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movies-digest          Friday, April 24 1998          Volume 02 : Number 008



Re: [MV] Two Girls and a Guy, 0 stars (out of 4)
[MV] The Big Hit
RE: [MV] Broken Arrow/ Face-Off/ The Big HIt
Re: [MV] Broken Arrow/ Face-Off/ The Big HIt
Re: [MV] the ultimate goof site
[MV] The Movie Report#139, 4/23/98
RE: [MV] Broken Arrow/ Face-Off/ The Big HIt
[MV] Replacement Killers, *** (out of 4)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 15:40:28 -0400
From: [e-mail] (Ryan Allen)
Subject: Re: [MV] Two Girls and a Guy, 0 stars (out of 4)

At 01:57 PM 4/22/98 -0600, you wrote:
>By Gregory A. Swarthout
>     It had to happen sooner or later.  My patience with a movie finally
>ran out.  "Two Girls and a Guy" marks the first time I have ever walked
>out of a movie.  If only I could have gotten back the hour I had already
>spent on it.  This film is complete and utter rubbish.  ThereÆs not a
>single positive thing I can say about it.  But at least I am in a
>position to save you from the travesty I experienced.

Wow, I felt the same way when I saw Home Alone.  I'm suprised that it took
this long to walk out.  But I would've asked for a refund.

Cheers,
Ryan
### Visit my Personal Home Page ###
# http://www.gate.net/~airwolf
###

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------------------------------

Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 16:27:21 -0400
From: GARY ZEIG <[e-mail]>
Subject: [MV] The Big Hit

Gregory,

Go see the movie The Big Hit. I doubt you will walk out!

GRZ



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------------------------------

Date: Fri, 24 Apr 1998 09:47:07 +0800
From: "Shamsul Fansury"<[e-mail]>
Subject: RE: [MV] Broken Arrow/ Face-Off/ The Big HIt

Hi! I'm from Malaysia (Asia) and I've seen both Broken Arrow and Face/Off.
They were great, especially Face/Off with the now resurrected J.Travolta
(dam what a rush I had watching him in action). Anybody share the
same.....rush as I?



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------------------------------

Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 21:54:11 EDT
From: BzRvueNews <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: [MV] Broken Arrow/ Face-Off/ The Big HIt

In a message dated 4/23/98 9:51:04 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[e-mail] writes:

<< Anybody share the
 same.....rush as I? >>

Oh, yeah.  I always get a...rush when it comes to Travolta.

Leann
"Buzzy"

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------------------------------

Date: Fri, 24 Apr 1998 12:20:28 +1000
From: Graeme MacKeachie <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: [MV] the ultimate goof site

greuel wrote:

> Titanic
>
> In the beginning, and throughout the movie Titanic,  'The
> Water-lilies,' by Claude Monet, is pictured. There are many
> paintings that Monet did in his lifetime that included waterliles, but
> I believe this painting wasn't completed until the year 1923, in
> Orangerie, Paris. The painting was begun in 1916. So then how can
> a completed rendering be on the ship in 1912?

That was the other blooper I meant to mention!!  There was also shown one of
the ballet series by Degas, which is known to be extant, and yet we saw it
floating on its way to a watery grave in a flooded cabin...

> When Jack goes up to first class on a Sunday morning, the group is
> singing the Navy Hymn "Eternal Father". What is impossible is
> that they are singing the last two lines of the verse written for
> Naval Aviators. The verse starts "Lord guard and guide the men
> who fly". They are singing the last two lines, "Oh, hear us when we
> lift our prayer, For those in peril in the air." The Wright Brothers
> flew about 8 years before, and I don't believe that this verse was
> even added until the 1930's.

I read that Cameron added that middle verse as background filler to allow for
the scene where Jack is turned away in his attempts to see Rose, so that he
could come back to Rose in time for the last line of the last verse, the "for
those in peril on the sea" line, which *was* actually included in the White
Star Line hymnals, and was sung aboard the Titanic.

> During the scene where Jack and Rose are enjoying their "flying"
> with a beautiful sunset as a background, the ship is going the wrong
> way! If as the scene was shot, the sunset was off the port (left) of
> the ship, it would have to be steaming north, not east as would be
> expected of any ship heading to New York from Britain.

ummm....  wouldn't a ship heading from Britain to NY be going *west* ?!  and
since the setting sun was off the port bow, and the ship would have been
following a great circle route that arced north of west (Calais to
Newfoundland), this one is probably not that far off accuracy.

- -- Graeme


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------------------------------

Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 19:49:14 -0700
From: Michael Dequina <[e-mail]>
Subject: [MV] The Movie Report#139, 4/23/98

T   H   E
M   O   V   I   E
R   E   P   O   R   T
#139
APRIL 23, 1998

=3D>T H I S  W E E K<=3D
M O V I E S
- -The Big Hit
- -Les Miserables
- -Major League: Back to the Minors
V I D E O
- -Cop Land
- -The House of Yes
- -L.A. Confidential
- -Mrs. Brown

Select reviews are available at Hollywood Hotline on CompuServe and:
http://www.HollywoodHotline.com=20
...on Albany Online at:
http://www.AlbanyOnline.com
...and now on the Eyepiece Network at:
http://www.eyepiece.com

Mr. Brown's Movie Site and The Movie Report are in serious need of your
help.  Visit:
http://members.tripod.com/~MrBrown/support.html

An update has finally been made to Close Encounters of the Celebrity Kind:
http://welcome.to/celebrities
For that, links to the official websites of all the current films, past
reviews, live MovieChat, movie discussion board, movie theme MIDI files,
Trivia Blitz, and more, visit Mr. Brown's Movie Site at:
http://welcome.to/mrbrown
Please don't forget to sign the guestbook...

all movies graded out of four stars (****)


~~~

=3D>M O V I E S<=3D
N E W  R E L E A S E S

Hollywood Hotline Featured Review
The Big Hit (R) ** 1/2
    Although his best-known work is a Jackie Chan vehicle, Hong Kong director
Che-Kirk Wong appeared to be an odd choice to direct a quirky action
comedy; after all, the Chan film in question, 1993's Crime Story, is known
among the Jackie faithful as his "serious" action film, devoid of any
humor.  With The Big Hit, Wong shows he can do a capable action/humor
juggling job.  If only he had a funnier script to work with.
    The Big Hit gets off to a very promising start, with a terrific extended
action sequence set in a hotel.  Much of the hyper-choreographed mayhem
owes a large debt to John Woo (who, perhaps not so coincidentally, serves
as an executive producer), but the stylishly staged shootouts work; how can
one not get a rise when hitman Melvin Smiley (Mark Wahlberg), hanging out
of a high window by only his feet, somehow manages to lift himself up and
blow away the baddies?  Writer Ben Ramsey also promises something different
from most action films, introducing a colorful menagerie of eccentric
characters, such as the no-nonsense, if mild-mannered, Melvin's goofy
contract-killing cohorts Cisco (Lou Diamond Phillips), Crunch (Bokeem
Woodbine), and Vince (Antonio Sabato Jr.).
    But once Ramsey sets up the main scenario, in which the foursome kidnap
and hold for ransom one Keiko Nishi (China Chow), daughter of a rich
Japanese businessman--a job not assigned to them by their tough boss, Paris
(Avery Brooks)--things come a bit undone.  Those potentially interesting
characters never develop into more than single-trait cardboard cutouts.
Crunch is a compulsive masturbator, constantly doing hand-strengthening
exercises; Vince is a pretty boy lothario, or at least that's what the
press notes say, for he never really exhibits such behavior aside from
hitting on some women in the early-going.  Disappearing as quickly and
conspicuously as Crunch and Vince after making a flashy, brash splash is
Melvin's sassy mistress Chantel, played by a completely wasted Lela Rochon.
    It goes without saying that the success of an action comedy depends on its
batting average in both action and comedy.  While Wong shows he can combine
the two elements fairly fluidly, The Big Hit is hampered too many weak
comic attempts.  Ramsey has fun tweaking conventions of kidnapping
thrillers (the ransom message, call tracing), action films (a car that
barely hangs on after being run off of a high road), and movies in general
(sappy Oscar-bait scenes).  But his more straightforward humor falls flat.
A running gag involving Melvin's delinquent account at the local video
store grows old long before its admittedly interesting payoff.  Least
successful is the subplot involving the "German-Irish" Melvin's engagement
to the Jewish Pam (Christina Applegate).   The would-be humorous
head-butting that occurs when her parents (Lainie Kazan and Elliott Gould)
come to visit is tired; the mother, a strict Jew, objects to the pairing on
religious grounds; the recovering-alkie father doesn't care, just as long
as he gets a drink.  In fact, all attempts at a romantic angle don't work.
Wahlberg is paired with three different leading ladies, and he hasn't the
slightest bit of chemistry with any of them, least of all Chow, with whom
he became involved offscreen.  They do have one transcendent moment
together: a hilarious "erotic" chicken-stuffing scene, but the scene works
because of the tongue-in-cheek, "sensual" underscore and suggestive sight
gag, not because of any palpable onscreen sparks between Wahlberg and Chow.
    The media audience with whom I saw The Big Hit gave the film a spirited
reception, and its easy-going melding of slam-bang action and oddball humor
could appeal to regular moviegoing audiences.  But as far as I am
concerned, the sporadically effective The Big Hit is not a big miss, but it
doesn't exactly live up to its title, either.

Les Miserables (PG-13) ***
    The calendar year has not even reached its midway point, but that hasn't
prevented Columbia Pictures from trotting out a lavish period drama more
befitting of the winter Oscar-bait season.  Bille August's high-profile
adaptation of Victor Hugo's classic Les Miserables delivers everything one
would expect from a classy Hollywood epic--handsome production values,
strong performances by a top-notch cast, a literate screenplay--with one
critically missing element: emotional sweep.
    For those not familiar with Hugo's original novel or the hit stage musical
it inspired, the hook of Les Miserables essentially boils down to something
like a 19th-century French-set version of The Fugitive.  After serving 19
years in a prison work camp for stealing a loaf of bread, the brutish Jean
Valjean (Liam Neeson) is paroled.  Immediately upon release, he steals
valuable silverware from a kindly bishop who takes him in for a night; he
is caught by authorities, only to be forgiven by the bishop, who lets
Valjean keep the silver to start a new life on the straight and narrow.
That he does, and in doing so breaks his parole, which sets the obsessively
determined Inspector Javert (Geoffrey Rush), who was one of the guards in
Valjean's prison camp, on his trail.
    Thematically, however, Les Miserables is a story about redemption, which
Valjean finds through his dealings with two women, the hard-luck
factory-worker-turned-prostitute Fantine (Uma Thurman), and her
illegitimate daughter, Cosette.  Years after breaking parole, Valjean
becomes mayor of the town of Vigau, where he forms a warm friendship with
Fantine after saving her from an unjust arrest by Javert.  Valjean promises
the gravely ill Fantine he will rescue the young Cosette (Mimi Newman) from
her cruel caretakers, the Thenardiers, and raise the child as his own.  The
"father" and "daughter" eventually land in Paris, where the teenage Cosette
(Claire Danes) falls for dashing student revolutionary Marius (Hans=
 Matheson).
    The decades-spanning story is the stuff that cinematic epics are made of,
and the Danish August turns in his most accomplished English-language work,
following the underrated 1994 superstar soap The House of the Spirits and
last year's stylish but highly preposterous mystery Smilla's Sense of Snow.
 He and screenwriter Rafael Yglesias bring the sprawling tale into clear
focus and keep the events moving at a brisk pace.  Production designer Anna
Asp, costume designer Gabriella Pescucci, and cinematographer Jorgen
Persson give Les Miserables a sumptuous period look whose accomplishment is
mostly matched by the efforts of the cast.  Neeson is commanding yet
endearingly vulnerable; Rush's finely modulated menace is far more
rewarding than his overrated, Oscar-winning theatrics in Shine; and Thurman
disappears nicely into her highly unglamorous role.  The younger members of
the cast fare less well.  Danes is convincing as Cosette, but her overdone
lip quivering during her crying scenes becomes a distraction; and Matheson,
while competent, is a less interesting Robert Sean Leonard.
    As technically adept and cerebrally engaging the film is, by the time Les
Miserables was over, my emotions had only been superficially involved.
While I was touched by Valjean's relationships with Fantine and Cosette, I
was not moved.  Not even reaching the "touching" level is the
Cosette-Marius pairing.  My only previous experience with Les Miserables is
with the musical (as I am sure many others' is), and I was dismayed to see
Eponine, a friend of Marius's who selflessly dies in the name of her
unspoken love for him, almost completely jettisoned from this adaptation
(the daughter of the Thenardiers, here she is only briefly seen as a
child).  Her presence would have added some much-needed conflict and
emotional heft to the youthful romance, but I suppose August and Yglesias
felt one tragic heroine (Fantine) was enough.
    Even so, as 1998 creeps into summer blockbuster season, Les Miserables is
a thoughtful, well-made, entertaining film, one that will sate moviegoers
hungry for a dose of drama before popcorn no-brainers invade the multiplex.

Hollywood Hotline Featured Review
Major League: Back to the Minors (PG-13) no stars
    You know the guy: sometimes bearded, often burly, he always manages to sit
in the seat directly behind you, ever so eager to greet a film's every
slight attempt at humor with a hearty, guttural explosion of laughter.  You
know you're
neck-deep into something awful when even that guy, who reveals his
erpetually guffawing self during the trailers, remains as stonily silent
throughout the film as everyone else in the auditorium.  And Major League:
Back to the Minors is truly
something awful.  Horribly written and directed by John Warren, this third
installment of the baseball comedy series is unwatchable drivel.
    Aging minor-league pitcher Gus Cantrell (Scott Bakula) is recruited by old
friend and Minnesota Twins owner Roger Dorn (Corbin Bernsen) to coach the
Twins' struggling farm team, the Buzz, an inept squad that counts among its
ranks a former ballet dancer (ha ha).  As can be expected, Gus manages to
make winners out of these goofballs, leading to the Buzz's big moment in
the sun: an exhibition game against the major league Twins themselves, in
their big-city home field.
Much to the chagrin of the Twins' slick, self-absorbed manager (Ted
McGinley), the Buzz put on a respectable showing.
    End of story.  But wait--only 45 minutes of screen time has passed. So
what does Warren do now? Why, what any desperate, in-over-his-head hack
would do--recycle his script.  After the Buzz's star player (Walt Goggins)=
 is
wooed into the majors, the Buzz once again hits hard times, and Gus has to
prod them back into shape. And he does, leading to the team's big moment in
the sun. You guessed it--an exhibition game against the Twins, but this
time taking place on the Buzz's backwater home turf.
    Going through the same story twice would not have been as big of an
annoyance if Warren's script had simply done its job: be funny.  But
nothing in the film comes close to eliciting the slightest smirk when the
writer's painful idea of witty comic repart=E9e is something like this:
    "This team has a former ballerina?"
    "I don't think they call men ballerinas."
    "A balladeer?"
    "Isn't that a singer?"
    "I think that's a troubadour."
    But to merely attack the screenplay on the humor level (though it deserves
a most thorough beating on that basis) is to let Warren off too easily; he
can't even integrate his product plugs with the slightest trace of
subtlety.  Says Bob Uecker, playing the Buzz's announcer, in reference to
something that happened a long time ago: "That was before Diet Coke became
my beverage of choice."  Warren's direction is every bit as sloppy as his
writing; even though the final game's outcome is never in doubt, there's no
attempt--through the editing,
music, anything--any at creating any illusion of suspense.  Contributing to
the mess are the actors, who plod along in haphazard directions as if no
helmer were present at all, especially McGinley, whose
over-the-wall-and-out-of-the-ballpark antics worked on Married... with
Children but not here.
    I have not seen either of the first two Major Leagues, and I'll give those
films the benefit of the doubt; they could very well hold some merit. But
after sitting through the excrutiating Back to the Minors, you won't find
me rushing to the video stores any time soon.

IN CURRENT RELEASE
(full reviews of the following in past MRs and at the listed URLs)

- -As Good as It Gets (PG-13) *** <MR#124, 1/5/98>
  http://members.tripod.com/~mrbrown/movierpt27.html#asgood
- -Barney's Great Adventure--The Movie (G) ** <MR#137, 4/10/98>
  http://members.tripod.com/~mrbrown/movierpt31.html#barney
- -The Big Lebowski (R) *** 1/2 <MR#129, 2/5/98>
  http://members.tripod.com/~mrbrown/movierpt28.html#lebowski
- -The Butcher Boy (R) *** 1/2 <MR#137, 4/10/98>
  http://members.tripod.com/~mrbrown/movierpt31.html#butcherboy
- -Chinese Box (R) ** <MR#134, 3/13/98>
  http://members.tripod.com/~mrbrown/movierpt30.html#chinesebox
- -City of Angels (PG-13) ** 1/2 <MR#137, 4/10/98>
  http://members.tripod.com/~mrbrown/movierpt31.html#angels
- -Dangerous Beauty (R) ** <MR#120, 12/5/97>
  http://members.tripod.com/~mrbrown/movierpt26.html#dangerous
- -Fireworks (Hana-Bi) *** 1/2 <MR#138, 4/16/98>
  http://members.tripod.com/~mrbrown/movierpt32.html#hanabi
- -Good Will Hunting (R) *** 1/2 <MR#122, 12/18/97>
  http://members.tripod.com/~mrbrown/movierpt26.html#gwh
- -Grease (PG) **** <MR#136, 3/27/98>
  http://members.tripod.com/~mrbrown/movierpt30.html#grease
- -Lost in Space (PG-13) * <MR#137, 4/10/98>
  http://members.tripod.com/~mrbrown/movierpt31.html#lost
- -The Man in the Iron Mask (PG-13) ** 1/2 <MR#136, 3/27/98>
  http://members.tripod.com/~mrbrown/movierpt30.html#ironmask
- -Men with Guns (R) *** <MR#136, 3/27/98>
  http://members.tripod.com/~mrbrown/movierpt30.html#hombres=20
- -Mercury Rising (R) * 1/2 <MR#137, 4/10/98>
  http://members.tripod.com/~mrbrown/movierpt31.html#mercury
- -Niagara Niagara (R) *** <MR#134, 3/13/98>
  http://members.tripod.com/~mrbrown/movierpt30.html#niagara
- -Nightwatch (R) ** <MR#137, 4/10/98>
  http://members.tripod.com/~mrbrown/movierpt31.html#nightwatch
- -The Object of My Affection (R) *** <review coming next week>
- -The Players Club (R) ** 1/2 <MR#137, 4/10/98>
  http://members.tripod.com/~mrbrown/movierpt31.html#players
- -A Price Above Rubies (R) * 1/2 <MR#137, 4/10/98>
  http://members.tripod.com/~mrbrown/movierpt31.html#rubies
- -Primary Colors (R) *** <MR#136, 3/27/98>
  http://members.tripod.com/~mrbrown/movierpt30.html#primarycolors
- -Sonatine (R) *** <MR#138, 4/16/98>
  http://members.tripod.com/~mrbrown/movierpt32.html#sonatine
- -The Spanish Prisoner (R) *** 1/2 <MR#137, 4/10/98>
  http://members.tripod.com/~mrbrown/movierpt31.html#prisoner
- -Species II (R) * <MR#138, 4/16/98>
  http://members.tripod.com/~mrbrown/movierpt32.html#species2
- -Titanic (PG-13) **** <MR#121, 12/10/97>
  http://members.tripod.com/~mrbrown/movierpt26.html#titanic
- -Wild Things (R) *** 1/2 <MR#135, 3/19/98>
  http://members.tripod.com/~mrbrown/movierpt30.html#wildthings

FUTURE FILMS

- -Shooting Fish (PG) ** 1/2 <MR#138, 4/16/98>
  http://members.tripod.com/~mrbrown/movierpt32.html#fish
   (May 1)

O N  T H E  H O R I Z O N
OPENED WEDNESDAY

Deja Vu
    The latest from idiosyncratic director Henry Jaglom is this romance
between an American businesswoman (Victoria Foyt) and a British painter
(Stephen Dillane).

FRIDAY

The Big Hit (R) ** 1/2 <see above review>
    Middling blend of slam-bang action and quirky comedy that follows a group
of inept hitmen (Mark Wahlberg, Lou Diamond Phillips, Bokeem Woodbine, and
Antonio Sabato Jr.) in an inept scheme.

In God's Hands (PG-13)
    Wild Orchid director and Red Shoe Diaries creator Zalman King, the
self-proclaimed "king of erotic cinema," abandons sex for surfing with this
drama about a board jockey (Shane Dorian) determined to ride a 40-foot wave.

Junk Mail
    A twisted mailman (Robert Skjaerstad) breaks into a woman's apartment--and
eventually her life--in this Scandinavian import.

Sliding Doors (PG-13)
    Gwyneth Paltrow sports the impeccable Brit accent she adopted in Emma for
this romantic comedy exploring one woman's two possible romantic futures.

Tarzan and the Lost City (PG)
    "A new Tarzan for a new generation."  With hack-tors Casper Van Dien and
Jane March heading the cast, no wonder Warner Bros. refused to screen this
puppy for critics.

The Truce (R)
    Adaptation of Primo Levi's post-WWII memoir The Reawakening, with John
Turturro as an imprisoned Italian Jew who returns to his homeland after the
liberation of Auschwitz.

TwentyFourSeven (R)
    Making its Los Angeles debut this week is this drama about an Englishman
(Bob Hoskins) who starts up a boxing facility to keep neighborhood youths
off the streets.

Two Girls and a Guy (R) ** <full review in MR#137, 4/10/98; and at
http://members.tripod.com/~mrbrown/movierpt31.html#2girls>
    Strong performances by Robert Downey Jr., Heather Graham, and Natasha
Gregson Wagner aren't enough to save James Toback's talky, three-character
exploration of contemporary romance from losing steam long before it's over.

RETURNING FRIDAY

Scream 2 (R) *** 1/2 <full review in MR#121, 12/10/97; and at
http://members.tripod.com/~mrbrown/movierpt26.html#scream2>
    Due to "overwhelming demand" by fans, Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson's
slick, savvy slasher sequel satire returns for a quick encore box office
killing before arriving in video stores.  Returnees Neve Campbell, David
Arquette, Jamie Kennedy, Courteney Cox, and Liev Schreiber are joined by
Jerry O'Connell, Jada Pinkett, and an ill-used Sarah Michelle Gellar.


~~~

=3D>V I D E O<=3D
N E W  T H I S  W E E K

Cop Land (R) ** 1/2 <full review in MR#105, 8/20/97; and at
http://members.tripod.com/~mrbrown/movierpt22.html#copland>
    The work of a star-studded--perhaps a bit too much so--ensemble cast
(including Sylvester Stallone, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, and Robert
DeNiro) highlights James Mangold's overstuffed tale of police corruption in
New York.  (Miramax Home Entertainment)

The House of Yes (R) ***
    In Mark Waters's viciously funny adaptation of Wendy MacLeod's play, indie
princess Parker Posey has a field day playing one of the more original
characters in recent film memory, the aptly named Jackie-O Pascal, a
self-centered, fresh-from-the-mental-hospital Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
wannabe.  Entirely set within the Pascal family home during one fateful
Thanksgiving weekend, the film details the disaster that ensues when
Jackie's beloved brother Marty (Josh Hamilton) returns home with a fiancee
(Tori Spelling), who incites Jackie's jealousy and engages youngest brother
Anthony's (Freddie Prinze Jr.) romantic interest.  The dark family secret
at the film's core is telegraphed (not to mention has been spoiled by
numerous media outlets), and the chain of plot developments is mechanical
and predictable, but The House of Yes offers more than its share of tartly
biting zingers, dropped to maximum comic effect by the letter-perfect
Posey, Genevieve Bujold (as Mrs. Pascal), and the rest of the
ensemble--and, yes, that includes Spelling, who is in her limited element
as a giggly bubblehead.  (Miramax Home Entertainment)

L.A. Confidential (R) **** <full review in MR#108, 9/11/97; and at
http://members.tripod.com/~mrbrown/movierpt22.html#la>
    Arriving on shelves nearly a month after its two Oscar wins is Curtis
Hanson's superb film noir based on James Ellroy's novel.  Kevin Spacey,
Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Danny DeVito, and Best Supporting Actress winner
Kim Basinger star; Hanson and Brian Helgeland copped (yes, bad pun
intended) the film's other Oscar, for Best Adapted Screenplay.  (Warner
Home Video)

Mrs. Brown (PG) *** 1/2 <full review in MR#132, 2/27/98; and at
http://members.tripod.com/~mrbrown/movierpt29.html#brown>
    Dame Judi Dench won a Golden Globe, an Oscar nomination, and universal
acclaim for her beautifully nuanced performance as England's Queen Victoria
in John Madden's touching exploration of her passionate friendship with
Scottish assistant John Brown (Billy Connolly).  (Miramax Home=
 Entertainment)

A L S O  N E W  T H I S  W E E K

Flubber (PG)
    ...as in flying, floating rubber, which science teacher Robin Williams
discovers in this effects-laden remake of 1961's The Absent-Minded
Professor.  (Walt Disney Home Video)


~~~

=3D>N E X T  W E E K<=3D

More reviews, including:
- -He Got Game
- -The Object of My Affection (postponed from this week)
- -Sliding Doors

'til then...=20

__________________________________________________________

Michael Dequina
Chat Forum Host, The Official Michael Jordan Web Site
http://jordan.sportsline.com

[e-mail]
[e-mail]  |  [e-mail]

>My personal WWW sites<
Mr. Brown's Movie Site: http://welcome.to/mrbrown
Michael Jordan Beyond the Court: http://fly.to/michaeljordan
A Michael Jordan Fan's Heartbreak: http://fly.to/mj23
Personal Page: http://welcome.to/w3md
>Other WWW sites I work on<
CompuServe Hollywood Hotline: http://www.HollywoodHotline.com
Albany Online: http://www.AlbanyOnline.com
Eyepiece Network: http://www.eyepiece.com

"I didn't know what to expect. It's like something you chase
 for so long, but then you don't know how to react when you
 get it.  I still don't know how to react."
- --Michael Jordan, on winning his first NBA championship in 1991
...or, my thoughts after meeting him on November 21, 1997
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Date: Fri, 24 Apr 1998 06:47:42 -0500
From: "Richard J. Doyle" <[e-mail]>
Subject: RE: [MV] Broken Arrow/ Face-Off/ The Big HIt

I did.  I though "Face/Off" was one of the best action films I've ever seen.

Richard J. Doyle

- -----Original Message-----
From:    [e-mail]
[mailto:[e-mail]] On Behalf Of Shamsul Fansury
Sent:    Thursday, April 23, 1998 8:47 PM
To:    [e-mail]
Subject:    RE: [MV] Broken Arrow/ Face-Off/ The Big HIt

Hi! I'm from Malaysia (Asia) and I've seen both Broken Arrow and Face/Off.
They were great, especially Face/Off with the now resurrected J.Travolta
(dam what a rush I had watching him in action). Anybody share the
same.....rush as I?



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------------------------------

Date: Fri, 24 Apr 1998 14:22:19 -0600 (MDT)
From: "Gregory A. Swarthout" <[e-mail]>
Subject: [MV] Replacement Killers, *** (out of 4)

Review by Roger Ebert

John Lee: Chow Yun-Fat
Meg Coburn: Mira Sorvino
Stan ``Zeedo'' Zedkov: Michael Rooker
Terence Wei: Kenneth Tsang
Michael Kogan: Jurgen Prochnow

Directed by Antoine Fuqua. Written by Ken Sanzel. Running time: 88
minutes. Rated R (for strong violence and language).

BY ROGER EBERT

``The Replacement Killers'' is all style.  It's a high-gloss version of
a Hong Kong action picture, made in America but observing the exuberance
of a genre where surfaces are everything.  The characters are as flat as
figures on a billboard, but look at the way everything is filmed in
saturated color, and anything that moves makes a metallic whooshing
sound that ends in a musical chord, and how when the hero walks down a
corridor at a car wash, it's done with a tilt and a zoom.  In a movie
like this, the story is simply a device to help us tell the beginning
from the end.  The film is the American debut for Chow Yun-Fat, a
popular star in Asia for 20 years and for the last 10 a frequent
collaborator with John Woo, the Hong Kong action wizard also now
working in Hollywood (he produced this film).  Chow is good-looking,
open-faced, with a hint of sadness that reminded me of Charles Bronson
in repose.  Here he plays John Lee, a Chinese immigrant to America, who
owes a favor to the druglord Terence Wei (Kenneth Tsang).  Wei's son has
been killed by a cop (Michael Rooker).

Lee's assignment:  kill someone important to the cop.  But with the
target framed in his telescopic sights, Lee just can't do it.  ``I went
against Mr. Wei,'' he tells a wise Buddhist monk.  ``There will be
consequences.''  He knows Wei will go after his mother and sister in
Shanghai, and he needs a forged passport to fly home and protect them.
That leads him to the lair of Meg Coburn (Mira Sorvino), a master forger
whose first appearance is a good example of the movie's visual lushness:
Leaning over her computer, she's in red lipstick and a low-cut dress, in
a hideaway that looks like a cross between skid row and a cosmetics ad.
Meg is a tough girl, played by Sorvino with a nice flat edge (while
Lee's posing for his passport picture, she says, ``Smile, and say
`flight from prosecution.' '').  She wants no part of his troubles, but
soon they've teamed up as Wei throws squadrons of killers at them,
including two ``replacements'' flown in to complete the job Lee reneged
on.

In movies such as this, everyone knows everyone.  Chow and Sorvino go
into an amusement arcade, and she's hit on by a gold-toothed creep.  Her
reaction:  ``I try to stick to my own species.''  The creep, of course,
is in the hire of Wei, and soon a gun battle rages through the arcade.
Other elaborately choreographed shoot-outs take place in a car wash, and
in a theater where the cop has taken his son for a cartoon festival (the
gunfire is intercut with Mr. Magoo).

There's a moment in the recent ``Desperate Measures'' where violence
erupts as a father tries to save the life of his son, and a cop asks,
``How many people are gonna have to die here tonight so that kid of
yours can live?''  I had the same thought in ``Replacement Killers.''
Because Chow spares Wei's target, approximately two dozen people die, or
maybe more (in the dark it's hard to see what happens to all the Magoo
fans).

What I liked about the film was its simplicity of form and its richness
of visuals.  There's a certain impersonality about the story; Chow and
Sorvino don't have long chats between the gunfire.  They're in a ballet
of Hong Kong action imagery:  bodies rolling out of gunshot range, faces
frozen in fear, guys toppling off fire escapes, grim lips, the fetishism
of firearms, cars shot to pieces, cops that make ``Dragnet'' sound
talky.  The first-time director, Antoine Fuqua, is a veteran of
commercials and music videos; with cinematographer Peter Lyons
Collister, he gets a sensuous texture onto the screen that makes you
feel the roughness of walls, the clamminess of skin, the coldness of
guns.

``The Replacement Killers'' is as abstract as a jazz instrumental, and
as cool and self-assured.

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End of movies-digest V2 #8
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