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Loose Cannons (1990)
No Oscar for Dom DeLuise (again)
Loose Cannons is a horrible combination of detective thriller and black comedy. Hackman and Aykroyd are wasted (and probably eternally incompatible) talents in a movie that should never have been made. A detective doing cartoon character impersonations join Mossad agents in a chase after a Nazi porn film showing Hitler committing suicide. The plot has all the makings of an Austin Powers spoof - a possibility that is sadly never explored in a film taking itself much, much too seriously.
Convoy (1978)
A surprise in a genre filled with duds
I must admit that I had severe misgivings about this movie. A 1970s action film about truckers battling cops starring Kristofferson and MacGraw simply had to be a dud. Not so. The plot was entertaining, the action fast-paced, and the acting surprisingly good. Yes, the plot is made-in-Hollywood and has more holes than Swiss cheese. And yes, the action sequences are predictable. Yet the Seventies outlaw atmosphere and frame of reference carries the film, and places it solidly in the class of loner-outcast classics like Easy Rider. Well worth a watch.
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
A flawed diamond, or classy trash?
Is it possible to say anything about this movie that hasn't been (and still will be) said a thousand times? As a scifi film, it's brilliant. Watch it without context or expectation and you will not be disappointed. Think Jurassic Park meets Epcot Centre, throw in Sean Connery in First Knight, and add a claymation Muppet. There's not much that can go wrong with that. The special effects are definitely groundbreaking in their scale, if not entirely in originality. (C'mon George, is this Episode I or a remake of Episode IV the way you wanted it?) The acting gets a bit stiff in parts, but these are alien cultures we're dealing with, and so could be expected. However, if you ever felt the need to explore the Arthurian mythology of the original Star Wars, or if you ever described "The Empire Strikes Back" as "dark", "brooding" or "gothic", "Phantom Menace" just might not be your cup of tea.
Wild Things (1998)
Horrible, horrible, horrible
If you had two hours left to live, and could do anything you wanted, watch this movie. Two hours would suddenly feel like a lifetime. Stick figure acting, a connect-the-dots plot of twists and turns, and erotic scenes you cannot quite define as either extreme softcore porn or hardcore ham. Two teenage girls in shorts and tank tops washing a Jeep and hosing each other down in slow motion? Frequent zooms in on Denise Richards's butt? And then the movie features the New Kevin Bacon game - how many steps is he away from sucking in this film? All in all, a horrible waste of good time. Watch a mystery, watch a thriller, watch an adult movie if you must, but don't watch this.
Paljas (1997)
Entertaining, striking and worth the effort to find and watch.
Probably one of the best films to come out of South Africa. The story documents the lives of an Afrikaans railway worker and his family in the remote countryside of the Karoo. Their humdrum lives are turned around by the arrival of a travelling circus, revealing to them the existence of a much bigger world out there. The film sympathetically captures a specific side of Afrikaans small-town life that isn't always fairly represented by filmdom.
Lulu on the Bridge (1998)
Love it or hate it, but take the chance.
The kind of film that leaves its audience speechless. You'll either love the dark, often gothic overtones of this mysterious world, or hate the seemingly gaping holes in the plot. Agatha Christie this isn't, but rather a film of emotion, suspense and wonder. Brilliant acting all round, striking cinematography, and a soundtrack to kill for. Enjoy it, and don't ask too many questions.