Email Author Andy Klein

1997 Stories by Andy Klein

• North and south

  published December 25, 1997

  With 1994's Exotica, Egyptian-born Atom Egoyan clinched his claim to being Canada's leading director. His new film, The Sweet Hereafter, a Cannes... More >>

• 007 by the numbers

  published December 18, 1997

  Now that the Japanese Tora-san series--with fiftysome entries in 30 years--has presumably drawn to a close, following the death of star Kiyoshi... More >>

• The odyssey

  published December 11, 1997

  It's hard for anyone under, say, 35 to understand the impact that the so-called French New Wave directors in general--and Jean-Luc Godard in... More >>

• Second time as farce

  published December 11, 1997

  Wes Craven's Scream, which opened almost exactly a year ago, was the surprise hit of an overcrowded Christmas season. In part, the success was a... More >>

• The manic professor

  published November 27, 1997

  First, The Heiress was unofficially remade as Washington Square, then The Big Carnival as Mad City, and The Day of the Jackal as The Jackal. But... More >>

• Four-ring circus

  published November 6, 1997

  Documentarian Errol Morris is by far best known for his 1988 feature, The Thin Blue Line, which is often described as the only film that ever got... More >>

• After the revolution

  published October 30, 1997

  Taiwanese-American director Ang Lee has carved out a place for himself as our leading director of comedies of manners. His first three... More >>

• Respectable street

  published October 23, 1997

  Jennifer Jason Leigh follows up one of her smallest and weakest roles--in A Thousand Acres--with a far more challenging and formidable performance... More >>

• Too much magic

  published October 23, 1997

  The true-life incident of the Cottingley Fairies is so full of possibilities, so thought-provoking and hilarious at once, that it's amazing it's... More >>

• Escape from Indianapolis

  published October 9, 1997

  The '70s were so awash in '50s nostalgia that it's surprising Dan Wakefield's 1970 bestseller Going All the Way is only now turning up in... More >>

• Subverting the Bard

  published September 18, 1997

  Every film adaptation of a preexisting work has its own unique set of problems; in the case of director Jocelyn Moorhouse's A Thousand Acres, the... More >>

• Simple pleasure

  published September 4, 1997

  Welcome to one of the slowest film weekends of the year, second only to the first week in January, when all the classy holiday releases are... More >>

• Leave It to Reruns

  published August 21, 1997

  Time has a way of slipping by when you're not looking, but don't worry: While you're distracted, studio executives are keeping their usual keen... More >>

• Chan do

  published July 24, 1997

  It's no secret that the "new" Jackie Chan releases in the U.S. aren't really new at all. In fact, they're not even showing up in chronological... More >>

• All the Right Moves

  published July 10, 1997

  At first glance, the new Japanese comedy Shall We Dance? appears to be an Asian remake of the Australian hit Strictly Ballroom--but, in fact, the... More >>

• Hurray for Holly-Woo

  published July 3, 1997

  It's late in the day on June 9, and I'm due to talk to John Woo about Face/Off, his new action film with John Travolta and Nicolas Cage. We are... More >>

• That sinking feeling

  published June 12, 1997

  First, the good news: Unlike most action film sequels, Speed 2: Cruise Control is not a mere retread of the original. Now the bad news: Better it... More >>

• Air disaster

  published June 5, 1997

  It wouldn't be completely fair to say that the hits produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer from 1983 through 1996 are stylistically... More >>

• One angry man

  published May 15, 1997

  Sidney Lumet has had enough ups and downs in his long, prolific career that it's never safe to count him out--even after two disappointing films... More >>

• Shoot to thrill

  published April 3, 1997

  Over the past five years, action star Jean-Claude Van Damme has become one of America's leading importers of foreign talent. In 1993, he hired... More >>

• Mountain men

  published March 27, 1997

  Although Russian director Sergei Bodrov has made half a dozen features and won a fistful of awards since the mid-'80s, he is virtually unknown in... More >>

• Abortion for grins

  published March 6, 1997

  Nobody is going to seriously accuse writer-director Alexander Payne of being chickenshit. For his first feature, the hilarious Citizen Ruth, he... More >>

• A bumpy ride

  published February 27, 1997

  In the two decades since Eraserhead, David Lynch has established himself as American cinema's premier surrealist, our own Wizard of Weird.... More >>

• A tale of two towns

  published February 27, 1997

  For his fourth feature, Boyz N the Hood director John Singleton has chosen to re-create the 1923 Rosewood massacre, during which the white... More >>

• Married to the Mob

  published February 13, 1997

  The narrative of Andre Techine's Thieves opens moments shortly after the story's climax. A gangster's corpse is brought to his isolated home; his... More >>