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Short Reviews -- Titles Starting with "A"

Written by Heather Picker

About Last Night... (1986)

David Mamet's play "Sexual Perversity in Chicago" loses much of it's punch in the lethargic screen adaptation (by Denise DeClue and Tim Kazurinsky, who also wrote that Molly Ringwald teen pregnancy epic For Keeps), which stars Rob Lowe and Demi Moore as young urban professionals attempting to have a relationship. James Belushi and Elizabeth Perkins pick up the slack as their respective best friends. Directed by Edward "thirtysomething" Zwick.

About Schmidt (2002)

Occasionally funny but often meandering follow-up to director Alexander Payne's Election finds Jack Nicholson on a road trip more than 30 years after Easy Rider. This time he's Warren Schmidt, a recently retired Omaha insurance exec who is plunged into a special kind of Midwestern despair when the wife he secretly despised dies unexpectedly. He impulsively hops in the Winnebago she'd looked forward to traveling the country in, hoping to halt the impending nuptials of his ditzy daughter Jeannie (Hope Davis) to mullet-sporting Randall (Dermot Mulroney), a waterbed salesman who is drawn to pyramid schemes, and as he tries rather hopelessly to get on with his life he helps the narrative along by writing letters to Ndugu, the third world child he's sponsoring after seeing one of those Sally Struthers-ish commercials on TV. Everything about Schmidt was wildly overpraised, from Nicholson's performance (restrained, yes, and good, but much less than what he's capable of at his best) to Payne's flat direction and the almost revoltingly smug screenplay he co-wrote with partner Jim Taylor.

The Accused (1988)

In one of her best performances, Jodie Foster (who won an Oscar for the film) plays Sarah Tobias, who is gang raped in a bar, and who is rightly outraged when she is victimized a second time by a system that scrutinizes her personal life. Tom Topor's script features complex, well-written characters and raises important questions about the responsibility of those who witnessed the attack. Directed with occasional detachment by "ER" producer Jonathan Kaplan. Kelly McGillis co-stars as the Assistant D.A. who tries the case.

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)

Jim Carrey talks with his ass and Sean Young has some funny moments, but this stupid blockbuster wasn't good then and it's even worse now. Followed in 1995 by a lesser sequel, Ace Venture: When Nature Calls, that finds Ace searching for something or other in Africa while Jim Carrey looks bored.

Adam's Rib (1949)

Tracy huffs and Hepburn glides through George Cukor's film from the Garson Kanin/Ruth Gordon screenplay about married lawyers on opposite sides of the courtroom with characteristic ease, though I still argue Hepburn was just as funny with Grant. [Read the full review]

The Addams Family (1991)

Anjelica Huston and Raul Julia work some kind of magic as Gomez and Morticia Addams in the film version of the TV series inspired by Charles Addams' cartoons. An impostor wreaks havoc on our favorite mysterious and spooky family when he shows up purporting to be the long-missing Uncle Fester. It's not really that interesting, but Huston, Julia, and Christina Ricci, as daughter Wednesday, make it watchable.

Addams Family Values (1993)

Uncle Fester falls for a psychotic Joan Cusack in this superior sequel. Ricci is even funnier than she was in the first, Peter MacNicol and Christine Baranski show up as bizarre camp counselors and c'mon, there's a baby named Pubert. What's not to like?

The Adjuster (1992)

Roger Ebert summed it up when he said, of filmmaker Atom Egoyan, "He would probably be gifted at card tricks. But he would want a deck with more than 52 cards." The Adjuster, about insurance adjuster Noah (Elias Koteas) and his film censor wife, Hera (Arsinée Khanjian), who both have, um, boundary issues, isn't one of Egoyan's better efforts: it is more self-conscious and the various plot elements and stylistic devices are less cohesive than his later films. Recommended to fans of the director and/or his 1994 picture Exotica.

Adventures in Babysitting (1987)

For some reason I liked this as a child. I'll attribute it to the morphine. Harried babysitter Elisabeth Shue takes off with her charges to rescue a friend who is stranded at a bus station. Recommended only to you sick bastards who love '80s movies.

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)

It's like a Crosby/Hope road movie, except with drag queens. Stephan Elliott wrote and directed this well-paced comedy about three friends, drag queens Adam/Felicia (Guy Pearce) and Tick/Mitzi (Hugo Weaving) and their veteran performer friend, the transgendered Bernadette (Terence Stamp), and their misadventures as they ride Priscilla, a bus prone to breakdowns, to a resort in Alice Springs where they're to perform and Tick is to be reunited with his young son. Highlighted by energetic (and wonderfully costumed) musical numbers and solid performances. [Read the full review]

The Adventures of Sebastian Cole (1999)

Likable fare about teenager Sebastian (Adrian Grenier) and his assorted family problems, which include an alcoholic mother and disinterested father, and his relationship with his loving, transsexual stepfather (Clark Gregg). A slight but promising debut picture by Tod Williams.

The African Queen (1951)

One of the great adventure movies finds missionary spinster Katharine Hepburn and coarse drunk Humphrey Bogart dependant on one another as they attempt to leave Africa on Bogart's ragged boat and fight the Germans at the on-set of WW1. Written and directed by John Huston, the strenuous filming inspired Hepburn to write the 1987 memoir "The Making of The African Queen or How I Went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind."

An Affair to Remember (1957)

Sappy as hell but well acted and directed by Leo McCarey, who adapted from his own Love Affair (1939). Best watched on TV in the middle of the night; it's better when you haven't slept in two days. [Read the full review]

Affliction (1997)

Paul Schrader's brilliant, haunting adaptation of the Russell Banks novel finds Nick Nolte as Wade Whitehouse, a small-town sheriff and divorced father troubled by memories of his unhappy childhood and abusive father. Featuring Willem Dafoe, Sissy Spacek, and James Coburn in a shattering performance that won him a deserved Oscar. Strikingly photographed by Paul Sarossy.

Aimee & Jaguar (2000)

Lesbian love in the early 1940s made all the more illicit by one of the women being Jewish and the other the wife of a Nazi. This German film, directed by Max Färberböck, gets off to a promising start but falls flat in the second act. Based on a true story.

All About Eve (1950)

Pitch-perfect dialogue and direction by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and the cast of the 1950s highlight this ultimate "behind-the-scenes" movie and all-time camp classic. [Read the full review]

All About My Mother (1999)

All About Eve and A Streetcar Named Desire are dizzily referenced in Pedro Almodóvar's brightly photographed, deliciously acted, and supremely sad tale of a bereaved mother (Cecilia Roth) who leaves the life she's made for herself in Madrid to reconnect with her past in Barcelona after her teenage son's unexpected death. Roth is heartbreaking in the second best film of 1999, behind Erick Zonca's The Dreamlife of Angels.

All Over Me (1997)

Sisters Alex and Sylvia Sichel collaborated on this gritty coming-of-age drama about the friendship between Claude (Alison Folland) and Ellen (Tara Subkoff), which is complicated by matters sexual: the friends share what appears to be a mutual attraction, but an uncomfortable Ellen throws herself into an unhealthy relationship with the dangerous Mark (Cole Hauser). A hurt Claude explores her sexuality, becoming involved with a young musician named Lucy (musician Leisha Haley), and the sisters Sichel throw in a little murder mystery for good measure. Observant and realistic (except for that murder mystery nonsense). [Read the full review]

All the President's Men (1976)

Mediocre telling of Woodward (Robert Redford) and Bernstein's (Dustin Hoffman) Watergate investigation made insanely engaging by passionate performances and the excitement built by director Alan Pakula. Jason Robards is great as editor Ben Bradlee. From a script by William Goldman.

Almost Famous (2000)

Filmmaker Cameron Crowe's memoir of his days as a teenage contributor to Rolling Stone is full of nostalgia and good acting but runs too long. Kate Hudson is radiant. Also available is an extended director's cut of the film called the "bootleg edition."

Always (1989)

Steven Spielberg takes a bad movie he loved as a child, A Guy Named Joe (1943), and pays homage by directing a bad remake of it. Richard Dreyfuss plays Pete, a pilot who dies but sticks around long enough to, rather creepily, help the young man (Brad Johnson) who replaces him both professional and romantically, as he becomes involved with Pete's girlfriend (Holly Hunter). Co-starring John Goodman and Audrey Hepburn, as an angel in her final film.

Amarcord (1974)

Fellini's Oscar-winning filmic memoir of his boyhood in 1930s Italy is, as one would expect, a richly detailed visual feast.

Amazing Adventure (1936)

Depression film finds an Ernest Cary Grant (no, I didn't misspell "earnest," see the full review) getting a big inheritance and screwing some needy chap out of a job by looking for employment, anyway, to win the heart of Mary Brian. Not worth seeing unless you're obsessed with Grant. [Read the full review]

Amélie (2001)

Hyper-whimsical tale of a lonely, doe-eyed café waitress who takes it upon herself to transform the lives of unwitting acquaintances and strangers for the better. Audrey Tatou, as the titular character, has quite possibly the most memorable movie face since Audrey Hepburn, but as Jean-Pierre Jeunet directs her, she's so childlike and sexless that the picture loses steam when she begins her bizarre would-be courtship of Matthieu Kassovitz's mild-mannered porn shop clerk. Great fun at times, but overlong. Written by Guillaume Laurant.

American Beauty (1999)

Kevin Spacey smirks and Annette Bening shrieks her way through this 1999 Best Picture Oscar-winner, a wildly overrated portrait of what discontent lies beneath the handsomely furnished surface of suburbia. Expertly crafted by director Sam Mendes, and brought to life by a great ensemble cast including Wes Bentley, Thora Birch, Chris Cooper, Allison Janney, and Mena Suvari, American Beauty's problems lie in Alan Ball's self-satisfied screenplay, a lurid companion to Ang Lee's thoughtful The Ice Storm.

American Dream (1990)

One of the best documentaries in the history of the medium, directed by one of our best documentary filmmakers, Barbara Kopple's American Dream chronicles the devastating mid-1980s strike at an Austin, Minn. Hormel factory following the slashing of employee benefits by thirty percent and wages from $10.69 to $8.25 per hour. Kopple's camera is everywhere, and the editing astounding given the scope of the five-year undertaking.

American Graffiti (1973)

George Lucas looks back fondly on the early 1960s; that he was only looking back 11 years didn't matter to nostalgic filmgoers then and it doesn't matter now: American Graffiti is a feel-good movie about cars and rock & roll and what it meant to be young during a very specific time in American history. A gigantic ensemble cast of fresh-faced actors (many of whom were stars by the decade's end) and a rollicking soundtrack that keeps things on pace are the finer points of what is an immensely enjoyable but poorly directed movie. Written by Lucas, Gloria Katz, and Willard Huyck.

American History X (1998)

Edward Norton gives a ferocious performance in director Tony Kaye's American History X, a passable but seemingly incomplete look at how supremacist groups recruit stupid youths, and the circle of violence that follows.

American Movie (1999)

Forget that Kevin Spacey number, American Movie was the best American film of 1999. Chris Smith's unforgettable documentary about Wisconsinite Mark Borchardt, a 30-year-old high school drop-out who has been trying for years to complete his horror film Coven (pronounced "COVE-n," since he doesn't want the title of his movie to rhyme with "oven") follows it's subject for two years as he contends with setbacks personal and professional, vacuums mausoleums, delivers newspapers, and badgers his Uncle Bill for financing to see his dream project through. Should be required viewing for aspiring filmmakers.

American Pie (1999)

Perhaps this blockbuster comedy didn't amuse me because when I saw it as a 16-year-old I was surrounded by characters as equally horny and aloof as those in American Pie. The sexual shenanigans of Jim (Jason Biggs) and his pals, intercourse with pastries non-withstanding, are no more amusing than what I heard about in school on a daily basis. That's not to say the film is without it's merits; Jim's character is better defined than those in most teen sex comedies, and American Pie had an invaluable asset in Eugene Levy, but I laughed once and was relieved when it was over. Insert sex joke here.

American Psycho (2000)

Muddled adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis novel boasts a performance by Christian Bale as serial killer/yuppie Patrick Bateman that is either really, really funny, or really, really tedious, depending on your point of view. (It was the latter for me; Bale can't do that wild-eyed shtick the way Jack Nicholson could.) Director Mary Haron co-scripted with actress Guinevere Turner, who supplies one of the film's funnier moments by proclaiming she isn't into girls before drunkenly getting it on with one.

Analyze This (1999)

De Niro does a good De Niro in this comedy about a anxiety-ridden mobster who wreaks havoc on the impending nuptials of his new therapist (Billy Crystal). It starts slow but picks up steam in the second act.

And the Band Played On (1993)

HBO film about the AIDS crisis in the early '80s has a good cast but horrible writing.

Annie Hall (1977)

"I was thrown out of NYU my freshman year for cheating on my metaphysics final, you know. I looked within the soul of the boy sitting next to me." The best picture of 1977 (Star Wars fans be damned), about the on-again off-again romance of neurotics Alvy Singer (writer-director-nebbish Woody Allen) and Annie Hall (Diane Keaton). Immensely quotable, with hilarious appearances by Marshall McLuhan and Christopher Walken. Co-scripted by Marshall Brinkman.

Another Woman (1988)

Somber Woody Allen picture is better than September but one of his worst efforts. Gena Rowlands is a philosophy professor looking back at her life and not liking what she sees. Gene Hackman and Ian Holm are good in small roles but Another Woman is as empty as its lead is humorless.

Any Given Sunday (1999)

Oliver Stone's hard-hitting football flick isn't without the occasional lapse into ludicrousness, but it's fast-paced fun for the most part. Al Pacino shouts his way through another role, but it's not annoying like it was in The Insider.

Anywhere But Here (1999)

Mundane mother-daughter movie pairing Susan Sarandon with Natalie Portman. Sarandon's one of those annoying "free-spirit" moms, like Cher in Mermaids, and Portman's the responsible daughter about to leave for college.

The Apartment (1960)

Billy Wilder's comic masterpiece (co-written with I.A.L. Diamond) about company man C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon), who allows his boss (Fred MacMurray) to use his apartment for trysts in hopes his generosity will be rewarded with a promotion. Complications ensue when Baxter falls for MacMurray's mistress, elevator operator Miss Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine). Wilder achieves a rare balance of sadness and sweetness, emphasized by Joseph LaShelle's black and white cinematography.

Apocalypse Now (1979) & Apocalypse Now Redux (released 2001)

The last of Francis Ford Coppola's great successes, Apocalypse Now is a masterful, hallucinatory take on Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness," set in the Vietnam War that follows Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) as he is sent up river to assassinate Marlon Brando's renegade Colonel Kurtz. One of the most technically brilliant, visceral films ever made. The 2001 re-release added 49 minutes of footage that manage to clarify some things and muddle others. For more on the legendary production, check out the documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse, Eleanor Coppola's book "Notes: On the Making of Apocalypse Now," and Peter Cowie's "The Apocalypse Now Book."

Arlington Road (1999)

Bizarre suspense film with Jeff Bridges as a college professor and domestic terrorism expert and Tim Robbins as his potentially terrorist neighbor is wildly implausible and dispassionately directed by Mark Pellington from a script by Ehren Kruger.

Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)

Frank Capra does a horrible job directing Cary Grant in this adaptation of Joseph Kesselring's manic play. Grant's theater critic Mortimer Brewster goes home to share news of his engagement to the practically characterless Priscilla Lane with his zany extended family, which includes murderous elderly aunts and a crazy brother (played by Josephine Hull, Jean Adair, and John Alexander, recreating their Broadway roles) who thinks he is Theodore Roosevelt. When it's funny it's very funny, but the rest of the time it's painful to see Grant overacting. Filmed in 1941, released three years later after the play closed.

As Good As It Gets (1997)

Damn you, James L. Brooks, damn you to hell. Jack Nicholson chews scenery and belches loudly as Melvin Udall, a curmudgeonly obsessive-compulsive romance novelist who falls for his favorite waitress, a single mom with a chronically ill son. Helen Hunt plays her one note rather well here, and Greg Kinnear tugs heartstrings as Melvin's artist neighbor. The script, by Brooks and Mark Andrus, becomes repetitive to the point of tedium, but Hans Zimmer's bouncy score neatly matches the comedy and keeps things moving.

The Astronaut's Wife (1999)

Sci-fi yawner about an astronaut (Johnny Depp) whose mission loses contact with Earth for two minutes; he returns acting awful strange to the increasing horror of his soon pregnant wife (Charlize Theron). See Rosemary's Baby, instead. [Read the full review]

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)

Mike Myers stars as the randy Austin Powers, a photographer in London circa the swinging '60s who is cryogenically frozen and thawed thirty years later to fight arch-nemesis Dr. Evil (also played by Myers). Good-natured enough that all is forgiven for the heinous Powers impressions one had to constantly endure following the film's unexpected reception as a cult classic on video and cable. Supporting cast includes Elizabeth Hurley, Michael York, Robert Wagner, Seth Green, and Will Ferrell as Mustafa. Directed by Jay Roach.

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

Wildly uneven sequel finds Austin Powers still battling Dr. Evil. New characters like Felicity Shagwell and Ivana Humpalot are good for a few laughs, and there's a hilarious "Jerry Springer" segment, but Myers overdoes it, adding the repulsive Fat Bastard, thief of Powers' renowned mojo, to his repertoire, and giving too much screen time to Dr. Evil. Rob Lowe does a mean Robert Wagner as "young" No. 2, and Mini-Me (Verne Troyer) has some funny moments; though it seemed tired at the time of it's release, in retrospect it's more delightfully absurd than International Man of Mystery.

Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)

Sloppier than its predecessors but with a significantly larger budget, the third installment in the Powers series is bloated with Myers creations. Joining Austin, Dr. Evil, and Fat Bastard is his biggest comedic misfire yet: Goldmember, a strange Dutchman with a disturbing fondness for gold (and disco roller-skating). Michael Caine adds a touch of respectability as Austin's absentee father and Beyoncé Knowles is ridiculously vivacious in a severely underwritten role, but Seth Green's Scott Evil gets too much screen time and Fred Savage shows up more than Mindy Sterling's underutilized Frau Farbissina. The screenplay, by Myers and Michael McCullers, is so outrageously bizarre that multiple viewings are required to take it all in, and if you thought the infamous tent scene in The Spy Who Shagged Me could never be surpassed in terms of sheer audacity, you must witness the perversely inspired sight gag with Austin preparing for a medical check-up.

Auto Focus (2002)

Bob Crane biopic, starring a pitch-perfect Greg Kinnear as the bland sitcom star with an all-consuming sex addiction and Willem Dafoe as John "Carpy" Carpenter, the gadget buff who introduced Crane to strip clubs, orgies, and the cutting-edge technology Crane used to obsessively document his sex life. They give two of the best performances of 2002. Directed by Paul Schrader from a script by Michael Gerbosi, Auto Focus details Crane's compulsion without exploiting it.

Autumn Sonata (1978)

Ingmar Bergman's deeply affecting Autumn Sonata stars Ingrid Bergman as a famous concert pianist who relates better to her instrument than her essentially estranged daughters, Eva (Liv Ullmann) and Helena (Lena Nyman). Eva stages a reunion with hopes of reconciliation, and Bergman and Ullmann, with two of the most breathtakingly expressive faces in film, share beautifully played scenes of astonishing power. Bergman's last film, also made poignant by her having played a pianist over forty years earlier in one of her first films, Intermezzo.

Awakenings (1990)

If you liked Rain Man you'll like Awakenings, Penny Marshall's watchable take on Oliver Sack's novel about his real-life experiences as a doctor (played by Robin Williams) who administers a medication to comatose patients that awakens them. Robert De Niro stars as one such patient. The acting, including support from Julie Kavner and Penelope Ann Miller, is great and the direction solid, but Steven Zaillan's lacking script leaves important questions unanswered.

The Awful Truth (1937)

Cary Grant became Cary Grant in his 29th film, a delightful screwball comedy that pairs him with Irene Dunne as a married couple who sabotage each other's new relationships and squabble over custody of the dog as they await the finalization of their divorce. Ralph Bellamy is hilarious as Dunne's mama's boy fiancé. Directed with a light touch by Leo McCarey from a screenplay by Viña Delmar.

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