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Reviews
Babe (1995)
One of 1995's best
Don't bother looking--you won't find a more creative film in 1995 than this immensely charming sleeper about a pig that thinks he's a sheepdog. It sounds goofy, all right, and I rolled my eyes right along with everyone else when I heard about it, but who knew that this movie would turn out to be so good? "Babe" oozes originality and emotion, as that little pig proves that it really does pay to have a kind heart and a determined mind. James Cromwell is marvelous as the farmer who is just eccentric enough to take the pig under his wing; he gives what is probably the year's most undervalued performance. Some movies ennoble your mind; some tug at your heart. It did both, but more than anything, "Babe" made me happy to be a movie lover, and there's probably nothing better you can say about a film if you really think about it.
The American President (1995)
Worth your vote
There really is no question about it--romantic comedy is the toughest genre of moviemaking to get right. If any aspect of the production is off, the project is doomed from the start. 1994's "Speechless" was poorly acted, written, and directed (and a financial flop, too), so it looked as though politics and romance could never mix again. And while 1995 offered up some nice context-free tries ("Forget Paris," "While You Were Sleeping," "French Kiss"), the only romantic comedy that got it absolutely right was the topical one-- "The American President," Rob Reiner's wistfully funny and charming contraption that gave Michael Douglas his best role in years. As Andrew Shepard, a liberal commander-in- chief who flips for a spunky environmental lobbyist (the sparkling Annette Bening), Douglas seems about 15 years younger. It's a great time at the movies, one worth your vote.
Lola rennt (1998)
Run to see 'Lola'
The most frenetic and energized movie since "Pulp Fiction." Tom Tykwer's German import features a potent Franka Potente as Lola, a young woman with 20 minutes to come up with $100,000 to save her boyfriend's life. The film, a technical marvel, spins this tale in real-time three times over, with slight plot alterations resulting in drastically different conclusions each time. "Run Lola Run" may signal the future of renegade action cinema, as shocking and unmissable as Lola's fire-red hair.
The Iron Giant (1999)
One of 1999's ten best
I don't ever want to hear a parent gripe again about the lack of quality family films these days. Brad Bird's "The Iron Giant," an animated triumph about a 1950s boy who befriends a 100-foot metal giant from another world, was a complete box office failure, suggesting that unless it bears the Disney name, parents won't bother. The few people who did bother with this enchanting adventure were rewarded with the best family film of the year.
Baby Geniuses (1999)
A dirty diaper is more appetizing
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Kathleen Turner used to be the most exciting actress in Hollywood. From "Body Heat" to "Peggy Sue Got Married" to "The War of the Roses," Turner starred in one great film after another in the 1980s. She closes out the 90s, though, with her worst film ever. "Baby Geniuses," a supposed comedy about genetic superbabies who communicate brilliance through baby talk, is a new low for the family film genre. It's not cute, it's not clever, and it's sure as hell isn't funny. It's absolute sewage.
Smoke (1995)
Get Smoke in your eyes
Wayne Wang's "Smoke" is one of those perfect little movies that knows not to aim any higher than it needs to. Like Mike Leigh's "Life is Sweet" a few years back, it closely observes the day-to-day lives of a handful of people, in this case the patrons of and workers in a Brooklyn cigar shop, and leaves it at that. Don't expect The Moral to come creeping into the dialogue; the fact that the lives of Auggie Wren (Harvey Keitel, in another example of why he's the best actor working today) and his friends are compelling IS the point. Writer Paul Auster, basing his script on his op-ed story in The New York Times, keeps on chugging out smartly-written people even up to the seventh and eighth character. It's a rare treat to have an ensemble movie in which there isn't a single weak performance, and even rarer to have one supported by writing and directing that are up to the task. All of these elements come together come together in "Smoke," an artful story about the art of storytelling.