REVIEWS IN A HURRY for August 2005
Conan the Barbarian (1982, 129 min, R) *** - Directed & co-written by John Milius, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Earl Jones, and Max von Sydow.  Ambitious and savagely beautiful but not-quite-successful fantasy adventure that relies much more on powerful imagery and Basil Poledouris’s jaw-dropping musical score than its scant dialogue.  An orphan raised for combat (Schwarzenegger in perhaps his most natural performance) becomes a sword-wielding thief and crosses a secretive and evil cult.  His dealings with the cult would lead him to self-discovery if he had been raised in the kind of environment that was capable of responding to crisis with anything besides violence.  Like the mythical land and time where it is set, “Conan” is stark, minimalist, and harsh. Conan the Destroyer (1984, 103 min, R) **1/2 – Directed by Richard Fleisher, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Wilt Chamberlain, and Grace Jones.  Inferior but at times entertaining and glossy sequel to the dark parable “Conan the Barbarian” that replaces that film’s savagery with light-hearted adventure, including comic relief, buddies, and multiple couples.  A suspicious queen in need hires thief Conan (Schwarzenegger) and his sidekick to help her on a dangerous, cursed quest. Dragonheart (1996, 103 min, PG13) *** - Directed by Rob Cohen, starring Dennis Quaid, David Thewlis, and Sean Connery.  Rousing storybook fantasy about a medieval dragonslayer (Quaid) who joins forces with the last dragon (the voice of Connery) to do battle with a treacherous tyrant (Thewlis).  It’s hard to imagine an adventure like this working in our day and age, but the movie plays straight and we accept the friendship between man and beast on its own terms.  Terrific special effects bring the firebreather to life. The English Patient (1996, 160 min, R) ***1/2 – Directed & written for the screen by Anthony Minghella, starring Ralph Fiennes, Kristin Scott-Thomas, and Juliette Binoche.  Unhurried and sweeping old-fashioned romance set alternately just before World War II and near the war’s end.  The story of a nurse (Binoche) carrying for a horribly burned, dying, and potentially traitorous man in the desert contrasts the illicit romance between a bored English wife (Scott-Thomas) and an almost animal-hungry desert archaeologist (Fiennes).  Director Minghella has the patience to weave together and imply multiple storylines concerning deceit, betrayal, several romances, and keeps a large cast of characters spinning.  9 Oscars, including Picture, Director, Supporting Actress Binoche, and Cinematography. The General (1998, 129 min, B&W, R) **** - Directed & written for the screen by John Boorman, starring Brendan Gleeson and Jon Voight.  Superb and leisurely black-and-white exploration of working class Irish life, focusing on the exploits of a real-life Irish crime boss who, in fact, robbed director Boorman’s house and stole his gold record for “Dueling Banjos.”  Gleeson, in his finest hour, plays Martin Cahill, a cunning slob who will not be stomped on by The Man no matter what, who is both idol and devil to those around him.  The day-to-day life of the Irish slums and the inter-relationships and networks made by crime, terrorism, corruption, politics, and poverty are completely convincing, and we have no difficulty understanding why a man like Cahill could be so idolized.  His nemesis is an inspector (Voight) who admires him and fears that his days are numbered.  Winner of the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival.
		The Guns of Navarone (1961, 158 min, PG) ***1/2 – Directed by J. Lee Thompson, starring Gregory Peck, David Niven, and Anthony Quinn.  First-rate “six-commandoes-behind-enemy-lines” World War II thriller, this one about an Allied sabotage of giant German guns defending the entrance to the Mediterranean.  The man in charge (Peck) has a bad history with a pirate (Quinn) they enlist to help them, there’s a girl, there’s a double-cross, there’s good banter, and everything comes down to mowing down Nazis with machine guns.  From the novel by Alistair MacLean, director Thompson gets real life and atmosphere to the Mediterranean island and locals.  Multiple Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, winner for Best Visual Effects. Rounders (1998, 121 min, R) *** - Directed by John Dahl, starring Matt Damon and Edward Norton.  Breezy and likeable serio-comic exploits of a former card sharp (Damon) trying to go to Harvard but being drawn back into the world of professional cards by an old buddy (Norton).  The movie is really about the conflict between the person we want to be and the person our skills and moral weaknesses makes us into.  Fine, laidback performances all around (the supporting cast includes Martin Landau, John Turturro, and John Malkovich) and a good, gritty use of locations around Boston. The Running Man (1987, 101 min, R) ** - Directed by Paul Michael Glaser, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Richard Dawson, and Maria Conchito Alonso.  Out-of-control sci-fi satire about an out-of-control futuristic society that pits convicted criminals against weird robot monsters on live television.  Schwarzenegger plays a wrongly-convicted pilot out to pull the system down from the inside.  The movie feels slapdash, random, and constructed out of leftover parts of other Schwarzenegger movies. The Thirty-Nine Steps (1935, 86 min, B&W, NR) *** - Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll.  Lively and quick-witted thriller about a man framed for murder and taking to the Scottish countryside pursued by foreign spies and the law.  All the Hitchcock elements are here, even this early:  an ironic hero wrongfully accused, close-calls, guarded sexuality, and a cheerful indifference toward what the movie is ostensibly about (a list of spies, or something).  Lush black-and-white photography includes a beautiful (and obviously phony) stage dressed up to look like the great outdoors. Six-String Samurai (1998, 91 min, PG13) *** - Directed & co-writtenby Lance Mungia, starring Jeffrey Falcon and Justin McGuire.  Absolutely insane comic adventures of sword-wielding guitar players crossing a post-apocalyptic wasteland to find out who will replace the recently-deceased Elvis Presley as the King of America.  We follow Woody (Falcon) and a mute boy (McGuire) as they do battle with savages, killers, cutthroats, and Death himself.  Obviously tongue-in-cheek, on a budget, and featuring terrific kung-fu sequences and a ridiculously appropriate surf rock score by the Russian band Red Elvises. Index of All Reviews Back to home.