+++++

Stylish, top-notch thriller, adapted from Thomas Harris' Red Dragon, about a serial killer who murders whole families and the FBI profiler lured out of retirement to catch him. Beautifully directed, and also written, by Mann, who surpasses the novel in several key aspects, most notably by dumping Harris' trick ending and replacing it with an honest climax, while maintaining the suspense and breathless pacing of the book. William Petersen, as Agent Graham, grounds the film nicely, and Tom Noonan makes a formidable and menacing psycho. Brian Cox, in a role later made enormously famous by Anthony Hopkins, plays Hannibal "Lecktor," a captive cannibal with links to the killer; he's not as flashy as Hopkins, but very effective in his own right. Had to be "reappraised" by critics to get the credit it deserves.

++

Another book that isn't nearly as good as the hook. Teenage girl receives note that threatens to expose -- or, worse, to physically make her pay for -- the very serious crime she and three of her friends committed the previous summer. The crime is horrible enough, but the kids' coping strategies are so superficial and routine that one finds oneself almost agreeing with their tormentor -- that these spoiled brats could benefit from a hard dose of reality: they are all more interested in their love lives than what they did that terrible night. If this doesn't quite happen, it is only because the characters aren't compelling enough to provoke much of an emotional reaction either way. With less action than you might expect and a whole lot more lax dialogue than you could ever want. A quick read, though. Revised and reissued in 2010 in order (a) to update the technology and (b) to squelch any sense of history a young reader might have possibly been exposed to. Made into a film in 1997 starring Jennifer Love Hewitt and Sarah Michelle Gellar.

++++

Democratic populist from California is persuaded to run for the United States Senate on the idea that because he can't possibly win, he can say whatever he wants. Then he begins rising in the polls. Written by Jeremy Larner, a former speechwriter for Eugene McCarthy, this wry, realistic portrait of high-stakes political campaigning follows the inexperienced candidate (Robert Redford) and his savvy campaign manager (Peter Boyle) from announcement to election, and offers a behind-the-scenes (and decidedly adult) look at everything in between, things like campaign stops, television advertising, and a debate. Mentions without really examining a number of key issues, which keeps the film from ever becoming terribly partisan. Larner's script, by the way, won the Academy Award for 1972.

++

Sequel starts well, picking up right where the 1978 original left off, then deteriorates into typical slasher fare as babysitter Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) gets taken to the local hospital where Michael Myers kills everyone in sight in order to get to her. Supporting characters (including the always-unpleasant Leo Rossi as a crude ambulance driver and Lance Guest as his good-guy paramedic partner with inexplicable feelings for Laurie) add nothing but the body parts Michael requires to make each killing unique. John Carpenter evidently added more gore to Rosenthal's film in post-production. He should have added more imagination to his and Debra Hill's script. Also starring Donald Pleasance.

+++

Novelization of the original film, credited to Lucas but actually ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster. Foster adds nothing of significance to the film, but doesn’t tinker with the story, characters, or dialogue either, making this an enjoyable, if clearly inferior, alternative. In a far-off galaxy, farmboy Luke Skywalker is swept up in a rebellion against an evil empire led by the fearsome Darth Vader. His allies — mystical Obi Wan Kenobi, tough Princess Leia, cynical Han Solo and Chewbacca, and the robots See Threepio and Artoo Detoo — provide variety and humor in a clockwork plot that delivers lots of action and excitement. A good book in the dicey category of novelizations.

++1/2

Demi Moore plays a pregnant woman who finds a prophecy in the room she's just rented to a strangely quiet and intense man that links her unborn child with the Biblical apocalypse. She is not amused. It might amuse the audience, though, the way this everywoman turns into a major snoop at the drop of a hat, or, later, how she is able to gain entry to a state execution simply by walking through an unlocked door. The movie starts well enough, with mysterious and portentous happenings around the world, yet just when it should have turned inward -- to Moore and her husband Michael Biehn, who are both having to deal with Moore's previous miscarriages and her difficulty keeping the faith for this pregnancy -- it jumps the track and turns Moore's private apocalypse into a war between Christ and the meanie who smacked him one before his death 2,000 years ago. But this is a well-acted film, so it is, at least, watchable throughout -- even if it plays awfully fast and loose with Christian theology.

"How can you take seriously a story in which only Demi Moore stands between us and the end of the world -- and her only ally is Hebrew scholar Avi (Manny Jacobs), who looks and talks like a teen-aged Woody Allen...?" - Michael Wilmington, The Los Angeles Times, April 01, 1988

"Basically 'The Seventh Sign' is the Book of Revelation played out as a paranoid yuppie fantasy -- 'She's Having a Baby' crossed with 'The Omen.' We could call it 'She's Having Rosemary's Baby.'" - Hal Hinson, The Washington Post, April 01, 1988

++

This film has one very cool visual effect and a fun noir comic-book style (even though it was based on a video game), but the story is a mess. Rather than trying to find the logic in the violence, it sees the two as equivalent, so whenever the plot starts to go off the track, the filmmakers simply toss in some more mayhem. Mark Wahlberg plays Max, a cop tortured by the reality that one of the men who killed his wife and baby is still at large. Mila Kunis plays Mona Sax, the gun-toting sister of a woman hacked to pieces in an alley not far from Max’s apartment. The deaths are related, of course, and lead Max to a shadowy group of people who sport wing-like tattoos as protection against a terrible evil. Or something like that. Cue the machine guns.

++++

Outstanding crime thriller about a successful bank heist and its bloody aftermath (not that the heist itself wasn't bloody enough) as the three robbers try to make good their getaway. Doc, the engaging leader of the gang, is cool, smart, suave, resourceful, and ruthless; everyone likes him (likability is his stock in trade). And yet, through some marvelous sleight of hand, Thompson keeps him at arm's length, turning him neither into hero nor anti-hero, positioning him instead for his highly unusual fate, detailed in an ending that segues into near-fantasy and is both horrific and hilarious. Fast-paced, written with confidence, verve, and humor, and hardboiled as hell. Filmed twice, once in 1972 with Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw, then again in 1994, with Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger.

Note: The naval cap worn by the man in the cover painting and anything it might conceivably imply has no relevance whatsoever to this story.

++1/2

Science fiction classic, loosely based on the H. G. Wells novel, about an invasion of Earth from Mars plays better in the memory than on the screen, where we can hack it down to the select few scenes that are its bread and butter. Most of these scenes occur during the first third, when the action is localized to a small California town and the characters still seem to matter. Haskin, however, taking the title too literally, wants to tell a much broader story, evidently believing that mankind's peril will be ours. Of course, it doesn't really work that way, and as the images dance between Washington, D.C., and stock footage of calamity around the world, our titular heroes are reduced to searching for each other in churches throughout Los Angeles. But those early scenes, menacing and mysterious, are indeed good, and the Martian ships never lose their appeal: it’s fun watching them blast humanity to smithereens. With Gene Barry and Ann Robinson, and Lewis Martin as a pastor who doesn't quite make it through the valley of death. Wells' book was also adapted by Steven Spielberg in 2005.

++

Badly directed story of preposterous serial killer (Keanu Reeves) who murders women for no discernible reason other than to feed his incomprehensible obsession with his favorite detective (James Spader). To make things more interesting, Reeves begins sending Spader photos of his intended victims, giving him one day to find them before he strikes. The "time-bomb" antics occasionally work, but Charbanic is always ready with another slo-mo, herky-jerky flashback to put a stop to that. Good cast wasted all around. Also with Ernie Hudson and Marisa Tomei.