This is as good as any of the best jail flicks, except this one is set in a juvenile detention center which adds poignancy since it involves only underaged offenders . Sean Penn does a good job reining in his performance as the main character who quickly finds himself the head of his cellblock, while […]

Max takes a bit of time to get started, but once it has, it’s a compelling story of a young, neurotic Adolf Hitler. Torn between the call to be an artist and the pull towards German patriotism, Noah Taylor plays Hitler with the agitated jumpiness of a desperate tweaker. John Cusack brings a higher quality […]

Presumably when watching an Alan Smithee film, you have already been forewarned. It’s entirely possible I watched the non-disavowed version, but if I did, it should have also been disavowed. Jodie Foster plays a woman who witnesses a mob hit who later bizarrely falls in love with the hitman hired to take her out. Some of that may be spoilers, but it doesn’t even matter. Jodie Foster is the best part of this, looking really beautiful and occasionally acting so as well, but the writing for her character is often beyond ridiculous particularly as Dennis Hopper closes in on her. Brief appearances by Catherine Keener, Charlie Sheen, Bob Dylan, and the amazing Vincent Price don’t even help this train wreck.

Seeing any still images of Mel Gibson or Robert Downey Jr. from this movie, you’d have no idea it was set during the Vietnam War. Not having any previous knowledge of the actual Air America and its activities in Laos during that era, this film offers a slight history lesson in its fictional story. A prime example of both actors’ early 90s careers, there is a bit of unevenness in the story, not managing to figure out how to balance its comedic and dramatic tones in the ways Good Morning Vietnam was able to do just a few years earlier. It still manages to be fun, particularly in some entertaining aviation scenes.

Mel Brooks’s movies tend to be either major hits or misses for me. Somehow Silent Movie fits somewhere in between for me. You have to give credit at least for the sheer audacity of putting out a silent movie in the 70s that lambasts the movie industry at the same time. It’s filled with cameos of many big 1970s stars and some of the skits are real fun. Despite a dislike for mimes, Marcel Marceau is one of the funnier bits. I think even casual Brooks fans will find plenty to chuckle at.

In the future, Bruce Dern is a gardener aboard a spacecraft and he’s incredibly dedicated to his job. I’d been wanting to watch this for awhile and I wasn’t disappointed. The spacecraft has a fabulous set design reminiscent of 2001: A Space Odyssey, unsurprising considering the time period. Dern was perfectly cast for his role. I wasn’t prepared for the emotional reaction I’d have for the film’s conclusion; I’m still feeling sad for poor Dewey.