September 9, 1997
12 Storeys (1997) ***
East Side Story (1997) ***
Fascinating documentary about musical films made behind the Iron Curtain. From Grigori Alexandrov's Stalin-era gems like "Jolly Fellows" (1934) and "Volga Volga" (1938), to Ivan Pyryev's mind-bogglingly campy "Cossacks Of The Kuban" (1950), to Andrei Calarasu's Romanian curiosity "Vacation on the Black Sea" (1962), to Gottfried Kolditz's East German masterpieces like "Midnight Review" (1962) and "Geliebte Weisse Maus" (1964), the film covers the entire spectrum of the genre, from the ridiculous to the sublime.
Ulee's Gold (1997) ***
Peter Fonda gives the greatest performance of his career in this thoughful and touching film set in the Florida Panhandle.
Wag The Dog (1997) ***
Ruthless satire about a womanizing president trying to divert the attention from himself by fabricating a phony war.
She's So Lovely (1997) ***
Sean Penn gives the performance of his career in this terrific film written by John Cassavetes and directed by his son, Nick.
Selena (1997) ***
"I Will Survive" *
"Last Dance" *
"On The Radio" *
"Como La Flor" ***
"Bidi Bidi Bom Bom" **
"I Could Fall In Love" **
"Dreaming Of You" **
Romy And Michele's High School Reunion (1997) ***
Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow play Romy and Michele, two best friends from high-school who still live together 10 years after their graduation and have no boyfriends and no good jobs. But they want very much to impress their classmates at their 10th high-school reunion, so they pretend to be more successful than they really are. The heroines are quite unique characters: very dumb and very savvy at the same time. Witty film has a very strong lesbian subtext.
Les Randonneurs (1997) ***
Tremendously entertaining comedy about five friends - three men, two women - who undertake an arduous hiking trip across the highest mountain ranges on Corsica. While admiring the gorgeous scenery, they quickly get on each other's nerves, with hilarious results. Sparkling dialogue, superb performances.
Princess Mononoke (1997) ***
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki. With the voices of Claire Danes, Minnie Driver and Jada Pinkett Smith. Mysterious forces inhabiting a virgin forest defend themselves from the human menace slowly encroaching upon their domain. It's an animated epic tale of sorcery and chivalry in medieval Japan... with some preachy ecological appeals thrown in for good measure. Visually beautiful.
La Plante humaine (1997) ***
Réalisation: Pierre Hébert. Un exemple particulièrement réussi d'utilisation de la gravure sur pellicule en conjonction avec l'animation numérique.
The Odd One Dies (1997) ***
This movie is so twistingly bizarre, it's difficult to decide if it's a pretentious bore or a brilliant satire. Imagine a Wong Kar-Wai in slo-mo mixed with Takeshi Kitano on prozac, delivering a triple t(h)reat of jaw-dropping incoherence, pointless artsiness and keystonesque anarchy. An odd film indeed.
La Nuit du deluge (1997) ***
Plenty of water and ballet dancing in this fairy-tale about a pregnant woman sent in a wooden box out to sea during a terrible flood.
Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil (1997) ***
More bizarre than "Twin Peaks", more southern than "Gone With The Wind", this is a well-crafted, constantly surprising, one-of-a-kind courtroom comedy-drama. It's set in Savannah, Georgia, a weird little town with the highest concentration of eccentric personalities per square foot. Most memorable among them is a wacky voodoo priestess, superbly played by Irma P.Hall ("Nothing To Lose", "Soul Food"). Is it just me, or is she the best character actress presently working in Hollywood ?
Men In Black (1997) ***
Mr Smith (Will) and Mr Jones (Tommy Lee) team up as super-secret agents who monitor extra-terrestrial refugees from other planets who live in New York City.
The Man Who Knew Too Little (1997) ***
The director of "The Singing Detective" teams up with the star of "Groundhog Day", and the result is a mix of "Comedy of Errors", "The Game", a James Bond thriller and a Marx Brothers comedy. It's a rollicking farce about British and Russian spies trying to bring back the Cold War, but thwarted in their attempts by a bumbling American tourist who thinks he's participating in an avant-garde theatrical performance. An amazingly inventive, hugely entertaining film, which could be described as a postmodernist brechtian comedy, a mise-en-abime of cinematic cliches, or a self-reflexive orgy of spy movie genre cannibalism.
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) ***
There are more dinosaurs in this one, but they are less scary.
Intruder (1997) ***
Beautiful Wu Chien-Lien ("Eat Drink Man Woman") plays a devoted wife who kills one innocent person after another in order to bring her hubby from Mainland China to Hong Kong. It's an expertly crafted, very shocking thriller with suspense sequences worthy of Alfred Hitchcock. It forces the viewers to identify with the killer in the first hour or so, but fortunately allows a more satisfying identification for the conclusion.
In The Presence Of A Clown (1997) ***
Hercules (1997) ***
After more serious-minded fare like "Pocahontas" and "Hunchback of Notre Dame", those pranksters at Disney return with another hip, wise-cracking, I-dare-you-to-catch-all-the-jokes, fast-paced comedy/adventure animated extravaganza in the "Aladdin" mould. James Woods' Hades is the funniest Disney villain since Cruella (the animated one), gospel/Motown tunes are great and there are enough postmodernist references to fill a dozen Quentin Tarantino pictures. If only the central character wasn't so boring, this would have been a perfect film. Songs:
"Gospel Truth" **
"Go The Distance" **
"One Last Hope" *
"Zero To Hero" **
"I Won't Say (I'M In Love)" **
"A Star Is Born" *
"Gospel Truth" **
"Go The Distance" **
"One Last Hope" *
"Zero To Hero" **
"I Won't Say (I'M In Love)" **
"A Star Is Born" *
Happy Together (1997) ***
Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) ***
Satiric comedy about a professional hitman (John Cusack) attending his high school reunion.
Good Will Hunting (1997) ***
Matt Damon plays a math genius who works as a janitor at MIT. Robin Williams is a shrink who tries to help him.
Full Alert (1997) ***
As cop-and-robbers crime melodramas go, it's a fairly successful film. But director Ringo Lam's steadfast refusal to camp-up the material (there's no oddball humor as seasoning for gore and violence) lowers it to the level of an existential tragedy. Grim, pessimistic, very compelling, but slightly overrated.
L'Abécédaire de Gilles Deleuze (1997) ***
An 8-hour long interview with a famous French philosopher would hardly seem like a material for an entertaining and riveting film. Unless, of course, that philosopher happens to be Gilles Deleuze, a brilliant, fascinating, witty, charismatic, warm and extraordinarily intelligent man, who always refused interviews and never appeared on any TV programs. He only agreed to make this film on the condition that it wouldn't be released before his death. Wheather analyzing Plato and Spinoza, or heaping abuse on dogs, physicians and academic conferences, Deleuze never fails to astound and entertain. The result is a fascinating portrait of one of the greatest minds of the 20th century. It's arranged thematically from A (Animal) to Z (Zigzag) and covers such topics as F (Fidelity), G (Gauche), M (Maladie) and N (Neurology).
Face/Off (1997) ***
John Travolta and Nicolas Cage get to play both the villain and the hero in this loud, violent, but highly watchable action movie.
Copland (1997) ***
Sylvester Stallone plays a New Jersey sheriff who discovers that serious crimes were commited by New York policemen living in his jurisdiction.
Chasing Amy (1997) ***
Witty, occassionally vulgar, but always hilarious comedy about a young comic book artist falling in love with a lesbian.
Cats Don't Dance (1997) ***
Entertaining animated feature about a naive young cat from Indiana, who comes to Hollywood hoping to become a great movie star. According to the credits, no animals were harmed during the making of this film, but some were erased. Songs include:
"Our Time Has Come"
"Tell Me Lies"
"Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now"
"I Do Believe"
"Our Time Has Come"
"Tell Me Lies"
"Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now"
"I Do Believe"
Anastasia (1997) ***
Once again, Hollywood filmmakers flunked their history and geography tests: the Soviet Revolution wasn't led by Rasputin, St.Petersburg was named Petrograd in 1914 and Leningrad 10 years later, there are no mountains in northern Russia and nobody in his right mind would navigate across a stormy sea to get from Germany to France! But if we generously overlook those tiny little details, we are free to enjoy a spectacular, fast-paced and exciting animated extravaganza about a Russian princess trying to get to Paris to claim her heritage. The musical numbers are particularly memorable.
Air Force One (1997) ***
Harrison Ford plays a US president whose plane has been hijacked by Russian terrorists.
Absolute Power (1997) ***
Clint Eastwood expertly directs this political thriller about an assassination involving the President of United States. Great cast: Gene Hackman, Judy Davis, Laura Linney, Ed Harris and Clint Eastwood himself.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)