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This is most certainly one of the best films of 1995. Sean Penn stars as a convicted killer, who is waiting on Death Row for his time to come. Susan Sarandon plays Sister Helen Prejean (Prejean wrote the book on which this film is based), a nun who is called in as Penn's spiritual advisor, but get's much more involved than she had intended to. She befriends the convict, as well as the families of his victims. She is trying to help Penn come to terms with the facts of the killing, while, at the same time attempting to help the victims' families cope with their losses.Simply outstanding! Sarandon earned a much deserved Oscar in her heartfelt portrayal, which could have been played as a stereotype by anyone else. But Penn was robbed of his award! His character is much more interesting and complex than Nicholas Cage's in Leaving Las Vegas. The story is neither pro nor anti death penalty. It shows both sides incredibly well. The filmakers make it so realistic, you'd feel like you were watching a documentary. This is certainly a must-see drama.
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In this lightweight comedy, Sarah Jessica Parker plays a young woman, who is having second thoughts about getting married. It doesn't help that her parents and siblings are having extra-marital affairs. What's a woman to do?The film is said to come from Woody Allen territory, and that's certainly true. However, it copies too many Allen styles and Allenisms to be completely original. They even have Mia Farrow in one of her patented mousy women roles! Give me a break!! The humor is strained and by the end of the film, they've beaten all the marriage and adultery jokes to death. The only spark of life in here is Parker. She remains consistently interesting throughout the entire movie. Now if only the same could be said for the other characters and the story.
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Lo and behold, it seems we have another failure from Dana Carvey. Carvey portrays the dumb one among three brothers (the other two are Jon Lovitz and Nicholas Cage), who rob a bank in a small Pennsylvania town. The robbery goes smoothly, but they just can't seem to get out of town. They even end up at the family home of the manager whose bank they just robbed.Enough said I think. The film is full of slapstick humor, that is far from funny. Carvey's usual shtick is getting boring, as is Lovitz' pathetic schmuck characters. The most amazing thing in this though is Cage's outrageous overacting. It seems he believes that, the louder you yell, the funnier your going to be. I could think of at least a dozen things that are probably more fun than this. Like nailing myself to a cross!
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No more dumb unnecessary sequels, please! The obnoxious youngsters return once again to the world of hockey. This time, they're competing in the Junior Olympics and going up against a big bad hockey team from Scandinavia. Only team coach Emilio Estevez can figure out a strategy that can help the Ducks win the game.Absolutely one of the most unoriginal pieces of crap Disney could come up with. It's a complete rehash of the original film, which was sort of a convoluted take-off of The Bad News Bears. Kids under the age of 3 months might enjoy this. For those of you over that age group-Beware!
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An extremely edgy comedy, about what happens to an average working Joe (Griffin Dunne) as he goes through a compleat night of hell in New York, while attempting to make it back home. He meets plenty of bizarre characters during this odyssey, including a mad ice cream vender (Catharine O'Hara), a disgruntled waitress (Teri Garr) and a couple of inept burglars (Cheech & Chong).Martin Scorsese directed this very funny black comedy, turning a situation that most people wouldn't find funny into something hilarious. Dunne is perfect in the lead role, and he's helped by a great supporting cast. But after awhile, it becomes just a little too dark and bleak to endure. But that's not until near the very end. So I don't think you'll be too disappointed.
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One of Woody Allen's most recent comedies, Mighty Aphrodite is the story of a sports writer (Allen) who goes in search of the mother of his adopted son. He finds her in the form of a hooker (wonderfully played by Mira Sorvino), who seems not to be playing with a full deck upstairs. At first, he is astounded that a smart kid like his son could have come from the same gene pool as Sorvino. But then he becomes her friend, and attempts to set her up with a better existence than the one she has at the moment.Uproariously funny, with the usual great Allen cast. Sorvino steals almost every scene she's in, and Allen has plenty of good moments. A great script, good direction, funny performances and a wonderful editing job make this extremely worth while.
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One of the all-time camp classics of the 60's, this certainly is a relic of it's day. Jane Fonda plays the famed comic strip character, who is thrust into a violent civil war on a far off world, while attempting to find a lost Earth scientist (Milo O'Shea). But first, she gets into strange sexual encounters, including once with a torture machine (which provides one of the funniest scenes in the film), another with an angel (John Philip Law) and so on and so forth.When the film tries for intentional laughs, it sinks. Most of the good stuff comes from the material that is too bad to be taken even remotely seriously. Fonda is attractive in the lead role, and their are a couple of chuckles, but most of the time this seems like a candidate for one of the "So Bad, It's Good" list.
By the way, for you trivia buffs, rock group Duran Duran got their name from O'Shea's Character.
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