flimbuff

The guy who described this as having an undeveloped script was right on the money. The sometimes comic yarn about an embezzlement gone awry with a suicidal mistress accidentally drawn into the plot has got a lot of potential and some very watchable performers but the screen writer apparently was in too much of a hurry and the director didn't have any idea where the story was supposed to go in the first place. It is not a bad watch just to see some young performers who evidently took their work more seriously than the producers and directors and hopefully we may see them again.

Brilliantly funny satire about inept gangsters at different levels contriving schemes to rip off one another without knowing exactly what they are doing and to whom.

Reminiscent of the great 50s and early 60s British comedies that feature Alistair Sims and Peter Sellers in their early days.

Problem is that since the Beatles disappeared and Americans have become infatuated with "Ebonics" and "Spanglish" much of dialetic humor or British slang needs to be replayed on the video for most of us to really appreciate it.

If you liked "Snatch" and are quick and sober when you watch this you will laugh your 'tush' off. Many would appreciate 'subtitles' though.

Wonderfully, funny satire of gender bending with only a few slow parts when the screenwriter forgets we don't really need any serious moralizing in this kind of film.

Our plot has Judy Davis, as Cassandra, a sort of almost middle aged, expatriot writer living in Spain trying to finish her novel. She is hired by Frankie, a very sexy deserted wife, to track down her missing daughter because of her bilingual skills.

Things aren't exactly what they seem and we find that Frankie is actually the transsexual father of the missing child who is now living with her natural mother Ben, a lesbian, who is engaged in a 'menage a trois' with her bisexual lover Hamilton and 'their lover' April, wonderfully played by Juliette Lewis.

The confusion makes for some very funny lines that are so well played that the situation seems almost natural. The screenwriter goes somewhat adrift later on with some totally unnecessary reflections by Cassandra, who apparently has sexual identity problems of her own, but the film as a whole is just wonderfully refreshing when compared to most of today's "statement" films. Good soundtrack too.

the many and various comments about this film indicate that it mostly found an audience of Stockard Channing fans and 'understanding feminists'. Channing is excellent as the successful business woman who has made it to the top in a man's world but finds a 'little something' missing from that success. Kind of a worn out premise but well done nevertheless. A little more inscrutable is the Chiles character whose motives we will never know. Her deceitful bitterness is undiscoverable because of the her character's mystery. Was she really raped by our good looking but unpersonable simp or was that something she imagined from her 'nonfiction' writing? The movie went wrong by simply not developing who she was and just hints at an unexplained complexity. Worth watching for the performances but not worth thinking too much about because the screenwriter never really tries to go above mere generalizations.

Marks the return of Debra Winger to our video stores if not the big screen. For those who wondered, she is still a wonderful actress and is surrounded by a fine cast here. But this is basically the pretty boring story of an unpublished writer whose skills fail to equal his vocabulary which reeks of the platitudes and 'truisms' he decries.

Arliss Howard plays the writer, Barlow, and his drinking bouts with his Vietnam War buddy, Monroe, Paul LeMat, are well handled and sufficiently depressing to attract 'artsie' viewers. The subsequent tragic events in the actual plot are universal enough to hold our attention while we hope that something major will be said. But alas, nothing is and we are left with nothing but a empty story with good acting.

It is a shame that these notably good artists haven't found anything better to do. Special kudos though to Angie Dickinson who plays a role that no one had ever envisioned for her and does quite nicely.

I believe Edward Burns to be one of the truely brilliant people in current film and I'm not blind so I realize that Anjolina Jolie is always watchable and usually a fine actress too. But this is just mildly entertaining fluff.

Jolie, playing a local TV heroine in Seattle, interviews a homeless, streetcorner "seeer" who may be a con artist or may be a genuine psychic. In addition to predicting football outcomes and earthquakes our homeless guy predicts Jolie's imminent death. When his other predictions come true she becomes unraveled and changes are made in her lifestyle including the end of her engagement to a local baseball star, the resurrection of her old romance with Burns and a new awareness that her father didn't really favor her older sister. All because she has decided to live her life as though each day may be her last? We've seen it all before as well as the predictable, cutesy, happy ending but the players do make it watchable. This is a good bet for those of you who have HBO or Showtime or even regular cable because commercial interruption won't spoil much here. On the whole you'd be better off wagering your money at the track than spending it to rent this or watch it in a theater though.

Wonderful start for this drama about a hardened homicide detective, with an Internal Affairs investigation hanging over him, and his partner being loaned to an small town Alaska police force to help solve the mysterious murder of a young woman. However, the film starts to go downhill shortly after we learn the detective's secret and he subsequently kills his partner, who is going to testify against him. The killing may or may not be accidental and we are now thrust into the detective's guilt trip over the circumstances and his implausible 'strange bedfellow' agreement with the young woman's killer. No real mystery here and the good acting is overshadowed by too many holes in the plot but still entertaining and a good watch if you don't have high hopes.

Far and way the best "Thing" that John Carpenter has ever produced. This bears no resemblance to the late 40s classic which featured James Arness as a dangerous, alien vegetable in the Arctic. Rather it is a modern version of the the original 1930's novella and follows its story line extremely well but for the likewise modern, but more cynical ending.

A combo of science fiction and horror that is very frightening and could be thought of as plausible if you have an imagination and enjoy this genre.

The cast led by Kurt Russell does a marvelous job and the screenplay is excellent altho some might be offended by some excessive profanity in the original release.

It is a great watch and a must for fans of genre.

This is one of those films that you may find yourself watching several times if for no other reason than just to see what you've missed and why the critics loved it. Robert Altman is a brilliant director and a master of camera movement but the truth is that his films miss more often than hit. I'm afraid this is one of the former. There are too many potentially interesting characters and their depiction becomes necessarily stereotypal and the story seems interminably long. Good performances don't help Altman's generalization that the wealthy and sophisticated can be just as dull and petty as the lower classes since we all know or should know that and films of this magnitude and budget should at least try to be entertaining. The wit and cynicism that characterizes Altman's work when he strings together connecting vignettes, such as he did in "Shortcuts", is missing here. It is nice to watch good performers at work but this film should be used for instructional purposes in a film school rather served up to the ticket paying general public. The murder mystery turns out to be too simple for the amount of time one tries to analyze the suspects

which means to me that it was a well thought out realistically acted damn good story and well worth watching.

You've read the plot outline so I won't rehash that. Burns is quite good as always and the rest of the cast is too. Just a good story about a young woman with dreams she never tried to realize coming to a point in her life when she has to decide whether to try to follow those dreams or just go on with her comfortable life in the small town of her birth. Burns arrives as her former boyfriend, a dreamer who did leave to chase his dreams and found he couldn't catch them. Our heroine sees what could have been, what would be and chooses what could be. Nice ending.

For years Woody Allen has always expressed his debt to Bob Hope sense of humor and delivery. Well we finally see the proof in this Allen spoof which sort of updates Hope's 1956 film "That Certain Feeling".

The Allen character is hired by his ex-wife's fiancee to direct a film. The Hope character was hired by his ex-wife's fiance to ghost write for him and the parallels continue.

Allen has definitely slowed down and although there are some very sharp and witty lines and the slapstick is kept to the minimum, the film doesn't really have any of 'heart warming' qualities of the original.

This is a good watch for those new to Allen but but ultimately disappointing to his real fans, of which I am one, in that no new ground is covered and Woody shows his age.

But a 'burned out' Allen with few no thoughts is still funnier than the vast majority of today's pretenders.

As a general rule I don't like martial arts movies and especially don't like Dolph Lundgren. But this isn't his typical fare and altho he still doesn't come off as an actor this film has a sort of interesting plot and our Dolph isn't the all powerful superhero.

He is an alcoholic ex-cop who has gotten involved in tracing what may be a serial killer for reasons of his own and almost displays some semblance of humanity. I say almost because although he tries our hero still has a lot of work to do, but this film is tolerable for the late nite audience.

Kate Vernon comes off very well as a radio talk show host who wants to fulfill her own fantasies as well as give advice to her listeners.

Problem predictably develops when she involves herself in a situation with one of her callers that leads to a video tape and blackmail for the caller's not predictable reasons.

Lou Diamond Phillips does a pretty good job of directing but he miscast himself as the male lead. Otherwise this is far better than most of the genre and Ms. Vernon is awfully sexy.

A woman is finally nominated by President for the vacated position of Vice-President but she has a past.

Sound like it might be a little "soapy" but strong performances make it believable and the political infighting is cleverly shown. Kudos to the always likable Sam Elliot for excelling a "meatier" role than he usually plays.

There are some slight twists that make this particularly enjoyable but the last 5 minutes are a little too "hokey" and keep this from getting an 8 instead of a 7 on my 10 scale. Well worth watching though.

That any soft or hard core producer would only dream of. This one has it all; good acting, turn on scenes, bisexuality, lesbianism, murder, sexual deviation and maybe a cult and/or a serial killer thrown in too.

A little too much actually but it makes for a decent thriller although it becomes a little too predictable during the middle.

You have to be fairly open minded and in the mood but this will keep your attention. Particularly good performances by Julian Sands, whom I normally dislike, and Pita Wilson.

Today's designer drugs may be far more powerful than LSD users ever dreamed of or our newer film makers have some serious problems relating to their parents' use.

The film about a mental patient who may or may not be the subject of a deranged doctor's experimentation is visually gaudy but has no substance and an annoying sound track.

Our hero may or may not have access to a magical book that holds the key to transferring one's mind into another's body and such transferrence may or may not be the key to unlocking the secrets of the brain and finding out whether or not there really is good or evil.

The movie is an incongruous mess but if you are sufficiently stoned you might think it is "groovy".

Nothing more than a routine "soft core" porn flick from the early 70s. Very similar to the drivel we now see with one of the "Shannons" on late nite Cinemax, Showtime or HBO but without a murder or crime thrown in.

Wealthy father is very protective and finds his son sexually involved with someone below his class and drives him to go even lower on the food chain and eventually finds himself in a sexual orgy with the whole new crew.

Notable only for former Penthouse Cover Girl, Brigitte Maier's presence.

This is not as bad as it sounds and actually far more entertaining than the original that it is supposed to be a sequel to.

Our heroine (?, Rachel Newman, Mila Kunis, is the unknown sole survivor of a serial killer who actually killed the original villain herself but refused to take credit.

So now she is a grown up sociopath in college taking a course in the study of serial killers. She wants to be an FBI profiler so she can kill more of them. Sound good?

Well it happens that she has competition for the teaching assistant position that she is after so she methodically goes about killing the competition off because she feels her ends justify the means.

It is kinda funny with no real gore or frightening moments. Sort of a straight performance by William Shatner, which is refreshing, as her Professor and a good show by Garret Wyn Davies as her psychiatrist. You may remember him from the TV series "Forever Knight".

Kunis is awfully attractive in the lead but her lack of acting experience shows and she seems confused about when to be serious about the role but she has a hell of a lot more potential than the PR created Kirsten Dunst.

If you can suspend your disbelief at the idea of a southern racist prison guard falling in love with the black wife of the last man he sees executed you will be fine with this.

The acting as you may heard is wonderful but there is no character development whatsoever and the story is flat out unbelievable. Halle Berry is beautiful and her soft core sex scenes will make some people forget Shannon Tweed but that is about all there is to this.

This may seem blasphemous but the original performance of what most people regard as a western classic is actually very dated with the exception of Grace Kelly's performance. This made for TV remake is well done and sticks to the basic plot of the original. Tom Skerrit is well cast as is Michael Madsen. Both give fine performances and for students of film and directors the contrast should between this and Gary Cooper's original should be noted as an example of how a remake should be done. The problem here is that this was made for TV on a limited budget and with some network's approval so don't expect real quality. Just observe and critique how acting and cinematography have developed and you may actually enjoy this and the time honored classic plot.

but nothing more. DeMornay looks great for the guys and Banderas looks great for the ladies and they fit together nicely in this supposed thriller about a police psychologist who may or may not be the victim of a stalker and who may or may not have been abused as a child. The plot has some twists that are pretty easy to pick up and there are no surprises but it is still more watchable than the usual fare on LIFETIME TV.

but despite wonderful performances by the entire ensemble cast, this is Jennifer Jason Leigh's movie and she makes of the most of it. She plays a former star actress hitting her 40s and has to come to grips with that and what everyone assumes is her very late pregnancy at her anniversary party. Her husband Cumming is a now famous British author with a best seller on his hands and a married couple living next door who can't stand his dog.

The story is predictable but notable for the very fine performances by all and the fact that this was shot on digital video but none but the very trained eye could point that out. Special kudos to Cates and Beals who definitely need to be seen more often and add another hurrah for Leigh and Cumming's writing abilities. Well worth watching.

There is no real cloture unless you are simply willing to accept that there are some things that we can never know.

This is an extremely well drawn up story that keep you on the edge of your seat thruout until the ending. Gere's character is a Washington Post reporter who lives thru an auto accident in which both he and his wife see a blurred but horrific vision shortly before her death.

We are then taken into a story of precognition, strange deaths, related accidents and some frightening visions which seem to have some sort of connection to a blurred image of a sort of "mothman" whose appearance seems to forewarn of tragedy.

That is about all there is to it except that it really frighteningly well done. Gere, Linney and Patton are excellent.

One word of warning if you rent this. The sound editor was on drugs so you will have to keep you hand ready on the remote's volume control unless you really want to go crazy or suffer some hearing damage.

As well as games is what wealthy, high roller "Deep Throat", Goodman, does. He chooses Joey Harrington, a down on his luck compulsive gambler for his latest foil. Harrington, well played by Ron Eldard, is a given a large salary to act as Goodman's "runner" with only three provisos. He is not allowed to personally gamble, he is never to touch Goodman's money and he is never allowed to tell anyone who or what Goodman is betting on.

Along the way Harrington falls for casino waitress Katrina, nicely played by Cox/Arquette and sees the chance for a big score if he breaks one of his employment conditions.

Well obviously he falls victim to the black jack table and breaks his deal with "Deep Throat" who has some unusual means of dealing with those who break their personal agreements with him.

This is just another simple morality play but it is well paced and nice acted but Goodman is miscast and the ending is rather "hokey".

Don't go out of your way for this one, but don't turn it off if you know what I mean.

This is a much better movie than I expected and is very well done with some witty dialogue and good performances by all.

Thompson and Jackson play two young women from with different sexual experiences who go off on vacation to find love.

Andrew Dice Clay is surprising good as the guy who turns to be the love of Lea's life without either of them expecting it.

Not "hokey" at all and the sexual inuendo is far more adult and funnier than you usually saw in the "teen or young couple" flims of this era.