I completely forgot to include Mr. Payback in the February movies.
It was a very early interactive 30-minute movie, modifying select Sony/Loews movie theaters with seat-mounted joystick buttons and an array of LaserDisc players to allow the audience to vote on branching story scenarios. Mr. Payback was an android who used his abilities to enact revenge on various transgressors.
Siskel and Ebert hated it; it was listed as one of Ebert’s worst of the year (review at 9:40).
It’s now lost media (save for a few clips) and Interfilm went out of business after completing their second short, Ride for Your Life. The trailer includes Adam West and an incredibly 1995 Matthew Lillard.
This week in theaters featured one new release in my area (Ebert review):
Pandemics were hot, including the best-selling non-fiction book The Hot Zone.
For those staying in due to the fictional pandemic, you could watch the pilot episode of VR.5 (not on DVD). HBO offered Shannon Tweed, Andrew Dice Clay and Rowdy Roddy Piper in the beauty-pageant Die Hard No Contest (not on MAX) or Donald Sutherland hunting a Russian serial killer in Citizen X (still available on MAX) .
NO CONTEST isn’t on MAX but it can be seen on Prime. Not good, but watchable once as an oddity. The Dice Man not the best heavy for this sort of film but the scene where he crowns Miss France is memorable.
If you’ve never seen Citizen X (and can handle the subject matter) do not pass it up. One of the best films I’ve ever seen about serial murder investigation, simply because it never loses sight of the horrible, heartbreaking tragedy of every aspect of the case, including the way the killer (an incredible Jeffrey DeMunn) is humanized. Stephen Rea and Donald Sutherland make a great duo, with Max Von Sydow coming in late in a magnificent turn as a profiling psychiatrist. An unflinching look at a real life nightmare.
Janeane Garofalo fans could check out the ensemble rom-com Bye Bye,Love (warning–includes Randy Quaid). I endured this in the theater to satisfy my '90s Janeane crush.
Halle Berry fights a court battle with Jessica Lange for her abandoned child in Losing Isaiah. Directed by Jake and Maggie’s dad!
Most importantly, a horror sequel to a '90s classic:
Circling back to Godzilla Vs Destroyah, this is also a must-see for kaiju groupies or monster movie lovers in general. For Toho, this was the Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country of the Heisei series. The previous entry, Godzilla Vs Space Godzilla was supposed to be the fan-pleasing, world-building, 50th anniversary series capper that would make everyone happy. And, uh, it didn’t. So Destroyah was written and directed to have firm ties back to the original '54 and an overall tone that was more somber, apocalyptic, and respectful to the franchise. Lots of crazy monster action, including a cool humans vs monsters sequence with an obvious debt to Aliens. From the get-go, the new Burning Godzilla (what an image) design establishes a doomy mood over the whole film, constantly reminding us that Big G is about to blow and he may take all of us with him (one fantasy image predicts the apocalyptic ending of Oppenheimer by decades). A grand final score by the legendary Akira Ifukube helps to get your eyes misty by the end of Godzilla’s last stand.
For the arthouse/indie crowd, Window To Paris presents a Russian comedy with magical visits to Paris. Once Were Warriors is a New Zealand domestic abuse drama featuring Temuera Morrison.
For PG parents aiming for the middle, strap in for the animatronic gorilla road trip comedy Born To Be Wild (trailer). Parents aiming higher have The Secret of Roan Inish.
Comic book fans can appreciate Lori Petty and Ice-T in Tank Girl (plus Naomi Watts as Jet Girl).
Where’s the acknowledgment of JADE in this thread? Perhaps the strongest case couldn’t be made for it in the overall, but surely David Caruso contemplating a crime scene and declaring, “It’s a fuck house” is the stuff of cinema magic.
April 14th offered promise and peril at the movies:
Don Bluth’s The Pebble and the Penguin (paired with the short Driving Mr. Pink); featuring Martin Short, Jim Belushi and Tim Curry. Songs by Barry Manilow. Trailer. Ebert review.
Pauly Shore wheezes the juice in Jury Duty; featuring Tia Carerra, Stanley Tucci and Abe Vigoda. The trailer includes several OJ jokes. Ebert review.
The underrated SNL movie Stuart Saves His Family. Trailer. Ebert review.
A same-sex romantic drama in defiance of the Cuban dictatorship in Strawberry and Chocolate. Trailer. Ebert review.
Your best choice is the swashbuckling romantic adventure in Rob Roy. Ebert review.
Inspired by this thread, last night I watched CONGO! My wife insists that we’ve watched this before and I hated it, but my lousy memory combined with 30 years of declining filmmaking standards allowed me to really enjoy this viewing. A movie shot on film with vibrant colors and an original score?!?! It was manna from heaven.
Y’all weren’t kidding about Ernie Hudson. He’s having a blast, as is Curry. A really enjoyable “first time” viewing.