6DTHOmnibusThursday, January 26, 1989
DTHOmnibusThursday, January 26, 19897
The best films
By JAMES DEAN
Staff Writer
Looking back, as one often does
in reviews, this year has been a
good one for films. The studios
jumped to the astute realization
that people over the age of 16 do
enjoy going to the movies. Con
sequently most of the more suc
cessful movies required at least a
triple digit IQ - not the case in
the early and mid 80s.
They saw, perhaps no longer to
their dismay, that old formulae do
not always do the trick. Stallone's
latest display of narcis
sism'Rambo III," got the thumbs
down, as did Michael J. Fox in
"Bright Lights, Big City." Granted
"Crocodile Dundee H" and Eddie
Murphy's "Coming to America" did
roll In the bucks, but at least they
resorted to humor rather than
violence for their appeal. Even
George Lucas - after a few hor
rible years - found moderate
success with the annoying, but
well-meaning "Willow."
There was an extremely plea
sant feeling that if a film really
contained a genuine sense of
integrity it stood a chance, how
ever small or strange it was. John
Waters' delightful "Hairspray,"
while not quite living up to the
dubious Waters reputation, came
as a wonderfully refreshing sur
prise early in the year. The more
erratic, but equally energetic
"School Daze" marked a welcome
return to the screen for one of
America's most talented directors,
Spike Lee. John Sayles' "Eight Men
Out" showed once again the skill
and precision of. a shamefully
underrated filmmaker and was
right up there with the very best
of them.
Even the comedies, Hollywood's
Bob Hoskins and Joanna Cassidy star in the1988 summer hit, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?"
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The entire ensemble of the musical, "Forty Acres and a Mule," as seen
mainstay genre, demonstrated
more than usual depth and humor,
echoing the wit of some of the
great Hollywood comedy classics
of the early years. Martin Brest's
"Midnight Run" owed its consider
able charm to the excellent per
formances of Robert DeNiro and
Charles Grodin, both of whom
were so good in their parts that
they made it seem like the movie
would have failed miserably with
out them. Ron Shelton's "Bull
Durham" proved itself worthy at
the expense of the citizens of a
town not a million miles from here.
Again, the three leads, Kevin
Costner, Susan Sarandon, and Tim
iff;
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of 1988:
Robbins, pulled the narrative
above the usual level of slapstick
to give real character to the
slightly thin story. Jonathan
Demme's messy, but still rather
fun "Married to the Mob" also
provided evidence that Hollywood
was prepared to invest in adult
oriented comedy.
The recent speight of horror
films continued unheeded, usually
in the form of sequels - A Night
mare on Elm Street IV and Hel
Iraiser II to name but two - which
generally were far less memorable
than their not really very memor
able at all prequels. The most
interesting offering came in the
A return of movies for intelligent audiences
in Spike Lee's "School Daze."
form of David Cronenberg's "Dead
Ringers." The film marked a dis
tinct break from the cruder form
of horror at which Cronenberg
excelled. But despite disturbing
critical acclaim and a creditable
performance from Jeremy Irons,
"Dead Ringers" was simply too
introverted for its own good.
With a few exceptions, foreign
films did not distinguish them
selves, as they have done in
previous years in spite of the
absence of great foreign directors.
Most notably, France had nothing
to pat itself on the back about,
but Germany did. Wim wenders'
"Wings of Desire" showed Wenders
at his most poetic While the film
Directorwriter Ron Shelton and
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was not tne masterpiece it
wanted to be, it had a lingering
quality similar to some
of the
great European films.
The star of
the year, however, .was unques
tionably a young Spanish director
called Pedro Almopovar, who
created a new style of humor with
the outrageously blaf k "Matador,"
and with the tamer and more
commercial "Women on the Verge
of a Nervous Breakdown," which
broke house records when it
opened in New York. Though
Almodovar is, as they
say, not for
all tastes, he is certain
y an exciting
out as the
prospect for some.
One film stands
sleeper of the year, meaning that
it made bags of money when it
wasnt expected to,; confounding
those in Hollywood who thought
that they knew what the masses
wanted. Written by Monty
Python favorite John Cleese and
directed in the style of the old
British comedies of , the '40s and
'50s by veteran director Charles
Crichton,"A Fish Glled Wanda"
became a more or less instant
success with its deceptively simple
story and supremely confident
Anglo-American cast
Cinema maintained a high pro
file in the media as well, by inciting
more than its usual amount of
controversy. Most of this was
centered on one film, Martin
Scorsese's "The Last Temptation of
Christ." in the major cities, the film
was inundated with protestors,
who believed the film to be blas
phemous in its depiction of Christ.
"The Accused" provided a grue
some picture of a rape with a ten
minute sequence as horrific in its
realism as anything that has ever
been seen on the screen. At the
year's end, "Mississippi Burning"
Kevin Costner wdrk out a scene
also caused a media storm, this
time, for its relentless portrayal of
the civil rights disturbances in the
South during the '60s.
When the Oscars come around,
there will be no "The Last
Emperor." The field is open. Of the
men's performances, it has been
a good year for Tom Hanks with
"Punchline" and "Big" (which,
incidentally, is the most successful
film ever to be directed by a
woman), William Hurt (so what's
new) with his superbly controlled
portrait of a withdrawn tour book
writer in Lawrence Kasdan's oth
erwise disappointing "The Acciden
tal Tourist," Dustin Hoffman with
"Rain Man," Willem Dafoe with "The
Last Temptation of Christ," and
Forest Whitaker, who, in my opin
ion, outshone them all with his
powerful and moving portrayal of
Charlie Parker in "Bird."
Of the women, three perfor
mances stood out. Sigourney
Weaver roared through "Gorillas in
the Mist" with such genuine power
that she elevated herself to the
level of Meryl Streep in the realms
of method acting. By coincidence,
Streep herself put out another
impeccable performance, this time
slipping into an Australian accent,
in "A Cry in the Dark." Lastly, Jodie
Foster bounced back with a ven
geance from her flagging career
as the rape victim in "The
Accused."
Of the films, a handful surpass
the rest with their sheer quality.
Barry Levison overcame the prob
lems that have filtered in to his
previous works, such as "Tin Men"
and "Good Morning, Vietnam," and
made "Rain Man" as good a film
as it could have been. Fred Sche
pisi's "A Cry in the Dark" showed
the necessary lack of sentimental-
on the set of "Bull Durham."
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The clean-scrubbed, cherubic
ism to raise it above the normal
'movie with a cause' and give its
content a disturbing relevance
and impact. Clint Eastwood sug
gested an unseen smartness, even
genius, that he seems to have
disguised too well in the past, and
from behind the camera created
the impeccable and intensely
emotive "Bird" like it was no
trouble at all.
finally, there is one film that will
be remembered more than any
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Forest Whitaker gave a remarkable performance as jazz artist Charlie Parker in Clint Eastwood's "Bird." ' sis"
cast of Jonathon Demme's adult
other this year for the sheer sense
of joy and amazement it gave to
anyone who saw it. "Who Framed
Roger Rabbit?" turned itself into
a phenomenon by combining live
action and animation to a degree
that had never been seen before.
And the result was dazzling.
Whether it is worthy of compar
ison to the others in the race for
the coveted Oscar is hard to tell.
I guess well just have to wait and
see.
comedy, "Married to the Mob
in case you were wondering, my
Top Ten are, in alphabetical order:
1. "BircP
2. "A Cry in the Dark"
3. "Eight Men Out"
4."HairsDrav"
5. "The Last Temptation of
Christ"
6. "Matador"
7. "Midnight Run"
8."Powaqqatsi
9."Rain Man"
lO."Track29"