Film Dictionary: 09/01/1992

September 9, 1992

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) ***

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992) ***

Sneakers (1992) ***

Quirky spy drama about computer encryptions.

The Story Of Qui Ju (1992) ***

A peasant woman tries to appeal an unjust verdict. Very interesting film about life in China in the early 1990's.

Twin Dragons (1992) ***

Directed by Tsui Hark and Ringo Lam. With Jackie Chan, Maggie Cheung and Nina Li Chi. Basically a kung-fu adaptation of Shakespeare's "Comedy Of Errors".

A Few Good Men (1992) ***

An exciting courtroom drama about two Marines accused of murdering a collegue.

Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest (1992) ***

Politically-correct animated film about the destruction of the Amazonian forest. Songs:

"Life Is A Magic Thing"
"Batty Rap"
"If I'M Gonna Eat Somebody (It Might As Well Be You)"
"Toxic Love"
"Raining Like Magic"
"Land Of A Thousand Dances"
"A Dream Worth Keeping"
"Some Other World"

Dragon Inn (1992) ***

Superb fantasy adventure film starring Brigitte Lin, Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung Kar-Fai. The best (and sexiest) fight scene has Brigitte and Maggie removing each other clothes.

Bob Roberts (1992) ***

Cinema-verité style pseudo-documentary about a fascistic country singer who becomes a US senator.

Batman Returns (1992) ***

Daniel ("Heathers") Waters' screenplay lacks the author's usual wit, self-mockery, cruel irony and hilarious one-liners, but Tim Burton's direction helps create a fairy-tale universe, where reality is distorted beyond recognition. Michelle Pfeiffer is superb as kinky, whip-cracking Catwoman, but Danny DeVito's performance as Penguin is one-dimensional.

Swordsman II (1992) ***

A superior sequel to the 1990 hit. Brigitte Lin plays a gender-changing villainess.

Once Upon A Time Cinema (1992) ***

An Iranian "Purple Rose Of Cairo".

Strictly Ballroom (1992) ***

Quirky, very sophisticated Australian musical. Irony and sarcasm galore. Songs include:

"Happy Feet"
"Time After Time" **
"Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" **
"Love Is In The Air" **

Wizard's Curse (1992) ***

Exciting horror film from Hong Kong, with brain-eating monsters created by a wizard from the corpses of two criminals.

Wayne's World (1992) ***

Hip, self-reflexive satire on post-modernistic 1990's.

Scent Of A Woman (1992) ***

Al Pacino won an Oscar for his excellent performance as a blind Army colonel who befriends a young college student.

Rock-A-Doodle (1992) ***

A musical cartoon about an Elvis-like rooster. Some good tunes and a few exciting chases.

The Public Eye (1992) ***

Good gangster film about a photographer (Joe Pesci) caught in the middle of a full-scale mob war in the early 1940's.

Powerful Four (1992) ***

Hong Kong film about corrupted cops.

92 Legendary La Rose Noire (1992) ***

Cantonese humor isn't always easy to understand. This Hong Kong comedy might be a little too rooted in local traditions to translate easily to Western audiences. Still, it's a very interesting film.