Released in 1996, "Mojave Moon" is a black comedy/thriller about an average man in his 50s (Danny Aiello) who is so intrigued by a young woman (Angelina Jolie) that he agrees to drive her to her mom's place in the desert. He then becomes infatuated with the blissful and clueless mother (Anne Archer), but her loony boyfriend looms near (Michael Biehn)."Mojave Moon" has that quirky, hip flare of movies of the mid-to-late 90s, like "Pulp Fiction", "Michael", "The Way of the Gun" and "American Psycho". If you have a taste for these types of films you might like "Mojave Moon." Those who want to catch a good glimpse of Angelina Jolie early in her career will also be interested. She was only 20 during filming, but brimming with confidence and allure. She has quite a few scenes where she's not wearing much, including a shower scene that shows her top-nude. I can understand why some might get worked-up about her, but she doesn't trip my trigger. Don't get me wrong, she has an exotically gorgeous face with full lips, but the rest of her is just too slinky for my tastes. But if you find her appealing that's wonderful.BOTTOM LINE: "Mojave Moon" is mildly entertaining as a bizarre black comedy/thriller. I had a few good laughs, but it struck me as curious more than anything else, with characters who don't ring true and do unbelievable things. Take, for instance, the gas station attendant who foolishly engages in a gunfight right out in the open or the ensuing gunfight where no one hits anyone even though they're all fairly close. The film's full of these "yeah, right" moments. Still, it's not bad. It tries to be different.The film runs 95 minutes and was shot in Palmdale, CA.GRADE: C+

Even though I gave it only 3 stars, I still liked this movie. Aiello, Archer and Jolie are all very good actors and they mesh pretty well in this. Biehn and Molina are caricatures and I wonder why. Well, no I don't. I blame the director. What could have been a very thoughtful film turns into a lame, sophomoric second half. Too bad; Biehn and Molina are competent actors but the cartoonish stuff blows. Oh well, Aiello and Asher are always good, Jolie is so attractive and sexy that were she more so the screen would explode. This could have been a much better film. However, the movie is photographed beautifully. I just checked the credits and it appears the director does nothing but TV series. This film should have gone to someone like Bogdanovich or even DePalma. Oh well.

If you like the opening credits music, the closing credits music , as well as the horrible dance scene by Angelina, please check out the band who wrote and recorded that music: Watsonville patio. Like them athttp://www.facebook.com/pages/Watsonville-Patio/142348332500850It's funny, when we went to the premiere, we knew she was going to be a star. She had that 'it' quality. Too bad the movie wasn't so great. It had potential, plus it was filmed in the Mohave desert/ Joshua Tree, which is a place of magical beauty. Angelina also shows some nudity, she was so young back then. Danny Aiello was the main star, and Anne Archer was still pretty hot at the time. Over all, the film is a bit confusing and somewhat of a goof-ball comedy, but we hope you like the music.

It would be easy to dismiss this as just another bad film. Actually, it is a bad film but it's redeemed by a couple of strong elements, most notably the appearance of Angelina Jolie and Danny Aiello. This is one of Jolie's earlier films, coming after Hackers but before her breakout performance in Gia, and you can really see her coming into her own as a star. A star is someone you can't take your eyes off of when they're on screen - Jolie is beautiful and sexy as hell but beyond that, even at this early stage, she's got a certain indescribable something that makes it hard to take your eyes off of her.Aiello, of course, is great at playing the kind of lovable schmuck he plays in this film. The loser with a heart of gold. In this film he's 50, just gone through a nasty divorce and trying to figure out life in LA. Unlike some of the other posts up here I could totally see him going out to the desert and getting mixed up with some of the crazy characters there. He's got an empty life and he's looking for something - anything - to give him a reason to keep going.Ann Archer has been better in other things, but she's rarely been made to look more beautiful than this.On top of all that, it's a great looking film that uses some really cool LA locations. Much of it was shot in Johnnies, a googie style diner on Wilshire Boulevard that Tarantino has used. Other locations include a cool 50's era motel (anyone know where this was?) and of course, the great California desert.So overall I wouldn't say this is a great film, but it's worth watching.