Sleepy Hollow (1999) – DVD

May 22, 2000Posted in1990s, Authors: Bill Chambers, Directors: Tim Burton, DVD, Fantasy, Germany, Horror, Mystery

**/**** Image A+ Sound A Extras C+
starring Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Miranda Richardson, Michael Gambon
screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker
directed by Tim Burton

by Bill Chambers Googly eyes that spring forth from a ghoulish figure. A burning windmill. Ghostly choir music. Jeffrey Jones. Sleepy Hollow is Tim Burton's Greatest Hits. The trouble with most compilation albums is that they're superficial, a bunch of songs connected by one flimsy context: retrospection. If this latest gloomfest from Burton doesn't make you yearn for the days when you were witnessing his directorial flourishes for the first time, we saw different films. The storytelling is as shallow as the setting is hollow.

Double Jeopardy (1999) [Widescreen] – DVD

March 26, 2000Posted in1990s, Authors: Bill Chambers, Canada, Crime, Drama, DVD, Germany, Mystery, Thriller

**/**** Image A Sound A Extras D+
starring Tommy Lee Jones, Ashley Judd, Bruce Greenwood, Annabeth Gish
screenplay by David Weisberg & Douglas S. Cook
directed by Bruce Beresford

by Bill Chambers Imprisoned for the murder of her husband, whose apparently dismembered body was never recovered from the deep blue sea, Libby Parsons (Ashley Judd, who’s very good) calls her little boy from a phone bank and hears him say this: “Daddy!” It’s Double Jeopardy‘s most convincing moment, relying as it does on the ignorance of a child–so persuasive, in fact, that you may wonder at film’s end if it had been imported from another screenplay altogether.

Scream 3 (2000)

February 5, 2000Posted in2000s, Authors: Bill Chambers, Horror, Mystery, Theatrical, Wes Craven

*/****
starring Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox Arquette, David Arquette, Parker Posey
screenplay by Ehren Kruger
directed by Wes Craven

by Bill Chambers Miramax "disinvited" online media from press screenings of Scream 3. They ostensibly feared that folks like me would write spoiler-filled reviews and post them prior to the film's February 4th release date–unsound reasoning. You see, 'net critics established enough to be on any sort of VIP list are professionals–Miramax surely knows the difference between an upstanding member of The On-Line Film Critics Society (OFCS) and the type of fanboy who submits spy reports to Ain't It Cool News. No, the 'mini major' was afraid we'd let a bigger cat out of the bag than whodunit: that Scream 3 is a dismal conclusion to the beloved (by this writer, at least) franchise.

Brokedown Palace (1999) – DVD

January 29, 2000Posted in1990s, Authors: Bill Chambers, Drama, DVD, Mystery, Teen, Thriller

**/**** Image B+ Sound B+
starring Claire Danes, Bill Pullman, Kate Beckinsale, Lou Diamond Phillips
screenplay by David Arata
directed by Jonathan Kaplan

by Bill Chambers It’s somebody’s idea of a cruel joke: hire two of the most beautiful actresses in the known universe and slather them in grime and grit and stink for the better part of 100 minutes. While the characters don’t seem to mind (“I’ve had worse haircuts,” remarks Claire Danes’s Alice Marano of being sentenced to 33 years in a foreign prison–though her bob-crop is quite fetching), the intended audience for Brokedown Palace–teenagers unfamiliar with Midnight Express–had a rather adverse reaction to the thought of watching a couple of starlets wallow in a world of piss and roaches and Bill Pullman lawyers and Lou Diamond Phillips embassy officials, if the pitiful box-office is any indication. So why did they bother sanitizing it for younger viewers?

The General’s Daughter (1999) [Widescreen Collection] – DVD

December 28, 1999Posted in1990s, Authors: Bill Chambers, Crime, Drama, DVD, Germany, Mystery, Thriller

**/**** Image A+ Sound A- Extras B+
starring John Travolta, Madeleine Stowe, James Cromwell, James Woods
screenplay by Christopher Bertolini and William Goldman, based on the novel by Nelson DeMille
directed by Simon West

by Bill Chambers The General’s Daughter is prettified trash, a sulphur-coloured pulp movie of dubious ambitions. Undeniably effective in fits and starts, this adaptation of Nelson DeMille’s popular novel dies when it succumbs to the lurid urges of a too-visceral director. The nude body of Captain Elisabeth Campbell (Leslie Stefanson) has been discovered strangled to death on an army base in Georgia. Elisabeth’s father, vice-presidential hopeful General Joseph Campbell (!) (James Cromwell), summons beefy army cop Paul Brennan (John Travolta), an acquaintance of the deceased, to close the case before the FBI moves in–and before the media gets wind of the situation. Working with ex-girlfriend Sarah “Sun” Sunhill (Madeleine Stowe), Paul quickly uncovers the secrets of the late captain’s double-life as a dominatrix.

Arlington Road (1999)

July 10, 1999Posted in1990s, Action, Authors: Bill Chambers, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Theatrical, Thriller

*½/****
starring Jeff Bridges, Tim Robbins, Joan Cusack, Hope Davis
screenplay by Ehren Kruger
directed by Mark Pellington

by Bill Chambers Wrote Josh Young, in issue #493 of ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: "With studios now viewing the mid-level, Oscar-nominated directors as a luxury they can no longer afford, established auteurs…are facing increasingly stiff competition from slick young music-video turks who'll work for a mere pittance." From its galling opening sequence, I wondered what Arlington Road would look like had it been sired by someone more established in movies than the director of Pearl Jam's "Jeremy" clip. Director Mark Pellington is so mindful of 'the image' that writer Ehren Kruger's plotting eventually drops off the tightrope of credibility. Could a veteran filmmaker, comparable in status to the late Alan J. Pakula, swindle us more successfully with the same screenplay?

Snake Eyes (1998) – DVD

February 17, 1999Posted in1990s, Authors: Bill Chambers, Crime, Directors: Brian De Palma, DVD, Mystery, Nicolas Cage, Thriller

**/**** Image B+ Sound A
starring Nicolas Cage, Gary Sinise, Carla Gugino, Stan Shaw
screenplay by David Koepp
directed by Brian De Palma

by Bill Chambers The setting: an Atlantic City hotel casino. Homicide detective Rick Santoro (Nicolas Cage) excitedly attends a big heavyweight showdown with his best bud, Commander Kevin Dunne (Gary Sinise), a Washington yes-man assigned to protect Kirkland, the Secretary of Defense (Joel Fabiani), who has a seat in the second row. As a buxom blonde (Carla Gugino) quietly converses with Kirkland, the fighter (Stan Shaw) is knocked down for the first time in his career. Simultaneously, sniper shots are fired into the crowd. An assassin is immediately caught, though not before Kirkland has expired and his mystery woman (farsighted and bereft of her specs) has escaped in the ensuing stampede. Santoro launches an impromptu investigation, his detective skills consisting mainly of screaming at people until they yield. He is the verbal correlative to the boxer in the picture.

Affliction (1998)

February 17, 1999Posted in1990s, Authors: Bill Chambers, Canada, Directors: Paul Schrader, Drama, Japan, Mystery, Thriller

***½/****
starring Nick Nolte, Sissy Spacek, James Coburn, Willem Dafoe
screenplay by Paul Schrader, based on the novel by Russell Banks
directed by Paul Schrader

by Bill Chambers

Wade: "I get to feeling like a whipped dog some days, Rolfe. And some night I'm going to bite back."
Rolfe: "Haven't you already done a bit of that?"
Wade: "No, not really. I've growled a little, but I haven't bit."

Why Paul Schrader chose to adapt Russell Banks's disquieting literary novel Affliction is no great mystery: its story follows an arc similar to that of Schrader's best known works, such as his screenplays for Scorsese's Taxi Driver and his own Hardcore. Affliction's Wade Whitehouse (Nick Nolte), like Travis Bickle before him, is a man who fixates on exposing corruption in repression of his own violent past. In Bickle's case, planning the assassination of a governor perhaps defers the pain of Vietnam, from which he was honourably discharged; Wade has been afflicted for years by his father Glen's wickedness.

The Gingerbread Man (1998)

August 3, 1998Posted in1990s, Authors: Bill Chambers, Crime, Directors: Robert Altman, Mystery, Thriller

**½/****
starring Kenneth Branagh, Embeth Davidtz, Daryl Hannah, Robert Downey Jr.
screenplay by Robert Altman (as Al Hayes), based on a story by John Grisham
directed by Robert Altman

by Bill Chambers It's nice to see Robert Altman doing studio work again. After 1980's disastrously-received Popeye, the director steered clear of mainstream Hollywood entirely. Perhaps this is a chicken-egg scenario and it steered clear of him, but no matter: his return to a more formulaic brand of filmmaking showcases the director at his best and not-so. The Gingerbread Man is based on a dusty screenplay by John Grisham; curiously, for such an airport writer, several Important Filmmakers have adapted Grisham in the past (Sydney Pollack, Alan Pakula, and Francis Coppola), but nobody's done it with more personality than Altman.