Organization: State University of New York, Stony Brook
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Date:         Tue, 29 Dec 1992 14:45:18 -0500
From:         MDESCHUYTENE@SBCCMAIL.BITNET
Subject:      Holidays at the video store

               State University of New York at Stony Brook
                       Stony Brook, NY 11794-8121

                                            Michel Deschuyteneer
                                            Department of Neurology, HSC
                                            516 444-1469
                                            29-Dec-1992 01:21pm EST
FROM:  MDESCHUYTENEER
TO:    Remote Addressee                     ( _cinema-l@auvm.bitnet )

SUBJECT: Holidays at the video store

    Well, I finally had some time to begin catching up and watch a few
    movies I had missed through the year: BATMAN RETURNS, LETHAL WEAPON 3,
    L.A.STORY and NIGHT ON EARTH.

    I wish I had seen BATMAN RETURNS on the big screen. I enjoyed this one
    much more than the original. Danny DeVito, Michelle Pfeiffer and
    Christopher Walken did a great job. Why is it that Michael Keaton in
    this film makes me think of Al Gore? ;-)

    LETHAL WEAPON 3 was predictable but good. The only problem I had was
    Joe Pesci who's character was superfluous this time and who made it
    even more irrelevant with an absolutely awful performance. It seems
    that this series has now come full circle with the first installment
    being mostly drama, the second drama with a good dose of comedy and
    this one more comedy than drama. This aspect reminds the SUPERMAN saga
    which followed basically the same pattern. Unfortunately, someone
    decided to make SUPERMAN IV. Let's hope they don't make the same
    mistake here.

    The closest I have ever been to Los Angeles is the Neuroscience meeting
    in Anaheim last October. Yet I really had a *great* time with L.A.
    STORY. Friends who told me that one had to have been in LA to
    appreciate this one were wrong as far as I am concerned. I enjoyed it
    from start to finish. Maybe I just was in the right mood. I would say
    that for me it had a nice story with the right blend of comedy, satire
    and fantasy, all tied up with a witty dialogue and very good acting, to
    make it a piece of quality entertainement. BTW, I tried the "live"
    answering machine gag at home: it works!

    And now for something completely different: NIGHT ON EARTH. Original
    concept: five night taxi rides in five different cities and almost as
    many contries at the same moment, but told in sequence, each
    uninterrupted. Nothing but dialogues that give a brief glimplse of the
    lifes of an interesting sampling of characters. Some may find it boring
    to sit through the full two hours at one time, particularly since the
    last three parts are set in Paris, Rome and Helsinky with the dialogue
    in the respective local languages with subtitles. The advantage is that
    you can watch each segment independently without losing anything except
    for the general feel and atmosphere it creates.

    MICHEL
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