response 225 of 290:

Aug 27 17:21 UTC 1998

I myself was a teenager in the very early 1960's, the era in which
"Hairspray" is set; I can relate personally to some of the things
that it satirizes. Great music, too. An exceptionally likeable film.

response 227 of 290:

Aug 28 02:58 UTC 1998

Definitely! I love how Ricki is supposed to be unattractive... she's 
big, with even bigger hair, and gets the Elvis look-alike, the guy all 
the girls are crazy for. Gotta love the Hefty Hideaway plugs. I laugh 
every time I think of Deborah Harry's hairdo that concealed the bomb.
And Sonny Bono could still be married to Cher for all I care now, he 
has my undying devotion for being in that film. ::Pause for moment of 
silence::

response 229 of 290:

Aug 29 01:31 UTC 1998

An earlier cinematic version of the sinking of the Titanic, 
A NIGHT TO REMEMBER from 1958, is being broadcast on the 
cable channel American Movie Classics at 0200 Eastern
Friday night/Saturday morning.  There may be other 
broadcasts.
 
I'm watching an early broadcast now; it's an interesting 
comparison to the James Cameron film.

response 231 of 290:

Aug 29 05:15 UTC 1998

The Governess was rather good, pretty, interesting, and left us with some
research inteh costume area to do..

response 233 of 290:

Aug 29 14:03 UTC 1998

"The Hanging Garden" is a disturbing film with an unusual
story line - what would happen if someone hadn't committed
suicide?  I'm still thinking about it but I already know
the choice to die wasn't necessarily wrong. 

It's a Canadian film now showing at The Michigan.

response 235 of 290:

Aug 29 18:24 UTC 1998

Sounds like this one supports the opposite point of view?

response 237 of 290:

Aug 30 14:09 UTC 1998

"The Fifth Element" -- A

Wish I'd seen this earlier.  Very funny sci-fi, made by a French director (but
it's all in English, Bruce Willis, etc).  The non-typical visual look and
costumes are incredible, esp. the way details are revealed.  In one part, we
see the "bad guy thugs" wearing typical sci-fi bad guy thugs type costumes,
basically another adaption of the black jacket look.  Later on, we see them
walking away from the camera, revealing that the uniforms include black rubber
shorts with hairy legs!  Very funny, and this sort of thing happens a number
of times.  I'd rate this up there with Terry Gilliam's "Brazil" or the
Syvester Stallone movie "Demolition Man".  (Demolition Man *was* a typical
Stallone action film... except that it was also a very funny sci-fi film at
the same time, with lots of creative detail)

response 239 of 290:

Aug 31 03:17 UTC 1998

SHALL WE DANCE? (A) -- The focus on body-movement in this movie
eventually sensitizes you to the movements of the characters to
the degree that you start to think they're *all* dancing, all
the time.  Then it hits you that they *are* all dancing, all the
time, from the positioning and repositioning of a group of
workers in an office to something as simple as two people meeting
on a staircase and doing the "After you.  No, after *you*" dance.
The device transforms what is essentially a sentimental made-
for-TV movie, suitable for Hallmark specials, into a brilliantly
inventive piece of work.  Quite amazing.  Above all, the main
character's transformation from inhibited businessman to daring
ballroom dancer is made completely believable by the actor who
plays him.  The thought of coordinating the dancee steps with
the emotions is straight out of 1950s Hollywood.

response 241 of 290:

Sep 2 23:21 UTC 1998

I rate Shall We Dance B+.  The pace could have been picked up slightly, but
I thought the casting was really something.  I wish and wish that directors
would give more time to the feet of dancers.  The theme of marital infidelity
was handled so differently from the recent portrayal of adulterous
relationships as signifiers of something passionate and desireable.

response 243 of 290:

Sep 3 15:28 UTC 1998

Saw Good Morning Vietnam for the first time yesterday.  Quite entertaining,
and it actually made me think about the conflict as well.  Some good points.

response 245 of 290:

Sep 4 03:47 UTC 1998

It's a superb example of the brilliance of Robin Williams.  In one movie he's
both hilarious comedic one-liner actor and a dramatic artist at the same time.

response 247 of 290:

Sep 6 02:10 UTC 1998

Some recent rentals:

TITANIC (still a solid A) -- I remember thinking when I saw it in the 
theater what a sumptuously visual movie this is, and that there are 
images in it I'll never forget: the ship upending and breaking in two 
and the stern falling hugely back into the sea; the shelves of 
never-used plates tilting and sending their contents to the hard floor; 
Kate Winslet on her back on a drifting headboard, pale and frozen, 
looking up at the stars and singing a little song at them.  There is one 
image that tops them all, though: seen from below, the dead body of a 
young woman hangs suspended in the submerged ballroom, which is still 
lit from above by the ship's lights, her limbs sprawling gracefully, her 
voluminous and complex nightgown floating around her.  Where have I seen 
that before?  A Victorian Ophelia?  A Renaissance angel?  Anyway, it's a 
movie made by someone with an artist's eye for such things.  To think of 
throwing such an image into the film -- the sheer heedless extravagance. 
Cameron loves details.  [When I was a kid, my favorite cartoonist was a 
man named Wallace Wood, and what I loved most about his drawings was the 
fantastic amount of detail he filled them with, all more or less 
functional.  You could spend fifteen minutes on each frame.  That sort 
of thing.]

SENSELESS (C) -- It starts off with a potentially hilarious premise, and 
it does run with it for a while, but then it kind of falls apart.  The 
tacked-on ending, wherein the main character, who accomplishes all kinds 
of miracles due to a sense-enhancing drug, is required to spend a year 
earning the job of his dreams the hard and normal way, is, 
paradoxically, as phony as can be.

DREAM FOR AN INSOMNIAC (B+) -- So self-consciously aimed at the 20-30 
generation that I almost felt as if I were eavesdropping.  Jennifer 
Aniston is stuck playing a version of Rachel again, as she seems to be 
stuck in all her movies.  (There's even a Central Perk-y coffee shop 
where everyone works or meets.)  The movie does grab your attention, 
though, and eventually you actually start to care about the characters. 
I guess I should admit the ending is "contrived" or "too pat."  Didn't 
bother me.  Plus, Ione Skye is adorable.  (For you above-it-all 
cineastes, Rachel is the character Jennifer Aniston plays on the NBC 
Thursday night sitcom "Friends," and Central Perk is the name of the 
coffee house she used to work at.  It used to be one of my favorite
TV shows, but it's become an institution and lost its edge.  It still
has its moments, though.)

response 249 of 290:

Sep 7 00:02 UTC 1998

SLUMS OF BEVERLY HILLS (C) -- Cute is places, but it left me with
a "So what?" impression when it was over.  Marisa Tomei was qiute
good.  Maybe there's life after Vinnie after all.