Tuesday, April 16, 2024

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.
got a sequel
Leslie N
Pat Morita's Mr. Miyagi wears out his welcome in the fourth and final installment(for a long while) of the teen martial arts franchise that started ten summers earlier in 1984. That felt like an eternity, and Hilary Swank's Julie-san had no chance against "The Mask" and "Forrest Gump". Producer Jerry Weintraub and director Christopher Cain(Dean's dad) just made a lame movie. Unless Swank teams up with Ralph Macchio on Netflix(she turned down a "Cobra Kai" role), "Next" will have no redemption.
Whoopi Goldberg, Drew Barrymore, and Mary Louise Parker hit the road after killing Drew's bad boyfriend(in self defense). The problem is we already have "Thelma & Louise". This girl-power dramady further suffers from the midway reveal that Parker has AIDS(!). Bonnie Raitt's rendition of Roy Orbison's "You Got It" made "Boys" video clips an early '95 MTV staple. I just wish the last Herbert Ross movie had been better.
A purple. Kristy Swanson as the damsel in distress? Yeah, that doesn't work either.
This surreal serial killer thriller has a 30 year old Jennifer Lopez, a villainous Vincent D'Onofrio, arresting visuals, and a clever marketing campaign. Too bad it doesn't make any god-damn sense. Director Tarsem Singh and screenwriter Mark Protosevich produced a divisive, pretentious, and meaningless film that made $104 million at the worldwide box office.
Director David Koepp
Scarlett
I wish I could say it doesn't suck.
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