Despite the bright, pretty images we see on the screen, the film business is filled with dark, disturbing stories, tales of broken hearts and broken dreams. Like a car wreck, we can’t help but look, our curiosity primed and ready for the worst. Read the rest of this entry »

24 HOUR WOMAN (R)

What is it about Rosie Perez’s voice that makes me want to shove hot pokers in my ears? Here’s a genuinely funny and engaging comedy-drama that is almost impossible to sit through thanks to Perez. Read the rest of this entry »

Something fowl is happening on the Tweedy Chicken Farm, and the hens don’t like it. Birds of a feather may flock together, but the ingenious stars of “Chicken Run” have something more daring in mind. Thanks to the pluck of one hen named Ginger, the chickens are about to stage one of the most daring escapes since Steve McQueen jumped his motorcycle over a fence in “The Great Escape.” Read the rest of this entry »

1990 was a good year for screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin. He won an Oscar for “Ghost,” and penned this hallucinatory nightmare for director Adrian Lyne (“Fatal Attraction”). Rubin’s fascination with the afterlife began when he wrote the screenplay for “Brainstorm” in 1982. Read the rest of this entry »

BODY, THE (PG-13)

All talk and no bite, the new religious thriller “The Body” feels like a double cross. It promises much more than the filmmakers are willing to deliver, and when all is said and done, you feel like you’ve been taken for a ride. Read the rest of this entry »

Filled with memorable performances and lots of heart, “Finding Forrester” is a perfect convergence of star and material. Sean Connery is absolutely splendid as the crusty Pulitzer-prize winning author William Forrester, who turned his back on society after publishing just one book. Written by Mike Rich, whose screenplay gained attention when it was submitted to a script contest, “Finding Forrester” is a solid, entertaining film about what happens when two very different people are brought together by the same passion: writing.
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A funny and telling thing happened while watching “Cast Away” the other day. There were a couple of instances where Tom Hanks’ character, a FedEx systems engineer named Chuck Noland, becomes injured in the water and starts to bleed. Immediately everyone around me tensed up and collectively muttered “Oh no, sharks.” Read the rest of this entry »

Poor Los Angeles. Two nasty earthquakes in one week (see “The Last Warrior” review below). In this overly familiar made-for-cable disaster film, a group of people on a subway train are trapped in an underground tunnel when Los Angeles rocks and rolls. Even though director Jean Pellerin milks as much suspense out of the script and characters as possible, anyone who remembers those cheesy ABC Movie of the Week disaster movies from the early seventies and “Daylight” with Sylvester Stallone will recognize every plot point. Read the rest of this entry »

ALL REVVED UP (R)

An interesting cast can’t seem to shift this offbeat drama into gear. Lili Taylor stars as Rachel, who is so incensed that she is ripped off by a crooked garage owner that she recruits her friends and neighbors to get even. It’s a simple story, and that seems to be the problem. Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to John Larsen’s “Light Views, Reviews & Previews,” your one-stop entertainment location on the Internet. I created the column in 1974 as editor of the Hueneme High School newspaper “The Shield,” Read the rest of this entry »