Movie Renter's
Guide
Current Movies - Part 17 - January, 1997
By John E. Johnson, Jr.
Ratings: | ||
Extraordinary | ||
Good | ||
Acceptable | ||
Mediocre | ||
Poor |
"A Time to Kill", Warner Brothers,
1996, Color, Filmed in Panavision and presented at measured
aspect ratio (laserdisc) 2.37:1, Surround Sound, AC-3, 2 Hr 30
min, Rated R; Sandra Bullock, Samuel Jackson, Matthew
McConaughey, Kevin Spacey; In Canton, Mississippi, a couple of
drunken white men rape a young black girl and are caught. The
girl's father, Carl Lee Hailey (Jackson) shoots and kills the two
men in the court house. He is charged with murder, and both Judge
Omar Noose (Patrick McGoohan) and District Attorney Rufus Buckley
(Spacey) are running for office, so they in the mood for a quick
conviction. Hailey is defended by Jake Brigance (McConaughey)
with the help of Harvard law student Ellen Roark (Bullock) who
comes down from Boston because she is against the death penalty.
Meanwhile, the brother of one of the men who was shot calls the
Ku Klux Klan together to do some rather unpleasant things to
Brigance et al. The story is riveting (John Grisham novel), the
acting superb, and the ending is satisfying.
Entertainment: | |
Video Quality: | |
Audio: | (eerie sounds and great nightime crickets via AC-3) |
Photography: | |
Violence: | rape, shooting, beatings, man burned alive |
Sex: | no |
Language: | the "S" word |
"The Island of Dr. Moreau", New
Line Cinema, 1996, Color, Filmed spherically and presented at
measured aspect ratio (laserdisc) 2.32:1, Surround Sound, AC-3, 1
Hr 36 min, Rated PG-13; Marlon Brando, Val Kilmer, David Thewlis,
Fairuza Balk; Edward Douglas (Thewlis) is found adrift and picked
up by a man named Montgomery (Kilmer), and he is taken to an
island where strange experiments are being performed on animals,
by Nobel Laureate Dr. R.G.V. Moreau (Brando). Douglas meets a
strange girl named Aissa (Balk) who promises to help him get off
the island. Dr. Moreau and Montgomery prevent his escape, because
they plan to experiment on him as well. In my opinion, this is
one of the worst films Brando has ever made. The scraps off the
cutting room floor from "Planet of the Apes" would have
made a better motion picture. The contact lenses for the
"animals" were very unique, and that's about all there
is here.
Entertainment: | |
Video Quality: | |
Audio: | |
Photography: | |
Violence: | yes |
Sex: | no |
Language: | the "F" and "S" words |
"A Family Thing", United Artists,
1995, Color, Filmed in Panavision and presented at measured
aspect ratio (laserdisc) 2.27:1, Surround Sound, AC-3, 1 Hr 49
min, Rated PG-13; Robert Duvall, James Earl Jones; Earl Pilcher,
Jr. (Duvall) is a good old Arkansas kind of guy, running his
father's equipment rental business. His mom passes away and
leaves him a letter explaining that she is not really his mother,
but rather, a black woman was. Earl is devastated by the news,
because he is prejudiced, and he travels to Chicago to meet his
half brother Raymond Lee Murdoch (Jones). They don't really care
for each other at first, but, with the help of Aunt T. (Ray's and
Earl's Aunt), they find that being brothers transcends the past.
This is really a fine movie, with great actors and script. A
"feel good" film.
Entertainment: | |
Video Quality: | |
Audio: | |
Photography: | |
Violence: | yes |
Sex: | no |
Language: | the "F" and "S" words |
"Striptease", Castle Rock
Entertainment, 1996, Color, Filmed spherically and presented at
measured aspect ratio (laserdisc) 1.81:1, Surround Sound, 1 Hr 57
min, Not Rated; Demi Moore; Armand Assante, Ving Rhames, Robert
Patrick, Burt Reynolds; Erin Grant (Moore) was working for the
FBI, but since her former husband Darrell (Patrick) got into
trouble with the law, she loses her job. A judge awards custody
of her daughter to Darrell, and she takes a job as a stripper to
pay for legal fees so that she can get her daughter back.
Congressman David Dilbeck (Reynolds) becomes obsessed with Erin,
and his colleagues resort to murder in order to protect his
reputation. Lt. Al Garcia (Assante) and Erin's bodyguard (Rhames)
keep her from ending up in the river. This film is what's
sometimes called "Dark Comedy" as it tries to make fun
of the dark side of human nature. However, it is clearly just a
vehicle for Moore's excellent physique, displayed within a
tenuous story line.
Entertainment: | |
Video Quality: | |
Audio: | |
Photography: | |
Violence: | yes |
Sex: | nudity |
Language: | the "F" and "S" words |
"Escape from L.A.", Paramount
Pictures, 1996, Color, Filmed in Panavision and presented at
measured aspect ratio (laserdisc) 2.27:1, Surround Sound, AC-3,
THX, 1 Hr 41 min, Rated R; Kurt Russell, Stacey Keach, Peter
Fonda, Cliff Robertson; In 1998, a 9.6 earthquake turns Los
Angeles into an island, and the U.S. isolates all morally
irresponsible people there. New inmates have a choice of
repenting and being electrocuted on the spot if they wish. In
2013, the President's daughter steals a satellite weapon control
system and joins forces with Cuervo Jones in L.A., where they
plan to launch an attack against the U.S. The President
(Robertson) hires Snake Plissken (Russell) to retrieve the
satellite control device. Snake doesn't particularly want to do
it, but unfortunately, he has been injected with the Plutoxin 7
virus, and unless he gets the antidote within eleven hours, he
will die very unpleasantly. So, in he goes. The original film,
called "Escape from New York" was mediocre, and this
follow up is worse. The tired old fires in the garbage cans,
people in wild outfits, wading through sewers, riots on the
streets, etc., are simply not enough to carry a movie any more.
Entertainment: | |
Video Quality: | |
Audio: | |
Photography: | |
Violence: | explicit |
Sex: | no |
Language: | the "F" and "S" words |
"Independence Day", Twentieth
Century Fox, 1996, Color, Filmed spherically and presented at
measured aspect ratio (laserdisc) 2.27:1, Surround Sound, AC-3,
THX, 2 Hr 25 min, Rated PG-13; Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff
Goldblum, Mary McDonnell, Judd Hirsch, Randy Quaid;
Affectionately known as ID4, this film surprised everyone with
its billion dollar revenues. On July 2, the earth finds out we
are not alone, when huge ships hover over major cities. U.S.
President Tom Whitmore (Pullman) and his staff leave the white
house just as scientist David Levinson (Goldblum) decodes alien
radio messages indicating unfriendly intent. On July 4, as human
populations are reduced, pilots from around the world gather to
attack the mother ship. The attack must be timed perfectly with a
software virus that is to be introduced into the alien computer
system, unlocking their protective shields. A drunken crop
duster, Russell Casse (Quaid) provides the final heroic measure.
Probably all of our readers have seen the movie at the theater,
or have already rented (or purchased) it. But if you have not
seen it, you should. It is great fun.
Entertainment: | |
Video Quality: | |
Audio: | |
Photography: | |
Violence: | yes |
Sex: | no |
Language: | the "S" word |
Rental movies viewed but not formally
reviewed:
"The Cable Guy":
(The studios that were outbid for this pathetic script were the
lucky ones.)
"Captives":
(The beginning is just too dreary and slow.)
© Copyright 1995, 1996, 1997
Secrets of Home Theater & High Fidelity
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