maharani_md

Swayze and Leguziano are nothing short of brilliant in this unabashedly fanciful depiction of the drag queen circuit. Swayze has an underestimated gentleness that he shrewdly blends with absurdist humour that clearly is conjured from within. Leguziamo steals the film as Miss Chi-Chi Rodriguez. Stockard Channing is excellent as the dead-end housewife who befriends and is befriended by the trio. Snipes tries gamely. Although out of his element, he still manages to give us some fun with his awkwardness with the whole thing. On the whole, not deep, but it doesn't need to be -- it's just fun.

Exquisite documentary gets the maximum from articulate understatement. A Canadian ballet company hones its versatility and overall dance creativity and sharpness by taking Flamenco lessons at 5:15 AM. Without ever stating the obvious, Flamenco at 5:15 expertly takes us into the heads of the different company participants as they overcome their obsession with the harsh schedule to give themselves over to the beauty and mysticism of Flamenco. This should be a must for all lovers of dance.

No full-time director has ever won best actor, but pedestrian and meandering efforts like Beatty in Reds, Costner in "Wolves", Eastwood in Unforgiven and Gibson here have routinely won best Director. Doesn't the DIrecto's Guild ever get upset over popular amateurs garering undeserved achievements. Quite apart from my peeve here, this movie has NO character development, no witty repartee, just bloody battle after bloody battle. I found it purely torture.

Eric Braeden is brilliant and matched action for action with the entire cast in low-key masterpiece about dangers of unchecked scientific advances. Cold War atmosphere is captured perfectly and the brittle dialogue is delivered to perfection. And sargent's direction matches script and performances in being understated yet uncompromising -- surprising me at every turn. Great movie, but if you are like me, you may wish not to see it alone.

>What a winning combination! Peckingpaugh's unerring eye for character >development, an uncompromising script, great valedictory performances by >Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea all add up to the best western I have ever >seen. Mariette Hartley has said that she has never been able to equal her >first movie performance, and it's easy to see why -- she is perfection >itself as catalyst for all that happens around her. John Anderson and >Warren Oates are also excellent. A very insightful poem of human behavior >on the frontier. See it if you haven't already.

John Beal gives a great performance as an ordinary salesman who suffers a heart attack. Augusta Dabney is equally true-to-life as the wife. Karl Swenson and Jackson Beck are effective in small bits. If you ever want a time capsule to take you into life as it really was in 1957, you could not do better than That Night. John Newland's practiced eye for documentary has never been more advantageously used.

Hal Roach was a master in finding the humor in unusual situations and Turnabout is no exception. The always wry & dour Menjou has never been wittier. Landis is marvellous as the chauvinist turned pregnant wife. Everyone in the cast has a marvellous time, and so do we.

Critics can't take a joke, obviously. This is campy good fun in the tradition of the old Adam West TV series. Okay, so Clooney was a stiff Batman - he was SUPPOSED to be. Chris O'Donnell was cute as a button as Robin -- "Rubber Lips" is my favorite line of the entire movie. Thurman practically steals the film as Poison Ivy until Alicia Siverstone trumps her as the all-feminist Batgirl. A few gags don;t work but so many of them do -- I cannot believe the flak this funny, camp outing got from so many people. If you want a movie to complain about see Nicole Kidman singlehandedly ruin the Peacemaker or see Eyes Wide Shut -- a horrible valedictory for Kubrick, but Batman and Robin -- one of the worst movies of all time !!!???!! That statement makes me laugh -- but not as much as all the good chuckles I got from the film.

If you have read the book, leave well enough alone and don't bother with this pedantic adaptation that tries to be faithful, but succeeds only in being mechanical. Many of the emotions that jumped off the pages ring hollow here. There are a few good scenes, and the characters are well cast; it just all seems somehow, homogenized.

The chemistry between Chatterjee and Babita is amazing in this classic study of the conflicts between religion, station, and the inner workings of human souls. Ray's best-known masterpiece improves with repeated viewings. Every time, I watch it, I pick up new nuances, particular on Babita's performance. The thin lines between devout and callous, love and loathing, & heroism and insanity have never been examined more in-depth or with greater insights. On one level, great art, on another flawlessly technical, but overwhelmingly emotionally draining in the best possible way.

For a low-budget film, this one really captures the imagination. Jim Davis gives one of the most enigmatic performances of his career in a very off-beat Western that draws its main plot elements from a combination of Eastern mysticism and tried-and-true Western cliches. A truly eccentric and haunting score adds to the ethereal nature of the proceeding. On one level almost laughable, but on another, deeply profound.

A docudrama in all the best senses of the word, Boomerang starts with an excellent cast, adds terrific direction by Kazan and a superb screenplay. Every moment is taut as this film says much about the human experience and the pressures of public office.

Hurt is excellent, Laurie and Bosco are outstanding, but Matlin gives one of the most amazing cinematic performances of all time. She is scintillating. The play is even more forceful with her gritty performance that it was with Phyllis Frielich on broadway. The direction makes up what it lacks in imagination with conviction and sincerity. I recommend it highly.

Spacey, as usual, is brilliant. But when he is off the screen, this degenerates into stupidly violent farce. This movie is more representative of Hollywood's religious adherence to atheistic cynicism than any I have ever seen. Bening's character is way too inconsistent. Most of the younger characters are over-selfish hedonists. All in all, even the incomparable Spacey couldn't save this movie from its fixation on easy potshots. This is the #3 movie of all time? Try the number 3000.

Enchanting film that carefully builds on its music and bakground and mysticism. The characters all are "agantuk" (outsiders) in their own way, and none so much as the man who prides himself on being most conventional until his world is turned upside down. On the surface, this is a marvelous essay on trust and identity and spirituality. Dig further, it is this and much more.