Archive for the ‘Drama’ Category
Wednesday, October 7th, 2026
M.F.A. has a series of murders in it, but it doesn’t have the atmosphere of a horror movie like I would usually review this time of year. I’d say it’s closer to a thriller. It came out in 2017, I’ve been meaning to see it for a while, and unfortunately I was reminded of it by current events. It’s a rape-revenge movie with more parallels to the recent Cornell University case than I expected, but of course it’s not coincidence – it’s a terrible reminder that this is based on things that happen all the time. I have to warn you that although I think this is a respectable movie and not sleazy like I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE it does have two very disturbing assault scenes, bluntly staged to seem authentic. It’s not sugar-coating it, or giving you a quick out. It’s very upsetting.
Noelle (Francesca Eastwood) is a painter working on her masters of fine arts. She’s cool, but not very social, trying to change that when she’s invited to a party by classmate Luke (Peter Vack, SWELTER). She has a very supportive duplex neighbor named Skye (Leah McKendrick, who also wrote the movie) who notices her trying on outfits and encourages her, gives her tips for hitting on the guy. It’s torturous because if we didn’t know the topic of the movie it would be cute. She likes a boy, she kinda wants to get laid, her friend has her back, none of that is a crime. She’s not worrying about bad things that could happen, and she shouldn’t have to. (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Clifton Collins Jr., David Huynh, Francesca Eastwood, Leah McKendrick, Natalia Leite, Peter Vack, rape-revenge
Posted in Reviews, Drama, Horror, Thriller | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, September 30th, 2026
FLY AWAY HOME is one of the great PG-rated movies of 1996, and a true family film as opposed to one for kids. It’s for all ages, because it’s about cute animals, but also a 13-year-old girl trying to find herself after life-shattering loss, but also an eccentric adult trying to get his shit together as a parent while staying true to his ideals, and how they do those things together by both caring about the goslings orphaned by developers intruding on their land.
It begins unusually heavy for any rating, with a musical montage in which a mother and daughter are joking around in the car and then are blindsided by a truck. There’s no diegetic sound, just Mary Chapin Carpenter singing “Fare Thee Well,” the ladies laughing, then the P.O.V. from inside the spinning and rolling car, blacking out, seeing lights shining and emergency workers breaking through the already cracked windshield. When Amy (Academy Award winner Anna Paquin in her third movie) wakes up in the hospital and her dad Thomas (Jeff Daniels following SPEED and DUMB AND DUMBER) is by her side she says, “Why are you here? Where’s Mom?” Devastating.
She moves from New Zealand to his farm in Ontario. He says don’t worry, I’ll get all the junk moved out of your bedroom so it looks just like you remember it. She says I don’t remember it. The house is big and cluttered, full of tools and trinkets, his metal sculptures and award-winning inventions, evidence of an adventurous life she wasn’t ever a part of. When he’s trying to explain why the fuck he has a life-sized replica of the lunar lander he starts saying how he built it around the time she and her mom left, and seems to become self-conscious mid-sentence of the obvious fact that him building a fucking space ship was part of what precipitated that. (But he continues to explain why it’s great.) (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Anna Paquin, Caleb Deschanel, Carroll Ballard, Dana Delany, Holter Graham, Jeff Daniels, Jeremy Ratchford, Ken James, Robert Rodat, Terry Kinney, Vince McKewin
Posted in Reviews, Drama, Family | 5 Comments »
Tuesday, September 29th, 2026
THE SURFER is one of the movies from recent years that I’ve meant to get around to because it seemed like a promising Nicolas Cage role. It’s from the Irish director Lorcan Finnegan (VIVARIUM) and writer Thomas Martin, set and filmed in Australia, and Cage plays a guy who grew up there and has returned to try to buy a house his late father used to own.
I did not notice until looking at Wikipedia for this review that Cage’s character doesn’t have a name, he’s just “The Surfer.” He seems more like a guy with a name, because he has a complicated life: investment firm job he needs to hurry up and return to, teenage son (Finn Little, THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD) he’s struggling to bond with, wife (voice of Brenda Meaney, FEAR THE NIGHT) he’s separated from and wants to get back together with but she’s with somebody else, constantly on the phone hassling his mortgage broker (Greg McNeill) and real estate agent (Rahel Romahn, FURIOSA) about how to raise the money to outbid the other potential buyer. And yeah, when he was young he travelled around the world living in a van, finding places to surf, writing for surf zines, but he gave that up a million years ago for a family and a job and everything. There is no evidence he deserves to be called “The Surfer.” But his son surfs so he wants to bring him out to this beach from his childhood and surprise him by showing him this house.
Trouble is, before they even get to the water a guy named Pitbull (surfer and Muay Thai fighter turned actor Alexander Bertrand) tells him, “Don’t live here, don’t surf here!” Locals only. While the Surfer presses the issue the leader of the Bay Boys, Scally (the late Julian McMahon, FANTASTIC FOUR 2005), comes over saying, “No need for all this fuss,” like he’s the reasonable guy who’s gonna straight this out. But with that tone he basically threatens The Surfer and says, “You gotta know when to back down.” So he does. (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Alexander Bertrand, Australia, Finn Little, Julian McMahon, Justin Rosniak, Lorcan Finnegan, Nic Cassim, Nicolas Cage, Rahel Romahn, surfing
Posted in Reviews, Drama, Thriller | 7 Comments »
Wednesday, September 16th, 2026
August 30, 1996
David Koepp’s THE TRIGGER EFFECT is the last movie in this review series that I hadn’t seen before. It’s not one anybody seems to talk about, so I could’ve gotten away with skipping it. I’m glad I didn’t, though. I don’t think it’s good, but it’s deranged in a really odd way that I appreciate.
It opens with two coyotes playing tug-of-war with a dead animal, then howling, then walking past a power station. This is meant to encapsulate the movie because it’s about people not getting along during a power outage.
But for now the lights are on, and there’s a DePalma style tracking shot witnessing a chain of small conflicts between strangers at a mall: a drink spilled on a shirt, the person spelled on bumping into a lady and offending her boyfriend, etc. – and it’s a very unsettling intro because for one five minute shot we get this onslaught of characters and incidents where not one person ever reacts to anything in a way that seems natural to me. The culmination is in a movie theater lobby where a woman (Kerri Vickers) strolls past two long lines of customers, right up to the concession counter and just starts ordering. The person who was next in line, Raymond (Richard T. Jones, RENAISSANCE MAN), calls her on it, but she says, “Well, I didn’t see you” and goes back to ordering… so he leaves without buying anything. (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Bill Smitrovich, David Koepp, Dermot Mulroney, Elisabeth Shue, Jack Noseworthy, Kyle MacLachlan, Michael Rooker, Richard Schiff, Richard T. Jones, William Lucking
Posted in Reviews, Drama, Thriller | 4 Comments »
Thursday, August 20th, 2026
July 26, 1996
Today in Slam Evil Summer catch-up I have a double feature of films released on the same day, both about wayward youth traveling around having adventures, getting into trouble, and finding parental figures. The first of these youths is a wooden puppet voiced by Jonathan Taylor Thomas (THE LION KING).
I did see THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO at the time, and vaguely remembered it having a good puppet (by Jim Henson Creature Shop), an animated cricket, Udo Kier as the bad guy, and especially (since I was still cleaning theaters) two original Stevie Wonder songs on the end credits (“Kiss Lonely Good-Bye” and “Hold On To Your Dream,” and he also provided an instrumental called “Pinocchio’s Evolution”). I think I found it watchable enough. I always like animatronics and seeing different takes on Pinocchio, so I was down to watch it again.
It’s the fourth film from “Billie Jean” video director Steve Barron, following ELECTRIC DREAMS, TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES and CONEHEADS – a master of movies with elaborate special effects that make them seem sort of good without being very actually good. In my opinion. It makes sense that this is from New Line Cinema. It’s a pretty New Line Cinema movie. (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Barry Berman, Bebe Neuwirth, Genevieve Bujold, Jim Henson Creature Workshop, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Lisa Krueger, Martin Landau, Mary Kay Place, Rob Schneider, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Barron, Stevie Wonder, Tom Benedek, Udo Kier
Posted in Reviews, Drama, Family, Fantasy/Swords | 5 Comments »
Monday, August 17th, 2026
July 24, 1996
A TIME TO KILL is a court room drama, but it was in the top ten of the domestic box office for 1996. It made more than some noisier movies like ERASER, THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, BROKEN ARROW, and EXECUTIVE DECISION. That used to be a thing that could happen. Of course, it was kind a name brand, because it came from the first book by John Grisham, and there had already been movies of THE FIRM (1993), THE PELICAN BRIEF (1993) and THE CLIENT (1994). And this one came from the same director and writer as THE CLIENT, Joel Schumacher and Akiva Goldsman. (They sandwiched this between BATMAN FOREVER and BATMAN & ROBIN.)
I remember all the hype about Schumacher choosing the virtually unknown Matthew McConaughey for the lead role of Mississippi attorney Jake Brigance. The actor had made an impression in DAZED AND CONFUSED, and had recently been in LONE STAR, but most people had never heard of him, and this was his first lead role. Schumacher was talking him up as the next big thing, and it worked! Soon after this he did CONTACT and AMISTAD. Watching it now it doesn’t seem like that flashy of a role, it just seems like McConaughey, but I guess it was more exciting when it was new. He definitely stands out in the movie by being Texan and not doing an outrageous southern accent like Kevin Spacey and Donald Sutherland do. (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Akiva Goldsman, Charles S. Dutton, Chris Cooper, court room drama, Donald Sutherland, Joel Schumacher, John Grisham, Kevin Spacey, Kiefer Sutherland, Matthew McConaughey, Nicky Katt, Oliver Platt, Samuel L. Jackson, Sandra Bullock
Posted in Reviews, Drama | 30 Comments »
Thursday, August 6th, 2026
July 19, 1996 (U.S. release date)
It’s not exactly a bold statement to say that TRAINSPOTTING was a phenomenon. A low budget Scottish counterculture movie that made $72 million around the world, made stars out of most of its cast, internationally launched a director who has since won best director and best picture Oscars and is still a major player today, and has been named by the BFI as the 10th greatest British film of the 20th century. Also it’s a good movie. I hadn’t seen it since the theater 30 years ago, and it knocked me out again.
It’s the sophomore film for director Danny Boyle and producer Andrew Macdonald, and they reunited much of their team from SHALLOW GRAVE: writer John Hodge, cinematographer Brian Tufano, editor Masahiro Harakubo, production designer Kave Quinn. This time it’s based on Irvine Welsh’s 1993 debut novel, and it’s the first-person-narrated tale of twentysomething heroin addict Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor in only his fourth movie) and his rowdy social circle in Edinburgh.They have some wild times, some horrible times. Fights, deaths, pubs, soccer fields, hospitals, court rooms. They rehab, relapse, reintegrate, and most of them survive it with a bit of punk rock stubbornness and Gen-X ironic distance.
Chances are you’ve seen it, I don’t have to tell you who these characters are. If not, you’ll meet them in the movie. I like the lovable idiot Spud (Ewen Bremner, JUDGE DREDD, who had played Renton in a stage adaptation), even though I really can’t fathom how he managed to accidentally splatter his shit all over his lady’s parents’ breakfast. I like seeing their square jock friend Tommy because now I recognize Kevin McKidd from starring in Rome later. Bleach blond Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller, HACKERS) is such a funny character, because it both makes sense why they’d hang out with him and why he would be so aggravating. Renton says that Sick Boy tries to kick at the same time as him just to show he can do it easily, “thereby downgrading my own struggle.” (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Danny Boyle, Ewan Bremner, Ewan McGregor, John Hodge, Jonny Lee Miller, Kelly Macdonald, Kevin McKidd, Robert Carlyle, Shirley Henderson, Susan Vidler
Posted in Reviews, Crime, Drama | 22 Comments »
Monday, July 27th, 2026
July 17, 1996
WALKING AND TALKING is the debut film from writer/director Nicole Holofcener (the warden in MI VIDA LOCA). Like the last movie I reviewed, DON’T LOOK BACK, it opens with its protagonists as little kid best friends, but this is a much more female perspective of the world, so instead of establishing their life long friendship with playing swords and becoming blood brothers the two girls are sneaking a peek at The Joy of Sex, giggling and calling it disgusting. Unspecified years later they’re still best friends, but at different places in their other relationships, which will create a strain.
Amelia (Catherine Keener, SURVIVAL QUEST) is the most outwardly messy of the pair. A while back she broke up with Andrew (Liev Schreiber right before SCREAM; this was released by Miramax, and they were really pushing him as their new product at the time). They’re still friends and co-workers, they even grocery shop together, but I don’t know, the smile she gives after telling her therapist (Joseph Siravo, CARLITO’S WAY) she’s totally over him made me think she’s really not. Either way, things fall apart when she finds out Laura (Anne Heche, MILK MONEY) got engaged to Frank (Todd Field, EYE OF THE EAGLE 2: INSIDE THE ENEMY). I mean they seem to have been together forever, they already live together, they’re all close and it’s great. But making it official like that makes Amelia panic. And right after she decided to quit therapy. (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Anne Heche, Catherine Keener, Kevin Corrigan, Liev Schreiber, Nicole Holofcener, Todd Field, video stores, Vincent Pastore
Posted in Reviews, Comedy/Laffs, Drama | 12 Comments »
Monday, July 20th, 2026
July 12, 1996
I know why I didn’t watch COURAGE UNDER FIRE in ’96. I was very anti-war, in a country that had generally accepted the Gulf War as a good thing, and I didn’t want to sit through more bullshit about how proud we should all be about it. And also, let’s be honest, I wasn’t exactly looking for Serious Adult Drama unless it was from filmmakers I was already into. I was not into director Ed Zwick (GLORY, LEAVING NORMAL) or writer Patrick Sheane Duncan (84C MOPIC, MR. HOLLAND’S OPUS), so it didn’t really matter that it was shot by Roger Deakins (between FARGO and KUNDUN), edited by Steven Rosenblum (STEELE JUSTICE, BRAVEHEART), with music by James Horner (BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS, UNCOMMON VALOR, COMMANDO).
Watching it now, sitting through the opening news montage about the war, it doesn’t feel like we’re supposed to question any of it. Then we go into a tank battle that’s very visually connected to the way we experienced the war on CNN: night skies, burning oil wells, explosions in the distance, cuts to green, pixelated night vision, “enemies” virtually invisible, barely given faces, never voices. And they’re mostly referred to by slurs.
If that was commentary I would guess most viewers didn’t notice. It feels more like a continuation of how the war was seen at the time. However, there is something to be said for Lieutenant Colonel Nat Serling (Denzel Washington between DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS and THE PREACHER’S WIFE) having his troops pray and then immediately saying, Let’s kill ‘em all!”
And I do suspect it’s intentional that the fight is almost uncomfortably one-sided. They’re just driving along firing machine guns through rows and rows of human beings. The only tragedy, in their eyes, is when they mistakenly blow up one of their own tanks, killing their friend Boylar (Tim Ransom, OUTBREAK). The tank operator who fired, Patella (Sean Astin, ENCINO MAN), is racked with guilt, but Serling takes the blame. It was his orders. (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Bronson Pinchot, Denzel Washington, Edward Zwick, Gulf War, James Horner, Lou Diamond Phillips, Meg Ryan, Michael Moriarty, Patrick Sheane Duncan, Roger Deakins, Scott Glenn, Sean Astin, Seth Gilliam, Tim Guinee, Tim Ransom
Posted in Reviews, Drama, Mystery, War | 19 Comments »
Friday, July 10th, 2026
Big Willie Weekend, 1996
I was hesitant to watch PHENOMENON again, but it’s fine. It’s a corny but harmless drama/romance with sci-fi elements, directed by Jon Turteltaub (3 NINJAS, COOL RUNNINGS, WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING) from a script by Gerald Di Pego (SHARKY’S MACHINE).
It stars John Travolta in his post-PULP-FICTION I’m Back period. GET SHORTY made the comeback seem permanent, but then nobody saw/liked WHITE MAN’S BURDEN, and it was followed by the middle-of-the-road sappiness double whammy of the angel movie MICHAEL and this. So it took doing his first John Woo movie to put a little more gas in the tank, at least for those of us wanting him to do movies we perceived as cool. PHENOMENON was a pretty big hit, though, and I didn’t hate it.
It’s set in a vast land of aged white farm houses with big porches, and with rusty pickup trucks parked nearby. This is what we learn from the opening credits montage and the very sentimental but not painful score by Thomas Newman (THE PLAYER) telling us how majestic and shit it is. Good ol’ wholesome small town utopia.
Travolta plays George Malley, a humble mechanic who enjoys gardening and has lots of friends who will hang out with him at the bar on his birthday. Unfortunately they do not include the furniture-making single mother he keeps asking out, Lace (Kyra Sedgwick, SINGLES). Maybe next time. (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Forest Whitaker, Gerald Di Pego, John Travolta, Jon Turteltaub, Kyra Sedgwick, Robert Duvall
Posted in Reviews, Drama, Romance, Science Fiction and Space Shit | 10 Comments »
