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Reviews
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Get the Oscars ready...this one's a winner!
This is without a doubt one of the best films of 1999. If the Sixth Sense doesn't become a strong Academy Award contender, I'll organize my own protest.
You may go to this film expecting a standard "scare flick," but you'll be pleasantly surprised. This is a movie full of chills, horror, and believe it or not, warmth and hope.
Haley Joel Osmont is the best child actor to hit the screen in years. His heartfelt performance is riveting, and the chemistry he achieves with Toni Collette as his mother is achingly real. Bruce Willis finally hits his mark as a dramatic actor, wisely underplaying his role as the child psychologist with an all-consuming passion to rescue this young boy from his torment.
To say anything else would be unfair; this is a film that must be seen to be believed. The incredible M. Night Shyamalan has written and directed a movie that transcends the horror genre and works just as well as an emotional drama. Put this one on your must-see list!
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
If you can keep your eyes open, you might learn something.
This isn't an easy film to sit through...slow-moving, laborious, and downright frustrating at over 2 1/2 hours...but strangely enough, it's a film you can't help thinking about days afterward.
The plot and underlying theme of this movie are simple...nothing is what it appears to be. Tom and Nicole play a seemingly happily married couple with an extravagant life and a beautiful child; it all looks good on the surface. But a late-night argument with Nicole leads Tom to doubt the security of his marriage, sending him on an all-night mission to break his vow of monogamy.
As you watch the film, nothing much appears to happen. At times, things move excruciatingly slow. When it's all over, though, you realize what you've been watching is an illusion and that you the viewer have been through a tremendous emotional experience.
Nicole Kidman, one of today's most underrated actresses, is terrific as Alice Harford, a woman hiding her feelings behind a facade of matrimonial and matriarchal bliss. Tom Cruise, on the other hand, can't quite pull off the darkness of Bill Harford.
Stanley Kubrick uses the camera like a paintbrush, creating a beautiful visual and emotional landscape. Now if he had only realized that it's 1999 and the vast majority of the movie-going audience tires quickly of naked Playboy bunny bodies on display, this film would have more appeal. Instead, it seems as if Kubrick was obsessed with women's breasts and rear ends...to the point that he looked for any excuse to get them into frame.
Lost Horizon (1973)
So bad, you might die laughing!
I must qualify this review before I go any further. I saw this film as a child, and was mesmerized by it. I wanted to climb the Himalayan mountains and find this magical place called Shangri-La. I bought the soundtrack to the film and played it until the record wore out. So tonight, I turned on the TV set, and to my incredible delight, Lost Horizon was on! I hadn't seen this film in over 20 years, and all I can say now is that I was one stupid kid!
What in the world was producer Ross Hunter thinking? Did he actually believe he could turn this classic tale into a musical?
This film must be watched, if for no other reason than to see Sally Kellerman and Olivia Hussey "dance" and "sing" in the local branch of the Shangri-La library to an insipid Burt Bacharach tune. And why is Liv Ullman in this film, playing the ingenue who steals the heart of Peter Finch? Watching her cavort with the youngsters (she's Shangri-La's only elementary school teacher, you know) in true Sound of Music style, you can actually see the humiliation on her face. It's as if she's saying, "This is for the paycheck and my ticket back to Europe to make a Bergman film."
But the highlight of this movie has to be the late Bobby Van doing a big, show-stopping tap number with the adorable children of Shangri-La. The dance inspires him so much, he decides to help out Liv and become a school teacher himself. Good thing, 'cause her work schedule was getting horrendous.
This film is the 1970's version of Showgirls. A laugh riot from beginning to end.
Trick (1999)
Terrific fantasy, wonderfully acted
This is an extremely funny, cleverly written, and wonderfully acted film. The plot is simple...two guys cruise each other on the subway, meet, then spend the evening trying to find a place where they can be alone together. Christian Campbell (a dead ringer for his sister Neve) sensitively handles the role of Gabriel, an introverted young gay man who decides to take a chance on a romp with a gorgeous - but slightly vacuous - go-go boy played by Jean Paul Pitoc in a star-making performance. But the biggest and most pleasant surprise here is Tori Spelling, finally finding her comedic niche as Gabriel's neurotic best friend. Tori really goes over the top here, but she makes it work. Watch for a brief and hysterical monologue by drag queen Miss Coco Peru, all dressed up to look just like Miss Tori Spelling herself. This film is fantasy, plain and simple, but you'll leave the theater with a big grin on your face, just like Gabriel and his "trick."
Mother's Boys (1993)
Jamie Did This One for the Money
What other explanation could there be for Jamie Lee Curtis agreeing to appear in this laughably horrible "thriller?" She plays a mentally disturbed ex-wife and mother who returns after many years to reclaim her family. Oops! Daddy has already found a new girlfriend. Oops again! The kids like the girlfriend! Of course, mayhem ensues, right up until the literal "cliffhanger" ending.
The director either ran out of film, or decided he couldn't possibly wrap the story up neatly, because the big climatic scene suddenly simply ends without explanation or resolution.
The best part of this film is watching Jamie Lee do her best impersonation of Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct. Even if you're able to rent this one at the local video store for under a buck, you're spending too much.
Edge of Seventeen (1998)
Well-written, if a little uneven
One of the better "coming of age" films about gay youth. Especially effective in this movie is Tina Holmes, who plays Maggie, Eric's best friend/girlfriend. She brings a true sense of innocence to the film, and when she discovers the truth about Eric, her pain is real. This is a young woman to watch! The film doesn't flinch in its look at the wonder, confusion, and deception associated with the coming out process, and despite some awkward direction, Edge of Seventeen succeeds at opening the eyes of its audience, both gay and straight.