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Gold Diggers-Secret of Bear Mountain
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Casper
: :This 1995 family film tries to put a fun spin on the story of a paranormalist and widower (Bill Pullman) who moves into a new house with his daughter (Christina Ricci) and meets up with the ghost of a dead little boy. Based on the comic book about Casper the friendly ghost, the film is a dreary series of awkward interactions between live actors and computer effects, and you can almost see Pullman and Ricci reconsidering the project while on camera. A few cameo appearances from uncredited stars help things a ...
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Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas
: :The original cowriter and director of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was Alex Cox, whose earlier film Sid and Nancy suggests that Cox could have been a perfect match in filming Hunter S. Thompson's psychotropic masterpiece of 'gonzo' journalism. Unfortunately Cox departed due to the usual 'creative differences,' and this ill-fated adaptation was thrust upon Terry Gilliam, whose formidable gifts as a visionary filmmaker were squandered on the seemingly unfilmable elements of Thompson's ether-fogged narrative. The result is a one-joke movie without the joke--an endless series of repetitive scenes involving rampant ...
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Now & Then
: essential video:This obligatory girls' version of Stand by Me begins with actors Melanie Griffith, Rita Wilson, Demi Moore, and Rosie O'Donnell doing a lousy job of playing adult versions of the film's youthful protagonists. The idea is that this quartet of characters is having a reunion, which serves as a preface to the main story about school chums who make a pact to stay close and supportive through thick and thin. The trouble is that Griffith, Moore, Wilson, and O'Donnell look like they've rehearsed their scenes for no more than ...
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Bastard Out of Carolina
: :This fine but shocking drama (which Ted Turner paid for and then refused to show on his cable outfits), based on the novel by Dorothy Allison, concerns extensive abuse endured by a girl (Jena Malone) at the hands of her stepfather (Ron Eldard), while her mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh) looks the other way. Anjelica Huston made her directorial debut with this film and demonstrates that talent also runs in the family when behind the camera. Difficult to watch but mitigated by Huston's intelligent approach and sense of balance--as well as outstanding ...
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Mermaids
: :In the early '60s, nomadic single mom Mrs. Flax (Cher) packs up her two daughters, Charlotte (Winona Ryder) and Kate (Christina Ricci), in a beat-up Chevy wagon and moves to small-town Massachusetts. Preteen Kate is obsessed with swimming, while 15-year-old Charlotte is searching for ways to rebel against her mom (and mom's flirty ways). The route she chooses is to become fascinated with Catholicism and all its arcane rituals, even though the family is Jewish. Her coming of age is handled with plenty of Wonder Years-style voiceovers as she fantasizes about ...
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Gold Diggers: Secret of Bear Mountain
: :In the early '60s, nomadic single mom Mrs. Flax (Cher) packs up her two daughters, Charlotte (Winona Ryder) and Kate (Christina Ricci), in a beat-up Chevy wagon and moves to small-town Massachusetts. Preteen Kate is obsessed with swimming, while 15-year-old Charlotte is searching for ways to rebel against her mom (and mom's flirty ways). The route she chooses is to become fascinated with Catholicism and all its arcane rituals, even though the family is Jewish. Her coming of age is handled with plenty of Wonder Years-style voiceovers as she fantasizes about ...
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Hard Way
: :In this raucous, high-energy action thriller from 1991, Michael J. Fox plays a spoiled Hollywood movie star who wants to bring vivid authenticity to his latest role as a big-city cop, so he recruits the real thing (James Woods) as his experienced mentor. This unlikely partnership doesn't sit too well with Woods, a hot-headed New York street cop who's a magnet for action-packed trouble. But that makes him just the right guy for Fox's research, which goes so far as to include Woods's girlfriend (Annabella Sciorra) and participation in some death-defying ...
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Addams Family Values
: essential video:This somewhat more cohesive follow-up to The Addams Family has the same director, Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black), but a better story line. Joan Cusack plays a busty gold digger who ingratiates herself into the Addams home and convinces Uncle Fester (Christopher Lloyd) that she wants to marry him. Besides Lloyd, the cast includes Anjelica Huston and Raul Julia, ideal as those Brontëan lovers, Morticia and Gomez. But Christina Ricci again walks away with the best moments as the chilly Wednesday Addams, making life miserable for two camp counselors ...
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Ice Storm
:Description:When a self-centered husband's relationship with his wife and mistress grow cold, it takes a wife-swapping 'key party' and a freak ice storm to clear the air and change their lives forever. Director Ang Lee offers a compelling look at a controversial era. essential video:Asian American director Ang Lee sums up America in the early 1970s by focusing on the arrival of the sexual revolution in the 'burbs. Isolationism within a family, consumerism, and selfishness are personified by a cast that captures the self-obsession within two New England families. As ...
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