Saw this flick and thought it was the worst waste of celluloid I have seen in years. I live in Tennessee and believe me, this Canadian flick (yes, CANADIAN) has little bearing on the state of moonshining in the 1950's. Avoid it like a case of the clap.
Reviews
3 Reviews
Suburbia
(1983)
I Like Spheeris, But Omigod!
10 May 1999
I really liked "The Decline of Civilization, Part II: The Metal Years." Heck, I even enjoyed Spheeris's "Wayne's World." But "Suburbia?" A real sophomoric effort, if you know what I mean. The rednecks aren't believable, the kids do much of nothing dramatic, the acting is marginal to BAD, and the pacing/editing needs tightened by about 20 minutes. This film does NOT age well. But I did like catching The Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea as a kid and all three of his lines............All in all, a good try, a bad movie.
A Boy and His Dog
(1975)
Another 90 Minutes of My Life Gone
28 February 1999
Wow. Somewhere I read that this movie was an absorbing example of the sci-fi genre. Now I know why they say "don't believe everything you read." I rented it solely on this basis, and I feel as though Harlan Ellison (who wrote the original story) must be crying head-in-hands somewhere.
Don Johnson (AKA the "boy," though he was 26 at the time playing a tender 18) gives a dreary performance, foreshadowing the lifeless screeching that passed as acting on "Miami Vice" a decade later. The dog (couldn't the director find a more appropriate breed than this Benji lookalike?) actually out-acts Johnson, even saddled by a goofy voiceover that is supposed to give the animal a "learned" demeanor. Yes, the dog talks. Which is more than I can say for Don's slurry gibbering.
Aside from the shoddy production values, crappy set design, bad acting and lack of narrative energy, the film does have a funny cameo role by Jason Robards. Otherwise, it's too bad to be good and not bad enough to be good ala "Showgirls." Avoid it like the plague unless you are a diehard sci-fi freak.
Don Johnson (AKA the "boy," though he was 26 at the time playing a tender 18) gives a dreary performance, foreshadowing the lifeless screeching that passed as acting on "Miami Vice" a decade later. The dog (couldn't the director find a more appropriate breed than this Benji lookalike?) actually out-acts Johnson, even saddled by a goofy voiceover that is supposed to give the animal a "learned" demeanor. Yes, the dog talks. Which is more than I can say for Don's slurry gibbering.
Aside from the shoddy production values, crappy set design, bad acting and lack of narrative energy, the film does have a funny cameo role by Jason Robards. Otherwise, it's too bad to be good and not bad enough to be good ala "Showgirls." Avoid it like the plague unless you are a diehard sci-fi freak.
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