polsci/sentiment-polarity-dataset-v2.0 huggingface dataset:
when jim henson passed away , he left behind diverse legions of fans and a company whose ultimate success , it now seems , hinged on his input . 
jim henson productions and the creature shop are still thriving financially , but as the last two muppet films ( or that silly computer-generated monkey from lost in space ) demonstrate , the thrill and genius are gone . 
i'm not sure the dark crystal , made today , would generate from an audience of kids five to fifty the same awe-filled response . 
an all-powerful crystal has cracked , causing the leaders of the green world to split apart into two beings : the big , gentle mystics , and the vulture-like skeksis . 
the mystics send jen , a naive gelfling boy , on a mission to find the shard that cracked away , which must be reinserted into the crystal before the skeksis become eternal rulers , before the great " conjunction " of three suns . 
along the way , jen encounters and teams up with the only other gelfling alive , the rebecca demornay-like kira , an ogre-witch named aughra , who removes her eyes to look at things , and a spastic-but-friendly , tumbleweed-like animal named fizzgig . 
much of the beauty in the dark crystal , which is a simple tale ( though it does not condescend to any viewer ) , lies in its art direction and creature design . 
the puppeteering is phenomenal--observe the scenes in which jen plays his flute , or the landwalker chase--but i must stress that any thoughts of strings and hands and remote controls all but vanish in the opening moments of the picture , a delicately-narrated ( by john baddeley ) , absorbing prologue . 
the voice work in the film , by muppet regulars and irregulars , is tone-perfect . 
as well , trevor jones' score should not be discounted : it contributes to the film almost as an unseen character . 
i suppose , due to the complexity involved in executing a movie of this nature , that it couldn't be helped , but i wish the film was longer . 
jen and kira have wonderful . . . well , 
chemistry , and more scenes of them quietly conversing would have been appreciated . 
the dark crystal has a very small cult following . 
the weaker labyrinth is probably better-known , which is upsetting . 
a friend of mine related a story to me that henson was pressured into planting humans among labyrinth's creatures due to the financial failure of people-less the dark crystal . 
that film never quite found its footing ; it played like an acid-trip episode of " the muppet show " with david bowie as guest-host , borrowing from tolkien and pandering to tolkien's fan-base . 
 ( i suppose i just made labyrinth sound appetizing to a certain sector of the public . ) 
the dark crystal deserved ( and still deserves ) a bigger audience . 
it's the best kind of children's entertainment : elegant , fantastical , and courageously un-hip . 
brian henson , fortunate son , keep looking back at this , your father's masterpiece .
bob the happy bastard's quickie review : 
the mummy 
brendan fraser's stuck in the past again , but at least this time he has something better to do than to quote sitcom lines and try to woo alicia silverstone . . . 
fraser is the lead star of the mummy , the second directorial effort from action director stephen sommers ( who also brought us the decent thrill ride that was deep rising ) . 
it's a rough adaptation of the 1932 film , and i say rough because it focuses more on special effects than on some guy in bandages , like boris karloff was engulfed in . 
but who cares , the movie has a sort of swashbuckling quality to it you can't get from , oh , say , godzilla or armageddon . 
fraser plays a soldier who gets a premonition during a battle with soldiers in an egyptian ground . 
basically , it's a little sign from the mummy buried underneath- a priest named ihmoetep who was buried alive for taking part of murdering the king and making out with his mistress . 
his plan- wake back up and wake her up also , making him invincible . 
of course , fraser returns to the site years later with a librarian ( rachel weisz ) and her brother ( john hanna ) , along with a former buddy of his ( deep rising's kevin j . o'connor ) and some " americans " . . . and 
guess what ? 
yup , ihmoetep ( arnold vosloo ) awakens and wreaks havoc . 
fire flies from the sky , flesh-eating beetles crawl about , and , well , ihmoetep's plan begins to unfold . 
ok , so it's not really all that new a story , but the way sommers tells it is entertaining enough . 
the special effects from industrial light and magic are top notch , and the acting from fraser and weisz isn't half bad either . 
the action is pretty intense ( favorite scene : the sandstorm ) and there are a few shocking scenes just to jolt you horror-loving folks as well . 
no , it's no phantom menace beater , but if you're looking for a solid warm-up to the summer movie season , you won't find a better film under wraps than the mummy . 
if this doesn't give fraser forgiveness from blast from the past and encino man , then nothing will .
apollo 13 is simply one of the most dramatic film this summer ( apart from swashbuckling braveheart ) . 
director ( and former actor ) ron howard ( splash , backdraft , far & away ) , most noted for his dramatic film making , displays again his brilliance in creating drama and suspense in apollo 13 . 
being the second largest box office hit in the us this summer ( with more than us$150 million in the states alone ) , this film is his most successful effort yet . 
perhaps one of the most appealing feature of this film is the pool of talented actors such as tom hanks ( gump himself ) , kevin bacon ( footloose , tremors , a few good men etc . ) , gary sinise ( forrest gump ) , bill paxton ( aliens , true lies , boxing helena ) and ed harris ( the abyss , just cause ) . . 
all of whom gave good performances in their respective roles . 
apollo 13 was the second worst accident ever to occur in the history of us spaceflight ( the worst being the challenger accident ) . 
jim lovell ( hanks ) , the mission commander , together with his crew , fred haise ( paxton ) and last minute replacement tom swigert ( bacon ) are put to the ultimate test when part of their command module explodes on the third day of the mission , more than three quarters way to the moon . 
suspense and drama ensue as the three men are left in space with their spaceship out of control and the problem of surviving the journey home . . . 
if they ever reach it . 
ed harris and gary sinise who play , respectively , the man in charge of the entire mission control and the astronaut who was supposed to fly but was diagnosed with measles , both delve into their roles superbly . 
audiences are shown the chaotic and worrisome state of the entire ground control crew , as they frantically attempt to come up with ideas on how to save the astronauts from hurtling into space . 
also , there are quite a number of real news footages which were broadcast during the accident which took the entire us nation into 5 days of drama in 1970 . 
the special effects by digital domain are up to standard and the music suits the suspense and drama very well , thanks to film-music maestro james horner . 
watch out for the launching sequence , it is simply one of the most breathtaking scenes of the film . 
a bad point though : apollo 13 features much technical jargon and many physics concepts in its script . 
those who consider themselves `scientifically illiterate' might have a slight problem understanding what caused this and what caused that during the course of the show . 
this is however , just a minor point , just forget all those technical bullshit and immerse yourselves into the drama and suspense throughout the film . 
you should enjoy it .
carla gugino graduates from high school and instead of staying in her small farming town , she goes to college in california . 
there she meets the residential advisor pauly shore , who is a city boy . 
when gugino goes back home for thanksgiving , she brings shore with her , and her parents ( lane smith and cindy pickett ) are less than thrilled . 
dan gauthier , gugino's boyfriend from high school , proposes to gugino . 
gugino isn't ready for anything like this so she makes up the story that she is engaged to shore . 
she and shore have to make it look like they are engaged while her parents try to make it end . 
forget jurassic park , cliffhanger , the firm and last action hero , son-in-law is the film to see this summer . 
son-in-law is a great romantic comedy that should please the viewers , especially fans of the wiez . 
when son-in-law is long gone and forgotten , the blockbuster summer films will still be playing and you will have a chance to see them then . 
this film could also make great video fare for those that are leery of spending seven dollars on it . 
nothing will be lost by watching it on a television screen . 
although the basic story line has been done many , many times before , the film is still fun to watch . 
the laughs are plentiful , especially when the wiez is around . 
the way some of the jokes are done are new , even though some of the jokes are old . 
there are also several new jokes that , at least , i haven't seen before . 
still , when presented right , even old material can be funny still . 
this film is just basically a light comedy that is great to see if you are in the right mood that doesn't contain much violence or any nudity that is definitely worth full ticket price . 
the cast for this film does an excellent job . 
pauly shore ( encino man ) is the star attraction of this film . 
he is great , and knows how to entertain the audience . 
pauly shore just seems to take over the entire screen when he is on with expressions and comments that are hilarious . 
this film would definitely not have been as good with anyone else in this role . 
carla gugino does a very good job as the farm girl gone city girl . 
she makes her character believable , on some levels , yet interesting at the same time . 
the person who played the grandfather ( mason adams , i believe ) also does a great job . 
the way he delivered his lines kept me laughing throughout the time that he was on the screen . 
patrick renna , who played gugino's little brother , was a little annoying , but no where as near as macaulay culkin , and for only part of the time , so i can forgive him . 
tiffani-amber thiessen ( a killer among friends , " saved by the bell " ) does a reasonably good job for the time that she is on screen . 
she shows that she may have a potential in movies if she can get out of the corny young adults programming on television . 
she wasn't given overly much to do in the film , but what she had , she does a good job with .
the only historical figure that has been written about more than william shakespeare is jesus christ , which explains why the bard's materials are such a popular source for remakes , revisions , rewrites , inspiration , subtlety , credit , and dispute . 
indeed , in recent years , american contemporary cinema has been swamped with a wash of shakespearean products . 
including this year's upcoming a midsummer night's dream , shakespeare's material has been the cause for twenty-six big screen productions since 1990 . 
but for a change of pace , mrs . 
brown director john madden gives us a story of the bard himself in the wonderfully vibrant shakespeare in love . 
marc norman and tom stoppard's story is largely fantasy , although as the viewer soon learns , shakespeare in love is not a movie that takes itself seriously . 
 ( will shakespeare of the 1590's would've been married to anne hathaway , and he would've had a teenage daughter and two young sons ; here he is a bachelor played by joseph fiennes . ) will is a writer struggling to come up with a great play , and his current comedy in the works -- " romeo and ethel , the pirate's daughter " -- just doesn't quite seem right . 
with the help of the great writer christopher marlowe ( rupert everett ) , and the inspiration of true love with noblewoman viola de lesseps ( gwyneth paltrow ) , he changes things around and writes one of his greatest tragedies , " romeo and juliet . " 
the love story between will and viola loosely parallels the story of romeo and juliet , to great effect . 
fiennes and paltrow develop a sexy chemistry as the two lovers which gives the movie much momentum ; this momentum smoothes out the bumps in the unfinished and largely unsuccessful comedy . 
the supporting roles are well filled out , from geoffrey rush as will's worrisome agent , philip , to tom wilkinson as the producer hugh fennyman . 
even ben affleck , leading the troupe of actors , manages to make a favorable impression ; and judi dench lends some brief moments of screen time as queen elizabeth i . gwyneth paltrow is by far , however , the standout of the lot , creating a large percentage of the forementioned vibrance . 
the story is well-crafted if nothing else , although it has dangerous moments where it flirts with the " let's make a movie " -genre . 
the dialogue is breezy and lighthearted , and certainly accessible by the audience's lowest common denominator . 
there's something for everyone in this romantic comedy , making it prime date flick material . 
although certainly not inspiring in any regard , it revels in a wholesome , well-rounded atmosphere that has been absent in many of 1998's pictures ; the true-love story is one of the best around . 
certainly recommendable when the traditional slew of indifferent year's-open releases is just around the corner .
the start of this movie reminded me of parts from the movie stargate . 
people are looking around in an egyptian temple reading about some dangerous thing that is going to destroy earth in the future . 
after a sort of confusing bit involving fake-looking cyborg things , the movie jumps into the future and the movie improves by leaps and bounds . 
the basic idea behind the movie is that every once in a while ( make that every 1000 years or so ) an evil force comes to destroy earth . 
the things needed to defend against this menace are the four elements of nature plus the fifth element . 
the plot in this movie really isn't that important to the thing though . 
this movie has very good special effects , for the most part . 
the techno-ish music in the background fits the mood very well . 
bruce willis is an illegal taxi-cab driver in a futuristic new york city . 
one day a lady draped with a few bandages drops down into his trunk . 
this movie is about what happens . 
the plot twists are interesting and the movie never fails to present the viewer with a variety of different locations . 
also there is a fair bit of action in the film , particularly towards the end . 
some characters are just plain strange including a highly-energetic deejay in drag . 
bruce willis does his normal job of blowing things away like he always does . 
the movie is definitely watchable and rarely slows down . 
it is one of those sci-fi films where you'll be saying " cool " followed by a " what the hell ? ! ? ! " . 
i give the fifth element .
well i'll be damned . . . 
the canadians can make a good movie . 
the world is coming to an end . 
we don't know why or how , but apparently there is no way to stop it . 
the world has had this information for months , as most of the rioting and other assorted chaos has passed and governments have shut down operations . 
yet for a handful of toronto citizens , life goes on . 
they aren't going crazy or attacking people in the streets . 
instead they are simply preparing themselves for the end . . . 
some engaging in activities they've always wanted to do , some gathering with family and friends , and others just seeking to be alone . 
these people's lives however all intersect during their final six hours . 
writer-director-star don mckellar has crafted a highly unique and emotional film . 
all of the main characters are compelling as they try and do whatever it is they need to do on their last night on earth . 
craig ( callum keith rennie ) tries to fulfill all his sexual fantasies , a gas company employee ( david cronenberg ) calls every customer letting them know the gas will be flowing until the very end and thanks them for their business , and patrick ( mckellar ) just wants to be by himself but isn't having much success . 
even minor characters keep popping up where you least expect them to , tying everyone even closer . 
things seemed a little hokey towards the beginning of the film , but ultimately everything comes together nicely ( although it's not a happy film . . . 
some moments are understandably gut-wrenching ) . 
the story is enhanced by some unexpected humor and very realistic performances , particularly from sandra oh , whose character is just trying to get home to her husband before the end . 
i have absolutely no problem that the reason for the end of the world is never given , nor does it bother me that the world is ending at exactly 12 midnight ( in toronto anyway ) . 
but i do wonder why the sun never sets . 
come midnight , the sun is still shining brightly . 
maybe the sun is crashing into the earth . . . 
who knows . 
also , it's comforting to know that in mankind's final moments on the planet , people will still gang up on the street for the sheer purpose of pushing over a car or a bus ( that's not a shot at this film mind you . . . 
i know people are just stupid and truly would be out in the street tipping over cars ) . 
last night is available on dvd from universal home video . 
it contains the film in fullscreen format and includes the original theatrical trailer . 
[r]
niagara niagara ( r ) bob gosse's niagara niagara follows a blueprint not unlike a lot of young-lovers-on-the-road movies . 
wild marcy ( robin tunney ) and calm seth ( henry thomas ) meet cute , literally running into each other while shoplifting at a local store . 
a mere couple of scenes later , the two embark on a journey to toronto from their small , unnamed american town in pursuit of a rare doll that marcy desperately wants . 
along the way , true love inevitably blossoms . 
what sets niagara niagara apart , though , is that marcy is afflicted with tourette's syndrome , a neurological disorder that causes sudden muscle and vocal tics . 
tunney , displaying an acting range not hinted at in the teenage witch thriller the craft , delivers an astonishing performance that won her the best actress prize at last year's venice film festival . 
to term her work a tour-de-force is not to imply that she attacks the scenery ; tunney's effectiveness lies in her modulation and vulnerability , which makes her depiction of marcy's illness--which often causes her to act violently--that much more convincing and tragic . 
she and the nicely subtle thomas develop a sweetly innocent and beguilingly off-kilter chemistry . 
their journey hits a few rough spots creatively along the way , mostly the fault of writer matthew weiss . 
a detour involving a kindly widower ( michael parks ) who takes the couple in brings the story to a screeching halt , and the key character of a trigger-happy pharmacist ( stephen lang ) is highly unbelievable . 
but these missteps do not blunt the power of tunney's bravura turn , which carries niagara niagara to a level of poignance it would not have otherwise achieved . 
 ( opens march 20 ) 
 " i didn't know what to expect . 
it's like something you chase for so long , but then you don't know how to react when you get it . 
i still don't know how to react . " 
--michael jordan , on winning his first nba championship in 1991 . . . or , 
my thoughts after meeting him on november 21 , 1997
review- peter jackson's the frighteners has received some notice for setting the record for most computer effects ever in a movie , and still coming in at the extremely cheap $30 million price tag . 
but for those who were dismayed by this year's blockbusters like twister and independence day , the frighteners has much more to offer than special effects . 
and for those worried wether or not peter jackson would compromise to hollywood you can rest easily . 
the frighteners is as far removed from hollywood as a high-profile movie can get . 
michael j . fox stars as frank bannister , a con artist who can speak to ghosts . 
he uses this ability to set up a scam in a small town where his ghost buddies scare the hell out of people , then he comes and pretends to get rid of them . 
this is how he has made a living ever since his wife died in a car crash 5 years ago . 
frank's latest customers are a young couple , played by trini alvarado and peter dobson . 
when dobson ends up dead , alvarado starts to take an interest in fox . 
but dobson's spirit is still around as he refuses to beleive he's dead . 
this leads to a very awkward and amusing dinner date between fox and alvarado , with dobson tagging along as a ghost . 
things start getting complicated for fox when he is accused for a series of murders taking place in the town . 
fox sees someone named the soul collector crushing the heart of the victims , but noone else can see that . 
so when fox shows up to try and save each victim , naturally people suspect he is the killer . 
fox sees that alvarado is next on the soul collector's hit list , and the last half hour of the movie deals with fox's attempts to save her from this evil spirit . 
there are many wonderful twists and turns in the screenplay written by peter jackson and frances walsh . 
the movie starts off as a black comedy , and ends up a horror-action film . 
the mix between these genres are perfect . 
no laughs are sacrificed in the name of horror , and vice versa . 
one point of contention might be a lackluster score by danny elfman . 
but that hardly seems like a flaw when you have such a diverse cast all in top form . 
michael j . fox delivers one of his best performances to date as a man who hides the sorrow of his wife's death , and then is forced to confront this later on . 
alvarado , looking like andie macdowell , makes a great frightened , tough , and smart heroine . 
and jeffery combs , as a paranoid fbi agent , is brilliantly bizaare . 
the frighteners never once feels like it is running long . 
the first hour is as funny as any comedy this year , and the last half hour is as thrilling as any of the big budget blockbusters . 
this movie is probably what casper would've looked like if david lynch directed it . 
it's easily the best film of the year , so far .
susan granger's review of " legally blonde " ( m . g . m . ) 
it's a " pretty in pink " / " clueless " coming-of-age story for the new millennium as elle woods ( reese witherspoon ) , a perky southern california sorority queen , switches from fashion to law in order to win back her yuppy boyfriend ( matthew davis ) . 
the girl-power story begins as this sweetheart of delta nu is unceremoniously dumped by a bonehead who says : " if i'm going to be a senator by the time i'm 30 . . . i 
need to marry a jackie , not a marilyn . " 
determined to prove she's as smart a snobby brunette ( selma blair ) from country-club connecticut , elle not only applies to harvard law school but gets in , much to the amazement of family , friends and faculty . 
once there , this flaxen-haired fish-out-of-water not only survives but tenaciously thrives , befriending a local manicurist ( jennifer coolidge ) , dazzling a professor ( victor garber ) and rescuing a defendant ( ali larter ) in a celebrated boston murder trial , plus finding a more worthy beau ( luke wilson ) . 
in the tradition of teen-comedy film-maker john hughes and his disciple amy heckerling , there's wit , cheerfulness , a fidelity of observation and a penchant for problem-solving . 
first-time feature director robert luketic is blessed with reese witherspoon who's joyously incandescent in this utterly formulaic light comedy written by karen mccullah lutz and kirsten smith , based on a soon-to-be-published novel by amanda brown . 
the supporting cast is terrific , particularly raquel welch and holland taylor - and i particularly got a kick out of the gag of elle distributing scented resumes in pink , her signature color on the granger movie gauge of 1 to 10 , " legally blonde " is a frivolous , funny , feel-good 8 . 
filled with ditzy blonde ambition , it's a movie for high-school kids that their parents would be happy to have them see .
what do you get when you combine clueless and dumb and dumber ? 
to answer the question , you get director david mirkin's new comedy romy and michele's high school reunion . 
romy white ( mira sorvino , mighty aprhodite ) and michele weinberger ( lisa kudrow , tv's friends ) have been inseparable buddies since they graduated from sagebrush high in 1987 . 
however , when former classmate heather mooney ( janeane garafolo , the truth about cats and dogs ) confronts romy about the 10 year reunion , she is astounded that she forgot . 
watching pretty woman for the um-teenth time , they are reminded of how they wouldn't let julia roberts' character shop in the expensive stores because of her appearance . 
then it hits them : they are not successful . 
what are she and michele going to do ? 
romy's instant solution is lose some weight off their already slender frames , " bag a couple of boyfriends , " and get jobs . 
romy says this will be easy , but michele retorts that if it is so easy , why hadn't they already done it . 
robin schiff's script keeps the show moving with some nice one-liners . 
one of the best has romy reminiscing about her life's battle against the bathroom scales . 
 " i was so lucky getting mono , " she says looking at her thinnest high school picture . 
 " that was like the best diet ever . " 
the casting for the film is so perfect that one begins to suspect that the leads were chosen and then the script was developed . 
romy and michele use their high school yearbook to discuss the caste system at their high school . 
the film's editor david finfer dissolves the stills from the yearbook to live action flashbacks which makes the past come to life . 
at sagebrush high , the hierarchy consisted of the a group ( cheerleaders ) , the b group ( drama club ) and the c group ( nerds ) . 
romy and michele were none of the above . 
ridiculed as " the weirdoes , " they were constant targets for abuse . 
even though they were quite attractive , they had so much fun being together that they did not care about the others . 
that they make their own outlandish clothes helped keep the wall around them . 
complementing romy and michele's lightness , is janeane garofalo as the dark , pudgy heather mooney . 
heather , who invented a new cigarette paper for cigarettes with " twice the taste in half the time for the gal on the go , " has the success and the money that they would like . 
heather was even more of an outsider than they were in high school . 
garofalo's one-dimensional role is only a side show . 
this is a two person film with the other characters there merely for the two leads to bounce their lines off of . 
the genuine chemistry between sorvino and kudrow makes for a sweet and sometimes touching comedy . 
they have so much fun acting out their parts , their enjoyment spreads to the audience . 
 ,
wyatt earp has a lot to tell and little to say . 
this story of the legendary lawman runs three hours and nine minutes and that's too long for this epic-wannabe that plays more like a tv mini-series than a movie . 
the story opens on the earp family farm , with young wyatt ready to run away from home . 
he wants to fight in the civil war , but his dad ( hackman ) has different ideas and wants his son to study law . 
time passes and wyatt heads west , returns home to marry , and , after a spell , begins his career in law enforcement . 
by the time he ( costner ) and his brothers ( madsen , david andrews , and linden ashby ) arrive in tombstone , wyatt has tried his hand at everything from hunting buffalo to dealing cards . 
wyatt earp is very appealing in places-- such as cast , costumes , and cinematography-- but an overstated story and overpowered score deaden most of the emotional impact . 
who can be moved by scene after scene after scene of swelling strings and suffocating speeches ? 
somber is fine-- just ask clint eastwood-- but this film that boasts not one , not two , but three , count 'em three , hammy death scenes ! 
still , a little bit of earp goes a long way and the life and times of the legendary lawman are from uninteresting stuff . 
his , uh , unusual relations with women , for example , are an intriguing contrast to his character's credo of " nothing counts as much as blood . " 
equally amusing is a buffalo-hunting ( and skinning ! ) 
sequence that is decidedly non-pc . 
director lawrence kasdan takes a refreshingly realistic approach to the gunplay . 
the infamous gunfight at the ok corral is both brutal and brief , devoid of almost any theatrics . 
don't look for much glorified violence here . 
despite some large exclamation points in the story , the characters * do * come to life . 
the diverse cast includes everyone from betty buckley ( ! ) to mackenzie astin ( ! ! ) . 
kevin costner is very good in the title role . 
dances with whitney nevers get as steely as the role requires , though , but his transformation from lighthearted law student to stoic sheriff is fun to watch . 
he was tougher in a perfect world . 
his foil is dennis quaid , who pulled a deniro by losing 40+ pounds to play the tubercular terror doc holliday . 
gaunt * and * gamely , he's a scene stealer who's seen too little . 
other familiar faces include tom sizemore ( looking like bruce mcgill ) , bill pullman ( looking like jeff daniels ) , and lea thompson ( looking like someone other than lea thompson ) . 
both gene hackman and isabella rosselini appear and disappear like magic , while late entries catherine o'hara and jobeth williams are surprisingly solid . 
though the story and score should've tried " less is more , " all other credits are technical tops . 
production designer ida random , art director gary wissner , and costume designer colleen atwood are some of the vips who helped spend what must've been an enormous budget . 
clearly no expense was spared .
originally titled 'don't lose your head' , this parody of the scarlet pimpernel story was the first carry on to be produced by rank film productions . 
two english fops , the 'powdered , be-wigged , be-ribboned' sir rodney ffing ( sidney james ) and his counterpart lord darcy pew ( jim dale ) decide to travel to revolutionary france in an attempt to rescue their fellow french royalists and aristocrats from losing their heads by the guillotine . 
due to a series of machinations and disguises , they are largely successful . 
ffing becomes known as 'the black fingernail' because he leaves a calling card behind which shows two fingers sticking up , one with a black fingernail . 
after the fingernail rescues a prominent royalist the duc de pommfrit ( charles hawtrey ) , citizen robespierre ( peter gilmore ) orders the head of the secret police citizen 'the big cheese' camembert ( kenneth williams ) and citizen bidet ( peter butterworth ) to follow the fingernail to england and do away with him . 
 ( in fact , darcy and ffing are their coachmen ! ) 
once at calais , the fingernail meets jacqueline ( dany robin ) and they fall in love instantly . 
he tells her his identity and gives her his locket . 
when camembert realises that the fingernail is nearby , he searches the inn at calais and captures jacqueline , thinking that she is wearing a diguise and is really the fingernail ! 
jacqueline is imprisoned in the bastille and camembert , his love desiree dubarry ( joan sims ) , and bidet all travel to london in pursuit of the fingernail . 
they pretend to be of noble stock , calling themselves the duc and duchesse de la plume de ma tante ( with bidet their assistant ) and are invited by darcy to a ball held by ffing . 
desiree finds out that ffing is the fingernail by wearing the locket around her neck , but she ends up falling in love with him . 
ffing attempts to stall camembert so that he can return to the bastille to rescue jacqueline , camembert has her moved to the 'chateau neuve' , and a climactic sword-fight decides who will lose their heads at the end of the film ! 
a more complex story than most carry ons , this film enjoys good production values ( sets , costumes ) and an on-form cast . 
sid james is excellent as the english fop and black fingernail , kenneth williams excels as the evil camembert , and peter butterworth expertly plays the substantial part of camembert's thick-witted crony . 
other acting honours go to joan sims who is perfect as desiree and charles hawtrey who is excellent as the french aristo pommfrit . 
although it suffers from a disasterously over-long sword fight at the end of the film , it is largely successful due to the performances of the main stars , its slick and professional production , and its better-than-usual script . 
definitely one of the best of the series and a joy to watch .
ingredients : down-on-his-luck evangelist , church 
synopsis : sonny dewey ( robert duvall ) is a tireless texas pentecostal preacher who unexpectedly catches his wife ( farrah fawcett ) in bed with another guy . 
in a regrettable crime of passion he takes a baseball bat to the guy's head , and suddenly finds himself a fugitive for murder , and estranged from his wife and two kids . 
to atone for his sins , sonny flees to a rural bayou town in louisiana and baptizes himself as a new creature - - the apostle e . f . as the apostle e . f . sonny's main mission is to revive an abandoned church community and preach the gospel at the local radio station . 
soon he sets about resurrecting the one way road to heaven holiness temple . 
but sonny knows his time is short ; one day the police will find him . 
opinion : this movie is a thought-provoking look at an evangelist in real life terms . 
i believe that robert duvall ( who is the producer , director , writer , and main star of the apostle ) deserves an oscar for his performance as sonny the religious crusader - - a performance which is so complex and realistic it ranks as one of the finest acting performances on film . 
duvall's portrayal of a true believer is authentic , superb , and inspired ; it offers the audience a completely honest look at southern religion , as well as a portrait of a fallible , complicated man driven by his beliefs . 
incidentally , in real life duvall was just as 'driven' in getting the project underway . 
since no major hollywood studio wanted to risk financing a complex movie about an evangelist , the apostle as a project lay dormant for almost 13 years before duvall was able to get it done , paying for its production with his own money ( about five million dollars ) . 
in terms of hard-hitting realism and character portrayal the apostle would rank as one of the best movies of this decade , and i emphatically recommend the apostle for connoisseurs of stage and fine acting on film . 
similarly , those with a steep background in pentecostal christianity would find the apostle a thought-provoking experience . 
on the other hand , the apostle's main strength - - duvall's preaching - - is also what limits the apostle's target audience . 
in terms of plot and pure entertainment value , the apostle is definitely not for everyone . 
teenagers , action fans , comedy fans , and people who find church completely boring should stay far away from this movie , since three quarters of the film is watching sonny preach at church . 
in other words , the apostle is a four star performance , but with a very limited audience .
billy bob thornton , who had a sudden rise to fame with 1996's sling blade after spending years as a virtually unknown actor and writer , is becoming one of the most versatile - and most accomplished - american actors around at the moment . 
as jacob , the simple but at times very bright loser brother of bill paxton's hank , thornton gives a performance which should leave an indelible mark on all but the most hardened viewers . 
three men , hank ( paxton ) , jacob ( thornton ) and their friend lou ( brent briscoe ) stumble upon a plane wreck which , upon closer inspection , yields a rotting corpse and a bag full of money . 
jacob and lou want to pocket the cash . 
hank , the smarter - and perhaps more naive - of the three , insists on leaving the money for the authorities to find . 
eventually , they agree to keep the cash safe until the plane is found , and then split the money three ways . 
things start going wrong , though , with greed and violence weaving their ways through their plan . 
disaster is sure to strike . 
director sam raimi , of the evil dead and darkman fame , has made an excellent and thought-provoking film , worlds away from the comic horror films which made his name . 
while there are a couple of moments which might remind one of his earlier work , raimi has made an intelligent and mature departure which will hopefully be a sign of even greater films to come . 
scott b . smith's screenplay , based on his novel ( which i haven't read ) is a fine example of escalating tension . 
while it does remind one of danny boyle's shallow grave without the abundance of black humour , it keeps the drama that should really be a part of such a story on morality , or the lack thereof , found in a film with this subject matter . 
alar kivilo's cinematography reminds one of joel and ethan coen's fargo , with the bleak , snowy landscape almost becoming another character . 
danny elfman also does well with his moody , finely-written score . 
if there's a flaw in the film , it's that it goes on for just a little too long . 
just when we think that they are about to wrap things up , raimi and smith decide to let the film go on a little further . 
while this isn't really a bad thing , it did become a little frustrating at times ( this may have been due to the fact that i had consumed a large sprite beforehand ) . 
the performances are excellent , with the usually annoying paxton in fine form and bridget fonda giving a scene-stealing turn as hank's scheming wife . 
this is an excellent showcase for thornton's fine skills as an actor and a great change in direction for raimi , who could very well have a career ahead of him as an accomplished director of dramatic films . 
fingers crossed , though , that this doesn't stop him from making another evil dead sequel .
like the great musical pieces of mozart himself , amadeus is a true work of art . 
it is one of those few movies of the 80's that will be known for its class , its style , and its intelligence . 
why is this such a good film ? 
there are almost too many reasons to explain . 
the story : court composer salieri ( f . 
murray abraham ) feels waves of different emotions going through his head as wolfgang amadeus mozart ( tom hulce ) comes into his life as the young genius composer . 
salieri feels envy , and jealousy , but at the same time is fascinated with mozart's brilliance and ingenious . 
we travel through mozart's life as a composer , through his struggles , his triumphs , and ultimately , his demise . 
the acting : abraham is magnificient as salieri ; his acting range enables him to focus on each individual emotion and express it through his speech and body language . 
this performance earned him a well deserved oscar . 
tom hulce is interesting as well as mozart , a quirky , annoying bratty kid with an annoying laugh . 
he's strong , but weak at the same time , and must be aided by his wife ( elizabeth berridge ) , who is good in her role , but lacks dramatic depth . 
jeffrey jones , in a smaller , more dignified role than such roles in stay tuned and mom and dad save the world , is cast perfectly because of his noble charm . 
the movie : every element of this movie works . 
the costumes and makeup are very memorable , as well as its stunning art direction , and unforgettable scores ( adapted from mozart's original music ) . 
while wolfgang amadeus mozart was a genius at music , milos forman proves with his film that he is a genius of filmmaking . 
this movie is a classic that will be remembered for years to come . 
ad2am " i almost lost my nose . . . and 
i like it . 
i like breathing through it . " 
-jack nicholson , chinatown
not too many people know who james whale is , but it's a safe bet that a good chunk of them have seen his movies . 
if we are to believe the semi- biographical gods and monsters , whale would have wanted it to be that way . 
this is an insightful , haunting exploration of the last days of the frankenstein and bride of frankenstein director , and it is notable for introducing one of the first complicated gay characters in a hollywood movie . 
gods and monsters has no interest in being a biopic of whale's life because it tracks only the final few days of his life , and it's probably a better movie for it . 
it's focus is on whale's ( ian mckellen ) untraditional and deceptive lust for heterosexual gardener clayton boone ( brendan fraser ) . 
it begins with whale ( a fairly talented artist , aside from being a director ) asking boone to " sit for him , " ( pose for a portrait ) . 
at first , boone doesn't realize that whale is gay and grows fascinated with the old man . 
when he does discover whale's sexual orientation from his dedicated and protective maid ( lynn redgrave ) , he is frightened , refusing to sit for the guy . 
but he comes back , only to storm out again , disgusted with whale's " locker room talk . " 
boone returns yet another time , after whale promises to tone down the aforementioned " locker room talk , " and finds their platonic relationship to be strengthening . 
meanwhile , jimmy himself is suffering from hallucinations and mental attacks as a result of his stroke not long ago . 
his ailment leads to desperation and depression , which build to the point where he is forced to ask boone for an incredulously big favor . 
what is perhaps most sensational about gods and monsters is brendan fraser's bravura performance ; up until seeing this film i intensely disliked the young actor because of his tendency to ruin the movies he is in ( blast from the past , for example ) . 
i was surprised how expressive an actor he proved himself to be here . 
this is impressive because his character's dialogue is minimal , with mckellan doing most of the talking . 
that requires fraser to act through body language ; a difficult skill to master , but something he proves capable of doing well . 
this is not to ignore mckellan's oscar nominated turn . 
he earned that nomination with his touching performance here ( although , at the risk of sounding like a philistine , i would have chosen his performance as the nazi in apt pupil for the nomination ) ; an understated , compelling gem . 
whale dreaded being remembered solely for his work in the hollywood horror genre , and he thought hollywood to be the equivalent of a battlefield . 
he rejoiced in being free from it , only reluctantly going to receptions with fellow movie people . 
in the end , perhaps , it is what killed him : the memories of hollywood and war blending together to form a living nightmare . 
 ? 1999 eugene novikov&#137 ;
the idea at the center of the devil's advocate , which is , thus far , one of the three or four best films of 1997 , is that no matter what decision is made , evil will triumph -- god is a trickster , satan is a humanist -- " the last humanist " . 
he appears in many guises , and seduces many men and women -- in his own words , " vanity -- by far my favorite sin " . 
al pacino plays this role with relish , and gets to chew some delectable lines ( " lemme givya a piece o' inside wisdom on god . . . " , " i have a million names . . . " ) , as john milton -- the devil . 
the main idea -- that he can appear as anyone , in any form ( in this case , a buisness man ) , harkens mainly back to terry gilliam's the time bandits . 
but the film , is something else , something original . 
part of what makes it so very good , is that it never takes itself too seriously -- it dabbles with morality , vanity , death , and child abuse , but doesn't try to become any profound study of power . 
this is a marvelous confection -- cocky , funny , thought provoking . 
it is also entertaining . 
there is no way you could possibly predict the ending -- it pulls back upon itself , drawing purely out of the mind's eye . 
the final shot is more creative , more daring , more challenging , then anything in cinema since the white sock in the coen's fargo . 
the central themes are fascinating ( sometimes reminiscent of james' the turn of the screw , and oates' accursed inhabitants of the house of bly ) , and the product that is built around it really wows . 
its nice to know that things like this are still being made .
scream 2 , like its predecessor , is a genre-crossing film . 
it is about 50% horror film and 50% murder mystery . 
the mix worked very well last time and it continues to entertain this time . 
scream was also known for its self-referential tone . 
many inside jokes were made in reference to horror movies and wes craven . 
again , scream 2 follows suit with characters saying such things as " sequels suck " and " the entire horror genre was destroyed by sequels . " 
scream 2's story is very similar to it's predecessor's . 
sidney ( neve campbell ) , having survived the killing spree in scream , is now in college . 
gale weathers ( courteney cox ) has written a book about the murders and that book is now being released as a feature film , called stab ( which for all practical purposes is the real-world movie scream ) . 
at the premiere of stab , two students from sidney's college are stabbed to death , and a new story begins . 
the press descends on sidney and her college to get the scoop on this sequel killer . 
they want to know all about the links between stab , sidney , and the recent murders . 
the most complex self-reference i saw ( this should be an olympic event ) was the scene where gale weathers was asking questions at a press conference . 
the rest of the press was watching and videotaping weathers . 
the other survivors from scream were watching and videotaping the press . 
the audience was watching the whole , filmed scene . 
 ( whew . ) 
the movie is packed with layers and self-references that make it a pleasure to watch . 
even better would be to watch a double feature of scream and scream 2 . that's not to say that these references necessarily make scream 2 a deep , or even a good movie . 
the just add to the fun of watching it . 
i recommend it for other reasons as well . 
what i liked best about the horror aspect of the movie is that the monster is not supernatural . 
no werewolf or ghost or psycho with superhuman strength is responsible . 
it is a person in a mask and a robe , his only advantage the fear he strikes into his victims . 
no extraordinary leap of faith is needed to believe in the killer . 
the down side is that if you are frightened by horror movies , you have less grounds to say " it's just a movie . " 
the whodunit aspect of the movie is not that great by itself - gale weathers and deputy dewey ( david arquette , also from the original ) track down a killer . 
they are likeable , but not outstanding . 
but in combination with the horror aspect , the whodunit is a perfect counterpoint . 
it was exactly a year ago today that i wrote the review for scream . 
the internet movie database says that scream 3 is in the works , so i wonder if i'll be doing the same thing on january 1 , 1999 . 
if craven and screenwriter kevin williamson are able to keep the quality high , i'll be happy to mark my calendar .