Cinemavino

As my paternity leave begins, enjoy this special look back at a Christmas movie you'd never expect--Lethal Weapon! Stay tuned, as we've pre-recorded a TON of new content, and it starts next week!

Our Twins Series wraps up with Double Impact. The story extremely simple: JCVD plays Alex and Chad Winter. Alex was raised in a Hong Kong orphanage. Giga-Chad was raised in a French dojo. They both speak with strong Belgian accents. Chad was cared for by Frank (Geoffrey Lewis), who he thought was his uncle. 

One day, Uncle Frank drops the bomb: He’s not really his uncle, and they must go to Hong Kong for, you know, business thing. Frank DOESN’T EXPLAIN ANYTHING TO CHAD, until he gets mistakenly knocked out by his long lost twin brother. Alex is a seedy bar owner, with his hair slicked back like Pat Riley. Chad dresses and acts like Carlton from Fresh Prince. 

Of course they hate each other at first, and doubt everything. But they soon find they have a common cause: Revenge. Also….there’s some kinda love triangle with Danielle (Alonna Shaw), who has some pointless nude scenes. Yada yada yada….

Adaptation depicts a fictionalized version of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine), and his struggles with writer’s block in adapting the Orchid Thief, by Susan Orlean—played here by Meryl Streep. Orlean’s prose is wandering, and there isn’t a narrative through line that Kaufman can translate into a coherent, marketable film. Meanwhile, Kaufman’s oblivious, good-humored twin Donald wants to break into the screenwriting business. While Charlie is a naturally gifted writer, albeit beset with insecurities, his brother Donald is a clear hack who relies on formulaic structure—a la Bob McKee and Sid Field—to simply make money. (This depicts this real struggle of every writing, to balance artistic integrity with the desire to make money and…keep food in the fridge.) As Charlie winds through Orlean’s twisted novel, he gets more engrossed in Orlean and her subject, the eccentric orchid poacher John Laroche (played by Chris Cooper, in an Oscar winning performance). This building obsession will draw him closer to his subjects, ultimately to a dangerous degree for everyone involved.

Dazzlingly funny drama walks a fine line between indulgent and clever (a fact Kaufman openly acknowledges). He gently satirizes the hackery of Bob McKee (played here by Brian Cox) and Syd Field, who want to reduce screenwriting to simple paint by numbers, and also Hollywood’s almost fatal need to juice up every story with sex and violence to make it palatable. Then Kaufman has the movie deliberately step into both traps. Cage is phenomenal, as is Streep. It’s no mistake all the leads were nominated for Oscars. This is Charlie Kaufman in peak form (he would be nominated for an Oscar, he would eventually win the award for Eternal Sunshine). 8.5/10

The plot is part buddy comedy, part road trip movie, and part high concept fantasy comedy: Schwarzenegger and DeVito play Julius and Vincent Benedict, fraternal twins who were created in a lab experiment and separated at birth. A collection of Nobel Prize winners, artists, and scholars donated sperm, which were combined to form the twins. (Watch for a very young Heather Graham as their birth mother.) All the best components from the donors combined the form the superhuman Julius. All the garbage left over went to form the diminutive Vincent. 

Our Christmas Series begins with a 90s classic: Hook has a combination of premise, cast, and crew that would inspire a movie executive to hand over blank check: A sequel to Peter Pan, with Robin Williams as an adult version of the character. Dustin Hoffman as an aging Captain Hook, and Julia Roberts as TInkerbell. A three actors are the prime of their careers and popularity here. 

First act of the film has Williams as Peter Banning, a 40ish career-driven yuppie who barely has time for his wife and two kids. They venture to London over Christmas holiday to see his caretaker Wendy (Maggie Smith). During this trip, Banning’s kids are kidnapped, and Wendy drops a bomb: She is the Wendy from J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan series, and he is the title character. Captain Hook has kidnapped his children and demands a rematch. 

The second act of the film has Peter venturing to Never Land, where he must rediscover his youth, and relearn to fly, fight, and crow. The final act is, of course, the battle between Pan and Hook. 

The Crow will be forever marked by the tragedy that occurred during its filming. On March 31st, 1993, Brandon Lee-the only son of martial arts superstar Bruce Lee—was killed by a mishandled prop gun, which was accidentally loaded with both a blank AND a dummy bullet, thus capable of firing a real projectile. Lee was expected to be a major star like his father, and it was hoped the Crow would be his breakout role. Instead, Lee passed away with roughly one week of shooting left. This forced the filmmakers to use body doubles, clever cinematography, and even very early CGI to finish Lee’s work. Lee’s tragic death served to enhance the melancholia and mystique surrounding this movie, and ensured it would endure as a 90s cult classic. 

Our Halloween Series is in full swing as we take a good look at Fright Night Part 2.  This middling vampire flick is a perfect case study for why 95% of all movie sequels never need to be made.

To read my full review, please click here!

Our Halloween series continues with my pick, Poltergeist!  I’ve wanted to discuss this 80s classic for a while now, so it’s good to get this one under our belt.

Our Halloween series kicks off with an all-time slasher classic, Friday the 13th!  For this movie, we pair a few tasty Octoberfest beers!

I’ve been looking forward to this one!  In between the Summer of Chaos and Halloween, we take a look at RoboCop!

To read my full review, click here!