Oleanna (1994)
David Mamet’s play Oleanna gained notoriety by debuting immediately following Anita Hill’s allegations of sexual harassment by Clarence Thomas as he attempted to win a seat on the Supreme Court. Those hearings brought the ideas of perceived sexual harassment to the forefront of mainstream awareness, prompting discussions of the subject in allContinue Reading
Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995)
In the 1970’s, Mel Brooks was responsible for funny films like Blazing Saddles, Silent Movie and Young Frankenstein. They may not have been the greatest movies of that time period, but they made you laugh enough to overlook their obvious flaws. Lately, he’s been dealing in low-brow “comedies” that doContinue Reading
The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996)
Larry Flynt was never a name that I recognized with the immediacy of, say, Hugh Hefner or Bob Guccione. Not that those names incur recognition for everyone, but I will confess to reading at least a few of each of their respective publications. I’d been wanting to see this filmContinue Reading
Fear (1996)
The idea behind Fear is a good one. In fact, it’s so good that it’s been used many times before. Cape Fear, Fatal Attraction, The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, and Single White Female are all variations on the same theme. All of these movies revolve around the principle of introducing a charming, seemingly normal, but soon-to-be-revealed-as-psychoticContinue Reading
Cop Land (1997)
Garrison, New Jersey is a town directly across the river from New York City. Finding a loophole in the clause that says that only transit officers can live outside of the city, NYPD officers looking for a place to raise their families have taken out low interest loans, bought upContinue Reading
Rumble in the Bronx (1996)
Despite being one of the biggest box-office draws in Asia, Jackie Chan had failed to achieve anything approaching modest success here in America until 1996. His first two U.S. backed movies, The Big Brawl and The Protector, were both relative failures. His third attempt to crack the U.S. market wasContinue Reading
Spawn (1997)
Finally, a comic book movie that gets it right. Now, I’ve never been a big fan of the comic book incarnation of Spawn. Not because I didn’t like the character, he just came along after I’d put aside comics for the most part. So, this movie was really my introductionContinue Reading