“The People vs. Larry Flint,” biography, August 10, 1997 (1996), video. Funny but problematic piece about Flint, the Hustler publisher. Woody Harrelson is good and Courtney Love as his wife Althea is even better. I just found I couldn’t believe the lawyer, the shift to Flint as true believer in the First Amendment, and…
Ridicule
“Ridicule,” drama, July 15, 1997, video, home. Wonderful French film about life in Louis the XVI’s court over issue of wit and verbal sparring as key to success. Sense of emptiness of the verbal as sport as young doctor goes to court to try to save his town from disease caused by the mosquitoes in…
Flirting with Disaster
“Flirting with Disaster,” comedy, March 17, 1997 (1996), video. Very funny film about an adopted man (Ben Stiller) searching for his bio parents. Mary Tyler Moore, Alan Alda, George Segal, Lily Tomlin, Susanne Arquette, Tea Leone, and other excellent actors. Excellent work all the way around.
Big Night
“Big Night,” December 15, 1996, in theater. We loved this excellent film about food, Italian-American immigration, culture, love, capitalism, the American dream, language, and lots more. It’s stellar. Very well acted by folks like Stanley Tucci (he wrote, directed, and stars), Tony Shaloub (you’ll never believe he can’t really speak Italian), Minnie Driver (my…
Cold Comfort Farm
“Cold Comfort Farm,” October 17, 1996 (1995) video. Too stylish and predictable for my taste. This look at British eccentrics set right by a happy go lucky girl in the twenties won the critics’ hearts but not mine. Maybe it plays better on the big screen.
A Time to Kill
“A Time to Kill,” theater, August 17, 1996. Well acted but predictable piece about race, law, justice and the possibilities in the south. Olive Platt is very good in a bit role. Sandra Bullock is boring. About a black father who kills the two white men who rape and beat his daughter. Trial…
Leaving Las Vegas
“Leaving Las Vegas,” July 17, 1996 (1995), video. Very depressing good film about an alcoholic drinking himself to death in Las Vegas. Nicholas Cage with Elizabeth Shue as the hooker who takes him in on his own terms. I sometimes find Cage doing lines as though they are poetry, and that’s a bit much….
Braveheart
“Braveheart,” March 15, 1996 (1995), VHS. Predictable, unrealistic, ultra-violent yet satisfying old-style film by Mel Gibson about the Scots’ search for independence and freedom (whatever the hell that meant in the fourteenth century.) Gibson stars.
Country Life
“Country Life,” December 15, 1995 (1994), VHS, home. Australian version of “Uncle Vanya,” with a nice job by Sam Neill, but essentially flat and not very interesting or exciting. Maybe I’ve just seen too many Vanya’s. (4) in one year.
Chariots of Fire
“Chariots of Fire,” September 17 2006 (1981), DVD. Very fine, inspirational film we watched with B4 although she seemed bored by the whole thing. Wonderfully acted and inspiring story of the British athletes of the 1920 Olympics, and especially the evangelist and the Jewish sprinter. Remarkable Vangelis soundtrack. Worth seeing regularly.