JOEL SILBERG Bil’s rating (out of 5): BB.5. USA, 1984. Golan-Globus Productions. Story by Charles Parker, Allen DeBevoise, Screenplay by Charles Parker, Allen DeBevoise, Gerald Scaife. Cinematography by Hanania Baer. Produced by Allen DeBevoise, David Zito. Music by Michael Boyd, Gary Malkin. Production Design by Ivo Cristante. Costume Design by Dana Lyman. Film Editing by Larry Bock, Gib Jaffe, Vincent Sklena. This silly…
Category: 1984
Dreamscape (1984)
JOSEPH RUBEN Bil’s rating (out of 5): BBB. USA, 1984. Zupnik-Curtis Enterprises, Bella Productions, Chevy Chase Films, Weintraub Entertainment Group. Story by David Loughery, Screenplay by David Loughery, Chuck Russell, Joseph Ruben. Cinematography by Brian Tufano. Produced by Bruce Cohn Curtis. Music by Maurice Jarre. Production Design by R. Clifford Searcy, Jeff Staggs. Costume Design by Johanna Ray. Film Editing by Richard Halsey. Dennis Quaid plays…
American Dreamer (1984)
RICK ROSENTHAL Bil’s rating (out of 5): BBB. USA, 1984. CBS Theatrical Films. Story by Ann Biderman, Screenplay by David Greenwalt, Jim Kouf. Cinematography by Jan de Bont, Giuseppe Rotunno. Produced by Doug Chapin. Music by Lewis Furey. Production Design by Brian Eatwell. Costume Design by Michael Kaplan. Film Editing by Anne Goursaud. Made at the height of the popularity of eighties concept comedies, this…
Full Moon In Paris (Les Nuits De La Pleine Lune)
BBB (out of 5) Pascale Ogier plays an indecisive woman who lives in the suburbs with sporty, reliable Tchéky Karyo but feels the need to keep a pied-a-terre in the city. She is up front with her boyfriend about this, insisting that she loves him but wants a piece of her life for herself, but director Eric Rohmer’s wry sense of…
Fear City
BBBB.5 (out of 5) Tom Berenger is terrific as a former boxer who acts as a companion to small-time New York City hood Jack Scalia in this stylish thriller by Abel Ferrara. Their business is running a talent agency that is actually a front for managing strippers, which comes under threat when a mysterious mad man begins…
Supergirl
BB.5 (out of 5) America’s favourite superhero actually comes from an entire race of superior beings, his one cousin a delightful young lady who comes to Earth when the power source for her planet, a tiny orb that spins in the palm of your hand, escapes her home and travels through the galaxy and lands in…
Police Academy
BB.5 (out of 5) The milestone series in cinematic idiocy got its start with this inane but admittedly humorous comedy. After the mayor of the city announces that such important factors as gender, weight and intelligence are no longer criteria for admission into the police force, a whole gaggle of idiots and goodhearted fools find…
The Element Of Crime (Forbrydelsens Element)
BB.5 (out of 5) You’ve rarely seen a more visually intoxicating film than this feature debut by Lars von Trier, but his aesthetic powers are undone by a scattered plot that only touches on the fringes of comprehensibility for two hours. A former police officer (Michael Elphick) goes under deep hypnosis while visiting a doctor…
Tightrope
BBBB (out of 5) Clint Eastwood plays a New Orleans detective who has quite the case up against him: someone is going around killing ladies of the night, some of whom our hero has enjoyed kinky dalliances with in the past. Is it possible that the murderer is targeting Eastwood personally? Enter Genevieve Bujold as a rape…
Irreconcilable Differences
BB.5 (out of 5) Divorce between a couple is one thing, but what do you do when a little girl tells you she wants to divorce her parents? That’s the conundrum a judge faces at the beginning of this mostly entertaining but eventually sloppy comedy, with Drew Barrymore announcing she would like the legal custody her…
Marlene
BBBB (out of 5) The life, career, myth and mystery of the great Marlene Dietrich are examined in this cinematic fan letter by Oscar-winning actor Maximilian Schell. Schell puts together a vortex trip through the early years of Dietrich’s life before showing us the many iconic images that made her such a subject of fascination for…
The River (1984)
BBBB (out of 5) The life of a rural family and their trials and tribulations are captured in this wonderful film that rises above soap opera trappings through steady performances and great direction. Sissy Spacek and Mel Gibson are trying to raise their family on their farm, but natural disasters and unpredictable circumstances cause them hardships and…
