Review – The Velvet Goldmine

Here we have a murder mystery about the death of glam rock. Unfortunately, the victim takes in the neighborhood of two hours to die, and in the process goes through more false endings than Brazil. The plot loosely follows the Citizen Kane pattern with a journalist trying to learn more about the (apparently faked) death of a famous glam rocker, a character clearly intended to resemble glitter legend David Bowie. Though the film features some amusing sound-alike music, the story rapidly becomes a little too non-linear. I don’t mind a trip back to this era in music history, but I guess I just don’t want to stay quite this long unless there’s something else to encourage me to remain. This effort lacked the added incentive. See if desperate

Review – Pushing Tin

Usually to get this much macho posturing you have to rent a war movie or a western rather than a film about air traffic controllers. John Cusack plays an unorthodox but outstanding controller who begins to feel threatened when the new guy, played by Billy Bob Thornton, turns out to be even more unorthodox and outstanding than he is. The two proceed to have extended man-battles, including treating each others’ wives as chattel. Though managing to eke out an occasional amusing moment toward the beginning, the majority of the movie is too male-ego-centered to be much fun. In a way it’s a real shame, because the concept of making a film about wacky air traffic controllers, while not likely to engender much confidence in the air travel industry, at least had some entertainment potential. Further, this cast could have done a lot more with a better script. See if desperate

Review – Lionheart

At this point in Jean Claude Van Damme’s career, he had crested and was on his way back down. He’s done some relatively big budget stuff since (like Time Cop), but after Lionheart his spot on the cutting edge of martial arts movies was mostly usurped by Jackie Chan, Steven Seagal and a few others. Here the Bulgin’ Belgian plays a legionnaire who deserts his post in order to earn money for his widowed sister-in-law by kickboxing. Some of the Frank-Dux-choreographed fight scenes aren’t too bad, but otherwise it’s just another guy-oriented slugfest. Mildly amusing

Review – The Bride of Frankenstein

This first sequel to the legendary original overcomes many of its predecessor’s technical shortcomings while retaining much of the atmosphere of menace. Some aspects of the film have become clichés; for example, it’s difficult to hear Karloff deliver the “Fire bad!” line without thinking of the Frankenstein routine Phil Hartman used to do on Saturday Night Live. Other aspects are more than a little odd, such as the scene with the tiny people in jars. Overall, however, this is both a worthy follow-up and a piece of horror movie history in its own right. Worth seeing

Review – Varsity Blues

In the mood for a juvenile comedy about high school football? Well, if you’d like your sophomoric humor and seemingly endless parade of closeted gay innuendo mixed in with a hearty dose of heavy-handed message about the evils of everything from abusive coaches to binge drinking, then you’ve come to the right place. Amusing moments are few and far between, and for the most part appear to have been borrowed from Porky’s. Actually, I’m not sure I would have liked this movie even when I was a member of the target audience; MTV Productions’ take on being a teenager rings as false as it is stupid, particularly when the film reaches its far-fetched denouement. If being a teenage jock is really like this, I’m grateful to have missed the experience. See if desperate

Review – Con Air

On paper, this one looks like the ultimate action movie. The producers assembled a stellar cast of big names, including Nicolas Cage, John Malkovich, John Cusack, and a whole host of others. They spent plenty on the sets and special effects. Even the script’s not too bad, especially for a high-testosterone flick like this. But somehow it just doesn’t come together. Perhaps the plot gets a little too muddled and stretched a little too thin as prison escapees hijack an airplane and try to elude the law. Perhaps the characters just aren’t that compelling. Perhaps it just never seems to progress much beyond the basic premise. In any event, the overall effort isn’t bad, but it might have been a lot better. Mildly amusing

Review – Lifeforce

Among its intended audience this effort must be known, at least informally, as “The Nekkid Alien Vampire Movie.” And really that pretty much sums it up. An expedition to study Haley’s Comet runs across an alien space ship packed with nude vampires in suspended animation. The astronauts decide to take three of the frozen baddies back to Earth, with predictable consequences. If getting to see women with their clothes off happens to be a big goal of yours and videotape is the only means by which you can accomplish this goal, then you’ll sure get your money’s worth on this rental. Otherwise there’s a little early 80s sci-fi going on here (courtesy writer Dan “Alien” O’Bannon and director Tobe Hooper) but not much else. See if desperate

Review – Pumpkinhead

The title is a description of either the large-craniumed creature of evil summoned forth by revenge-bent hearts or those hapless souls foolish enough to pay for the privilege of watching this barker. Lance Henriksen stars as a hillbilly driven mad with rage when city kids accidentally squash his cute son in a motorcycle accident. After chewing his way through a big wad of rustic scenery, he enlists the aid of an old witch-woman (named – and I swear I’m not making this up – Haggis) who knows how to conjure Pumpkinhead, an avenging demon, to punish his boy’s killers. Though the demon itself is occasionally eerie and some of the folklore aspects of the tale are mildly interesting, for the most part this is yet another run-of-the-mill teenagers-pursued-by-the-boogeyman picture. See if desperate

Review – The Omen

It’s not unusual to see a hefty dose of theology stirred into a horror film, particularly in the post-Exorcist era. But this film really goes off the deep end. Making heavy use of the final book of the Bible, or at least some creative interpretations thereof, it tells the story of the early childhood of the Antichrist. Anyone who finds pasty little dark-haired boys with English accents creepy in general will have no trouble at all getting into the aura of menace here. Overall this is an interesting concept fairly well executed, a good example of a horror movie produced without a lot of effects, nudity and gore (well okay, there’s a little gore). Worth seeing

Review – Mind Ripper

“Film Waster” is more like it. Wes Craven is in my debt due to my decision to strip his built-in byline out of the title of this hunk of crap. There seemed to be some kind of muddled plot involving a secret biology lab out in the desert somewhere, a facility that looked suspiciously like a dilapidated factory or similar cheap location. A motley set of characters are besieged by some kind of genetically-engineered super soldier, who looks a lot like a younger, less strung-out version of Iggy Pop (frankly, the real Iggy would have been scarier). To be honest, I didn’t really follow the goings-on, because I lost interest fairly early on. However, I did watch out of the corner of my eye until, after umpteen gruesome deaths and miraculous recoveries for the villain, the end credits finally rolled. The cheap special effects offer some extraordinary examples of stunted sexuality, but other than that this one doesn’t have much to offer. Wish I’d skipped it

Review – The Avengers (1998)

I don’t know if fans of the original TV series will find this amusing or not, because I can’t say that I’ve ever seen an episode. But I can say that I thought this was one of the silliest movies I’ve ever seen. The English charm is charmless, most of the attempts to be quirky fall pitifully flat, and the “witty” dialogue is made all the more witless and wooden by the efforts of vacuous Uma Thurman and smarmy Ralph Fiennes. Some of the effects are kind of cute, but otherwise this film doesn’t offer much beyond a few appearances by Eddie Izzard in a henchman role. Wish I’d skipped it

Review – 1984

This is hands-down one of the most depressing movies ever made. The film-makers were so faithful to the George Orwell novel that they even shot it on location in London in April, May and June 1984, the place and time of the book’s setting. The art direction is truly amazing, doing a wonderful job of creating a bleak vision of the future as it might have looked from 1948 (the year the novel was written). John Hurt is perfect as the emaciated, pasty, extra-sentimental Winston Smith, and even Richard Burton (in his final role) does an admirable job as the diabolical O’Brien. Top it off with a soundtrack by the Eurythmics, and you’ve got a pretty good film on your hands, though again probably not the best choice for light-hearted party viewing. Worth seeing

Review – Sleepstalker

It would be easy to dismiss this dark, tiresome twist on the whole “sandman” thing as a cheap knockoff of the Nightmare on Elm Street series with a little Shocker stirred in for good measure just to make sure that Wes Craven gets “borrowed” from as thoroughly as possible. And since I’m in a lazy mood, I think I’ll take the easy route on this one. Movie dismissed. See if desperate

Review – Summer of Sam

Wow. This is easily the best Spike Lee has done since Do the Right Thing, and for my tastes his best ever. That he manages to pull off a rock-out sequence to “Baba O’Riley” alone makes the film worth watching, and yet it offers so much more. Lee has returned to the streets of New York to tell the tale of neighborhood life in the shadow of David Berkowitz’s killing spree in the summer of 1977. The Son of Sam gets a little screen time in disjointed scenes that are as chilling as they are brief; this is the first genuinely frightening screen psychopath I’ve seen since Cruising. But the main plot of the film follows a couple of young men struggling with their own personal demons. The tale retains the feel of unflinching honesty throughout, never stooping to smarmy bathos despite the obvious temptation to do so at several points. Stir in a helping of baseball references and you’ve got a production that’s darn near perfect. Buy the tape

Review – Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Critics lambasted this first sequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark, at least until they got a good look at Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. In a way that’s almost too bad, since the second one is a lot closer to the pulp adventure stories and Saturday matinee serials ostensibly recreated in the Indiana Jones series. Of course that also means that it’s a good deal more goofy than the original. Still, it keeps moving pretty well, and for fans of the genre it won’t disappoint. Mildly amusing

Review – Four Weddings and a Funeral

I had no idea romance could be this dull. Of course, at least part of the problem is Andie MacDowell, or more specifically the fact that I can’t stand her character. So much of a good date movie depends on chemistry between the romantic leads, and as far as I’m concerned Hugh Grant and MacDowell have none. Even with a different cast, I doubt if the script could have offered much more than a five-part romp through the trivial love lives of a group of vacuous young English friends. See if desperate

Review – Austin Powers

This film is an instruction manual on how to run jokes into the ground. It starts out as a mildly clever concept: what if one of those stupid cliché British secret agents from the 60s somehow ended up forced to adjust to life in the 90s. But every time screenwriter Mike Myers tosses in a gag with potential, he ends up running it over and over again until it isn’t funny anymore or exerting so much energy explaining the joke that the humor gets sucked right out of the situation. A quick example: there’s an Irish terrorist who leaves a trinket from his charm bracelet at crime scenes. “Always after my lucky charms,” he mutters, completely deadpan. Mildly amusing, but then the characters have a way-too-extensive discussion of the Lucky Charms ad, robbing the joke of just about all its impact. And then there’s the endless parade of moronic nonsense about the protagonist’s British teeth. Take away the self-defeating gags, and there’s not much here besides a juvenile send-up of equally juvenile, decades-old James Bond movies. Wish I’d skipped it

Review – Office Space

Mike “Beavis & Butthead” Judge’s first foray into live-action feature work is aimed directly at the silent majority of Dilbert warriors, those sad cube jockeys of Silicon Valley who beat ever onward, boats against the current, borne ever backward into the downsize. The overall plot moronically expects us to empathize with three programmers who get so fed up with their stupid boss and his heartless company that they decide to embezzle a bunch of money. However, hidden in the cracks are some genuinely funny moments. Sure, it’s mostly cube humor. But every once in awhile it works. Plus I have to feel at least a little for any character whose apartment sports the same IKEA coffee table I have at home. Mildly amusing

Review – Sudden Impact

Those of us who survived the Reagan 80s will forever remember this as the movie that gave us “Go ahead, make my day.” Clint Eastwood is back for his fourth go-around as Inspector Harry Calahan, in a story that seems like a reheated version of Magnum Force with the villains from Wes Craven’s Last House on the Left substituted for vigilante cops. But whereas the previous Dirty Harry movies carefully skirted the difference between a little healthy disrespect for the Bill of Rights and outright wanton lawlessness, I guess the conservative zeitgeist allowed that bubble to be pressed even further, maybe even broken. As a result, this sequel loses the aura of social commentary that helped make the action in the first two so interesting, replacing it with an ethos holding that criminal violence, shown in a graphic, brutal rape sequence, is sufficient justification for – shall we say – a direct response. Even so, the action sequences are sufficiently well crafted to make this a genre classic. Caveat: if you watch the edited-for-television version, you won’t get the full impact of the famous “dog shit” speech toward the beginning. Mildly amusing

Review – At Close Range

Though probably best known for the title theme song performed by Madonna, this so-dumb-it-must-be-true crime drama has a few other things going for it. Sean Penn and Christopher Walken spend most of the movie in a scenery-chewing contest, with Walken emerging the winner only because he turns in one of his all-time most grossly over-acted performances in a long career to overplayed roles. Acting aside, it works reasonably well as a white trash idyll destroyed by a father who involves his sons in the family farm-equipment-stealing business. Mildly amusing

Review – 1941

Whenever Steven Spielberg gets too full of himself with all his millions and Oscars and such, he should be hauled in front of HBO on one of the blissfully rare occasions that the network shows this stinker. The truly strange thing about this movie is that just about everyone involved with the production – from stars to bit players to writers to producers and of course Spielberg himself – have done considerably better work both before and since. Heck, most of them have even participated in successful efforts to make this brand of no-brainer frat boy humor actually provoke a few laughs. But here the film fails on so many different levels: the script is weak, the satire muddy at best, the physical comedy as lame as the Three Stooges after they lost Curly, and the characters so stupid and ill-conceived that they barely rise to the level of sappy. Wish I’d skipped it

Review – Street Fighter

Here’s an extremely rare anomaly: a movie – and an action movie at that – in which the only good part is the art direction. There are plenty of pictures out there that are notable only for script or acting or direction, and there are more than a few that are worth watching due to some combination of lighting, editing, cinematography and the like. But this is little more than yet another cheap martial arts flick based on a video game. The acting is dreadful. The effects are fairly bad. Aside from a line or two, the script is witless and cartoonish. Overall, it’s an excellent candidate for “see if desperate” if not “wish I’d skipped it.” But the sets are literally littered with odd little in-jokes. My favorite example: the inner sanctum of arch-villain General Bison is decorated with a copy of David’s famous painting of Napoleon on horseback with Bison astride the steed. Better yet, another painting in the lair shows Bison as Pogo the Clown, John Wayne Gacy’s alter-ego in many of the mass murderer’s self portraits. Other than these Easter eggs, however, this movie is notable mostly as the last screen appearance of Raul Julia, yet another tragic victim of the Fiendish Curse of Peter Sellers. Mildly amusing

Review – Indecent Proposal

A long time ago I spent part of a summer working as a janitor, and one afternoon I was peripherally involved in a debate about whether or not a certain popular but somewhat sexually ambiguous singer was gay. Somehow the topic shifted around to whether or not each of us would be willing to perform an act of oral sex with the aforementioned celebrity in exchange for a million dollars. One of the other janitors confidently proclaimed, “For a million dollars, I’d blow Michael Jackson and a goat!” Here we have the same basic dilemma, though I’m not sure whether Robert Redford would be the pop star or the ungulate. Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson play a couple of yuppies who fall on hard times and end up forced to decide whether or not to accept a millionaire’s offer of a hefty sum in exchange for a night of passionate sex (with her, not him). The basic premise is mildly intriguing in a spending-the-summer-sweeping-floors sort of way. Unfortunately, the burning question is answered about midway through, and the characters devote the remaining hour to floundering in the bathetic consequences of their decisions. See if desperate

Review – Dracula (1931)

By today’s standards, this is a dreadful movie. Produced just a couple of years after the advent of mass-market “talkies,” the film suffers from many of the pangs the industry suffered during the transition out of the silent era. For example, a lot of the acting is still marked by the physical histrionics that were part and parcel of silent films but became as unnecessary as they were awkward once movies could tell their stories with sound as well as image. In this regard, one may particularly note the scenery-chewing performance Dwight Frye turned in as Renfield. Even the little details – such as Castle Dracula apparently suffering from an armadillo infestation – now appear either quaint or just plain odd. Technical difficulties notwithstanding, this remains one of the all-time classic representatives of the horror genre, due in large part to the legendary performance by Bela Lugosi in the title role. All these years later, just about every actor who has ever attempted to play Dracula has suffered comparison, more often than not unfavorable, to the Hungarian-born actor’s quintessential portrayal of the count. For all its lack of technical sophistication, this movie is still a much more satisfying film-going experience than the vast majority of its vampire kin (though perhaps I’m not the best person to ask about such things, since as a general principle I don’t care much for vampire stories). Worth seeing

Review – Bride of Chucky

For some reason I thought maybe this umpteenth sequel to Child’s Play would be improved to view-worthy status by the inclusion of Jennifer Tilly as the diminutive demon’s former girlfriend turned plastic paramour. No such luck. Instead, this is just the usual parade of nubile teens, pointless violence and humorless gags. Unless I missed something somewhere, this film enjoys the distinction of being the first relatively mainstream Hollywood movie to portray two dolls engaged in an act of sexual intercourse (mercifully shown only in silhouette). Aside from that freak show dimension, however, this picture has little to recommend it. Wish I’d skipped it

Review – Lethal Weapon 4

More of the same, maybe for the last time. I don’t want to say that if you’ve seen the first three that you’ve seen this one too, because at some level there must be some kind of difference between mercenaries, neo-nazis, gun runners, and Asian gangsters. Differences in the bad guys aside, however, this is more of the usual vaguely homosexual buddy stuff between the grizzled old black cop and the wacky young (make that “younger” rather than actually young at this point in Mel Gibson’s career) white cop. Plenty of gut-wrenching sentiment, plenty of top-dollar action sequences, and plenty of annoying Joe Pesci. Even some minor shtick by series newcomer Chris Rock can’t save this barker. See if desperate

Review – Lethal Weapon 3

The issue this time is illegal guns and cop killer bullets. Other than that, here’s a bunch more goofy slapstick, pious sanctimony and expensive action sequences. Rene Russo gets added to the mix as the unlikely love interest for the Mel Gibson character and new junior partner in the buddy relationship, but in compensation there’s at least a little less Joe Pesci to contend with. See if desperate

Review – Lethal Weapon 2

The boys are back, taking on a gang of South African thugs hiding behind diplomatic immunity to protect their smuggling operations. The villains are plenty loathsome, perhaps more so than the rest of the bad guys in the series. Our heroes also pick up a new, annoying sidekick played by Joe Pesci. Other than that, however, this is the same parade of unorthodox cops who play by their own rules, juvenile high jinks and expensive stunt work that form the heart of the Lethal Weapon formula. Mildly amusing

Review – Lethal Weapon

Here’s the buddy movie to end all buddy movies. You can almost see each sentence in the treatment as it was being read to Hollywood producers. Nice family man cop (did we mention he’s Black? We’re thinking a Danny Glover type) gets partnered up with a wacky psych job cop (hey, can’t Mel Gibson do a pretty mean Three Stooges imitation? And the ladies, not to mention the gay men, will love his bare butt if we can work it in somewhere). Our intrepid heroes learn to live with each other and become the best of friends while blowing the hell out of most of Los Angeles. Amazingly enough, despite its formulaic nature it isn’t really all that bad a movie. I’m particularly fond of Gary Busey’s portrayal of Mr. Joshua, the psychotic mercenary enforcer for the bad guys’ drug gang. Mildly amusing

Review – Breeders

Once again Mars appears to need women. Once again the aliens are inflicting themselves on the blonde-haired, blue-eyed female college students of Earth. Once again someone managed to get a budget for a dull miasma of poor script, bad acting, and pathetic effects. Honestly, I’m willing to bet that the opening credits cost more than the whole rest of the film, particularly because most of the production appears to have been shot in abandoned sewers, basements and steam tunnels. Further, most of the minimal content this film does boast appears to have been pilfered from other movies. The monster itself in particular bears so close a resemblance to the alien from Alien that H.R. Gieger should have sued. If he didn’t, I can only assume that his lawyers figured film-makers who create something this dreadful are highly unlikely to be worth much when it comes time to pay the judgment. Wish I’d skipped it

Review – 200 Cigarettes

MTV serves up yet another one of these date movies consisting of several plot lines that all loosely intertwine at the end. In other words, the production suffers from too many characters and not enough story. Aside from some good 80s music and an odd cameo by Elvis Costello, this movie is mostly a lot of relationship nonsense and other dull silliness. See if desperate

Review – Psycho 2

If I gave “worth seeing” grades for effort, this would definitely get one. This is one of the most overwrought movies I’ve ever seen. Briefly summarized, the plot concerns the release of Norman Bates from a mental hospital years after his grisly crimes first came to light. Lila Loomis (the sister from the original) takes after him, trying to drive him nuts so the state will lock him away again. Though the premise isn’t too bad, the execution leaves a little to be desired. For openers, Anthony Perkins just doesn’t quite make it as Norman anymore. He does a serviceable job, but he’s either too old or too disinterested to come anywhere near the performance he gave Hitchcock so many years earlier. The screenwriters also messed things up a bit by trying to come up with some shocking twists that would equal the surprises featured in the original. Without giving the specifics away, the end turns into a muddled mess that lacks any resemblance to the cold chills of the first one. See if desperate

Review – Psycho (1998)

Though not a direct, shot-for-shot replication of the Alfred Hitchcock classic (especially not during the murder sequences, which end up peppered with disjointed “subliminals”), this remake does remain 99.9% faithful to the original script. I guess the cast gets an E for effort. After all, it’s scarcely Vince Vaughn’s fault that he isn’t Anthony Perkins, though he might have spent a little more effort to avoid acting like Pee wee Herman; his twitching and giggling make him appear more like a nervous nincompoop than a demented killer. Occasionally an odd moment will one-up the original, such as when Norman can be heard and implicitly seen masturbating during the peephole sequence. Other than that, however, the whole mess comes across as a really elaborate and expensive method of colorizing a vintage horror film. See if desperate

Review – Vampires

Longtime John Carpenter fans will vaguely recognize this plot as loosely related to themes explored in an earlier Carpenter movie, Prince of Darkness. But here instead of quantum physics we’ve got a script that sounds like it was drummed up after an extended weekend of screenwriters playing one of those vampire-centered role-playing games. So right alongside the Catholic cabalistic conspiracy stuff we’re forced to endure a pack of goths trying to overcome the vampires’ neurotic obsession with daylight. Oh, and then there’s James Woods, whose character’s every second word is either an anti-homosexual slur (for example, he refers to one of the vampires as a “pole-smoking fashion victim,” and that’s about as clever as it ever gets) or a reference to his penis (or somebody else’s penis). The idea of a Vatican-endorsed anti-vampire SWAT team is mildly intriguing, but here the execution leaves much to be desired. I’ve griped in the past about Carpenter setting up a great premise and then letting it devolve into cheap gore shots, usually in the last half hour or so of his movies. Here he doesn’t wait quite so long; the plot dissolves early on, and from there on out this picture is nothing but a lot of flailing and nonsense. See if desperate

Review – Single White Female

When romance and stalker movies collide, this apparently is the product. Here we have a seemingly endless parade of plot twists and petty intrigue revolving around the semi-lesbian relationship between a yuppie in search of a rent-control roomie and the disturbed woman who gloms onto her. It’s jammed with all the nail-biting tension so common with this sort of thriller. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have a lot else to offer besides some gratuitous dog death. See if desperate

Review – Strangeland

Who would have thought that Dee Snyder was still alive all these years after the heyday of Twisted Sister (if in fact the group that “ain’t gonna take it” can accurately be said to have had a heyday). Apparently he hasn’t grown up much in the interim; this gruesome little horror picture has all the emotional maturity of a heavy metal video. In addition to picking up screenwriting credit, Snyder also plays the villain, a chat room lurker who has apparently seen Bizarre Rituals a time or two too many. The film does a fairly good job of exploiting “modern primitive” piercing and bondage kink for some cheap thrills, but other than that it’s pretty much just one horror movie cliché after another. Mildly amusing

Review – Prince of Egypt

After awhile this animated version of the story of the exodus from Egypt starts to look and feel like a big Chick tract, except the plot frequently strays from scripture and none of the bad guys belt out “haw haw!” Some of the backdrops are kind of impressive, but you’d think that, considering the source material and the star-studded set of celebrity voices, they would have come up with something more, well, inspirational. Mildly amusing

Review – Legend

This is another one of those movies that looks like it went through several edits before making it to the screen. Of course, maybe parts just don’t make a whole lot of sense because it’s a lot of unicorn-intensive fantasy-ass nonsense to begin with. I’d have thought that Tom Cruise would have used some of his millions billions to buy up all the copies of this film, since his portrayal of the somewhat sexually ambiguous hero is some distance from the ultra-macho roles he usually favors (but then again, there’s also Interview with the Vampire). All that notwithstanding, this is a cute little film, notable for Ridley Scott’s ever-obsessive attention to the visuals and Rob Bottin’s Darkness makeup that actually makes bad guy Tim Curry look taller than around five foot six. If you can stomach all the new age blather, this is a fun way to kill an hour and a half. On the other hand, if you can get your hands on the Ultimate Edition DVD, you’re in for a real treat. This is the first time I’ve ever seen a director’s cut that was actually radically different from the general release version. The extra footage is substantial, to the point where the plot’s actually at least a little different. Even the soundtrack’s different (Jerry Goldsmith vs. Tangerine Dream). And in my opinion they should have left Scott alone on this; his version makes considerably more sense and works better as a story than what the studio came up with. Mildly amusing

Review – The Untouchables

Kevin Costner’s ever-so-earnest style of acting is ideally suited to the role of crusading G-man Eliot Ness. Of course the big screen adaptation, complete with screenplay by David Mamet, is a good deal more violent than the old TV series upon which it is loosely based. Highlights include an homage to Eisenstein’s famous “Odessa Steps” sequence and a baseball bat bludgeoning courtesy Robert DeNiro, who does an admirable job as Al Capone. If you’re looking for a sanctimonious law and order flick with plenty of macho guys and gore shots, I guess you could do worse. Mildly amusing