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Film Clips
FEBRUARY 2, 1998:
 PHANTOMS. For a relatively low-budget horror movie with
no ideas of its own, Phantoms is mildly entertaining for
a while. Director Joe Chappelle fills as much of the film as he
can with basic scenes wherein characters hear strange sounds and
go looking to see what caused them. When this spookiness wears
thin, he brings in Peter O'Toole as a wizened archaeologist-turned-tabloid
writer. But much more than charisma is needed, so the film gruesomely
kills off deputy Liev Schreiber just to bring him back as an evil,
mutilated being who sings "I Fall To Pieces" at every
opportunity. When that gets old, the Dean Koontz story veers from
Satanic to scientific and a bogus last-minute plot emerges, leading
to several cheesy special-effects scenes reminiscent of The
Thing and The Blob mixed together in a blender with
some sludge. The boring Ben Affleck, Joanna Going and Rose McGowan
(Scream's doggie-door girl) also star. Unfortunately, they
survive. --Woodruff
SPIKE AND MIKE'S SICK AND TWISTED FESTIVAL. Suggested alternate
titles for this collection of perverse 'toons: Spike and Mike's
Festival of Animation for People with Serious Ass Fetishes; or
We Think Cartoons Involving Fart Noises Are Funny, How 'Bout You?
Animated Things That Bleed, Curse, Have Sex, Commit Violent Acts,
and Randomly Spout Insults. Spoofs of Japanese Animation Can Be
Witty and Fun, Particularly When They Include Nudity and Car Crashes.
This Ain't No Feminist Animation Festival! The We-Know-You're-Here-For-Two-Hours-of-Animation,
But-We-Don't-Actually-Have-That-Much-Material Festival (intermission
and moronic introductions included, free of charge). Some Cynical
and Funny Animation, Some Mildly Amusing Animation, and Some Truly
Disgusting Animation. And finally, The South-Park-Is-Hip-So-We-Can-Get-Away-With-Charging-Seven-Bucks
Animation Festival. --McKay
TAXI DRIVER. Robert DeNiro has some bad ideas in his head
in this Martin Scorcese masterpiece. Its script, by Paul Schrader,
is poetic enough to commit to memory; the acting, by DeNiro and
Peter Boyle, is seamless; and the story moves insistently without
succumbing to the Hollywood desire for meaningless action. The
subtle Bernard Herrmann score eschews the conceit of producing
tension with intrusive music and provides an eerie counterpoint
to the sociopathic world of a New York taxi driver who moves inexorably
towards an explosive expression of anomie. It's also a good chance
to see Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd and Harvey Keitel before
they became insufferable. Without a doubt one of the best American
films ever made. --DiGiovanna
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