Anne James Movies
- 2003
Malay filmmaker Amir Muhammad directs the black-and-white documentary The Big Durian. The title refers to the durian, a fruit of Southeast Asia with a bad smell but a good taste. One day in 1987, the Malaysian capital city of Kuala Lumpur was under attack by a crazed armed soldier. The city was in chaos and many rumors began to circulate. In order to make sense of these events, Muhammad employs eye-witness interviews, reenactments, and various stylistic elements. The Big Durian was shown at the Sundance Film Festival as part of the World Documentaries program. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Amir Muhammad, Anne James, (more)
- 2000
Ernest Hemingway cut a very impressive figure both as an author and as an individual, and in this two-part documentary series, actor and comedian Michael Palin retraces the steps of "Papa"'s long journey as he tries to learn more about his life and his macho lifestyle. Palin visits Oak Park, IL, where Hemingway was born, and Ketchum, ID, where the author took his own life; in between, he makes stops in Spain (in time to enjoy the running of the bulls in Pamplona and bullfighting in Valencia), Italy (where Palin drives an ambulance, as Hemingway did during World War I), Havana (where he visits Hemingway's favorite fishing spots), Paris (including a tour of the flat where Hemingway stayed while living in France), Northern Michigan (the site of Hemingway's summer cottage), and Key West, FL (where Palin attends the city's annual Hemingway Look-Alike Contest). Michael Palin wrote the film and also serves as host and narrator; Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure was shown in America on PBS on May 3, 2000. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michael Palin
Despite its occasional lapses into silly self-consciousness, Flatliners is one of the most intriguing and well-constructed supernatural thrillers of the 1990s. A group of brilliant medical students decide to literally play with life and death. They put themselves in suspended animation, electronically inducing a near-deathlike state and then pulling out of it at the last possible moment. Things get hairy when one of the students (Kiefer Sutherland) becomes obsessed with the notion of really dying, the better to experience the Afterlife before being revived--if he can be revived. In her first dramatic starring role (playing a sensitive young lady on a misguided guilt trip), Julia Roberts is very, very good--completely bereft of movie-star mannerisms. Audiences flocked to see Flatliners back in 1990 due to the highly publicized off-screen romance between Roberts and Sutherland. Oh, yes: Kevin Bacon and William Baldwin are in the picture, too. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, (more)
- 1952
Gene Autry plays a cattle buyer in the better-than-average formula western Barbed Wire. Investigating a paucity of fresh livestock, Autry returns to his home turf of Texas. Here he discovers that powerful ranch owner Steve Ruttledge (Leonard Penn) has been fencing off valuable grazing land, preventing the cattle men from bringing their stock to market. The trouble is, Ruttledge's methods, while underhanded, are well within the limits of the law. This doesn't stop Autry from finding a legal method to thwart Ruttledge's megalomanic dreams--and, incidentally, to clean the villain's clock in the closing reels. Barbed Wire was produced by Armand Schafer, the man in charge of Gene Autry's "Flying A" TV-production empire. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gene Autry, Pat Buttram, (more)
- 1952
Sound Off stars Mickey Rooney as Mike Donnelly, a brash, obnoxious nightclub entertainer who is taken down a peg or two when he's drafted into the army. When not crossing swords with tough sergeant Crockett (Gordon Jones), Mike has to contend with the poison-pen vitriol of columnist Barney Fisher (Arthur Space). Out of love for pretty WAC lieutenant Colleen Rafferty (Anne James), Mike tries to straighten himself out and adhere to army protocol, but not before a riotous climactic tank chase. Though Sound Off covers familiar comic territory, star Mickey Rooney delivers the laughs with freshness and gusto. The most appealing aspect of the film is the characterization of the clichéd drill sergeant: Gordon Jones is almost lovable as he struggles manfully to get the recalcitrant Rooney to cooperate with Uncle Sam. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mickey Rooney, Anne James, (more)
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