Film Dictionary: 09/01/1985

September 9, 1985

Sweet Dreams (1985) ***

Jessica Lange gives a performance of her career as Patsy Cline. Songs include:

"Walking After Midnight" ***
"I Fall To Pieces" ***
"Crazy" ***
"Blue Moon Of Kentucky" **
"Sweet Dreams" **

Celebrated documentary about the Holocaust. The film consists of long interviews with survivors, witnesses and even former Nazi guards. Historically an extremely significant work, but stylistically uneven and often needlessly manipulative. Pauline Kael, who wrote a negative review of the film, went as far as to say that it wasn’t well made. That's an exaggeration, but she was correct in claiming that it was not a movie that (like a Holocaust documentary she loved, "The Sorrow And The Pity") opened the mind, but that it was a film that closed the mind. Most of all, she was right in arguing against the dubious contention that a nine-hour-plus movie about the death camps necessarily had to be a masterpiece of cinematic art. Timothy Snyder wrote an excellent review of the film.

Subway (1985) ***

Strange drama set in the Parisian metro.

Trois Hommes et un couffin (1985) ***

Three men are forced to take care of a baby.

White Nights (1985) ***

Michail Baryshnikov's best film.

Pulgasari (1985) ***

The most famous North Korean film of all times; the story of its creation being far more dramatic than its plot. A South Korean film director has been kidnapped and forced to make this campy “Godzilla” rip-off. But he managed to smuggle some clearly anti-Communist themes into his film – Pulgasari, the iron-eating monster that helps the peasants to overthrow an oppressive king, ends up devouring their iron farming tools as well. The anti-Communist message is clear – the Revolution (Pulgasari) can destroy oppression, but it also leads to starvation and misery, and it ultimately ends up eating its own children (as Pulgasari does - literally - at the end of the film).

Cocoon (1985) ***

Commando (1985) ***

Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) ***

Flesh Blood (1985) ***

Into The Night (1985) ***

Lifeforce (1985) ***

The Lost Empire (1985) ***

The Color Purple (1985) ***

A good adaptation of Alice Walker's novel. Directed by Steven Spielberg.

D.A.R.Y.L. (1985) ***

A science-fiction film about a strange boy.

The Day Of The Dead (1985) ***

Excellent zombie film.

The Goonies (1985) ***

Very entertaining film about a bunch of kids discovering a pirate's treasure.

The Official Story (1985) ***

An Argentinian woman finds out that her adopted daughter was a child of political activists killed by the military junta.

Rambo: First Blood. Part II (1985) ***

Exciting action film set in Vietnam long after the end of the war.

The Black Cauldron (1985) ***

A sword-and-sorcery animated pic from the Disney studio.

The Breakfast Club (1985) ***

Five high-school students discuss their lives while serving detention on a Saturday.

Elvis Gratton (1985) ***

Wacky farce about an Elvis impersonator from Quebec.

The Hollywood Clowns (1985) ***

A compilation film by Bill Gleason, which includes scenes from many old comedies.

The Home And The World (1985) ***

The wife of an Indian maharaja becomes a sympathizer of a nationalist cause.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) ***

Mel Gibson fights Tina Turner in the third installement of the popular post-apocalyptic adventure series. Co-directed by George Miller and George Ogilvie.

Mr Vampire (1985) ***

An excellent horror film from Hong Kong.

Out Of Africa (1985) ***

Spectacular scenery (cinematography by David Watkin), a great performance by Meryl Streep and a superb musical score by John Barry - a beautiful and memorable film.

Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985) ***

Pee-wee tries to find his stolen bicycle in this imaginative film directed by Tim Burton.

Police Story (1985) ***

A superior chop socky flick, one of the Jackie Chan's best. He plays a cop who must protect a witness (Brigitte Lin), while dealing with his girlfriend (Maggie Cheung). The original Hong Kong version (in Cantonese with English sub-titles) is 91 minutes long. The English-dubbed American release version is only 89 minutes. And actually, the real difference is closer to 4 minutes, because the dubbed version has longer closing credits.

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