They Shot the Piano Player (2024)
Spanish director Fernando Truaba is one of those [...]
Archive for June, 1981
The Great Muppet Caper (1981)
One of the things that I love about The Muppets is the way in which, no matter what they are doing, the plot gets out of their way. This was true of their TV show and of their first movie two years ago. Yes, they get in situations but never so dire or so involving […]
Dragonslayer (1981)
Dragonslayer arrives at a very particular moment, after John Boorman’s Excalibur and just after the Ray Harryhausen extravaganza Clash of the Titans. Given those two epics, you might assume that this material would feel a bit worn down. Thankfully, you’d be wrong. The three films are all playing in the same fantasy arena but seem […]
For Your Eyes Only (1981)
I suppose that after Moonraker, James Bond had nowhere to go but up. Once he hit rock bottom by going to outer space, I kinda figured that his adventures had reached their limit. I’m happy to say that the producers of this series have come to their senses. They realize how silly the outer space […]
The Cannonball Run (1981)
There is generally no reason for me to like The Cannonball Run. It is stupid, aimless, juvenile and most of its jokes don’t work, but I must admit a modest affection for it. Something happens to me during this movie. My critical pen seems to slip out of my hand and I just find myself […]
Superman II (1981)
Much will be written about Superman II dealing with its visual effects, it’s villains and it’s equality to 1978’s Superman. But I fear that not enough will be written about the contribution of Christopher Reeve, the actor charged with convincing us that he could switch from the charming and confidence last son of Krypton to […]
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark is the template on how to make a great action film. Seen by itself, it is probably the most beloved action picture in cinema history, but if you stand back and look at it in the pantheon of Spielberg’s work, it isn’t exactly intellectualized. Critics loved it at […]
Clash of the Titans (1981)
It is perhaps a credit to the great animator Ray Harryhausen that in the age of Star Wars, his brand of special effects can still dazzle us. Perhaps it is because we can see the work. He takes tiny scale models and moves them one-quarter of an inch and photographs them one frame at a […]
History of the World, Part I (1981)
I have been wracking my brain trying to figure out what went wrong with this movie. Here is an epic brought to us by one of the greatest comic minds of our time and it fails on such a monumental level that one day it may stand with the likes of Cleopatra and Intolerance as […]
