Pam Grier took no guff during her glory days as an action queen on-screen, nor does she here as Jackie Brown. The difference now is that she's been around the block so many times, she knows the drill all too well. It is ennui more than adrenaline that separates her from the low lifes who would use her for their own reasons. The startling element in Jackie Brown is a long, slow, sweet romanc…
Jack's Back is a well-made “B” film, with surprisingly little violence for a tale about a latter-day Jack the Ripper. James Spader, who paid his dues playing one-dimensional villains in a succession of teen flicks, is quite good in a dual role as twins caught up in the case. Salvador's Cynthia Gibb plays an interesting, resourceful heroine in this promising effort by wr…
Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris features dozens of deeply moving song-stories about love, death, loneliness, bullfighting, old age, war, and bittersweet romance. “Carousel” perhaps best illustrates Brel's style. The tune begins cheerfully, with a sense of magic. We hear of cotton candy. The lovely, gay mood of the song shifts. The rhythm speeds up. The carou…
When we want to see Jane Eyre, we can buy the 1934 version from Sinister Cinema or we can rent the 1944 all-star classic from Fox Video or we can watch the 1970 telefeature that turns up every so often on double-digit UHF channels or we can plow through all six hours of the 1983 PBS miniseries. Clearly, there is no shortage of Jane Eyres and Edward Rochesters in this century. Does this 1847 saga b…
Whatever became of Colin Gibson and Lesley Dudley? They were the two adorable stars of John and Julie, who go all the way to London to see the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. (Actual footage of the Queen and her family waving from the balcony at Buckingham Palace appears in the film.) Needless to say, there's an uproar when their families learn out about it. Peter Sellers ha…
Roberto Benigni has a huge following in Italy and America, but I missed the membership drive.
A few minutes into johns I deduced that a particular character was not going to make it out of the movie alive and I was wrong: johns deliberately keeps us off balance in a way that adds to our fascination with its sad story. It's about kids who turn tricks by hanging out on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, with the emphasis on John (David Arquette) and Donner (Lu…
Alain Tanner's Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000 was among the best of the entries at 1976's San Francisco International Film Festival. Tanner tries to convey depth in superficial terms, but with imagination, humor, and insight. The results are awesome. The stories—of eight people connected to one another by the political events of 1968—swirl in and around each othe…
When Greta Garbo came to Hollywood with director Mauritz Stiller, she was streamlined, plucked, garbed, and coiffured to MGM perfection, whether or not it suited the role she was playing. This was not the case in G.W. Pabst's Joyless Street, where Garbo looked exactly like what she was supposed to be: a gauche and rather awkward young woman, still living at home with her father Josef …
Ju Dou was the first Chinese film to be nominated for an Academy Award. The Chinese government fought the nomination for the film, which had effectively been banned in its own country. Ju Dou is sharply critical of the traditional rural customs that prevailed in the 1920s. Ju Dou, the title character, is purchased as the third wife of Jinshan, an abusive old man who beats her when she fails to pro…
Here's a word of advice to filmmakers who plan to shave production costs by shooting your major motion pictures in the new, improved high-definition video process: DON'T! If Oscar-nominated cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno couldn't pull it off in Julia and Julia, you won't be able to either at this stage of the game. The process looks okay, better then a kinescope, anyw…
Seventeen-year-old Chantel (Ariyan Johnson) dreams about zapping through high school and going on to medical school.
If Just Like a Woman had originated in Hollywood story conferences, it would have emerged as a broad farce crammed with puns and sight gags and stripped of any real insight. But, just like in 1987's Personal Services, wonderful Julie Walters is our sympathetic tour guide into another world. Based on Monica Jay's book, Geraldine, Christopher Monger's film takes a look at Gerald…
Just Like in the Movies is a likable independent feature from the directing/screenwriting team of Bram Towbin and Mark Halliday. It also provides an extremely fine role for Jay O. Sanders as Ryan Legrand, private eye. The film is hardly a recruiting movie for those with dreams of exciting and dangerous undercover assignments. Legrand's job strictly involves following husbands and wiv…