WILLIAM PETER BLATTY Bil’s rating (out of 5): BB. USA, 1990. Morgan Creek Entertainment. Screenplay by William Peter Blatty, based on his novel Legion. Cinematography by Gerry Fisher. Produced by Carter deHaven. Music by Barry De Vorzon. Production Design by Leslie Dilley. Costume Design by Dana Lyman. Film Editing by Peter Lee-Thompson, Todd C. Ramsay. William Peter Blatty takes the franchise over as both…
Category: 1990
Roger Corman’s Frankenstein Unbound (1990)
ROGER CORMAN Bil’s rating (out of 5): BB. USA, 1990. The Mount Company. Screenplay by Roger Corman, F.X. Feeney, based on the novel by Brian Aldiss. Cinematography by Armando Nannuzzi, Michael Scott. Produced by Roger Corman, Kobi Jaeger, Thom Mount. Music by Carl Davis. Production Design by Enrico Tovaglieri. Costume Design by Franca Zucchelli. Film Editing by Mary Bauer, Jay Cassidy. Roger Corman returns…
RoboCop 2
BBB.5 (out of 5) Paul Verhoeven’s masterful science-fiction drama is given a sequel that, as continuations of magnificent action films go, ain’t half bad. The Detroit that Peter Weller‘s half-human, half-cyborg crimefighter was invented to clean up has gotten worse in the three years since the last film, with the police force on strike and the city taken…
Hidden Agenda (1990)
KEN LOACH Bil’s rating (out of 5): BBBB. United Kingdom, 1990. Hemdale, Initial. Screenplay by Jim Allen. Cinematography by Clive Tickner. Produced by Eric Fellner. Music by Stewart Copeland. Production Design by Martin Johnson. Costume Design by Daphne Dare. Film Editing by Jonathan Morris. Cannes Film Festival 1990. Toronto International Film Festival 1990. A lawyer (Brad Dourif) and a former documentary filmmaker (Frances McDormand) are investigating allegations of…
Close-Up (Nema-ye Nazdik) (1990)
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI Bil’s rating (out of 5): BBBBB. Iran, 1990. Kanun parvaresh fekri. Screenplay by Abbas Kiarostami. Cinematography by Ali Reza Zarrindast. Produced by Ali Reza Zarrin. Film Editing by Abbas Kiarostami. One of the smartest and most emotionally moving films in the Kiarostami canon, this incredible mixture of documentary and dramatic recreation hits depths that will linger with you for days. Its…
Hamlet (1990)
BBBB.5 (out of 5) Mel Gibson is excellent in the title role of the much-depressed Danish prince whose recent loss of his father has put him into a quandary: is it possible to forgive his mother (Glenn Close) for immediately following the death of her husband with the marriage of her husband’s brother? When his father’s…
Ghost
BBB.5 (out of 5) Audiences always love a good romance, and when it’s spiced up by a nifty murder mystery and some supernatural plot elements, it’s not possible to believe that you have anything but a winner. This extremely enjoyable melodrama was released to ecstatic audience response, and along with Pretty Woman ruled the box…
Navy Seals
BB (out of 5) A group of highly trained lugs in the Navy’s SEALs division, the most rigorously trained soldiers in the entire American army, go on a mission to save victims of a downed helicopter in a vaguely Middle Eastern country. They notice that the bad guys are in possession of some very dangerous…
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
BB (out of 5) Tom Stoppard’s delightful play has lost much of its wit and energy in its transformation to the big screen. It centers around Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two minor characters in Shakespeare’s Hamlet whose fate is quickly done away with by the Prince of Denmark’s swift skills of survival. In this story, however, Hamlet…
Metropolitan
BBBB.5 (out of 5) Whit Stillman took the art house by storm with this witty and intelligent social drama. It takes place in the world of New York debutantes of the 1970s (though attempts at period authenticity are lax), with a group of socialites gossiping about each other for two hours. The protagonist of the…
Vital Signs
B.5 (out of 5) A gaggle of pretty, overly charming med students are gathered together for this shallow hospital drama. Adrian Pasdar is the son of the accomplished doctor who has to achieve everything his father did and more. He also falls for Diane Lane, who is busy having a relationship with an older student. Jack…
The Field
BBBB (out of 5) Exceptional drama based on the play by John B. Keane, and Jim Sheridan’s follow-up to his Oscar-winning My Left Foot. Richard Harris is superb as “Bull” McCabe, whose family has been farming a gorgeous, grassy field for generations, its lustrous green colour the result of their lugging seaweed from the ocean and…
