Race the Sun
Race the Sun 1996, PG, 100 min. Directed by Charles T. Kanganis, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Halle Berry, James Belushi, Casey Affleck, Eliza Dushku, Anthony Ruivivar, Steve Zahn, J. Moki Cho, Dion Basco. You might as well call this movie Hot Runnings. Once again, a troop of misfits band together to accomplish…
Buckminster Fuller: Thinking Out Loud
Buckminster Fuller: Thinking Out Loud 1996, NR, 100 min. Directed by Karen Goodman, Kirk Simon, Narrated by Morley Safer, Voices by , Starring John Cage, Arthur Penn, Philip Johnson, Merce Cunningham, Spalding Gray. Upon hearing the name Buckminster Fuller, certain phrases spring instantly to mind: geodesic dome, Spaceship Earth, Dymaxion car. A major theoretical thinker…
Little Indian, Big City
This inexplicably popular French comedy concerns a stockbroker who discovers that he has a 13-year-old son who was raised in the jungle, whom he now brings to Paris. It was remade in the U.S. with Tim Allen in 1997 as Jungle 2 Jungle. These Americans – quel idiots! Don’t they know that something so funny…
Halfmoon
Halfmoon 1995, NR, 90 min. Directed by Frieder Schlaich, Irene Von Alberti, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Paul Bowles, Samir Guesmi, Khaled Ksouri, Sondos Belhassen, Veronica Quilligan, Sam Cox, Said Zakir, Mohammed Belfquih. Three short stories by Paul Bowles are brought to the screen in Halfmoon. United by their common themes of revenge…
World and Time Enough
World and Time Enough 1995, NR, 92 min. Directed by Eric Mueller, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Matt Guidry, Gregory G. Giles, Kraig Swartz. Mark (Guidry) is an artist and a radical activist. Joey (Giles) is a garbage collector who brings home stray artifacts he culls from the junk he picks up. They…
A Family Thing
A Family Thing 1996, PG, 109 min. Directed by Richard Pearce, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Robert Duvall, James Earl Jones, Irma P. Hall, Michael Beach, Regina Taylor, Grace Zabriskie. Picture this. A white man in his 60s, born and bred in Arkansas, learns on his mother’s deathbed that she is not his…
Diabolique
Diabolique 1996, R, 108 min. Directed by Jeremiah Chechik, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Sharon Stone, Isabelle Adjani, Chazz Palminteri, Kathy Bates, Spalding Gray, Allen Garfield. Yet another mediocre remake of a brilliant French film. The original, directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot in 1955, is a taut nail-biter that takes its cues from Hitchcock…
Girl 6
Girl 6 1996, R, 105 min. Directed by Spike Lee, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Theresa Randle, Isaiah Washington, Spike Lee, Debi Mazar, Jennifer Lewis, John Turturro, Madonna, Quentin Tarantino, Naomi Campbell, Ron Silver, Richard Belzer, Halle Berry. A beautiful mess. Lee’s take on the phone-sex industry opens with a shot of Girl…
The Element of Crime
The Element of Crime 1984, NR, 104 min. Directed by Lars Von Trier, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Michael Elphick, Esmond Knight, Jerold Wells, Me Me Lei, Preben Lerdorff Rye, Ghota Andersen. The Element of Crime, von Trier’s first feature-length film (originally released in 1984), is proof-positive that the Danish director has been…
Last Summer in the Hamptons
Last Summer in the Hamptons 1995, NR, 105 min. Directed by Henry Jaglom, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Victoria Foyt, Viveca Lindfors, Jon Robin Baitz, Savannah Bouchér, Roscoe Lee Browne, André Gregory, Nick Gregory, Melissa Leo, Martha Plimpton, Ron Rifkin, Diane Salinger, Brooke Smith, Kristoffer Tabori, Holland Taylor, Roddy McDowall. To appreciate a…
