Two Star Movies Vol. 11

R Arquette is good as a hot-headed hooker

The plant puppet was cool. That's the nicest thing I have to say about Frank Oz's film version of the '80s off-Broadway sensation that started life as a 1960 Roger Corman cult creation. I just don't know how many people hold it close today. Rick Moranis leads a splashy comic cast that includes Steve Martin, John Candy, and Bill Murray. I should definitely like it more than I do. As of this writing, the stage incarnation remains.

Dennis Hopper had four films released in 1990, and not one of them was good. That's oddly impressive. The "Easy Rider" star spoofs his counterculture past as a hairy hippie in the custody of Kiefer Sutherland's ultra-conservative FBI agent. Could this mismatched pair have more in common than they think? This forgotten action comedy strains for "Midnight Run" vibes on trains and an assortment of detours, without ever coming close.

Scarlett

cool title that has nothing

"The Sopranos" may be the greatest TV drama of all time. This pandemic-plagued prequel won't be held in nearly the same regard. Michael Gandolfini plays the teen version of his pop in a 1967-set story that apes "Goodfellas" and "A Bronx Tale", and just makes you want to watch those movies instead. A good supporting cast(Alessandro Nivola, Ray Liotta, Vera Farmiga) is undone by all the dull familiarity. David Chase had over a decade and blew it.

I used to think "The Matrix Revolutions" was bad. Keanu Reeves and his John Wick hair/beard couldn't resurrect his OTHER action franchise, in this messy fourth installment that felt like a middle finger from it's ONE returning Wachowski(Lana/Andy). The Warner Bros. property is truly dead and buried at this point. Where were Laurence Fishburne and Hugo Weaving? Better yet, where were the fans?? Were a long way away from 1999.

Dwayne