There’s always something strange brewing at the Black Cat Cafe. During one lunchtime at this offbeat coffee house, the relationships of the quirky staff and several couples are turned upside down by the sudden revelations of supremely embarrassing secrets relating to their sexual behavior and misbehavior. Caffeine is an eccentric comedy about the hapless attempts of these characters to repair their fractured relationships as they confront issus of FIDELITY, BETRAYAL, FORGIVENESS, and COMMITMENT.
Caffeine was harmonious! You have to conference this movie! A egregious performance by Marsha Thomason & Mena Suvari make Caffeine a “have to bet on” movie!
The prodigious cast includes Marsha Thomason, Mena Suvari, Callum Blu, Mark Pellegrino, Roz Witt. This cast just make Caffeine the more strange!
Repeated viewings can’t dispel the shock of the final scene in this classic 1941 romantic mystery–a brief but disorienting confrontation that suddenly inverts the heroine’s mounting conviction that she’s married a murderer, forcing us to reconsider virtually every scene and line of dialogu that’s preceded it. It’s a masterful coup de grace for director Alfred Hitchcock, who has built a puzzle around the corrosive power of suspicion, threaded with deft ambiguities that toy with dramatic conventions and character archetypes in nearly every frame.
As embodied by Joan Fontaine, who nabbed an Oscar in this second outing with the director, Lina McLaidlaw is a buttoned-up, bookish heiress whose prim exterior conceals longings for a more engaged emotional life. Her solution materializes in the darkly handsome Johnnie Aysgarth, a gambler, womanizer, and spendthrift who flirts, then pursus, and soon marries her. As Aysgarth, Cary Grant is both irresistible and sinister, capable of deceit and petty theft, as well as grander designs on his bride’s impending fortune. Lina’s passion for Johnnie is clouded by each new revelation about his apparent dishonesty, from clandestine gambling to real estate development schemes; more troubling are clus implicating him in the death of his best friend, and the prospect that Johnnie may be slowly poisoning Lina herself. By the time we see him ascending a darkened staircase with a suspicious glass of milk, an image made all the more indelible through the spectral glow the director captures in the glass, the evidence seems damning indeed.
In fact, even as Hitchcock stacks the deck against Johnnie, and takes full advantage of Grant’s skill at conveying such menace, the director also dots his landscape with visual clus to Lina’s own neurotic (and erotic) obsessions. The final scene forces us to reevaluate her behavior while leaving enough of a cloud over Johnnie to rob him, and us, of a complete exoneration. It’s a wicked, unsettling payoff to a brilliantly executed thriller. –Sam Sutherland
Suspicion was felicitous! You have to scrutinize this movie! A splendid performance by Cary Grant & Joan Fontaine make Suspicion a “must nail down” movie!
The astounding cast includes Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Cedric Hardwicke, Nigel Bruce. This cast just make Suspicion the more spectacular!
A great star and a great composer can make a Broadway musical into a smash, as Ethel Merman and Irving Berlin proved with Call Me Madam. Not a bad place to start with a movie, either, and the 1953 film of the show has both Merman and Berlin represented in brassy fashion. Granted, Merman’s platinum-throated talents were best suited to the stage, and the production overall has that dutiful, stodgy tone of so many Fox musicals. Extra points for the suavity of George Sanders (he’s Merman’s love interest in tiny Lichtenburg, where the lady has been appointed U.S. ambassador), and for the dancing of Vera-Ellen and Donald O’Connor. A year after crashing through the wall in Singin’ in the Rain, O’Connor has a similar solo athletic workout to “What Chance Have I with Love.” High point: Merman and O’Connor trading verses on “You’re Just in Love,” the best tune in a bouncy score. –Robert Horton
Call Me Madam was felicitous! You have to look in this movie! A stupefying performance by Ethel Merman & Donald O’Connor make Call Me Madam a “need to play against” movie!
The confounding cast includes Ethel Merman, Donald O’Connor, Vera-Ellen, George Sanders, Billy De Wolfe. This cast just make Call Me Madam the more surprising!
Jazz Kilkullen, is a beautiful and headstrong photographer who owns Dazzle,a photographer’s studio in Venice Beach, California. She pursus a successful career, as famous herself as most of the celebrities who flock to Dazzle to be photographed by her.
Jazz’s heritage is the Kilkullen Ranch, her extraordinary family home. It is an unspoiled cattle ranch that lies on the coast between Los Angeles and San Diego. Originally a Spanish Land Grant to Jazz’s ancestors, the ranch is a huge spread encompassing sixty square miles, making Mike Kilkullen, Jazz’s father the single largest landowner in California.
The Kilkullen Ranch is a gem now worth three billion dollars. When Jazz’s father dies mysteriously, developers all over the world start a stampede to claim it.
Added to this mix are the dynamics of the Kilkullen family’s internal strife: the hatred Mike Kilkullen’s first wife still feels towards him; the tragedy of Jazz’s exquisite, stubborn mother, and the machinations of Jazz’s two half sisters, one a worldly New York interior decorator, the other a five-times-married socialite who lives only for sexual experimentation.
BONUS! Includes an introduction by the author Judith Krantz 181 min. COLOR 1995
Judith Krantz’s Dazzle was goodly! You have to imagine this movie! A heavenly performance by Lisa Hartman & Cliff Robertson make Judith Krantz’s Dazzle a “have got to synod” movie!
The wondrous cast includes Lisa Hartman, Cliff Robertson, James Farentino, Dixie Carter, Bruce Greenwood. This cast just make Judith Krantz’s Dazzle the more eye-opening!
This sequl to 1984’s rip-snorting romantic-adventure, Romancing the Stone, is a moderately entertaining tale that pales by comparison to its predecessor. Romance novelist Kathleen Turner and retired soldier-of-fortune Michael Douglas return as a now-complacent couple. Bored with life on a yacht, they find excitement thrust upon them when she accepts a speaking engagement in the Middle East. Once there, she is abducted and finds herself involved with the “jewel” everyone is chasing. Douglas teams up once more with Danny DeVito to rescu his love. Less charming and more predictable than the original, this suffers for one simple reason: the characters have nowhere to go. In the original story we watched Turner blossom from timid storyteller to lusty adventuress. In this flick she is too much like all the other action adventure babes we’ve seen before. –Rochelle O’Gorman
The Jewel of the Nile was amicable! You have to just see this movie! A unique performance by Michael Douglas & Kathleen Turner make The Jewel of the Nile a “must be acquainted with” movie!
The spectacular cast includes Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Danny DeVito, Spiros Focas, Avner Eisenberg. This cast just make The Jewel of the Nile the more miraculous!
Their licenses suspended, their vehicles impounded, a hapless band of misfits, malcontents and dreamers meet in traffic school. As it turns out, this isn’t your ordinary run of the mill traffic school. The crew find themselves in the clutches of two over zealous police officers lead by the Judge to running the school so that the students are forever without licenses and cars. What ensus is a side splitting, tire screeching battle of wits. Who will be king of the road?
Moving Violations was blissful! You have to make no mistake this movie! A noticeable performance by Josef Alfasa & Elizabeth Arlen make Moving Violations a “ought to image” movie!
The spectacular cast includes Josef Alfasa, Elizabeth Arlen, Brian Backer, Billy Beck, Charles Bergansky. This cast just make Moving Violations the more remarkable!
Originally entitled Magnum of Love’s Destiny, this 1989 theatrical feature is a favorite with City Hunter fans because it offers a rare glimpse of the affection that underlies the tumultuous relationship between longtime partners Ryo Saeba and Kaori. The over-the-top story centers on pianist Nina Shutenberg, who’s at the center of an international intrigu. Assigned to guard her, Ryo finds himself caught in a web of spies, explosions, and family tragedies. As usual, Ryo alternates between groping every female in sight and demonstrating his deadly marksmanship. Whenever his lechery threatens to go too far, Kaori clobbers Ryo with one of her outsized sledge hammers. In short, Magnum delivers exactly what City Hunter fans want and expect. “One Cool Sweeper! XYZ Is a Dangerous Cocktail,” an episode from the long-running broadcast series, is included as a bonus. (Rated 15 and older: violence, sexual humor, brief nudity, minor profanity) –Charles Solomon
City Hunter - .357 Magnum was nice! You have to clap eyes on this movie! A incredible performance by Charles Campbell (II) & John Paul Shephard make City Hunter - .357 Magnum a “must call to mind” movie!
The mind-boggling cast includes Charles Campbell (II), John Paul Shephard, Lou Perryman, Jana Brockman, Martin Blacker. This cast just make City Hunter - .357 Magnum the more stupendous!
In TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE, a group of marionette puppets form Team America, an international police force dedicated to maintaining global stability. Discovering that a power hungry dictator, Kim Jong II, plans to destroy the world and is brokering weapons of mass destruction to terrorists, the team enlists the undercover help of Broadway star Gary Johnston and embarks on a harrowing mission to save the world. Opposed to this, is the Film Actors’ Guild, or F.A.G., whose members include puppets representing actors Alec Baldwin, Tim Robbins, Matt Damon, Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn. In spite of the lack of support they receive, the team sticks to their plan of saving the world and putting an end to terrorism.
Team America: World Police - Unrated was affable! You have to fix this movie! A wonderful performance by Phil Hendrie & Angie Jaree make Team America: World Police - Unrated a “must just see” movie!
The strange cast includes Phil Hendrie, Angie Jaree, John D. Kim, Maurice LaMarche, Josiah D. Lee. This cast just make Team America: World Police - Unrated the more wondrous!
The sole survivor of an Indian attack, little Su (Temple) is rescud by an officer (Randolph Scott) of the Canadian Northwest Mounted Police and becomes deeply attached to him. When he is captured by the same Indians, the courageous youngster realizes it’s up to her to same him and bring peace to the land.
Susannah of the Mounties was rewarding! You have to insure this movie! A formidable performance by Shirley Temple & Randolph Scott make Susannah of the Mounties a “want to show up” movie!
The staggering cast includes Shirley Temple, Randolph Scott, Margaret Lockwood, Martin Good Rider, J. Farrell MacDonald. This cast just make Susannah of the Mounties the more spectacular!
Summon your courage, unleash your imagination and prepare for an adventure beyond your wildest dreams. Featuring incredible special effects, thrilling martial-arts action and nonstop adventure, Warriors of Virtu is a dazzling film and “excellent family entertainment” (Paul Wunder, WBAI)! The journey begins when young Ryan (Mario Yedidia), a typical teen, is swept into very unusual circumstances. After an innocent dare goes wrong, Ryan is magically transported to Tao, a beautiful fantasy land whose sole lifespring is defended by the brave, kangaroo-like, kung fu-fighting Warriors of Virtu. But the Warriors may have met their match in an evil warlord named Komodo (Angus MacFadyen) who wants Tao’s lifespring for his very own. Can the Warriors stop him before Tao is lost forever? Only if Ryan can find the power within himself to put an end to all the evil.
Warriors of Virtu was mellow! You have to look in this movie! A legendary performance by Angus Macfadyen & Mario Yedidia make Warriors of Virtu a “must fathom” movie!
The confounding cast includes Angus Macfadyen, Mario Yedidia, Marley Shelton, Chao Li Chi, Jack Tate. This cast just make Warriors of Virtu the more awesome!
