Backdraft - 10 stars out of 10

Backdraft - 10 stars out of 10

This is much more than another action film about firefighters - it is a deep drama with complex character relationships, strong moral dilemmas, and raw emotion.  Though this story revolves around the arsenist plot, it becomes obvious that it is merely a subplot when it fails to reveal itself until the midpoint of the movie.  Instead, the focus of "Backdraft" lies with Kurt Russell and William Baldwin's characters, their emotional conflicts with each other, and the social effects of firefighting on their lives.  The lack of arsonist conflict bothered me during the movie but after seeing the movie as a whole, I am glad that the movie spent so much time developing the two main characters.  The pyrotechnics are incredible throughout the movie, particularly during the final fire sequence; however, instead of being the primary draw (as in so many disaster movies), they enhance conflicts of the main characters.  The soundtrack by Hans Zimmer lays a solid foundation for the action sequences but fails to create an amazing theme like most of his modern music.  Donald Sutherland delivers an incredible performance, despite being limited to about 15 minutes of screen time.  Robert DeNiro and Jennifer Jason Leigh also provide great performances, though no performance in this movie can compete with Kurt Russell.  All in all, this is a great movie that should be on the list of every movie buff.

Mississippi Burning - 10 stars out of 10

Mississippi Burning - 10 stars out of 10

All that I had to do was read the opening credits to know that this would be an incredibly well-acted film.  "Mississippi Burning" is a powerful story from the 60's about the gross racial injustices occurring in the south as our country struggled to keep itself from being ripped apart by segregation and violence.  Based on the real-life murders of three civil rights workers, the film has a high emotional impact from start to finish as it includes every bloody detail of racist violence.  This may not be the right film for the faint of heart as it contains a man being hung, a child being kicked in the face and beaten while praying, and the n-word over and over again.  I could feel my anger and frustration toward the bigots in this film building as they set fire to the lives of a group of people, all because of the shade of their skin.  The darkness of this film becomes reality through the incredible cast of actors including Gene Hackman (who received an Oscar nomination), a very young Willem Dafoe, R. Lee Ermey, and an unrecognizably young Frances McDormand (who also received an Oscar nomination).  This is one of those movies that remind me why I love critically acclaimed dramas, watching these characters become real as the movie progresses.  In addition to these four, the sheriff played by Gailard Sartain (that guy from all of the Ernest movies) and his deputy (Brad Dourif) are so good that you will want to physically hurt them for their discrimination.  An awesome script facilitates these great performances.  By the end, you'll feel hostile to the southern racists, you'll get a pit in your stomach when you see the Ku Klux Klan hoods, you'll feel an even bigger pit when the castration is described, but you'll be most impressed by the way that everything wraps up in the end.  This rough story is perfectly brought to life through superb acting and writing, and these images may just change your view of this dark section of southern history forever.

Network - 9 stars out of 10

Network - 9 stars out of 10

"Network" is an incredible dramatic satire of the world of television executives and the influence of the media over its audience.  It is no surprise that this film won four Oscars with its eloquent script, unique characters, and an impressive cast to bring these two things to life.  The heart of this film is its series of genius monologues that are contextually tied together by greedy network executives and a man who is losing his mind.  Peter Finch's Oscar was a no-brainer as he delivers his emotional "Mad as Hell" newscasts with the charisma of a television preacher to a cheering audience as he faints.  I would tell you to just look these monologues up on youtube, but the rest of the film is so good that it wouldn't be right to take these rants out of their context.  Another great emotional outburst comes from Beatrice Straight in her Oscar-winning role as she calls out her cheating husband.  She did not have an enormous role (less than 6 minutes of screen time), but her moment of movie magic obviously left an impression.  Faye Dunaway is as lovely as ever, showing both her sweet side and her aggressive side.  The crazy thing is that I just mentioned three actors that won Oscars for this film, and that still leaves William Holden and Ned Beatty who were nominated and did not win.  And even crazier is that Robert Duvall gave an incredible performance and wasn't even one of the five nominees for Best Actor/Actress!  All of these actors put on a clinic of how to create a memorable performance, but some of this credit also belongs to the Oscar-winning script by Paddy Chayevsky.  The dialogue shifts between humor and drama, but its true shining moments are contained in the monologues by Finch and the emotional outbursts by many of the other characters.  It has a fantastic pace that builds and evolves its characters until the shocking, perfectly written ending.  "Network" may be overlooked by many because it did not win an Oscar for Best Picture, but this film is the complete package and once you can get past the language and sexual content, it will make you rethink the power of the network executives with characters that you will never forget.

Addams Family Values - 7 stars out of 10

Addams Family Values - 7 stars out of 10

The Addamses are back.  Again!  And "Addams Family Values" is undoubtedly the finest incarnation of this fictional family in their 40 year history.  Only two years after "The Addams Family" and with much of the same cast, this film manages to be far superior because of its script.  The humor is much smarter this time around ("He has my father's eyes." "Gomez, take those out of his mouth.") and the characters are able to develop instead of trying to be a continuation of the 1960's tv series.  It's rated PG-13 but you probably need to be 15 or 16 years old before you can fully understand and appreciate the humor in this film.  But don't be deceived - there is enough stupid humor in here for the kid in all of us (like Uncle Fester with the carrots up his nose at dinner and the baby having a mustache).  You just have to love seeing these characters come to life, like when Anjelica Huston comes walking down the stairs in the inhumanly thin dress, just like Morticia from the cartoons.  Raul Julia gives a very fine performance as Gomez in one of his final roles before his young death.  I am so glad that they kept most of the same cast from the 1991 picture, but the casting of Carol Kane as Grandmama Addams is genius.  That character was very unmemorable in the first film but got a lot of laughs in "Values" ("What about Debbie?")  You've also got to love that it takes the entire first film and an hour into the second film before Wednesday smiles for the first time - Christina Ricci was also static in the first film but stole the spotlight this time.  Wednesday and Pugsley's failed attempts at killing the baby were amusing, but thank goodness that the writers were smart enough to end that in the first 20 minutes before it could get old.  All of the supporting roles were incredible, too.  The camp counselors were spot on in their annoying stereotype and Joan Cusack made a brilliant villain.  Her fake kindness is hilarious, and her mean side is even funnier.  I would watch this film again just for her, but who could forget Christopher Lloyd as Uncle Fester?  Could this really be the same actor that played Doc Brown in Back to the Future?  His awkward slapstick acting is just too funny and I will watch this film over and over again just for his moments (and... all of the other great things that I've mentioned in this review).  In addition to the script and acting, the musical score is very clever as it incorporates the well-know 1960's Addams Family theme into Lurch's organ music, the tango, and the wedding march.  From start to finish, "Addams Family Values" is a solid comedy and can easily be viewed without watching the 1991 film first.

P.S. Unlike the first film, this version does NOT contain a song by M.C. Hammer during the closing credits; unfortunately, it is worse.  This time you get to enjoy "Whoomp! (There It Is)" by Tag Team, only this time they've elected to go with "Whoomp!  The Addams Family, there it is!"  As with the first film, I highly recommend muting the tv and watching the closing credits in silence, as this is obviously a continuation of the comical dark tone of the film, forcing the audience to listen to something as painful as this as they leave the theater.

The Addams Family - 5 stars out of 10

The Addams Family - 5 stars out of 10

The Addams Family is back with the same old characters in a fresh new story.  The plot cleverly serves as a means to introduce new audiences to the Addamses.  When an Uncle Fester look-a-like enters the Addams home in an attempt to steal their fortune, he has to learn about each family member's personality quirks, and we learn along with him.  Each character is well cast - Morticia and Gomez have great chemistry together and play off of each other with dark, ironic comments.  Gomez has never been more lovable than when Raul Julia dances the Mamuska.  Lurch is tall, Wednesday is creepy, and Pugsley is the perfect blend of plump and oblivious.  Dan Hedaya and Elizabeth Wilson make great bad guys and the use of blue screen to turn Christopher Hart's hand into Thing is easily on par with the possibilities of computer animation many years later.  But the highlight of this film is Christopher Lloyd as the Uncle Fester impersonator.  His facial expressions are just so good and he's taken Fester from being one of the "extra" family members to being in the spotlight.  Even thouh this film doesn't get my highest rating, I would definitely watch it again for it's clever dark humor and Christopher Lloyd.  Or... I could just go watch the superior "Addams Family Values" sequel instead.  I have always preferred The Munsters to The Addams Family and I still do, but this film opened my eyes to the humorous antics of television's "other" dark family.

P.S. Don't miss M.C. Hammer's "Addams Groove" during the closing credits!  On second thought, it would probably be more enjoyable to mute the tv and just watch the words go by in silence.