happened to be "Drew Barrymore"), and decides to use it to make a film about his aspiration to ask Barrymore out on a date. Enlisting a few eager and bemused producers and directors as allies, Herzlinger goes through a self-improvement campaign--exercising, finding out what Barrymore likes--while also interviewing people who know her, including actor Eric Roberts and Charlie's Angels co-screenwriter John August. The tricky part, of course, is not giving anyone the impression that Herzlinger is just a sophisticated stalker, especially when he's busy wrangling invitations to celebrity parties so he can get near the object of his lifelong crush. The film runs a little low on steam in its second half, and the suggestion that the movie is really about the ...  (less)

Goded (Fele Martinez) and happily proclaims that he's actually Enrique's long-lost school chum Ignacio--an announcement that is both less than convincing and more than it seems. A novice actor, Ángel pitches a semi-autobiographical screenplay in which he's determined to star, a revenge-laden reflection of the doomed love he and Enrique shared as boys before a pedophile priest cruelly intervened. The script, and the lost days it recalls, carefully unfurls into a series of brooding movies-within-movies and memories-inside-memories, which allow the sensual, multiple-role-playing Bernal to give the performance of his young career--among other things, he makes a stunningly convincing drag queen--and Almodóvar the opport...  (less)

film that seems destined to become an 80's camp classic (repressed Midwestern youth bravely fighting for their right to dance) was also a notable trailblazer in the pop song soundtrack marketing scam, i.e. line up a bunch of contemporary hit makers and have them cut a batch of songs that might not be germaine to the film's plot but will sell oodles of units. But damned if Footloose isn't a classic slice--for better or worse--of mid-'80s, album-oriented rock. This kind of instant era-compilation must make the folks at K-Tel very nervous. --Jerry McCulley  (less)