chuqui@nsc.UUCP (Cheshire Chuqui) (12/06/84)
A few more movies from the wonderful world of the VCR....
(note: Repo man is now out on tape-- expect a review Real Soon Now. I might
even try to stomach Purple rain. Unfortunately, the Bolero tapes are
impossible to find-- of course that MIGHT be an advantage...)
Raiders of the Lost Ark- ***
Great Saturday Action Adventure Flick-- front row throw your popcorn at the
screen and yell stuff. Except for the metaphysical stuff in the last half,
which drove me up the wall. Even so, highly recommended, even on a smaller
screen. Be sure you pop your popcorn the night before so it is good and
stale!
Secret of Nimh- ****
Animation in the greatest of the Disney Tradition-- it should be, because
all of the good Disney animators left for Don Bluth's studio when they
could no longer practice a quality art with Disney (if you don't believe
me, watch 'Fox and the Hound'). Great, wonderful-- a good solid moralistic
childrens story (good things happen to good people, bad things happen to
bad people, etc...) that doesn't get in the way of simply being enjoyable.
Fitzcarraldo- *** (German subtitled)
Klaus Kinski as the Klaus we've grown to know and love-- psycho, but very
charistmatic. The best performance I've seen from him (including a couple
of other favorites-- Nosferatu (which I haven't seen completely yet,
unfortunately) and Android) as a rather strange man who believes that he
can civilize the Amazon jungle with opera. His plan: to build a great
opera house for Caruso to sing in. He really believes this will work, and
his is such a strong characterization that you start believing it, too.
wonderful...
Love and Death- ***
Woody Allen does Tolstoy. Woody allen does Tolstoy well, including
interludes of useless social commentary, speaking at the audience,
posturing, hopelessness, despair, and all of those other wonderful things--
all the time with his tongue fully in cheek. Great lines:
'You are a great lover.' 'I ought to be-- I practice a lot when I'm
alone'
'What if he lives? riddled like a swiss cheese? What life is that,
married to a swiss cheese and rented children?' (this one makes even
less sense IN context...)
Annie Hall- ****+
Woody Allen's best comedy. period. Very funny, but smiling sad. It says a
lot on any level you want to look at it, and every viewing shows a new
angle to experience. The best of the bunch, by far. Great line:
A relationship is like a shark-- it has to keep moving forward or
it dies. What we have on our hands is definitely a dead shark.
Emmanuelle- *?
If you like women who look like they are in pain, men who look bored, and a
lot of implied moaning and thrashing, this movie is STILL boring. If you
are going to film a movie about sex, film a movie about sex. filming a
movie where the woman gets half undressed and suddenly is smoking a
cigarette is a copout. *yawn*
Andy Warhols Dracula- -1*
Clint eastwood said it best-- The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Annie Hall
is Good. Emmanuelle is Bad. Andy Warhol's Dracula is Ugly. Dracula is
suddenly into virginal style blood-- only. Evidently there isn't a virgin
left in Bulgaria because the count (coffin and all) goes to Italy in search
of virgins. (Italy? you gotta be kidding!). Anyway, this vampire, which is
immortal, will die without virgin blood. Warhold also seems to have
forgotten that vampires can't walk around in daylight without getting
chapped skin, either. Of course, he also forgot a few other details such as
plots, characterization, dialog, intelligence, sanity, cinematography and
diction lessons for his actors ('I MUFT haf a WURGIN! I MUFT haf a WURGIN!
This whorsh bloot is killink me!) (* no, I'm not exaggerating*). He must
have figured something was wrong with the film (he was wrong-- EVERYTHING
is wrong with the film) because about every 20 minutes some woman crawls
out of her clothes and/or into bed with this charming bolshevik that makes
adolph hitler sound absolutely charismatic. It wouldn't have been so bad if
there had been a REASON for them to crawl out of their clothes, but it
wasn't in the plotline (such as it was) and in some cases the clothing was
an improvment. sigh. I was ready for schlock going in, but I wasn't ready
for Andy Warhol's Dracula-- this makes Plan Nine from outer space look
good, folks... Very, very good.
enjoy!
chuq
--
From the center of a Plaid pentagram: Chuq Von Rospach
{cbosgd,decwrl,fortune,hplabs,ihnp4,seismo}!nsc!chuqui nsc!chuqui@decwrl.ARPA
~But you know, monsieur, that as long as she wears the claw of the dragon
upon her breast you can do nothing-- her soul belongs to me!~strock@fortune.UUCP (Gregory Strockbine) (12/08/84)
>Andy Warhols Dracula- -1* >I was ready for schlock going in, but I wasn't ready >for Andy Warhol's Dracula-- this makes Plan Nine from outer space look >good, folks... Very, very good. I disagree, this is a vote in favor of Warhols Dracula.