Showing posts with label 1995. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1995. Show all posts

Classic Movie Review Candyman Farewell to the Flesh

Candyman Farewell to the Flesh

Directed by Bill Condon

Written by Rand Ravich, Mark Krueger, Clive Barker 

Starring Tony Todd, Kelly Rowan, Timothy Carhart, Veronica Cartwright 

Release Date March 17th, 1995 

Published March 20th, 2025 

The journey to bring Candyman Farewell to the Flesh, the sequel to the hit horror movie, Candyman (1992), to the big screen is far more entertaining than the movie that was the result of that journey. Following the surprising success of Candyman, producers went to Candyman director Bernard Rose to start work on a sequel. Rose was not ready for this request. He had no idea what to do with a sequel as he believed he’d killed the title character at the end of the first film. Indeed, (Spoiler Alert) Tony Todd’s Candyman burns to death alongside Virginia Madsen’s Helen Lyle. So, not only is Candyman destroyed but his legend is passed to Helen who now appears if you say her name five times in front of a mirror. 

So, what to do with a sequel? Candyman is dead and Helen is the new Candyman. Rose had to scramble for an idea. He had a green-lighted movie, he needed to get a story fast to take advantage of this rare Hollywood sure thing. Thinking that since the first story had been based on a Clive Barker short story, Rose began searching through Barker’s catalogue of shorts for a new story to tell. Again, in Rose’s mind, the Candyman is dead. So now, for a sequel, he’s viewing it as an anthology under the umbrella title of Candyman.

Find my full length review at Horror.Media, linked here. 



Classic Movie Review Houseguest

Houseguest 

Directed by Randall Miller 

Written by Michael G. Di Gaetano, Roger Birnbaum 

Starring Sinbad, Phil Hartman 

Released January 6th, 1995 

Published January 7th, 2025 

Houseguest stars comedian Sinbad as a fast talking con-artist named Kevin Franklin. Kevin owes the mob $50,000 dollars via a failed business loan. With a pair of dopey mobsters, Pauly and Joey Gasparini (Paul Ben Victor and Tony Longo), on his tail, Kevin tries to flee the country but gets caught at the airport. After throwing a few curveballs to escape his would-be captors, Kevin stumbles upon the Young family, headed up by milquetoast lawyer Gary Young (Phil Hartman). 

Gary and his kids are at the airport to meet Gary’s oldest friend, one he’s not seen in person in more than 25 years. All that Gary knows about his buddy, Derek, is that he’s black and has agreed to show off his knowledge at a presentation at Gary’s kids' school. This is all the information that Kevin needs to pretend that he’s Derek and use the Youngs as a way to escape from the mob. But first, he has to get rid of the real Derek, played by Ron Glass, by crafting an off the cuff lie so stupid that you can’t help but feel dumber listening to it while feeling a sense of sympathy for actor Ron Glass as he feigns buying into this nonsense.

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media, linked here. 



Classic Movie Review Tales from the Crypt Demon Knight

Tales from the Crypt Demon Knight 

Directed by Ernest Dickerson 

Written by Mark Bishop, Ethan Reiff, Cyrus Voris 

Starring William Sadler, Billy Zane, Jada Pinkett 

Release Date January 13th, 1995 

Published January 14th, 2025 



It’s rare when we at the I Hate Critics Podcast 1995 are genuinely surprised by a movie. It’s especially shocking when a 90s horror movie is that surprise. Generally speaking, the horror genre was not in a great place in the early to mid 1990s. Thus, our expectations for the Tales from the Cryptspin-off flick, Tales from the Crypt Demon Knight were exceedingly low. Sure, the cast is chock full of some of the great that-guy/that-girl actors of the 1990s, but that’s no guarantee of quality when you’re dealing with horror in the 90s. 

What a delight then to find that Tales from the Crypt Demon Knightembraces a silliness and break neck pace that cover for the low budget and ambitions at play. Demon Knight centers on Frank Brayker (William Sadler), a so-called Demon Knight. Frank has been tasked with protecting a key that can keep demons at bay. The key carries the blood of previous Demon Knight’s all the way back to the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. Frank is being pursued by The Collector (Billy Zane) , a powerful demon who needs the key to rain darkness down upon the world.

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media, linked here. 



Classic Movie Review Before Sunrise

Before Sunrise 

Directed by Richard Linklater 

Written by Richard Linklater, Kim Krizan

Starring Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy

Released January 19th 1995 at the Sundance Film Festival 

Published January 18th, 1995

On a train traveling through Europe, two twenty-somethings meet by chance and spend one romantic night in Vienna together. Jesse (Ethan Hawke) is an American who came to Europe to see his girlfriend and ends up heartbroken and wandering. Celine (Julie Delpy) is a French college student headed home from Budapest after visiting relatives.

Jesse and Celine bond over their mutual distaste with a couple loudly fighting loudly in indecipherable German. They decide to hang out together in the dining car and what begins as a time-killing conversation becomes a series of smart, witty exchanges and real honest romance. Jesse has to get off in Vienna to catch a plane the next morning, she is supposed to just go straight home but Jesse's charm tempts her enough to jump off the train for one romantic night in Vienna.

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media, linked here. 



Classic Movie Review S.F.W

S.F.W 

Directed by Jefery Levy 

Written by Danny Rubin, Jefery Levy 

Starring Stephen Dorff, Reese Witherspoon, Jake Busey, Joey Lauren Adams 

Release Date January 20th, 1995

Published January 24th, 1995 

S.F.W stars Stephen Dorff as Cliff Spab, a 20 year old slacker who rises to fame after he and a friend are among a group held hostage inside of a convenience store. A terror group called S.P.L.I.T Image is behind the hostage situation and they document the whole thing with video cameras that they demand to be played on television or they will kill their hostages. The TV networks agree and Cliff’s sarcastic, slacker philosopher becomes the star of the show. 

With his catchphrase “So F***ing What” doubling as a thesis statement on modern life, the film picks up Cliff’s story in the wake of the end of the hostage crisis, a bloody shootout that ended with the death of Cliff’s friend, Joe (Jack Noseworthy). Free from the terrorists, Cliff re-enter the world unaware of his newfound fame. Returning home, Cliff is met by a series of uncaring family members, shallow hangers-on, and con artists eager to cash in on Cliff’s fame.

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media, linked here. 



Classic Movie Review Miami Rhapsody

Miami Rhapsody

Directed by David Frankel

Written by David Frankel

Starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Mia Farrow, Gil Bellows, Antonio Banderas, Mia Farrow

Release Date January 27th, 1995 

Published January 27th, 2025

Miami Rhapsody stars Sarah Jessica Parker as Gwyn Marcus, a neurotic, recently engaged, young woman who is struggling with the concept of marriage. She loves her fiancé, Matt (Gil Bellows), but her ideas of marriage have been rocked by the recent problems in the longtime marriage of her parents, Nina (Mia Farrow) and Vic (Paul Mazursky). Dad believes that mom is cheating on him and he’s right. Gwyn confirms that Nina has been sleeping with Antonio (Antonio Banderas), the nurse for Gwyn’s grandmother. 

But, it’s not just Gwyn’s parents whose marriage has hit the skids. Gwyn’s little sister, Leslie (Carla Gugino), just got married and over the course of a few weeks the marriage is just about over as Leslie starts cheating on her husband. Speaking of cheating, Gwyn’s older brother, Jordan (Kevin Pollak), cheated on his pregnant wife with the wife of his business partner. All of these infidelities coincide with Gwyn’s engagement to Matt and, naturally, all of the chaos and mistrust, has poor Gwyn questioning whether marriage is worth the hassle and potential heartbreak. 

As you can sense from that brief description of the plot, Miami Rhapsody relies on a lot of coincidences. And the plot centers on a lot of characters that we are supposed to like being awful to the people they are supposed to love. Everyone, including Gwyn’s dad, who I’d failed to mention before, is cheating. And Gwyn keeps tripping over everyone’s affairs in the strangest series of coinciding events imaginable for one family. To say that the action of Miami Rhapsody stretches believability is an understatement.

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media, linked here. 



Classic Movie Review Muriel's Wedding

Muriel’s Wedding 

Directed by P.J Hogan 

Written by P.J Hogan 

Starring Toni Collette, Rachel Griffiths

Release Date March 10th, 1995 

Published March 11th, 2025

Muriel’s Wedding stars Toni Collette in a debut performance that blows the doors off. It can come as no surprise that Collette has gone on to be one of our most reliable, beloved, and extraordinary leading ladies after she absolutely smashed this comic debut. Colette’s Muriel is a complicated mess of a character, a tangle of depression, bad decisions, low self esteem, and an agonizing longing for a different life. When she finally sparks the courage to search for a new life, the journey is incredibly funny, rewarding and heartbreaking. And all of this is playing through Collette’s extraordinary performance as framed by P.J Hogan’s deft direction.

Muriel is a mousy, wedding loving, dreamer. Her life centers on two things, loving the music of Abba, her pop culture comfort food, and dreaming about getting married. Muriel may, in fact, prefer the wedding to the actual marriage and companionship. Wedding dresses, bouquets, and the pageantry of a wedding procession are her true passion, even as she rarely outright says this. The film implies Muriel’s obsession while Muriel herself just tries to remain unnoticed. This is easy among her family where she’s one of several adult children with no job and few prospects.

Click here for my full length review at Geeks.Media.



Classic Movie Review Heavyweights

Heavyweights 

Directed by Steven Brill 

Written by Judd Apatow, Steven Brill

Starring Ben Stiller, Paul Feig, Tom McGowan

Release Date February 17th, 1995 

Published February 17th, 2025 



Heavyweights is an oft-forgotten entry in the canon of live action Disney features. The film was made possible by the surprise success of The Mighty Ducks and used members of the cast of that film, already under contract to Disney, as a way to further capitalize on that success. The film centers on a camp for overweight kids who will have to overcome a needless obstacle on the way to a simpleminded conclusion that involves learning to ‘be yourself’ or some other such nonsense platitude. 

Despite seeing names like Ben Stiller, Judd Apatow, and Paul Feig involved in Heavyweights, I was skeptical of the film. The 90s weren’t exactly known for being sensitive and jokes about overweight children were not off limits by any stretch. Thus, I set the bar pretty low at just hoping the young actors in Heavyweights would not be repeatedly humiliated, shamed, or otherwise bullied for comic effect. What a surprise then to find a film that was genuinely sensitive, cared deeply for these young characters and their struggle, and was not simply a series of humiliations intended as comedy.

Click here for my full length review. 

Movie Review Sense and Sensibility

Sense and Sensibility (1995) 

Directed by Ang Lee 

Written by Emma Thompson

Starring Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman

Release Date December 13th, 1995

Published May 14th, 2011

Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility helps me get over my childhood fear of period chick flicks.

Movies are not living things; they don’t grow or change or evolve over time. Once a film is completed it will, generally speaking, be as it is forever. What does change? We do. We age and we mature and our intellect and tastes evolve over time. Our ever-evolving tastes and growing intellect can change the way we experience a movie.

It is with this in mind that I endeavor to look back 10, 20 and 30 years at some of the most well remembered movies of all time and see how my own evolving tastes affect the way I experience these movies. I invite you to join me on this unique journey and offer your own insights ever changing opinions.

Period Chick Flick

Were I to ask my 1995 self about Sense and Sensibility he would have dismissed it as a chick flick. I have no doubt that my naïve, headstrong younger self would have no time for period pieces. Choosing to seek out Sense and Sensibility today in all honesty was a random, flighty decision and not the academic pursuit of a mature film buff that I would have liked it to be.

Regardless of my curious motivations I’m glad I chose to watch this film. The story by Jane Austen transformed by the scripting of the intelligent and insightful Emma Thompson and elegantly captured by the astute camera of director Ang Lee is a cinematic feast.

No Place Like Home

The death of Mr. Dashwood (Tom Wilkinson in cameo) leaves his second wife and three daughters at the mercy of their well meaning but cowardly step-brother John (James Fleet) and his domineering wife Fanny (Harriet Walter). The new Mrs. Dashwood is eager to take hold of her husband’s inheritance, the estate on which Mother Dashwood (Gemma Jones) and her daughter have lived all their lives.

Seeing as neither Elinor Dashwood (Emma Thompson) nor her younger sister Marianne (Kate Winslet) have a suitor, or even a prospective suitor, who might rescue the Dashwood women from their circumstances they are quite lucky to have a distant relative who offers them a cottage on his land to live in.

Secrets and Love Triangles

It’s not that the Dashwood women aren’t desirable. Indeed, Elinor had recently caught the eye of Fanny’s brother Robert (Hugh Grant); an attraction Fanny made sure to interrupt. The mutual ardor between Robert and Elinor is something they both seem aware of but neither can bring themselves to speak of it. That Robert also has a secret that holds him back will be revealed as the story unfolds.

Once decamped to their new cottage home, and after they have weathered the good nature of their hosts the gregarious Sir John Middleton (Robert Hardy) and gossipy Mrs. Jennings (Elizabeth Spriggs), Marianne finds herself the object of the affection of two men; stoic and earnest Col. Brandon (Alan Rickman) and the dashing John Willoughby (Greg Wise).

Engaging and Entertaining

Romantic travails are the main subject of Sense and Sensibilities which doesn’t so much offer a plot as a group of characters and series of experiences. There is a good deal of waiting and wailing; horses and carriages; sewing and piano playing. What makes Sense and Sensibility engaging and entertaining is the witty dialogue and the charm of these wonderful actresses.

Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet have a tremendous sisterly chemistry punctuated by quick clever dialogue that sounds authentic to sisters. The fraught romances ring true to a period where feelings bubbled under masks of propriety and societal expectations. Yes, if certain characters were slightly more forthcoming it would alleviate a good deal of anguish but the characters sell the contrivance.

Elegant and Understated

Finally, Ang Lee’s elegant, understated direction perfectly captures the mood and romance of the period. As Roger Ebert points out in his more mixed review of Sense and Sensibility Ang Lee’s background makes him perfectly suited to give life to this material. Many people in Lee’s home country of China still live by a code of conduct very similar to that of Austen’s period.

There is a scene shortly after Elinor has fallen for Edward. He was supposed to visit the family in their new cottage but he does not come. Lee’s camera slowly backs away from Elinor as if to spare her from the piteous glare of the audience. The subtle suggestion of the camera to the audience that we should not witness Elinor in this way is very moving and evocative of a period where emotions were a great deal more guarded than they are today.

There are a number of subtle moments, like the one I just mentioned, throughout Sense and Sensibility. Lee’s direction is expert in its sensitivity and acute observation of these characters. There are flaws here; the film could stand a bit of a trim from the two hours and fifteen minute run time among other things, but that and other flaws are minor compared to the rich pleasures found in Sense and Sensibility.

Movie Review: Before Sunset

Before Sunrise (1995) 

Directed by Richard Linklater

Written by Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Richard Linklater 

Starring Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy

Release Date January 27th 1995 

Published June 15th, 2004 

Massively moneyed blockbusters are supposed to have sequels, not tiny independent romances with cult followings. Richard Linklater however has always been one to do things differently and thus there is now a sequel to his 1995 romance Before Sunrise. With that film set for release in America in July (it's already been seen in Germany where it premiered at the Berlin), I thought it was a good time to revisit the original and I’m glad I did.

On a train traveling through Europe, two twenty-somethings meet by chance and spend one romantic night in Vienna. Jesse (Ethan Hawke) is an American who came to Europe to see his girlfriend and ends up heartbroken and wandering. Celine (Julie Delpy) is a French college student headed home from Budapest after visiting relatives.

Jesse and Celine bond over their mutual distaste with a couple loudly fighting in indecipherable German. They decide to hang out together in the dining car and what begins as a time-killing conversation becomes a series of smart, witty exchanges and real honest romance. He has to get off in Vienna to catch a plane the next morning, she is supposed to just go straight home but Jesse's charm tempts her enough to jump off the train for one romantic night in Vienna.

A more Hollywood style romance would fly off the rails at this point adding mobsters, thieves or something supernatural to the plot in order to give the characters something more to do than just walk and talk. Writer-Director Richard Linklater is more confident in his writing and especially his dialogue to need any Hollywoodized plot devices. His dialogue and his two amazing actors are all the devices he needs.

As Jesse and Celine laconically wander the streets of Vienna, their conversations twist and turn through such diverse topics as reincarnation (they both believe but Jesse has a unique theory), Feminism (Celine believes it may be a conspiracy to get woman to act more like men so they will have sex more), and the inevitable discussion of each other’s pasts which they handle in part with fake phone calls to best friends.

The conversations border on cuteness but the two actors are good at steering away from anything that might be considered cloying. Julie Delpy is a revelation. She looks like your classic French ingenue, the type of shrinking violet that could be blown away by a stiff wind. She changes that right from the start by jumping right into the heavy conversation with the sardonic and clever Hawke and matching him word for clever word. She also curses like a sailor, but an unbelievably sexy French sailor.

What a wonderfully romantic idea. Meeting a stranger on a train and falling in love in some far out foreign locale for only one night. I have always thought it would be amazing to go Europe with a backpack full of books and a laptop of my own writing and just wander until I find my muse. Before Sunrise allowed me to lose myself in that fantasy with two characters who's wit, intelligence and romance could be just the inspiration I would need.

The sequel, Before Sunset, hits theaters in July 2004 and though I haven't seen it yet, the idea of it evokes Claude Lelouche's masterpiece A Man and A Woman and it's sequel of the same title set 20 years later. Both films are romantic and smart, following strangers who fall in love only to separate soon after. Hopefully, Before Sunset will be a more successful follow up than Lelouche's follow-up, which damaged the first film’s legacy as a classic. I doubt that would happen to Linklater who has yet to make a bad film, at least from this critic’s perspective.

If Before Sunset can manage to be as witty, romantic and poetic as Before Sunrise, then those of us who enjoy movies without the aid of special effects and blaring soundtracks will have something to look forward to this summer.

Movie Review The Woman King

The Woman King (2022)   Directed by Gina Prince Blythewood  Written by Dana Stevens  Starring Viola Davis, Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, Sheil...