Monkeybone (2001)

An adult comedy about a soon to be super-successful cartoonist (Brendan Fraser) who has to contend with his animated creation for control of his own future. By 'adult' I mean that it's generally inappropriate for kids, not that it's mature or hard to follow. The titular Monkeybone is the 'zany' type of character that makes me twitch violently.
There's a lot of creativity on display in the designs and in how they're brought to life, including many different animation techniques that someone clearly put a lot of work into, but the actual film was probably more fun to make for all involved than it is for any discerning person to watch.

1½ nightmare tailwinds out of 5

The Godfather: Part III (1990)

I find it's best to view Part III similar to how Dir. Coppola reportedly does, as an epilogue to the Godfather's story as told in Parts I (1972) and II (1974).
A mournful tone segues into the familiar large family gathering, a setting wherein the current Don is lavished with honours and respect. His move into more legitimate business affairs gives the film a different kind of edge, but it's one that's dulled by a screenplay that feels stretched thin. In addition, the appointed successor to the Corleone name is never fully able to step out of the shadow of the characters/actors that came before. Even when considered as a counterpoint, it's not as satisfying as it could've been.
Pacino and Shire are great (and for the record I don't think Sofia deserved the criticism she received), but the highlight is the superb finale, staged at an opera it is itself a beautifully orchestrated piece of pure drama.

3 accounts settled out of 5

Roger Corman's Frankenstein Unbound (1990)

aka Frankenstein Unbound

Having Corman’s name in the title is sure to turn as many people away as it is to lure. But its inclusion implies that the makers know their audience and to hell with everyone else. It being based on a Brian Aldiss novel of the same name (1973) doubled the appeal in my eyes. I like Aldiss' work.
A large, stormy vagina in the sky sucks in and deposits a scientist from the year 2031 to the year 1817. Whilst there he becomes a participant in the lives of Mary Godwin and her fictional focus, which isn't as fictional as we were led to believe in high school.
I know to expect the worst from Corman and prepare for a bizarre ending from Aldiss, but, alas, the science project cheese is too odorous even for me.

2 timeslips out of 5

Jackie Brown (1997)

I've seen all but one of Tarantino's films and all but one of those multiple times. From that incomplete selection, JB is the best.
It has the usual long takes heavy with dialogue, but they serve a purpose other than to show off. It’s mature thematically. The storytelling has some twists and turns but it’s not struggling to adhere to the usual gimmickry, perhaps because he didn't write it from scratch (it’s an adaptation of an Elmore Leonard novel, Rum Punch (1992)). It spends a long time building up to the pay off, longer than many films run in entirety, if truth be told, but because it’s a story for adults, not just post-pub thrill-seekers with undiagnosed attention deficits, the time invested is rewarded with more than just gunfire and spectacle. Bravo, QT. Bravo.

5 levels set just right out of 5

A SIMPLE PLAN [1998]

Director Sam Raimi crafts an engrossing and haunting Gothic Americana thriller based on Scott B. Smith's novel A Simple Plan.
3 men in rural Minnesota, find a bag filled with 4 million dollars in it, during the dead of winter and then things begin to get really complicated. We're pretty familiar with the ingredients of such a story but they're mixed so well here it's not a problem to see how it's properly done. With heavy doses of Hitchcock, The Coen Brothers and Shakespeare I don't see how you could really go wrong. Billy Bob Thornton turns in a beautiful performance that is both sweet as it is frightening.

4 American dreams turned nightmarish out of 5