Backtrack (1990)

 

BACKTRACK  (1990)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Dennis Hopper

    Dennis Hopper, Jodie Foster, Vincent Price,

    Joe Pesci, Dean Stockwell, John Turturro,

    Fred Ward, Catherine Keener, Charlie Sheen,

    Helena Kallianiotes, Julie Adams, Bob Dylan

An oddball gangster romance starring Dennis Hopper as a hit man and Jodie Foster as an artist who's witnessed a gangland murder. He's supposed to kill her, but she turns out to be more than he bargained for, and the two of them end up on the run together, trying to elude both the mob and the law. When Dennis gets stressed, he blows a few notes on a phallic saxophone, while Jodie, choosing life over death, tags along, not sure if she's being kidnapped or what's going on. Joe Pesci, Dean Stockwell and John Turturro play the gangsters trying to track them down. (Check out Turturro's shoes.) Vincent Price plays the godfather. Catherine Keener checks in for a minute or two as a truck driver on her way to Canada, and Bob Dylan has an uncredited cameo as a chainsaw artist. It's all pretty crazy, and that seems to be the point: Dennis Hopper with his demons (apparently) under control and his tongue buried deep in his cheek.

The Top Ten Movies of 2025

MOVIES I LIKED A LOT: 

"Eddington" (2025)

"Nouvelle Vague" (2025)

"Sinners" (2025)

"The American Revolution" (2025)

"Begonia" (2025)

"Companion" (2025)

"I'm Still Here" (2024)

"No Other Land" (2024)

"Overlord" (1975)

"American Ultra" (2015)

MOVIES I MIGHT WATCH AGAIN SOMETIME:

"Weapons" (2025)

"A House of Dynamite" (2025)

"F1" (2025)

"I Really Hate My Job" (2007)

"One Battle After Another" (2025)

"Never Let Me Go" (2010)

"The Congress" (2013)

"Joe" (2013)

"Womb" (2010)

"Triangle" (2009)

SECRET TREASURES:

"Otley" (1969)

"Cattle Annie and Little Britches" (1980)

"Just Visiting" (2001)

"Seven Footprints To Satan" (1929)

BACK ON THE BIG SCREEN:

"Dogma" (1999) 

"Linda Linda Linda" (2005)

FOUR FROM THE VIDEO VAULT:

"Blazing Saddles" (1974)

"Breathless" (1960)

"Return To Glennascaul" (1952)

"The Battle of the Century" (1927)

TOXIC WASTE:

"I Was a Teenage Strangler" (1997)

Hardcore (2004)

 

HARDCORE  (2004)  ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Dennis Iliadis

    Katerina Tsavalou, Danae Skiadi, Ioannis Pappazisis,

    Omiros Poulakis, Andreas Marianos, Dimitris Liolios

A Greek movie about the dreary, fucked-up lives of two young prostitutes, one adventurous and outgoing and the other guarded and morose. There are some unexpected (and unlikely) turns in the story and occasional bits of animation, suggesting that some of what you're watching might be fantasy, but overall it's pretty depressing, and it comes with an implied teen safety advisory: If you're a kid who's burned down your parents' house and run away from home, a brothel in Athens might not be where you want to end up.

High Maintenance (2006}

HIGH MAINTENANCE  (2006)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Phillip Van 

    Nicolette Krebitz, Wanja Mues

A woman becomes bored with her male companion and decides to trade him in on another model, but there's a switch. Literally.

Gorp (1980)

GORP  (1980)  1/2 ¢

    D: Joseph Ruben

    Michael Lembeck, Dennis Quaid, Philip Casnoff,

    Fran Drescher, David Huddleston, Lou Wagner

    Richard Beauchamp, Julius Harris, Rosanna Arquette

A witless slob comedy about the supposedly riotous antics of the kitchen help and waitstaff at a Jewish summer camp. To call the humor in this sophomoric would be an insult to all sophomores. Oy.

The Tenth Inning (2010)

 

THE TENTH INNING  (2010)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Ken Burns, Lynn Novick

Ken Burns goes back to the ballpark to update his epic documentary on baseball. This will appeal to just about anybody who cares about the game, but especially fans of the Yankees and Red Sox. (Burns is a die-hard Red Sox fan and was inspired to make the movie when the team finally won the World Series.) The big story playing out over the time the film covers is the steroids scandal, so there's a lot of Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds, at the expense of players who were just about as talented but not so conspicuously juiced. George Will, Bob Costas, Pedro Martinez and Joe Torre are among the witnesses. A plus for Mariners fans: Ichiro. A minus: Seattle's 116-win season in 2001 isn't even mentioned. 

. . . And God Created Woman (1956)

 

. . . AND GOD CREATED WOMAN  (1956)  ¢ ¢

    D: Roger Vadim

    Brigitte Bardot, Curt Jurgens, Jean-Louis Trintignant

. . . and the movies created Bardot.

(1934-2025)