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Director John Sayles once again makes a movie with an interesting plot, realistic characters and some extremely good dialogue. Something Hollywood has seemed to have forgotten these days. Sayles offers a compelling mystery that revolves around a skeleton that is found in the desert, around the Texas-Mexico border. Chris Cooper portrays the Sheriff of a dying Texas town, who makes it his duty to find out who the person was before he died. After extensive clue hunting, Cooper believes it was the body of the much hated Sheriff, Charlie Wade (Kris Kristofferson), who disappeared one night back in the 50's. Cooper believes it was murder. Now, he reopens a 40 year old case, that may have involved Cooper's father (A Time to Kill's Matthew McConaughey), the Sheriff that took Kristofferson's place - The Sheriff who is as much loved as Kristofferson was hated!Sayles has proven that he was not just a fluke of the 80's and that he can hold his own against any big time director of the 90's. The movie consistently flows back and forth between the past and the present, with graceful and elegant ease. The performances are excellent, including a surprising character turn for Kris, who I usually don't think much of as an actor. Joe Morton (Terminator 2) and Elizabeth Pena offer strong support. Morton is an army colonel, who has a strained relationship with both his elderly father and his son. Pena plays the local schoolteacher, who Cooper used to be in love with when they were teens, and who is having her own problems with her own mother, an illegal immigrant from years past. The underlying theme of the film seems to be the strained generation gap between the various characters. Cooper, who has some unpleasant memories of his much-loved father. Pena with her mother. Morton with his father and son. An excellent drama, and one that you should at least att empt to see while it's still in theaters.
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An extremely funny tribute to the chop-socky ninja epics and Jackie Chan comedies, from one of the masters of horror John Carpenter. Kurt Russell is a trucker, who finds himself in over his head when he gets involved in the deadly Chinatown mystique, where a friend's fiancee has been kidnapped. After that, he gets himself into serious trouble!Full of good humor, and Russell helps the fun along with his imitation of John Wayne. The support is never really great in films like this, except perhaps Victor Wong as a eccentric Chinese wizard. Wong offers just as much amusement and witticism as Russell. The action, though overdone at times, offers some of the best moments in the movie, as do the outstanding special effects. The only major problem , during certain scenes, is the filmakers penchant for taking the voodoo of the story a little too seriously. But, other than that, everything's just fine.
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One of Neil Jordan's (The Crying Game) earliest film works, it plays like a movie that Sigmund Freud and Franz Kafka might have decided to make together. This supposedly offers the underlying psychological horrors of the classic fairy tale, Little Red Riding Hood, involving werewolves and lots of blood and gore. Pretty pathetic once you watch it all the way through! There are no incredibly good performers in this, except for Angela Lansbury as Granny and the lovely Sarah Patterson as Little Red. Mainly it's the technical aspects of the film that make this interesting. The art direction, costumes, cinematography and special effects stay true to the nightmare vision the filmakers had in mind, but most of the story (especially the ending) leaves something to be desired.
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One of the best romances of all time, Clint Eastwood directed this fine adaptation of the popular novel. Meryl Streep stars as Francesca, a Italian midwestern housewife, who in 1965, has an extramarital fling with a photographer from National Geographic (Eastwood) during his visit to the rural Madison County.A beautiful movie which does for middle aged adults what Say Anything did for young adults. Streep is always good, and this is no exception with a convincing portrayal of the bored midwesterner. Eastwood offers a nice change of pace as the sympathetic and kindly photographer, who steals the heart of Streep. One minor complaint! The film is overlong by about twenty minutes, so I don't recommend this to people who don't have the patience for long films. However, for those of you who do have the time and the patience, this is something to sit down and watch with your loved ones.
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A compelling little horror film, which is also a social metaphor about youthful angst. Young Martin (John Amplas) is a mentally disturbed teen, who believes he's a vampire. Living with a deranged relative, who also believes Amplas is a vampire, doesn't help his social life much. After frequent calls to a local talk radio show, he becomes something of a celebrity with the midnight crowd.George Romero (Night of the Living Dead) made an astonishing sleeper, and is helped along by a great cast. Young Amplas is superb in the title role. Romero has a funny cameo as an unconventional priest. Warning to the squeamish! This contains quite a bit of stomach-churning violence, so if this isn't your cup of tea, I don't recommend it to you. This is perfect for people that like extremely black humor. My type of film!
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A cinema spin-off of the hit HBO TV-series and the EC comics, this has none of the originality nor the terror of the classic horror series. For those who care about the plot (there aren't too many of you, I'm sure), it involves a search for a key that will destroy the world, if it gets in the hands of a vicious demon (Billy Zane of The Phantom).Lots of bloodletting and repellent violence, and yet, it's almost the perfect "so-bad-it's-good" movie: No logic, no stable plot, no character development. That about sums it up. This isn't even based on a particular episode from the comic book, like all the shows from the series are. The actors rack up some of the most dreadful acting I've seen in years. Zane is a wise-cracking, Freddy Kreuger wannabe.As for Billy! I've seen him perform in better days. Well, as the Crypt-keeper might say at times like this, be careful what you axe for kiddies!
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Of all the films I've seen this summer, this movie is certainly the best of the lot. Based on the John Grisham novel, this emotional tale follows the residents of a small Mississippi town, and the tragedy that involves a young black girl who is raped and tortured by a couple of local rednecks. Things get even worse when the girl's father (Samuel L. Jackson) takes revenge on the two rapists, and kills them. So now, Jackson is being put on trial for the double-murder (sound familiar), and it's up to slick young lawyer Jake Brigance (Matthew McConaughey) to save Jackson. Of course, when the Ku Klux Klan decide to get involved with the trial, all hell breaks lose in the town of Canton, Mississippi. However, like most of Grisham's stories, everything seems predictable and yet is not what it seems.Outstanding! Everything about this was magnificent. The screenplay, the directing, the technical achievements and of course: The Acting!!! Jackson once again brings another powerful performance to the screen, as does Sandra Bullock, in the smallish part of a law student, who helps out McConaughey's case. The supporting cast is quite good too. Academy award winner Kevin Spacey (The Usual Suspects) as the slimy District Attorney; Charles S. Dutton as the town sheriff; And Kiefer Sutherland as an extremely sadistic redneck, who just happens to be the brother of one of the slain rapists. But it's McConaughey's impressive debut in a starring role that truly makes this film a must-see. He is not portraying the usual "Generation X" slacker-type, which seems to be the same boring role EVERY young actor today is playing. McConaughey offers a magnificently original character from the Marlon Brando mold. So in short, this is a powerful drama, that is well -acted, well-directed and brilliantly filmed on location. It's a don't-miss-this-opportunity type of movie.
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