Body Double

A struggling actor (Craig Wasson), after losing his job and walking in on his girlfriend with a another man, is set up by a friend (Gregg Henry) in a posh apartment with a fortuitous view of a beautiful married woman, who puts on a nightly striptease routine, becomes the object of the voyeur's obsession, and soon finds herself in perilous danger. Though its supposed to be another tip of the cap to Alfred Hitchcock, Body Double seems more like pilfering with Brian De Palma attempting to merge no less than Rear Window and Vertigo into one sleazy and cheap treatment. That's not to say its without entertainment value, being occasionally fun, intense, and provocative. Wasson is weak and his character inept, and Melanie Griffith is cute in a small, key role.

** 1/2 out of ****

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Against orders, Kirk and his crew smuggle the Enterprise away from headquarters in order to retrieve Spock's corpse from Planet Genesis as the presumed dead doctor's consciousness seems to have taken over Bones. Meanwhile, with the Klingons closing in, Kirk's son leads a separate expedition exploring the rapidly evolving characteristics of the targeted planet. Leonard Nimoy directed this supremely uninspired installment, which has been credited by some for keeping with the spirit of the series and for its admittedly strong special effects, though the movie is awfully uneventful, cheesy, and sluggish.

** out of ****

Blood Simple.

The owner of an old-fashioned Texas honky-tonk saloon (Dan Hedaya) hires an unsavory private investigator (M. Emmet Walsh) to murder his employee (John Getz) whose sleeping with his unsatisfied and much younger wife (Frances McDormand), a seemingly straightforward proposition that grows more and more serpentine as it coils back and back on itself with bloody repercussions for all. This Coen Brothers debut is stylish, sometimes overly so, and instantly identifiable as they own with a screenplay with many brilliant touches that probably gets a little too convoluted for its own good. The principal players are excellently cast and all fine in their respective roles.

*** 1/2 out of ****

Selected Shorts by Werner Herzog

Just as he has been drawn to epic, quixotic projects, in his extended career Werner Herzog has also favored short form storytelling, the results of which have been no less outlandishly idiosyncratic. Here is a random sampling of these films, all of which can be found readily online or as part of DVD extras:

Precautions Against Fanatics, 1969

One of Herzog's first film attempts is a very short (and very unfunny) look at people involved in horse training.

**

The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner, 1974

Presents the story of a ski jumper who was so veritable that he began to flagrantly and dangerously overshoot the course. Plays like an episode Wide World of Sports, but not without great footage and central Herzogian themes.

***

Ballad of the Little Soldier, 1984

Intriguing footage of child soldiers from an impoverished Nicuraguan village preparing for combat against the Sandinistas.

*** 1/2

The Dark Glow of the Mountains, 1985

The director and his German speaking subjects are disappointingly dubbed over by an American narrator in this no less compelling documentary of a pair of mountain climbers who discuss their trade and the perils involved.

***

Broadway Danny Rose

Old comedians gathered in a deli to shoot the bull and relay old times begin to reminisce on Danny Rose (Woody Allen), a tireless manager of hapless acts who becomes mixed up with the mob when he becomes involved with his lounge singing client's mistress (Mia Farrow). Woody Allen's Broadway Danny Rose is light, amusing, and occasionally very funny with Woody in excellent form in front of the camera and aided by crisp Gordon Willis black and white cinematography.

Where the Green Ants Dream

A geologist is sent to survey a desert area in hopes of finding uranium deposits but finds his work disrupted by the aboriginal people who find even his testing procedures to be a violation of their spiritual practices. After the mining corporation's attempts to buy them off fail, the matter ends up in the hands of the local courts. Where the Green Ants Dream is peculiar and offbeat, which is expected for a movie by Werner Herzog, but lacks the mystery that surrounds his great works. It also feels cheaply made, not well thought out, hurt by an absence of a musical score, and marred by a pronounced politically correct stance.

** out of ****

A Year of the Quiet Sun

In a ravaged Polish village shortly after World War II, a morose American soldier (Scott Wilson) approaching middle age falls deeply in love with a dispossed widow (Maja Komorowska) and plans to take her back home. Plans are complicated when after it becomes apparent only one ticket will be available and she refuses to leave her sickly and elderly mother. Krszusztof Zanussi A Year of the Quiet Sun is tender, tragic, and movingly sentimental, filmed beautifully and without cynicism, and with fine performances from its leads.

*** 1/2 out of ****

A Sunday in the Country

Shortly before the onset of the Great War, an underachieving painter receives his his rabble rousing daughter, his uptight son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren at his countryside estate, where he lives alone with his faithful maidservant. Bertrand Tavernier's leisurely A Sunday in the Country is both observant and sad containing an exceptional performance from Louis Ducreux and sublime, painterly cinematography.

*** 1/2 out of ****

Moscow on the Hudson

A saxophone player bears the suppression of daily life in Moscow until the circus he works for tours in New York City and he finds himself making an unplanned defection in Bloomingdale's. Moscow on the Hudson features Robin Williams in top form surrounded by wonderful troupe of unknowns. Paul Mazursky's socially conscious film works best in its obersavtions, whether examining day-to-day life in communist Russia or the immigrant experience, but it tries to hard to editorialize and comes off as less clever than it thinks it is.

*** out of ****

Amadeus

Antonio Salieri (F.Murray Abraham), former court composer for Emperor Joseph II (Jeffrey Jones) and perfectly average musician, broods in madness, jealousy, and despair in a Viennese asylum as he recounts the buffoonish, divinely talented Mozart (Tom Hulce) and the mysterious rumors surrounding his premature demise. Amadeus is a consummate composition combining outstanding direction from Milos Forman, brilliant writing from Peter Shaffer (adapting his hit play), haunting scenery and imagery, deft incorporation of the great composer's work, superlative performances from Abraham and Hulce (offering perfect contrast), and fine supporting work from Jones and Elizabeth Berridge. Yet beyond all its attributes, the film's greatest achievement may be the fact that it is simply fun, perhaps the funniest and most entertaining of all period pieces or historical "nonfiction".

**** out of ****

Secret Honor

In his personal office post-presidency, a paranoid, acrid, resentful, and sullen Richard Nixon (Phillip Baker Hall) bitterly recalls his life and political career to a tape recorder, drink in hand and armed with a revolver. Robert Altman's filmization of Arnold Stone and Donald Freed's one man play (which they both adapted for the screen) is a departure from the director's usual work, though no less masterful, featuring a tour-de-force performance from Hall.

*** 1/2 out of ****

Paris, Texas

A mute, dirty, bedraggled man (Harry Dean Stanton) stumbles out of the endless, barren desert and into a remote filling station where he promptly collapses. His estranged brother (Dean Stockwell) is notified and comes to fetch him, bringing him to his suburban L.A. home where the man learns his son has been raised since he was abandoned some years back. After regaining his words and reconnecting with the boy, he determines to locate his ex-wfe (Natassja Kinski), also absent but who has continued to provide support for the child. Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas moves at an extremely measured clip, studiously studying its main character while beautifully capturing its desolate backdrops. Stanton gives a profound, reticent performance, Stockwell is strong in support, and the bizarre, anachronistic ending has a hypnotic quality like something out of a later David Lynch movie.

*** out of ****

Stranger Than Paradise

A bohemian layabout and part-time conman (John Lurie) receives an uninvited visitor at his New York apartment in the form of his Hungarian cousin (Eszter Balint) who needs a place to crash for a few days before moving in with her aunt in Cleveland (whatup). After bonding and parting ways, he decides to pay her a visit with his like-minded buddy (Richard Edson) before making another detour to Florida, all a succession of uneventful incidents. Stranger Than Paradise was Jim Jarmusch's breakthrough picture and a landmark in independent filmmaking. It is presented as a series of carefully constructed still shots, filmed in gorgeously grainy black and white, that have the odd effect of captivating and drawing the audience in. The performers are all non-professional, generally likable, and Balint is kind of wondrous as the awkward outsider who seems to have better taste and style than her American counterparts.

Nineteen Eighty-Four

In a society kept under constant surveillance and endless war, an office drone (John Hurt) busied with editing the country's history ("he who controls the past controls the future...") sees a flicker of hope for the future during a liaison with a radical student (Suzanna Hamilton) and finds his soul and spirit thoroughly crushed after foolishly placing his trust in the hands of a beguiling party member (Richard Burton). 1984 is an excellent and unexpected adaptation of the George Orwell classic that vividly captures the hopeless desolation and replicates the muted appearance of the book. With his worn features and raspy voice, Hurt is an ideal Winston Smith and Burton delivers an eerie and commanding performance in what proved to be his last screen role. 

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

1,000 years after a great fire following apocalyptic battle amidst the ruins of a dying earth, a warrior princess leads her people and tries to prevent two warring factions from colliding. "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind" is the second film from beloved Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, and also a feature length film of a television serial he championed. While the film has a strong female protagonist and an important environment message, it is largely impenetrable and suffers greatly from overlength. Is it wrong to be resistant to the works of someone who is widely considered a master of his craft? Miyazaki's films are beautifully animated and are moralistic fables that differ greatly from the pap we are often served here, but as with "Nausicaa", I often find them to be rugged, indecipherable, and too hard to become engaged with.

Starman

An alien life form, sent to Earth with a message of peace, enters a woman's rural Wisconsin home, and takes on the likeness of her recently deceased husband. Now with aggressive agents in hot pursuit, he forces her to transport him to Arizona where he will meet his alien compadres who will return him home to his native land. "Starman" is recycled science fiction from director John Carpenter who opts for an amiable approach and skirts more intriguing methods in telling his story. Also, although Jeff Bridges' Oscar nominated and much praised performance is serviceable, his robotic alien character remains too odd and unable to generate the necessary emotions required of it. The great, overlooked performance is that of Karen Allen who does an excellent job of conveying the complex and confusing emotions a grieving woman in that outlandish position would be experiencing. I also enjoyed the over the top performance of Charles Martin Smith as a gung ho governmental contractor. "Starman" is enjoyable fodder that I wish had gone deeper both with its plot and its characters.

The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God

In the 19th Century, the Shakers sought to create a Utopian religious community, devoid of sex and founded on hard work and devotion to God. Although their communities eventually dissolved due to lack of procreation and conversions, the members did seek what they sought to achieve, and their legacy in architecture and furniture design lives on to this very day. "The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God" seems like an odd choice for a sophomore film from master documentarian Ken Burns but as expected, he handles his subject with great reverence and craft and tells their story with superior skill. Made in 1984, Burns interviews the few remaining Shakers in a New England community, all telling of the hardships that came with territory but none regretting their decision. And although the story of the religious sect does wear slightly thin, even at an hour's running length, there are still many historical morsels to be found in this story.

Beverly Hills Cop

After tearing up half of Detroit during an undeclared undercover drug bust and nearly getting thrown off the force, renegade cop Axel Foley finds his wayward best friend murdered right before his eyes. Tracing a connection to the hit to Beverly Hills, fish-out-of-water Foley launches his own investigation, much to the dismay of the straight laced members of the police department. Martin Brest's "Beverly Hills Cop" features Eddie Murphy at the top of star status in an immensely likable performance. The script is strictly standard and the veneer is cheap and unmemorable, but Murphy, along with other members of the cast including Judge Reinhold and John Ashton as BHPD detectives, Steven Berkoff and Jonathan Banks as the baddies, Lisa Eilbacher as Foley and the victim's mutual friend, and Bronson Pinchot in a particularly funny role, help elevate the material to an enjoyable campy level.

The Cotton Club

A stick of dynamite is thrown at the feet of Dutch Schultz in a 1928 Harlem nightclub, and a dashing young horn player (Richard Gere) saves the gangster's life. Becoming his errand boy, he chauffeurs his beautiful flapper mistress (Diane Lane) and is introduced to the owner of The Cotton Club, the hoppin' whites only venue that houses Duke Ellington and where an up-and-coming hoofer (Gregory Hines) is romancing the star attraction (Lonette McKee) and slowly learning the ropes of the business. Francis Ford Coppola's "The Cotton Club" is a delightfully stylish homage to the Roaring 20s, juxtaposing a brutal gangster story with two rags to riches/romances and interspersing it all with old fashioned montages and wonderful jazz musical numbers and dance routines. The film also has a bemused, laid back attitude which I found appealing and probably appropriate for the material. There are also some fine supporting performances including Bob Hoskins as the owner of the club, Lawrence Fishburne as a Bumpy Johnson type Harlem gangster, and Nicolas Cage (Coppola's nephew) in an early, high wired early role as Gere's mad dog brother. "The Cotton Club" is a wildly entertaining film and curiously one that time has forgotten. I read that this production was marred with all sorts of problems (including a producer's contract murder on an investor!) and the thinking is that they overshadowed the film which failed to find an audience. Regardless, "The Cotton Club" is a great film that plays so many cards correctly that it should hold an appeal to most potential viewers.

A Passage to India

An adventurous young woman (Judy Davis) travelling with her mother-in-law to be (Peggy Ashcroft), arrives in post WWI India to be with her magistrate fiance (Nigel Havers) and explore the country. Among the people they encounter include a British educator (James Fox), a Brahmin teacher (Alec Guiness), and a genteel Indian doctor (Victor Banerjee) with whom the women become friendly. The doctor invites them to a picnic at the bizarre Marabar Caves, and their excursion turns unfortunate and sparks and national incident with brings out the worst in both the British and Indian people in colonial society. David Lean's adaptation of E.M. Forster's 1924 novel was the last he ever made, and is as beautiful and sumptuous as any of his great epics. Lean and cinematographer Ernest Day capture the beauties of India in spectacular fashion. Judy Davis is marvelous in a complex lead role and Peggy Ashcroft supplies fine support in an Academy Award winning role (she is the oldest recipient in the Supporting Actress category). James Fox is very good as a conflicted Englishmen, Alec Guiness is amusing in an aloof role, and Victor Banerjee is exceptionally good as a man who entirely changes allegiances between the beginning and end of the film. "A Passage of India" is a movie that lives outside of its time and feels like a Technicolor wonder of the 50s. It is an appropriate swan song for Lean's matchless career.