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Entries Tagged as 'Orion Pictures'

The Hot Spot (1990, Dennis Hopper)

January 1st, 2009 · No Comments

One of the most important things about a film noir is the ending. It has to be perfect. It doesn’t matter what comes before, the ending just has to be right. The Hot Spot is a film noir. It’s not a neo-noir. There’s an important distinction. Hopper seems very aware of that distinction; everything he […]

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Tagged: Charles Martin Smith· Charles Williams· Dennis Hopper· Nona Tyson· Orion Pictures·

Robocop 3 (1993, Fred Dekker)

November 28th, 2008 · 4 Comments

It’s actually not hard to find nice things to say about Robocop 3. There’re about fifteen nice seconds of Phil Tippett stop-motion, Dekker’s got a neat way of shooting cars to give a sense of realism (his cinematographer, Gary B. Kibbe, did a lot of Carpenter’s films)… umm… wait, I’m sure I can find a […]

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Tagged: Edward Neumeier· Frank Miller· Fred Dekker· Michael Miner· Orion Pictures· ⓏⒺⓇⓄ

The Terminator (1984, James Cameron)

August 12th, 2008 · 3 Comments

I remember The Terminator being a lot better. Even as it started–I think during the first chase sequence (Michael Biehn in the department store)–I thought about the great highway chase sequence at the end. Then, as things went sour during, I kept waiting for that sequence, sure it would bring things around.
But it doesn’t bring […]

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Tagged: Bill Paxton· Gale Anne Hurd· Harlan Ellison· James Cameron· Lance Henriksen· Orion Pictures· Paul Winfield· ★½

Article 99 (1992, Howard Deutch)

July 7th, 2008 · No Comments

Director of not one, not two, but three 1980s John Hughes movies, Howard Deutch applies those hard-earned skills to remaking M*A*S*H and, shockingly, doesn’t do too bad of a job. Sure, Article 99 is absurd and Lea Thompson as a doctor is a hoot, but its well-intentioned and sensitive to its characters. I’d heard of […]

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Tagged: Eli Wallach· Forest Whitaker· Howard Deutch· Keith David· Kiefer Sutherland· Orion Pictures· Ray Liotta· Ron Cutler· ★★

First Blood (1982, Ted Kotcheff)

June 5th, 2008 · No Comments

Maybe if it weren’t for the Stephen J. Cannell television techniques (cars flying through the air or exploding on impact), the asinine, comedic banter between the deputies, some poor writing and Richard Crenna, First Blood might have been okay. Ted Kotcheff isn’t a good director though, so maybe not. Kotcheff shoots exteriors well (the stuff […]

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Tagged: Brian Dennehy· David Caruso· David Morrell· Michael Kozoll· Orion Pictures· Sylvester Stallone· Ted Kotcheff· William Sackheim· ⓏⒺⓇⓄ

The Silence of the Lambs (1991, Jonathan Demme)

June 3rd, 2008 · No Comments

No matter how hard Howard Shore’s score tries, The Silence of the Lambs is just a serial killer movie. I knew it was just a serial killer movie–that realization had occurred to me quite a long time ago–but its adherence to genre standards are still somewhat surprising. The movie wastes so much time on Anthony […]

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Tagged: Jodie Foster· Jonathan Demme· Orion Pictures· Ted Tally· Thomas Harris· ★★

Arthur (1981, Steve Gordon)

May 8th, 2008 · No Comments

Steve Gordon died the year after Arthur came out, so he never made any other films, which is an exceptional tragedy. Arthur is a singular comedy–it’s a mix of laugh-out-loud comedy, romantic comedy, sincere human relationships and genuine character development. The first two are not mutually exclusive, but I’m not even sure Woody Allen’s managed […]

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Tagged: John Gielgud· Orion Pictures· Steve Gordon· ★★★½

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