Alan Munro Movies
- 1999
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Peter Kuran, the award-winning creator of Trinity and Beyond, explores the secret history of U.S. nuclear test sites in his documentary Atomic Journeys: Welcome to Ground Zero. In a cinematic tour of previously unknown sites from Alaska to Mississippi, the film documents the detonation of over 900 atomic and hydrogen bombs to explore the use of nuclear weapons for peaceful purposes. A variety of tests performed by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission under Projects "Plowshare" and "Vela Uniform" studied the use of nuclear weapons in canal and harbor building as well as in detecting seismic signals. "Atomic Journeys" examines the history of the testing, the environmental changes caused by the detonations, and the condition of the former test sites. A highlight of the film is a trip to the Nevada test site, the most bombed place on earth. ~ Kathleen Wildasin, All Movie Guide
Washington Irving's tale of Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman gets a few new twists in a screen adaptation directed by Tim Burton. In this version, Ichabod (Johnny Depp) is a New York City detective whose unorthodox techniques and penchant for gadgets make him unpopular with is colleagues. He is sent to the remote town of Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of bizarre murders, in which a number of people have been found dead in the woods, with their heads cut off. Local legend has it that a Hessian ghost rides through the woods on horseback, lopping off the heads of the unsuspecting and unbelieving. Ichabod refuses to believe in this legend, convinced that there must be a logical explanation for the murders. In time, Ichabod becomes smitten with a local lass, Katrina Van Tassel (Christina Ricci), who is the sweetheart of the burly Brom Bones (Casper Van Dien), and he becomes determined to capture the murderer to prove his bravery and win her heart. Christopher Walken, Jeffrey Jones, and Christopher Lee highlight the supporting cast; Lee's appearance is particularly apt, since Burton has cited the Hammer films of the 1960s as a major influence in making this film. Andrew Kevin Walker and Tom Stoppard contributed to the screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, (more)
Albert Franklin (Haley Joel Osment) is the son of stage magician Lorraine Franklin, and has learned to do a few magic tricks of his own. However, when his mother dies and he is sent to live with his aunt Harriet (Whoopi Goldberg), it becomes clear that for him the boundary between stage magic and the real kind is just a bit fuzzy. This is fortunate, because the young man needs a friend. The friend magically appears in the form of a spirit (Gerard Depardieu) calling himself "Bogus," who helps him figure out how to meet the challenge of relating to his very preoccupied aunt. She is more concerned with keeping her restaurant supply company afloat than she is with her new ward. Things change when she, too, catches a glimpse of the spirit. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Whoopi Goldberg, Gérard Depardieu, (more)
- 1995
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This fascinating but academically presented documentary uses recently declassified military documents and footage never seen by the public to offer a more detailed chronicle of the history of the atomic bomb. The film was made to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The creation of the technology and the Cold War that followed are all graphically depicted. One particularly unnerving scene shows the Russians defying the ban on nuclear testing and unleashing the largest atomic blast in history. The film also includes interviews with the surviving designers of the bomb and also shows rare footage of interesting devices for launching the bombs and scenes of them being exploded in space. Some of the scenes come from the newest special-effects technology. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
The ghoulish cartoon family created by Charles Addams returns for a second big-screen outing darker and nastier than the first. When Morticia Addams (Anjelica Huston) gives birth to new baby boy Pubert, the other Addams children, Pugsley (Jimmy Workman) and Wednesday (Christina Ricci), devise any number of ways to kill off their new sibling. This leads Morticia and her husband, Gomez Raul Julia, to hire a nanny (Joan Cusack) to oversee all three children. But the nanny has an agenda of her own, packing the Addams children off to a horrid parody of summer camp and setting out to seduce Uncle Fester (Christopher Lloyd), all with the goal of getting her hands on the Addams family fortune. Of course, the Addams eventually triumph, with this blacker-than-most satire extolling the virtues of eccentricity and non-conformity above all. It was followed by 1999's direct-to-video Addams Family Reunion, with Darryl Hannah and Tim Curry replacing Huston and the late Julia. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, (more)
- 1991
- PG
Advertised as a comedy in the style of The Gods Must Be Crazy, the crime farce Oddball Hall bears little actual resemblance to that film but for the fact that it is set in a remote African village and centers on cross-cultural differences between the natives and a quartet of jewel thieves who have been hiding out for a few years waiting for the cops to give up their search so they can fence their loot and move to Rio. The crooks are allowed to stay because they have convinced the people that they are members of the fraternal order, Oddball Hall and have magical powers. These powers are put to the test when a naive native youth, the son of a chieftain shows up and they mistake him for the real leader of the Oddballs. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1986
Learn about tolerance and good will with this staged war between three color kingdoms, Blue, Red and Yellow. ~ All Movie Guide
