Luchino Visconti's kitsch allegorical melodrama is set in Germany in 1933 and describes the corruption of the wealthy Von Essenbeck family in the face of the Nazi menace. And so, within a few short scenes, they go from fireside home recitals to transvestitism, rape, murder, same-sex orgies, massacres and motherfucking (literally). Made in 1969, it's clearly very political. But that's no excuse.
When kiddie TV host Rainbow Randolph (Robin Williams) is convicted of corruption, the network demands that his replacement be squeaky clean and beyond reproach. Enter Smoochy the Rhino (Ed Norton), who's so 'PC' it hurts. Can Smoochy learn to cope with the sleazy world of TV, or will Randolph kill him first? Despite a strong cast and Danny DeVito in the director's chair, this fails to spark.
Vincente Minnelli's heart-breaking, life-affirming 1944 musical. It's 1903, and as the World's Fair unfolds in their rosy little town, young Judy Garland's family face moving to the Big Apple. One of the great musicals; and as a movie about childhood, it's up there with The Night Of The Hunter and, as a lament for changing times, ranks alongside The Magnificent Ambersons and... The Wild Bunch. Kind of.
Walter Hill's terrific 1978 thriller about a cop's obsessive pursuit of a seemingly uncatchable criminal clearly anticipates Michael Mann's Heat, for which it may have provided an unacknowledged template. It's a much leaner picture than Mann's portentous epic, however, but just as stylish and a lot more exciting, with a series of stunningly orchestrated car chases, a satisfyingly complicated plot and a couple of instances of eye-popping violence.
