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M Butterfly

starring: Jeremy Irons, John Lone, Barbara Sukowa, Ian Richardson, Annabel Leventon
directed by: David Cronenberg

November 10, 1997
If you're looking for a Book turned into a movie--this is it but in a very obscure fashion. This movie takes the stereotypes that Long writes about in his short novel and basically flips them around here. Here you have the American man, but it is he that is hopelessly inlove with the Asian "woman" (using that term lightly). She is the one that is full of decite and ends up betraying him. At the end, he has to realize that he, not only was abdoned and betrayed, but it was by a man. This movie had great twists and turns and also and was definetly an attention keeper.

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Voyager

starring: Sam Shepard, Julie Delpy, Barbara Sukowa, Dieter Kirchlechner, Traci Lind
directed by: Volker Schlöndorff

October 16, 1997
This is a movie that will stay with you [maybe forever?]--I first saw it on Bravo about 1994, recorded it and have shared it with lots of friends. It is possible to figure out the ending about halfway through but you hope that it is NOT what you think. You desperately want the couple to be happy because they both need each other. It proves that without the circumstances of the ending--a girl CAN be happy with a man 25 years older than her! This is common throughout Europe--it is only Americans who have a problem with it.

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Johnny Mnemonic

starring: Keanu Reeves, Dolph Lundgren, Dina Meyer, Ice-T, Takeshi Kitano
directed by: Robert Longo

April 09, 1996
A fascinating film that brings together several genres and also several influences. First the technical level of virtual reality and computerized graphics. Interesting though not exceptionally original (see for one example The Lawnmower Man). Second the Japanese, Chinese, Honk Kong, Kung Fu type of action. There it is in a way renewed because it is grafted onto, into or under another type of post-apocalyptic vision that is typically American: underground resistance (with one of the archetypes being the Terminator trilogy, or The Running Man) or people who refuse the modern slavery imposed by the corporate trust that governs and controls the world, through dependence on data-processing machines that create a nervous disorder that is both incurable and catching. The ... Read More:

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Zentropa

starring: Jean-Marc Barr, Eddie Constantine, János Herskó, Cæcilia Holbek Trier, Henning Jensen

September 11, 1996
I first rented this from my library and I liked it so much that I had to purchase it. This film is very surreal and grabs one and takes one on a wild ride through post-WWII Germany via the railway. The ending is also not what it seems. This is truly a find in a world of international films!

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Rosa Luxemburg

starring: Barbara Sukowa, Daniel Olbrychski, Otto Sander, Adelheid Arndt, Jürgen Holtz
directed by: Margarethe von Trotta

January 01, 1998
Impressive portrait of this historical personage. Barbara Sukova made the best role of her career, deserving for this role the coveted Silver Bear in Berlin, 1986 sharing honors with Cher in Mask.

A superb and unforgettable masterpiece.

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Marianne & Juliane

starring: Jutta Lampe, Barbara Sukowa, Rüdiger Vogler, Doris Schade, Vérénice Rudolph
directed by: Margarethe von Trotta

November 11, 1998
In the early 1980's I lived for art-house films. "Marianne & Juliane" nearly cured me of that: My knees were knocking trying to leave the showing. No other film (for me) better portrays the love/hate bond between siblings or the experience of well-minded individuals slamming up against extablished politcal structures. What I only learned recently from trolling the internet, is that the film is based on real-life sisters and the events that transpired in their lives. The story is a series of horrors that von Troota underplays at each step. No other director could have, or would have made this film. Pair it with Fassbinder's "The Third Generation," and you have a haughting view of radical politics in Germany.

This film won several awards but never reached a wide audience. Sadly, ... Read More:

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Urbania

starring: Dan Futterman, Scott Denny, Paige Turco, Samuel Ball, Lothaire Bluteau
directed by: Jon Matthews

March 13, 2001
Very engaging story thanks to the good looks of the main character Charlie who engages with several people throughout the movie. At times sad, at times scary, this is a movie that will have you frustrated as well as enthralled. The acting is superb and the situations unique.

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Office Killer

starring: Doug Barron, Jason Brill, Paula Cale, Alice Drummond, Mike Hodge

June 04, 2002
I enjoyed this film so much. And the key to enjoying it is to get rid of any preconceived ideas of what a horror film should be like. It keeps a sarcastic tone from beginning to end, and to tell you the truth, I spent a considerable part of the movie laughing when I was supposed to be scared. Carol Kane is fantastic as Dorine, and her performance alone is worth the price of the DVD. The soundtrack is also great and very fitting to the atmosphere. Just watch the opening credits and you'll know what I'm talking about!

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Sicilian

starring: Christopher Lambert, Terence Stamp, Joss Ackland, John Turturro, Richard Bauer
directed by: Michael Cimino

October 24, 2001
No joke, this is two hours of amateurish stuff, which cannot really be called cinema without upsetting someone up there.
I just went back to see some of the scenes of this movie again because they are so ridiculous I wanted to have another go!

So, let's start in the right order (warning, contains some spoilers, but you're not really going to watch this movie, are you?):

- The fact that the movie was entirely in English should have given it away, very funny to hear would-be sicilians talking to each other in English.

- Past that, we encounter the limping professor. An attempt to add a sinister touch to an otherwise meaningless character. Very amateurish.

- Then came signs and inscriptions throughout the movie, all in English (things like ... Read More:

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Johnny Mnemonic

starring: Keanu Reeves, Dolph Lundgren, Dina Meyer, Ice-T, Takeshi Kitano
directed by: Robert Longo

June 18, 1998
A fascinating film that brings together several genres and also several influences. First the technical level of virtual reality and computerized graphics. Interesting though not exceptionally original (see for one example The Lawnmower Man). Second the Japanese, Chinese, Honk Kong, Kung Fu type of action. There it is in a way renewed because it is grafted onto, into or under another type of post-apocalyptic vision that is typically American: underground resistance (with one of the archetypes being the Terminator trilogy, or The Running Man) or people who refuse the modern slavery imposed by the corporate trust that governs and controls the world, through dependence on data-processing machines that create a nervous disorder that is both incurable and catching. The models of this underground vision are numerous. ... Read More: