srt@ucla-cs.UUCP (10/22/85)
Just a quick mention of some previews I've recently seen. These are all working titles, so... HAMBURGER THE MOVIE A typical teen exploitation film, though a bit more hardcore than most. This film has no pretensions - it starts immediately with the women's locker room shower scene. The plot, such as it is, follows six recent inductees to a "college" run by a big Hamburger chain. Only saw the first 15 minutes of this one. Most of the audience was walking out (pretty unusual in a preview) but you might like this if you like this type of movie (i.e., Porky's, Spring Break). CLUB PARADISE Starring Robin Williams, Jimmy Cliff, Twiggy, Peter O'Toole and a number of people from Second City. Screenplay by Harold Ramis (Animal House, Vacation). The story of a Chicago fireman who retires to the obscure Carribean island of St. Nicholas and invests in a club down there. Jimmy Cliff plays the owner of the club who is also the club's entertainment and (surprise!) a rebel leader. The club is beset by the usual problems, including a corrupt local administration who are trying to sell the island to an Arab. Peter O'Toole plays the island's British governor. All in all a very slow movie that wastes a lot of talent. Especially annoying is the childish political tone of the movie with Arab bad guys, revolution, reggae for the people, stoned Rastafarians, etc. O'Toole's role is completely gratuitous and could be struck from the movie. Ramis fails again. YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES Executive Director Steven Spielberg. Ah, finally a good one, typical fare from the Spielberg mill. The movie follows the adventures of young Sherlock and Watson when they meet at boarding school and become involved in a series of murders. Mixed in with a good Doyle-style Holmes story is the usual Spielberg stuff: special effects, exotic Egyptian settings, etc. The first scene in particular is a grabber. It starts out pleasantly enough, with an English gent walking the snowy streets of London, looking like something out of Dickens. But then...well, I won't give it away. I can't honestly say this is Spielberg's best effort overall (hard to know how much he really had to do with it) but it will certainly add to his growing legend. Look for a Christmas release.
shiue@h-sc1.UUCP (steve shiue) (10/26/85)
> > YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES > > Executive Director Steven Spielberg. Ah, finally a good one, typical fare > from the Spielberg mill... > ...I can't honestly say > thus is Spielberg's best effort overall (hard to know how much he really had > to do with it) but it will certainly add to his growing legend. I suppose that Spielberg is quite busy, being a mogul and general Hollywood deity these days, and finds it hard to find time to direct anymore, but I find it a bit annoying that he is named producer or Executive Director on so many films - this is a rather gutless ploy. The way it works is that if the picture is Bomb City like The Goonies, then Spielberg doesn't take the rap. If, however, the picture is a smash that all the critics like, like Back to the Future, then "Spielberg - he's a genius!" It all reminds me of the cult of Leopold Stokowski the conductor that used to exist (see the Bugs Bunny cartoon "Long-haired Hare", where Bugs dresses up like Stokowski and all the musicians in the orchestra pit whisper with hushed reverence, "Leopold... Leopold!"). I also find it annoying that ever since "E.T.", Spielberg has been exclusively identified with children-fluff-sentimental movies - the god of nouveau-Disney. People seem to have forgotten entirely that this is the man who created "Jaws", in which kids got MUNCHED, not carried into the stars by benevolent child/aliens. Being of a somewhat perverse mind-set, I prefer "Jaws" to the later films (though I like most of them - it's just the Cult of the Spielberg that irks me). When people think of Spielberg now, the first thing that comes to mind is the preview image of flashing, brilliant light through a window (aliens? poltergeists? who knows - refer to previews for Close Encounters, E.T., Poltergeist, etc.), the wind, blowing the curtains, and the actor shouting and looking intense. That was what bugged me so much about the "Amazing Stories" teaser that was aired all over NBC shortly before the show's debut - the kid jumping up and down and shouting, "It's COMING! IT'S COMING!" while the brilliant light flashes outside the window. Where have I seen that image before, Steven? The whole thing has become such a painful cliche. But enough spleen and Spielberg-bashing. If I were the director of "E.T." and "Close Encounters" and hooked up to biggest gravy train in the history of the universe, it is likely that I too would get into the "executive producer/director" racket damn quick. Just the same as if I were the author of #1 bestsellers that number in the double digits, I would start publishing books every six months regardless whether they were new or old manuscripts or under a pseudonym or whatever, and allow the quality of my writing to go all to hell (and don't get me wrong - I LOVE Stephen King. It's just that he must laugh so damn HARD every time he looks at his bank statement). So, being poor, moral superiority and the rest come easy. -Steve Shiue "Great stunt, Daffy! They loved you!" "I know, I know. But I can only do it once."