Movies | In the Theaters

Watch this space: pick(s) of the week February 06, 1998
A Clockwork Orange Fri-Sun at the Plaza
Like so many other films, Kubrick's masterwork examining "ultraviolence" loses so much on TV it's hard to tell what all the fuss really was about. Well, here's your chance to see it in a decent theater.
The Abyss: Special Edition Fri-Sat at the University Village 3
I've never been to the University Village 3, and I don't know why they started running weekend midnight shows (other than the obvious reason, that they're across the screet from USC's film school) but I have to say, everything they've been playing is cool. Until "Titanic" came out, I'd say "The Abyss" was Cameron's best film. Even now, I consider it quite a tossup. Full of stunning visuals, this is another reason why movies belong in movie theaters.
The Apartment Tuesday at UCLA James Bridges Theater
Never seen it, think I should, so all I can really say is, see you there.

Also open/opening that sound at least a little interesting:
Afterglow, Anastasia, The Apostle, Deconstructing Harry, Eve's Bayou, The Full Monty, Gonin, Hercules, The Ice Storm, In The Company Of Men, Kundun, Mrs. Brown, Phantoms, The Replacement Killers, Riding the Rails, The Sweet Hearafter, The Tango Lesson, Wag the Dog, Wings of the Dove, The Winter Guest, Zero Effect

Trailer Park

Dark City - A+
Man o man, this brooding, atmospheric trailer shows just how bad most trailers really are. This trailer gives away nothing of the film's story -- there's not even any dialogue -- yet makes the tone and feel of the film very clear, and has me really, really wanting to go see it. Feel like it's just a music video? Good -- too often today you feel like you've just seen the whole film -- in Cliff Notes -- and all the fun has been spoiled. Marketing departments, learn from this one.

Godzilla - A
In the same tradition as the early "Twister" trailers, this tease shows a nearly complete scene of a fisherman running up a dock from the approaching monster. As stunning as it is, the impression is also there that we ain't seen nothin' yet.

The Avengers - A
Even though it's based on an old TV show (that I'm not familiar with), this trailer manages to display an unusual level of spunky humor, leaving the impression that this film might actually be FUN. It's borderline on how much of the story is shown, but I'm still just feeling teased -- which is, of course, the point.



My comments of course come from my own particular film sensibilities and I don't expect them to match those of anyone else on earth.

Titles (sometimes, but not today) link to their Internet Movie Data Base listings.


-- Otto Kitsinger, 06 Feb 98



I can remember a time when where we went to the movies was just as important as the movies we went to see .... From the moment moviegoers arrived to buy their tickets, there was a sense of something special, a feeling that to step inside was to enter another time and place. - Gene Kelly