Man Bites Dog french, subtitled 1992 (on
video)
This film was...interesting. A French director's impressive attempt at the
same subject that sparked Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers. But
this movie is infintely
better at documenting and satirizing violence in society. This film has
a biting humor. It is scary because it's not funny, it's sad. Filmed
as a pseudo-documentary, a film crew follows a serial killer through his
life. The film crew become characters in the film as gradually they
become victims of the violence they are documenting. A difficult movie
to stomach, but I think is well worth it if you already have seen
NBK.
Star Trek: Generations 1994
The Star Trek of Captain Kirk and Spock amused me in the movies because I
guess they seemed like movie characters to me. I never grew up with Star
Trek nor its reruns. But the Star Trek of Captain Picard and Riker I
knew all too well from television. So this movie felt, at times, like a
two-hour special on television. But this time there were no commercial
breaks and I had to pay to see it. And I still laugh when I think of the
Enterprise crashing onto the planet...those trees look awfully big
compared to that huge spaceship:)
Interview with the Vampire 1994
Okay, so I haven't read any of Anne Rice's novels, and no, I have somehow
escaped any type of fascination with vampires, so this movie lacked any
real reason for my seeing it. I thought that maybe the "epic" nature of
the film would make it interesting, like Bram Stoker's Dracula
did, but it was just people sucking blood. Maybe Tom Cruise and Brad
Pitt sucking blood was supposed to make it worth my while, but it
didn't. Oh well, guess I never have to read the novels to figure out
what everyone's found so wonderful about them. Now all I have to worry
about is how sick all you weirdos are. :)
Streetfighter 1994
Oh what a terrific video ga...oh, I meant, what a...second-rate movie.
Maybe I would have appreciated this film more if I had played the game
enough and new the names of the characters and their signature moves.
Otherwise I had to silently mourn for Raul Julia, look at Joan Chen and
remember The Joy Luck Club, and wonder how Van Damme ever got it
into his head as a child to become a movie star limited to martial arts
films. It was okay for the buck I payed to see it.
Bye Bye Love 1995
With one-third of this movie set in a McDonald's, I grew very hungry
while watching this movie. Paul Reiser made me feel like I was watching
NBC on a thursday night, Randy Quaid made me feel pity for him, and that
other guy reminded me of that film Gross Anatomy. I enjoyed this
movie, with its share of funny moments. I laughed at Jeneane Garafolo's
cameo. But as for dealing
with dating, divorce, and child-raising, I think it did a weak job.
Tank Girl 1995
Maybe this film would have made more sense and been more interesting if I
had ever read the comic books that its based on and which are used in a
sort of montage throughout the film. Odd, no doubt about that. The
second-half of the film I found to be more coherent and better then the
first half. It was amusing to see Ice-T with kangaroo ears and the movie
has me curious as to
what the comic book is like. I must say, though, that I found Jet Girl
pretty good looking.
Richie Rich 1994
I guess I was one of the only people willing to endure another
performance by Macauly Culkin, but this was a film I wanted to see.
About the only comic books I ever really collected or read were the
Richie Rich series. I used to watch the cartoon on television as well.
This movie reminded me of my childhood. It is not one of the greatest
films of all time, but for a dollar and for the childhood memories, I
enjoyed it.
Tommy Boy 1995
A movie I truly enjoyed. But you must realize that I love
comedies. But this was a good one. I have been historically
disappointed with the movie spin offs from Saturday Night Live, but I
think that this one is a step in the right direction. A mark of a good
comedy is when all of the best jokes are not used in the trailers. This
movie had more. This was a great comedy.
The Gods Must Be Crazy 1980 (on television)
It's been a long time since I saw this film. It has really aged badly,
or at least the print they showed in between commercials on one of the
networks this past weekend. It's the movie filled with criss-crossing
storylines: the coke bottle, the guerillas who take hostages, the new
village school marm, and the bumbleheaded scatologist who falls for the
schoolmarm and falls for many other things as well. A classic.
on to Screen Two
