Madonna’s leading role debut is still for me the high-point of her acting career. Given she essentially plays herself in this movie, the role perhaps wasn’t too much of a stretch for her. She is out-acted anyway by Rosanna Arquette (one of those 80s stars who burned brightly for awhile then pretty much disappeared) in…
The Dead Zone
The Dead Zone is my favourite of David’ Cronenberg’s movies. At university, I once wrote a dissertation on Cronenberg’s earlier ‘body horror’ movies – including Shivers, Rabid and Scanners. These were all typically set in a Canadian winter and are fundamentally very cold, dour and disturbing movies, with little known casts. They had a pretence…
Purple Rain
I saw Purple Rain at the press screening in Norwich before anyone other than diehard fans had ever hear of Prince. I thought his acting was quite dreadful, and the plot is pure cliche, but it was apparent that he had a charisma about him. Plus, of course, all the songs and stage performances were…
High Plains Drifter / Pale Rider
These are two mythical Westerns from Clint Eastwood, both of which essentially have the same conceit – the Clint character is the reincarnation of a dead lawman murdered by bandits, who returns to deliver justice to the perpetrators. High Plains Drifter was the first Western Clint directed himself, and the influence of Sergio Leone looms…
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
This is a selection of stills and the UK press kit from Steven Spielberg’s remarkably dark follow-up to Raiders of the Lost Ark. Temple is actually a prequel to Raiders. It kicks off with a fantastic opening sequence, set to “Anything Goes”, sung in Mandarin, and climaxes with an amazing set-piece rail car chase through…
Never Say Never Again
I remember seeing this the Summer it was released. The press had amped up “The Battle of the Bonds” between the “official” Roger Moore release Octopussy and this, Sean Connery’s return to the role after 12 years at the age of 52. NSNA is a loose remake of Thunderball, and came about due to a…
Splash
Splash is on paper a movie that really should not work. I remember being sent to review this for the student paper and rolled my eyes at the “man falls in love with mermaid” high concept. I was fully prepared for it to be terrible, but it turned out to be one of the best…
Friday 13th: The Final Chapter
Much as I love horror movies I have never been a fan of the Friday 13th franchise. The original Friday 13th had one decent jump scare at the end when the (un)dead Jason rears up out of Crystal Lake. I also recall a young Kevin Bacon gets offed with an arrow through his neck. But…
Tightrope
Guilty pleasure time: I have a soft spot for this moody 1984 Clint Eastwood noir thriller. I remember the UK reviews at the time were not particularly kind (“Trite rope” was the headline on one I recall). Tightrope is far from perfect, but I think its one of Clint’s better films from the 80s…