HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: bailey@emunix.emich.edu (Grand Moff Tarkin)
Subject: Re: American cinema (was Re: RASPUTIN)
Organization: Detroit Institue of Criminal Arts and Sciences
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 14:10:18 GMT

In article <712438701@marlin.cs.duke.edu> malhotra@duke.cs.duke.edu (Manish Malhotra) writes:
>In article <2552@nlsun1.oracle.nl> gbradley@uks197.Berkeley.EDU (Gary Bradley) writes:
>>john@spss.com (John Przyborowski) writes...
>>
>>other nation's, and that is true. But I do see a lot of foreign films
>>too (about 1 subtitled film per 2 English language film) and I must say
>>the America "crud ratio" is higher by far than any other country. Note
>>that that was ratio, and has nothing to do with volume.
>>
I've seen a great deal of foreign films to.  I do enjoy them, but you must
consider that they send out their best films.  So I'm sure they can be just
as cruddy as American films.


-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. Kenneth Bailey                  |  "Fear will keep the local systems 
e-mail:  bailey@emunix.emich.edu    |  in line.  Fear of this battle 
snail-mail:  Right                  |  station."--Gov. Tarkin
				    |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: wlarkin@panix.com (Ward Larkin)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies
Subject: Re: Favorite musicals - Man of La Mancha
Date: 30 Jul 92 02:24:36 GMT
Organization: PANIX Public Access Unix & Internet, NYC

I'm surprised that no one's mentioned The Music Man.

Also, I really liked Bells are Ringing.

-- Ward Larkin
From: blj@mithrandir.cs.unh.edu (Brian L. Johnson)
Subject: REVIEW: MISSISSIPPI MASALA
Reply-To: blj@mithrandir.cs.unh.edu (Brian L. Johnson)
Organization: ?
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1992 04:20:11 GMT
Followup-To: rec.arts.movies
Summary: r.a.m.r. #01449
Keywords: author=K.Johnson

                            MISSISSIPPI MASALA
                       A film review by Ken Johnson
                        Copyright 1992 Ken Johnson

130 min., R, Drama, 1991
Director: Mira Nair
Cast: Denzel Washington, Roshan Seth, Sarita Chudhury,
      Sharmila Tangore, Charles S. Dutton

     Indian (from India) Sarita Chudhury, who moved from Africa to
Mississippi with her family 18 years before, meets Denzel Washington, a
Black who owns his own rug cleaning business.  The two fall in love, but
their relationship is threatened by Sarita Chudhury's father, who
dislikes Blacks.

     MISSISSIPPI MASALA is by the director of SALAAM BOMBAY!, and I feel
that it is a very good film, and definitely worth seeing.   I almost
didn't go to see this film, because the title, at least to me, sounded
boring, and I had only seen one preview for the film and it didn't tell
too much.  I give MISSISSIPPI MASALA a four on a scale of zero to five.
MISSISSIPPI MASALA is rated R for explicit language, adult situations,
and mild violence.

     When I saw the advertisements for MISSISSIPPI MASALA I wasn't quite
sure of what it was going to be about.  It looked like it was either
going to be a remake of ROMEO AND JULIET or an immigrant drama.  It was
more of a remake of ROMEO AND JULIET than an immigrant drama, but it
really wasn't either.

     Denzel Washington gave a great performance, along with the rest of
the cast.  What I think that I liked most about the film, was the
screenplay.  It was very well crafted and it held my interest throughout
the film.  Also the locations for the film were well-picked.  I don't
think that the film would have been nearly as good if the film was set
in a rich neighborhood.  

     I think that MISSISSIPPI MASALA deserved a better release than it
got, at least in my area.  My local art/import theater picked it up and
played it for four days.  If given the chance, I think that the film
would have done very well in a real movie theater, and gotten a bigger
audience.

Ken J.
blj@mithrandir.cs.unh.edu

Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews
From: blj@mithrandir.cs.unh.edu (Brian L. Johnson)
Subject: REVIEW: NAKED LUNCH
Reply-To: blj@mithrandir.cs.unh.edu (Brian L. Johnson)
Organization: ?
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1992 04:19:39 GMT
Followup-To: rec.arts.movies
Summary: r.a.m.r. #01448
Keywords: author=K.Johnson

                                NAKED LUNCH
                       A film review by Ken Johnson
                        Copyright 1992 Ken Johnson

120 min., R, Drama, 1991
Director: David Cronenberg
Cast: Peter Weller, Judy Davis, Ian Holm, Julian Sands, Roy Scheider,
      Monique Mercere, Nicholas Campbell, Robert A. Silverman

     During 1950's in New York City bug exterminator Peter Weller gets
introduced to injecting bug powder into himself by his wife Judy Davis.
He gets addicted and starts hallucinating.  He sees giant bugs which
start controlling his life, as he sinks lower and lower.

     I really can't recommend this film to anyone, because most people
will hate this film.  It is really bizarre and at some points it seems
to be a pointless jumble of nothing.  Other people will probably really
like this film.  I personally felt the film was okay, it wasn't the best
film I have ever seen, but I thought that it was worth watching.  On a
scale of zero to five, I give NAKED LUNCH a three.  NAKED LUNCH is rated
R for explicit language and adult situations.

     NAKED LUNCH is very bizarre, especially when Weller is under the
influence of the bug powder, and I think that this turned a lot of
people off on the film.  The bugs were well created, especially the
typewriter bug.  I think that a lot of thought went into the design and
it greatly improved the film.  Peter Weller (ROBOCOP) put in a wonderful
performance, along with the rest of the cast.

     I think that the bugs were the best part of the film.  As I
mentioned earlier, they were really creative.  I don't think that I have
ever experienced a film like this one before.  I got the feeling during
the film that I was the one high on the powder and the movie was my
hallucination (I know this isn't true because other film reviews on it
have come out.  Philosophy students might want to argue that this isn't
proof, but it is to me.).

     I haven't yet read the book NAKED LUNCH by William S. Burroughs,
but I have heard it has little to do with the film.  NAKED LUNCH is now
out on video, but I would suggest that if the film sounds interesting to
you that you seek out an art theater that is still playing it.  I saw
the film at my local art theater, and after thinking about it, I feel
that a lot of the impact of the film has will be lost on video
cassette.  If the film doesn't sound interesting to you, I would suggest
that you don't bother to see it, even off video cassette, because you
probably wouldn't like it.

Ken J.
blj@mithrandir.cs.unh.edu

Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews
From: doom@leland.Stanford.EDU (Joseph Brenner)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews
Subject: REVIEW: TETSUO: THE IRON MAN
Summary: r.a.m.r. #01444
Keywords: author=Brenner
Date: 22 Jul 92 13:50:20 GMT
Reply-To: doom@leland.Stanford.EDU (Joseph Brenner)
Followup-To: rec.arts.movies
Organization: DSO, Stanford University

[Followups directed to rec.arts.movies.  -Moderator]

			     TETSUO: THE IRON MAN
		       A film review by Joseph Brenner
			Copyright 1992 Joseph Brenner

     A Japanese, arty flick, which supposedly uses horror movie tropes
to make some sort of cyberpunk comment on modern culture.  It's got some
moments, but it's mostly just dull and stupid.

     To understand the plot of this movie, it helps a lot to read one of
the newspaper reviews that are floating around.  There's nothing
particularly deep about it, but the movie isn't very good at
communicating what's supposed to be happening: a "metal fetishist"
inserts a piece of rusty metal tubing into his leg, freaks out and runs
in front of a car which is being driven by a "salary man" and his girl
friend.  The salary man then seems to be infected with some sort of
disease that progressively transforms him into metal.  The thankfully
black and white look of this movie, involves various disgusting looking
chaotic masses of old machine parts protruding from peoples bodies (like
VIDEODROME, but not done as well).  

     In the only scene that's worth anything in the movie, the "salary
man" undergoes the bulk of his transformation into metal while making
love with his girlfriend.  At first it seems like they might do
something interesting with it (she says something like "No, show it to
me.  I don't frighten easily."), but it degenerates into the usual
horror movie hysterics (a suggestion for directors: prevent the actors
from screaming, using gags if necessary).  Anyway, he emerges from
hiding covered in metal, his penis transformed into a huge power drill.
They spend some time running around, fighting.  While she has him
briefly subdued, there's a hint that she's turned on by his new body,
but he kills her with his cool new tool.  It isn't clear if she meant
for this to happen, but if you believe the reviews she "dies in
ecstasy."

     I might excuse the excesses and clumsiness of this movie if I
thought they really had something worthwhile to say, but they just
don't.  This whole business about the transformation "just happening"
like some sort of disease is dumb any way you look at it.  Cyberpunk is
about turning yourself into a monster *on purpose*, not by accident.
And this general theme of technology being out of control, an
implacable, inhuman force ... it isn't just wrong, it's old and stale
too.

     (Oh, the music is pretty good though.  If you're into moody
industrial music, you might want to check out the sound track.  For that
matter, this movie would probably be okay as a dance club light show).  
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews
From: frankm@microsoft.com (Frank R.A.J. Maloney)
Subject: REVIEW: ADAM'S RIB
Reply-To: frankm@microsoft.com (Frank R.A.J. Maloney)
Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 16:54:10 GMT
Followup-To: rec.arts.movies
Summary: r.a.m.r. #01453
Keywords: author=Maloney

				ADAM'S RIB
		       A film review by Frank Maloney
			Copyright 1992 Frank Maloney

     ADAM'S RIB is a Russian film directed by Vyacheslav Krishtolovich.
It stars Inna Churikova, Svetlana Ryabova, Masha Golubkina, and Elena
Bogdanova.  With English subtitles.  Unrated.

     ADAM'S RIB follows a few days in the lives of four women in a small
Moscow apartment: the paralyzed grandmother, the mother who works
part-time as a docent in a museum of the Revolution and who worries
full-time, and two daughters, sired by two very different husbands.  The
men are peripheral to their lives, even as much as they affect them in
various ways.  Everybody comes together at babushka's birthday party,
where various crises appear to come to the surface, some not for the
first time.  When the movie ends, nothing is resolved except that the
three youngest agree that they cannot rely on anyone or anything (the
unspoken exception being each other).  The film ends with a kind of
miracle the meaning of which no one is sure.

     Characterizations are the entire raison d'etre for this film.  The
four principals are sharply drawn, three-dimensional characters with
whom we feel both comfortable and familiar.  I was especially impressed
by Inna Churikova, the grandmother, who invests her paralysis with great
emotion and strength.  The scene between her and Svetlana Ryabova, her
daughter, in which Ryabova first reads her mother the riot act and then
begs forgiveness, is one of great power, a tour-de-force for both women.

     The men include an office womanizer, an ineffectual, weak law
student who aspires to become a thug, the two ex-husbands -- one a Jew,
one an anti-Semite -- and a new beau for the mother, sweet, shy, with
unexpected strengths and compassion.  Yet none of them is there when
babushka's bed pan needs changing.  The women bicker amongst themselves
in their crowded flat, but they are ones who are there to do the dirty
work for each other, to figure how to make their menage survive.

     This is a small film, but sharply focused, incisively written and
performed.  With no budget, no resources, no filmstock in all
likelihood, the film maker and his crew and cast concentrate on giving
us a small gem of insight, wisdom, and passion.

     If you have a chance to see this Russian ADAM'S RIB, do yourself a
great favor and do so, regardless of the cost.

-- 
Frank Richard Aloysius Jude Maloney
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews
From: blj@mithrandir.cs.unh.edu (Brian L. Johnson)
Subject: REVIEW: LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN
Reply-To: blj@mithrandir.cs.unh.edu (Brian L. Johnson)
Organization: ?
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 14:18:02 GMT
Followup-To: rec.arts.movies
Summary: r.a.m.r. #01447
Keywords: author=K.Johnson

                           LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN
                       A film review by Ken Johnson
                        Copyright 1992 Ken Johnson

103 min., R, Drama, 1990, U.S./German
Director: Uli Edel
Cast: Stephen Lang, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Burt Young,
      Christopher Murney, Jerry Orbach, Alexis Arquette,
      Stephen Baldwin, John Costelloe, Cameron Johann,
      Ricki Lake, Frank Military, Camille Saviola, Zette

     This film tells the story of several people living in Brooklyn, New
York.  Jennifer Jason Leigh is a prostitute who gets soldiers to go with
her to a secluded place and then robs them blind.  Burt Young finds out
that his teenage daughter Ricki Lake is pregnant.  Jerry Orbach is
running a strike that has been going on for six months without any
results.

     LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN is a very good, but very dramatic, film.  I
fully recommend that you rent this film from your local video store.
LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN has probably been over looked by most people
because it doesn't look very good.  They are wrong.  I give LAST EXIT TO
BROOKLYN a four on a scale of zero to five.  LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN is
rated R for explicit language, adult situations, female nudity,
violence, rape, and strong sexual content.

     The actors in this film do a great job.  They all are very
convincing.  The two actors that stand out the most are Burt Young, who
I think gives the best performance in this film, and Jennifer Jason
Leigh.  Leigh, I think, puts in the best performance of her career,
which raises her above the exploitation films that she used to star in
(like FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH).  Jerry Orbach also puts in a great
performance, but he isn't on the screen that much.  The person who I
think put in the worst performance in the film was Stephen Baldwin.  He
could have put a little more effort into his role to make it more
believable.

     LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN was very well written, although most of the
major film critics seemed to think that the film was over dramatic and
not worth seeing (Roger Ebert excluded), and kept me interested
throughout the film.  I didn't get bored at all during the film.  The
characters are interesting and I was interested in what happened to
them.  This film, unlike what the box cover might suggest, is not an
exploitation film but a serious drama.

     Uli Edel, a first-time director (I think), did a great job with his
direction and I think has a future in movies.  The locations were good;
most of them were really filmed in Brooklyn.

Ken J.
blj@mithrandir.cs.unh.edu

Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews
From: blj@mithrandir.cs.unh.edu (Brian L. Johnson)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews
Subject: REVIEW: HOUSESITTER
Summary: r.a.m.r. #01442
Keywords: author=K.Johnson
Date: 21 Jul 92 13:01:06 GMT
Reply-To: blj@mithrandir.cs.unh.edu (Brian L. Johnson)
Followup-To: rec.arts.movies
Organization: ?


                                HOUSESITTER
                       A film review by Ken Johnson
                        Copyright 1992 Ken Johnson

105 min., PG, Comedy, 1992
Director: Frank Oz
Cast: Steve Martin, Goldie Hawn, Dana Delany, Peter MacNichol,
      Robert B. Shull, Laurel Cronin, Julie Harris, Donald Moffat

     Steve Martin first meets Goldie Hawn at a party and then later
waitressing at a restaurant.  He gets invited into her house and tells
her about a house he owns that is empty.  The next day, unknown to
Martin, Hawn moves into the empty house.  She starts making up stories
about her and Martin to explain why she is there.  Martin is in love
with Dana Delany, who is in the town that the house is located in.
Martin finds out what Hawn has done and tries to use her to get Delany.

     I saw HOUSESITTER the weekend that it opened and am just getting
around to finishing my review on it.  HOUSESITTER is a very funny film
and is well worth seeing.  I don't know whether to recommend that you
see it in the theater or wait for the video.  The film will lose nothing
on video, but if you can't wait to see it you would be better off going
to the theater to see it.  I give HOUSESITTER a four on a scale of zero
to five.   HOUSESITTER is rated PG for adult situations and explicit
language.

     HOUSESITTER is the first of two films coming out this summer with
Goldie Hawn, the second is DEATH BECOMES HER.  I have always been a fan
of Goldie Hawn's films and sometimes of Steve Martin's, so I hurried out
to see this one.  Both Goldie Hawn and Steve Martin did a great job
acting.  They were both funny, but not in an obnoxious sort of way, like
Steve Martin sometimes is.  Dana Delany does a great job in her
supporting role and adds a lot to the film.  The two bums, Robert B.
Shull and Laurel Cronin, I think, were excellent.  Peter MacNichol's
character was, in my opinion, a very annoying character, but then again
that is all MacNichol seems to play.  Steve Martin's father, I don't
know who played him, was excellent  and very convincing.  The jokes in
this film were, for the most part, hidden under the surface and just sat
there allowing you to laugh if you caught it and if you missed it there
is another waiting just around the turn of the film reel instead of
forcing you to laugh like slapstick comedies do.

     The film is well written and doesn't have many holes in it.  It
definitely keeps you entertained.  The characters are interesting and
well molded.  They seem to come alive on the screen and do their own
things.  The sets and locations are great.  The town where the house is
located looks like any little town and is simple in its ways.  The house
itself I don't think was well designed, however, at least I wouldn't
want to live in it (maybe it's just me).

Ken J.
blj@mithrandir.cs.unh.edu
From: leeper@mtgzy.att.com (Mark R. Leeper)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews
Subject: REVIEW: UNIVERSAL SOLDIER
Summary: r.a.m.r. #01446
Keywords: author=Leeper
Date: 24 Jul 92 14:16:54 GMT
Reply-To: leeper@mtgzy.att.com
Followup-To: rec.arts.movies
Organization: AT&T, Middletown NJ


                             UNIVERSAL SOLDIER
                      Film comments by Mark R. Leeper
			Copyright 1992 Mark R. Leeper

   - Victor Halpern created the zombie film with the 1932 WHITE ZOMBIE.  He
     pretty much lucked out.  The film is poverty-row all the way.  It has
     cheap sets, low production values, and bad acting.  But some of its
     images are undeniably very effective and it manages the feel of a
     nightmare.  Like CARNIVAL OF SOULS, the film just clicks somehow.  But
     was it luck or skill?  Four years later he made his second zombie film
     and it sank like a stone.  The idea just did not have appeal.  REVOLT
     OF THE ZOMBIES was about bringing dead soldiers back to life as zombies
     so they could be the ultimate fighting soldiers.  So UNIVERSAL SOLDIER
     is the second film that idea has sunk.  Well, admittedly, it is other
     problems that sink UNIVERSAL SOLDIER, but it is interesting that this
     idea was used before.

   - Van Damme is Belgian.  He has a Flemish accent, sort of guttural and
     Germanic.  Maybe I am not that good with accents.  But I can tell you
     his accent is neither Cajun nor Creole.  His parents in the film
     certainly don't have accents like his.  So what gives?  How did he end
     up with this accent?  Maybe we'll be hearing that Arnold Schwarzenegger
     has been cast as Sergeant Rock!

   - I guess Van Damme is now officially Carolco Action Figure(tm).  Carolco
     seems to cut these guys out with cookie cutters.  They seem to be
     martial artists with foreign accents, and the way some people
     habitually smoke after sex, they pun after killing people.  I think
     they got the idea from James Bond films.

   - Nice photography of Hoover/Boulder Dam.  Also it is impressive to see
     someone running down the side.  To me that is more impressive than all
     the acrobatic kicking which mercifully is saved until the final reel.

   - Why does the opening sequence remind me of PLATOON?

   - It is always nice to see Jerry Orbach, even if this film underuses his
     talents.

   - I guess when you die you forget how to eat, you forget many of your
     polysyllabic words, and you pick up a funny accent.  You learn not to
     worry about your friends getting shot as long as they don't smoke and
     they remember to buckle up.  The after-life must be a lot weirder than
     anyone imagined.

   - I give it a low 0 on the -4 to +4 scale.

					Mark R. Leeper
					att!mtgzy!leeper
					leeper@mtgzy.att.com
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews
From: leeper@mtgzy.att.com (Mark R. Leeper)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews
Subject: REVIEW: COOL WORLD
Summary: r.a.m.r. #01445
Keywords: author=Leeper
Date: 24 Jul 92 14:16:36 GMT
Reply-To: leeper@mtgzy.att.com
Followup-To: rec.arts.movies
Organization: AT&T, Middletown NJ


                                 COOL WORLD
                      Film comments by Mark R. Leeper
			Copyright 1992 Mark R. Leeper

   - The title has *got* to be a joke.  This is the ugliest and most uncool
     world I can imagine.  Gabriel Byrne must be mis-cast since he just does
     not seem freak-o enough to have imagined this world.  The parallel
     world would have anyone screaming to get out after fifteen minutes.

   - The idea that comic artists are really seeing a parallel universe is an
     old one.  I seem to remember in the 1960s they claimed that the current
     Flash lived in the same universe as the artists who drew the old Flash
     (the one with the Mercury helmet).  but the old Flash was really in a
     parallel universe.  And I'm pretty sure the idea goes at least as far
     back as 1930s fantasy.

   - Cardboard scenery seems out of place.  Cool World should be made of
     pure animation and live action.  The cardboard scenery makes no sense.

   - They seem to have made up the rules of the two universes as they went
     along and failed to explain some.  Why does Holli have clown flashes?
     What does the spike of power have to do with any of this?

   - There are a few clever little satires on other animated films and
     perhaps a good line or two, but the incoherent story just is not very
     interesting.  It's a pity, since at least initially the concept seemed
     more complex and interesting than that of WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT.

   - The pun on Holli Would is pretty lame.  Why repeat it in all the ads?

   - Harris in 1945 is seeing a world that is in a cartoon style that would
     not be invented for another twenty years.  He would be used to
     animation of the Fleischer and Disney schools.  That should make the
     Cool World seem even more alien to him.

   - I give it a -1 on the -4 to +4 scale.

					Mark R. Leeper
					att!mtgzy!leeper
					leeper@mtgzy.att.com