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Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella
: :A guilty, guilty pleasure, perhaps not one a left-wing feminist should be admitting to in public. Female boomers should recall yearly TV reruns of this Rodgers and Hammerstein production, featuring such delights as 'Impossible' and 'Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful?' It may appear a bit stark to younger viewers, but part of the charm of this 1964 network TV special, a remake of the live 1957 telecast originally built around Julie Andrews, is its utter simplicity. An extremely young Lesley Ann Warren and Stuart Damon (of General Hospital fame) are joined ...
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Pee-wee's Big Adventure
: :Former animator Tim Burton (Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Batman, Mars Attacks!) made his feature directorial debut with this delightful comedy, coscripted by the late Phil Hartman (who also appears briefly as a reporter). Wisely, they keep the story simple so as to concentrate on the characters: Pee-wee's most prized possession, his shiny new bicycle, is stolen, and he sets off on an obsessive cross-country journey, determined to recover it. Pee-wee's awkward and childish attempts to be cool and mature ('I meant to do that!!') are hysterical, as when he tells his girlfriend ...
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Blankman
: :Former animator Tim Burton (Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Batman, Mars Attacks!) made his feature directorial debut with this delightful comedy, coscripted by the late Phil Hartman (who also appears briefly as a reporter). Wisely, they keep the story simple so as to concentrate on the characters: Pee-wee's most prized possession, his shiny new bicycle, is stolen, and he sets off on an obsessive cross-country journey, determined to recover it. Pee-wee's awkward and childish attempts to be cool and mature ('I meant to do that!!') are hysterical, as when he tells his girlfriend ...
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Powerplay (R-Rated)
: :Former animator Tim Burton (Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Batman, Mars Attacks!) made his feature directorial debut with this delightful comedy, coscripted by the late Phil Hartman (who also appears briefly as a reporter). Wisely, they keep the story simple so as to concentrate on the characters: Pee-wee's most prized possession, his shiny new bicycle, is stolen, and he sets off on an obsessive cross-country journey, determined to recover it. Pee-wee's awkward and childish attempts to be cool and mature ('I meant to do that!!') are hysterical, as when he tells his girlfriend ...
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Robocop 2
: :With the surprise success--both critical and commercial--of Robocop, it was inevitable that a sequel would emerge (actually, two sequels). But this follow-up lacked the dyspeptically funny vision of filmmaker Paul Verhoeven and wound up skimming the surface to repeat only the most superficial elements of the original: the big, clunky hero (played by Peter Weller), the ultra-violence (minus a dark sense of humor), and the plethora of action sequences. What plot there is deals with the corporation that runs the cops and its two-pronged attempt to squeeze every dime out of the populace ...
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Cinderella
: :A guilty, guilty pleasure, perhaps not one a left-wing feminist should be admitting to in public. Female boomers should recall yearly TV reruns of this Rodgers and Hammerstein production, featuring such delights as 'Impossible' and 'Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful?' It may appear a bit stark to younger viewers, but part of the charm of this 1964 network TV special, a remake of the live 1957 telecast originally built around Julie Andrews, is its utter simplicity. An extremely young Lesley Ann Warren and Stuart Damon (of General Hospital fame) are joined ...
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Major Payne
: :Let's face facts here: You don't watch a movie like Major Payne for its artistic merit any more than you'd watch Schindler's List for its comedy. If you go in thinking otherwise, you're bucking for a disappointment. So it's a pleasant surprise to discover that Major Payne is more entertaining than a barrel full of bad reviews would lead you to believe. It's a totally formulaic comedy about a bunch of misfit kids who turn into a crack squad of skillfully disciplined ROTC cadets, but Damon Wayans is spot-on hilarious in the title ...
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Krush Groove
: :Like its progenitors Beat Street and Wild Style, Krush Groove is a movie about hip-hop that in its rush to document an emergent culture ignores plot, acting, cinematography, and anything else that makes a movie watchable or worthwhile. That said, Krush Groove contains some nifty performances from hip-hop legends Run-DMC, the always hilarious Fat Boys (see Disorderlies if you can't get enough of their weighty shtick), brilliant MC Kurtis Blow, and Prince protégé Sheila E. Also look out for soon-to-be L.A. Law-yer Blair Underwood in a lead role. Performances aside, Krush Groove isn't ...
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Bulletproof
: :Damon Wayans and Adam Sandler actually work together pretty well as action-flick buddies on opposite sides of the law. The story line is familiar, to put it mildly, as car-thief and drug-courier Sandler is set up and busted by Wayans's undercover cop, a man he's come to trust with his life. Dozens of movies, including Quentin Tarantino's great Reservoir Dogs, have tilled this fallow field before. But for once we can actually feel the bonds connecting the two tough guys, and the pain of their falling out, even when the movie dawdles over ...
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Iron Maze
: :Damon Wayans and Adam Sandler actually work together pretty well as action-flick buddies on opposite sides of the law. The story line is familiar, to put it mildly, as car-thief and drug-courier Sandler is set up and busted by Wayans's undercover cop, a man he's come to trust with his life. Dozens of movies, including Quentin Tarantino's great Reservoir Dogs, have tilled this fallow field before. But for once we can actually feel the bonds connecting the two tough guys, and the pain of their falling out, even when the movie dawdles over ...
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