Movie Reviews from
By John Ruch
© 1999 CM Media, Inc.
1999’s Flicks: The Good, The
Bad and the Overlooked (column, 1999)
Best
Being John Malkovich—1990s postmodern ironics finally turned out a masterpiece in this freewheeling comedy about a loser who discovers a way to possess the mind and body of actor John Malkovich.
Dysfunctional family double-feature—Paul Schrader’s “Affliction” (released in 1998 but not here until February) was dark poetry about the depressing wages of abusive parenting; the Danish film “The Celebration” was the kinetic, heartening (yet not untruthful) follow-up, a thoughtful drama about what happens when the child decides to demand recompense.
Eyes Wide Shut—Stanley Kubrick’s final film, for all its rather minor flaws, was a realist’s repudiation of romantic fantasy and its soul-killing emptiness, and also an optimistic outline for a peace treaty in the war of the sexes. One of the very few films of the year that was truly a work of art.
The Limey—Steven Soderbergh
followed up last year’s sizzling “Out of Sight” with this funny, poignant,
reflective crime tale about a grim British con (Terence Stamp) out to avenge
his daughter’s death in
The Straight Story—Who expected the guy who made “Blue Velvet” to make an inspirational movie about small-town life? David Lynch reminds us what a good filmmaker he really is with this country ballad of a movie about an elderly man’s return via tractor ride to his long-lost brother.
….
Worst
(with apologies to my stunt double, Johnny DiLoretto)
The Astronaut’s Wife—It took me a while to figure out what was supposed to be scary in this utterly incomprehensible thriller about a possessed astronaut and his passive-victim wife. Then I heard Johnny Depp’s ridiculous rockabilly accent.
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me—Mike Myers made a cameo appearance in this first starring role for Starbucks. Wretched product placements meet uninspired toilet humor for truly crass commercialism. Hey, Mike! Shag you!
The Green Mile—Bloated, preposterous, insipid and cute metaphysical “thriller” that is nothing but a collection of suburban euphemisms for matters sexual and racial. The worst three hours I’ve ever wasted in a theater.
The Haunting—As with “Twister” and “Speed 2,” director Jan De Bont brought us another dehumanized special effects movie. Perhaps he’d make a better critic, as this is a virtual essay in everything a horror movie can do wrong.
The Mod Squad—Thank god the Seattle WTO protest came along to put the lie to this, MGM’s epitome of corporate child abuse, which co-opted a socially conscious TV series about rebellious youth into a tale of young, stupid clothes-horses.
….
Overlooked
eXistenZ—Laboring in the shadow of “The Matrix,” master surrealist David Cronenberg’s smaller sci-fi film explored the same issue—the definition of reality in a virtual-reality world—more thoroughly, deeply and enjoyably.
Feminism vs. the patriarchal blahs—When even a “daring” macho movie like “Fight Club” has such a stupid gimmick ending, we must look to the convention-destroying realms of feminist storytelling for relief (and look hard, since they’re usually very obscure). Sadie Benning’s brilliant short film “Flat Is Beautiful” clad characters in paper masks to demonstrate gender roles are something we’re forced to wear; Hilary Brougher’s “The Sticky Fingers of Time” furthered the micro-genre of feminist sci-fi with a tale of a woman whose life is lived “out of order” due to “non-linear time”—and how that enables her to find her identity.
Princess Mononoke—Disney has raised at least two generations to believe that animated film is safely sentimental, trite and juvenile. No surprise that this innovative, visionary and morally sophisticated (everything Uncle Walt used to say was the point of animation) Japanese cartoon about an ancient war between humans and animals would struggle to find an audience. Or maybe it was just that title.
Ravenous—I finally like an Antonia Bird (“Priest,” “Mad Love”) movie, and nobody else sees it! This 1840s cannibalism tale wasn’t close to perfect. But it was an outrageously funny, horrific and witty attack on American consumer-capitalism. A good reminder that the horror genre is still essentially about ideas.
Three Kings—Remake of “Kelly’s Heroes”
has Gulf War soldiers hunting gold after the conflict, where they’re
disillusioned by inhumanity—an old theme in war tales, but this time people are
more interested in piles of jeans and cell phones than in other people. This
highly original effort succeeds in matching typical action-movie excess with
equally outré political messages. And
did I mention it’s a good heist movie?