02/10/08
Eye of the Devil (1962)
J. Lee Thompson
British thriller about a Marquis (David Niven) who leaves his wife (Deborah Kerr) in Paris while he travels to a small city to take care of some business. The wife and two kids eventually follow him there and run into a Satanic cult being ran by Donald Pleasence. There's a lot to like about this film, which has several great moments but in the end it's just another talky, boring British film. What does work is the beautiful cinematography, which is among the best I've seen from any movie of this period. The lush B&W looks incredible and really brings out a lot in the locations. What also works is a terrific scene with Kerr being chased through the woods. The direction and editing in this scene makes it quite effective with the cinematography. The final thing that keeps this film moving is the terrific performance by the beautiful Sharon Tate who plays one of the witches. Her silent performance is really great and it's impossible to take your eyes off of her. Niven and Kerr do so-so work and Pleasence sleepwalks through his role. David Hemmings comes off pretty good as Tate's psychotic brother. Even with all this great stuff, the film still drags and goes on and on an on. I'm not a fan of British horror and this film falls into that category where there's more style than substance. It's also worth noting that it seems Polanski's
Rosemary's Baby was slightly influenced by this film.
Dirk Diggler Story, The (1988)
Paul Thomas Anderson
Fake documentary on porn star Dirk Diggler (Michael Stein), which director Anderson would later turn into
Boogie Nights. The film was shot on videotape and edited from VCR to VCR yet you can still see the talent behind the camera. The film kept me entertained throughout its 31-minute running time. The video is raw, the performances raw and the editing is raw but it makes for an interesting little film especially when you compare it to the feature version. The ending here is a lot better than the one in
Boogie Nights.
Bottle Rocket (1994)
Wes Anderson
This is the short film, which director Anderson would turn into the feature a few years later. I haven't seen the feature length version so I can't compare the two but this one here also features Owen and Luke Wilson and Robert Musgrave as they try to become gangsters. I can't say I laughed out loud any but there were a few small chuckles including a scene where they go for a big robbery and walk away with just eight dollars. Neither of the Wilson brothers are their typical selves but I enjoyed this enough to seek out the feature version.
Reckless (1935)
Victor Fleming
Really poor comedy/drama about a showgirl (Jean Harlow) who gets caught in a love triangle with a producer (William Powell) and a playboy (Franchot Tone). This is a pretty poor picture that fails as a comedy and then really fails as a drama in its second half. I'm not sure if Fleming couldn't handle the material or what but in all honesty he's not given too much to work with and even the cast sleepwalks through the film. This is certainly the worst I've seen Harlow and Powell as neither actor are up to their usual standards and Powell comes off quite boring. The supporting cast includes May Robson, Ted Healy and Mickey Rooney but none of them offer any laughs. The second half of the film turns into a drama, which tries to bring tears but this is the only segment that offers any laughs. The ending is downright insane and overly forced.
Dünyayi kurtaran adam (Turkish Star Wars) (1982)
BOMB Cetin Inanc
Turkish film that is pretty much a scene for scene remake of
Star Wars. Unlike most Turkish films, apparently this one was meant to be a serious movie but the budget is so low and everything is so poorly done that you can help but roll your eyes. I'm not a big fan of the film being "copied" so perhaps that's why I didn't enjoy this one as much but I hard a really hard time trying to sit through it. The special effects are being bad and sometimes the film resorts to using scenes from the actual
Star Wars. The music score from that film is also used here but what's most shocking is that there are special effects in the film, which appear to be from an Atari game. If you're a fan of the original
Star Wars then you might get more entertainment out of this than I did. There's no question this is a horrible movie but some might find it so bad it's good.
02/11/08
Night Before Christmas, The (1941)
Hannah & Barbera
Oscar-nominated short has Jerry playing around the Christmas tree, which wakes up Tom and soon the two are going after one another. I can't think of too many bad Tom & Jerry films but this here is probably one of the weaker ones even though it's still very entertaining. There's plenty of nice action and of course being a Christmas film we get a nice, happy ending.
Romance of Robert Burns, The (1937)
Crane Wilbur
Technicolor short from MGM tells the story behind Robert Burns' famous song Auld Lang Syne. It should go without saying that poor Robert wrote the song after a love gone wrong. The film looks terrific and director Wilbur really brings out all he can in the color department but the story is just was too over dramatic. The love story becomes quite laughable after a while. Owen King plays Burns.
Hotel Anchovy (1934)
No Director Credited
A woman is about to sell her hotel so she hires the Ritz Brothers to make sure people stay there when the new owner comes so that he'll think its a busy place. I enjoyed several of the later day Ritz Brothers films but this one here just doesn't work. For the most part they come off as a rip off of The Marx Brothers and their style just doesn't make for a very funny film. There are a few funny scenes involving the brothers dealing with various people inside the hotel including a woman with one eye and a suicidal man.
Night of the Living Dead 3D (2006)
BOMB Jeff Broadstreet
Zombies attack a group of teenagers and apparently they're being led by the one and only Sid Haig. It turns out this film is more of a remake of
I Bury the Living than the Romero film but the producer needed a known title so they borrowed that from Romero. Either way, this film is horrid from start to finish and there's really nothing worthy in it. I went through some of the extras on the DVD where they talked about the 3D process but as far as I'm concerned these guys didn't know what they were doing. For starters, there's only one effect at the very end that comes off in 3D. Yes, I know the technology isn't the greatest but I've seen 3D videos that come off better. Very seldomly do they have anything coming towards the screen and most of the time they have objects moving away from the camera so you can't get any 3D effect. The story is stupid as well and none of the characters are interesting. Even the zombies come off very lame and their connection to Haig is just pathetic. The cast are all horrible and that sadly includes Haig who adds nothing to the film. The story makes no sense at all and there are so many unanswered questions that you have to wonder if the producer's ran out of money before everything was shot.
In all seriousness, I'm not sure where your mind frame is so that's why I don't comment on any points you make. It seems you always add a political slant to the comments you make when I don't think they're needed. I'm not saying you're wrong but we just don't see eye to eye on the slants you bring in your reviews. This is in regards to our different views of DS. Nothing outside that film. 