Directed by Danny Huston | Starring Anthony Edwards, Robert Mitchum, Lauren Bacall, Anjelica Huston The Plot: A Breeze Blows into Newport—and Immediately Puts You to Sleep Mr. North is one of those movies that arrives with a puff of polite literary air and a cast list that makes you think, Maybe this will be a … Read More “Mr. North (1988): A Polite, Preppy Snoozefest in Pastel Slacks” »
Directed by Wayne Wang | Starring Tom Hulce, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Virginia Madsen, Harry Dean Stanton, John Doe Plot? What Plot? Slam Dance is what happens when someone takes a gritty neo-noir outline, spills espresso on it, wipes it off with a David Lynch DVD, and then decides, “Yeah, let’s shoot this thing.” It wants … Read More “Slam Dance (1987): Murder, Mayhem, and One Giant Mess in a Trench Coat” »
Season 4, Episode 18 | Directed by Daniel Vigne | Starring Virginia Madsen, Steve Inwood, James Shigeta Strike a Pose—Then Die If you’ve ever wondered what it would look like if America’s Next Top Model merged with Psycho and got blackout drunk on absinthe and Aqua Net, then The Hitchhiker‘s “The Perfect Order” is your … Read More “The Hitchhiker – “The Perfect Order” (1987): Posing, Preening, and a Portrait of Madness” »
A Lobotomy’s Worth of Regret If Unforgettable were a flavor, it would be plain yogurt left open on a warm countertop—bland, bloated, and slightly off. This 1996 sci-fi thriller starring Ray Liotta and Linda Fiorentino wants to be a mind-bending murder mystery soaked in science and sex appeal. What it actually is, is two hours … Read More “Unforgettable (1996): A Murder Mystery So Forgettable, the Title’s Ironic” »
Directed by Duncan Gibbins | Starring Virginia Madsen, Craig Sheffer, Jon Polito, D.B. Sweeney If Hormones Could Write Screenplays… Fire with Fire is a film that wants desperately to be deep, poetic, and swooningly romantic—but instead comes off like someone photocopied West Side Story, ran it through a blender full of Aqua Net and angst, … Read More “Fire with Fire (1986): Romeo and Juliet Go to Detention, Forget to Bring a Plot” »
Directed by Ivan Passer | Starring Peter O’Toole, Mariel Hemingway, Vincent Spano, Virginia Madsen If you’ve ever wondered what it would look like if Frankenstein and Weird Science had an awkward, underachieving baby and then handed it off to a drunk philosophy major to raise—Creator is your answer. A film that tries to be romantic, … Read More “Creator (1985): Mad Science, Sad Romance, and the Unintentional Horror of Peter O’Toole with a Turkey Baster” »
Directed by David Lynch | Starring Kyle MacLachlan, a lot of sand, and an entire warehouse of overacting Let’s be clear right off the bat—this Dune isn’t the most recent one. No, this is the 1984 Dune, directed by David Lynch in what must have been either a contractual blackmail situation or a very long … Read More “Dune (1984): Spice Meltdown on the Planet of Beige” »
Directed by Steve Barron | Starring Lenny von Dohlen, Virginia Madsen, Maxwell Caulfield, and a computer that should’ve been unplugged in the first act Once upon a time, back in the synth-drenched haze of 1984, some studio executive said, “You know what kids want? A romantic triangle between a dweeb, a cello-playing blonde, and a … Read More “Electric Dreams (1984): Love, Laptops, and the Birth of Cinematic Malware” »
Directed by Lewis John Carlino | Starring Andrew McCarthy, Rob Lowe, Jacqueline Bisset, and a mountain of bad decisions Let’s set the scene. It’s 1983. Reagan’s America is revving up, everyone’s pretending to like jazz, and Hollywood is hell-bent on producing teen sex comedies where the “comedy” is questionable and the “sex” comes with a … Read More “Class (1983): A Coming-of-Age Faceplant in a Suit and Tie” »
Directed by Vic Sarin | Starring Kirk Cameron, Brad Johnson, Chelsea Noble, and a budget that repented halfway through production Imagine the end of the world—but with less fire, less brimstone, and way more awkward stares into the middle distance. That’s Left Behind: The Movie, a low-budget, high-piety exercise in cinematic repentance that somehow makes … Read More “Left Behind: The Movie (2000) — Apocalypse Not Now, Just… Nevermind” »
