Fear City (DVD)
This seedy saga of pre-Disney Times Square stars Tom Berenger as Matt Rossi, an ex-boxer and stripper talent agent who finds his life closing in around him when a psychopathic martial artist starts stabbing and slashing his girls on their way home from nightclubs. His former girlfriend and star dancer, Loretta (Melanie Griffith), goes back on heroin after her girlfriend Leila (Rae Dawn Chong) is slashed up in a brutal subway attack. As fear grips the city, Rossi begins a one-man vendetta to catch the maniac, contending with a possible mob war, an Italian-hating black cop (Billy Dee Williams), and his remorse over killing an opponent in the ring some years before. Director Abel Ferrara packs this neon-drenched morality tale with lots of nudity and some pretty nasty violence. Viewers in the mood for a milange of karate fights, boxing, stripping, mobsters, and drugs will want to run and grab this sturdy little sleaze classic. Michael V. Gazzo (Frankie Pentangeli from THE GODFATHER II) appears as a strip club owner, and David Johansen of the New York Dolls sings the theme song.R"
Director: Abel Ferrara
ACTORS: Tom Berenger, Rae Dawn Chong, Melanie Griffith, Jack Scalia, Billy Dee Williams
Mimic (DVD) Widescreen When a cockroach-spread plague threatens to decimate the child population of New York City, evolutionary biologist Susan Tyler and her research associates rig up a species of Judas bugs and introduce them into the environm...
When a cockroach-spread plague threatens to decimate the child population of New York City, evolutionary biologist Susan Tyler and her research associates rig up a species of Judas bugs and introduce them into the environment, where they will mimic the diseased roaches and infiltrate their grubby habitats. So far so good...until the bugs keep on evolving and learn to mimic their next prey--humans. Noirish, dazzling production work ensconces reliably creepy bug-related thrills. Based on the short story by Donald A. Wolheim.
R"
Director: Guillermo Del Toro
ACTORS: Mira Sorvino, Jeremy Northam, Alexander Goodwin, Giancarlo Giannini, Charles S. Dutton
A Decade Under the Influence (DVD)
Examining the 1970s, the decade that has come to be seen as North American cinema`s most revolutionary and experimental, this reverent documentary directed by Richard LaGravenese and the late Ted Demme interviews a handful of the key players and survivors of that fertile time. Beginning with EASY RIDER (1969) and other offshoots of producer/director Roger Corman`s virtual training ground for young directors at b-movie studio American International Pictures, DECADE traces the trajectory of filmmakers such as Dennis Hopper, Peter Bogdanovich, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, William Friedkin, and Paul Schrader. With clips from TAXI DRIVER, SHAMPOO, MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER, THE GODFATHER, and many more, the film conveys the richness of talent that the 1970s film world possessed. But the birth of the blockbuster (namely JAWS and STAR WARS) raised the studios` expectations for financial performance in the industry, virtually killing the chances of riskier productions--a development which gave birth to the thriving independent scene we know today. While even the filmmakers go out of their way to point out that their film is by no means all-inclusive, A DECADE UNDER THE INFLUENCE is flashy and informative, a trip well worth taking for both the novice cinema-goer and film scholar alike.R"
Director: Ted Demme|Richard LaGravenese
Sidney Poitier: One Bright Light (DVD)
Documentary profiling Sidney Poitier`s career. Includes interviews with James Earl Jones, Denzel Washington, Robert Townsend and Quincy Jones.NR"
Director: Lee Grant
ACTORS: Sidney Poitier
I Love You Too (DVD)
Based on the novel by Dutch writer Ronald Giphart, I LOVE YOU TOO is a dark drama about a student whose life is torn asunder when he embarks on a turbulent affair with a beautiful young woman who has difficulty keeping her obsessions under control. As their romance grows more and more heated, it becomes obvious that it is becomes destructive for both of them. A box-office hit in its native country, director Ruud van Hemert`s film is similar to BETTY BLUE, with a breakout performance by Angela Schijf.NR"
Director: Ruud Van Hemert
ACTORS: Antoine Kamerling, Angela Schijf, Beau van Erven Dorens
