Roger Corman's Frankenstein Unbound **/**** Image A- Sound A starring John Hurt, Raul Julia, Bridget Fonda, Catherine Rabett
screenplay by Roger Corman and F.X. Feeney, based on the novel by Brian
Aldiss
directed by Roger Corman
by Alex Jackson Dr. John Buchanan (John
Hurt) is a brilliant scientist in New Los Angeles, circa 2031. One of
his experiments fractures the space-time continuum, sucking him into
nineteenth-century Geneva, where he meets Dr. Victor Frankenstein (Raul
Julia), who's busy conducting a few experiments of his own. In the
meantime, the Frankenstein maid is on trial for the murder of Victor's
brother. Nobody knows how she did it, though they figure it's
witchcraft. Because he read the book (Frankenstein,
of course), Buchanan knows that Frankenstein's monster (Nick Brimble)
is the true culprit. Frankenstein is refusing to admit to his failed
experiment, however, and would rather allow this girl to die than
confront his crimes against God. Exasperated, Buchanan goes to Mary
Shelley (Bridget Fonda) for help. As for the monster, he's terrorizing
Frankenstein and insisting that the scientist create him a female
companion.
****/**** Image A+ Sound A Extras B+ starring Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Daniel Richter
screenplay by Arthur C. Clarke & Stanley Kubrick, based on
Clarke's short story "The Sentinel"
directed by Stanley Kubrick
by Alex Jackson Seeing 2001: A Space Odyssey
as a film about evolution is natural but ultimately inaccurate, I
think. The Darwinist views evolution as an external response to the
world--a survival mechanism--while the Nietzschian views it as an
internal, ethical one. Both are touched on in 2001
and both are misleading in that they fail to acknowledge that Man's
evolution in this film is born out of destiny. Out
of fate. More appropriate to view evolution here in
terms of the lifespan of the butterfly or moth. Guided by a supreme
alien intelligence, the species of 2001 evolves
from the larva (ape) to the pupa (human) to the butterfly (star child).
Image A Sound A Extras C+ "Damage Control," "The Writing on the
Wall," "Reunion," "Rock and a Hard Place," "Vision Thing," "Dating
Game," "Good Guys and Bad Guys," "Kingdom Come," "Circle the Wagons,"
"The Happiest Girl," "Take Me As I Am," "Oh, Pioneers"
by Alex Jackson There's definitely something
cheeky and
slyly subversive at the core of HBO's "Big Love". The show is the
brainchild of Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer, an openly-gay couple
who've been together since the early-'90s. That single fact opens up
some interesting connections when it comes to polygamy. The standard
argument religious groups have against homosexuality is that it's
unnatural: Two men or two women cannot naturally procreate and
therefore it's deviant, godless behaviour. By contrast, polygamy is
possibly more natural than monogamy--you could argue that males are
hardwired to spread their seed with as many females as possible and it
is not cost efficient, evolutionarily speaking, to restrict yourself to
one woman. And if the ability to procreate is what makes
heterosexuality more moral than homosexuality, then we have to admit
that polygamists are able to procreate "better" than monogamists and so
polygamy should be embraced as the morally superior lifestyle.
THUNDER IN
THE PINES
*½/**** Image B+ Sound B+ Extras C starring George Reeves, Ralph Byrd, Greg McClure, Michael Whalen
screenplay by Maurice Tombragel
directed by Robert Edwards
JUNGLE GODDESS
*/**** Image C- Sound B Extras C starring George Reeves, Ralph Byrd, Wanda McKay, Armida
screenplay by Jo Pagano
directed by Lewis D. Collins
by Alex Jackson Was George Reeves a talented or interesting enough
actor to merit VCI digging up a couple of his 1948 demi-features and
releasing them on DVD? Without the novelty of him later becoming
television's Superman and the rumours of conspiracy surrounding his
suicide, there's nothing particularly engaging about the actor. In Thunder
in the Pines, it looks like Reeves might be the poor man's
Kirk Douglas (whose star was rising at around the same time). The
Douglas persona is jovial and heroic, sensitive but manly--essentially,
for me at least, he's an idealized father figure. This seems to be what
Reeves is going for, but he's only operating at half the wattage. He
isn't a star and hasn't the confidence of Douglas, that audacity to
dominate the picture whenever he's on-screen. He's just a small fry.
CAPTAIN
JANUARY (1936)
**/**** Image B Sound A- starring Shirley Temple, Guy Kibbee, Slim Summerville, Buddy Ebsen
screenplay by Sam Hellman, Gladys Lehman, Harry Tugend, based on the
novel by Laura E. Richard
directed by David Butler
JUST AROUND THE CORNER (1938)
**/**** Image B- Sound C+ starring Shirley Temple, Joan Davis, Charles Farrell, Amanda Duff
screenplay by Ethel Hill and J.P. McEvoy and Darrell Ware
directed by Irving Cummings
SUSANNAH OF THE MOUNTIES (1939)
*/**** Image A Sound A- starring Shirley Temple, Randolph Scott, Margaret Lockwood, Martin Good
Rider
story by Robert Ellis, Helen Logan, based on the novel by Muriel
Dennison
directed by Walter Lang and William A. Seiter
by Alex Jackson I'm thinking the common thread connecting Captain
January, Just Around the Corner, and Susannah
of the Mounties, the three films that comprise the fourth
volume of Fox's Shirley Temple "America's Sweetheart Collection", is
the sexualizing of child superstar Temple. There's progress: in Captain
January, she's a sexual object; in Susannah of the
Mounties, she's a sexual actor; and in Just Around
the Corner, she's in transition between the two roles. I
promise you, this isn't me projecting onto these blandly innocent
children's movies with my filthy little mind, it's right there on the
surface. In fact, even when you reflect that they are essentially
dealing with child sexuality, all three films remain
blandly innocent. They never get at anything that might be genuinely
subversive. The Temple persona is so plastic and anaesthetic that
adding sex to the mix seems merely a logical extension of her brand.
***/**** Image A Sound A- Extras B- starring Ernest Borgnine, Eddie Albert, Tom Skerritt, William Shatner
screenplay by James Ashton, Gabe Essoe, Gerald Hopman
directed by Robert Fuest
by Alex Jackson SPOILER WARNING IN EFFECT. The
Devil's Rain is like a bad song you can't get out of your
head. It isn't a successful film, or even a particularly good one, but
it's made with sincerity, verve, and an understanding of the horror
genre's potential for kinetic filmmaking and potent allegory. Moreover,
it isn't a cheat--this isn't just another cheap cash-in on the "Satan"
craze of the 1970s. The last thing director Robert Fuest and
screenwriters James Ashton, Gabe Essoe, and Gerald Hopman are looking
to do is take your money and run. And though this is largely a trend of
the mid-to-late-'80s onward, they aren't looking to vindicate their
reputations by condescending to the material, either. I actually feel a
little protective of The Devil's Rain; its failure
is one more of incompetence than of cynicism, and that's really rather
reinvigorating in an age where self-consciousness reigns supreme in
horror films both good (The
Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning) and bad (See
No Evil).
Orca ***/****
Image B Sound B
starring Richard Harris, Charlotte Rampling, Will Sampson, Bo Derek
screenplay by Luciano Vincenzoni and Sergio Donati
directed by Michael Anderson
by Alex Jackson SPOILER WARNING IN
EFFECT. I was scared off of Orca, widely considered
to be one of the worst films of all-time. The movie had a reputation as
a bad Jaws rip-off and my last viewing of a bad Jaws
rip-off was Lamberto Bava's Devilfish on "Mystery
Science Theater 3000", which was awful enough to make me question what
I was doing spending my Saturday mornings watching "Mystery Science
Theater 3000". Well, I'm pleased to report that Orca's
reputation is completely unwarranted. Critics and audiences were wrong,
they just didn't get it. They labelled it a "Jaws
rip-off" before setting foot in the theatre and watched it on
autopilot.
The Final Destination **/**** Image B+ Sound A Extras C- starring Bobby Campo, Shantel VanSanten, Nick Zano, Mykelti Williamson
screenplay by Eric Bess directed by David R. Ellis
by
Alex Jackson It's the summer of 2009. I arrive at the movie theatre, a
multiplex twenty miles from home (making it the closest one), to
discover that while Rob Zombie's Halloween II has already started, I'm just in time to catch The Final Destination
in 3-D. Thinking that I didn't really care which one I saw, that's good
enough for me, and so I buy a ticket for the fourth (and, we were led
to believe, last) entry in the Final Destination franchise.
***½/****
Image B-
Sound A- Extras C+
starring Richard Gere, Julia Roberts, Ralph Bellamy, Hector Elizondo
screenplay by J.F. Lawton
directed by Garry Marshall
by Alex
Jackson SPOILER WARNING IN EFFECT. Well, I'm willing to
admit this much: Pretty Woman
has a ridiculous premise. Corporate raider Edward Lewis (Richard Gere)
buys up struggling companies and liquidates their assets. While in Los
Angeles planning the purchase of ship manufacturer Morse Industries, he
gets lost on the way back to his Beverly Hills hotel and stops on
Hollywood Blvd. to ask for directions. This is where he meets Vivian
Ward (Julia Roberts), a hooker desperate to pay off a few debts. She
subsequently drives him to his hotel; as Edward recently broke up with
his girlfriend in New York and feels bad about making Vivian take the
bus home, he invites her to spend the night. They bargain over her
price, arrive at the figure of three-hundred dollars, and sleep
together. In the morning, Edward has a phone conversation with his
lawyer, Philip Stuckey (Jason Alexander), who suggests he have dinner
with James Morse, the owner and founder of Morse Industries, and that
he bring a date to keep things social. Still on the phone, Edward walks
in on Vivian singing along to Prince in the bathtub and offers to pay
her for the entire week to be at his "beck-and-call."
***½/**** Image B- Sound B-
starring James Mason, Susan George, Perry King, Ken Norton
screenplay by Norman Wexler, based on the novel by Kyle Onstott
directed by Richard Fleischer
by Alex Jackson I was just about to say that I wish Mandingo were better than it is, but then I realized it wouldn't be nearly as good as it is if it weren't also "flawed." Some snarky hipster (Mitch Lovell of the LiveJournal blog (?!) THE VIDEO VACUUM, if you must know) rather brilliantly and concisely summarized the problem of the film in saying, "If you ever wanted to see Mr. Bentley from 'The Jeffersons' check a muscle-bound slave for hemorrhoids, this is the flick for you." Indeed, we get this image in the first ten minutes of the film. The checking of the muscle-bound slave for hemorrhoids, well, that I guess I can...appreciate, for lack of a better word. We all understand that slavery was "evil" on a purely intellectual level, but I don't think we have a terribly substantial visual database of the horrors and humiliations of it--and so I feel there's a real need for a disgusting and sensationalistic exploitation film about the subject. On those terms, let it be said that Mandingo does not disappoint. This has to be the most emotionally ugly film I've seen since Brian Robbins's Norbit.
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