BEING JOHN MALKOVICH (1999) Starring John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, Orson Bean, Mary Kay Place and John Malkovich. Screenplay by Charlie Kaufman. Directed by Spike Jonze. Distributed by Propaganda Films. 113 minutes. Rated R. Being John Malkovich has an extremely smart and surrealistic idea for a film. What if you found a way to experience … Continue reading
Peter Krause Helping to Make TV Safe for Smart People by Jay S. Jacobs The fall of 1998 was a tough time for television comedy. The networks tried to come up with a plan for post-Seinfeld TV, but the best they seemed to be able to come up with were tired retreads like Jesse, Two of a Kind and Maggie … Continue reading
DOUBLE JEOPARDY (1999) Starring Ashley Judd, Tommy Lee Jones, Bruce Davison, Annabeth Gish, Bruce Campbell, Benjamin Weir, Jay Brazeau, Edward Evanko, Michael Gaston, Gillian Barker, Brennan Elliott and Angela Schneider. Screenplay by David Weisberg and Douglas Cook. Directed by Bruce Beresford. Distributed by Paramount Pictures. 105 minutes. Rated R. Double Jeopardy would have been a perfectly … Continue reading
Jimmy Webb All He Knows… by Ronald Sklar If you are under thirty and have even the slightest retro sensibility, chances are you are familiar with the classic pop songs of Jimmy Webb, and good for you. And if you are over thirty, endlessly toiling in an office and music appreciation is just a faint … Continue reading
STIR OF ECHOES (1999) Starring Kevin Bacon, Kathryn Erbe, Illeana Douglas, Kevin Dunn, Zachary David Cope, Conor O’Farrell, Liza Weil, Lusia Strus, Stephen Eugene Walker, Mary Kay Cook, Larry Neumann Jr. and Jennifer Morrison. Screenplay by David Koepp. Directed by David Koepp. Distributed by Artisan Entertainment. 94 minutes. Rated R. Maybe because he hasn’t been … Continue reading
Tony Burrows The Greatest Singer Whose Name You’ve Never Heard by Jay S. Jacobs Tony Burrows. You may not know the name, but you know the voice. Burrows is quite probably the greatest voice of seventies pop. He’s definitely the only singer in history to have four top forty singles with four groups in the … Continue reading
MICKEY BLUE EYES (1999) Starring Hugh Grant, Jeanne Tripplehorn, James Caan, Burt Young, James Fox, Joe Viterelli, Gerry Becker, Maddie Corman and Vincent Pastore. Screenplay by Adam Scheinman and Robert Kuhn. Directed by Kelly Makin. Distributed by Castle Rock Entertainment. 102 minutes. Rated PG-13. Maybe I’d cut Mickey Blue Eyes more slack if it didn’t come out … Continue reading
BOWFINGER (1999) Starring Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Heather Graham, Christine Baranski, Terence Stamp, Jamie Kennedy, Barry Newman and Robert Downey, Jr. Screenplay by Steve Martin. Directed by Frank Oz. Distributed by Univeral Pictures. 97 minutes. Rated PG-13. Bowfinger is a good reminder of how much Hollywood misses Steve Martin – both as an actor and as … Continue reading
BOBBY VEE SOMEWHERE DOWN THE LINE BY RONALD SKLAR Rock and roll is cram-packed with ironic stories. Read the bio of almost any artist and you’ll find the woulda-coulda-shoulda tale of how he almost became an accountant. And prefacing almost every Top 10 hit is the tiresome fable of how the song nearly wound up … Continue reading
MYSTERY MEN (1999) Starring Hank Azaria, Claire Forlani, Janeane Garofalo, Eddie Izzard, Greg Kinnear, William H. Macy, Kel Mitchell, Lena Olin, Paul Reubens, Geoffrey Rush, Ben Stiller, Wes Studi and Tom Waits. Screenplay by Neil Cuthbert. Directed by Kinka Usher. Distributed by Universal Pictures. 122 minutes. Rated PG-13. Ever get told after the fact about … Continue reading
