An American crime film directed by Paul Schrader, starring Nicolas Cage and Willem Dafoe.
A trio of criminals are out of jail and try to work together on 2 jobs. The first job involves robbing a drug dealer and the second is kidnapping a baby for ransom.
I thought this was a well put together crime flick. The characters were memorable and played by good actors. The plot was not quite as great, but did the job. There were some interesting video effects with colors, lights and lack of color, but not really "special effects". The beginning is a good example of this. One of the 3 main characters is in a pink room, but there is also a blue room next to it. The plot soon reveals the reason for the pink room and it makes sense. I'm rating this good and think it's a keeper.
An American horror directed by Paul Schrader, starring Malcolm McDowell, Nastassja Kinski and John Heard.
A woman and her brother are werepanthers that transform after sexual intercourse. The brother gets captured by a zoo in his panther state and the sister goes to work at the gift shop when she begins a romantic relationship with the zoo's curator.
Cat people run: run like the wind! Cat people screw: screw like the wind! The plot was just cheesy enough to be cool for an '80s horror flick. Malcolm as a cat-man was definitely a good casting choice, but I would have liked more dialogue from him. Nastassja, the cat-woman seemed more like a victim of a curse than a villain/monster like her brother was. The video was done very well. Everything looked great for composition and framing. The transformation scenes were a little anticlimactic though. The audio was a tad unlevel, but nowhere near complaint level. Overall, a Babycakes reference that I don't really get. It seemed like a pretty standard '80s B flick to me. Beats me why Brad Neely would rap about it. I rate it adequate.
A crime film by Paul Schrader, starring Richard Pryor and Harvey Keitel.Factory workers rob their union's office and only end up with $600 and a book of union financial secrets.The plot and characters were decent and the style and pace were o.k.. I liked the quote about "keeping us in our place" because that is how the world is run. I'm rating this o.k.
A drama directed by Paul Schrader, starring James Coburn, Willem Dafoe and Nick Nolte.A low level law enforcement official in a small town has problems with his family and job. When a hunting accident kills a tourist, the "cop" thinks that it wan't an accident and this adds to his problems.Ithink this was a definite waste of a good cast. There's the thief from The Good Thief, the forensic detective from Boondock Saints and the explosives expert from Duck You Sucker. These 3 guys should have been in something a little more exciting. I got bored, so I'm rating it poor. The only things that saved it from a bad rating have already been mentioned.
A drama directed by Paul Schrader, starring Jeff Goldblum and Willem Dafoe.A performer was abused in a concentration camp by a commander who made him act like a dog. He lives in a home with other mentally ill holocaust survivors. He finds that a dog boy has been admitted into the building and tries to help him.The main character had bottles of booze in every heating vent of the entire building and was moderately entertaining. The dog boy was slightly interesting as well. The plot was deep, but didn't do much for me. It is a decent movie, but nothing to get excited about. I'm rating it adequate.
