The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (1973) - Brief Review

The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing is not so much a bad movie - it's more pointless than anything else.

The Mack (1973) - Review

The Mack enjoys its hallowed place in the exploitation cinema pantheon because it is so openly transgressive and so celebrates its male anti-hero and the misogynistic ethic that informs him. As a document of how pimps view themselves, it perhaps has some anthropological value. And the film certainly values pimps and serves as the prototypical example of the "it's hard out here for a pimp" genre that openly stomps on the worth of women and asks us to sympathize with someone because at least he's trying to get rich (even if doing so by turning women, through mental and physical brutality, into his chattel property).

The poor guy just wants to get rich via the exploitation of others and here are all these people - corrupt cops, tricks that don't know their place, white gangsters, his brother trying to rid the streets of drugs and prostitution, and other pimps with less game - that keep standing in his way. Why can't people understand he's just trying to make his own way in this world?

China 9, Liberty 37 (1978) - Review

Google Street View Outside of Beaumont, Texas

I'm not going to spend a lot of time going through Monte Hellman's career - you can find scores of rapturous articles and interviews elsewhere about this persistent hero auteur of the low-budget, independent film world. Indeed, I'd recommend reading such materials, as perhaps they can help to explain why some elevate the poorly formed Cockfighter above the superior romantic western China 9, Liberty 37.

Private Benjamin (1980) - Brief Review

In 1980 Private Benjamin was one of the biggest box office hits of the year and landed three Academy Award nominations, including one for star Goldie Hawn. Many people regard it as a classic. And to them I ask: have you seen it lately?

Streaming Pick (4/24/14)

Having a Wild Weekend (aka Catch Us If You Can) - (1965)

For a time, The Dave Clark Five were considered among the chief rivals to The Beatles. They were always a step behind, however - the second British Invasion group to hit the States, the second to land on Ed Sullivan, and the second to put out a promotional film with artistic ambitions in excess of what one would expect from a pop group.

After The Beatles hit a home run, financially and critically, with A Hard Day's Night, the Dave Clark Five followed with Catch Us If You Can, subsequently retitled in America as Having a Wild Weekend. I presume the film was re-titled because their album was similarly re-titled - likely because the record company wanted to sell the album as a party theme album, and perhaps because they failed to recognize that Catch Us If You Can is probably the group's best song.

It's easy to see that Having a Wild Weekend (I'll use the American title) is inspired by and intended as something of a challenger to A Hard Day's Night. At its worst, the movie comes off as imitation. Where it is most interesting, however, is in its artistic ambitions (or pretensions, depending on how you see it). The film marked the feature debut of one John Boorman - who would go on to direct such films as Point Blank, Deliverance, Excalibur, The General, and on and on (some misses on the resume, but also some classics).

Brief Film Reviews (4/17/14)

Check out after the jump for some brief thoughts on films recently watched or re-watched, including Jesus' Son, Killer Party, and The Show.

The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968) - Brief Review.

Robert Aldrich's film The Legend of Lylah Clare is occasionally funny, but never intentionally so, and often quite dumb, even though meant to be arty.  It is a mess. Messy enough to be worth two hours of your life to chuckle at? No.

Some old Hollywood types that once ruled the business have been in exile ever since their meal ticket, actress Lylah Clare, fell to her death 20 years earlier. The group discovers a woman that is the spitting image of Lylah. They decide to cast her in a movie about the actress' life. Both are played by Kim Novak. In her effort to become Lylah in the movie, the new girl morphs into Lylah in real life, leading to a repeat of history and a race to discover how Lylah really died.

The movie is melodramatic in the extreme, but there’s no genuine drama. Kim Novak can’t pull off the charismatic performance needed to sell the character – problematic given that every other character is supposedly enraptured by her. Novak looks more confused than anything. There are some funny moments – unintentionally. The flashbacks I think were intended to be boldly artistic but are actually quite silly. I really suspect Aldrich thought he was making Vertigo meets Sunset Boulevard. Nope. The camp value is only intermittent. The rest of it a bad stage play you can’t wait to end. With some friends this might be worth some chortles and sarcastic commentary, but not much here otherwise.

Screened on Warner Archive Instant.

I Bastardi (aka The Cats; aka Sons of Satan; aka The Bastards) (1968) - Review.

Rita Hayworth in I Bastardi

The family that kills together simply can't stay together. It's a familiar refrain, and one that is at the core of the flawed but interesting 1968 Italian-French film I Bastardi.

Giuliano Gemma plays Jason, a young, naive assassin (an odd mix) who starts the film on a killing spree taking out his partners in a jewelry heist. It turns out that Jason is on the payroll of his brother Adam, played by Klaus Kinski. The killing is designed to take out Adam's criminal rivals. Jason keeps the jewels as payment for the killings, but Adam double-crosses Jason, takes the jewels, and cuts the younger brother's tendons to end Jason's career as a shooter.

Brief Film Reviews (4/7/14)

Gina Carano in In the Blood - Anchor Bay Films

After the jump, brief thoughts on some movies recently watched or re-watched, including In the Blood, Sitting Target, and The Super Cops.

Capsule Film Reviews - 4/3/14

Still behind on other work, and thus behind on posting, but before we hit the weekend I wanted to get some quick snapshot reviews up so that the final scorecard isn't so blatantly empty this week.

See after the jump for quick reviews of Enemy, No Blade of Grass, and Marlowe.

Capsule Film Reviews - 3/27/14

A few thoughts on some movies recently watched or re-watched, including Prince of the City, Anita, and Prime Cut, after the jump:

Streaming Picks - 3/26/14.

Some Picks to Stream This Week After the Jump:

The Night Digger (1971) - Review.

Where Gothic Romance Meets Psycho

The Night Digger (aka The Road Builder) is a 1971 gothic horror most notable for being written by Roald Dahl. While far from perfect, the film's sense of humor and at least one relationship in the film save it and make it a worthwhile watch for anyone looking for something in the Hitchcockian vein (if decidely lesser than much of Hitchcock's canon).

Streaming Picks - 3/19/14

Some picks to stream for this week: 

Warner Archive Instant
Hearts of the West (1975) - Warner Archive Instant seems to be having something of a miniature Howard Zieff festival, showing Slither, Private Benjamin, and Hearts of the West. Hearts of the West stars Jeff Bridges as a naive farmboy in the 1930s that dreams of writing western novels. He heads west, suckered in by some con men. When the con men try to rob Bridges, he makes off with their loot and stumbles into a western movie set. This leads to that and soon enough Bridges is starring in movies and running from the con men that want their loot back. Co-stars Andy Griffith and Blythe Danner. The film is amiable, if a bit uneven, and features a good cast. The movie seems like it is going to end on a dark note, but Zieff and writer Rob Thompson thirst for their happy ending, and Bridges gets what he deserves. If you're looking for some lighter fare, and particularly if you're nostalgic for Old Hollywood, this is a good option. Check it out with a Warner Archive Instant 2 week Free Trial

Desperate Lives (1982)

Bo Peep is dead!

I suspect historians look back on the 1980s as a rich period for the study of moral panics. Satanists, child molesters, pornographers, and, perhaps most importantly, drug dealers were lurking around every corner. If Ozzy Osbourne didn't get your kid, you could be damn sure some scumbag drug dealer was just waiting and ready to destroy little Johnny's or Mary's lives. Lock them up and don't let them go outside!!! 

Desperate Lives is a 1982 TV movie that represents peak 1980s drug panic. It revolves around a guidance counselor, Eileen, that begins working at a high school and quickly realizes that drug abuse is rampant. By the way, I won't spend a lot of time differentiating between drug use and abuse in this review, but I will note that this movie recognizes no distinction between the two at all. In this movie's world, any use at all pretty much puts you on a one-month ticking clock toward diving off a cliff high on angel dust. 

Capsule Film Reviews - 3/17/14

A few thoughts on some movies recently watched or re-watched:

Patrick: Evil Awakens/Phase 4 Films

Patrick: Evil Awakens

(2014) Director Mark Hartley (Not Quite Hollywood, Machete Maidens Unleashed) puts his well-established knowledge of genre convention to work in this mostly effective, if perhaps a bit too serious, remake of a late 1970s Australian horror movie. The titular character is a patient at an experimental hospital - set in the spookiest old house they could find, of course - that treats patients in a persistent vegetative state. A doctor, played by Charles Dance, appears to be working toward nefarious ends along with his daughter and head nurse played by the always welcome Rachel Griffiths. In arrives a soft-hearted new nurse, played by Sharni Vinson, who quickly becomes interested in Patrick - and even becomes a bit obsessed once she learns that Patrick has the power of telekinesis. Eventually the young nurse makes a few key mistakes and unleashes the power of Patrick's depraved mind on the hospital.

Patrick relies heavily on an old-school approach to horror - creaking stairs, creepy old medical implements, people popping up for no good reason other than to give a good scare - and it works for the most part to create a spooky mood and keep the audience jumping. You do have to give yourself over to the movie - you have to ignore some of the sillier aspects and just have a good time. On the downside, while it is worth a watch overall, Hartley doesn't seem to make any effort to twist any genre convention or play with any of the film references he makes. The film is ultimately limited by Hartley's too-slavish devotion to the films he grew up watching. Every bone in this movie's body is old-school. Nevertheless, Hartley does show enough talent to make him worth watching. The question is whether he'll work up the gumption to take his films to another level, or whether he'll forever be content paying homage to his favorites. The orchestral score by Pino Donaggio (who built his career on scoring horror movies in the 70s and 80s) is massively overbearing in the first act and it hurts the film, but once the action gets going it complements well what Hartley is trying to do. Lead Vinson is game here but she doesn't bring any real heat to the role. Griffiths as the spooky head nurse is excellent. Peta Sergeant as another nurse brings some very welcome sexuality to the role and seems to be the one having the most fun (perhaps that's the benefit of being the sexy friend in horror films; the downside, of course, being that a horrible death for the character is a given). Again, worth a view, but not a game-changer. Screened via VOD.

Americathon and U Want Me To Kill Him? after the jump

Capsule Film Reviews - 3/14/14

A few thoughts on some movies recently watched or re-watched:

Each Dawn I Die (1939) - This Jimmy Cagney vehicle is intended as an exposé of prison conditions, and is particularly damning toward solitary confinement. Which, sadly, makes the subject matter as relevant as ever 75 years later. Unfortunately, adherence to the Code means that the prison conditions are far too antiseptic and the messaging is too muddled for it to be effective as a message movie. Yet Cagney is Cagney, and his charisma and intensity are enough to sustain the picture and make it worth a viewing, if perhaps not move it to the top of Cagney's oeuvre. Screened via Warner Archive Instant.

Capsule Film Reviews - 3/12/14

A few thoughts on some movies recently watched:

Non-Stop (2014) – This thriller is definitely a B movie, but the kind of B movie that has turned Liam Neeson into an unlikely late career action star. It has a few silly moments, but the film never really slows down long enough to allow the film to dissolve in your mind. It’s a solid thriller that hearkens back to old school mysteries. There’s a killer aboard a plane and plenty of recognizable faces – who could it be? Solid film worth a trip to the theater for an old-fashioned good time. Screened in the theater.

The Wind Rises (2013) – Billed as Hayao Miyazaki’s farewell to the cinema, this animated melodrama is gorgeous to look at but devoid of an engaging, coherent story. About halfway through the visuals stop being enough and I could no longer pretend I was anything but bored. Screened in the theater.

About Last Night (2014) – I’ve never been much of a Kevin Hart fan, but he and Regina Hall are the life of this party. I found myself laughing out loud at their interactions and found their relationship nearly enough to justify the price of admission. Nearly. Alas, the rest of the movie falls completely flat, thanks to a paint-by-numbers script that doesn’t stand up to logical scrutiny and lifeless performances by the other two leads in the film, Michael Ealy and Joy Bryant. When Hart and Hall weren’t filling up the screen, I felt like I was watching a bland beer commercial (obvious product placement sponsor: Heineken). Screened in the theater.

Review - The Last Run (1971)

Yet Another 'One Last Job'

Stop me if you've heard this one before: a criminal decides to take "one last job," and, of course, all hell breaks loose. The Last Run, a George C. Scott vehicle released shortly after Patton, employs that venerable gangster/crime movie premise but, despite almost threatening to be interesting at times, it never quite manages to break out of the generic mold.

Review - Demon Seed (1977)

Can We Pretend This Movie Never Happened?

If you made the most powerful, self-aware computer on earth, what would it wish for? A child, of course. At least that's how one film sees it - Demon Seed, the awful 1977 horror film starring Julie Christie and based on the novel of the same name by Dean Koontz.