Touchstone

New York Stories (1989)

New York Stories (1989)
Rating: ★★★★
Nov 28, 2004Anthology of New York Tales/Giant Nagging Mother
Anthology where directors Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and Woody Allen each contribute an episode set in New York. Allen's contribution in which a magician's trick manifests a giant nagging mother in the sky is side-splitting
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The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Rating: ★★★★★
Feb 8, 2004Halloween Denizens Take Over Christmas/Stop-Motion Animation
Tim Burton and Henry Selick combine on this stop-motion animated fantasy made in Burton's characteristcially eccentric style, a beautifully stylised and dark fantasy in which assorted Halloween denizens invade Christmas
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Phenomenon (1996)

Phenomenon (1996)
Rating: ★★
Apr 12, 2003Man Gains Expanded Mental Powers
Positive upbeat film in which John Travolta gains a supermind after seeing a light in the sky. For all its featuring a man with superior intellectual abilities, this is ironically a film that deals in simplistic black-and-whites
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The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit (1998)

The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit (1998)
Rating: ★
Apr 25, 2017Ray Bradbury Adaptation/Magical Suit
Stuart (Re-Animator) Gordon adapts a Ray Bradbury play about five men who buy a suit that has magical properties. Bradbury is a great writer but this drowns in overripe dialogue, bad racial caricatures and Gordon's typically over-the-top propensities
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Beloved (1998)

Beloved (1998)
Rating: ★★★★★
May 14, 2000African-American Ghost Story
Adapted from an award-winning Toni Morrison novel, this is an African-American ghost story that comes with Serious Drama written all over it. Produced by/starring Oprah Winfrey, the film was overlooked at the major award but is a stunning, emotionally raw work
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The 13th Warrior (1999)

The 13th Warrior (1999)
Rating: ★★★
Aug 31, 1999Vikings vs Neanderthals/Michael Crichton Adaptation
Michael Crichton was hot as a result of Jurassic Park. Although mostly seen as an historical spectacle, this is an adaptation of his novel that attempts to retell the legend of Beowulf with Vikings against Neanderthals
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Bicentennial Man (1999)

Bicentennial Man (1999)
Rating: ★
Dec 21, 1999Robot Gains Self-Awareness/Isaac Asimov Adaptation
Isaac Asimov may not have been the best science-fiction writer ever but his stories buzzed with challenging ideas. In the hands of Chris Columbus, one of Asimov's robot stories is reduced to mawkish sentimentalism
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Bringing Out the Dead (1999)

Bringing Out the Dead (1999)
Rating: ★★★½
Oct 25, 1999Urban Hell/Haunted Ambulance Driver
Martin Scorsese returns to the vision of urban hell he gave us in Taxi Driver with Nicolas Cage as an ambulance driver haunted the dead he sees. Powerful, blackly funny at times, if not quite up there as another Taxi Driver
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Surrogates (2009)

Surrogates (2009)
Rating: ★★★
Nov 2, 2009Future Where People Inhabit Avatar Bodies
Interesting conceptual SF film where the populace of the future inhabit a series of perfect avatar bodies. Despite a few logical quibbles with the premise, this does a good job in exploring the idea of such a world
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When in Rome (2010)

When in Rome (2010)
Rating: ★
Apr 17, 2014Romantic Comedy/Fountain of Love
Agonisingly awful romantic comedy about a Fountain of Love. The plot is utterly vapid, its resolution never in the slightest doubt, while director Mark Steven (Daredevil, Ghost Rider) Johnson sets the entire film up around a series of painfully unfunny slapstick routines
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