Email Author Andy Klein

1999 Stories by Andy Klein

• Reel lists

  published December 30, 1999

  Film critics are by nature a sour lot, so it is with truly great pleasure I suggest that 1999 has been the best year for cinema -- certainly for... More >>

• Off the Mork

  published December 16, 1999

  If there's anything that could make me believe in a cruel and vengeful God (or in the existence of the Dark Prince himself), it's the incredible... More >>

• Good buzz

  published November 25, 1999

  Toy Story, the 1995 hit from Disney and Pixar, was not only the first fully computer-animated feature; it was also as brilliantly written... More >>

• On your Fanny

  published November 25, 1999

  The last half-decade has been very good to Jane Austen: Besides Ang Lee's estimable 1995 version of Sense and Sensibility, we've been given... More >>

• Enough is enough

  published November 18, 1999

  Poor old MGM -- the once-golden studio that has been battered and abused by ever-changing ownership and management for nearly three decades --... More >>

• Shoot The Messenger

  published November 11, 1999

  Luc Besson -- director of La Femme Nikita, The Professional, and The Fifth Element -- is not the first name that would leap... More >>

• Playing it Straight

  published November 4, 1999

  And now...a G-rated movie from David Lynch! No, Lynch hasn't lost his mind. He hasn't gone soft in the head. And he hasn't sold out to the... More >>

• Gods almighty

  published November 4, 1999

  Much like the religion that has swirled around the Star Wars trilogy for 22 years, the fanaticism evidenced among American fans of Japanese... More >>

• On-screen violins

  published October 28, 1999

  Wes Craven -- purveyor of fine horror movies, including A Nightmare on Elm Street, Wes Craven's New Nightmare, and the Scream... More >>

• The wedding swinger

  published October 21, 1999

  Since there is no way to talk about The Best Man without eventually invoking the phrase "Spike Lee's cousin," let's just get it out of the... More >>

• Out of sight

  published October 14, 1999

  Steven Soderbergh may have had some rocky times after his 1989 breakthrough with sex, lies, and videotape, but these days he's on a roll.... More >>

• Sweet bird of youth

  published September 30, 1999

  Ah, May-December romance! It's a grand old tradition in movies dating back to 1919's Daddy Long Legs, and it's almost always a male... More >>

• The shtick-up

  published September 30, 1999

  Period films are, in general, not what you would call a commercial sure shot in the current marketplace, unless of course the period in question... More >>

• Drink up

  published September 23, 1999

  There's a long tradition of stories about mysterious drifters who arrive in a small town and either create trouble or catalyze an explosion of... More >>

• Identity crisis

  published September 16, 1999

  Since his TV show ended, Martin Lawrence has gotten more ink for his off-camera life than for his movie career. There's nothing about Blue... More >>

• Lord, almighty

  published September 16, 1999

  Modern word processing has made life easier for screenwriters. After all, there's no need to retype some old classic with your own little changes;... More >>

• Chill, brother

  published September 2, 1999

  It's bad enough when a major studio -- in this case, Warner Bros. -- blows $40 million (or more) on a by-the-numbers film. It's worse when they... More >>

• The play's the thing

  published August 19, 1999

  As a filmmaker, actor John Turturro clearly believes in drawing from personal experience: His directorial debut, the 1992's Mac (which won... More >>

• Sadness on the steppes

  published August 19, 1999

  Joan Chen, director and co-writer of Xiu Xiu the Sent Down Girl, is best known as an actress. American audiences probably identify her most... More >>

• Touch of Orson

  published August 12, 1999

  You don't have to believe in ghosts, Haunting-style, to perceive the specter of Orson Welles hovering about The Big Brass Ring,... More >>

• Broken Jaws

  published July 29, 1999

  It has been 24 years since Jaws changed the face of the film industry and made director Steven Whatshisname moderately well-known, and it's... More >>

• You creep

  published July 29, 1999

  Robert Wise's 1963 version of The Haunting (from Shirley Jackson's novel) has long been considered one of the milestones of the horror... More >>

• Bite me

  published July 15, 1999

  You can tell the first wave of summer blockbusters have shot their wad when the studios start tossing out their second- and third-string films.... More >>

• Bigger, longer, and almost as funny

  published July 1, 1999

  The animated TV show South Park was the big sensation of the 1997-98 season -- or at least as big a hit as a cable channel like Comedy... More >>

• The money shot

  published July 1, 1999

  Run Lola Run is proof that the influence of MTV on feature filmmaking hasn't been all bad. The jagged stylistic excess that dominates... More >>