Review – Marathon Man

This film is legendary for the psychotic “Is it safe?” dentistry scenes. Other than the big gross-out, however, this is a not-half-bad political thriller about a hapless grad student involved by his brother in an international conspiracy of Nazi war criminals, shadowy government agencies and diamond smugglers. The impact of the brutal violence tends to outweigh the occasionally thin plot, but overall this isn’t a bad example of the seventies-era thriller. Worth seeing

Review – The Evil Dead

Here we have one of the legendary classics of low-budget horror. The acting is terrible, and the effects not much better. The misogyny gets a little hard to take as well (particularly the scene in which one of the female characters is graphically raped by plants). And to be honest, once the film passes the halfway point the whole mess disintegrates into a brain-dead gore-fest. But even so, the set-up isn’t too bad, almost Lovecraftian at points. And though a lot of the gore is cliché stuff, every once in awhile director Sam Raimi will throw in something just innovative enough to be genuinely creepy, sometimes even downright scary. If nothing else, this picture should be regarded as a memento of a bygone age when independent film-makers were still able to turn out horror movies on par with the big-budget Hollywood stuff. Worth seeing

Review – The King and I

This classic musical features the role that came to be Yul Brynner’s trademark. Sure it’s trite, dated, sexist, and way too sentimental. But if you’re in the mood for something in the heartwarming neighborhood, you could do a lot worse. The “Getting to Know You” sequence may produce unpleasant flashbacks to grade school music classes, but the rest of the big production numbers are fine examples of the Hollywood musical genre in its Technicolor heyday. Worth seeing

Review – Rounders

I must admit at the outset that the allure of movies about poker players eludes me entirely. Thus it should come as no surprise that I found this grim, pseudo-noir tale of a former card shark trying to make good by going to law school but ultimately being drawn back into the game by his ne’er-do-well friend more or less completely charmless. Actually, it should come as at least a small surprise; I have no affection for Matt Damon at all, but I’ve liked John Malkovich and Edward Norton in other films. Not in this one, however. See if desperate

Review – Rosemary’s Baby

This is one of the oddest combinations ever to produce an effective horror movie. Start with Ira Levin’s novel about poor, clueless Rosemary Woodhouse, duped by her simpering husband and the coven of old folks next door into bearing Satan’s baby. Cast Mia Farrow as Rosemary, and add the normally quaint and charming Ruth Gordon as one of the witches. Let outré Eastern European director Roman Polanski apply his own unique visual touches. Then to top it all off, let William Castle – who has a brief cameo outside a phone booth – produce. Maybe Percepto (first introduced by Castle’s The Tingler) would have been the perfect additional touch to the famous Farrow/Devil rape sequence. Seriously though, the film is a little dated, but it nonetheless retains much of its power to chill, particularly if watched in the right conditions (late at night, lights off and all those clichés). Mildly amusing

Review – Tora! Tora! Tora!

This film probably wins the prize for the most realistic war movie Hollywood ever made, if for no other reason than the fact that the Japanese characters actually speak Japanese. Taken as a whole, this appears to be a fairly even-handed portrayal of the events leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor. The cast includes a galaxy of character actors, but the real star of the show has to be the protracted recreation of the attack itself. Though a little light on plot and character development, World War Two buffs should enjoy this one immensely. Mildly amusing

Review – Kindergarten Cop

Arnold does light comedy, with kids no less. Of course there’s plenty of action, too. Unlike the usual rule of thumb with Schwarzenegger movies, however, most of the amusement value in this flick comes in the stretches between gun battles and chase sequences. Despite the obvious contrivance of it all, there really is something endearing about watching Der Ubermann struggle with a pack of six-year-olds. Especially popular among real teachers: the scene where Arnold beats up an abusive father. Mildly amusing