Movie Madness!
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| BLOOD AND WINE |
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Jack Nicholson returns to the screen for the third time in as many months in this slightly
laid-back dramatic thriller, which reunites him once again with his old crony, director Bob
Rafelson (Five Easy Pieces). Here, Nicholson is a crafty Florida wine dealer trying to get clear
of mounting debts and domestic trouble by pulling a quick jewelry heist with his crooked poker
buddy Vincent (Michael Caine) and fleeing to Paris with his Cuban mistress (Jennifer Lopez).
They manage to pull off the caper, but before he can get out the door, he's mugged by his enraged
wife (Judy Davis), who flees with her son Stephen Dorff, unknowingly taking the jewels along
in a suitcase. The ensuing series of chases, fights and confrontations is much too rambling to
summon the kind of tension this kind of story requires. Also, though Dorff and Lopez are
nominally given the hero roles, neither of their characters is really likeable enough to root for.
This leaves the formidable team of Nicholson and Caine to carry the show, and the chemistry
between the two is enough to make this one watchable. Both characters are thoroughly rotten
and vicious, yet charming enough that you want to see what happens to them.  1/2
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| METRO |
| Eddie Murphy does a turnaround from his amazingly successful comedy The Nutty Professor by
playing an intrepid San Francisco police detective who specializes in hostage negotiations.
Given this set-up, you'd fully expect to see a lot of scenes of Murphy goofing around in the
manner of his Beverly Hills Cop movies, tricking felons into giving up with his outrageous
shenanigans, much like Bugs Bunny pulling the wool over Elmer Fudd's eyes. However, Murphy
(who ultimately controls his features, no matter which of his relatives is listed in the credits)
unfortunately decides to play things straight, and follows the path of a Dirty Harry cop drama.
What's more, in the few hostage negotiations we see him get involved in, he's completely
unsuccessful in bringing things to any kind of peaceful conclusion, leading me to question why
he was given the job in the first place. Murphy is funny and pleasant in the hero role, and the
film has some first rate action and chase sequences, but we don't see enough personality to make
this any better than the average action feature.
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| STAR WARS (Special Edition) |
| Episode IV: A New Hope |
| There has been quite a bit of controversy raging ever since George Lucas announced his plan to
revamp his original Star Wars trilogy. Some call it blasphemy to take a cherished film classic
and change it in any way. As a longtime opponent of shoddy techniques like colorization, I can
sympathize with this viewpoint. Others have cynically called the plan a slick marketing scheme,
much like so many recent "greatest hits" packages by popular recording artists that include one
or two (usually inferior) new tracks in an effort to draw attention and boost sales. This argument
also has merit - it seems highly unlikely that a twenty year old film, one that is very familiar to
everyone via easy availability on video, would be able to make as much of a splash in theatrical
re-release with only the promise of a remastered print offered to generate any excitement. I'm all
for seeing films in a theater as opposed to video when available, but even I didn't go out of my
way to catch the most recent run of Hitchcock's Vertigo.
And what a vision it is. This is one of those films that changed movies forever, and changed them for the better. It breathed new life into the action/adventure film by simply concentrating on the imagination and keeping a closer eye on the details. I'm sure that Lucas grew up like I did, frustrated that films were rarely able to get close to translating what science fiction and fantasy novels and comic-books accomplished so easily in print. With Star Wars (a project that looked like an incredible long-shot to studio executives) he showed that a a sense of wonder is a strength rather than a handicap, and pointed the way toward a present in which anything in a filmmaker's imagination is possible on film. Every decade or so, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is cleaned, repaired, and even partially
repainted. Unfortunately, Michelangelo himself isn't around for the restoration. While I wouldn't
encourage anyone to fool around with Star Wars after George Lucas' death, I support his right to
do as he sees fit with his works while he is able. And while I agree with those that argue that his
time is better spent creating new works, I also understand the marriage of art and business. The
"special edition" not only generates profits that ensure that further episodes will be made - and
promotes the preservation of these and other classic works - but it just as importantly got Lucas
involved creatively again. I doubt that scanning through a videotape would've done that, or else
he would have continued his work a long, long time ago... Enter for the official Star Wars website. Copyright © 1994-1997 by Virtual Press/Global Internet Solutions. Internet Daily News and its respective columns are trademarks of Virtual Press/Global Internet Solutions. |
But what Lucas has done is really more akin to producing the ultimate Director's Cut. The
past few years have seen the successful re-editing of films like The Abyss and Bladerunner by
their creators. Disney has digitally cleaned and polished every frame of Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs. These releases have been greeted with almost universal praise. It's doubtless
that if Orson Welles had been offered the chance to go back and complete The Magnificent
Ambersons as he saw fit that he would have jumped at the chance. The new material in Star
Wars is not haphazardly included. The "special edition" is much better paced, and almost every
scene plays with more depth and clarity. Every enhancement, every shot that Lucas has added is
a detail that he'd originally wanted to include but could not, and reflects his original vision of
the project.