An excellent future awaits Mankind -- provided a couple of dim-witted yet good-hearted high school dudes can pass history. To this end, they are given the means to travel through time and collect historical figures like Beethoven and Billy the Kid for an awesome finals presentation. Fortunately, the movie is a lot smarter than its titular characters (who would appreciate that word, titular) and delivers its biggest laughs with situation and dialogue (and the impeccable delivery of Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves). Fades noticeably in the second half, however, as writers Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon can find little for the famous personages to do (though there is one priceless moment with Beethoven in a music store). With George Carlin as a guide from the future and former Go-Go's guitarist Jane Wiedlin as Joan of Arc. Followed by Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991).
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An excellent future awaits Mankind -- provided a couple of dim-witted yet good-hearted high school dudes can pass history. To this end, they are given the means to travel through time and collect historical figures like Beethoven and Billy the Kid for an awesome finals presentation. Fortunately, the movie is a lot smarter than its titular characters (who would appreciate that word, titular) and delivers its biggest laughs with situation and dialogue (and the impeccable delivery of Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves). Fades noticeably in the second half, however, as writers Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon can find little for the famous personages to do (though there is one priceless moment with Beethoven in a music store). With George Carlin as a guide from the future and former Go-Go's guitarist Jane Wiedlin as Joan of Arc. Followed by Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991).
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**** Basically Dudley Moore doing a drunk act for 97 minutes, but it's an awfully funny act. He plays a super-rich playboy (emphasis on the "boy") whose family has decided to cut him off from his $750 million inheritance unless he marries the woman of their choice. Then he meets a penniless waitress (Liza Minnelli) and falls in love. The excellent supporting cast, especially Minnelli and Geraldine Fitzgerald as Arthur's ruthless grandmother, is topped by John Gielgud, whose sarcastic yet infinitely mature Hobson, Arthur's old English gentleman valet, grounds Arthur and the entire film. Gielgud snagged an Oscar for his performance, as did the theme song, "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can do)," performed by Christopher Cross. Director/writer Gordon died the next year, at 44. ** High school stud (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) bets he can turn an outcast (Rachel Leigh Cook) into the prom queen in six weeks, but doesn't count on falling in love with her. Teen romantic comedy aims no higher than the built-in appeal of the premise, nearly sabotaging that modest goal with uninspired dialogue and a meandering storyline. Not helped by the main supporting characters, who include an obnoxious actor (Matthew Lillard) and a rather tame bitch (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe). Prinze, however, comes off as better than the material. Written by R. Lee Fleming, Jr. and, though uncredited, M. Night Shyamalan. Sarah Michelle Gellar is seen briefly as a student in the high school cafeteria. **** Mae West is ultimate bad girl Lady Lou, the singer in a Gay Nineties saloon that stands next door to a church mission run by a very young Cary Grant. He wants to save Lou's soul; she wants to corrupt his. Meanwhile, a girl tries to commit suicide, a counterfeiting ring kicks into operation, a criminal escapes, and a woman is stabbed to death. All in just 66 minutes. Given all that happens, you might think the movie is fast-paced, but it isn't really until the very end. On the other hand, it doesn't need to be: West is racy enough on her own. She's intelligent, witty, poised, and buiguilingly self-confident, and the film is as bawdy as it is delightful. The shortest movie ever to be nominated for Best Picture. ** Vaguely anti-war novel about Colonel Hudson Kane, who comes to a California mansion as a famous psychologist tasked with "curing" its nutty Air Force inmates, among whom is the astronaut who flaked out prior to America's first mission to the moon. Kane, however, doesn't much act like a psychologist and Cutshaw, the astronaut, doesn't appear to be entirely batty. The last of three comic novels Blatty wrote before The Exorcist, and a particularly lazy one at that, relying for its humor on the antics of a group of people who are either insane or pretending to be. Interesting nevertheless if read as an absurd blueprint for The Exorcist: all the obsessions that led Blatty to write his most famous novel are present here -- from the simple love of movies to the coexistence of evil and a benevolent God; everything, in fact, including a discussion of possession and exorcism. Readers of The Exorcist will note that Blatty even uses an astronaut in both. *** Romantic comedy starring Deborah Foreman as a high school girl of the upper middle-class San Fernando Valley who falls for a punk kid (Nicolas Cage) from Hollywood, jeopardizing her social status and friendships. Sounds mundane, but is actually smartly directed, funny, and consistently entertaining, even if some of its ideas are only half-formed. Foreman is fine, but it's Cage who sets the tone with an Elvis-like smile that is impossible to resist. With Lee Purcell as a Mrs. Robinson-type mother whose attempted seduction of a Valley boy is a comic highlight. **** Investigative reporter Irwin Fletcher, while working undercover to expose drug operations on a California beach, is approached by a wealthy man with an unusual offer: he wants Fletch to kill him. Comic mystery based (loosely) on Gregory Mcdonald's novel works on its own more obvious level, with Chevy Chase giving an ingratiatingly funny performance as Fletch. Plenty of laughs and a legitimate mystery to hold it all together. Strong supporting cast including Tim Matheson, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, Joe Don Baker, and Geena Davis in a small role as Fletch's assistant. Forgettably followed by Fletch Lives in 1989. *** Genial hit-and-miss parody, aimed rather more at the Universal Frankenstein films of the 1930s than Mary Shelley's book. Gene Wilder plays the grandson of Victor Frankenstein, who overcomes the shame of his famous forebears (he pronounces his name "Fronkensteen") when he discovers Victor's notes and realizes he can reanimate dead tissue, ultimately creating his own "monster" (Peter Boyle). Marty Feldman and Teri Garr assist. Very funny in spots -- Gene Hackman's turn as a lonely blind man is a particular highlight -- but the humor is so compartmentalized, much of it either works for you or it doesn't. Black and white. *** Likable comedy starring Andy Griffith as Will Stockdale, a Georgia hillbilly drafted into the Air Force whose boisterous naivete makes life miserable for his complacent commanding officer. Originally a novel by Mac Hyman set during World War II, the book was updated to a peace time setting for a television adaptation and later a Broadway play, both written by Ira Levin (of Rosemary's Baby fame) and starring Griffith. Don Knotts also appears (as he did on Broadway) as the officer in charge of conducting manual dexterity tests on new recruits. Episodic and overlong yet unpretentious, with an undeniably charming performance by Griffith. |
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