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Mel Gibson is starting to remind me of Harrison Ford. He plays characters that are not excessively macho (Gibson even makes fun of machismo from time to time) and are mostly good-natured folks, driven into overwhelming situations. That is the case for Gibson's character here, a millionaire whose son has been kidnapped by an extremely nasty individual (Gary Sinise) and his assorted companions. Gibson must figure out a way to outsmart the kidnapper, without getting his son killed or becoming estranged from his wife (Rene Russo) and the FBI agent (Delroy Lindo) who's trying to help get his son back.Gibson, Russo and the rest of the cast play their parts realistically and excellently. There aren't too many films were Gibson can pull off a long range of emotions. This film gives him that chance and he succeeds. Director Ron Howard and the screenwriters also devise a genuinely suspenseful story, a thing you rarely see in Hollywood filmaking nowadays. There are plot twists galore, complex good guys and bad guys (who both tend to walk that fine line between what's sane and what's insane) and some of the most pulse-pounding suspense scenes ever produced. Gibson couldn't have picked a more intelligent and intricate film to star in.
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Tom Cruise's star-making feature is the one that set him on his box-office road to fame. The story is relatively simple at first: Teenage kid's (Cruise) parents go out of town and Cruise has the house all to himself. One of his friends gives him the philosophy of "What the Fuck!", which is another way of saying "Live free and young". Cruise, normally a shy young man, follows it successfully at first. Troubles start when he befriends a prostitute and things get out of hand from there on out.The movie is wild, unpredictable and full of realistic performances. Cruise captures shy-hormonal adolescence beautifully, while De Mornay makes the usual hooker-with-heart-of-gold role into something intelligent, compassionate and yet not altogether moral. Highly amusing scenes such as Cruise dancing in his underwear to Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock N' Roll" make this understandably a classic. But the climax, involving Cruise's house being turned into a brothel for a night, is a hilarious doozy. Don't expect me to explain how it get's to that point. Just watch it! Then you'll find that it makes some perfect (albeit strange) sense.
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As far as I know, no other film in the history of cinema mocked "rockumentaries" and Heavy Metal music so cleverly as Spinal Tap. Director-actor Rob Reiner made his film debut with this side-splitting look at a fictitious British rock band. The irony here is that, unlike the real documentaries, which crown the "shining" moments in a band's life, this one covers the ultimate collapse of a once-powerful, now truly awful band. As the collapse grows worse and worse, concert dates are canceled, record sales are poor and worst of all, they end up playing at air fields, where they're lucky enough to have 20 people come to listen to them. The funniest (and scariest) thing about this film is that it's so close to the truth, it's almost not satire!It's all there to be mocked. The rambling pseudo-intellectual monologues of the band members (the principal three played by Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer), which make no sense to anyone, including the band members, the silly backstage squabbles over petty things like the wrong combination of certain types of meat and bread, and the grossly overblown stage props. The band, despite their talk about their music being "artistic", is mostly a group of shallow individuals, hiding behind phony, commercialized, heavy metal outfits. Everything in here is delightfully silly. The amplifier that goes to "11", the Stonehenge prop, which ends up turning a potentially successful concert into a flop, McKean's descriptions of the unfortunate mishaps the band's previous drummers have had (one supposedly choked on his own vomit, though it might have been somebody else's vomit) and so on. Sidesplitting, from beginning to end!!
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This nostalgic film musical version of the hit Broadway play (recently successfully revived for a new run), basically follows a group of teens in the 1950's. Greaser John Travolta and Sandra Dee look-alike Oliva Newton-John lead an energetic cast, through one of the more fun musical romps of recent decades.The story is relatively forgettable, save for some nice acting by Travolta and Newton-John. The songs are outstanding! Among the best, they include "You're the One That I Love", "Hopelessly Devoted to You", "Tell Me More" and the rockin' title song "Grease". Travolta also has some nice dance moves and a great singing voice to boot.
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There are only two things that make this remotely memorable. Michelle Pfeiffer and the songs. The songs are memorable, only because they are hilariously bad. The story is basically a retread of the first film (what a surprise, coming from a sequel), with Pfeiffer as a tough chick and Maxwell Caulfield as a dull-faced geek.It lacks originality and has unintentional laughs galore. Definitely belongs in the "so-bad-it's-good" category. However, it does have its moments. Particularly, the only good song that will give you intentional chuckles, "Reproduction". Other than that, if you need a good cure for constipation, this'll clear you right up.
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Four words! Bee Gees do Beatles!! That's all that's needed to describe this mess. Disco kings The Bee Gees and Peter Frampton sing basterdized versions of classic Beatles songs, and attempt to string a story out of the lyrics to the popular album. Such embarrassing moments include the overly manic guest star Steve Martin singing "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", narrator George Burns doing an old soft shoe number to the tune of "Fixing a Hole", and the Bee Gees and Frampton attempting Marx Bros. routines. If you are forced to watch this film, be sure to find something to plug up your ears. I don't care if you need fertilizer. Believe me, you'll thank me for it later.
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The fourth (and hopefully last) film in the Batman franchise, it involves the Caped Crusader (George Clooney) and sidekick Robin (Chris O'Donnell) battling icy villain Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and seductive femme fatale, Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman). Alica "I-still-can't-act" Silverstone pops by as Batgirl, helping Clooney and O'Donnell battle the forces of evil.To say it's lame would be an understatement. I like the fact that it definitely doesn't take itself seriously. I like the fact that the visuals are still 100% outstanding. What I don't like is the fact that the story is so clunky, the dialogue ludicrous (how many cold jokes from Ah-nuld can you take in one sitting) and the acting bellow par. And you know you're in trouble when, for once, the heroes are more interesting than the villains. Clooney and O'Donnell are given pretty good lines and are quite decent themselves in their respective roles. Ah-nuld and Thurman's performances are lacking by comparison.
Uma does undergo an interesting metamorphosis during the film from plain-jane to she-woman. She also puts a nice Mae West spin on a rather uninteresting villainess. Schwarzenegger's performance suffers I believe from ego and overkill, considering he got top billing over Clooney. But, considering the memorable characters in the past (The Joker, Penguin, Catwoman, Riddler), full of life, Mr. Freeze is just dead in the water. If I have to listen to another cliched ice joke like "Chill out" or "Hell has frozen over!", remind me to shoot myself full of morphine to dull the pain of such a performance. On the plus side, the fantastic visuals and memorable characterizations by Clooney and O'Donnell will keep you pleased.
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