Email Author Andy Klein

1997 Stories by Andy Klein

• Paying the Piper

  published December 25, 1997

  With 1994's Exotica, Egyptian-born Atom Egoyan clinched his claim to being Canada's leading director. His new film, The Sweet Hereafter, should... More >>

• Return to Sender

  published December 25, 1997

  It's been just two years since the Academy nominated the Italian film Il Postino (a.k.a. The Postman) for multiple Oscars, including Best Picture,... More >>

• 007 By the Numbers

  published December 18, 1997

  Now that the Japanese Tora-san series -- with fiftysome entries in 30 years -- has presumably drawn to a close following the death of star Kiyoshi... More >>

• Second Time as Farce

  published December 11, 1997

  Wes Craven's Scream, which opened almost exactly a year ago, was the surprise hit of an overcrowded Christmas season. In part, the success was a... More >>

• The Manic Professor

  published December 4, 1997

  First, The Heiress was unofficially remade as Washington Square, then Ace in the Hole as Mad City, and The Day of the Jackal as The Jackal. But... More >>

• The Odyssey

  published December 4, 1997

  It's hard for anyone under, say, 35 to understand the impact that the so-called French New Wave directors in general -- and Jean-Luc Godard, in... More >>

• Workers of the World, Unite in Song!

  published November 27, 1997

  Soviet film, whatever its glories, is not particularly remembered for its frothy musicals (or even, for that matter, for its comedies).... More >>

• History in the Faking

  published November 20, 1997

  Disney Studios has had a near-monopoly on feature animation for almost 60 years now, and near-monopolies are nearly as destructive as full-on... More >>

• Animal Urges

  published November 13, 1997

  Documentarian Errol Morris is by far best known for his 1988 feature, The Thin Blue Line, which is often described as the only film that ever got... More >>

• Slow Death

  published November 13, 1997

  Scientists estimate that the last Ice Age, which lasted roughly two-and-a-half million years, ended about 10,000 years ago. Glaciers covered the... More >>

• Sex in the Suburbs

  published November 6, 1997

  Taiwanese-American director Ang Lee has carved out a place for himself as our leading director of comedies of manners. His first three films --... More >>

• Too Much Magic

  published October 23, 1997

  The true-life incident of the Cottingley fairies is so full of possibilities, so thought-provoking and hilarious at once, that it's amazing it's... More >>

• Respectable Street

  published October 23, 1997

  Jennifer Jason Leigh follows up one of her smallest, and weakest, roles -- in A Thousand Acres -- with a far more challenging, and formidable,... More >>

• Start Making Sense

  published October 16, 1997

  I am sympathetic to the problems of following up a masterpiece like Wings of Desire.... The history of film is filled with mediocre films by great... More >>

• The Wild Side, Circa 1954

  published October 9, 1997

  The seventies were so awash in fifties nostalgia that it's surprising Dan Wakefield's 1970 bestseller Going All the Way is only now turning up in... More >>

• Killer

  published October 9, 1997

  Despite its title, Licensed to Kill isn't a thriller. Rather, it is a thriller, just not the sort one would expect. Arthur Dong's documentary --... More >>

• Chan Do

  published July 24, 1997

  It's no secret that the "new" Jackie Chan releases in the U.S. aren't really new at all. In fact, they're not even showing up in chronological... More >>

• Waltz on the Wild Side

  published July 17, 1997

  At first glance, the new Japanese comedy Shall We Dance? appears to be an Asian remake of the Australian hit Strictly Ballroom -- but, in fact,... More >>

• That Sinking Feeling

  published June 12, 1997

  First, the good news: Unlike most action film sequels, Speed 2: Cruise Control is not a mere retread of the original. Now the bad news: Better it... More >>

• Air Disaster

  published June 5, 1997

  It wouldn't be fair to say that the string of hits produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer from 1983 through 1996 are stylistically... More >>

• Black to the Future

  published May 29, 1997

  Labels, when they're accurate, can help alert a niche audience to films so close to their lives they're sure to want to see them, almost... More >>

• Time to Kill

  published May 15, 1997

  Claude Chabrol, one of the original lights of the French New Wave, makes thrillers that would simply never be produced anywhere near a Hollywood... More >>

• One Angry Man

  published May 15, 1997

  Sidney Lumet has had enough ups and downs in his long, prolific career that it's never safe to count him out ... even after two disappointing... More >>

• Abortion for Grins

  published April 3, 1997

  Nobody is going to accuse writer/director Alexander Payne of being chickenshit. For his first feature, the hilarious Citizen Ruth, he has not only... More >>

• Kickin' It

  published March 13, 1997

  love jones -- writer/director Theodore Witcher's debut film, which won the Audience Award at January's Sundance Film Festival -- takes a lucid... More >>