Archive
EXIT TO EDEN – Patrick Doyle
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Exit to Eden is a romantic comedy-drama film loosely based on Anne Rice’s 1985 novel of the same name. The film was by directed Garry Marshall and stars Aussie actor Paul Mercurio – hot from his success in Strictly Ballroom in 1992 – as Elliot Slater, a photographer who travels to a BDSM-themed island resort called Eden, where guests can explore their fantasies. At Eden, he meets Lisa Emerson (Dana Delany), the resort’s lead dominatrix, and the two develop a romantic relationship. Meanwhile two detectives, played by Rosie O’Donnell and Dan Aykroyd, follow Elliot to Eden because they discover that he accidentally took the only known photograph of Omar (Stuart Wilson), an international diamond smuggler; Omar himself also discovers that Elliot has a photo of him, and also goes to Eden to try to recover the film. What follows is a series of increasingly ridiculous comedic situations involving all parties. Read more…
TIMECOP – Mark Isham
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Timecop is a science fiction action film directed by Peter Hyams and starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Ron Silver, and Mia Sara. The story is set in a future where time travel has been invented and is regulated by the Time Enforcement Commission (TEC) to prevent temporal crimes. Van Damme plays Max Walker, a so-called ‘timecop’ who enforces these laws, but whose life is turned upside down when his wife is murdered in a home invasion. A decade later, Walker discovers that a corrupt politician named McComb is using time travel to manipulate past events so that he can amass power and wealth in the present; Walker’s investigation leads him to confront McComb’s men across different points in time, including a pivotal moment when McComb attempts to ensure his younger self gains control of a major corporation. As Walker battles to stop McComb he faces the challenges of time paradoxes and the dangers of altering history – including a new situation where he discovers he may be able to alter history to save his wife. Read more…
COLOR OF NIGHT – Dominic Frontiere
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Color of Night is an erotic mystery/thriller directed by Richard Rush from a screenplay co-written by Billy Ray, who would later go on to receive an Oscar nomination for writing Captain Phillips in 2014. The film stars Bruce Willis as Bill Capa, a New York psychologist who falls into a deep depression after one of his patients commits suicide in front of him; the sight of her bloody body in a bright green dress causes Bill to suffer from psychosomatic color blindness, hence the name of the film. Bill travels to Los Angeles to stay with a friend, fellow therapist Bill Moore (Scott Bakula), who invites him to sit in on a group therapy session. However, when Bob is violently murdered in the office, Bill is plunged into the mystery of his friend’s death; the police suspect that any one of Bob’s patients could be the killer. Making things more complicated is Bob’s torrid affair with a mysterious, sexy young woman named Rose (Jane March), who may have a connection to the crime. Read more…
LASSIE – Basil Poledouris
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The iconic canine film star Lassie, a heroic and intelligent collie dog, was created by British author Eric Knight in a short story published in The Saturday Evening Post in 1938, which was later expanded into a novel entitled Lassie Come Home in 1940, followed then by a film adaptation of the same name in 1943. The stories were all pretty much the same – Lassie’s teenage owner Joe gets into some kind of trouble, Lassie helps him overcome the difficult situation, while showcasing his loyalty, courage, and the bond between humans and animals – but the formula was immensely popular, and resulted in several sequels, and a long-running television series which aired from 1954 to 1973. Read more…
CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER – James Horner
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
After the success of Patriot Games two years previously, Paramount Pictures greenlit a third movie based on the Jack Ryan spy novels written by Tom Clancy. Clear and Present Danger is the second film to feature Harrison Ford in the lead role as Ryan; in this film, Ryan is appointed Acting Deputy Director of Intelligence for the CIA, and is asked by the President of the United States to help secure funds from congress in order to legally fight drug cartels, after one of the Presidents’ best friends is apparently murdered on the orders of drug lord Ernesto Escobedo. However, it soon becomes apparent the funds are actually being used to conduct an illegal covert war in Colombia, which leads to the deaths of several American soldiers, and that Ryan is being set up to be the ‘fall guy’ should the truth ever be revealed. With the help of a fellow CIA Operative Ryan travels to Colombia with the aim of ending the illegal war, exposing the perpetrators, and bringing home the soldiers left behind. Read more…
BLACK BEAUTY – Danny Elfman
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Black Beauty is one of the most beloved works of children’s literature in the English language. Written by Anna Sewell and published in 1877, it tells the life story of the eponymous horse, beginning with his early days in the loving home of Farmer Grey, and then on through a series of subsequent owners, including the kind and gentle Squire Gordon of Birtwick Hall, and the cruel and neglectful Mr. York of Earlshall Park. After suffering a severe injury while working as a cab horse in London, he is rescued by Joe Green, a former employee of Squire Gordon, who eventually provides him with a peaceful and comfortable retirement. The novel is narrated in the first person by Black Beauty himself, providing a unique perspective on the life and experiences of a horse in Victorian England, and who juxtaposes his own life with those of others around him, some of whom suffer much worse fates. Most importantly Sewell addresses the then-unfashionable topic of animal welfare, and its success and popularity played a crucial role in shaping public attitudes towards animals and contributed to the development of modern animal rights movements. Read more…
THE CLIENT – Howard Shore
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The 1990s were full of John Grisham legal thriller adaptations. Following hot on the heels of The Firm and The Pelican Brief, both of which were released in 1994, comes The Client, directed by Joel Schumacher. The story follows an eleven-year-old boy named Mark Sway (Brad Renfro) who, along with his younger brother Ricky, witnesses the suicide of a lawyer named Jerome Clifford. Before dying, Clifford reveals to Mark that he knows the whereabouts of the body of a recently murdered U.S. Senator, which could implicate a powerful mob figure, Barry “The Blade” Muldano (Anthony LaPaglia). As Mark becomes the target of both the mafia, who want to silence him, and the authorities, who want his testimony, he seeks the help of a feisty lawyer named Reggie Love (Susan Sarandon). Despite being initially reluctant to get involved, Reggie decides to take Mark’s case and protect him from all threats – one of whom is the ruthless U.S. Attorney Roy “Reverend Roy” Foltrigg (Tommy Lee Jones), who wants to exploit the case to further his own political ambitions. Read more…
TRUE LIES – Brad Fiedel
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
One of the best and most enjoyable action-comedies of the 1990s was True Lies. A remake of the 1991 French film ‘La Totale’ by Claude Zidi, it was written and directed by James Cameron in what was his first theatrical movie since Terminator 2: Judgment Day in 1991. The movie stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as Harry Tasker, a seemingly ordinary computer salesman who is actually a secret agent working for a covert U.S. government organization called Omega Sector. His wife Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis) is unaware of his true occupation, but feels bored and unfulfilled in their marriage, longing for some excitement in her life. Harry’s double life starts to unravel when he begins to suspect that Helen might be having an affair with a used car salesman named Simon (Bill Paxton), who pretends to be a secret agent to seduce women. Harry’s jealousy leads him to use Omega Sector resources to investigate Helen, eventually pulling her into his world of espionage and action. The situation becomes even more complicated when a group of terrorists called the Crimson Jihad, led by the ruthless Salim Abu Aziz (Art Malik), threatens national security with a stolen nuclear warhead. Read more…
FORREST GUMP – Alan Silvestri
THROWBACK THIRTY
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.
It’s not a cool thing to admit any more, but at this point in my life I’ve stopped caring what people think about my taste, and I simply accept it for what it is. So here’s my statement: Forrest Gump is one of my favorite films of all time. I first saw it in the fall of 1994, when it came out in cinemas in England, and it affected me deeply right from that first viewing. Not only did I love the film for what it was, but the part of the story involving the relationship between Forrest and his Mama somehow became inextricably linked to the real life relationship I have with my own mother Christine, so it means a great deal to me on an intensely personal level. It’s one of the films I have seen the most in my lifetime; I know the screenplay beat-for-beat, and I never get tired of quoting many of its iconic lines. I still laugh in all the right places, and the ending always moves me to tears. Read more…
THE SHADOW – Jerry Goldsmith
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!
When people think about classic superheroes people usually think of Superman and Batman as being the forefathers of the genre, but one other character actually goes back further than that: The Shadow, who was created by Walter B. Gibson and who first appeared on the radio and in print as early as 1930 – eight years before Superman, and nine years before Batman. Despite being such an influential early pioneer, The Shadow was curiously overlooked in film for a long time; there were a few B-movies and shorts in the late 1930s and early 1940s that were reasonably popular, but then there was essentially a 50-year gap where the character was ignored by the mainstream, up until 1994 when the character finally got his first big-budget cinematic adaptation courtesy of director Russell Mulcahy and star Alec Baldwin. Read more…
THE LION KING – Hans Zimmer, Elton John, Tim Rice
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
It’s interesting how, quite often, you never realize in the moment that you’re experiencing a cultural touchstone. I went to see The Lion King at the cinema the week it opened when it came out in the UK with very little in the way of anticipation, and vividly remember being shocked at having to wait in line for almost an hour beforehand to get in (these were the days before pre-assigned seating), such was its massive popularity.
The Lion King is, of course, Disney’s groundbreaking animated feature film that follows the journey of a young lion named Simba. The story begins with Simba’s birth in the Pride Lands of Africa, where he is introduced as the future king. However, Simba’s uncle, Scar, covets the throne and conspires with a pack of hyenas to kill both Simba and his father, King Mufasa, in an orchestrated wildebeest stampede. Scar’s plan partially succeeds; Mufasa is killed, and Simba, guilt-ridden and believing himself responsible, runs away and grows up in the jungle with his new friends Timon, a meerkat, and Pumbaa, a warthog. Eventually, encouraged by his childhood friend Nala and the mandrill shaman Rafiki, Simba returns to the Pride Lands to confront Scar and reclaim his rightful place as king. Read more…
SPEED – Mark Mancina
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Pop quiz, hotshot. There’s a bomb on a bus. What do you do? What do you do?
One of the landmark action movies of the 1990s, and one of my favorite action movies of all time, Speed is a hyper-kinetic thrill ride film directed by Jan de Bont, starring Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, and Dennis Hopper. Reeves plays Jack Traven, a young and resourceful LAPD SWAT officer, who thwarts a bomb threat in an elevator orchestrated by the vengeful ex-bomb squad member Howard Payne (Hopper). Infuriated by Jack’s interference, Payne then rigs a city bus with a bomb that will detonate if the bus drops below 50 miles per hour. Jack boards the bus and teams up with Annie Porter (Bullock), a passenger who takes over driving after the normal bus driver is injured; together, Jack and Annie must work together to keep the speed above the critical limit by any means possible, while figuring out a way to save the passengers and thwart Payne’s plans. Read more…
MAVERICK – Randy Newman
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
1994’s Maverick was director Richard Donner’s attempt to bring the popular 1957 ABC TV show of the same name to the silver screen. That show starred James Garner as the eponymous Brett Maverick, a wise-cracking and charismatic poker player plying his trade on riverboats and in saloons across the American Wild West. The big-screen version of the story sees Maverick being played by Mel Gibson, who here is re-teaming with director Donner for the first time since Lethal Weapon 3 in 1992. In this story, Maverick finds himself needing to raise $25,000 to enter a high-stakes poker tournament on a riverboat; as he does so he repeatedly encounters the resourceful and sly con-artist Annabelle Bransford (Jodie Foster), while falling afoul of the stern lawman Marshal Zane Cooper (Garner). The film’s supporting cast features Graham Greene, James Coburn, and Alfred Molina, and has many cameo appearances by classic Western film actors and country music stars. Read more…
LITTLE BUDDHA – Ryuichi Sakamoto
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Little Buddha, directed by the Oscar-winning Italian filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci, is a drama film that intertwines two primary narratives. The first narrative follows a young boy named Jesse Conrad, living in Seattle with his parents, Dean and Lisa. Tibetan monks, led by Lama Norbu, visit the Conrad family, believing that Jesse is the reincarnation of a revered Buddhist teacher, Lama Dorje. As Jesse and his parents grapple with this revelation, they travel to Bhutan to further explore this possibility, and he meets two other boys – Raju and Gita – who may also be reincarnations of Lama Dorje . The second narrative is a historical recount of the life of Prince Siddhartha, who would later become the first Buddha and the founder of the Buddhist religion This story is woven throughout the film as Lama Norbu tells Jesse about Siddhartha’s journey. The film depicts Siddhartha’s sheltered life in his father’s palace, his encounters with suffering in the world, his renunciation of royal life, and his path to enlightenment under the Bodhi tree. Read more…
THE CROW – Graeme Revell
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The Crow is a dark supernatural action thriller directed by Alex Proyas, based on the comic book of the same name by James O’Barr. The story follows Eric Draven, played by Brandon Lee, a rock musician who is brutally murdered along with his fiancée, Shelly, by a gang of criminals. One year after their deaths, Eric is resurrected by a mystical crow to seek vengeance on those who wronged him. Eric soon discovers he has supernatural abilities and is invulnerable to pain; guided by the crow, he methodically tracks down and eliminates the gang members responsible for his and Shelly’s deaths, until eventually he comes face-to-face with the gang’s vicious leader, Top Dollar. The film co-starred Michael Wincott, Sofia Shinas, and Michael Massee, as well as Ernie Hudson as sympathetic cop Albrecht, and Rochelle Davis as a young girl named Sarah who was close to Eric and Shelly. Read more…
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