, and this film contains great performances from Bill Duke and Charles S. Dutton, it seemed like a dull web of cliches. Just because it's a hood movie, doesn't mean it doesn't deserve a brain. Check out FRESH or BOYZ N THE HOOD.

Better yet, check out DEAD PRESIDENTS, where the directors put some real effort in a movie.

Slacker (1990)

Genuine and deadpan deadpan and genuine

[9/10 · 3 December 1999]

I walked into Richard Linklater's SLACKER not knowing for sure what to expect. I think that is the best way to experience this film. I wouldn't exactly put this film under 'Comedy', if I ran my own video store. I would invent the category 'Post-Film School Experimental Piece' and place it under that. Because that is just what it is, but don't let that repulse you. It is very interesting and has the power to warp you in what seems like one shot throughout a day and night in a college town of Austin, Texas.

The true life preserver of this film is the sure directorial hand and witty script of Linklater. I enjoy the matter-of-fact philosophy within the dialogue of Linklater movies, (DAZED & CONFUSED, BEFORE SUNRISE)it is especially heavy here. It's fun watching the weirdos in this movie, like the video-obsessed droid who prefers taped sequences over reality or the chick with Madonna's pap smear (eewww!!) But it's almost frightening when you come upon a character very much like yourself.

But the movie most successfully gives us a town populated by characters we actually believe are living their aimless life in front of us. Minute-by-minute plays that intricately connect into a long string of slacker beads. These characters belong to the counter-culture where neurosis comes naturally and there are hardly skeptics anywhere. Where conversations find the metaphysical levels of funny postcards.

Later in the future, we will trip upon this movie again and find it more as being a time capsule of the early 90s than a semi-experimental comedy by a director most known for his insights of the sub-culture living inside their own heads.

Evil Dead II (1987)

Ash vs. His Hand

[9/10 · 3 December 1999]

Is there some bizarre symbolism going on here? or is this just an excuse to go wild with slapstick improv? In any case, I think Jim Carrey should witness this amazing sequence of physical exuberance and the showdown between a man and his own hand (perhaps Bruce and Jim can do a movie together in the near future). Just another reason that makes this movie one of the best in its genre!

Evil Dead II (1987)

Another Case of Cabin Fever

[9/10 · 3 December 1999]

Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell reunite for this "follow-up" to the goriffic hit EVIL DEAD. This is actually an improving remake of the first (pay attention to the familiarized story) that not only lets Ash "win", but also shows what happens with a slightly larger budget (thanks in large to producer Dino DeLaurentiis's investment). We get more sophisticated special effects, including a hand with a mind of its own (one of the BEST scenes in any horror movie). If one word could describe this movie it would be GONZO. The violence can be repulsive at first, but suddenly turns a bit cartoonish and you end up looking at some twisted cross between a George A. Romero flick and a comic book.

Sam Raimi is a wunderkind when it comes to his camera, and he proves it best with his tricks here, along with its predecessor. Although ARMY OF DARKNESS is too slapsticky and considered the worst of the Evil Dead Trilogy, it is still, in my opinion, a worthy look. If you see all three of the movies in order, you will see the complete idea Raimi had for this movie.

But if you don't have the patience for that, you should still give his Hollywood invasions DARKMAN and THE QUICK AND THE DEAD a look at!

Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985)

An Insanely Inventive Comedy

[9/10 · 3 December 1999]

This movie is wrongfully labeled as a kiddie film. I think not. Consider it's directed by Tim Burton. Consider it's written by Paul Reubens and Phil Hartman(!). Let's just put it this way. If you love the satirical humor of THE SIMPSONS, this is already your movie.

The absurdity of man-child Pee-wee on a cross-country search for his beloved bicycle is only half the fun. It's full of played-out road movie cliches and stereotypes from all over the U.S. (all knowingly, you can almost see them all wink at you from behind the screen) and there are enough in-jokes and sight gags to write a term paper on. That is why it's so fun to watch over and over again, you always catch something new or understand something more.

The ending is the real kicker, where Warner Bros. ACTUALLY makes a movie out of Pee-wee's story which stars James Brolin (all equipped with a grey tuxedo and red bow-tie!) and Morgan Fairchild as ninja-fighting secret agents. Just that scene was enough to inspire the jokes in BOWFINGER, but there's way more.

Plus Tim Burton's wacky visual effects including some twisted dreams with clowns and dinosaurs and (don't miss this!) Pee-wee's ride with Large Marge, the old hag trucker from beyond the grave. This would be a great cult-movie if Paul Reubens's character wasn't so whimsical and based on a children's television show. In the end, though, you find this movie to be a satirical laugh-fest, dumbed down just enough for the kids to enjoy.

The Company of Wolves (1984)

Sorry, I love this movie

[10/10 · 3 December 1999]

There is something hauntingly beautiful about Sarah Patterson. Achingly beautiful. In this film she wears a Red Riding Hood-like gown and the whole time you look at her and remember her as this character. An innocent girl in a dreamlike forest full of wolves and evil men. Maybe it's because she never appears in any other movie I have ever seen that she's so phantom-like. Who knows.

Not too many people appreciate this film, an early work from Irish director Neil Jordan, because they expect a werewolf horror movie. What this is, actually, is a nifty parable on lost innocence and sexual coming-of-age, all told like a medieval fairy tale or Brothers Grimm fable.

The moral is that men can seem like gentleman at first, but they have animal urges, and out comes the beast! I don't exactly buy that, but it does have its truths.

The movie is a web of tales told by Sarah Patterson's grandmother, played with a gingerbread charm by Angela Lansbury. All have to do with wolves, and though they aren't made to scare, you can really get a bite out of the transformation effects (the best one is the one featuring Jordan regular Stephen Rea) of these beasts. Lansbury warns Patterson to stay on the trail in the woods and never trust a man whose eyebrows come together.

Jordan's film is just lovely, though you never figure out what is real, what is fiction, and what is all a dream. In any state, it's a beautiful wonderland. Werewolf fanatics would probably get a better appetite out of THE HOWLING or, my personal fave, AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, but this is pure romance for anyone who wants to be swept into a dark and lush fairytale.

You know the rules from the children's tales, so be prepared for all of them to be broken with this little-known delight.

The Evil Dead (1981)

Cabin Fever

[8/10 · 3 December 1999]

This is what a cult classic is all about.

This movie may be shocking for its relentless gore and wicked use of a chainsaw, but you can see a great director at work.

Sam Raimi, who gave us DARKMAN, THE QUICK AND THE DEAD, and A SMIPLE PLAN broke out into the scene with the real cheapie and helped bring the great Bruce Campbell in schlock genre territory (where he belongs, no matter where he dwells).

Ultimately, Raimi and Campbell do their best work in the faux sequel (actually it's more of a remake of this) EVIL DEAD II, but that doesn't mean this movie isn't bad. It's much more serious than the second one, with some very trendy horror elements and wicked camrea effects.

The part I hate about this movie is the end, which is a long, gory sequence that is very patience-trying and seems to go on forever. The best part is the last shot.

But there are some great moments that don't appear in the second one. Like the infamous scene where the trees start attacking, almost raping, Ellen Sanweiss in the woods.

Like TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (which inspired some moments in this film), this is a groundbreaking horror cheapie from a young director onto better things.

If you look closely in a scene from the first NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, you will see Nancy watching EVIL DEAD on television!!

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

best of the trilogy

[10/10 · 3 December 1999]

STAR WARS, obviously the most inspired, barrier-breaking science fiction/adventure movie ever made (thus far), showed us that you could fit your three acts in three separate movies. I think the first one was spectacular, an invitation to a fantasy world unlike any you have witnessed before or since. A very good first act, a very good introduction.

But EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, in my opinion, is the best in the trilogy. Why? Let me break it down:

1) Yoda. What more can I say? An ancient alien midget. A wisecracking Jedi Master. Where Han Solo gives us the irony of the series, Yoda gives us the muppet-ized hilarity of it.

2) Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian. The only brotha in the future it looks like, but the dude is bad. He also gets more acting skills and character conflict here than he does in RETURN OF THE JEDI.

3) Han Solo and Princess Leia. It's so funny when you look at STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE, and you think that she loves Luke. Han and Leia are so cute here. Bickering, fighting, kissing, and in the end, admitting of their true feelings. And Han always knew. What a lovely intergalactic romance.

4) We first learn of Darth Vader's true identity and his relation to Skywalker.

5) Awesome light sabre showdown between Vader and Luke that served up what we couldn't get from Vader and Obi-Wan's confrontation in HOPE. Unfortunately, it was rehashed into an overlong, boring one in JEDI, inserted between an even more boring starship battle.

6) Oh, and speaking of starship battles. There are none! I think these are the main flaw of all the film containing them. They are cool to witness for the first few minutes, but they go on and on without doing anything different or interesting within the long time.

7) Luke loses his hand. Throughout EMPIRE, you feel this dark dread, but this is the icing on the cake. A lost battle of Luke's. But the war is not over.

8) The set pieces are out of this world. The icy snow in the beginning. The misty, marshy swamp of Yoda's home. The heavenly blissful City in the Clouds. Even the Death Star looks better than the last one! Not to mention Darth's suit looks MUCH better, as do R2D2 and C3P0, most likely to do with the gross earned from the first one.

9) There are so many cool creatures and machines here. Like the elephant-like tanks in the beginning or the llama-like creatures used for horses around the snowy desert.

There is a flaw however. A very annoying one, in fact. Chewbacca moans too much! You get so tired as he goes on and on about the desperate situation. I guess it was meant to go with the ongoing dread and unease you feel throughout the film. After all, this is the ACT II, the conflict of the trilogy. Still, I believe Episode V to be the best of this trilogy. Now to see which will be the best of the first three episodes....

The Seventh Seal (1957)

One of my favorite foreign movies

[10/10 · 3 December 1999]

Foreign movies can be so cool. Being an 18-year-old film fanatic from America, and trying to rent the best imported movies from the local video store isn't as easy as I wished it would be. Not that foreign titles are hard to find, but you aren't always in the mood to read subtitles through-out a film, no matter how great it is (and I despise dubbing).

Ingmar Bergman's THE SEVENTH SEAL, a sweeping journey into the last days of Max von Sydow's crusader's life as he tries to find many answers before he is taken away by Death (Bengt Ekerot, in a magnificent performance). Among these questions is the reason behind God's rapidly migrating Black Plague throughout the country. Is it a punishment to the mortals, a comeuppance? von Sydow tries to prolong his life in the film's wittiest scene, by playing a game of chess with Death.

The medieval landscape is a very romantic quality to this drama, though the dreaded undertones of seriousness keep your feet to the ground. You are always aware that death is around the corner, that the Plague is a serious issue, that people are looking into the skies for answers from a Creator who has supposedly cursed them.

The film is shot entirely in black and white, which adds a little whimsy into the tale. Especially in the scenes of the beach (it is always interesting and surreal watching a knight admire waves which the viewer familiarizes with surfers and beach bunnies). There are some other cool allegory scenes like Death sawing a man down from a tree as the man tries to escape him. No matter how hard you try, you can never escape death. But the most magnificent scene is the end, where the troupe of passersby seek shelter in a castle and are approached by Death, who takes them to dance upon the hills. Finally, the Black Death has confronted our heroes, and the game of chess is over.

American Beauty (1999)

Beautiful, American, and Overpraised

[7/10 · 2 December 1999]

There's something about AMERICAN BEAUTY that just doesn't do it for me. The cinematography is hands-down glorious and the acting is superb. Yet, there's too much dysfunction going on, it's a little cartoon-y. Or maybe that's what was intended.

After all dysfunctional families in film is certainly nothing new. Maybe that was what was so tiring to watch.

The film does have some great scenes of vengeance with Kevin Spacey screwing over his boss and coming out as some kind of hero or something. But the resolution is so pat and preconcieved.

Poor Chris Cooper comes out as a cartoon and Allison Janney's talent is wrongfully wasted as his wife. The confrontation between Cooper and Spacey was also a little eyebrow-raising. But I loved Wes Bentley in this movie, I hope this helps his career in the future (he was great competition with Spacey).

AMERICAN BEAUTY I think is too clean, too well cut for it's material. From the beginning you know the fate of Spacey's character, so there wasn't really anything to surprise you with (unless the identity of the murderer counts), so AMERICAN BEAUTY was sorta, dare I say, predictable. I guess I could say worst things. After all, it was very entertaining, very lovely, and very beautifully photographed. If only it was inspiring or gave us something new to watch, with such a grand production.

Arlington Road (1999)

Don't leave this Sleeper unwatched!!

[8/10 · 2 December 1999]

From the first few minutes of this film, you know you aren't going to witness the usual government terrorist thriller. You aren't going to witness a hammy BLOWN AWAY-like heap of garbage. You know exactly what you are going to feel during the whole ride and how you are going to feel after it's over.

And that's waaaaay before the paranoia starts.

Directed by Mark Pellington, who has very unusual angles with his cameras (sometimes I felt I was hanging over characters), we are given an American suburban nightmare. A man (Jeff Bridges) who's family, and the remaining strands of his life, are in danger when he comes closer and closer to finding a terrorist in the neighborhood.

It's not too surprising to figure out who that is, what is surprising, and confusing, is how he gets away with his plan. Tim Robbins is one of my favorite, underrated actors. I knew he could play a villain from Robert Altman pictures like THE PLAYER and SHORT CUTS, but I never knew I could be terrified of him! And even while you fear him or hate him, you always see his point behind his actions, although they are drastic, and not the answer.

I liked Jeff Bridges, but Tim gave the better performance. What I also liked the use of supporting characters. Hope Davis could have been so wasted as the girlfriend, but she comes out as a key player as she deals with the frustration of Bridges looking back on his dead wife and watching him grow paranoid and go out of his mind. Also good is Robert Gossett as Bridges' friend and collegue in the FBI and Joan Cusack, who uses her unusually warm smile in a very icy way.

The only problem I had was the lagging pace the film had. It never really had a good rhythm with some of the very suspenseful scenes. And nothing, except the end of course, matched the feeling I felt in the beginning.

Still, Mark Pellington and cinematographer Bobby Bukowski gives us a bleached, corrosive world under a plastic suburban security in Ehren Kruger's frightening screenplay.