Review – The Silence of the Lambs

This is a much more serious treatment of Thomas Harris’ Hannibal Lecter character than we got from Manhunter. Sure, Anthony Hopkins eats more than his share of the scenery as the good doctor, but he still gives the audience a couple of chilling moments. This film was immensely popular when it came out, and it even managed to garner a few Oscars, rare for a movie this close to the horror genre. Of course that’s got to be at least in part because it’s rare to see Hollywood devote this big a budget to a movie about psycho-killers. As a result, you get some stuff in this one (ranging from decent performances to decent film stock) that most other slasher flicks lack. But when you get right down to it, this is still Texas Chainsaw Massacre at heart (in fact, both films were inspired at least in part by the same set of crimes committed by famed Wisconsin cannibal Ed Gein). Worth seeing

Review – L.A. Confidential

I remember when I first saw this film in the theater I found it very confusing. I had just finished reading the book, and the movie was such a truncated version that the short-cuts taken in the plot made the whole thing hard to follow. Now that my memory of the book has faded a bit, I don’t find the movie quite so bewildering. The characters were a little more three-dimensional in the book (no big surprise) and a lot harder to like (again, given Hollywood’s need to pitch an audience, no big surprise). Overall this is a fine piece of neo-noir, ranking right up there with the likes of Chinatown. Worth seeing

Review – The Shining

One of my great curiosities about Stephen King is why the heck he was so dissatisfied with Stanley Kubrick’s direction of the film version of his novel (or I suppose I should say the first film version of his novel, because King himself had it redone in a made-for-TV version some years later). I suppose the TV version stuck a little bit more closely to the plot of the book, but it goes without saying that it was nowhere near the visual tour de force of this one. And of course nobody does crazy quite like Jack Nicholson. Sure, its a little long, downright annoying in parts (listening to the kid say “REDRUM” over and over is like enduring an alarm clock you can’t shut off or a phone you can’t answer) and some of the acting is weak (not to mention that Shelly Duvall spends most of the movie smoking like a damn chimney, which must not have seemed odd at the time but can be a little distracting in this less tobacco-friendly age). But the visuals are worth the drawbacks, especially if you can see it on the big screen or at least take it in on a larger TV. The DVD features a short production documentary, but unless watching Stanley Kubrick and Shelly Duvall bickering sounds exciting to you it’s fairly missable. Worth seeing

Review – The Van

Maybe it helps to have seen the first two films in this series, which I haven’t (at least not as of this writing). Standing alone, this is a mildly clever Irish movie about a couple of guys who buy a meals on wheels van and go into business together. The plot progresses fairly predictably, but there are occasional worthwhile moments along the way. Warning: unnecessary dog death. Mildly amusing

Review – Mortal Kombat: Annihilation

Okay, so I’ll watch anything once. Emphasis on “once.” This one appears to have been shot on a much smaller budget than the first MK movie, with cheaper actors and lower production values. Considering the original wasn’t exactly Citizen Kane, you have to be pretty firmly glued to the couch not to get up and put a stop to the sequel. See if desperate

Review – Mortal Kombat

If I had been 12 years old when this movie came out, I think I probably would have spent just about every allowance I got on tickets to see it again and again (back then there was no such thing as a home VCR, so movie theaters was what we had...and we loved it, dagnab it!). Lots of violent, flying ninja fists of death. Lots of special effects. Not too much plot. In other words, everything a movie needs to appeal to 12-year-old boys. As movies based on video games go, this one’s not too bad. Mildly amusing

Review – Alien Resurrection

Cyborgs and clones and bugs, oh my! After the third Alien movie, this one is truly Lazarus come from the dead. And as one might suspect, it doesn’t smell too nice. I guess they figured they could make money on it despite the extremely poor reception given to Alien 3 if they just threw in a couple of big-name actors and spruced up the effects a bit. Guess not. This one has the occasional good booga-booga shot, but mostly it’s a muddled excuse for a cheap gore-fest. See if desperate

Review – Aliens

What Ridley Scott first conceived as a sci-fi/horror blend Jim Cameron has here developed into a sci-fi/horror/action movie. It keeps moving fairly well, which is a good thing because it’s more than two hours long and if it didn’t keep moving it would drive the audience to distraction in fairly short order. As it is, however, it’s engaging to watch the squad of ultra-macho space marines fall apart in the face of superior force, and Cameron does a good job of developing the characters as they try to cope with the alien threat. The effects are good, though not as original as the original. Extra added bonus: Paul Reiser (at least presumably) getting his brains poked out by an alien. There’s also a long version that surfaces on cable every once in awhile. The characters are a bit better developed, as are the spatial relationships between the sets. Otherwise all you get from the extra footage is just a bit more drama. For an even longer version, check out the DVD. It’s got the extra footage plus even more edited-out-of-the-theatrical-release scenes. It’s mostly minor character development, but the revelation that Ripley had a daughter who grew up, grew old and died while mom was stuck in hyper-sleep does help explain her character’s motivation a bit. Worth seeing

Review – Alien

The cornerstone of the Alien series and a horror classic (probably a sci-fi classic as well, though I’m not sure I know enough about the genre to be able to say for sure). I can remember being completely blown away by the whole “grimy technology” futurism in the art direction, something that would be developed a lot further just a few years later in Blade Runner. And I think director Ridley Scott’s decision to interconnect all the sets (making the sound-stage into a partial spacecraft of sorts) really contributed to the actors’ sense of place (and paranoia). Though much of the film seems cliché now (particularly the deeply Freudian parts of the set design done by H.R. Gieger), it’s important to remember that this was the film, copied so frequently, that gave birth to the clichés. Fans of the movie will find the 20th anniversary edition DVD well worth the investment, because it includes several scenes cut from the theatrical release (as well as other fun bonus features). Buy the disc

Review – Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Of course I’ve seen this classic several times, but I notice new things in it each time (due no doubt in part to the fact that I know a little more about the lore of UFOs than I did the first time I saw it). The version that I watched this year was the original (as opposed to the Special Edition), but I think they’re both about equally as good (I like the extra stuff in the second release, especially the ship set down in the middle of the Gobi desert, but then they cut short my favorite scene from the original, where Richard Dreyfus starts throwing stuff through his kitchen window). I must say that I like the ending less and less every time I see it ... it was really impressive in the theater, but on video it just seems to drag on and on. Still, definite thumbs up for masterful exploitation of the whole popular space alien myth. Worth seeing

Review – Gattaca

For a story that’s ostensibly about the evils of genetics-based bigotry, this movie doesn’t feature many non-Caucasian actors. What we have here is a meandering romp through a future designed by art directors for Vogue, stretching an hour and a half out of about 30 minutes worth of plot and 15 minutes worth of script. Extra for experts: the four letters used to spell “Gattaca” are the same four letters used to symbolize the individual bits of the DNA code. How clever. See if desperate

Review – Shadowzone: The Undead Express

This must have been some kind of attempt by Showtime to move into Tales from the Crypt territory (only this was all one big catastrophe instead of a string of half-hour mini-failures). You know you’re in for a long hour and a half when the protagonist is prepubescent, and sure enough, this one drags on and on with our hapless young hero crying wolf about the vampires in the New York subways. As a result, it tends to play like an After School Special for bad little children. Ron Silver must have a serious need for cash to have sunk to this role (though really, after playing Alan Dershowitz perhaps playing a bloodsucking monster isn’t all that big a stretch). See if desperate

Review – Mr. Nice Guy

Low production values. No plot to speak of. Awe-inspiring stunt work. Athletic, acrobatic flying fists of kung fu death. In other words, yet another typical Jackie Chan movie. This one finds Chan fighting drug-running gangsters after accidentally getting caught up with a journalist. Worth seeing

Review – Knock Off

How sad. Way back in the heady days of Bloodsport, Jean Claude van Damme was the martial artist everyone else was trying to imitate. Now the bulgin’ Belgian is stuck doing knock-offs of Jackie Chan’s athletic stunt work. The montage in this film is an amazing collection of jump-cuts, under-cranking and other headache-inducing editing tricks. As annoying as they are, they do keep the movie moving better than the bewildering, nonsensical plot, ridiculous script and wooden acting. See if desperate

Review – City of Lost Children

Ready for a lot of surreal French weirdness? The art direction is more than a little derivative of Terry Gilliam, with perhaps a little German Expressionism and a dash of Star Trek thrown in for good measure (not unlike the director’s previous effort, Delicatessen). But the script keeps it moving pretty well, and the strangeness frequently manages to be clever, which isn’t something that you can say for a lot of films that try this hard. Mildly amusing

Review – Air Force One

This is another one of those annoying five-minute movies (the kind where if the characters could act a little more decisively the film would be over in about five minutes). Jam-packed with false dilemmas and other plot mistakes, even Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman can’t save this stinker. See if desperate (or if you’re looking to complete your 1997 Hell Plaza Octoplex viewing experience)

Review – Mimic

Roaches bug you? If so, skip this one. It takes a little while to get rolling, thanks at least in part to the too-much-MTV-too-much-film-school direction that pervades the first 20 minutes or so. After it settles down, it turns into a pretty run-of-the-mill giant bug horror picture. Rob Bottin did the special effects, so you know you’re in for plenty of gross-out, too. Warnings, though: gratuitous dead cat, and gratuitous kid violence. Mildly amusing

Review – Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh

Perhaps more appropriately known as Candyman 2, this sequel takes the original story in a whole different direction, to the substantial detriment of the film. Though I suppose any horror tale set in New Orleans will inevitably invite some sort of comparison to Anne Rice’s work, what we have here is shamelessly derivative of the Mayfair witches series, recasting Candyman from the Hook Man of urban legend to more of a Lasher-style family spirit. It does an okay job, I guess, but I liked the theme and direction of the original a lot better. Mildly amusing

Review – Candyman

Urban legends play McGuffin in this loose adaptation of a Clive Barker short story. This movie almost literally drips with racist sexuality, telling the sordid tale of a white woman driven mad by her flirtation with an evil spirit in the form of a large Black man with a hook for a hand (“I’ll split you from groin to gullet” indeed). When our intrepid heroine finally gives into her desire for the forbidden, she becomes empowered and goes on to achieve urban legend status herself. How touching. Mildly amusing

Review – Seven Years in Tibet

The cheap shots about the length of this film would be too easy (“Seven Years in My VCR” for example). I guess I sort of feel like if you’ve seen one tiresome movie about a restless western soul who journeys to  mysterious Asia to find inner peace, you’ve seen them all. And I’m not really sure that the ongoing controversy about the whole China-Tibet thing really adds enough to make this film worthwhile. See if desperate

Review – The Addams Family

This film remains true to the spirit of the original Charles Addams cartoons in that it’s largely an extended collection of amusing sight gags. Sure, there’s a loosely-woven plot in here somewhere, but it’s nowhere near as interesting as the physical humor and creepy little in-jokes. Raul Julia and Angelica Huston head up an ensemble cast that does an admirable job of playing the goofy humor with straight faces. Worth seeing

Review – Brain Dead

The name says it all. I’m surprised that Bill Paxton and Bill Pullman haven’t pooled their funds and bought up all the copies of this muddled bit of nonsense. Wish I’d skipped it