Dead Sleep (1990)

It took me three nights to finish Dead Sleep, the 1990 Ozploitation (Australian exploitation) movie because, you guessed it, I kept falling into a dead sleep. But I like Linda Blair and didn't mind resuming the movie the next night(s). It's not very complex or very thrilling or very surprising in its outcome but I like Linda Blair and she is the star so...

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Never Been Kissed (1999)

Never Been Kissed is a sweetly, intelligent throwback that never fails to work my tear ducts overtime. Drew Barrymore is adorable as the undercover reporter reliving her high school past; Molly Shannon, David Arquette, Gary Marshall, Octavia Spencer, John C. Reilly, Leelee Sobeiski, and Michael Vartan support admirably. The script recycles plot points from Carrie in a comedic way but they are integrated originally and the film is so effervescently made you can only be charmed.

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The Kongs King (2009, 1976, 1933)

Judging from the most recent remakes of King Kong (1976, 2009) people suck when it comes to animals, and an oil company (1976) / film corporation (2009) removing the big ape for profit and entertainment is horrifyingly sad. Still if you're not an emotional obsessive when it comes to the treatment of animals this might not be an issue - in which case these remakes are watchable with the most recent (2009) being the only one not worthy of having its poster embedded below. 1976 (with Jeff Bridges and a debuting Jessica Lange) is fine - not what its reputation would have you believe - but it's the original (1933), mustering all the naïveté that a pre-code movie can squeeze from Fay Wray, that is still the classic best.

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In & Out (1997)

In & Out is the sweet but somewhat unbelievable coming out tale of a forty year old man in a small Midwest town. A genuinely funny script (by Paul Rudnick) and excellent performances (especially Kevin Kline, Joan Cusack and Tom Selleck) brought bemused tears to my eyes as the end credits rolled. It's not Preston Sturges but it's probably as close as we'll get in this decade.

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For The Boys (1991)

Bette Midler might be playing Bette Midler in For The Boys, the fictional story of USO entertainers Dixie Leonard and Eddie Sparks, but she nails it (as the former) and deservedly received an Academy Award nomination for her work. She sounds great in the many enjoyable musical sequences that pepper the story (using standards covering the film's fifty year span) and is supported by a fine cast (including James Caan as Sparks, George Segal, Melissa Manchester, Patrick O'Neal, Norman Fell and Dori Brenner). The movie is long and the make-up used to age the two stars is not the most realistic but I did find it to be absorbing and more than the sum of these parts.

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The Handmaid's Tale (1990)

Made almost twenty years ago, The Handmaid's Tale is prescient in its depiction of religious extremism and its takeover of a nation. Ultimately though its a barren film adaptation of the Margaret Atwood novel about barren women and the handmaids who procreate for them. Natasha Richardson, Robert Duvall, Faye Dunaway and Aidan Quinn all do a fine job and the film holds interest but it is emotionless.

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Roswell (1994)

Roswell takes an interesting theory about the government coverup of a flying saucer crash and makes it a bore without shedding any light on the actual incident one way or the other. Kyle MacLachlan, Martin Sheen, Dwight Yoakum and a host of well-known faces (if not names) do their best but the film just has no drama. If this story is, in fact, true a documentary would have been a better outlet.

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The Player (1992)

Only Robert Altman could make The Player, a film that has all the elements needed to market a film successfully (suspense, laughter, violence, hope, heart, nudity, sex, happy ending and no reality) but is quirkily unmarketable because it has none of the elements needed to market a film successfully - except big stars in cameos (Cher, Julia Roberts, Harry Belafonte, Sidney Pollack, Joel Grey, Bruce Willis, Sally Kellerman and Susan Sarandon to name a few). Tim Robbins, Greta Scaachi and Whoopi Goldberg are the real actors that spearhead the plot which contains a mystery (that is solved only if you pay real close attention) within a comedy that is not meant to be laugh out loud funny. Reality is so entwined with fantasy though that you can't help getting caught up in Altman's love affair with Hollywood.

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The Ice Storm (1997)

I thought The Ice Storm was going to be a first-rate drama but it all seems very calculated. Sigourney Weaver, Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, et al. turn up the heat on the acting skills like it's an important film but aye, there's the rub - everyone is acting. Too much of that heat definitely melted this ice.

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Resurrection (1999)

Bad casting choices might spoil the outcome of Resurrection for some but it's still a creepy watch (helmed by 80s music video director - yes, Duran Duran - Russell Mulcahy) about a serial killer who is rebuilding the body of Christ for the titular event. Kudos are deserved by executive producer, co-writer and star Christopher Lambert despite his somewhat distracting Schwarzenegger-esque accent. Add a star if you've never seen Leland Orser or Robert Joy in a movie.

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William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (1996)

It's not the anachronism that spoils Baz Luhrman's William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet but the casting of actors that don't understand the cadence of Elizabethan English - and this includes Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes as the star-crossed lovers. Miriam Margolyes as the nurse, Pete Postlethwaite as the priest, and Brian Dennehy as Ted Montague fair best (with a nod to whipper-snapper John Leguizamo as Tybalt) but the film might have been more palletable had Luhrman used modern English or cast actors that have experience speaking Shakespeare's words. It's not a tragedy but it is not a very engrossing watch.

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Fallen (1998)

Fallen is somewhat interesting but lacks the realism a story about demons needs to be successful (as in The Exorcist). The acting is fine but I couldn't help but wondering how Denzel Washington could say the demon's name - Azazel - with a straight face. Perhaps the story's creators are atheist or agnostic because this movie about religion's discarded plays like a movie.

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The Dentist (1996)

The Dentist is squirm-inducing and creepy. Corbin Bernson as the titular lunatic hits just the right notes and the drill used throughout the movie made me close my ears more than once in shivers. It's not the best horror film but it is effective.

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Set It Off (1996)

Set It Off is interesting because it is about four females that rob banks; had the producers hired four males, the script's shortcomings would have been too pronounced. Instead we get good acting from Queen Latifah, Viveca A. Fox, Jada Pinkett and Kimberly Elise in something that starts as a buddy flick and ends...um...not as a buddy flick. Ultimately, it's convoluted and unbelievable.

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Mars Attacks! (1996)

Mars Attacks!, a play on the science fiction movies made in the 50s (I think) might have been good had it been funny. It also might have been good had it been scary. Too bad it's just plain dull.

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Death Becomes Her (1992)

Sorry Goldie Hawn, Meryl Streep and Bruce Willis but taste trumps talent in Death Becomes Her - bad taste that is. The comedy is SO not funny and the story is SO not, even in its fantastical elements, interesting to watch. The special effects are good and the ladies might have had a fun time making the film because of it but, that alone doesn't mean this one is worth the time it took to finish.

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Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997)

I love Romy and Michele's High School Reunion. Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow are blonde and blonder in this adaptation of a play I saw in Los Angeles in 1989 with Lisa Kudrow. It's funny and light, has Janeane Garofalo, Alan Cumming and Camryn Manheim in addition to the titulars, and the 80s music is to die for.

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Bonnie & Clyde: The True Story (1992)

The made-for-television Bonnie & Cyde: The True Story might have the facts correct but it doesn't have the glamour and excitement of its more famous large screen forebear. Betty Buckley steals the show as Bonnie's mother and Tracey Needham as Bonnie is fine (once you lose the memory of Faye Dunaway) but Dana Ashbrook as Clyde seems like he popped off the stage of an 'N Sync concert. Although the first half keeps interest it loses steam towards the end when the most exciting part, their death, is relegated to offscreen status.

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Children of the Night (1991)

Had I ever seen Buffy, The Vampire Slayer I might think Children of the Night is quite like it: a different take on the vampire legend, well made, decent acting and interesting enough to keep you watching. It's also got Karen Black which is a plus. Although it teeters on camp I was surprised at how much I actually enjoyed it - even the poster has camp...I mean, class.

Stonewall (1995)

Stonewall has its heart in the right place which always makes for good viewing. It tells the story of the riot at the Stonewall Inn in New York City, 1969 through the eyes of some well-thought out fictional characters. Excellent acting and great period music add to an engrossing watch which also does well in placing the anointed start of the gay rights movement in historical context.