The original film version of H. G. Wells classic. The most clever thing about the approach to the material is the avoidance of over-explanation. As it would be in real life, the people don't know very much about the alien invaders. It is sudden and devastating, perhaps reflecting Cold War paranoia about Russians and Chinese. And the story focuses on individuals reacting to the crisis, sometimes heroically, sometimes with selfishness and fear.
Leon Uris' epic story of the founding of the Jewish state, focusing on terrorist activities by Irgun, and attempts to break through the British blockade with an aging, decaying ship from the U.S. Does a fair job of dealing with the political complexities, the unholy British-American alliance, the moderates and extremists on both sides.
Paul Newman, Eva Marie Saint, Lee J. Cobb, Ralph Richardson
Sam Peckinpah's take on Billy the Kid, with Bob Dylan as alias. Aimless and pointless, poorly acted. Gratuitous cutting.
BOB DYLAN, KRIS KRISTOFERSON, JAMES COBURN
Superior drama about a disturbed young woman who became involved with Warhol's group in New York and eventually shot him. Warhol survived though his death a few years later was partly attributed to the wounds he received. Well acted and filmed.
LILI TAYLOR, JARED HARRIS, MARTHA PLIMPTON, LOTHAIRE BLUTEAU, TAHNEE WELCH, DONOVAN LEITCH
Pointless dramatization of the controversial book, probably better as a movie than the book was as a book.
CHRISTIAN BALE, JUSTIN THEROUX, CHLOE SEVIGNY, REESE WITHERSPOON, JARED LETO, WILLEM DAFOE
Excellent Gilliam.
BRUCE WILLIS
John Sullivan's father, Frank, died heroically in a warehouse fire 30 years ago. John discovers an old ham radio set in his dad's garage and hooks up and, lo and behold, he is talking to his dad again. And it's the day before the tragic fire. So of course, John tells Frank how to avoid the tragedy... only to unleash a worse tragedy that they must now solve. Occasionally intriguing and even compelling, but logically flawed and probably pointless.
DENNIS QUAID, JAMES CAVIEZEL, ANDRE BRAUGHER, ELIZABETH MITCHELL
Documentary on the remarkable journey of Earnest Shakleton and his crew on a failed attempt to transverse the Antarctic in 1914. All hands made it back safely, but not after enduring one of the most dangerous and deprived camp-outs in history.
The story of the Marquis De Sade's last days in a prison where a sadistic (ha ha) warden tries to reform him, only to provoke tragedy and death. A little coy and pretentious-- the Marquis was not as harmless as portrayed in this film, in real life-- but Winslett is fetching and the settings and costumes are lush.
KATE WINSLET, GEOFFREY RUSH, JOAQUIN PHONEIX, MICHAEL CAINE, BILLIE WHITELAW
This film is actually a lot funnier than it looks. A lot of the humour is vulgar and low-brow, but occasional scenes, as when Stiller is arrested as a serial killer, or when Dillion as Pat Healy drugs the dog and then almost kills him, are very funny. Builds nicely but but but.... the hokey ending is really an old-fashioned contrivance disguised as "all good fun". She chooses the right guy in a scene that just doesn't extract the right juice from the characters. Just kinds of dies in a lump... until, "Build Me Up Buttercup" comes on and lifts it into a delightful little ensemble cheer. The other best thing about the movie are the singers who appear, like Nat King Cole and ___ in Cat Ballou, to sing dirges to the tragic developments.
MATT DILLON, CAMERON DIAZ, BEN STILLER, LEE EVANS, CHRIS ELLIOT, JEFFREY TAMBOR, W. EARL BROWN
Memorable and well-directed study of Erin Brokovitch, the woman who blew the whistle on Pacific Gas and Electric when it polluted the well water of a small community and then tried to escape responsibility by convincing the citizens that the deadly chromium was actually a safer variant. Julia Roberts actually does pretty well here. She is bubbly and evervescent, but not annoyingly so. Her reading is thoughtful and fresh, and she is fairly convincing. What is less convincing is the traditional Hollywood despectrumization of evil. You get telegraphs every time a low down, mean, self-satisfied lawyer or executive appears on the scene, even when they are, ostensibly, on Brokovitch's side. Interestingly, the movie pays homage to excessive lawyers' fees by having Brokovitch explain, in her salt-of-the-earth mode, how the poor lawyer has taken such a great risk-- even mortgaging his house!- to take on this case, and thereby deserves 40% of the eventual $350 million settlement! Entertaining and brisk. Beware the iconography.
JULIA ROBERTS, PETER FIRTH
Pretty good story about an American who gets sent to Europe to try to bring back the son of a rich American businessman, but ends up impersonating him, with tragic consequences. Memorable and well-acted.
BEN AFFLECK
Wildly over-rated story about a fishing crew that inadvertantly gets itself caught in the celebrated collision of three storm systems in October 1991. The Andrea Gail sets out for one last run with the usual overblown portents. Worth seeing for the special effects... maybe. But given Hollywood's propensities for exaggeration, do you even trust them?
MARK WAHLBERG, GEORGE CLOONEY, DIANE LANE, ELIZABETH MASTRANTONIO
Kubrick's last film is about the integrity of the marriage relationship. Can it survive the truth when one partner discloses an imagined or possible infidelity? Nicole Kidman is the wife who almost cheated on her husband; Cruise is the husband, a doctor, who, we are to believe, was so demoralized and shocked by his wife's disclosed fantasies that he decides to take a walk on the wild side. This leads him to a strange club meeting in a huge, private mansion. He stumbles through a strange sequence of ritualized encounters that leads to someone's death. What's the point? You want to credit Kubrick with something here, because, on the surface, this appears to be a standard fable about infidelity-- you'll pay for it some day, a sentiment that seems a tad simplistic for this director's reputation-- for the director of "Lolita" and "Clockwork Orange". On the other hand, nothing in Kubrick's past suggests he wouldn't be sympathetic to this point of view.
TOM CRUISE, NICOLE KIDMAN
Beautiful and remarkable film about several people who have badly messed up their lives, and the potential for healing as each encounters a need from another, and odd coincidences. Well-acted, well-written, and exceptionally well directed. Even Tom Cruise plays well, as a ruthless self-help preacher who can't reconcile with his dying father (Robards). Best film of 1999? Probably.
TOM CRUISE, JULIANNE MOORE, PAT HEALY, GENEVIEVE ZWEIG, WILLIAM H. MACY, PHILIP BAKER HALL, PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN, JASON ROBARDS, JOHN C. REILLY, MELORA WALTERS
Jennifer Lopez plays a child psychologist who has to enter the mind of a comatose serial killer in order to determine where he has imprisoned his latest victim in a kind of water-torture chamber that will drown her within 48 hours. Tediously absurd at times, but there is at least some compassionate understanding of the fact that serial killers don't emerge from a vacuum-- their own sufferings play a part in the formation of their bent characters. Otherwise, a fairly predestrian story with some exceptionally vivid, beautiful, and horrifying images, most of which have been stolen from somewhere or another.
JENNIFER LOPEZ
Ben Stiller plays a male nurse in love with a beautiful, charming teacher. He is about to propose to her when her sister announces her own wedding. Apparently, it is important, in this family, to get the consent of the father, played by Robert Deniro.
BEN STILLER
Interesting, lively comic-drama about a 15-year-old boy who is assigned, by Rolling Stone Magazine, to cover a new band on their cross-country tour. His mother reluctantly agrees while warning him, at very opportunity, to "don't do drugs". But that's part of the interesting colour of this film-- it must have been tempting to turn the mother into a comic facade for conservative, out-of-date values, but, instead, she is a nuanced, rich character who, in the end, has something valuable to say to the young rock stars idolized by her son. Lester Bangs takes the boy under his wings after receiving some of the boy's work. Bangs warns the boy that the current crop of rock stars are only out for themselves, that rock is dead (strangely enough, he is a fan of the Guess Who, a Canadian band that was not exactly known for cutting-edge music). Then Ben Fong-Torres of Rolling Stone calls him and gives him the dream assignment. Along the way he meets groupies and band members and road crew and, partly because of his youth, becomes privy to a side of rock'n'roll not normally visible to the public. But here the movie gets side-tracked. He develops a passion for one of the groupies and becomes sensitive to the semi-abusive relationship between rock stars and their fans. Eventually, he even saves her life-- did this really happen, as Crowe claims it did?-- and ends up somewhat disillusioned. Well-made and acted and, like other Crowe offerings (including "Say Anything") with an edge that lifts it above an idea that could have rather pedestrian in the hands of a more conventional talent.
RUSSELL HAMMOND, FRANCES MCDORMAND, KATE HUDSON, JASON LEE, PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN
Disappointing parody that makes the mistake of attacking browbreating, heavy-handed religous dogma with brow-beating heavy-handed satire. Actually-- that's the problem. After a while, it isn't satire anymore-- just browbeating. At one point the two "angels" go to a corporate board meeting to punish the sinners. With a bizarre nod to political correctness, the only woman on the board supposdedly didn't do anything wrong. All the men are blown away. Boring and stupid. Started out very funny, but about 60 minutes too long.
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