Danny Elfman Movies
One of Hollywood's most distinctive film composers, Danny Elfman is known for his dark, idiosyncratic scores, particularly those he has written for director Tim Burton's films. He is also widely recognized for the music he has written for TV, particularly his theme song for The Simpsons.Born in Amarillo, Texas, on May 29, 1953, Elfman was the son of a schoolteacher and the novelist Blossom Elfman. He spent his childhood in Los Angeles and moved with his brother, Richard, to France at the age of 18. There he became involved with a theatre group and received an introduction to musical orchestration. He and Richard started the musical troupe Mystic Knights of Oingo Boingo, which would later become known as the cult group Oingo Boingo. After spending a few years in France, Elfman moved to Africa, where he stayed until a bout with malaria forced him to move back to the United States.
Elfman wrote his first score for his brother Richard's film Forbidden Zone in 1980. A few years later, Elfman made the acquaintance of Tim Burton, who was a fan of Oingo Boingo. The fruits of their ensuing friendship were first made evident with Elfman's score for Burton's Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985). The two would continue to work together on all of Burton's subsequent films, and their artistic collaboration would become known as one of the industry's most recognizable partnerships. It was for another of Burton's films, the 1988 Beetlejuice, that Elfman first became known by soundtrack fans in general; his quirky, frenetic score, combined with a number of Harry Belafonte songs, proved to be an enormous cult success. Elfman earned additional acclaim and recognition for his scores for a number of other Burton films, particularly Edward Scissorhands (1990), the Batman series, and the animated The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). For the latter of these, Elfman also wrote the songs and provided the singing voice for the lead character, Jack Skellington.
In addition to his work with Burton, Elfman has supplied the scores for a number of films that encompass every imaginable genre. Some of the more memorable projects he has worked on include Dick Tracy (1990), Sommersby (1993), Mission: Impossible (1996), Men in Black (1997), A Simple Plan (1998), and Anywhere but Here (1999). He has also enjoyed a repeated collaboration with director Gus Van Sant on To Die For (1995) and Good Will Hunting (1997). Elfman received an Oscar nomination for his score for the latter film; that same year, he earned another nomination for his score for Men in Black.
In 2003 he married actress Bridget Fonda.
He went on to score Sleepy Hollow for Burton, as well as such wide-ranging projects as Novocaine, Spy Kids, and Spider-Man. He wrote new music for the big-screen adaptation of Chicago, and continued to collaborate with Tim Burton. In 2008 he scored the biopic Milk, and followed that up with Terminator Salvation. He worked with Gus Van Sant on the score for Restless, and continued his creative partnership with Burton by lending his talents to Alice in Wonderland and Frankenweenie.
~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi
- 1991
Even as Season Three of the animated series Beetlejuice was spooling every Saturday morning on ABC, a separate fourth season, consisting of 65 episodes, was merrily humming away from Monday through Friday on the Fox network. Though the principal characters are still the grotesquely hilarious and presumably dead practical joker Beetlejuice (aka BJ) and his wide-eyed mortal friend Lydia, and while the main locale for the series remains the surrealistic Neitherworld, the Fox version differs slightly from the ABC edition by specializing in literary and pop-culture parodies, beginning with BJ enthusiastically booking several dead historical figures for Neitherworld's top TV talk show. Later on, BJ assumes the guise of Grimdiana Jones to rescue Lydia from the clutches of giant beetle Thing Thong; a pair of severed ears show up as the main characters in a Maltese Falcon takeoff; BJ and Lydia pay a visit to the yecchiest place in Neitherworld, the ghoulish theme park Grislyland, where the mascot is Bartholomew Bat (try to spell out THAT name in a song!). Also: BJ is trapped in the enchanted village Brinkadoom, which disappears every time the citizens fall asleep, a frozen chicken haunts BJ's roadhouse as "The Poultrygeist"; our hero is given a chance to see what would have happen if he never existed by the spectral Clarence Sale; a trip back to 17th Century London finds BJ and Lydia being kidnapped by various Shakespearean characters who want her to rewrite their plays so they won't get killed; a Caesar salad comes to life and forms a legion of vegetables, then divides all Aroma into three parts (what Gaul!); BJ squares off against notorious outlaw Jesse Germs; thej first production of BJ's "Disasterpiece Theater" is Moby Richard, featuring the most temperamental whale in showbiz history. And you can't imagine the instigated in the episode "The Wizard of Ooze." Plus: exercise fitness guru Jacques LaLean finds a formidable foe in King of Fitness Armhold Musclehugger; BJ and Lydia compete in the fast-food business with Scuzoo the Clown; BJ defends his title of World's Great Prankster against his great rival, Germs Pondscum; an attempt to exterminate some ants results in BJ creating a whole new colony of annoying relatives (all "Aunts" of course); and finally, BJ takes advantage of a new TV cartoon trend by transforming himself into UltraBeetleMan. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Stephen Ouimette, Alyson Court, (more)
- 1991
The third season of the animated crazy-quilt Beetlejuice (still seen this year on ABC, though a Fox network version was being telecast at the same time!) offers 13 new episodes revolving around Beetlejuice, aka "BJ", the gross and grotesquely funny practical joker who calls the Neitherworld his home, and who commiserates with his mortal friend Lydia. Episode highlights include BJ's frantic reapplication for his License to Drive People Crazy; a spooky séance, wherein Lydia communicates with her favorite dead actor, Boris To Death; BJ's adventures in amoeba form when he splits in two and learns that he literally can't live with himself; and a story focusing on a huge inheritance and a hob-nob session with Neitherworld's "stinking rich" class (they're rich, and BOY are they stinking!) And in a Very Special Episode (it says here), Beetlejuice must convince a mortal kid named Ramon not to imitate his disgusting behavior. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Stephen Ouimette, Alyson Court, (more)
- 1991
- PG
This wacky buddy comedy was the fifth in a series of Hollywood remakes of films by French director Francis Veber, none of which were box office successes. Sheila Kelley is Valerie Highsmith, an heiress who, despite her family's wealth, suffers from horribly bad luck. On a vacation to Mexico, she takes a fall, causing amnesia, then is mugged and kidnapped for ransom. When her father (Sam Wanamaker) becomes frustrated with the failed attempts of a detective, Ray Campanella (Danny Glover) to find his daughter, he teams a very reluctant Ray with Eugene Proctor (Martin Short), an accountant whose bumbling bad luck is even worse than Valerie's. The theory is that perhaps two such incredibly unlucky people will act like magnets, with Eugene leading Ray to Valerie's location. Although Ray finds Eugene irritating, the unlikely partners eventually begin making surprising progress in the case, despite Eugene's never-ending screw-ups and pratfalls. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Martin Short, Danny Glover, (more)
Warren Beatty directed and starred in this big-budget action comedy featuring Chester Gould's square-jawed, two-dimensional comic strip detective. Ruthless gangster Big Boy Caprice (Al Pacino) touches off a gang war against underworld boss Lips Manlis (Paul Sorvino), with Big Boy and his minions rubbing out enough of Manlis's goons (along with Manlis himself) to take over his nightclub, and a healthy percentage of the city's criminal activities in the process. Caprice also gains proprietary rights to Manlis's girlfriend, nightclub chanteuse Breathless Mahoney (Madonna). Big Boy's next move to is unite the rest of the city's crooks under his command; this wave of corruption attracts the attention of lawman Dick Tracy, who is determined to smash Caprice's criminal network once and for all. As Tracy plots to put Big Boy behind bars where he belongs, Breathless uses her considerable charms in an attempt to sway Tracy from the path of righteousness; this causes no small amount of anxiety for Tracy's long-suffering female companion, Tess Trueheart (Glenne Headly), and the street-smart kid (Charlie Korsmo) they've been keeping an eye on. The various bad guys, heavily made up to resemble Gould's cartoon characters (though Beatty is not made up to resemble Tracy), include Dustin Hoffman, James Caan, R.G. Armstrong, and William Forsythe. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Warren Beatty, Charlie Korsmo, (more)
- 1990
Season two of the ABC version of the zoned-out cartoon series Beetlejuice features 13 new adventures with the Neitherworld's favorite ghoulish prankster Beetlejuice ("B.J") and his winsome mortal friend Lydia Deetz. This season, it's Beetlejuice vs. Lydia on Scary Fools Day; the duo races against the well-named Scuzzo the Clown in the Neitherworld Groan Prix; "Dr. Beetlejuice" creates a perfume that alters personalities; the episode "Uncle B.J.'s Roadhouse" dishes up a wild spoof of Pee-wee's Playhouse (which, like Beetlejuice, was a spinoff of a popular live-action movie directed by Tim Burton); and bug-eating B.J. is in gross-out heaven when he lands a job as a scarecrow on a beetle farm. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Stephen Ouimette, Alyson Court, (more)
Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands opens as an eccentric inventor (Vincent Price) lovingly assembles a synthetic youth named Edward (Johnny Depp). Edward has all the essential ingredients for today's standard body, with the exception of a pair of hands. For what is initially thought to be a temporary period, he is fitted with long, scissor-like extremities that, while able to trim a mean hedge, are hardly conducive to day-to-day life. When the kindly inventor dies, however, Edward is left lonely and cursed with some very heavy metal for hands. He is eventually taken in by Peg Boggs (Dianne Weist), an Avon lady who takes pity on him after seeing his bleak existence. Edward, in spite of his inherent ability to slay anyone he comes across, is a gentle soul whose only wish is to be loved. His impromptu family has, at best, a limited understanding of Edward, but he finds himself drawn to Peg's weary but sympathetic daughter, Kim (Winona Ryder), who is dating Jim (Anthony Michael Hall), the neighborhood bully. Meanwhile, Edward finds himself a local celebrity after the town realizes that his talents include creative hedge trimming and an unrivaled ability to cut hair. His so-called friends are proven fair-weather when Edward is accused of a crime, after which his only supporters are Peg and Kim. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi
- Starring:
- Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, (more)
Neglecting Julie (Frances McDormand), his lawyer lady friend, Dr. Peyton Westlake (Liam Neeson) works feverishly to perfect his latest invention -- artificial skin that could be used to treat burn victims. Peyton himself falls victim to an explosion when one of Julie's crooked clients sends his henchmen to sniff out an incriminating document that's been left in Westlake's lab. Hideously disfigured and left for dead, the good doctor receives an experimental medical treatment that renders him super-strong, impervious to pain and prone to heightened fits of rage. Rebuilding his lab into an underground hideout, Westlake begins using his synthetic skin to impersonate various characters and engineer his revenge against those who destroyed his life. Reconnecting with Julie, however, becomes the unsightly vigilante's biggest challenge. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- Starring:
- Liam Neeson, Frances McDormand, (more)
- 1990
In this made-for-TV movie, the well-known DC comic book character the Flash must use his super-human abilities to stop the Dark Riders, an evil motorcycle gang who caused the death of his brother and now threatens to take over Central City. A TV series of the same name resulted from this pilot film. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi
Multimedia horror maven Clive Barker followed the success of his feature directorial debut, Hellraiser, with this equally surreal effort, based on his novella Cabal. The story involves the plight of Aaron Boone (Craig Sheffer), a young man tormented by visions of monstrous, graveyard-dwelling creatures. Seeking the aid of his clinically cold therapist Dr. Decker (played by Canadian horror auteur David Cronenberg) in deciphering his nightmares, Boone becomes convinced that his frequent blackouts are linked to a recent spate of mutilation murders in the area. His frantic search for the truth leads him to the subterranean city of Midian, the dwelling place of a mythical race of undead nocturnal monsters known as the "Nightbreed." But it is only after he is cornered and shot dead by police that Boone's real journey begins -- he finds himself resurrected as one of the Breed. Though Barker's unique and graphic vision is somewhat blunted by choppy editing (thanks to relentless tampering from the studio), this is nevertheless a fine sophomore project from a talented storyteller; the central conceit of presenting the monsters as the "good guys" -- at least compared to the gun-and-bible-toting lunatics who hunt them -- is handled with verve and originality. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
- Starring:
- Craig Sheffer, Anne Bobby, (more)
- 1989
- PG13
Behind the black cowl, Gotham City superhero Batman is really millionaire philanthropist Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton), who turned to crimefighting after his parents were brutally murdered before his eyes. The only person to share Wayne's secret is faithful butler Alfred (Michael Gough). The principal villain in Batman is The Joker (Jack Nicholson) who'd been mob torpedo Jack Napier before he was horribly disfigured in a vat of acid. The Joker's plan to destroy Batman and gain control of Gotham City is manifold. First he distributes a line of booby-trapped cosmetics, then he goes on a destruction spree in the Gotham Art Museum while the music of Prince blasts away in the background, and finally he orchestrates an all-out campaign to win the hearts and minds of the Gothamites, hoping to turn them against the Cowled One. Meanwhile, reporter Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger) becomes the love of Batman's life-which of course plays right into the Joker's hands. Photographed by Roger Pratt, designed by Anton Furst, and scored by Tim Burton's favorite composer Danny Elfman, Batman was a monstrous box-office hit, making $100 million in the first ten days of release--$82,800,000 in North America alone. Incidentally, Billy Dee Williams' comparatively small role as DA Harvey Dent was originally designed to set up the sequel, wherein Dent was to convert into master criminal Two-Face; but by the time the producers got around to that character in 1995's Batman Forever, Two-Face was played by Tommy Lee Jones. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, (more)
- 1989
The first season of the grotesquely hilarious animated series Beetlejuice originally aired weekly on ABC, and consists of 19 half-hour episodes, in which the hideously ugly, outrageously gross and stone-cold-dead con artist/prankster Beetlejuice, aka "BJ", made periodic visits to the surrealistic Neitherworld in the company of his mortal friend Lydia. This season offers our first glimpses of such other Neitherworld denizens as Judge Mental, the pesky Sandworms, the King and Queen of Gross, commercial pitchman Barry MeNot, Scuzzo the Clown and Beetlejuice's faithful pet, Doomie the DogBrained Cat. Typical adventures include B.J.'s public embarrassed when the skeletons in his closet come to life; the havoc wreaked by a walking tree who doesn't want to be cut down for a highway project; a dull Halloween livened up when BJ breaks open a can of Party People; a showdown with Neitherworld gunslinger Bully the Crud; BJ's unpleasant encounter with Pat on the Back, a leprechaun growing out of his shoulder blades; a cautionary fable of fame's fickleness when BJ hits the big time as an "armpit musician"; the curious courtship of Lydia by Neitherworld's Prince Vince; and a surprising encounter with Beetlejuice's ultra-ultra-ultra-ultra-ultra-ultra-conservative parents. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Stephen Ouimette, Alyson Court, (more)
A darkly comic and surreal contemporization of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, this effects-heavy Bill Murray holiday vehicle from 1988 sees the former SNL funnyman assuming the role of television executive Frank Cross, the meanest and most depraved man on earth. Cross will stoop to unheard of levels to increase his network's ratings -- even if it means mounting outrageous programs to retain an audience, such as "Robert Goulet's Cajun Christmas" and Lee Majors in "The Night the Reindeer Died," with an AK-47-toting Santa. Cross plots his foulest move, however, for the Christmas holiday, when he will force his office staff to mount a live production of A Christmas Carol on national television -- and thus work through Christmas Eve. Cross's life is turned upside down with visits from three ghosts: a craggy-faced cabbie known as The Ghost of Christmas Past (David Johansen); the sugar-plum fairy Ghost of Christmas Present (Carol Kane) (who gets her jollies by bonking Frank across the face with a toaster oven); and, eventually, the caped, headless Ghost of Christmas Future, who will send Frank sliding into a crematory oven -- just before he gives the sleazoid one last chance to redeem himself. Along the way, the spirits carry Frank to scenes from his past, present, and future (per Scrooge) and impart a glimpse of how he became so thoroughly rotten. The radiant Karen Allen co-stars as Frank's girlfriend, Claire Phillips, and the film packs in cameos from countless celebrities -- among them, Mary Lou Retton, John Houseman, Jamie Farr, and, in a truly grisly and tasteless bit, John Forsythe. Richard Donner directs, from a script credited to the late Michael O'Donoghue and Mitch Glazer. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bill Murray, Karen Allen, (more)
Thanks to the carelessness of a cute little dog, newlyweds Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin are killed in a freak auto accident. Upon arriving in the outer offices of Heaven, the couple finds that, thanks to a century's worth of bureaucratic red tape, they're on a long celestial waiting list. Before they can earn their wings, Davis and Baldwin must occupy their old house as ghosts for the next fifty years. Alas, the house is now owned by insufferable yuppies Catherine O'Hara and Jeffrey Jones. Horrified at the prospect of sharing space with these obnoxious interlopers, Davis and Baldwin do their best to scare O'Hara and Jones away, but their house-haunting skills are pathetic at best. In desperation, the ghostly couple engage the services of a veteran scaremeister: a yellow-haired, snaggle-toothed, profane, flatulent "gonzo" spirit named Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton). The problem: Beetlejuice cannot be trusted-especially when he falls in love with O'Hara and Jones' gloomy, black-clad teenaged daughter Winona Ryder. Beetlejuice producer David Geffen, director Tim Burton, and composer Danny Elfman were also involved in an animated TV-series spin-off. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, (more)
Paul Reubens's followup to the box-office hit Pee-Wee's Big Adventure is just as outrageous and cartoonish, though not as good. This time, child-man Pee-Wee runs a colorful farm, chock full of talking animals and outsized produce. On the morning after a tornado of Wizard of Oz dimensions, Pee-Wee awakens to discover that a travelling circus has been deposited in his back yard. Befriended by circus owner Kris Kristofferson, Pee-Wee takes an acrobatic job, hoping to impress lovely trapeze artist Valeria Golino--thereby incurring the jealous rage of his hometown sweetie Penelope Ann Miller. When the circus is faced with bankruptcy, Pee-Wee comes up with a brilliant idea: why not stage a three-ring spectacular celebrating the wonders of agriculture? A partial takeoff of such earlier sawdust-trail flicks as Martin and Lewis' Three Ring Circus and Disney's Toby Tyler, Big Top Pee-Wee is generally entertaining, but goes off in too many directions at once, leaving a lot of loose plot ends and underdeveloped characters. Also, Pee-Wee's overactive libido (at least in this film!) is not all that suitable for his younger fans. Even so, there are plenty of hilarious set-pieces. Big Top Pee-Wee was produced and cowritten by Paul Reubens. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Paul Reubens, Kris Kristofferson, (more)
- 1988
- PG
After his mother's death, Fred P. Cheney (Bob Goldthwaith) must share the family financial business with his scheming stepfather Walter Sawyer (Dabney Coleman) in this misfired comedy. Fred also inherits Don, a talking horse who provides him with hot tips on the stock market. Don's voice is provided by John Candy, and Virginia Madsen plays Fred's romantic interest Allison Rowe. Mr. Ed and Francis the Talking Mule must be rolling over in their graves over this uneven comedy attempt. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bobcat Goldthwait, Dabney Coleman, (more)
Director Martin Brest, of Going in Style and Beverly Hills Cop fame, was in charge of Midnight Run. Robert De Niro stars as Jack Walsh, a hard-bitten bounty hunter offered $100,000 to bring in embezzler Jonathan Mardukas (Charles Grodin). Handcuffed to the wimpy Mardukas, Walsh assumes that the extradition trip from New York to Los Angeles will be an uneventful one. But the prisoner hasn't told Walsh the whole story: the embezzler owes $15 million to a mobster (Dennis Farina), and he's been targeted for assassination. It's a toss-up as to what is the most entertaining aspect of Midnight Run: the slam-bang action and chase sequences or the verbal byplay between DeNiro and Grodin. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert De Niro, Charles Grodin, (more)
On the eve of his Hawaiian vacation, irresponsible high school teacher Freddy Shoop (Mark Harmon) is forced into teaching a summer-school class. His students are all malcontents and layabouts with the standard repertoire of teenaged hang-ups and hostilities (two of the kids, who can't see enough slasher movies to suit them, are hilarious precursors to Beavis and Butt-Head). Harmon would rather spend his time with history teacher Robin Bishop (Kirstie Alley), but she doesn't think much of his laziness and lack of dedication. Shoop finally begins to take his job seriously when he realizes his students' problems are not all of their own making. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mark Harmon, Kirstie Alley, (more)
- 1986
- R
In this film, an old felony conviction comes back to haunt the young, ambitious John Wisdom (Emilio Estevez) as he applies and is turned down for a number of jobs. Frustrated by his attempts to make a legitimate living, John and his girlfriend, Karen (Demi Moore), set out to commit a series of bank robberies, using the money to ease the plight of down-on-their-luck farmers. Emilio Estevez wrote, directed, and starred in this feature. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi
- Starring:
- Emilio Estevez, Demi Moore, (more)
Self-made wealthy guy Thornton Melon (Rodney Dangerfield) decides he needs a better education -- and also to spend some time away from his cheating new wife. Thornton joins his son, Jason (Keith Gordon) at college. Dad hopes to gain his son's respect (isn't that always Dangerfield's motivation?), while his son tries to fit in with his snobbish and brutish fellow students. English professor Diane Turner (Sally Kellerman) forms a strong bond with Thornton, encouraging both father and son to stick out their first year despite all odds. The finale involves some slapstick at the swimming pool diving board, and the obligatory commencement address delivered by Dangerfield, who proves that he can crack jokes without tugging at his tie. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rodney Dangerfield, Sally Kellerman, (more)
A wildly inventive and entertaining comic nightmare from former Roger Corman prodigy Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs), this screwball odyssey is a ride to remember. Jeff Daniels plays clean-cut New York bond trader Charlie Driggs, who accepts a ride home from a strange but attractive lower-class woman named Lulu (Melanie Griffith). The sexy Louise Brooks lookalike doesn't take him home, but shanghais him for a bizarre roadtrip to Virginia that includes kinky bondage sex, destruction of property, and robbery. Things get stranger when Lulu tells Charlie that her real name is Audrey and takes him home to meet her mother, asking him to pose as her husband. The charade continues until her high-school reunion, where the roadtrip (and the entire film) takes a sharp U-turn into psycho-thriller territory. Audrey's dangerously psychotic ex-con husband, Ray Sinclair (Ray Liotta), shows up. What had been a liberating fling for Charlie turns into a bloody and vicious battle for survival. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jeff Daniels, Melanie Griffith, (more)
Co-written by Paul Reubens and Phil Hartman, Pee Wee's Big Adventure marks the debut of director Tim Burton, who stamps the entire film with his quirky trademark style. The premise: Pee Wee (Reubens), an overgrown pre-pubescent boy sporting a molded Princeton cut, blush, lipstick, and a shrunken gray flannel suit, lives an idyllic life in his bizarre home (some have compared the remarkable set design to the expressionistic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) until someone nabs his most prized possession: a fire engine-red customized bicycle. He then embarks on an epic cross-country search to find his lost love, not to mention more than a little adventure. Along the way, he makes friends with various oddball characters, visits the Alamo, endures various hallucinatory nightmares, and has a supernatural run-in with a spectral trucker. In this reprisal of his popular standup routine, Reubens is wonderful as the nerdy man child; he plays it silly, yet he manages to imbue the role with some sensitivity without ever seeming maudlin. The score by Danny Elfman is terrific -- as is the case in nearly every film Burton has directed -- and the script is fresh and inventive. Some of the most memorable moments: the opening sequence involving Pee Wee's morning activities is a stroke of genius (note the bunny slippers and talking breakfast), as are the scenes at the truck stop, and the "Hollywood" version of Pee Wee's story at the end (starring James Brolin and Morgan Fairchild in surprise cameos). In all, Pee Wee's Big Adventure is a delightful film, enjoyable for children as well as adults. ~ Jeremy Beday, Rovi
- Starring:
- Paul Reubens, Elizabeth Daily, (more)
Oingo Boingo fans and midnight movie mavens will love this bizarre black-and-white feature packed with music, madness, and members of the Elfman clan. The story revolves around the Hercules family, who live in a house that just happens to hide a secret entrance to the Sixth Dimension in the basement. When daughter Frenchy (Marie-Pascale Elfman) skips school one afternoon, she finds herself irresistibly drawn to the forbidden door, and winds up a prisoner in this alternate world. King Fausto (Herve Villechaize), the diminutive leader of the Sixth Dimension, is enamored with the beautiful young Frenchy and keeps her in the same cell as his favorite concubines, despite the disapproval of Queen Doris (Susan Tyrrell). Frenchy's brother, Flash (Phil Gordon), follows her into the Forbidden Zone with Gramps (Hyman Diamond) in tow, intending to save her, but they too are captured and must call school chum Squeezit (Toshiro Baloney, aka Matthew Bright) for help. Squeezit tries to assist, but ends up captured and decapitated by Satan (Danny Elfman), though this development doesn't keep his disembodied noggin from flying about and informing King Fausto that the Queen is planning to dispose of his beloved Frenchy. The appearance of the King's first wife and the kidnapping of his topless daughter further confuse matters, but everything is wrapped up neatly with an elaborate song and dance number at the conclusion. ~ Fred Beldin, Rovi
- Starring:
- Herve Villechaize, Susan Tyrrell, (more)
- 1977
Martin Brest was a student filmmaker when he made Hot Tomorrows for $33,000 -- practically nothing even by the standards of 1977. He went on to produce major Hollywood movies, including Beverly Hills Cop. In this film, Michael (Ken Lerner) is a young New York writer who has moved to L.A. and who spends his days writing about his elderly aunt, when he is not busy exploring his obsession with death. He is spending Christmas Eve with Louis (Ray Sharkey), a visiting friend, and they choose some unusual sites in which to carry on their holiday discussions, including a mortuary and a retirement home. Though this short black-and-white feature was given high praise by critics, few have had a chance to see it. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ken Lerner, Ray Sharkey, (more)
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