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Movie Love: Complete Reviews 1988-1991 (Plume)

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Pauline Kael - - Movie Love (1988-1991)

Bird - Directed By Clint Eastwood, Starring Forest Whitaker

Gorillas In The Mist - - Directed by Michael Apted, Starring Sigourney Weaver

Patty Hearst - - Directed by Paul Schrader, Starring Natasha Richardson

Another Woman - - Directed by Woody Allen, Starring Gena Rowlands

Punchline - - Directed by David Seltzer, Starring Tom Hanks, Sally Field, John Goodman

Madame Sousatzka - - Directed by John Schlesinger, Starring Shirley MacLaine

Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown - - Directed By Pedro Almodovar

Things Change - - Directed by David Mamet, Starring Don Ameche

A Cry In The Dark - - Directed by Fred Schepisi, Starring Meryl Streep, Sam Neill

The Good Mother - - Directed by Leonard Nimoy, Starring Diane Keaton, Liam Neeson

Scrooged - - Directed By Richard Donner, Starring Bill Murray

High Spirits - - Directed by Neil Jordan, Starring Daryl Hannah, Liam Neeson,

The Dressmaker - - Directed by Jim O'Brien,

Tequila Sunrise - - Directed by Robert Towne, Starring Mel Gibson & Michelle Pfeiffer

Mississippi Burning - - Directed by Alan Parker, Starring Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe

Dangerous Liaisons - - Director: Stephen Frears, Starring Glenn Close, John Malkovich Michelle Pfeiffer;

Working Girl - - Director: Mike Nichols, Starring Sigourney Weaver, Melanie Griffith, Harrison Ford;

The Accidental Tourist - - Director: Lawrence Kasdan, Starring William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Geena Davis;

Beaches - - Director: Garry Marshall, Starring Bette Midler, Barbara Hershey;

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels - - Director: Frank Oz, Starring Steve Martin, Michael Caine

Rain Man - - Director: Barry Levinson, Starring Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise

True Believer - - Director: Joseph Ruben, Starring James Woods, Robert Downey Jr.

High Hopes - - Director: Mike Leigh, Starring Ruth Sheen,

Three Fugitives - - Director: Francis Veber, Starring Nick Nolte,


Out Cold - - Director: Malcolm Mowbray, Starring Teri Garr, Bruce McGill, Randy Quaid, John Lithgow;

Parents - - Director: Bob Balaban, Starring Randy Quaid, Mary Beth Hurt,

Cousins - - Director: Joel Schmacher, Starring Isabella Rossellini, Ted Danson, William Peterson;

New York Stories - - Directors: Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Woody Allen, Starring Nick Nolte, Rosanna Arquette, Mia Farrow, Julie Kavner;

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen - - Director: Terry Gilliam, Starring John Neville, Jonathan Pryce, Sting;

The Dream Team - - Director: Howard Zieff, Starring Michael Keaton, Peter Boyle, Christopher Lloyd, Lorraine Bracco;

Crusoe - - Director: Caleb Deschanel, Starring Aidan Quinn

Heathers - - Director: Michael Lehmann, Starring Winona Ryder, Christian Slater;

Let's Get Lost - - Director: Bruce Weber

Field Of Dreams - - Director: Phil Alden Robinson, Starring Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, Gaby Hoffman, James Earl Jones, Burt Lancaster,

Scandal - - Director: Michael Caton-Jones, Starring John Hurt

Say Anything - - Director: Cameron Crowe, Starring John Cusack,

The Rainbow - - Director: Ken Russell,

Miss Firecracker - - Director: Thomas Schlamme, Starring Holly Hunter, Tim Robbins, Mary Steenburgen, Alfre Woodard;

Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade - - Director: Steven Spielberg, Starring Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, River Phoenix;

Vampire's Kiss - - Directed by Robert Bierman, Starring Nicholas Cage, Maria Conchita Alonso, Jennifer Beals, Elizabeth Ashley, Kasi Lemmons;

Dead Poet's Society - - Director: Peter Weir, Starring Robin Williams, Ethan Hawke;

Batman - - Director: Tim Burton, Starring Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Jack Palance, Kim Basinger,

Ghostbusters II - - Director: Ivan Reitman, Starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis, Ernie Hudson,

Casualties Of War - - Director: Brian DePalma, Starring Michael J Fox, Sean Penn,

My Left Foot - - Director: Jim Sheridan, Starring Daniel Day-Lewis;

Penn & Teller Get Killed - - Director: Arthur Penn;

A Dry White Season - - Director: Euzhan Palcy, Starring Marlon Brando

The Fabulous Baker Boys - - Director: Steve Kloves, Starring Beau & Jeff Bridges, Michelle Pfeiffer;

Breaking In - - Director: John Sayles, Starring Burt Reynolds, Bill Forsyth, Lorraine Toussaint;

Johnny Handsome - - Director: Walter Hill, Starring Morgan Freeman Forest Whitaker, Mickey Rourke;

Drugstore Cowboy - - Director: Gus Van Sant, Starring Matt Dillon, Heather Graham;

Crimes and Misdemeaners - - Director: Woody Allen, Martin Landau, Anjelica Huston,

Dad - - Director: Gary David Goldberg, Starring Jack Lemmon, Ted Danson, Olympia Dukakis

Fat Man And Little Boy - - Director: Roland Joffe, Starring Paul Newman, Laura Dern, John Cusack;

The Bear - - Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud;

Henry V - - Director: Kenneth Branagh, Starring Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson

Valmont - - Director: Milos Forman, Starring Colin Firth, Fairuza Balk, Henry Thomas

Blaze - - Director: Ron Shelton, Starring Paul Newman, Lolita Davidovich

Back To The Future II - - Director: Robert Zemeckis, Starring Michael J Fox, Christopher Lloyd

The Little Mermaid

Enemies, A Love Story - - Director: Paul Mazursky, Starring Ron Silver, Anjelica Huston

Driving Miss Daisy - - Director: Bruce Beresford, Starring Morgan Freeman, Jessica Tandy, Dan Aykroyd, Esther Rolle,

Music Box - - Director: Costa-Gavras, Starring Armin Mueller-Stahl, Jessica Lange,

Roger & Me - - Director: Michael Moore,

Always - - Director: Steven Spielberg, Starring Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter, John Goodman, Audrey Hepburn;

Born On The Fourth Of July - - Director: Oliver Stone, Starring Tom Cruise

Glory - - Director: Edward Zwick, Starring Matthew Broderick, Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington, Andre Braugher,

Internal Affairs - - Director: Mike Figgis, Starring Richard Gere, Andy Garcia, Laurie Metcalf, Annabella Sciorra,

Goodfellas - - Director: Martin Scorsese, Starring Ray Liotta, Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, Paul Sorvino, Loraine Bracco,

The Tall Guy - - Director: Mel Smith, Starring Jeff Goldblum, Rowan Atkinson, Emma Thompson,

Postcards From The Edge - - Director; Mike Nichols, Starring Meryl Streep, Shirley MacLaine, Richard Dreyfuss, Gene Hackman, Annette Bening,

Pacific Heights - - Director: John Schlesinger, Starring Melanie Griffith, Matthew Modine, Michael Keaton, Beverly D'Angelo, Dorian Harewood, Carl Lumbly;

Avalon - - Director: Barry Levinson, Starring Elijah Wood, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Aidan Quinn, Kevin Pollack,

The Grifters - - Director: Stephen Frears, Starring Anjelica Huston, John Cusack,

Reversal Of Fortune - - Director: Barbet Schroeder, Starring Ron Silver, Jeremy Irons, Rutger Hauer, Glenn Close,

Vincent And Theo - - Director: Robert Altman, Starring Tim Roth, Paul Rhys,

Dances With Wolves - - Director: Kevin Costner, Starring Kevin Costner,

Edward Scissorhands - - Director: Tim Burton, Starring Johnny Depp, Dianne Wiest, Vincent Price, Alan Arkin, Winona Ryder, Anthony Michael Hall,

The Sheltering Sky - - Director: Bernardo Bertolucci, Starring John Malkovich, Debra Winger, Campbell Scott,

Everybody Wins - - Director: Karel Reisz, Starring Debra Winger, Nick Nolte,

The Godfather Part III - - Director: Francis Ford Coppola, Starring Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Andy Garcia, Raf Vallone,

The Bonfire Of The Vanities - - Director: Brian DePalma, Starring Tom Hanks, Melanie Griffith, Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, F. Murray Abraham;

Awakenings - - Director: Penny Marshall, Starring Robin Williams, Robert DeNiro

Sleeping With The Enemy - - Director: Joseph Ruben, Starring Julia Roberts

L.A. Story - - Director: Mick Jackson, Starring Steve Martin

This is Pauline Kael's 11th and final collection of the film reviews she wrote for The New Yorker, covering the period October 1988 to February 1991. In March 1991 the magazine quietly announced her retirement, due to the extent that the Parkinson's Disease she suffered from had incapacitated her. Her author's note begins wih a quote from Pound - "what thou lovest well remains" - which is an appropriate way to end the relationship she had with movies for over 2 decades, since her inspired reviews of movies of variable quality are Kael's heritage. Her praises here include Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Dangerous Liaisons, the doco Let's Get Lost, Batman, Casualties of War, My Left Foot, Drugstore Cowboy, The Grifters, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Vincent and Theo, and Enemies A Love Story. Her pans include Another Woman, Mississippi Burning, Rain Man, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Always, Postcards from the Edge, The Sheltering Sky, and The Bonfire of the Vanities. Some memorable quotes. Bird looks like he Clint Eastwood hadn't paid his Con Ed bill - the black actors are swallowed up in darkness. As Madame Sousatzka, Shirley MacLaine could be Norma Desmond's sma;;-town spinster sister. The reference in Beaches to the bad experience Bette Midler had on Jinxed! might have more impact if by then you weren't thinking back on Jinked! almostly fondly. People used to say that Gary Cooper was a fine actor - probably because when they looked in his face they were ready to give him their powder of attorney. In Born on the Fourth of July, Tom Cruise's hysteria is like a tennis pro falling to his knees and throwing his fists up in the air. A friend of mine broke up with his woman friend after they saw Dance with Wolves: she liked it. As soon as I got home from seeing it, I ran to the phone and warned him not to it with his new woman friend.