Review – Sliver

From the author who brought you Rosemary’s Baby, here’s another bit of urban paranoia (at least nobody gets screwed by Satan this time, unless you count the audience). Ultimately this film just seems to have too much going on. I mean, the creepy voyeur boyfriend would have made a good plot by itself, as would the psycho mystery writer, or even just the idea of a building rigged with hidden cameras. But when they try to mash all this together, especially when you have the likes of Sharon Stone and one of the Baldwins trying to make it work, it’s just too much for the script to support. I also guess they thought Stone masturbating would have been a lot sexier than it turned out to be. Nice soundtrack, though. Mildly amusing

Review – Altered States

Here’s one of the great boomer conceits: their drug experiences back in the 70s could become so profound that they’d actually manifest themselves physically. The plot is a lot of pseudo-religious, pseudo-scientific claptrap, and the characters are usually little more than annoying (except for Charles Haid’s character, who was the only one that was probably supposed to be annoying but instead ends up charming in an irascible sort of way). But the film is still worth it for the visuals. The hallucinations, irrelevant as most of them are, still provide a good deal of visual impact. And for my money the shot where the ape-creature is chasing the janitor down the hall is one of the great stomach-knot-producing moments in film history. Mildly amusing

Review – A League of Their Own

A fairly sappy tale of some of the players of the All-American Girls’ Professional Baseball League. But then again, baseball movies are supposed to be sappy. As history it probably leaves a little to be desired, but it’s amusing enough to be worth a look, particularly to a baseball fan suffering through a long, cold winter. Mildly amusing

Review – The Lawnmower Man

David Koresh’s favorite movie, which may well say enough about it. I’ll just add that if you’re doing a term paper on the history of movies about virtual reality, then you’re probably going to have to sit through this one. Otherwise, it’s probably safe to give it a miss. Extra for experts: what the heck does this have to do with “The Lawnmower Man” by Stephen King (besides the profit motive, that is)? See if desperate

Review – Singin’ in the Rain

One of the all-time great movie musicals. You don’t even necessarily have to like the genre to enjoy this particular film, since it’s got enough comedy and drama to supplement the high Hollywood extravagance. Sure, there are the show-stoppers that interrupt the plot development (especially the legendary “Gotta Dance” number). But even then the talents of Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds and the rest of the cast are enough to keep it interesting. Buy the tape

Review – All Quiet on the Western Front

The granddaddy of all war-is-hell movies, this is the version from the 1930s, when the war upon which the original novel was based was far enough in the past to be viewed a little more critically and the next great war was still far enough in the future that the dulce et decorum est hadn’t quite fired up yet. To call it preachy is to sell its sanctimony way short, and it’s also hampered by technical problems endemic to the medium back in the early days of talkies. Nonetheless, it endures well enough to have at least a few worthwhile moments to commend it. Mildly amusing

Review – Cop Land

This gritty tale of police corruption will probably go down in history as the film Stallone gained all that weight for. I didn’t think he looked all that fat, but he did turn in a good performance as the sheriff of a suburban enclave of corrupt NYPD cops. Though the rest of the performances were pretty run-of the-mill (Harvey Keitel as a brutal thug, Ray Liotta as a borderline psycho, and so on), it had just enough of a plot to hold it together. Mildly amusing