Quiz Show

Robert Redford, 1994 (8.6*)
This, to me, is Robert Redford's best film realization as a director, largely because he presents the story without much judgment or sentimentality, leaving it up to the viewers.

This is a true story about the quiz show scandal of the late 50's, when, at the time, there were 28 quiz shows on network tv in prime time (!) The one offering the most money was "The $64,000 Question", in which guests went into a sound-proof booth and answered a question - if correct they doubled their previous winnings, if incorrect, they went home broke. At any point, they could retire and take their winnings rather than risk any more, up to a grand total of 64,000 dollars.

This particular part of the story involved a nerdy Jewish intellectual, Alfie Stempel, brilliantly played by John Turturro, who has been unchallenged until the show's producers find a wealthy American aristocrat, Charles Van Doren (Ralph Feinnes), from a prominent New England family, and they basically groom him to become an even bigger draw with the tv viewing public. Even back then tv was more about ratings and money for sponsors than about anything ethical, legal, or fair.

The supporting cast here is uniformly excellent. Rob Morrow, who left the successful tv series Northern Exposure to take a chance at a film career, plays a government investigator of tv awards show corruption, in a performance that is undemanding but well done. (His film career subsequently went nowhere).

 Even better is Oscar-winner Paul Schofield as the ultra-successful father of Charles van Doren. David Paymer is a producer of quiz shows, who thinks it nearly unpatriotic not to stack the deck. Johann Carlo is the principled wife of contestant Stempel. Other good actors in the cast include Hank Azaria (The Simpsons), Chris McDonald (Requiem for a Dream, Lawn Dogs), Oscar-winner Mira Sorvino (Mighty Aphrodite, Beautiful Girls).

This is a fascinating subject, and it makes us all wonder if all tv quiz shows are rigged in some way, even today. I once saw a blonde babe lose on Hollywood Squares, then three days later the same woman with a different name lost on Jeopardy as well. She was obviously some actress filling a part they wanted: beautiful babes for the viewers, proving to be intellectual airheads. Note that one of the hosts involved in a rigged show was none other than Bob Barker, who continued in the genre until.. well, did he ever stop?

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The Professional

aka Léon
Luc Besson, 1994 (8.6*)
Critics panned this violent film when it came out, but I was captivated by the first time performance of newcomer (and amateur) 12 yr old Natalie Portman, who was discovered in a Long Island laundromat with her mom by a model agency rep on a weekend. When she went to the agency the following Monday, they sent her to audition for this film and she got the lead role.

She plays a young girl who goes out for some groceries while her family is massacred by corrupt drug agents, led by an insidiously evil Gary Oldman. She continues past her apt and knocks on the door of French hitman Jean Reno, who takes her in out of pity.

What follows is a western style bloodbath, as Reno is so good at his profession, and in his best film role (Ronin is another good one, a Frankenheimer action film with DeNiro) that no one can capture him, and he vows to protect the girl with his life, as well as teach her what he knows about survival.

This is an enjoyable action film, yet you also buy the platonic relationship and affection Reno develops for the tomboyish orphan. Portman displays incredible emotion (see photo rt) with no prior training as a waif cast adrift by the lawlessness of the big city. Portman is so good in this film that everyone could tell she'd be a major star, eventually garnering an Oscar® nomination for Closer.


This is now considered a cult classic, and is on many top film lists. Currently #35 all-time on the IMDB top 250.

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Martin Chuzzlewit

Pedr James, 1994, 385 min. (8.7*)
Charles Dickens novels need the mini-series treatment, as it really takes about 6-8 hours of film to properly present the richness of his lengthy works, which are noted for a pantheon of eccentric British characters, usually with humorous surnames. This BBC production is six one-hour episodes.

This little-known, and never filmed novel is actually his first. He had not yet built an audience, but this is archetypal of his later works, presenting most of the elements we think of as Dickensian. An wealthy, octogenarian family patriarch, Martin Chuzzlewit, superbly played by Paul Schofield (in his best performance since his Oscar®-winning one in A Man For All Seasons) is failing in health, and stops in a small village near London to recover, while his family begins to gather, anticipating the end. He has disinherited his namesake grandson and hand-picked heir (Ben Walden, in one of the films weaker performances) due to an unapproved romance with his paid secretary-companion (sort of a 'hired surrogate daughter'), Mary (Pauline Turner), who is so kindly and graceful that all men fall for her.

Oscar®-winner Tom Wilkinson has a field day as a local baron of the village named Pecksniff, a widower who lives with and dotes on his two daughters, Mercy and Charity; he befriends the elderly Chuzzlewit during his illness and gains his trust as a family outsider. We get to read many of Pecksniff's inner thoughts and machinations in his expressions alone, as he is not exactly the saintly, selfless gent he presents to society.

This story is full of twists and turns, and even murder, as we follow the trials and triumphs of a plethora of characters. As usual, some minor characters nearly steal the show - in this case a young orphan boy named Bailey who's used as a butler at a rooming house, wonderfully played by Paul Francis; and an alcoholic nurse with a red bulbous nose, played by Elizabeth Spriggs. A third Oscar®-winner, John Mills, father of Hayley, has a small part as a loyal, now senile family clerk still being taken care of by them in his old age. The character of Tom Pinch (Philip Franks), who is liked by everyone but intimately involved with no one (other than as friend to young Martin), appears to be perhaps the personification of the author himself.

This has a much humor as any Dickens novel, with names like Seth Pecksniff, Pinch, Prig, Todgers, Chevy Slyme, Tigg Montague, Mr. Mould, and Mr. Spottletoe. Nominated for an Emmy for television mini-series, and also received several BAFTA nominations, including actor for Schofield, Wilkinson, and Peter Postelwaite.

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Shallow Grave

Danny Boyle, 1994 (7.6*)
After best picture Slumdog Millionaire, I decided to check out the few Danny Boyle films I hadn't seen, really only Shallow Grave, an early one. I expected some sort of crude cheap-looking B movie, like Bogdanovich's early Targets, which was cheesy and cheap in spite of a retiring Boris Karloff (playing "Orkov"). Instead what Grave showed me was a clever tongue-in-cheek parody of the best of Hitchcock's homicidal thrillers.

The film begins with three snobbish flatmates interviewing potential roommates for the fourth, and empty, bedroom. Ewan McGregor is perhaps the most obnoxious, Christopher Eccleston the more bookish and reserved (yet arrogant all the same), while Kerry Fox is slyly seductive while playing along with both guys. Due to her persuasion, they take in a mysterious writer, and find that he has a heavy suitcase full of quite a surprise.

Without any spoilers, let's just say at that point the games begin, and being a Boyle film, this includes homicides, bodies, police, and general mayhem disguised as urban normality, as the probable state of decay of modern life. I loved the comedic undertones to what is really a suspense film, Boyle's attitude here keeps the movie enjoyable on either level. Nothing deep here, but good entertainment, not to be missed by Boyle fans.

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Ashes of Time Redux

Wong Kar-Wai, 1994, China (8.3*)
Redux Version 2008
This film is a work of art. Director Wong Kar-Wai never films a straight narrative story, but makes cinematic art: visually stunning, lyrical, a visual statement about time and memory, yet done with the seasons cycling around as if to imply all of life is circular. In a way, this is like a Chinese spaghetti western, about a man who hires swordsmen for contract killings. One can actually see visual homage to Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, with blurred action images and extreme closeups, and also Antonioni's Red Desert, with long slow tributes to abstract beauty in nature. Wong Kar Wai has never been one to disappoint me, even if the story is a little slow, the visuals are enough to keep me riveted, such as in Fallen Angels, the sequel to Chungking Express.

This is a poetic, haunting film, I'm glad that Wong recut it and made it a little more woven together, even as it is, it's free flowing like "the river of time", and even the narrative, usually boring, adds some poetry of its own. (Not sure about the addition of the Yo-Yo Ma score though, the music is actually distracting). I can't get one thought out of my mind, "a man's worst enemy is his memory", and since part of this film uses the plot device of a wine that makes one forget, it's a painful point that one cannot escape, as a character says "the more you try to forget, the more you remember".

This is a great cast, the last names reading like a haiku: Chueng, Leung, Lin, Lau, Leung, Cheung, Young, Chou, Cheung. There's even two Tony Leungs (Ka Fai and Chiu Wai for you real fans! ..also Maggie Cheung, thankfully). If you're not a Wong Kar Wai fan, start with Chungking and Angels, then In the Mood for Love - these films have a breathtaking beauty thanks to the cinematography of Christopher Doyle, who also works with Zhang Yimou.

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Heavenly Creatures

Peter Jackson, 1994 (8.7*)
This is one of the more compelling docudramas of a true crime you will see. The film is an early one for director Peter Jackson, and is the first film for Kate Winslet - I believe she was 17 at the time. You could already see that she was going to have major impact as an actress; at one point she even sings an aria to the sunrise. This story involves two teenage girls who gradually withdraw into a fantasy world of their own creation, involving princes and knights and they, of course, are damsels in distress. One girl’s parents think they are spending an inordinate amount of time together, especially for conservative New Zealand. What follows became a “crime of the century”, and the subsequent trial had reporters from all over the world attending, as big in its day as the O.J. trial for our generation. Gripping and emotionally brutal, not for the squeamish.

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The Madness of King George

Michael Hytner, 1994 (8.6*)
This is an acting tour-de-force by Nigel Hawthorne (Oscar nominee), recreating his stage role as King George at a time when he apparently went mad, often proving himself unfit to rule; he would sometimes pounce on women at court and have to be dragged off them. Many think he was unable to keep the American colonies due to this illness. Helen Mirren shines as his wife, with an Oscar nod for supporting actress (she was robbed!), who stands beside him like a true partner through all the turmoil. It eventually became a major national issue, with Parliament getting involved. This is a terrific expose of a little-known piece of British history

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Chungking Express

Wong Kar-Wai, 1994, Hong Kong (9.1*)

This crime and romance film is probably the best example of the sometimes flashy cinematic style of Wong Kar-Wai. Much of the film is shot with a shaky, hand held camera, and the process works great for city crowd shots, such as a blurred mob at a bus stop, and works best of all during street crimes, where the images and fast action seem exactly what the crime must be like for both victims and witnesses. This is a film in two parts (don't look for a novelish story plot either), with a third intended but due to length, Wong released the third part as another film, Fallen Angels. The Japanese actress, Faye Wang, who works at the express noodle stand is one of their pop music stars, this was her first film and she's a natural. Well-known Asian actor Tony Leung (In the Mood for Love, Hero, 2046, Lust Caution) is also in the noodle stand half.

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Hoop Dreams

Dir: Steve James, 1994 (8.9*)
Sundance Audience Award

What started as a short documentary would up being a four-year filming of two high school hoop stars, and a three-hour documentary film that could be the best one ever, also one of the best sports films. William Gates (no, not the computer nerd!), and Arthur Agee are the players, from Chicago. This was a dedicated filmmaker sticking with his obsession, and the results are tremendous. Sundance Audience Award for Documentary, why no Oscar? Likely ineligible for some stupid reason, as they sometimes enforce some ridiculously arcane rules (has to play in an L.A. theater for a full week?), like a foreign language film has to be in the language of its country, making Motorcycle Diaries ineligible, being in Spanish but a U.S. film.

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Eat Drink Man Woman

Dir: Ang Lee, 1994, China (8.6*)

Terrific Ang Lee film, the best movie ever about or with cooking. A traditional Taiwanese cook spend all day Sundays cooking a family dinner for his three daughters, who grudingly stick with this family tradition, while discussing their problems and dreams. The attention cook Sihung Lung gives to each dish is only topped by the cinematography - you can practially smell and taste the food. This film helped put Lee (Crouching Tiger, Sense and Sensibility, The Ice Storm, Brokeback Mountain) on the map worldwide. Great cinematography, expert filmmaking, touching without sentimentality.

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To Live

Dir: Zhang Yimou, 1994, China (9.2*)
Yet another Yimou (Hero, Road Home, House of Flying Daggers) classic, this one an epic, covering four decades in a family’s life, from just after WW2 until the late 80’s. Ge You as the husband won Best Actor at Cannes, and its hard to imagine that Gong Li as his wife did not win best actress, she has to have been one of the world's best actresses in the 90’s.

Yimou tells a long story but maintains the interest, and includes several massive scenes, one during war (the Maoist Revolution), one at a steel foundry, both unforgettable and among the best in any epic. Films like this one got him selected to direct the 2008 Olympic opening and closing ceremonies, and they were even more mind-blowing, creating a 'once in a lifetime experience' for all Olympic fans. Yimou is a true visionary, a rare artist among filmmakers.

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L'america

Gianni Amelio, Italy, 1994 (9.7*)
Apparently, after communism fell in Albania, there was a mass exodus from the country. In this brilliant Italian film, Italian capitalists are going into Albania to set up a shoe factory there in order to get government grants. However, only Albanians can own companies, so they get an unknown man from prison. The situation degenerates however, and the film becomes a statement about identity, personal freedom, refugees, and hope. Its hard to describe without spoilers. In fact, the title refers to the fact that "America" represents hope to many people. This film made over 100 top ten lists the year it came out and won numerous international awards.

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The Shawshank Redemption

Dir: Frank Darabont, 1994 (9.8*)

AFI Top 100

My favorite prison film and the best made from any Stephen King work yet, from his short story "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption." The story starts with innocent Tim Robbins being convicted of killing his wife and her lover, ending up in Shawshank prison for life. There he meets Morgan Freeman, in probably his best acting performance to date, and they become best friends over time.

Robbins survives by becoming creative in a manner I won't reveal here. Look for a great beer drinking scene. Totally uplifting, it's hard to believe that it won no Oscars, with 7 nominations. It's now the top-rated film at Internet Movie DB (IMDB.com), as rated by viewers, just ahead of The Godfather.

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