Vida Jerman
"They're the toughest anti-terrorist strike force in the world. But they've never faced an enemy like this." The "they" mentioned in the ad copy for Death Train are headed by Pierce Brosnan. The enemy is rogue Russian general Christopher Lee, who has stolen two nuclear bombs, intending to hold the world for ransom. The bombs are placed on two trains, which are then engaged in a breakneck race by the general via remote control. Things really get dangerous when one of the trains is hijacked! Alexandra Paul and Patrick Stewart also star in this middling actioner, which manages to stir up suspense only during the climactic detonation sequence. Originally titled Alastair MacLean's Death Train when it premiered over the USA Cable Network on April 14, 1993, the film was retitled Detonator for its theatrical release. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
It is 1945 in Zagreb, and everyone is settling into the new regime following the disturbances of the war. Matilda is a wealthy widow of a war hero and has an apartment so spacious that she is required to take a boarder. Fortunately for her, the handsome young Lt. Horvat, the communist housing officer, has taken a fancy to her and has assigned his fiancee to be Matilda's new roommate. Where Matilda is soft and rounded, Lilijana is hard, skinny, and given to revolutionary pronouncements rather than tender endearments. The lieutenant loves them both, though he naturally finds Matilda more attractive. His situation is simplified when Lilijana, though pregnant, is transferred to another post. However, his commander is horrified that he has a lover in addition to his fiancee and demands that he choose whether to continue his career or continue his affair. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ksenija Pajic, Zarko Lausevic, (more)
In a plot that combines Mary Shelley's mad Dr. Frankenstein and Bram Stoker's Count Dracula, two yellow journalism reporters, Jack and Gil (Jeff Goldblum and Ed Begley, Jr.) head off to a castle in Transylvania. The intrepid duo is out to hunt down a story that proves Frankenstein's "monster" is still alive and sparking. What they find is an appropriately demented Dr. Malavaqua and his monstrous creations. Tame stuff for the hardcore groupie, this intended spoof falls a tad short of funny. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Goldblum, Ed Begley, Jr., (more)
The year is 1947. Aspiring southern author Stingo (Peter MacNichol) heads to New York to seek his fortune. Moving into a dingy Brooklyn boarding house, Stingo strikes up a friendship with research chemist Nathan Landau (Kevin Kline) and Nathan's girlfriend, Polish refugee Sophie Zawistowska (Oscar-winner Meryl Streep). There is something unsettling about the relationship; Nathan is subject to violent mood swings, while Sophie seems to be harboring a horrible secret. Stingo soons learns that both Nathan and Sophie are strangers to truth; the audience is likewise led down several garden paths by a series of sepia-toned flashbacks, depicting Sophie's ordeal in a wartime concentration camp. The scene in which we discover the facts behind Sophie's "choice" is a gut-wrenching one; it might have been even more powerful had not the film taken so long to get there. It is betraying nothing to reveal that the character of Stingo is the alter ego of William Styron, upon whose best-selling novel the film was based. The film is rated R, due in great part to a disposable scene wherein Stingo tries to put the make on a "liberated" female intellectual. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, (more)
In Polish Russia, Stoloff (Yul Brynner), a Cossack in exile from his land and family, has gained control over a small Jewish village. The villagers live mainly by horse-thievery, under the leadership of Kifke (Eli Wallach). Stoloff's regime is tolerated with difficulty until he commandeers the village's horses (the sole source of wealth) for the Russian army. Naomi (Jane Birkin) has been away in France, where she has gotten a notion of revolution, and she inspires the town to resistance. This action gets her into deep trouble, from which only the wily Kifke and his assistant Zanvil (Oliver Tobias) can rescue her. Zanvil is particularly motivated, as he is in love with Naomi. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, (more)
- 1971
Banned for over a decade because of its "explicit" sexual situations, when this film was released in Yugoslavia in 1983 the "explicit" scenes had become tame. Other than the notoriety it obtained through censorship, the film has an undistinguished story about the forbidden love affair between the older wife of a sports director and a young athlete. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Miha Baloh, Vida Jerman, (more)
