PLEASANTVILLE is a charming, intelligent fantasy. Because it -is- intelligent and it is not fast-paced, it probably loses 80% of its audience right at the start...but the other 20% will appreciate a fine film that is not dumbed down, a rarity in this day and age.
Reviews
49 Reviews
Caligula
(1979)
Turkey
3 June 1999
You wouldn't think a film originally written by Gore Vidal and featuring Peter O'Toole, John Gielgud, and Malcolm McDowell could possibly be this bad. And it's not the sex. Take out the gratuitous hardcore scenes that Bob Guccione added and it only makes the film shorter, not better. A disaster from start to finish.
The Magnificent Seven
(1960)
Best American Western ever made
3 June 1999
It's not quite up to Sergio Leone at his best, but this is easily the best Western ever made in America. Strong story (swiped from Kurosawa, so it ought to be strong), fine acting, wonderful direction, and Elmer Bernstein composed the best score of any film in history.
The Bridge on the River Kwai
(1957)
Brilliant
3 June 1999
This is movie-making at its best, with brilliant location footage, enormous tension and excitement, fabulous performances from the entire cast, and a fine score. Most directors would be happy to have engraved on their tombstones that they directed THE BRIDGE OF THE RIVER KWAI; it is indicative of David Lean's greatness that he surpassed this film with LAWRENCE OF ARABIA.
Sirocco
(1951)
Nothing special, alas
3 June 1999
SIROCCO tries to be CASABLANCA, and THE MALTESE FALCON, and even TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT. But it isn't. It's just SIROCCO, with Bogart in his usual trenchcoat, playing a very unsympathetic hero, and Lee J. Cobb fighting a noble but losing battle with the script. Too bad. It coulda been a contender.
L.A. Confidential
(1997)
The best film of the 90s
2 June 1999
Top to bottom -- acting, writing, directing, cinematography, sound -- this is simply the best film of the 1990s. That it could lose any award other than maybe Best Shipwreck to TITANIC is a travesty that will take years for thoughtful moviegoers to forgive.
The Phantom
(1996)
A Wonderful Pulp Adventure
2 June 1999
Though taken, almost literally, from the comic strip, this wonderful film comes across more as a pulp magazine adventure, a delightful period piece with a noble hero, spunky heroine, great primary and secondary villains, and some breathtaking stunts and location shots. Treat Williams makes a marvelous villain, and James Remar, an underrated actor, plays his henchman, an Indiana Jones gone wrong. Catherine Zeta-Jones is the villainess, and Billy Zane seems to have been born to play The Phantom. Nice cameos by Patrick McGoohan and a New York cabbie. I said it once, but it's worth repeating: fabulous stunts. Well directed, well paced, a triumph of adventure film-making.
The Shadow
(1994)
It coulda been a contender...
2 June 1999
With a cast like this, where Sir Ian McKellen gets 5th or 6th billing, and with the money that was put into this, The Shadow should have been a lot better. Personally, I wish they'd stuck with Walter Gibson's Shadow from the pulps -- who did NOT have the power to cloud men's minds, and for whom Margo Lane was an infrequently-used agent rather than a girlfriend -- but the real problem is that the film's emotional center is ice cold. Alec Baldwin doesn't radiate warmth on good days, and the film makes no attempt to show his metamorphosis from sadistic killer to vigilante superhero lawman, so the audience, which has probably never encountered The Shadow before, has no reason to sympathize with him. This unbalances the entire film; it's hard to sit through 2 hours with a hero you don't care for. A good film, but it could have been much better. Check out THE PHANTOM to see this kind of thing done right.
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
(1985)
Half and half
2 June 1999
The first half of this film -- the part with Bartertown, Thunderdome, etc -- is brilliant, not just a repeat of THE ROAD WARRIOR but a totally new concept, thoroughly fleshed out. The second half, with the lost children, isn't as good -- and, more to the point, doesn't quite mesh with the first half, despite Miller's attempts to tie it all together at the end. Still, it's well above average in a genre that has increasingly come to believe (wrongly) that special effects are more important than plot and character.
Turkey
2 June 1999
The first two films were fine, mindless summer fun with great special effects. This one is a turkey from start to finish. The audience may forgive Darth Vader for killing all those trillions of people because he's Luke's father -- but who is going to forgive the scriptwriter?
E.T.
(1982)
When Dumber Films Are Made...
2 June 1999
This is the most intellectually offensive big-budget science fiction movie I've ever seen. I write science fiction for a living (check the bookstores), and if I ever tried to get away with this kind of drivel, I'd be out of work. Example: E.T. can levitate -- but if he levitates to reach his ship at the start of the movie we have no movie, so he only seems able to levitate after he's been left behind. Example: The mother walks through a kitchen strewn with empty beer cans and doesn't notice them. What mother of a teen-aged kid (or younger) would do that? Example: E.T. dies for no known reason, and then comes back to life, also for no reason. The film is so filled with plot holes and logical flaws, and is so emotionally manipulative, that Spielberg hasn't yet finished paying his penance, even with SCHINDLER'S LIST and SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.
Prince of the City
(1981)
Lumet's Best
2 June 1999
Easily Sidney Lumet's best film, as well as Treat Williams' best performance. A powerful film about how police corruption grows from good intentions, and the price a well-intentioned cop must pay to get straight. The best film of 1981.
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior
(1981)
Pure Excitement
2 June 1999
Brilliantly conceived and directed with not much of a budget, THE ROAD WARRIOR is as exciting a film as any made in the 1980s. An absolutely classic, with a solid performance by Gibson and a brilliant supporting job by Bruce Spence as the pilot.
The Gods Must Be Crazy
(1980)
Brilliant Fable
2 June 1999
This is a warm-hearted, hilarious, brilliant fable, one of the handful of great fables ever set to film. From the initial premise to the conclusion, Jamie Uys never takes a wrong step, and his leading man is a remarkable physical comedian.
Tim
(1979)
A superstar in the making
2 June 1999
TIM was the first time I saw Mel Gibson. You didn't have to be a genius to know this kid was going to grow up to be a superstar. Handsome, and an excellent actor, he plays a retarded young man in this sweet and moving (and very unusual) love story.
A Little Night Music
(1977)
Total Travesty
2 June 1999
Sondheim's A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC is one of the great stage musicals. It is also one of the worst film musicals. The most obvious culprit is Liz Taylor, who never could sing and seems to have forgotten how to act. Equally culpable is Harold Prince, who directed the show brilliantly on Broadway, but managed to turn the film into unfair competition for the Sominex people despite having the services of Len Cariou, who won a Tony for the part on Broadway, and the immensely talented (and wasted) Diana Rigg.
The Wind and the Lion
(1975)
One of the very best
2 June 1999
This is one of the very best adventure films ever made. The direction and photography are outstanding, Connery is fine, Bergan actually gives a believable performance, and Brian Keith is outstanding in the best portrayal of Teddy Roosevelt ever put on film. Great score, too. No, it didn't quite happen this way historically, but who cares? It's great entertainment, the best thing John Milius has done, and easily ranks among the top dozen films I've seen.
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