A Shock To The System - 1990 - USA

A Shock To The System - 1990 - 7/10

 
Graham loses an expected promotion to a young upstart.
Irritated, but what can he do?
That was before he “accidentally” sends a panhandler to his death.
And, supposedly, once you kill, subsequent ones become easier.
How true.
And Graham resumes his climb up the corporate ladder.
Caine wonderful as the ruthless shark, in diabolically funny film.
(Profit seemed to borrow heavily from this.)

Fatal Termination - 1990 - Hong Kong

Fatal Termination - 1990 - 6/10
AKA - Chi se da Feng Bao  //  赤 色 大 風 暴

 
The insanity of Hong Kong cinema.
Moon Lee clutching tight to the hood of a speeding car, while a stuntman holds a kicking, screaming, terrified child by the hair!
A Lebanese terrorist needs to smuggle a crate of guns, over 1000, with a stopover in Hong Kong.
Most of the Customs agents have been bribed, save for a few righteous souls.
Police know something is afoot, but they keep getting outflanked.
Confusing plot, characters who muddle about, interspersed with action sequences.
Until the last third of the film.  Then, buckle up.
The crazed car sequence above, a fight through towering shipping crates, combat between cars, helicopters, grenades, rockets.

The Reflecting Skin - 1990 - Canada

The Reflecting Skin - 1990 - 7/10

 
The heartland, late 1940’s, young friends Seth, Kim and Eben idle away the summer.
They especially enjoy tormenting the English Rose transplant.
Seth’s mother is neurotic and unpredictable, harsh even.
His father reads a vampire pulp, which fires Seth’s imagination to the point he believes a neighbor is one.
Highly stylized film shot from the boy’s point of view.
His house and parents are browns and grays, rust and dust.
While the outside world is deeply saturated colors.
Darker concerns, not caught by the child, is his troubled brother, back from WWII.
And a long, black Cadillac.
A visual feast for the arthouse crowd.  Casual crowd, you’ve been warned.

Night Angel - 1990 - USA

Night Angel - 1990 - 3/10

 
Out of the oozing swamp she emerges.  Then, into negligees and onto power brokers.
Grade-D erotic thriller overlaid with succubus tropes, masked with a Lilith persona.
She slithers her way to Siren Magazine where she intends to pervert a mass readership to wickedness.
Actually, my encapsulation makes more sense than this inept attempt.
No one can act (why is Karen Black in this?), relying on facial grimaces, smirks and double-takes.
Low-light, softcore romping, latex prosthetics, and a script penned by a poodle.
Near the conclusion, there is a whacked out demonic orgy with effects and costumes that is imaginative.
If you must.  English subs = https://subsource.net/subtitle/night-angel-1990/english/10057734

La Femme Nikita - 1990 - France

La Femme Nikita - 1990 - 7/10

 
Nikita is a drug addict, and, accidentally, a cop killer.
Clandestine operation offers a deal: live, but you work for us.
She is cleaned up, trained, and emerges as a very stylish assassin.
First and best of a plethora of lethal femme flicks.
This one has style to burn, as well as emotional hooks.
Anne Parillaud is outstanding.  Remade as the tepid Point Of No Return.

Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams - 1990 - Japan

Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams - 1990 - 7/10
AKA - Yume  // 夢

 
Eight short films by Kurosawa.  Gorgeous to look at, some are better than others.
A young boy disobeys his mother and is banished until repentance.
“The Blizzard” is a riff on the legend of the Snow Ghost.
The futility of war appears in “The Tunnel”, another ghost tale.
For Van Gogh fans, “Crows” is a delightful tale, as an observer wanders into a series of paintings.
My favorite, and the only episode I revisit often is the “Village Of The Watermills.
Serene meditation on simplicity and harmony, shunning modern busyness.

Heaven And Earth - 1990 - Japan

Heaven And Earth - 1990 - 7/10
AKA - Ten to Chi to  // 天と地と

Sweeping epic of the multiyear conflict between warlord Takeda and local daimyō Kagetora.
Ambition versus protection.  One wants to conquer and unify Japan, the other safeguards his area.
Unfamiliar places and persons, along with shifting alliances, I simply rolled with.
My version is interspersed with English narration by a classic mumbler.
A huge draw for this, is that this is pre-CGI.  Thousands of extras, 800 horses.

 
After skirmishes and feints, the final battle is a doozy.
Thirty minutes of full bore action, often chaos.
Watching the generals shift formations, alter strategy, improvise.
Confusing at times, yes.  Yet admirable for the high reach.

The Vampire Family - 1990 - Soviet Union

The Vampire Family - 1990 - 6/10
AKA - Semya Vurdalakov

 
The newspaper photographer is renowned for capturing gruesome scenes.
Next assignment, the small village where most of the residents have died or fled.
It is remote, primitive, and the last household is superstitious.
The dead don’t stay dead.  They return within nine days.  Hungry, no, make that thirsty.

 
Visibly dark film manages to be claustrophobic and eerie.
The city guest is out of his depth, but he makes an ideal observer.
Looking without grasping.
The film is not remotely slick, in fact it is incoherent at times.
Nevertheless, the otherness of the place, along with the forbidding suspense. is chilling.

The Best Hotel On Skid Row - 1990 - USA

The Best Hotel On Skid Row - 1990 - 6/10

 
“Life in here is an ode to the low-income blues.”
Rooms at the Madison are $8.20 a night.  No hot plate.  Coin-op TV sets.
Or you could crash in the all night movie house for $2.50.
Cheaper?  Sleep in the alley.
Profiles of a few tenants.  Where they came from, what they left behind, how they live now.
Some are resigned, a few clutch pipedreams.  Such is life.
Narrated knowingly by Charles Bukowski.
Ideal double bill for this is It Was A Wonderful Life from 1992.

Dick Tracy: The Noir Edit - Fanedit

Dick Tracy: The Noir Edit

The 1990 film remains a powerful example of style over substance.
The set design, primary color scheme, makeup, songs, all top flight.
Story though?  Originally meant for Disney, shifted to Touchstone as it was deemed too adult.
Nevertheless, this is still a cartoon.
Fanedit by Wakeupkeo intends to transform this into a Noir is intriguing, though I suspect Tracy harks back to gangster films of the 1930’s rather than post WWII Film Noir.
Straight off, the “look” of high contrast black and white is outstanding.

 
Using Miles Davis themes from “Elevator To The Gallows” darkens the mood immediately.
More would have been better, though I grasp dialogue interference.
The sound is a swaggering 5.1.  Crank those bullet scenes, boys.
For all the trims and cuts, the narrative remains a problem.
This is a kiddee film.  Violent, but aimed at juveniles.
Noir was always aimed at adults, with hard boiled themes.

 
The Kid is insufferable.  Al Pacino’s Big Boy is a ranting buffoon.
Blame the source, not the faneditor.
This is a good, alternative view, of a disappointing movie.

Afterthought.  There is an actual Noir story buried in Dick Tracy, although one would have to subvert the original pitch.
This would run about an hour, jettison the Kid, many of the goons, Tracy’s cops.
Typical of Noir, there is a femme fatale, smart plan, overreach, rotten end.
The stripped down story?  That of Breathless.

Dick Tracy - 1990 - USA

Dick Tracy - 1990 - 6/10

 
Tracy and cohorts take on Big Boy Caprice and his associates.
Distracting the sides are Tess Trueheart, the Kid, and Breathless Mahoney.
Eye-popping set design, amazing color scheme, blazing bullets.
All underwhelmed by a white bread script that serves Disney, rather than the comic strip.
The result is akin to a violent, live action cartoon.  A triumph of style over meager substance.
The 90’s witnessed a lot of Pulp inspired movies.  This was one of the first and one of the poorest.
Coulda, shoulda.  I’ve watched this for years, floored by the photography, cringing at the “family values”.
Beatty OK, Pacino hamms it up, Madonna steals everything in sight.

Total Recall - 1990 - USA

Total Recall - 1990 - 7/10

 
Get your ass to Mars.
Construction worker Quaid suffers recurring nightmares.  Wife and coworkers keep a worried eye on him.
Nevertheless, they fail to notice when he visits an implant outlet, and buys the memory of a vacation.
Then all hell breaks loose, and he is pursued across the city by gun happy agents.
So where does he go?  Naturally, the fourth planet.
Based loosely on Philip K. Dick’s novel, this is a 90’s action film on steroids.
Verhoeven’s rendition is over the top and constantly entertaining.
Sinister villains Michael Ironside and Ronny Cox, and for Sharon Stone, a breakout role.
For me, sadly, this was the last Schwarzenegger film I really liked.

Truly, Madly, Deeply - 1990 - UK

Truly, Madly, Deeply - 1990 - 7/10

 
As in, do you love me truly, madly, deeply?
When cellist Jamie dies, partner Nina is inconsolable.
Would that he could return.
Only then, well, fulfilled dreams are seldom what one expects.
Juliet Stevenson and Alan Rickman totally believable as characters, as a couple.
Wonderful little film, haunting, poignant, about the flame of love that burns and burns.
Although living with a spectre has limitations.
The sun ain't gonna shine anymore.

Arachnophobia - 1990 - USA

Arachnophobia - 1990 - 6/10

 
Oliver Douglas moves from New York to Hooterville … oops, wrong story.
Dr. Ross moves his family from the metropolis to rural California.
He doesn’t blend with the locals, though family does fine.
Worse, by far, is a spider infestation, and he has a phobia of arachnids.
Wickedly funny horror comedy, bolstered with a strong cast, and plenty of cobwebs and spiders.
Not to mention John Goodman as the exterminator, in an over-the-top role that feels patently real.
Spiders, mmm, if you suffer a “thing” about spiders, there are a lot of spiders.

Life Is Sweet - 1990 - UK

Life Is Sweet - 1990 - 6/10

 
Lo, the pipedreams of the common lot.
Andy, restaurant cook, buys a beat up caravan, hoping to turn it into a gourmet wagon on wheels.
Meanwhile, best mate Aubrey opens a cafe tribute to Edith Piaf, Regret Rien.
Add two dysfunctional teenage daughters, and a chuckling Fate.
Understated comedy (British) scores in one amusing or inept situation after another.
Because this is a Mike Leigh film, I was bracing for a message theme.
Marvelous gem of hope amidst Life’s weeds.

A Tale Of Springtime - 1990 - France

A Tale Of Springtime  - 1990 - 7/10
AKA - Conte de Printemps

 
First installment of Éric Rohmer’s four seasons quartet.
Journalist is away on assignment, and his girlfriend cannot abide living in his messy, dirty apartment.
She meets an exuberant younger female at a party and spends the night in the girl’s flat.
The younger girl is unhappy with the golddigger attached to her father.
The girl’s matchmaking attempt is blatant.
What always intrigues me with French fare is how individuals stroll themselves into such situations.
The women circle and spar throughout - the men are barely seen.
Well composed film, packed with nuanced conversations, yet an air of resignation may put some viewers off.

A Woman’s Revenge - 1990 - France

A Woman’s Revenge - 1990 - 5/10
AKA - La Vengeance d'une Femme

 
Closet drama pitting two women, wife and girlfriend, of deceased husband / lover.
Whose fault?  Who ought to bear guilt?  How much suffering suffices?
Psychological story starts OK, and holds interest for an hour.
Then it seems to slow.  Conversations are repetitive, themes regurgitated.
Of the characters, any 13 year old would have tired of “the game” and walked.
Feels like a play, or a bloated infection.

Berkeley In The Sixties - 1990 - USA

Berkeley In The Sixties - 1990 - 7/10

 
Caveat.  Documentary is about Berkeley political protest and unrest.
NOT the “Summer Of Love” city, San Francisco.
Released in 1990, aging participants recall the rise and demise of campus activity 25 years earlier.
Genesis was in demonstrations against HUAC, police over-response, escalating confrontations.
Well arranged materials deliver an organized history from campus speakers to People’s Park to Panthers.
Enthusiasm for heady, early days is contagious.
Likewise, regrets and brutal honesty about mistakes that led to the collapse.
25 years seems a good time to look back.  No telling how many of those interviewees are around or have their mental faculties, now 50 years on.

Darkman - 1990 - USA

Darkman - 1990 - 6/10

 
My introduction to Liam Neeson, thirty years ago.
He had been in other films (eg: Excalibur), but this was his first starring actioner.
Neeson harrowing as vengeance driven scientist squared off against the murderous Larry Drake and his trusty cigar cutter.
Sam Raimi's comic tendencies now come off as silly and distracting. Darkman came between Evil Dead 2 and Army Of Darkness.
Those two were horror comedies, Darkman was more violent and should have thrust straight for the jugular.
Definitely a series that could use a reboot.
Neeson could also replay the role, much harder, more diabolical.

Two Evil Eyes - 1990 - Italy

Two Evil Eyes - 1990 - 5/10
AKA - Due Occhi Diabolici

Two story anthology, based loosely on Edgar Allan Poe.
The first directed by George A. Romero, the second by Dario Argento.
As the wealthy husband dies, his adulterous wife and her lover (the doctor, really?) drain his bank accounts.
Romero’s resembles a TV episode, the narrative waddles like a penguin in the Sahara.
Effects, what effects?  Even the makeup is rubbish.
The second story, Argento’s half, is superior technically and storywise.

 
A crime photographer (modern version of Weegee) disapproves of his girlfriend’s new black cat.
That does not stop him from using the feline as a prop (cat lovers, beware).
The plot includes a witches coven, dismemberments, gallows humor.