The Movie Journal

  The Godfather Part III (1990) Everyone thought The Godfather and The Godfather Part II told the complete story of Francis Ford Coppola's epic crime saga. Even the director himself thought so. But it was not meant to be. 16 years later, Paramount greenlighted The Godfather Part III. I have mixed opinions about how I feel about the movie. On one hand, it was fascinating to see Al Pacino return as Michael Corleone as he grapples with legitimacy and how he fights his past, present, and future. We all remember how the second movie ended with Michael ordering the death of his brother, Fredo in one of the most famous endings of all time. Here is where he faces the ghosts of his past. It is an incredibly fascinating insight in the mind of a complex human being. On the other hand, Coppola's heart may have been 100% into this project. Some moments felt disjointed and the editing felt like something was off at times. On top of that, Sofia Coppola's performance is really bad. Her fat...

  Kindergarten Cop (1990) Can you imagine if Arnold Schwarzenegger was your elementary school teacher? His bulging muscles and thick Austrian accent is just too much for me to handle in my thoughts comparing him to any number of my teachers. Ivan Reitman's Kindergarten Cop is the reason why I had such thoughts in the first place. I did not find Reitman's film to a necessarily great movie but does tend to be entertaining and even heartwarming at times. It is important for parents to note that little children will be scared of some events that happen despite its PG-rating. I know, as a child, that scene where the father slapped the child in the face gave me a few nightmares. This role is a complete reversal of what someone would expect in a Schwarzenegger film. In addition to the action, he proves that he has skilled comedic timing and the ability to act well around children. I believe this performance opened up new doors in his Hollywood career. Coming off the major success of b...

  Awakenings (1990) Awakenings is a heartfelt drama that has incredible, stirring work from both Robin Williams and Robert De Niro. In her previous film Big , director Penny Marshall gave us a human film on what it means to be an adult through the eyes of a child. She returns to deliver another human film but about recovering from a disease people deemed incurable and its aftermath. Her movie is based off Oliver Sack’s book which details miraculous recoveries from late-stage Parkinson’s Disease in 1969. Sack’s book used science and philosophy to ask some challenging questions- questions that Marshall effectively asked here. Not only are there possible issues about these awakenings, but what about the aftermath? If they are comatose for 20, 30 years and now they are back in the functioning world again, how can we give them the necessary help? As seen in the movie, these “awakenings” are not permanent. Is there a moral line that needs to be drawn somewhere? All hard questions that ne...

  Edward Scissorhands (1990) Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands is a modern-day fairytale about isolation. It is Burton’s most personal film, even here in 2022. While Burton had a flair for comedy in his earlier films, he takes the Batman route to make a darker, gothic story about a man with scissors for hands. He still uses dark humor, especially with the adult characters, to make the story richer. Whether you get taken in by the story or not, you cannot deny that Burton always had a knack for creating rich visuals that never has been seen before. Here he creates a modern suburbia whose houses lack biting color pastels (done on purpose), but a large, haunting gothic castle overlooks these houses. It is odd, but it works for the story itself. I loved how Burton portrayed the suburbia and its inhabitants. Danny Elfman’s wonderful score may just about be the best score he has ever done. The music is a major factor in the character’s, especially Edward himself, characterization. Trust m...

  Home Alone (1990) Home Alone was always a Christmas stable in my family growing up as a child and will remain so for generations to come. I am hesitant with slapstick-based comedies, but this is how you create a slapstick movie with a meaningful story. Thank you, Chris Columbus and John Hughes for making a movie that became part of a holiday tradition. The story itself has the potential to wear itself out mainly because the idea is simple and paper-thin, but Hughes superb characterization does not allow that to happen. Columbus also added some story elements to provide more emotion. The scenes with Old Man Marley? That was all Columbus…and Marley’s story made for a touching ending. Before we get there, however, it is all about the bungling robbers and an eight-year-old kid outsmarting these bandits. Do you want to see Joe Pesci’s hair on fire? Or Daniel Stern getting a hot iron to the face? Look no further. I promise “you will be thirsty for more.” Pesci and Stern are the number ...

  Dance with Wolves (1990) 1990 was a year that produced many top-tier films. Goodfellas is one of my favorite movies and in any other year, I would have been angry about it not winning the top prize. In 1990, it had to contend with the behemoth known as Dance with Wolves , a film that is also one of my favorite films of all time. Kevin Costner’s epic was released at a time where westerns were presumed dead. Costner had plenty of trouble trying to secure financing for his project. Yet he worked his magic and made a film that is reminiscent of a John Ford western. What really stands out is how respectful Costner is to the Sioux tribe and Native Americans in general. We need to face the facts that Americans has seen the Indians as savages and predators and were not worthy of their lands which is why they kept being pushed west for the plight of the white man. As evidenced from the westerns of the 40’s, racism was always a factor when it came to Native Americans. Costner treated thes...

  Miller's Crossing (1990) To be honest, I did not truly understand or rightfully digest Miller’s Crossing until hours and even days after I watched the film for the very first time. Going into the film, I knew it was a Coen Brothers film and was about gangsters. That’s all I knew. Would it be compared to Goodfellas (which ironically was released the same weekend in 1990) or The Godfather ? The opening scene where the two gang (Irish versus Italian) rivals met actually was an homage to the Francis Ford Coppola classic. In hindsight, I learned what a powerful film this was. It is a Coen Brothers film in every sense. That means sharp, lyrical dialogue, impressive if slightly oddball characters, and a style unique to the Coen Brothers. The cinematography from Barry Sonnenfeld is very impressive. The sequence with Gabriel Byrne and John Turturro in the forest is a sweat-inducing example of how Sonnenfeld shot the film. Being labeled as a gangster film, I was mildly surprised about the...

  Goodfellas (1990)                                                       A great scene! Goodfellas is nothing short of a masterpiece. Martin Scorsese directed many masterpieces over his impressive career, but this is his masterpiece of those masterpieces. It has the honor of being in my top five films of all time. It is a long movie, but you do not feel its length. Scorsese does a genius job keeping the audience hooked with his quick-edit, fast-paced style. By the time the credits roll, you will be in a satisfied state of exhilaration. People compare this film to The Godfather . Not a knock on the aforementioned film, but these are two different styles that tell a story about the mafia. The Godfather is more of a broad, classical-style film while Scorsese creates something more realistic and something that centers on the im...

  Ghost (1990)   Ghost is an underrated blockbuster. It had a healthy box office fun, in fact was the highest grossing film of 1990. Yet no one seems to talk about these days. Every once in awhile, that pottery scene would be spoofed but that seems to be it. When I first saw the movie, I was emotionally wrecked. I believed in the romantic chemistry between Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. Moore’s character has a tendency to make idiotic choices but if you were put in her position, wouldn’t there be a chance you could so the same. Grief can do fickle things, so I am more forgiving. There are great romantic scenes, but the film has all what is needed for a fun, memorable blockbuster. There is action, comedy relief (due to Whoopi Goldberg’s magnificent performance), romance, and horror. All this situated around the main ghost story. Do you know what horrified me? The idea of being a ghost in the NYC subway system. It is bad enough as it for the living. Those scenes…and Vincent Schi...

  Die Hard 2: Die Harder After John McClane saved the Nakatomi Plaza in Die Hard , you would think that the everyman cop would have had enough adventures with terrorists for a lifetime? Nope, he must defeat terrorists yet again. As he quipped, McClane always happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. One could argue that he is in the right place, though. His wife, up in one of the airplanes held hostage, could possibly be one of the victims. The first film is undoubtedly a classic. An action film that will take lots of effort to beat. This film does not reach the standards the 1988 put forth. Yet it remains an infectiously fun movie with plenty of high-octane action. There are some stunts that still surprise me with how effective they are. There is some CGI, but it is not like there is a CGI overload. If you are a frequent traveler, you may not like this scene, but the plane crash scene is very effective. In keeping with the action that made the first (and now this film) so...

  Days of Thunder (1990) Days of Thunder is not my favorite Jerry Bruckheimer production. It is a slick, fast-moving production that delivers satisfying eye candy, but the story grows stales fast. It also helps that I am decidedly not a fan of auto-racing. I wanted to see the film considering it’s a Tony Scott-directed film starring Tom Cruise, who may have been the biggest name in Hollywood at the time (despite losing the Oscar in Born on the Fourth of July ). It just needed a better script. Consider my shock when I discovered who wrote the screenplay. It was Robert Towne…the legend behind films like Chinatown (which most people consider has the best script for any film). This script just seemed by-the-numbers with rote, flat dialogue. The cast was up to the challenge to deliver but ultimately was let down by the script. In a sense, this movie is very similar to the superior Top Gun , which of course launched the careers of Scott, Cruise, Bruckheimer, and his producing partner ...

  Santa Sangre (1990) As soon as Santa Sangre finished, I was in a state of shocked silence for about ten minutes. What on earth did I watch? Classified as a horror movie, it is not a horror movie in any typical sense. There are no haunted houses, or demons, or ghosts. Instead, we are immersed in a world filled with surreal psychological horror. There are people that believe the term “horror” is not the correct word because of its content. I was a bit overwhelmed when the film ended. It was my first taste of what Alejandro Jodorowsky can do with images and a story. His films are known for being violent or showing bodily images one would not be accustomed to. Yet, they serve a purpose. The images are not meant to be gratuitous. I felt like I was immersed in a dream. Jodorowsky created many scenes that captivate you and hold you tight. A prime example is the elephant scene. The elephant dies and a funeral procession is held. Then its body is dumped off a cliff into the ravenous hand...

  Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) Gremlins 2: The New Batch is a decent movie, if just barely. There is lots of zany gags. How many of them you find funny is ultimately up to you. Honestly, a sequel to the hit 1984 Gremlins was not totally necessary as I felt the first film ended on a great note. Warner Brothers took time to convince Joe Dante to return to the director’s chair, and he originally refused because he felt a sequel was not necessary. I find the main purpose as a cash grab and to sell merchandising for the franchise. Essentially, the film is a mediation and a parody about sequels. Like many sequels, this is a plotless endeavor especially when the gremlins show up. It is gag after gag after gag (yes, some of the gags are excellent). There is a terrifying scene that rivals if not exceeds the microwave scene from the 1984 film. Yes, make sure you keep paper shredders away from gremlins. The special effects are really cool. There is Brain Gremlin, voiced by Tony Randall, w...

  Total Recall (1990) Total Recall is one beast of a movie. Is that a good thing? Well, it depends on your preferences. Paul Verhoeven, who also directed the 1987 film Robocop , made his film with wall-to-wall violence that never lets up. His frenetic direction is what made the film move had such a breakneck pace. Because the film was adapted from a Philip K. Dick story (just like a similar sci-fi story, Blade Runner ), there has to be social commentary. Throughout the almost-two-hour long movie, an important question is asked of the audience. Is Schwarzenegger’s character’s actions real or is everything just a dream? There are no clear answers…and I really liked the ambiguity. Lesser directors could have turned the movie into a mindless action film using Schwarzenegger’s brawn to create something forgettable. The big man does use his muscle to great effect in the action scenes, but one could say he was cast against type. When compared to his 80’s actioners, his character is more v...

  Back to the Future Part III  Back to the Future Part III is so much fun. It is a sweet and entertaining finale to one of the best science fiction trilogies to exist. The first two films have similar ideas and themes, but Robert Zemeckis and company switched things up here. They created an homage to old-school Westerns, a very risky movie considering how westerns were not popular with moviegoers at the time. I loved the references to the westerns of old. Of course Marty would have to say the line, “uh..Mar..Clint Eastwood.” That line gets me every time. There is a really sweet love story between Doc Brown and Clara Clayton. It surprises me that people seem to dislike their romance. I thought the chemistry existed between the two characters. Furthermore, the film took risks with this romance because it involved middle-aged characters falling in love, and that is never seen in movies. All things considered, Zemeckis took filmmaking risks and they all paid off. In addition, the...

  The Hunt for Red October (1990) Based on current global situations, the Cold War-set thriller The Hunt for Red October has never been more relevant. When released in March 1990, the Cold War effectively ended when the Soviet Union kicked the communist government out of power…which is why the producers felt it was a good idea adding a title card mentioning how the events took place in 1984. Still, this is a superb techno-thriller with fantastic performances from Sean Connery and its ensemble cast. John McTiernan, who created action-thriller classics with Predator and Die Hard , takes his experience from those films to create a well-rounded thriller. He and screenwriters Larry Ferguson and Donald E. Stewart worked together to create a dangerous cat-and-mouse game involving Soviet submarines and nuclear missiles. Sound familiar, right? Watching this film in the midst of current events is very unsettling, but the film aged very well. It does not rely on CGI as they filmed in a real ...