Email Author Arnold Wayne Jones

1995 Stories by Arnold Wayne Jones

• Less is Moor

  published December 28, 1995

  In an age when the British Royal Family is more of a sick joke than it is a necessary monarchical body, it would seem to follow that many of... More >>

• A tale of two Tricky Dicks

  published December 21, 1995

  It's comforting to think of leadership as an innate ability among certain men and women, a talent much like any other, such as playing the... More >>

• Loose ends

  published December 14, 1995

  Heat, writer-director Michael Mann's heavy-hitting crime drama, has some eye-catching images, a wonderfully ambiguous mood, and numerous detailed... More >>

• Bored game

  published December 14, 1995

  It's the old dilemma: Spectacle vs. substance--which do you choose for a movie? Ideally, you choose both--even if in unequal doses. ... More >>

• The road to self-pity

  published December 7, 1995

  I wasn't much of a fan of Sean Penn's first effort as a writer-director, The Indian Runner. The film, a mood piece about a man's return from... More >>

• Too much, too late

  published December 7, 1995

  As Sabrina opens, a woman's voice purrs in breathless tones: "On the north shore of Long Island there was a big house--a castle almost," and it's... More >>

• Dry brush

  published November 30, 1995

  Although ostensibly a film, Carrington, about painter Dora Carrington (Emma Thompson) and her decades-long platonic love affair with writer Lytton... More >>

• Time is not on your side

  published November 30, 1995

  Nick of Time begins with the type of set-up that should be the makings of high drama: The young daughter of drab businessman Gene Watson (Johnny... More >>

• Lucky 007

  published November 23, 1995

  What can you say about James Bond that hasn't already been said about Ted Bundy? He's charming and reckless, well-traveled and intelligent, but... More >>

• Paradise lost

  published November 23, 1995

  In Milton's Paradise Lost, as God casts him out of paradise, Lucifer declares, "Better to reign in hell than serve in heav'n," a sentiment not... More >>

• Politics as usual

  published November 16, 1995

  The first time I saw Annette Bening was in Valmont, Milos Forman's adaptation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses. She played Madame de Merteuil, a part... More >>

• Ghost in the machine

  published November 9, 1995

  If you aren't already familiar with the sound a Theremin makes, I'm not sure I can describe it to you. The Theremin was the first electronic... More >>

• A man for all seasons

  published November 2, 1995

  In the 1980 Woody Allen film Stardust Memories, a Martian descends upon the troubled hero Sandy Bates. Sandy is a movie director in crisis, full... More >>

• A movable feast

  published October 26, 1995

  As Feast of July opens, we are introduced to a young woman named Bella (Embeth Davidtz) as she hikes across the rugged hillside of southern... More >>

• The lost generation

  published October 26, 1995

  How's this for a movie plot: two unlikely friends - one a responsible, buttoned-down dud, the other a bewildered, manic slacker - experience... More >>

• Stop making sense

  published October 19, 1995

  Editor's note: With this issue, Arnold Wayne Jones, a Dallas attorney and writer, joins the Observer as a regular contributor and film... More >>

• Adultery as fashion accessory

  published October 19, 1995

  A Roland Joffe film just wouldn't be a Roland Joffe film without a flaming cart rolling uncontrollably through the town square; I'd swear there... More >>