Grade: C+
Synopsis: In the 1920’s, two men’s (Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson) plot to extort the father of an heiress (Stockard Channing) fails, leading them to consider murder.
The Fortune is something of an odd film. Directed by Mike Nichols, who’d previously teamed with star Jack Nicholson for the drama Carnal Knowledge (1971), and written by Carole Eastman, who’d written the drama Five Easy Pieces (1970), also starring Nicholson, yet the result is a period-piece screwball comedy. MORE »
Posted 341 days ago in Movie Reviews and Jack Nicholson. No responses
Grade: A+
Synopsis: In 1940’s Los Angeles, a private detective (Jack Nicholson) working a simple adultery case uncovers a massive conspiracy protected by murder.
Chinatown is one of the best-written films of all time. Screenwriter Robert Towne, with a little help from director Roman Polanski on the ending, crafts a masterful mystery, weaving several motifs, including water, and the ever-present and ominous Chinatown, together to create a rich tapestry that simultaneously pays homage to—and one-ups—the pulp detective stories of Chandler, Hammett and the like. MORE »
Posted 349 days ago in Movie Reviews and Jack Nicholson. No responses
Grade: B+
Synopsis: Two friends (Jack Nicholson and Art Garfunkel) struggle with relationships through two decades.
Carnal Knowledge doesn’t start well. It shows its age by having its characters, in college, talking and regarding sex like today’s high-schooler’s. The performers are all fine, but both leads Jack Nicholson and Art Garfunkel are over thirty, trying to play men ten years younger. Don’t be discouraged though, as the film clicks in a big way once the men get out of college. MORE »
Posted 354 days ago in Movie Reviews and Jack Nicholson. No responses
Grade: B-
Synopsis: A woman (Debra Winger) deals with a struggling marriage and an overprotective mother (Shirley MacLaine).
Terms of Endearment is a classic tearjerker updated with modern sensibilities. To that end it succeeds, but watching the film you can’t help but feel like you’re supposed to relate to these characters and situations more than you actually do. MORE »
Posted 453 days ago in Movie Reviews and Jack Nicholson. No responses
Grade: D+
Synopsis: Recently turned into a raven, a magician (Peter Lorre) talks a fellow magician (Vincent Price) into helping him exact revenge on the magician (Boris Karloff) responsible.
The Raven is an ill-conceived horror spoof from director Roger Corman and screenwriter Richard Matheson, loosely based on the poem by Edgar Allan Poe.
The problem here is the tone. Rather than keeping things low-key and opting for a black comedy, the filmmaker’s go over the top from scene one. The result is a camp-fest that’s neither scary nor funny, and only mildly witty at best. MORE »
Posted 582 days ago in Movie Reviews, Boris Karloff, Jack Nicholson, Roger Corman and Vincent Price. 2 responses
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