When is a kid’s film not for kids? When it uses child characters to portray universal adult dilemmas, when one simple but philosophically profound problem propels all the action, and when a witty script attempts to capture the foibles of grownups in all their childish (or, more accurately, unchildlike) guile…
Among my most cherished television memories are the outrageous movie parodies shown almost weekly on the old Carol Burnett Show. Burnett’s staff had a genius for writing those bits–distilling a two-hour movie down to its essential characters, events, and motivations, then extracting from what was left 15 minutes worth of…
friday march 22 Sorrow and Solace: Every American military action since the mid-’70s–Kuwait, Panama, Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia–is examined up, down, and sideways by the press and politicians for any sign of infection by that most dreaded of American viruses–Vietnamitis. Everyone wants to know if the latest deployment of troops…
Movies hold a special, sentimental place in Giuseppe Tornatore’s heart. His second feature, 1988’s Cinema Paradiso, was the loving counterpoint to more somber films like The Last Picture Show. By providing escape from the dangers and despair of rural living in post-war Italy, moviegoing served two functions: one as entertainment,…
I recently made up with my girlfriend, Cherry Dilday–for the 37th time–and we were on our way to catch One Night Stand at the triple-screen Astro Drive-In on Loop 12 in Dallas. I was thinking how it was really weird that nobody has ever used the title One Night Stand…
Social scientists and cultural engineers are, even as you read, racking their brains to determine why sketch comedy has reached rock bottom. Could it be that amusing situations and snappy lines are finite resources that have been exhausted? Or are all the good writers busy working on The Larry Sanders…
The movies of Spike Lee must present something of a nightmare to the mainstream liberal mind. He’s the most confrontational, radical-left political filmmaker of his time, and a personal friend of the most powerful pair of Michaels in entertainment (Jackson and Jordan) to boot. As a director, he glides comfortably–and…
thursday march 14 Ampersand Dance/Theatre: The title of the latest multimedia showcase by the Fort Worth-based Ampersand Dance/Theatre is nicely populist for a troupe which dabbles in decidedly noncommercial media–“Better Than A Movie and Cheaper Than A Cowboys Game” (a two-part statement to which we reply: “We’ll see about that,”…
Henceforth, herewith and therefrom, we have the final week of Drive-In Academy Award nominations. Yay, saith the Lord, there are too many Hubbies. If you haven’t voted yet, I don’t wanna hear about it. Just get to work. OK, gimme the envelope. The You’ve-Made-Too-Many-B-Movies Award * Adrienne Barbeau, Bram Stoker’s…
George Bernard Shaw had a neat response for those critics who thought his plays were talky affairs full of nothing but words. “My plays were all words,” he pronounced, “as Raphael’s paintings are all paint.” As fond as Shaw was of words in general, it was the last word he…
Conventional wisdom says that the Coen Brothers–Joel, who directs, and Ethan, who produces–can do no wrong artistically. Of course, that’s not true. Barton Fink, with its arrogant antihero wittily subverting the idea that the creative process can take the place of real-life experience, was a generally dense and often obtuse…
There are two theories behind the Hollywood mistreatment of Julia Roberts’ latest vehicle, Mary Reilly: Either the studio, TriStar, shot several endings because the film sucked, or because its fitful, mischievous tone wouldn’t suit Julia Roberts fans. The movie was pulled from its original release date last summer and subjected…
Mike Nichols’ new film, The Birdcage, has most of the trappings of a typical domestic comedy: Val (David Futterman) returns from college to announce to his father, Armand (Robin Williams), that he’s engaged to the daughter of a right-wing U.S. senator (Gene Hackman). The senator is embroiled in a controversy,…
thursday march 7 Dawn Upshaw: Critics have fallen all over themselves to sing the praises of American-born soprano Dawn Upshaw ever since she won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in 1984. Terms like “sweeping romanticism” and “spine-tingling” are tossed around as easily as Nerf balls, but the word no…
I always wanted to use the word “penultimate” in a sentence, and this is the penultimate week of the 1996 Drive-In Academy Award nominations, better known as the Hubbies–the only awards that never honor Emma Thompson under any circumstances. And the nominees are… Best Geek Acting * Penny Arcade, Hellroller,…
Should a play, like a poem, not “mean” but “be”? Thomas Lanier “Tennessee” Williams posed that question in his preface to Camino Real, in response to the widespread bafflement that greeted the play when it was first produced in 1953. Williams concluded that drama does not enjoy the same lack…
No he don’t I Feel Alright Steve Earle Warner Bros. Records A country boy who busted into the honky-tonk swinging an electric guitar like a longhair and spitting out his junkie lyrics like a Springsteen who never even heard of the promised land, Steve Earle fucked himself up but good…
I’m no fan of mob justice, but in the name of good filmmaking, I say American audiences should campaign to get the American citizenship of Barbet Schroeder revoked. The filmmaker began his career 27 years ago in France, making a series of deliberately obscure personal dramas–two of which featured soundtracks…
Trends in movie themes are peculiar things. Sometimes they don’t manifest themselves in predictable or expected ways, but they’re there right on the screen, looking you straight in the face, begging to be noticed. Case in point: Less than a week after Dallas’ first and only showing of Abel Ferrera’s…
thursday february 29 Ad-Libs Ninth Anniversary: Having any kind of business survive for nine years is an impressive accomplishment, but when you consider said enterprise is an improvisational comedy troupe, that’s an even bigger deal. When Phil Larsson and his buddies started Ad-Libs in 1987, the live-comedy performance field was…
It’s Ladies Week in the ongoing announcement of the 1996 Drive-In Academy Award nominees, and somewhere in this column you will find our favorite Hubbie category (as if I have to tell you which one that is). Get out your pencils, and gimme the goldurn envelope. Best Actress * Maria…
Jackie Chan, the most popular screen actor in the world, doesn’t make movies. He is his movies–a one-man film industry, kicking and spinning and leaping his way into cinemas all over the planet. For more than 15 years, he’s helped define and develop the Hong Kong film community, appearing in…
