Saturday, September 17, 2016
Velvet Goldmine (1998)
In 1984, a British journalist investigates the career of 1970s glam superstar Brian Slade, who was heavily influenced in his early years by hard-living and rebellious American singer Curt Wild.
Using a plot modeled after Citizen Kane this movie offers some great period details and music and succeeds in recreating the 70s glam rock scene; the story, however, remains negligible in comparison.
Halliwell**: "A camp account of a camp phenomenon, flamboyantly revelling in the fakery and the androgynous appeal of it all."
Maltin**1/2: "Opulent, glittery paean toearly '70s glam rock (and youth-culture head movies like QUADROPHENIA and PERFORMANCE) is such a triumph of style and excess it's easy to overlook the film's clinky CITIZEN KANE narrative structure and emotionally aloof characters. Rhys Meyers is effectively snotty as a bisexual David Bowie-esque pop star, but Collette is a standout as his negelcted party-girl wife..."
Friday, September 16, 2016
Symptoms (1974)
A young woman is invited by her girlfriend, who lives in an English country mansion, to stay there with her; the estate, however, isn't quite what it seems--and neither is the friend who issued the invitation.
Atmospheric and stylish thriller that creates a dreamlike mindscape where all males are annoying intruders and the English woods appear like a jungle; unsual, but the plot itself is not too original.
Halliwell*: "Creepy thriller with lesbian undertones, stylishly directed."
First Lines: Howard Zinn - A People's History of the United States
Arawak men and women, naked, tawny, and full of wonder, emerged from their villages onto the island's beaches and swam out to get a closer at the strange big boat.
Thursday, September 15, 2016
They Made Me a Criminal (1939)
A boxer flees believing he has comitted a murder while he was drunk.
Effective and quite unsentimental crime drama (and romance); an example for those kind of movies "they don't make anymore".
Halliwell*: "Competent remake of The Life of Jimmy Dolan, a tribute to the American way."
Maltin**1/2: "Enjoyable, with Rains miscast as a Dick Tracy type."
The Flesh Eaters (1964)
A group of young adults are trapped on a desert island only to find the water inhabited by a violent form of flesh-eating organisms.
Unusual sci-fi shocker with some gory scenes; it has an adequate cast and some surprise moments, but the monster is once again absolutely ridiculous.
Maltin*1/2: "Occasionally tense, but gruesome and generally boring."
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
First Lines: Carl Bernstein & Bob Woodward - All the President's Men
June 17, 1972. Nine o'clock Saturday morning. Early for the telephone. Woodward fumbled for the receiver and snapped awake.
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Destination Moon (1950)
A team composed of an aerospace scientist, an ex-Air Force general and an industrialist conceive an ambitious plan to land Americans on the moon.
Excellently produced sci-fi advaenture with good effects and amazing scientific accuracy in almost all details; interesting, but not quite exciting.
Halliwell*: "Semi-documentary prophecy with impressive gadgetry encased in a tedious and totally unsuprising script."
Maltin**1/2: "One of the pioneer sci-fi films about the first manned mission to the moon, modestly mounted but still effective. Striking lunar paintings by Chelsey Bonestell."
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