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Review of the day for the week of Oct 9, 1995.

Mortal Kombat (1995)

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This is yet another film based on a video game. Howevr, there is a difference. Mortal Kombat ends up being better than, say, Super Mario Bros. or Street Fighter. The plot follows three martial-arts experts to an island, where they must fight to the death to defend Earth from supernatural creatures. They must face enemies such as Sub-Zero, who can (for those of you who don't know already) freeze his foes and smash them to pieces. Also, there is Goro, a four-armed monster, who has never, ever been defeated. That might change. All of these enemies are the soldiers of Shang Tsung, an evil wizard from another dimension, who captures the souls of a vanquished enemy and enslaves them.

Though the acting is mediocre, the script is okay. However, forget the dialogue and pay more attention to some of the mind-boggling action sequences and excellent special effects. I can't really explain how this is better than the other films based on video games. Perhaps, the reason is that it's more like the game than the other ones were. Of course, lots of martial-arts action and special effects never hurt. There are some enjoyable moments for older kids and adults. Mainly from the character Johnny Cage, a vain movie star, who wants to prove that his moves aren't fake. He gets some of the best lines. Mortal Kombat isn't Enter The Dragon, but there are plenty of moves and action that would have made Bruce Lee proud.

My Rating =

Rent

MOVIES ON VIDEO

Here are three movies on video and/or laserdisc.

Aria (1988)

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I can't say one way or another if Aria is good or bad. I can say that it's uneven. The film is made up of ten short vignettes from ten internationally known directors, who feature arias from certain operas. Bill Bryden's film is a connecting thread to the other films, showing, in between segments, a has-been opera star (John Hurt) preparing for his next performance, which turns out to be an empty theater, but he goes right on singing. This in it's own right is a tragic story, as are most of the tales in Aria. Nicolas Roeg of The Witches directs a story, centering around the assassination attempt of King Zog of Albania in 1931. Roeg's wife, Theresa Russell, plays Zog quite convincingly. Charles Sturridge (Where Angels Fear To Tread) shows, in black-and-white, three young children, who steal a car and end up in an accident. Robert Altman directs a tale of an opera house, which seems to be crawling with vagabonds and mental patients. Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy) shows the seemingly dead city of Bruges.

French director Jean-Luc Godard presents a truly bizarre tale centered around bodybuilders. These are some of the lesser moments of Aria. The best come from Julien Temple (Earth Girls Are Easy), Franc Roddam (The Bride), Ken Russell (Women In Love) and Derek Jarman (Edward II). Temple's is a funny tale of a producer (Buck Henry), who is spending a night at a hotel with his lover, which is the same hotel where his wife has come with HER lover. Russell's is a visually stunning tale of a woman, who believes she is being adorned with jewels, only to wake up and find herself being treated for a car accident. Jarman's shows a old woman remembering her youth and her youthful love. Finally, Roddam's is a sad tale of two lovers (one of which is played by Bridget Fonda in her film debut), who travel to Las Vegas, check into a cheap motel, make love and kill themselves.

The last two from Roddam and Jarman are the most touching of the film. The arias performed work well with those tales. The problem with the entire film is that there is no real point to all of this. Good visuals and good music from Verdi, Puccini and Wagner, don't help the movie one bit. However, you should review the short films separately. Now for my special ratings of each film.

Altman (1 star). A very poor example of filmaking. The story never really goes anywhere.
Russell (2 stars). Though visually stunning, it's also really depressing.
Roeg (1 and a half). Russell's performance is the only thing good about this mess.
Godard (2 and a half). Extremely bizarre, but also very funny. It's sort of a spoof of the usual depressing french film.
Beresford (1 star). What the hell is going on here?
Bryden (2 stars). Interesting watching Hurt's character prepare for his next performance. Still, there's no real point.
Jarman (2 and a half). Extremly touching and sad. An account of the good old days.
Roddam (3 stars). Same as Jarman's, though even more sad. Fonda is excellent in her first film.
Sturridge (1 star). Once again, no real point to it.
Temple (2 and a half). Humorous, in it's own strange way.

All in all, the films shouldn't have been jumbled together like this. The films could have done well as longer films. I only recommend this to the opera buffs, as well as lovers of the above-mentioned filmakers.

Footnote:The rating below is for the movie entire.

My Rating =

Rent

Hardware (1990)

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A futuristic story which takes place in a time of desolation. The world is no more than a desert, with greedy scavengers and hunters roaming the plains. One of these scavengers finds a piece of a droid, who happens to be a killer used for population control. The scavenger (Dylan McDermott) brings the piece back to his girlfriend (Stacey Travis), who hangs it up on her wall. The piece reactivates and proceeds to reassemble itself. Soon it starts killing people.

The production values aren't that bad and there are moments of suspense, but it's very depressing and the outcome of the whole movie is bleak. This had very graphic scenes of violence, before it was trimmed to avoid an X-rating. The film is interesting and definitely for sci-fi buffs, but as for entertainment, look for something else.

My Rating =

Rent

Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

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Here was a film that was butchered upon release in the U.S. I saw the original version on video before I saw the cut version on HBO. Believe me, seeing the cut version, after seeing the original, wasn't pretty. The story is about a group of young hoods, who grow up and become big time mobsters. The film switches back and forth between three periods of time-1921, 1933 and 1968. The two leaders of the group (Robert De Niro and James Woods) are friends all the way through the movie. In 1921, when the De Niro and Woods characters were kids, they started to move in on some of the big time gangsters, but ended up getting one of their members killed and sending De Niro in the slammer. In 1933, the year prohibition pretty much ended, De Niro gets out of jail and joins with Woods once again. They kill various enemies and start to control the streets. In the end, De Niro betrays Woods and turns him over to the police.

Finally, in 1968, years after the partnership between Woods and De Niro ended, Woods is now a wealthy man, whose crimes are finally being dug up by certain investigators. He wishes to end his life, but he wants De Niro to do it for him. To tell what happens would be an injustice to the people reading this right now. I loved every minute of this film. Once again, Sergio Leone (Once Upon A Time In The West) proves his status as a great director with this, probably his masterpiece, poignant look at gangster life and the people that surround it. De Niro and Woods play off each other excellently. There is a good supporting cast which includes Treat Williams as a union boss, Danny Aiello as a nosy cop, Elizabeth McGovern as De Niro's love and Jennifer Connelly as the younger version of McGovern. The sets and cinematography are exquisite, showing three different eras in America.

As for the cut version, I can see why this wasn't a success. Key elements in the plot are never explained, as they are in the original version. It goes in chronological order, which doesn't seem to help it one bit, considering that (as it was done in the original version) you needed the scenes from the later eras to flashback and explain who certain characters were. Once Upon A Time In America did not get the acclaim it should have gotten, simply because it was shorn of 88 minutes worth of footage.

My Rating =

Rent

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