moriarty@fluke.UUCP (Jeff Meyer) (06/21/85)
BROKEN HEARTS AND NOSES
Director: Sam Ralmi
Screenplay: Sam Ralmi, Joel & Ethan Coen
Cast: Louise Lasser, Reed Birney, Paul Smith, Brion Jones, Ed
Pressman, S. J. Wilson.
[American Premiere]
Remember back a year or two, when _The_Twilight_Zone_ movie came out?
Remember the third segment, with the little kid who had the power to turn
his household into a cartoon-like world? With Cartoon-like jokes and sight
gags? For me, this was a very entertaining idea -- but it just didn't work.
Well, folks, here's a film that is like one long, very good Warner
Bros. Looney Tune cartoon, with live-action players, and some of
the most inventive camerawork I've seen in ages (especially for
the budget they worked under). It's supposed to be a takeoff on
film noir movies, but this is really just a tag so that the Washington
Post has something brief to put in their Capsule Review section. If
the film satirizes anything, it satirizes the *style* of these pictures.
Familiar camera and editing tricks are beautifully sent up (people
walking through dark buildings, just waiting for someone to jump
out, etc.). And things are attempted in real life that you just cannot
imagine seeing on anything other than a cartoon. Remember all
those films with duels taking place on top of trains? How about
doing it on two cars along a Detroit freeway? How about a chase
scene through hundreds of door frames (yes, just the frames)?
I can't give you much of a plot description, except there if you are
an old movie buff, you'll enjoy this picture. The screenplay is
partially by Joel & Ethan Cohn, who wrote and directed
_Blood_Simple_, and the producer & director are also responsible
for _The_Evil_Dead_, which, from what I gather, is a classic in the
chop-em-up horror film genre. Anyway, a really good Friday or
Saturday night film, if you like Looney Tunes humor for 80
minutes.
"Do you think what we're doing is wrong?"
"Of course it's wrong! It's illegal!"
"I've never done anything illegal before."
"I thought you said you were an accountant"
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc.
UUCP:
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