BLACK MASK 2: CITY OF MASKS (R)
(Columbia-TriStar)
DOUBLE WHAMMY (R)
(Lion’s Gate)
EYE SEE YOU (R)
(Columbia-TriStar) Read the rest of this entry »

I was way too young to appreciate “Gone with the Wind” the first time I saw it in a theater. All I knew was that it was long, and someone got mad and burned down a town. Ah, sweet, innocent memories of my youth. That was then, this is now, and after having watched “Gone with the Wind” for the first time in years, I have fallen in love with the film all over again.
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It’s really difficult to enjoy the new “Star Wars” film without remembering all that came before. A virtual smorgasbord of visual splendors, “Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace” manages to be both original and familiar, which creates a beast with more conflicts that the one stirring inside Darth Vader. Read the rest of this entry »

For an ant, life is no picnic. As part of a colony, there’s a lot of work to be done. Food has to be gathered. Tunnels have to be dug. The queen has to be tended to. There’s no room for individuality. Try telling that to Z, a worker drone who dreams of a better life. Z (voice of Woody Allen) may swing the axe all day in the tunnels, but he’d rather swing all night at the nightclub for worker ants. That’s where Z and his best friend Weaver (a bigger, stronger ant) hang out after a hard day’s work. That’s also where Z meets and falls in love with Princess Bala (Sharon Stone), who goes slumming with her girlfriends one night as a kick.
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Tradition! That’s what “Fiddler on the Roof” is all about. The Jerry Bock-Sheldon Harnick-Joseph Stein musical made it’s Broadway debut in 1964, and by the time it reached the big screen in 1971, had gone on to become of the most beloved stage musicals of all time. The stage role of Tevye, the Jewish dairyman trying to marry off his five daughters, was originated by Zero Mostel. Read the rest of this entry »

When Steven Spielberg was first approached to direct “Amistad,” he passed because he felt that the story was larger than a theatrical film could hold. He should have trusted his first instincts. “Amistad,” even at two-and-a-half hours, seems thin. Despite having been directed by the master of manipulation himself, “Amistad” is remotely distant and devoid of emotion. Read the rest of this entry »

Money. It’s as intoxicating as power and can be just as dangerous in the wrong hands. It makes the world go round. It makes people do strange things. People will go to the ends of the earth for it, and in desperation, some people would kill for it. Money is both a seductress and a siren. It lures you with the promise of financial stability and happiness, and in the right hands, can bring both. In the wrong hands, it can bring about ruin and despair. It’s like that proverbial toss of the coin. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.
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