My Boyfriend’s Back
My Boyfriend’s Back 1993. Directed by Bob Balaban, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Andrew Lowery, Traci Lind, Bob Dishy, Mary Beth Hurt, Cloris Leachman. Shot here in Austin and nearby Round Rock under the far better title of Johnny Zombie, this sophomore effort from the previously brilliant Balaban (remember Parents?) takes the notion…
American Heart
American Heart 1992, R, 113 min. Directed by Martin Bell, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Jeff Bridges, Edward Furlong, Lucinda Jenney, Don Harvey. Under Seattle’s sorrowful skies, an ex-con struggles to build a clean life with a 14-year-old son in tow. Their life is one of rent-by-the-week flophouses, mattresses on the floor, cab…
Tropic of Cancer
Tropic of Cancer 1970. Directed by Joseph Strick, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Rip Torn, Ellen Burstyn, Phil Brown, David Bauer, Laurence Ligneres. Based on the once highly controversial novel by Henry Miller (it was banned as obscene in the U.S. after its publication in Paris in 1934), this obscure, 23 year-old, X-rated…
Heart and Souls
Heart and Souls 1993, PG-13, 104 min. Directed by Ron Underwood, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Robert Downey Jr., Charles Grodin, Kyra Sedgwick, Elisabeth Shue, Tom Sizemore, David Paymer, Alfre Woodard. Heart and Souls is a pleasant enough little ensemble piece that suffers mostly from a lack of clear direction. It lurches between…
Searching for Bobby Fischer
Searching for Bobby Fischer 1993. Directed by Steven Zaillian, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Joe Mantegna, Laurence Fishburne, Joan Allen, Max Pomeranc, Ben Kingsley. Bobby Fischer is not so much a character in this movie as a metaphorical presence, a symbol of the search for excellence, the search for the ineffable, the search…
The Last Butterfly
The Last Butterfly 1991, PG-13. Directed by Karel Kachyna, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Tom Courtenay, Brigitte Fossey, Freddie Jones, Linda Jablonska, Daniel Margolius. From the award-winning Czech director of The Ear comes this relentlessly depressing — albeit powerful — film which manages to weave together mime, Nazis, and the story of the…
Neo-Tokyo
Neo-Tokyo 1987. Directed by Karel Kachyna, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Tom Courtenay, Brigitte Fossey, Freddie Jones, Linda Jablonska, Daniel Margolius. Originally created in 1989, this offbeat collection of animated Japanese shorts is a strange hybrid: two separate and distinct films, one of which actually contains three disparate stories, the other carrying on…
The Meteor Man
The Meteor Man 1993. Directed by Robert Townsend, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Robert Townsend, Robert Guillaume, Marla Gibbs, Eddie Griggin, Sinbad, Bill Cosby. Aaaiiieee! What the hell was Townsend thinking? From the director of the brilliant Hollywood Shuffle and the not quite perfect Five Heartbeats comes this steadfastly mediocre tale of a…
