Beauty And The Beast (1991) *****

Not since the early 40's did the Disney studio released such magnificent and superbly animated cartoon feature. The film has memorable characters: animals, animated objects (tea pots, candelabras, clocks) and humans. The narrative structure is close to perfection, the story moves quickly, there are plenty of superb songs and the influence of Busby Berkeley is quite obvious in the staging of the big musical number, "Be Our Guest". The vocal talents of Angela Lansbury, Jerry Orbach, Robby Benson and Paige O'Hara greatly contribute to its success. "Beauty And The Beast" is among the greatest animated features of all time, proof positive of Disney's continuing domination in the field. Songs:

"Belle" ***
"Gaston" ***
"Be Our Guest" ***
"Something There" **
"Beauty And The Beast" ***
"The Mob Song" **

JFK (1991) *****

A terrifying thriller presenting an extremely complex and highly speculative account of the Dallas assassination in 1963. Director Oliver Stone accuses the CIA, the FBI and Lyndon B.Johnson of killing John F.Kennedy and then masterminding an incredible cover-up of monstrous proportions. While this theory is quite unbelievable, the film convincingly proves that there was indeed a conspiracy, that Lee Harvey Oswald wasn't the sole assassin and that the CIA, the FBI and the Warren Comission did a disgracefully incompetent job of investigating the matter. Oliver Stone completely discredits the official "single-assassin" theory by pointing out the incredibly high mortality rate among various witnesses, the connections between people implicated in the drama and, above all, to the impossible trajectory of the notorious "magic bullet" (brilliantly exposed in the film's climactic courtroom scene). The film also presents a possible (though highly unlikely) explanation of the motives for the assassination - JFK's alleged attempt to get out of Vietnam. A more likely explanation - revenge for abandoning anti-Castro guerrillas at the Bay of Pigs - isn't mentioned. On the cinematic level, the film is absolutely stunning, brilliantly mixing black & white, color and documentary footages. The direction is flamboyant and charged with nerve-wrecking tension. Dynamic and electrifying.

The Silence Of The Lambs (1991) *****