Breaking Away (1979)

A period piece from the great days of the nouvelle vague and imitation French noir. You should get a kick out of it.

Beverly Hills Ninja by Dennis Dugan tries yet again to make Chris Farley’s brand of physical comedy, which consists of smashing into things and roaring, funny—but with no more success than Black Sheep or Tommy Boy. Artistic, or comedic, success I mean. At the box office it is boffo. For some reason, Americans in the…

Nil By Mouth by Gary Oldman is a surprise. You would think that Hollywood’s favorite maniac villain — along with Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken — would have been infected with the Hollywood slicks, but here, in his first appearance as director, he is doing something altogether different — that is a sort of cinéma…

A charming fable of an environmentally friendly machine which proves to be the redeemer of mankind. Where have I heard something like this before?

The Real Blonde by Tom DiCillo shows as much promise as his first film, Living in Oblivion of 1995. Both are very funny, but both are rather inward looking — obsessed with movie making and acting — and both somehow fail to hold together very well. The Real Blonde, in fact, is like a collection…

Guantanamera is, I guess, a sort of Cuban communist version of such US movies as One Fine Day or that one with Nicholas Cage and Bridget Fonda about the cop who wins the lottery ( “We’re in the money” ? “Can’t buy me love” ? I can’t remember). In other words, it borrows the name…