Yup, stuff like KING OF NEW YORK is what I mean-- guess you could toss FIRST BLOOD in there too. Good in character roles. As a lead, he’s TV.
Been meaning to revisit MAD DOG AND GLORY. I remember liking it the one time 30 years ago. I want to say it was underrated?
JADE I somehow haven’t seen, and I did a huge run of 90s erotic thrillers a few years ago. Still managed to skip it.
Larry Fishburne called the David Caruso / Wesley Snipes cop duo “Howdy Doody and the Chocolate Wonder” in KING OF NEW YORK. That movie is the greatest.
Caruso is also solid in PROOF OF LIFE and HUDSON HAWK.
He did make a solid impression in Proof of Life.
Friday, April 28th, 1995 featured a parade of feature-film weirdos:
Terry Zwigoff’s Crumb (Ebert review) details the life story of probably the weirdest underground comix artist. Trailer.
Steven Soderbergh’s noir remake The Underneath (Ebert review) includes Peter Gallagher as a neurotic compulsive gambler. Trailer.
William Baldwin is among a cast of oddballs in A Pyromaniac’s Love Story (Ebert review). Trailer.
Bar Girls is an early lesbian romantic comedy. (Ebert review). Trailer.
Top Dog stars Chuck Norris as a San Diego cop protecting a key canine witness to a crime; includes some disturbing parallels to the then-current Oklahoma City bombing. (Ebert review). Trailer.
Not only does Destiny Turns On The Radio feature feet-enthusiast Quentin Tarantino in a key role, it’s the film debut of David Cross! (Ebert review). Trailer.
I dunno…these kids seem pretty weird…
It was unavailable in widescreen for both cuts for the longest time. I think they fixed that with digital by now.
I have the director’s cut, it’s got a better final scene.
Caruso, Fiorentino, Palminteri, Crenna, Everhart, McCallany, Biehn, real-life SF detective Ken King, Friedkin, James Horner, Bartkowiak, Eszterhas, a classic couple of car chases, very cool San Fran locations, plenty of nutty sex and psychology stuff. For me it’s right up there with BASIC INSTINCT, which sounds ridiculous but is meant as high b-movie praise.
There’s a great ep of HOW DID THIS GET MADE? on it, too!
I love Gene Siskel’s description of JADE as being about “obnoxious rich people treating each other with contempt.”
The seeming majority of Joe Eszterhas’ filmography.
I also liked SLIVER. I’m a weirdo.
Now that you say that, I think I went looking for it at the time and couldn’t find it. I’ll have to fill this glaring hole in my cinema literacy this week.
BASIC INSTINCT-level is a bold claim, unless it’s got upskirt Fiorentino in it or something.
SLIVER is a bad movie, but was a good time at the movies. I think half my senior class went to the same screening.
It’s sad to say, but Friedkin’s death seems to have led to his filmography starting to be done justice on home video, so it wouldn’t surprise me if a proper disc release of JADE with both cuts turned up sooner rather than later.
The car chase sequence is legitimately great and I think it doesn’t get included in the same conversation as THE FRENCH CONNECTION and TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. because it’s kind of over the top, but I think in a good way.
Two “urban” releases for Wednesday, May 3rd, 1995:
Mario Van Peebles’ Panther (Ebert review)
My Family, featuring Edward James Olmos, Jimmy Smits and a very early Jennifer Lopez. An Ebert favorite.
First DIRTY WORK, now this? Vinegar Syndrome just killing it these days.
They are but man…I could do without that Dirty Work cover art. Nass Tee..
May 5th, 1995 included two major releases:
Leo breaks out in the adaptation of Jim Carroll’s The Basketball Diaries. Ebert review. It’s not streaming anywhere in the U.S., so check your local library for the out-of-print Blu-Ray.
Meg Ryan meets mustachioed Kevin Kline in Paris in Lawrence Kasdan’s French Kiss. Ebert review. Also not streaming anywhere in the U.S.; Blu-Rays are available to buy or at the library.
Summer movie season kicked off on May 12, 1995.
At the arthouse, revisit 18th-Century Italian opera in Farinelli.
Mira Nair’s The Perez Family includes two future Spider-man actors!
Gordy would be overshadowed by his porcine successor later in the year.
Hugh Grant is The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill But Came Down A Mountain.
“I’m commander of this ship!” Ebert review.
Finally, you can’t start summer without some straight-to-video ice cream.
Summer starts with a bang on May 19th, 1995:
Die Hard With A Vengeance - Ebert review
Forget Paris - Ebert review
Alphonso Cuaron’s A Little Princess - Ebert review
For Wednesday! For Freedom!
Ebert review.
Tales From The Hood Variety review, plus a 25th anniversary appraisal from the British Film Institute.
Friday May 26th brought us the second comic book movie of the year, Christina Ricci’s Casper. Ebert review.
Drew Barrymore and Chris O’Donnell run off into each other’s arms in Mad Love. Ebert review. A preview of next year’s Scream team, as Matthew Lillard appears as O’Donnell’s slacker buddy. Also, this is Antonia Bird’s second movie release of the year.
Finally, let’s join Keanu Reeves for a cyberpunk chase in 2021. Ebert review. Featuring Ice-T’s second role this year as a futuristic rebel leader.
Don’t know what they were thinking putting MNEMONIC out Memorial Day weekend. Guess they thought the goodwill from SPEED could put some summer wind in its sails? It really should have been a September or January sort of deal.
I was very underwhelmed by the movie but I remember Dolph muttering “Jesus…” after getting run over by the truck getting the biggest laugh from my audience.
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