Reviews

A young man dodging the draft in the Civil War falls in with bad company on his way west. A group of juveniles trying to be hardcases, they run into a variety of men trying to do the same and one or two actual tough nuts. On the way, our narrator (Barry Brown) learns more than the usual lessons about what it is to be a man, to be brave and to be a friend. Brown will make you wish his career had been longer. Jeff Bridges is his usual terrific self.

Robert Benton, one of America's real treasures as a writer and director, is the force behind this. You'll see that many of the themes he was interested in back then still echo in Nobody's Fool and Twilight.

If all City of Ghosts was was a travelogue of postwar Cambodia it would be an accomplishment, but it is in its own way a well built film noir in a very unusual, very appropriate setting. Dillon's character goes to Cambodia to collect money from a real estate scam artist. Like the best noirs, what he finds has more to do with who he is than with any money.

Dillon is strong as the stories jaded, soiled hero. James Caan and Stellen Skarsgaard support well as the con men. And Gerard Depardieu provides strong support as a man who has apparently adjusted to living in hell. The movie starts a touch slowly but be patient. It's worth it. There isn't a lot of violence in this movie but what there is is fairly shocking.

A musical without singing or dancing. Not since Busby Berkeley has dancing been so disrespected. The plot is vacuous, the spectacle served nothing. When did dance become pictures of people standing still. I was very excited about the return of the musical. And this tripe was what they meant.

Three Academy Award performances and Fincher's most amusing direction are largely wasted in a movie that lacks the courage to make a statement. Okay, let's not say wasted, I was entertained by most all of the movie before they damaged it with the worst ending of the year. (I'm trying to remember what year it would have not been the worst ending.) In any event the ending renders their tough guy rhetoric into so much soft soap, not so much thought-provoking as nerd justifying.

A boy falls in with bad and slightly foolish companions when his grandfather leaves his brand new horseless carriage unguarded for the weekend. Based on a Faulkner novel, the story centers on a whirlwind trip to Memphis, with the promise that the car and all in it will be back in Mississippi before the grandfather. A night at a madam's, a knife fight, a dispute with a corrupt and bigoted sheriff, and two of the most exciting and beautiful movie horse races shoot the plan to hell. Not the best McQueen, but Sharon Farell is sweet and heartbreaking, Rupert Crosse (who died young) showed substantial promise and the movie is generally well-played. A charming movie about the sweet smell of corruption, responsibility and the lengths men (and horses) will go to to get what they want.

A few years back director McTiernan changed the standard for hit movies with Die Hard. The same precision, the same style, the same immaculate script and new terrific performances by Russo, Brosnan and Leary. Each character is attractive, each of is justified, the ending hangs in the balance even in 1990's hollywood. Instead of the fifteen seconds the previous cast gets in most remakes, Faye Dunawaye's performance develops the theme. This remake of a very good picture explains why they get remade. It's just a shame this sort of care and imagination is rare.

A compelling exploration of human sexuality, sexual identity, ethics, fidelity,mortality, Kubrick wasn't afraid to ask questions he knew he couldn't answer. A chance revelation by his wife sends Dr Bill (Cruise) on a journey into the sexual underworld of Manhattan that is as disconcerting as Marlowe's trip up the river to find Kurtz. Like Conrad, Kubrick concludes that we can bear witness to human behavior more easily than we can explain it. It's a relief to see someone admit he doesn't understand what he sees.

Likeable characters, a plot with hundreds of successful years behind it, some really charming interaction between the characters and the energy of new attractive leads all comes to a screaming halt for decidedly unfunny sex jokes. When sex is mentioned, the confidence and wit that propel much of the movie disappears. There's rarely a joke about sex, mostly there's just a mention of it as if it was the punchline. Too bad, they squander engaging performances by both leads and several of the characters.

David Webb Peoples writes about what it takes to be a hero. Blade Runner, Unforgiven, and Hero were his earlier takes on the subject. This isn't up to those standards, but come on, what is? Soldier has some serious problems, not so much in the story as in the overly explicit, not very convincing explanations used to set the story up. (Flying through space to dump garbage, testing soldiers skills by seeing how they do against unarmed and untrained civilians) but once the conflicts are in place it is a decent entry on some of THE central themes in literature. I'm not a big fan of Russell's, preferring his Used Cars performance to his Escape from New York hard ass. This is a hot performance and would be a hot performance for anyone. Half a haunted child, half a killer with no imagination, unable to escape either part, he communicates clearly a sense of loss and separation that this character could hardly have articulated. References abound in this movie but they are not just the spare parts some of the trendier types throw in to prove they've been at a movie, but invitations to consider this story in the light of Frankenstein and The Searchers, John Henry and Shane. If you're the type of moviegoer who can sympathize with a good attempt, relax until Kurt/Todd gets on the planet, most of the silly stuff disappears and classic confrontations unfold.