I haven't kept up with this at all, but these are what I can recall from the past few months:
The 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse ** // A bloated, miscast Hollywood retelling of a war-time family drama. There's little suspense or believability thanks to the script and flat acting, but at least the sets and costumes are [inapproptiately] lavish.
9 to 5 **** // An exceptionally fun, endearing comedy to watch, filled with fiery wit, revenge fantasy and fulfillment, empowerment, and plenty of outlandishly satisfying plot turns. I. love. Dolly. Parton.
Amer ***½ //
Giallo completely and utterly deconstructed and distilled into its purest, most base forms. Broken into three distinct segments of a woman's terrified life with virtually no dialog or plot, the bookends remain taut and fascinating, while the middle portion drags.
Barbarella *** // Extremely silly and very European, Barbarella at least never promises to be anything but fluffy, pervy sci-fi. The "sex" scene with, uh, Dildano is a
riot.
Beetlejuice ** // I had forgotten how terrible this really is. Burton's style feels so tired and ugly, and even in his second film he's already recycling visual gags. The plot - what little there is - barely goes anywhere for the bulk of its running time, and suddenly it's over. There's also a surprising amount of profanity for a PG-rating, too.
Big Eden **** // One of the best gay-themed movies I've come across. Wonderfully sincere and refreshingly eager to break away from stereotypes, I can't recommend this highly enough for the queers looking for something beyond all the superficial nonsense we're fed.
Corridor of Mirrors **** // I can't remember where I'd heard about this one initially, but I'm very glad to have gone out of my way to see it. Essentially a story of obsessions and fears, the entire picture floats along like a dream, with gauzy, shimmering visuals pouring into almost every frame.
Gypsy *** // I'm not generally big on musicals, but the spectacle of these classic Hollywood productions is definitely alluring. This one didn't thrill me, but I enjoyed a few of the numbers and the mother is a great character despite her aggravating stubbornness, not to mention being outshone by Natalie Wood in nearly every scene they shared.
Highway 301 ***½ // Looked this one up after finding it was the source of
one of my favorite pieces of noir art. Low on suspense but high - really high - on violence, this is a fairly straightforward cops-and-robbers crime spree that puts the focus on the gang's crazed leader who takes great pleasure in gunning down anyone and everyone who crosses his path before his inevitable end. Good stuff.
House of Bamboo ***½ // Typically solid effort from Fuller, with some of the best camerawork and staging of his career. I wasn't always sold on the plot (it's a bit clumsy at times and rife with dated cultural elements) but I always get a kick out of Fuller's rough males and subversive motivation. And for the first time in years, I felt like watching Unsolved Mysteries...
I Could Go On Singing ****½ // Excellent piece about a famous singer trying to decide between her career and a life with her son and his father, an old flame of hers. The story and acting are plenty strong enough on their own, with the added treat of Garland performing several fantastic numbers throughout. I've watched this a couple more times since my initial turn and it's only gotten better.
Kings Row // I honestly don't remember how this one struck me, only that it had an awfully wild assortment of plot devices: muder, suicide, amputations, insanity, euthanasia, and veiled incestuous undertones. This is highly pessimistic melodrama.
Mermaids *** // One of those fairly stock coming-of-age dramedies where the times tumultuous, the mother is kind of crazy, the little kid is quirky and/or maladjusted, and the teenaged focus is horny and worrisome. I like Cher, I like Bob Hoskins. Christina Ricci has always had an enormous head.
Rocky Horror Picture Show ***½ // First time seeing this in full; had only been able to watch about half an hour of it last year, and this time around I ended up watching it twice in a couple of days. Not really much needs to be said... The songs are great fun and stick in your head, Tim Curry is pretty amazing. The last chunk seemed to drag the first time through, but I was digging it quite a bit more the second time.
Romy & Michele's High School Reunion ** // This was pretty disappointing because, for some reason, I went in expecting a kind of modern cult classic. I usually enjoy Lisa Kudrow, although she's basically playing a dumber version of Phoebe. Mira Sorvino is flat-out terrible, the script is mostly unfunny and tended to beat the same few jokes into the ground. I kind of liked Janeane Garolfola's character, for the small amount of time she's on screen.
The Social Network **½ // While there's not much wrong
technically wrong with the film (even if it's extremely pedestrian by Fincher's standards), I simply am not a fan of Sorkin's dialog nor is the subject matter even remotely interesting. I spent two hours feeling iritated with every character and every situation.
Steel Magnolias ****½ // One of my new favorites. Love love love pretty much every aspect of it, especially this amazing group of actresses and how perfecly everyone plays off each other. I sobbed like a child for the entire last half an hour.
The Town *** // Competant but unspectacular. Affleck could certainly build a strong second career directing these kinds of 'everyman' thrillers, and he's got the sense to keep things from getting too fancy. The romance was pretty far-fetched, but maybe that was the fault of the source material...
Up the Sandbox ***½ // This was... very odd, but I dig it. Streisand plays a bored housewife who slips away into some seriously bizarre fantasies which the movie never lets on about until you're too far engrossed in figuring out what the holy hell is going on. Apparently, audiences back in the '70s didn't go for this, but I found it to be quite creative and compelling.
Violent Saturday *** // Southern noir that doesn't do anything particularly unique other than involving the Amish and giving us Lee Marvin as a rather sadistic addict. The script is solid and you can feel the tension build in the heat, but ultimately it plays out predictably.