This felt a lot like DEATH IN VENICE, CA to me, who arrived at UCLA at 17 looking better than Peter Johnson and knowing who Frances Faye was from hip parents in Cosmo SF and the "in" crowd that was very rich and filled with artsier geniuses in posher houses.I hung out at the Interlude which was as gay as I was straight almost every night before enrolling at UCLA. The owners and the bar fans of mine and Frances' were my first taste of the gay world.In SF it was not happening yet except for decorators. It was there that I met Teri and became good friends for years and she introduced me to a lot of players in the film although I was much more white tennis sweater looking and acting and had a life in the Bel Air movie star tennis group within weeks. I did not meet Weber till NY which became my mid point on my way to Paris where I moved after dropping out of school.CHOP SUEY does have a wonderful feel to repression and Bruce's love for Peter who is really charming as his sexual preference is shielded even when he wears dresses and hugs elephants while nude on a beach. Nearly ALL of my favorite friends and some icons are there like a scrapbook to look at although I did miss a Weston or two.Henry Miller, Cocteau and Mitchum are joyful to see as it was to play with them once. Mostly, it is a lot of beautiful young men who never appealed to me at any time, but, to his credit, Weber crammed the faces with the gorgeous past and many parts of where I first learned that there were only '10,000 people in the world' thinking.Had Weber been handsome, he would never have become the success he did. It is kind of sad to think that, but, I revert to loving this indulgent postcard which fits just fine into my own past which had an equally innocent beginning as Johnson's.
Reviews
45 Reviews
Unknown
(I) (2011)
So Much Junk That This Entertains
3 December 2011
This had all I needed to be entertained with a world of crappy movies out there for the past two years. Neeson is dependable, has a movie star presence, delivers as an actor, and is a really likable star who is over 5'8" like most of our so called leading men in films. I will not go to a movie where the overpaid stars look like busboys who spend time in the gym rather than grooming their talents. The best entertainment is on Cable with actors in series like DEXTER, and HOMELAND and the film industry is suffering from remakes or kid flicks for dunderheads and film students. Luckily, the AFI is restoring some unseen films which come on at 3AM but have dialog and story lines which are fantastic when there were some fine writers with talent. Most film goers and film critics are the types who look for "goofs" and mistakes for the trivia section of reviews here.Called iPadists. Currently, I am hooked on German cinema which is magnificent compared to our "dramas" and action films. We will be making Mid-Eastern-spy-bomb-torture-Al Quaeda-movies for another ten years. The alternative is to show a lot more frontal nudity now that the church has no say, and big stars will be the ones who have large breasts and men are hung like horses.IOW .....silents return.
Angels Over Broadway
(1940)
Rita Really Delivers In This Interesting Film
13 November 2011
I first became friends with Rita when I was 22 and the same age as she is in this only film of hers I had never seen till last night. On that night she and Hermes Pan (master choreographer)were slumming to show her what a coffee house was like, and my roommate who knew Hermes invited them to the hippie like house in an alley way in West Hollywood we shared.We both were in love with the Goddess and did black magic (amateur)to see that Hermes would bring her and it worked.Rita was 38 an still beautiful,a gypsy who drank our cheap wine,and we talked and laughed till dawn. From that day forward,we spent three or four nights a week at her home on Hartford and she often burnt dinner for us and we drank Dom Perignon and we danced and laughed and she told stories and her Brooklyn accent would come out (I hear it a lot in ANGELS) Rita always insisted she could act and this film showed her talent and some of her incredible allure which was emerging.I think she did BLOOD AND SAND the next year where she was outrageously sensual and cruel.She was great in that.Paulene Kael disliked her because she was dubbed by Anita Ellis in most films even though Rita had a decent voice. I found this Hecht film to be far ahead of its time with terrific casting and dialogue which sounded like Mankiewicz in a way,and a touch of Damon Runyon with sophistication.It is an odd, and terrific film and my Rita was really good and I watched her and she "listened" to other actors like a seasoned performer.She still is magical and her presence on film still excites.
The Blues Brothers
(1980)
A Film That Stands ALONE in ORIGINALITY
31 October 2011
Warning: Spoilers
When first having seen this at an important screening because I was connected to producers and was not that into all the mayhem and hoopla the film was getting and was not a big fan (personally)of John Belushi who I knew from having to be around him On The Rox above the Roxy when he was such a damned bore and I was not into his and Dan's Blues Brothers performances on SNL. In the 90's I began to see it again on big screens, TV and did a complete turnabout in my opinion of not only the film, but Belushi as a talent. I admit to discovering his musical prowess, his timing, his unique personality and HOW he worked with superb Dan Ackroyd, who is still one of the best actors and performers we have in film.Two more different "types" worked so beautifully together and made great music and moved better than any duo in film history. Besides reassessing Belushi---I still am not a big fan of his brother-- the actual film is one of the greatest casting masterpieces of a century of film in any category. I originally loved Aretha's "bit" which should be released as instructional tape on acting,dance and body movement. Her singing and the number just still steal the film......almost as much as the number in the church which is ATOMIC! The script went though changes and when I first thought of the film as a big waste of autos (pre CGI)and needless destruction.....now, I just laugh and love what Bernie Brillstein green lighted as the producer and give him most of the credit for the making of this hilarious concept and his using of Carrie Fisher,Gospel music, Kathleen Freeman, and dozens of actors who all contributed in special ways in cameos and part of the story line. This film should have a major re-release to show the new crop of film directors and students that originality can not be emphasized enough when making the predictable films of today. See it on the big screen with a good print.
Red River
(1948)
Hawks Vs. Ireland During Red River over Dru
22 October 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Because John Ireland was romancing Joanne Dru, who Hawks was enamored and then found out that Ireland was outclassing him size wise in the genitalia dept. (literally 3 to one) Hawks took a hateful dislike to Ireland and cut most of his scenes from the release of the film in 1948 and Dru and Ireland married in 1949. Hawks considered himself a man of refinement and taste, and John I. was a consummate actor from Canada who believed very much in the "method" system of acting before Brando and Clift made it so known. John Ireland was a playboy and after his divorce with Dru, he was being compared to and beating Sinatra at being the best lover in Hollywood even though he did not have the fame. They were, in fact, friends. When Ireland created a scandal just after LOLITA was published,he began seeing 15 year old newcomer TUESDAY WELD and Weld began seeing Sinatra too. Errol Flynn, Ireland's carousing buddy with his own 16 year old mistress, Beverly Aadland created a scandal even in Hollywood where Hawks attacked Ireland once more for being a pervert.Dru had remarried.
The Shining
(1980)
From King's Lips to Your Ears and Eyes
18 October 2011
Warning: Spoilers
At the UCLA Westwood Campus the most devoted movie fans were to be found excited for the screening of THE SHINING in 1980 as excited as the group I was with.......some film students. It was at the Village theater and an EVENT. Cut to the film. After about 35 minutes of beautiful photography and establishing the hotel, and a hint of oddness emerging in Jack and his tennis ball throwing while Shelley Duvall managed to remain mostly in the b.g. while the kid started browsing the corridors and introducing us to some remarkable shots on a Tyler mount or similar at the back of his little plastic tricycle.......and then more beautiful shots of white skinned dead of bleeding or horror shot to be seen for a while during which time Jack is in the best lit bar of the hotel with the ghostly bartender and Jack flipping out on poor bewildered Shelley while great effects flood corridors and elevator entrances....That UCLA bunch of real critics started to get uncomfortable and waited for something just as my group and I wondered what the frig was wrong and why is Jack doing so much ad libbing? NO HORROR was really happening. When REDRUM was discovered as all that Jack was pounding out, I sarcastically yelled out OH NO! MURDER SPELLED backwards!!Well,it started a riot of moans and groans at the dull pace and popcorn and things were being thrown at the screen of the classiest cinema in West LA. EVERYBODY hated it except the reviewers from the LA TIMES. The DAILY BRUIN had the worst reviews and people were yelling REDRUM all day to any question and laughing mockingly. SHINING was a dud.Seeing it twice since, it was a dud. Last night on TURNER TCM Stephen King did a Holloween Special discussing horror, thrillers,suspense and was incredibly smart and funny and open..Well, to hear him talk about his difficulties with phone calls from Stanley Kubrick and concepts about points of horror on which they completely disagreed and did not have ONE meeting of minds as to how the film should work, they ended their talks with Kubrick asking King if he believed in God? King answered "he believed in Hell" and did not go to see the film till way after it was released and found it to be beautiful aesthetically, but a bore and totally non horrific and Kubrick's ending of the film in the snow as opposed to a fire, completely dull and not scary...I was double thrilled when I agreed with the author and especially at the end of the interview after seeing dozens of clips of horror, vampire,and suspense, monster,films, that at the very last question of his favorite horror film being the original THE INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, my OWN favorite, I realized my opinion of SHINING was right on.It sucked.
Stephen King and I
15 October 2011
Warning: Spoilers
I just watched an hour interview with Stephen King on a TCM special show whose host I did not know. After going through a litany of films of every genre and discussing other directors and their films, I found King to be not only very smart and interesting and really knowledgeable about film, radio, comic books and how he became a writer. The BEST part was near the end of the interview when the host asked him to pick his two favorite films of Sci Fi and Horror. King thought a few seconds and said it had to be the original INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS and mentioned the scene when Dana Wynter reveals herself to have been taken over and yells for the others to get Kevin McCarthy. He says it was the major influence in his life how scared he became as a young man and still sees it as a huge influence. The other was his choice for absolute worst, and it thrilled me, because I could never find anyone to agree.It was THE SHINING. He had said that Kubrick ruined his book and they disagreed about the ending which Stanley changed based on his own religious views.Nicholson's adlib "Here's Johnny! was a farce and King wrote was public about S.K.'s interpretation but commended him of the effects. I HATED THE SHINING which I saw at UCLA Westwood screening and the audience of 2500 plus, also joked,booed and threw things at the screen.King is not a favorite author but did like CARRIE and the great ending, which he attributes to Brian de Palma. Unlike a reviewer who found the actors McCarthy and Wynter wooden,King found it to be his favorite horror film which most influenced him. Finally, to ALL of you who equate the "meaning" of this film being based on fear of communism and McCarthyism, that is total CRAP! Don Siegel explained in one of his last interviews that it did not even enter his head of the writer's motive.It was to make the best film he could. Read his biography all you weenie intellectuals.
The Bell Jar
(1979)
Almost Every Girl's Favorite at One Point
20 September 2011
Just as all boys who become readers as a result of CATCHER IN THE RYE and later are either discovering Phillip Roth or "rebel" types, the same goes for the adult woman emerging from the BELL JAR....EVERY sort of bright or pseudo intellectual girl is introduced to this book which becomes their stepping stone into the neurotic hormonal changes into WOMAN. That is trite and will annoy most of you, but it has been true for a long time. Even Liz Taylor once was going to do the film when young but could not get anyone to finance the "downer" aspect of this terrific work. Of course, a film with a mental narrative is almost impossible to make into a good film. Joan Didion's PLAY IT AS IT LAYS was a fantastic film of a very little known subject....filmmaking and the "biz", but a good portrait of a woman and Tuesday Weld was mind blowing in it.Just as the boys went on into the literary world to Mailer, Kesey, Tom Wolfe,and others went on to the political savants Vidal etc.;the women did the Virginia Woolf and offshoots of downer hood and independence and the intellectuals of both genders met in the middle with earlier mentioned Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne, but the bump in the rug was when Erich Segal had such a hit with LOVE STORY and both sexes were now trapped by this silly little book and started reading together because they became "adult" enough to discuss each others' favorites. Now, are new literary heroes are emerging through politics or trash and some heavy handed intellectuals or NO READING at all---compared to the days when one had up to three or four books going at once.There are so many writers from foreign lands who are doing better work because the world is so bizarrely transitioning into a heavy handed place to create and kids are using electronic communication devices which has played havoc with a lot of good storytellers who cannot get a publisher and we almost know what our old "favorites" are going to write about..There are a lot more books and writers than I make it appear....but, it is still frustrating to go into a store and come out empty handed because it is quite a luxury to spend $25-40 when you are having financial setbacks or one struggles to justify not reading a great book they have at their apartment or home bookshelves which are bursting. Try Lorca or some Chinese writers by going to the public library first.
Saturn in Opposition
(2007)
A rich surprise
25 June 2011
This really beautifully cast ensemble piece (the best group I have seen since THE METHOD)is wonderfully directed by Turkish director Frazan Ozpetik, whose films I intend to find and watch....not just at premieres. The one actress who is quite remarkable as one of the most interesting and amusing and attractive cast members Ambia Angiolini. The cast, very attractive and some for plot reasons. What is so surprising to me is why Hollywood hasn't grabbed actor Luca, who is a heart throb and grabbed him like they did a lot of Almodovar's leading men. One of the reasons some of the reviewers complain about the film is mostly because it is a bit grand and for sophisticated tastes including the homosexuality driven plot which is not for most online reviewers even though the film took a handful of Italian Oscars. For those who claim it may be soap operaish, they forget that prior to reality shows, the world, not just Americans, thrived on soaps in most every country for decades; and still do in some. This film is made fascinating by the mixture of both gay and straight characters with little homophobic focus. If SATURN IN OPPOSITION isn't grabbed and remade either by the Weinsteins or some tasteful British group, I will be surprised. What I also have to mention is the stunning photography, lighting, art direction and most of all, the music. I am going to see about finding if there is a soundtrack which is really inventive and organic.
Waterloo Bridge
(1931)
A genuine surprise in the talent of Mae Clarke
23 June 2011
Since the story is so well known by some of the very good reviewers here, I am merely adding my surprise at the discovery of the talent of Mae Clarke. I had no idea she had done this original version and according to the collected IMDb data, Ms. Clarke was just 20 years old when she worked on this excellent adaptation of the play. There is no need to compare her performance to Vivien Leigh's later remake, because that film had no real grit and Clarke's performance was one of the best I have ever seen from a performer despite her youth. The film was shot soon after talkies began and her screen presence and non theatrical emoting was astonishingly on target. The director, Whale, must have had a good rapport because her scenes with all of the players came off honest and not a bit dated. I can see that Davis would have liked to play the part as someone mentioned, but she could not have done a better job. I just discovered it on the Turner channel and became so engrossed in Clarke's performance, I called people to get a copy and watch this actress' work. Quite remarkable.
An Affair of Love
(1999)
Pornographic charms
18 June 2011
Warning: Spoilers
The kind of non committal aspect of the two main characters who respond to each other's profiles is the object of getting together and learning nothing about one another has a promising premise. Of course, we, the audience and mostly the filmmaker hope that, as voyeurs, become participants into what is supposed to surprise. While I like Baye and her face on screen, it is Lopez who exudes most of the charm, even if it is that of a schoolboy. As she sees him for the last time, one is reminded of the strong ending of THE WAY WE WERE where the substance of is more satisfying because of the lovers in that film's having an interrupted past. Sergio can be quite handsome and it is to his credit that he is a good actor to be able to be non sexual given his physical attributes which would make most women find attractive. His tears do not really surprise unless it is because he feels he is an unsatisfying lover. This makes sense primarily because of his excellent wardrobe, stylishness, and obvious successful "other" life.He borders on being a stud except for his height.5'6" may or not be mentioned to get reactions from audiences worldwide who primarily think of leading men as being taller. Because I am 6'3" and find my height along with my good looks as a major plus I have had in past bedroom conquests. I lived in Paris for many years in my 20's and it sure worked there. So, I am left with a feeling of Sergio still like a young boy who does not know if he is loved by anyone including Baye and at "home'. Finally, I think the "interviewer" is a needless device and is written in as a "time filler". My personal feelings of "romance" vary and believe most men to be childlike where it is such a part of a woman's being.
To Each His Own
(1946)
The Best of its Kind
25 February 2011
This is a beautifully acted and realized "soap" kind of mother love films, which done in 1946, has the ability to still bring down the toughest EVIL MEANIE to his or her knees. De Havilland is deserving of the Academy Award she won for her range and her excellence as a screen actress. She may not have come from the Method school of training or RADA but her varied performances which can quite literally be called a brilliant melange of characters in THE HEIRESS to SNAKE PIT in which she is as good as it gets in female roles. Charlie Brackett wrote a tight screenplay for what could have gone on for hours and the art direction and music all work along with one of those great supporting group of character actors of the day. All told, it is De Havilland's controlled and believable performance that make this a film a must see for the most hardened critic. Grown men will not admit to liking this film because it more than likely will bring a tear of two.....it is that good.
I'm No Angel
(1933)
Witty, Strong, Ultra glamorous, and Talented
17 January 2011
When I look at this film, first of all, I am astonished no one bothers to mention the costumes she wears which are not only revealing but incredibly original and almost better than designers of today. Edith Head is rumored, but she has a controversial reputation as having put her name on a lot of designs while at Paramount where this film was made and where Head remained as chief designer right through the years Audrey Hepburn brought in Givenchy and though he got special billing, when Hepburn worked, she always chose the advice of Givenchy and it supposedly drove Piaf up the wall. Those people who think of West as "ridiculous" seem to forget that she was writing on her own against the most powerful writers in films and theater, and she skirted the laws by her clever use of the double entendre. When I was invited to her house at the Ravenswood for tea, she was well into her 80's and was as sharp and smart and hilariously funny as she was 50 years before the women's movement, and even woman's suffrage. She was idolized by both men and women because she insisted that "the brain was the best seducer of men".That is sadly lacking in the female of today. West was also an avid reader and ridiculed sex experts with many quotes which never were published.She was an amazing talent who was 40 when she did this film, but she was a seductress to audiences.
Strapped
(2010)
A Gay Star Is Born
26 December 2010
The actor Ben Bonefant is certifiably the first male porn actor who has star quality and can do the crossover into straight film even though he makes no attempt to be anything but queer and performs most of the usual acts with professionalism. All this he does with style, good use of his screen presence, much better than his straight lookalike, Mr.Demi Moore.....Ashton. Actually, he has star quality where Ashton has leftovers. The story is unique and very American and not a rifpoff of some French mec film, or a polite or violent Brit gang rape type plot.This is one of the best films I have seen this year simply because it is good. It is also original..........something one does not hear much. And, in the middle of all this, we have Ben....a real charmer who seems to like his job and earns it by sheer quantity. He has humor, honesty and that kind of smirk only real stars own and which is totally their own. I would bet on him to cross over to straight films. Did I mention that he is sexy and not perfect? He is like a gay Eric Bana. Bana was much sexier early on in his career.Now, he is just too polished. He had better drop his drawers and be well hung.
Ronda nocturna
(2005)
A night you will forget easily
16 December 2010
Warning: Spoilers
To all the reviewers who just about used up the frequency of the use of the word "BRILLIANT", and on this non film which IF the director had actually shot with a script or an idea in mind, I will stand corrected. What this improvisational piece of "NON BRILLIANTLY PHOTOGRAPHED" of hodge podge sequences that supposedly bring truth and knowledge to the viewer of a journey of a non developed in every way semi pretty boy who is just an ordinary street hooker who meets caricatures of johns who all speak and behave in the most boorish and colorless ways that it would have me have an "awakening" after the first "trick" was mid turned. Damn, but this is terrible filmmaking and the gushing few reviews write like they know something the rest of us do not know, or ever will be capable of seeing if we did not catch it now. This is a journey of just ordinary street trash who HAS to be more attractive than his peers, because they are just so NOTHING, but, any one of them was more interesting than the lead. There also is a dearth of humor or even a shot at mystery. The "older" reviewer who waxed so endearingly of days gone by in Paris actually makes this film more depressing than it is.A pigeon could have delivered a more meaningful message.The director was likely having a good time on the casting couch, or so it would appear.
Clapham Junction
(2007 TV Movie)
London Changed Just Like Most of World
10 December 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Having lived in London and going there often now than I am older, I do see the similarities of how the "old days" of homophobia are once again a lot more apparent with bashings happening mostly from different groups. I have to laugh at the reviewer from Berkely (who just happens to rent mostly gay or muscle movies) because he condemns the lack of story and the insight this film exposes of how regressive the behavior of the so called "enlightened" middle class members as this well acted cast are so subtly afraid and fearing the general violence returning to their lives.No longer does one believe that legalization of the life style as holding up and it is artfully revealed at the dinner party. Joan Rivers says in her act "that all Brits are gay and YOU know it" because good manners and breeding are no longer part of the old ways and the way the crazed mother behaved at the dinner party and the beating occurs to the most attractive and harmless young man in what is a posh area of the city. The scene of the young man with the closeted and terrified handsome older neighbor is something most gays have to go through at some time, but has never been so truthfully filmed with the testosterone overwhelming the innocent while blending into yet another story of verbalizing the increasing homophobia. This is really well directed and the message is not a shallow story, but when one sees the gangs of thousands of immigrants who have changed Europe, the Joan Rivers joke all of a sudden becomes kind of a reality because there is not the refinement and control of behavior where almost every gay, closeted or flamboyant gay was accepted and free to "carry on".The war and "don't ask, don't tell" is causing a lot of grief for gays and it is just as apparent in the states, but not as finely drawn as this film presents unspoken truths. Those who make fun of it, would seem to me to be gay or closeted themselves and express critics in their "straight" reviews. Surely everyone rented the film because of their interest in gay film and not about a very scary statement the director intended. It is one of the best gay themed films which has been released for other reasons than to titillate and look for nude men and gay sex which is typical of most gay themed films.CLAPHAM JUNCTION is artfully done and horrendously sad along with the rest of what is happening around the world.I doubt if anyone wasn't somehow moved or bothered by this film.
Giddy Is Not An Apt Description
19 November 2010
Considering Ms. Weld was barely 20 and had understudied on Broadway in dramatic roles like DARK AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS, she handled this really offbeat tale of a glamorous reincarnated movie star with great authority and nuance and a complexity far beyond other actresses of the time. This mysterious "lost" project has seemingly disappeared from the face of the earth and almost every major director of the day...most of them who she later worked with in film...and t.v., always seem to mention the Du Pont Productions' disappearances and mostly, the Lylah Clare episode. There is a mystery attached to it, and writer Thom was the first to mention the strangeness of the story of what turned out to be his most remembered writing which did have an eerie plot. The director was amazed at Weld's grasp and glamor of the offbeat character she portrayed which in many ways mimicked her own later on. Today in the 2011, this original DuPont and the later remake by Aldrich are like lost treasures. People speak of "campy" which like the word "fey" has a connotation with death.It definitely removed Kim Novak from Hollywood, and it was the beginning of Weld's turning down every major film from BONNIE AND CLYDE to ROSEMARY'S BABY and a half dozen more HUGE successes.Weld does not like to work on long shooting schedules and preferred doing two week movies of the week when she did. She is scheduled to get a major industry award in NY but is not attending.Like she failed to do in Venice when winning best actress for PLAY IT AS IT LAYS.
All Fall Down
(1962)
Incredibly Overrated and Gushingly Reviewed Film
11 August 2010
Warning: Spoilers
First of all, every single terrific actor in this film is or was a friend of mine and when the film came out, I was warned to stay away from it because of my affection for Angela (who did not like her own performance in this), nor did she like the outcome.I now see why she thought she was "over the top" as was everyone except my late friend, Brandon DE Wilde...he was superb as always, and the film was unwatchable for me except for him. I was even friendly with Inge, even though he was a tortured soul who feared he was losing his talent.He was right. This is a mess of melodrama and has no cohesiveness and he is writing bad Tennessee Williams kind of dialog in this plot less, even aimless tripe for the time.Hollywood was pretty wild and kinky when this was made.Frankenheimer was young and maybe intimidated by the stellar cast he was given, including the fame of O'Herlihy and Inge. Warren was just AWFUL in this performance.Nothing but looks and without any charm or sex appeal.Saint was glorious in the strangest and most underwritten character she ever played.The cast was just golden in its possibilities.Baxley wonderful and honest.Malden chewed the scenery as much as dear Angela.Only the b/w cinematography (outdoors) was a thing of beauty and only in Florida. The opulence of great casting automatically has made all the reviews of this film come off as a masterpiece. It is silly, filled with stage like dialog, and Frankenheimer succumbed to pressure to direct this mostly stage trained cast to permit them to be unnatural as any written roles to come from a Broadway Theater. Thanks to Brandon's magnificent persona and talent did I watch this really dreary story and film. It is an embarrassment for all but him.Warren should be slapped for being so caught up in his narcissism.
Pornography: A Thriller
(2009)
Learn to Storyboard then Get Money
16 July 2010
While I normally enjoy pornography of all kinds when it is done in a documentary way; it is not palatable when one adds a plot which does not have a way of telling a complete story. This is that kind of film. The writer/director, apart from having an obvious love for film and its techniques and auteurs by the dozens, he only picks bits and pieces from some of his favorites, and then writes a story that should have been storyboarded, in order to even play homage to his most often used,enigmatic and "surprise/plot" directors. Hitchcock would have thought this the longest trailer in history......as a matter of fact, the movie IS a long trailer. I yearned for reason, as well as reason for casting, for lighting, for a clarity, and for ONE interesting character. What a bunch of bores the writer wrote. Who the hell cares? It sounds homophobic, but gay films must learn to realize that the serious subjects are always going to deal with "gay" and its problems, and MUST not try and take itself seriously. Lesbian films succeed because they are willing to take chances with honesty and anti heterosexual subjects.
Epoch: Evolution
(2003 TV Movie)
Pluses and minuses about pain and religion
12 June 2010
This is the FIRST film I have ever scene where, when a soldier gets shot and killed actually screams OWWWW!! or screams in pain when hit. Other than that, when any film brings in religion as a subtext...That is, in a SciFi film, it simply does not work. Even Faith Domergue would have never worn a cross on a chain in her cult classic films. Has anyone noticed that in the last 10 years of film-making the book of GENESIS seems to appear more and more? As an instance where religion DOES show its face is in the H.G.Wells 2005 version of WAR OF THE WORLDS with C. Thomas Howell which did mention the BOOK OF REVELATIONS in its script. In this film, which got some fairly good ratings from viewers when I saw it on the SYFY Channel, when people die, they also do not make any noise of pain when they die. I believe H.G.Wells was an Atheist or Agnostic in case the writers of this version read his book. If anyone has ever been around a real death or wounding of a human, you will remember audible screams of pain.
Pineapple Express
(2008)
GENUINE laugh out loud success
6 April 2010
This is probably the funniest film from the "new generation" mentality and pisses off every film school student here because it succeeds as a non stop, side splitting "goofing" comedy. I had never heard of the star, Seth Rogan and avoided the film for weeks on my satellite movie listings. Quite simply,well written (hilarious dialogue and interplay by a really well cast group of fantastic actors. James Franco does the best pot head and is totally different from Brad Pitt's wonderful portrayal. This is real comedic timing done with a straight face by Franco, who also manages to exude a lovable hippie maintaining his Jimmy Dean charisma. Rosie Perez is a natural comedienne and good actress and a great bad girl.I never have liked Ed Begley Jr. so much because he is strong and authoritative with great timing. The writing is really non TV and the whole thing moves with outrageous situations, and all this with masses of gun play for a comedy. It is the best comedy I have seen this year.
Three Dancing Slaves
(2004)
Reality may offend but nudity never does
3 January 2009
Warning: Spoilers
The best thing about the film was the casting and the location manager along with watching the processing of ham. When I read anyone say "I walked out on the film" it is just so kind of Paris Hilton on acid. The story line makes one think that all men are interested in male sex and male nudity and go one way or the other when they are actually seeing male genitalia and nice bodies which get that way from hard work achieved by this working family who have little else to do but lift, play; so their bodies end up being toned, their skin somehow perfect and they rely on one another for their missing mothers' love. The same thing happens as often in America and in most countries except the scenery is not always as good or the fathers as weak.In the town they live, there are not that many women, and like a prison, the men are alone together. I think men in a movie house fear looking at great sexy male bodies. These bodies and abundantly endowed guys just happen to be better than the three part story line although male beauty is never ugly no matter how few times we see it on film and the penis is not an offensive thing as most any prisoner or 13 year old doing something with his best friend will tell you.This is just more real and is likely to shame some.I liked it in spite of the youngest being so well hung.
Normal Life
(1996)
Far more psychologically fierce than Bonnie and Clyde
23 November 2008
Both films were based on characters and the budgets were many millions of dollars apart in spite of the fact, in B and C we NEVER get to know either of the characters and what today is so outdated, is made up by the incredible performance of Ashley Judd, who employs no clichés of a a wild drunk and does not reveal herself as a clearly bipolar,drugged out mess. Later, to his credit the script writer does not delve into her childhood past beyond one scene,thus throwing pity at her.This is way truer than fashion icon Bonnie whose famous line "we rob banks" thrilled people and made heroes out of them and Theodora Van Runkle.Most surprising is Luke Perry (with bad mustache created to make him not so baby faced)who is really good and we get a glimpse of how honorable a man is who falls for a gorgeous unpredictable girl/woman whose heroes and myths lie in astronomy and chaos and lack of fear.I have known two women like them and been in love with them who were equally beautiful and could be so appealing and sexy one minute and the next out of their minds. In their case it was a lot of speed when it was legal,and they fascinated a lot of guys whose lives they messed up before dumping them prior to me. I had to leave them because they had such power. One married 5 times to millionaires and institutionalized while the other is now the most normal mother who looks great and goes to PTA meetings.She was exactly like the Judd character while the other drove around Hollywood with shotguns her classic sports cars and a Bentleys drinking champagne.Exactly like Judd's character. This film is far more real and explains the unexplainable but it usually has to do with drugs and booze while in B and C it was fashionable to love the underdog during the depression and feel compassion for them. Ashley Judd, again is a genuinely intelligent and gorgeous actress with an educational b.g. which is astonishing and may have influenced the director/writer to involve her in the astronomy which was a masterful quirky touch.The dialogue rings true and again Perry and her amaze.
Forfeit
(2007)
Best surprise of indie film all year
23 November 2008
When one reads reviews about this film, it could just as well be about a non kung fu action movie for all that is missing in the creative surplus that is bedazzling. First the best group of actors and casting I have ever seen who are all "unknowns" to me, except for a heavy set guard conspirator who plays it straight and does it well, too. The story line is unexpected and the "lead" has so many faces and is so calm and cool at once, and then a complete wacko. It works because we are not force fed a story line typically American, but the revelations do come back in flashbacks, in revelations which are accidental or cleverly edited. However they make it there, they work. Even the evangelist works whereas most of them are all so dumb and overdone.The film is going to be a sleeper and is going to be HUGE in France. It is very much like a combination of French directors and does not mess around with any of the modern icons who are running out of parts for DeNiro and Pacino playing devils.This is low budget and mesmerizing film making with not one bad actor. Too many young filmmakers who have no idea of the roots of films who try and be witty and forget what it takes to assemble this kind of involving production.
A Brand New Life
(1989–1990)
Fox and Dana may not be here today
1 August 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Having worked on this, the oddest idea for a series was just so simply unbelievable where script and talent would never have succeeded even though they managed to get an actress with a huge TVQ and a decent and always professional good guy, Don Murray both savvy enough to know they were going to be in a one season flop which had sets we didn't bother to complete mostly because there were no episodes completed soon enough to get construction crews have anything to do while Chris Carter's IBM typewriter was mostly a prop in his office. He was embarrassingly so waspish and wore a blue button down, tight Levis's, white topsiders, and a mane of surfer blond locks and lived at one of the LA coastal towns. He was not a surfer just as he was not meant to be involved in this show which I suspected was because he was someone's "boy" at the studio. Not implying he was gay, but he was wooden, humorless, asked peculiar questions about the large house built on a sound stage which he hardly used, going on locations for the few shows we got done. It was awful and loaded with talented people. When I saw and got hung up with the well written and imaginative story lines, there was no way one could believe this person had such a duality. I can comfortably say he was one of the oddest people who proved me wrong in summing him up as a talent, when I still think of him as a cartoon like writer/producer.I do believe I was right about him being someone's "boy" who hid it from the world and that this show was given to him to keep him alive till the XFILES could start production...Both Duchovny and Gillian Anderson owe their careers to his expert casting and it would not surprise me if he ended up being a creation of his own self. He is also, the most asexual person I ever worked with......hmmmmmmmm.
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