Each of the three principals goes a bit deeper than skin: Bruce Dern earning some sympathy for the former P.O.W. who conforms to the popular notion among scriptwriters that all Vietnam veterans are psychopaths; Marthe Keller striking a blow for womanpower as the Black September terrorist who masterminds and single-handedly …
The introductory tableaux, which show the foundling heroine snacking on communion wafers, peeking up the robe of a church statue, staging a mock burning-at-the-stake, lowering her panties in front of boys, and being chastised for all of these by monastic guardians, set the tone of the entire movie: a determined …
A highly satisfying and only slightly dirty-dealing cat-and-mouse game, or really cat-and-cat, that opposes two feminine archetypes, the contemporary career woman (and not without personal sacrifices: "You're not a happy person," her boss observes) and the classical femme literally fatale, the independent and the parasite, the equal-rights competitor and the …
The black-leather, kung-fu, one-man-army vampire-hunter out of Marvel Comics, outfitted with special guns, knives, needles, and samurai sword which Van Helsing knew nothing about. ("Crosses," explains the hero's personal weapons-maker, "don't do squat.") Wesley Snipes practically boogies his way through the action scenes; and the disintegrating bodies, exploding heads, etc., …
Two of the more socially conscious of cinematic genres — science fiction and the detective story — have been mated to produce a future-generation Los Angeles (A.D. 2019) that looks like Tokyo or Hong Kong gone to seed. The detective work is somewhat scamped, except for a good scene (echoing …
Two of the more socially conscious of cinematic genres — science fiction and the detective story — have been mated to produce a future-generation Los Angeles (A.D. 2019) that looks like Tokyo or Hong Kong gone to seed. The detective work is somewhat scamped, except for a good scene (echoing …
Competitive figure skating gets the Will Ferrell treatment: rough and rude. Banned for life from the men's division, two bitter rivals (the macho Ferrell, the femme Jon Heder) return to the ice through a loophole as the first-ever male pair. The main source of humor is your presumed nervousness about …
Third installment in the god-awful series about the preening and posturing vampire-hunter out of Marvel Comics. The previous installment at least had the curiosity of a slumming Guillermo del Toro at the helm. He, in the meantime, took his slumming elsewhere (Hellboy), leaving the scriptwriter of the first two installments, …
Shoestring independent production that purports to be the "found" footage of a trio of student filmmakers who disappeared in the Maryland woods while shooting a documentary on a local ghost story. It shows an intelligent awareness of its own limitations, and a practical aptitude for making do. There is, to …
Shoestring independent production that purports to be the "found" footage of a trio of student filmmakers who disappeared in the Maryland woods while shooting a documentary on a local ghost story. It shows an intelligent awareness of its own limitations, and a practical aptitude for making do. There is, to …
Quits being a drooling travelogue just often enough and long enough to be a drooling sex comedy. Two middle-aged fathers take their full-grown daughters on holiday; one of the fathers has an affair with one of the daughters (not his own). This comes about (Dad blame it!) because the daughter …
The running time is a minute or two shy of an hour and twenty, less a few more for the opening and closing credits. It would be nice to be able to say that this is the result of ruthless enforcement of the strictest creative standards. What can instead be …
An inflationary Home Alone. Our flowering youth this time out is a millionaire home owner -- the million isn't really his, but the home is -- and the beleaguering bad guys are big league (Miguel Ferrer, Tone Loc, who deserve a better nemesis). Coincidence runs wild, but not as wild …
Superhero spoof about a nerdy black man who only seems mentally retarded, even (or especially) in his "secret identity" as a masked and caped "crimefighter," but who's actually an electronics wizard with the s-f gadgetry to prove it. The humor infrequently rises to silliness (the hero humming "background music" to …