Michael Levine Movies

Filmmaker Terry Zwigoff, who enjoyed breakthrough success with his 1994 documentary Crumb, shifts gears as he examines the lives of two young women on the verge of leaving their adolescence behind in his first dramatic feature. Enid (Thora Birch) and Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson) are two close friends who've just graduated from high school, and are trying to decide what to do with their lives. Enid is a dark-haired arch cynic who is tired of living at home with her ineffectual dad (Bob Balaban) and his annoyingly perky girlfriend Maxine (Teri Garr), while Rebecca is prettier and a bit cheerier, but no more certain about her future. While the two girls have vague plans of getting an apartment together, they seem content to while away their summer hanging out and indulging in their shared infatuation with Josh (Brad Renfro), a friend from school who works at a convenience store and doesn't seem to be especially attracted to either of them. Enid discovers that in order to get her diploma, she'll have to take an additional class over the summer, where she winds up studying art with Roberta (Illeana Douglas), who is determined to encourage Enid's creative impulses, whether Enid likes it or not. More significantly, Enid meets Seymour (Steve Buscemi), a geeky record collector more than twice her age, and while they would seem to have little in common (and Rebecca thinks he's a creep), Enid discovers a kindred spirit in fellow misfit Seymour, who shares her disgust with the world around them, and a relationship begins to develop between the two. Ghost World is based on the award-winning graphic novel by comic artist Daniel Clowes, who also wrote the film's screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Winner of the Best Jewish Experience Documentary award at the 1998 Jerusalem Film Festival, this A&E program directed by Simcha Jacobovici was also hailed as "provocative and engaging" by John Leonard in New York Magazine and "shrewdly on target" by Caryn James in The New York Times. Essentially an adaptation of Neal Gabler's award-winning, somewhat controversial book Hollywood: An Empire of Their Own: How The Jews Invented Hollywood, this documentary chronicles the amazing success story of the half-dozen Jewish immigrants or sons of immigrants who created the movie industry studio system and became the moguls of Hollywood during its Golden Age. Highlights include archival footage, interviews, and commentary on these leaders, including Adolph Zukor, founder of Paramount; Carl Laemmle, founder of Universal; Jack and Samuel Warner, founders of Warner Bros.; Louis B. Mayer, founder of MGM; William Fox, head of 20th Century-Fox; and Harry Cohn, who ran Columbia Pictures. ~ Steve Blackburn, Rovi

Xena (Lucy Lawless) and Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) rescue Ulysses (John D'Aquino), seafaring king of Ithaca, from a three-against-one battle. With the help of our two heroines, Ulysses recaptures his ship from the minions of Poseidon (Charles Siebert), the God of the Sea. Embarking upon the return voyage to Ithaca, Ulysses is occasionally thrown off course by such distractions as the Singing Sirens and Gabrielle's mal de mer. He also grows fonder of Xena with each passing day, blissfully unaware that his bride, Penelope (Rachel Blakely), is still alive -- and that his troubles will be far from over once he lands on Ithacan soil. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

While en route to a Winter Solstice festival, Iolaus (Michael Hurst) experiences a dream that inspires him to travel northward following a star to witness an important event. He is soon joined by other pilgrims who have shared the same dream and are following the same star. Meanwhile, King Polonius (Edward Newborn) and Queen Maliphone (Denise O'Connell), worried about predictions that their unborn child will not ascend to their throne, begin rounding up all the male children in their kingdom for homicidal purposes. Inevitably, Hercules (Kevin Sorbo) becomes involved in this intrigue -- and with equal inevitability, the story concludes in a stable (yes, that stable). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Xena (Lucy Lawless) and Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) appoint themselves protectors of a 12-year-old runaway named Icus (David de Latour). The boy has been slated to be sacrificed to a new God -- and, much to Xena's surprise, Icus' father and brother are determined to kill the youngster. Things become even dicier when Gabrielle is drugged and the religious zealots recapture Icus. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This Canadian documentary profiles the work of German music-theater icon Kurt Weill, who created such enduring shows as Threepenny Opera. Most of the film offers various performers singing or reciting his songs. Among those appearing are jazz diva Betty Carter, the Brodsky String Quartet, Elvis Costello, Lou Reed, Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, and bassist Charlie Haden. Also seen are dance numbers, and a reading of "What Keeps Mankind Alive?" ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Outrageously violent, time-twisting, and in love with language, Pulp Fiction was widely considered the most influential American movie of the 1990s. Director and co-screenwriter Quentin Tarantino synthesized such seemingly disparate traditions as the syncopated language of David Mamet; the serious violence of American gangster movies, crime movies, and films noirs mixed up with the wacky violence of cartoons, video games, and Japanese animation; and the fragmented story-telling structures of such experimental classics as Citizen Kane, Rashomon, and La jetée. The Oscar-winning script by Tarantino and Roger Avary intertwines three stories, featuring Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta, in the role that single-handedly reignited his career, as hit men who have philosophical interchanges on such topics as the French names for American fast food products; Bruce Willis as a boxer out of a 1940s B-movie; and such other stalwarts as Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Christopher Walken, Eric Stoltz, Ving Rhames, and Uma Thurman, whose dance sequence with Travolta proved an instant classic. ~ Leo Charney, Rovi

Marking the first collaboration between horror legends George A. Romero and Stephen King since 1982's Creepshow, this moody, atmospheric adaptation of King's novel was actually completed in 1991, but the highly-publicized bankruptcy of its distributor Orion Pictures in that same year nearly doomed The Dark Half to distribution limbo. King's story revolves around successful author Thad Beaumont (Timothy Hutton), whose popularity on the college circuit owes a great deal to the financial success of a series of violent pulp thrillers written under the pseudonym of "George Stark." When he decides to cast aside his disreputable alter-ego by "killing" Stark off in a mock ceremony, it precipitates a string of sadistic murders matching those in his pulp novels, which are discovered to be the work of Stark himself (also played by Hutton). Looking like a maniacal white-trash version of his counterpart, Stark is not so willing to quit the writing game -- even if it means coming after Thad's wife (Amy Madigan) and their baby. It's only a matter of time before suspicions turn to Thad, who is the only one who knows the real origins of his hideous twin. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

A film that captures the steamy, colorful essence of New Orleans, this crime thriller tells the romantic story of a classy detective whose investigation of a gangland murder lands him in trouble with the city's new District Attorney, a woman with a rigid penchant for following the letter of the law. Despite their differences, the two manage to work together and eventually fall in love. Unfortunately all of this leads them to have to fight for their lives when their investigation into the case and the corruption surrounding it gets them bumped up to the top of a hit man's list. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Bob Dylan made this concert film that chronicles a 1975/1976 performance of his Rolling Thunder Revue. In between songs he, his wife Sara Dylan, along with Joan Baez, Allen Ginsberg, and other counterculture figures perform philosophically based improvisational pieces. During the skits, Dylan plays the ambiguous Renaldo, while Ronnie Hawkins and Ronee Blakely play Dylan and his wife. Songs include "Isis, I Want You," "It Ain't Me Babe," "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," "Hurricane," "Romance in Durango," "One Too Many Mornings," "One More Cup of Coffee," "Sara," "Patty's Gone to Laredo," "Just Like a Woman," "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall," "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowland," "When I Paint My Masterpiece," (Bob Dylan), "Chestnut Mare" (Roger McGuinn), "Diamonds and Rust" (Joan Baez), "Suzanne" (Leonard Cohen), "Need a New Sun Rising" (Ronee Blakely), "Salt Pork West Virginia" (Jack Elliott), "Kaddish" (Allen Ginsberg), "Cucurrucucu Paloma" (Tomas Mendez), and "Time of the Preacher" (Willie Nelson). ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi