Frida (VHS)
Brilliant colors that bring Frida Kahlo`s Mexico City to vibrant life combine with a captivating performance by Salma Hayek to make director Julie Taymor`s FRIDA a fascinating film. Starting and ending with Frida on her deathbed, the film spans the famous painter`s life from her teenage years to her death at the young age of 47. From start to finish, Frida is portrayed as a relentlessly energized, self-righteous, headstrong, asserted woman. She had liberal views and a socialist political stance. She was bisexual and promiscuous. She drank and abused painkillers, sang and danced, and fearlessly poured her pain and beauty into her paintings. At the age of 18, Frida was horribly injured in a bus accident. Though she learned to walk again, she lived her life in physical agony, enduring multiple surgeries, and eventually needing a wheelchair. Yet her condition did not stop her from having an exciting, tumultuous life as the wife of famed artist and womanizer Diego Rivera, who mentored her in her own work and encouraged her passions. While Frida`s life is the main focus, her work is always present and the action of the film often fades into paintings and vice versa. However, the film only hints at the recognition and worldwide display that her painting received after her death. Taymor has created a lively and dramatically emotive film with FRIDA, capturing her endearing resiliency with color, music, and, of course, art.R"
Director: Julie Taymor
ACTORS: Salma Hayek, Alfred Molina, Valeria Golino, Mia Maestro, Ashley Judd
Of Human Bondage (DVD)
John Cromwell (THE PRISONER OF ZENDA, THE GODDESS) brings W. Somerset Maughams novel and Bette Daviss career to life with the spellbinding drama OF HUMAN BONDAGE. Having unsuccessfully tried his hand at painting in Paris, Philip Carey (Leslie Howard) returns home to London. Despite his clubfoot, Philip overcomes his awkwardness and pursues a medical career. Still in medical school, he becomes obsessed with a gruff Cockney waitress, Mildred Rogers (Davis), intent on taking him for all he is worth. When Carey discovers that she is dating other men, he attempts to forget her by striking up a relationship with another woman. The effort fails when Mildred returns to tell Carey she is pregnant. Mildred repeatedly leaves Carey in distress but returns to him when she needs money. Eventually, his devotion to her threatens his career ambitions and his chance for future happiness. Davis is spectacular as the repulsive Mildred, while Howards quiet, suffering gentleman furthered his own reputation as an outstanding performer.NR"
Director: John Cromwell
ACTORS: Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, Kay Johnson, Frances Dee, Alan Hale
Black Mask/Ticker (DVD)
Two action-packed films are compiled on this special two-pack. BLACK MASK, directed by Daniel Lee, is an action-packed comic book brought to life, filled with the requisite explosions, motorcycle stunts, black-and-white flashbacks, laser weaponry, killer CDs, and some major carnage. The terrific martial arts sequences were choreographed by the great Yuen Wo Ping, who was responsible for the fight scenes in THE MATRIX and CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON. Jet Li stars. In TICKER, when Dennis Hopper`s insane bomber hides a huge bomb somewhere in San Francisco, it is up to Steven Seagal, a spiritual leader of the bomb squad and Tom Sizemore, as a volatile cop seeking revenge, to stop him.R"
ACTORS: Jet Li, Tom Sizemore, Nas
Slam Dance (DVD) Widescreen & Full Frame In director Wayne Wang`s SLAM DANCE, C.C. Drood (Tom Hulce) is a cartoonist whose wacky sense of humor is good for his job but a disaster in his personal life. Hes divorced and behind at work, and he comes hom...
In director Wayne Wang`s SLAM DANCE, C.C. Drood (Tom Hulce) is a cartoonist whose wacky sense of humor is good for his job but a disaster in his personal life. Hes divorced and behind at work, and he comes home to find his apartment has been ransacked. After a beating by a thug named Buddy (Don Opper) who demands something Drood knows nothing about, he goes to the police, only to discover hes a suspect in a murder. Yolanda (Virginia Madsen), a beautiful, mysterious blonde whom he had an affair with, was killed. After setting up this Hitchcocklike plot--the common man thrown into a dangerous situation--the twists keep coming. The police are no help; they may even be part of a conspiracy against him. Drood`s ex-wife, Helen (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), with whom hed like to get back together, doesnt believe anything he says, and his best friend is even worse. When another dead body turns up, this one in his apartment, he decides that he must investigate for himself. Hulce, who starred as the even wackier Mozart in AMADEUS, has just the right amount of offbeat charm to draw the audience into the mystery.
NR"
Director: Wayne Wang
ACTORS: Tom Hulce, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Virginia Madsen, Harry Dean Stanton, Millie Perkins
Excel Saga Vol. 3: When Excel Strikes Out (DVD)
Billed as the ultimate parody of anime, EXCEL SAGA certainly goes out of its way to parody every convention of the genre it can. From the cloying J-pop opening, it`s clear that this series` sole aim is to be a good-natured farce, one that revolves around a main character who, on the surface is not much different from any other anime heroine. However, the key difference between Excel and all those who preceded her is that Excel is completely and utterly insane and considers it her goal to to conquer the city of F. These episodes find Excel and Hyatt once again trying to take over the city of F in a rather foolish manner as they invoke the secret ideological agency of ACROSS.NR"
Director: Shinichi Watanabe
