Random Film of the Week: The Black Hole

Posted on January 14, 2014 by geelw

I saw The Black Hole on the first day it was released and was pretty darn disappointed because I felt Disney blew an opportunity to make a more cerebral sci-fi film along the lines of a Forbidden Planet or a 2001: A Space Odyssey in favor of what was more or less a hobbled remake of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea with dashes of Star Wars, Moby Dick, and a few other bits borrowed from other classic and not so classic books and movies. It’s clearly NOT a “family film” despite the sci-fi/western shoot ’em up moments and two stupid trash can robots with big cartoon eyes that can’t be ignored as to how stupid they look mixed in with the more serious elements.

Thanks to the film not knowing which way to go tonally (and sorry, those robots never mesh with the dark mood and doom-filled dialog), what you have is an often grand looking, intentionally gloom-draped but sloppy sci-fi pastiche that’s too scary for the little kids those dopey robots were made for and too full of decent ideas better executed decades earlier to be a “great” movie. Not counting the awful “science” on display (it gets a pass from me because no one should go to a sci-fi flick expecting actual science!) I’d call it “adequate” at best. That said, there’s a niggling buzz in the back of my head that’s never left even after repeated re-viewings as recent as a few months ago. Then again, I was 17 when I first saw this and thanks to a tired ticket seller and a few early showings had already been exposed to Ridley Scott’s still brilliant ALIEN two years earlier, so my wider-eyed and more innocent eight-year old self was long buried by that point…

Continue reading →

Random Film of the Week: Sharky’s Machine

Posted on January 13, 2014 by geelw

Okay, I’ll admit it. I saw Sharky’s Machine with a few friends back in 1981 just so we could see a massive train-wreck in action. Of course, we were all surprised that the Burt Reynolds-directed film was not only quite good and well made, but actually a lot darker in tone than expected. There are also plenty of scenery-chewing funny bits in here as well, but none of them come at Burt’s expense and very few come from him (another surprise!).

Those bits of comic relief come primarily from the supporting cast made up of some of those “Where do I know HIM from?” actors (Bernie Casey, Brian Keith, John Fielder and Charles Durning among others) while Burt underplays Sharky as a moody and determined cop out to make the best of his earlier demotion who discovers love, death and dismemberment in a few strange places. Only two of those things actually happen TO him during the film, but I’ll keep you in suspense here (for the most part) just because I want you to check this one out at some point…

Continue reading →

Random Film of the Week: My Life to Live

Posted on January 13, 2014 by geelw

You know all those easily forgettable modern quasi-romantic melodramas that try so hard to pull at the emotions at every turn and only fool the easily manipulated thanks to the usual tired plot points repeated over and over again? Well, Jean-Luc Godard’s 1962 masterpiece Vivre Sa Vie: film en douze tableaux STILL spits all over their graves thanks to the director’s remarkable technique and the simple, powerful performance given by Anna Karina as a young woman trying and failing to achieve anything resembling a happy life.

Presented in twelve scenes, each one chock full of what looks like first take genius, this look at one woman’s life and fate isn’t at all your run of the mill tearjerker at all and in fact may almost seems like a documentary at times. Karina’s naturalistic acting is flawless as she plays a character who uproots her own life in the pursuit of some kind of evolving dream that devolves as the film progresses to its abrupt finale. This is one you’re not going to walk away smiling about, but it sure as heck makes for a greatly depressing conversation piece… Continue reading →

RAZE Trailers 1 & 2: BAM! POW! Sisters Are Doin’ It To Themselves…

Posted on January 10, 2014 by geelw

OUCH! Look, Hollywood. As much as I like strong female characters in my movies, this is a wee bit much. Or at least the trailers are numbing past the point of a good shot of painocaine. I can see the recipe now: One part Caged, One part Fight Club, add a jigger of Prisoner: Cell Block H, a slice of SAW and some of that special Corman spicy stuff from the baggie in that old coffee can and it’s BEWM! a knuckle and booby sammich you better treat right (and take your time with) OR ELSE. Eh, I dunno. Not to be (even more) sexist or anything, but I just don’t like women getting the crap kicked out of each other even if it’s by other women. Don’t you all get enough of that rough stuff from men in these sorts of films? Granted, I’m not a MMA of UFC fan at all these days and nope, I don’t even like it when men beat the crap out of each of other unless it’s in a stupid action movie where I know that the violence isn’t real and usually, the guys getting beat down deserve that knee to the head that sends them off a balcony fifteen floors to land on their heads.

Comin

On the other fist, I do love me some stupidly wild grindhouse films from across the spectrum from flat out funny to morally questionable by today’s standards. But I take those outrageous flicks in stride and not at all seriously because most are flat out hilarious under all their fake blood and gore. That said, I’m intrigued and may catch this when it pops up on cable at some point. I may not like all of what I see (the story BETTER be worth all that gal on gal violence), but I won’t be gleefully rubbing my mitts together like some people who see this and think waaaay too sexy thoughts about all that brutality being “hot” because women are getting beaten to death. Okay, ladies. Weigh in if you like. Um, that wasn’t a pun, by the way. Heh. Don’t hit me! I’m fragile! Ow! *Flinch*

Random Film of the Week: Legends of the Fall

Posted on January 9, 2014 by geelw

I may be a hopeless romantic (okay, okay … only sometimes!) but even I’m not a sucker for the big budget blockbuster romance film. Still, I sit through a few when I have the time to kill or get trapped and its the only damn thing to look at that won’t get me in trouble. Edward Zwick’s great-looking Legends of the Fall made me laugh out loud many times when I first saw it on a long airplane flight and it still makes me laugh today.

I laugh more now because I believe the airplane cut was a tiny bit shorter than the theatrical version, but back on that trip, I laughed louder because I’d fallen asleep during the screening and woke up a few hours later only to find the film replaying again almost exactly from the same spot as if it were waiting for me like a long lost love. Burning up the screen with more testosterone and scenery chewing from about everyone in the cast, this is one of those films that may have led to a few breakups among couples where one dragged the other to see this expensive pot-boiled turkey and the aftermath was about as wild as the fast-motion/freeze frame bear fight that pops up near the ending.

Yeah, you read that correctly. Read on for more… Continue reading →

Hey, el Diablo de Culiacan? The Devil Is Indeed In The Details…

Posted on January 9, 2014 by geelw

So… I’m in the library typing away yesterday when I look up and a DVD catches my eye. “Wait, someone made a Diablo III movie? ALREADY? No, that’s not even possible! OR right!” I think (plus a few other things) as I hop out of my seat and reach for the case. It turns out that I was right and it’s just probably one of the worst cases of trademark theft and sheer laziness in coming up with a logo I’ve ever seen.

This, ladies and gents is el Diablo de Culiacan a 2011 Mexican action film that I haven’t seen (but probably should just to get it over with) and based on the trailer below has absolutely, positively 100 percent NOTHING to do with Blizzard’s multimillion selling game series. Check it out:

(thanks, bandoretrito01!)

Uh huh. Well, um… it’s violent, at least… Continue reading →

Random Film of the Week: Across 110th Street

Posted on January 9, 2014 by geelw

No, it’s NOT “Blaxploitation Week” here at DAF because believe it or else, Across 110th Street isn’t really an exploitation film at all. Sure it’s got sudden (but VERY expected) bursts of violence, plenty of (way too brightly colored) blood spilled, swearing out the wazoo, hard drug usage, funky fashions and Afros all wrapped in very palpable sense of dread that lurks around from the moment the film gets underway until its inevitable conclusion. Oh, and that urban gangster theme, stereotypical I-tal-i-an mobsters getting needlessly brutal, an equally racist white cop (Anthony Quinn) and the fresh to the precinct black detective (Yaphet Kotto) who has to work with him on his first major case may all make you THINK you know what you’re getting into.

But then a funny thing happens after the title credits roll… the film surprises you with a surprisingly well shot and tense crime action/thriller with a deliberately relentless tone that escalates as things spiral out of control. Stealing drug money from the mob is a bad idea in any dramatic film, but this film lets you watch the doomed men pull off their dirty deed successfully while letting you see all too clearly that they’re not going far with their ill-gotten gains… Continue reading →

Random Film of the Week: HIT MAN

Posted on January 8, 2014 by geelw

While watching 1972’s HIT MAN on TCM last week and in between bouts of nearly falling off the couch laughing a few times at the unintentional comedy gold, it hit me that I’d see this film’s story elsewhere. Granted, you get what you pay for with most “blaxploitation” flicks in the form of a reworking of older (and often, superior) films, but there was something here under all the massive afros, copious nudity and violence that seemed pretty familiar.

That something happened to be Get Carter, the classic 1971 British gangster film from director Mike Hodges that was an early showcase for Michael Caine as well as a pretty darn great and mature killer of a movie. A year later, director George Armitage pretty much piled on the T&A, beefing up the sexy time and violence to racier American levels of shameless acceptability and the cast here does a pretty awesome job at making this one of those absolutely memorable (but yes, gloriously bad on so many levels) “B” flicks that’s going to have your head shaking and spinning simultaneously… Continue reading →

Random Film of the Week: Theatre of Blood

Posted on January 6, 2014 by geelw

I can recall as a kid really, really wanting to see a third Dr. Phibes movie after enjoying the first two back in the day and being nicely surprised that Theater of Blood is basically Vincent Price back as a similarly maligned character with a lovely female assistant (Diana Rigg) bumping off in some rather offbeat manners those that did him wrong. Granted, Price here plays the wronged Shakspeare quoting actor Edward Kendall Sheridan Lionheart as less determinedly psychotic than Phibes and more of someone who’s otherwise a likable man bullied by his critics to the point he decides to clean up the gene pool a bit.

But beggars can’t be choosers at all, and Douglas Hickox’ great, campy as all get out plus tax film packs in some nice 1970’s blood and chills in about an hour and forty five minutes of running time. Although it’s nowhere as gory as straight up slasher films that would pop onto screens less than ten years later, some of the kills here win awards for creativity and sheer ACME-style setup and payoff moments… Continue reading →

Random Film of the Week(end), Too: THE HAND

Posted on January 4, 2014 by geelw

For the record, I hated THE HAND when I first saw it and don’t like it much more today. Not because it’s not scary at all (its one or two jump scare moments and the nutty ending work for me), and not because Michael Caine isn’t “givin’ it ‘is awl” (heh) as a strip cartoonist who loses his drawing hand in a freak accident, gets a prosthetic replacement and soon has a bit of a psychological breakdown afterwards that involves a few dips into murder. Nope, Caine is fine and creepy here as Jon Lansdale and in fact, the other actors do a mostly fine job with Stone’s script (based on the Marc Brandel novel “The Lizard’s Tail”).

My big beef with the movie is how very, very little of Barry Smith’s outstanding comic art (created specifically for the film, mind you) is seen once the main credits have finished rolling. It’s a shame because the films isn’t quite the horror film it needs to be despite trying very hard to bridge the gap between low budget indie and major studio first effort (it was Stone’s first time behind the camera on a feature film). Granted, this isn’t supposed to be a Smith biopic or anything like that and I eventually saw a chunk of the art in an interview Smith did around when the film was released or so (and it’s some beautiful work). But for all the story’s emphasis on Lansdale’s Mandro character being so important (hell, no hand, bro means NO Mandro!), we never see that much of the artwork up close or find out much about Mandro other than the art looks like Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian when Smith’s art really matured near the end of his run on the book… Continue reading →