Word: cheapo
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...normal coloring books, anyway. You can find a few in the children's section of Wordsworth Books. But these are not traditional, cheapo-newsprint coloring books featuring Mickey Mouse or Popeye or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. These are coloring books for the kiddie intelligentsia. They're geared towards the children who were drilled on German Philosopher Flashcards at age two, attended experimental elementary schools where all classes were taught in Esperanto, and grew up to apply to Harvard and be your roommate. Maybe you had one of these coloring books yourself...
Darkman wants to be Batman. Its hero, a scientist (Liam Neeson) scarred in body and soul after being left for dead by venal thugs, is a cloaked crusader bent more on vengeance than on justice. Director Sam Raimi, whose cheapo slasher film The Evil Dead achieved cult status, mines familiar comic-book terrain with a plucky heroine (Frances McDormand), a couple of corporate villains -- one slick (Colin Friels), the other slimy (Larry Drake) -- and plenty of explosive violence that virtually reads KA-BOOM! in block letters across the screen...
...that Bad Influence is an el cheapo exploitation film. It is more an el grande one. That is, it was in the works before either Lowe or Spader achieved his new level of notoriety, so its makers cannot be accused of cashing in on the former's troubles or the latter's triumph. It is, moreover, good looking in a chic, languid sort of way, and it is written with occasional wit and social awareness. Indeed, its literary credentials are, if anything, rather too impeccable: Spader's character, Michael, an analyst in an investment firm, is Faust at a computer...