January 1, 1994
The Pagemaster (1994) *
Boring animated film about a little boy (Macaulay Culkin), who becomes a cartoon character and has many adventures.
North (1994) *
Mesmer (1994) *
Slow-moving biography of the famous 18th-century doctor, whose unorthodox cures earned him the scorn of the medical establishment. Alan Rickman's fine performance earned him a best actor nod at the Montreal Film Festival.
Legends Of The Fall (1994) *
Everyone's hugging, kissing and crying in this overblown horse opera set in Montana during World War I.
Junior (1994) *
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Emma Thompson are the parents, but he's the mother and she's the father. Ridiculous concept, unsuccessful film.
It Could Happen To You (1994) *
The chemistry is great between Nicolas Cage and Bridget Fonda, but the film (about a married cop sharing a winning lottery ticket with a waitress) is extremely manipulative.
I Love Trouble (1994) *
Campy action film starring Julia Roberts and Nick Nolte as two ace reporters investigating a mysterious train crash. *
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) *
Bizarre and boring film starring Tim Robbins, Paul Newman and Jennifer Jason Leigh.
The Flintstones (1994) *
John Goodman is perfectly cast as Fred Flintstone, but the film is very boring.
Dark Side Of Genius (1994) *
Terminally boring thriller about a female art critic befriending a homocidal artist.
Canadian Bacon (1994) *
A misguided and totally unfunny film about a "war" between United States and Canada. Michael Moore's only fictional feature.
Spanking The Monkey (1994) *
One of the sickest and most disgusting films to hit the movie screens in a long while.
Nell (1994) *
Jodie Foster performance is superb, but the film (about a wild mountain girl) is only moderately successful.
Murder In The First (1994) *
Kevin Bacon and Christian Slater star in this grim courtroom drama about the inhuman treatment of prisoners in the Alcatraz prison.
I.Q (1994) *
Uneven, often a bit too precious comedy about Albert Einstein's niece (Meg Ryan) falling in love with a service station attendant (Tim Robbins). But Walter Matthau is superb as the famed scientist.
Blue Sky (1994) *
Jessica Lange won an Oscar for her performance as a wife of an Army officer (Tommy Lee Jones).
The Ref (1994) *
A dysfunctional family is held hostage by a burglar. The high concept idea is great, but the film could benefit from some sharper dialogues and a more competent director than Ted Demme.
December 12, 1993
November 11, 1993
Women On The Run (1993) *****
The greatest kung-fu masters of the Hong Kong cinema are men - Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Sammo Hung, Bruce Lee... The few women who have succeeded to carve themselves a place alongside them - Michelle Yeoh and Cynthia Rothrock among them - were always very careful to keep their clothes on. Only one kung-fu master, Tamara Guo, has dared to put on display her sexuality alongside her fighting skills by appearing buck naked in serious kung-fu fight sequences. Unfortunately, Asian audiences rejected this daring concept. Her second film, ''Women On The Run'' (1993), directed by Corey Yuen and David Lai, was a huge flop, and Tamara Guo would never work as a lead actress in films again. And yet, the film itself is excellent. It's fast-paced, with terrific action sequences, complex characters and enough plot twists for a dozen movies. It wasn't the poor quality of the film that turned the mainstream Asian viewers off, but the daring concept of mixing kung-fu with female sexuality. There are two scenes when Tamara Guo has nude kung-fu fights. The first comes early on in the movie. Working as a prostitute, she lays naked in bed while her client relieves himself into her martial-arts trophy. Seeing this, she angrily attacks and beats the crap out of him, until her pimp arrives and he slaps her in the face. She is clearly a better fighter than her pimp, but she barely defends herself. It's a very erotically-charged sequence, with a naked woman fighting against two fully-clothed men. At first she is all-powerful, but then she's completely defeated. A similar sequence occurs again later in the film. Tamara and her friend Farini Cheung are ambushed by a gang of rapists. Farini is easily defeated, but Tamara manages for a while to beat the crap out of her attackers, even after they rip off all of her clothes. It's quite a sight, a naked girl fighting for a very long time completely surrounded by a dozen fully-clothed men. But eventually, they manage to overpower her and she gets raped just like her friend. Both of those scenes are very disturbing. Not because Tamara looses her kung-fu fights to more powerful opponents, but because she looses even though she is clearly a superior fighter. The message is clear - she is a woman and men are more powerful. There is no place for a courageous actress like Tamara Guo to compete against the male masters of the kung-fu genre. She cannot be allowed to use her sex-appeal and to put her nude body on display in order to compete with Jackie and Jet. They might loose.
Sleepless In Seattle (1993) *****
Groundhog Day (1993) *****
Smoking / No smoking (1993) *****
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