Vintage Viewings

I've been trying to catch up on some recent films lately that I have missed so this Vintage Viewings post will be a bit short. I've also been watching a lot of TV surprisingly with reruns of Lou Grant on American Life, a new season of Mary McCormack in In Plain Sight and the very funny Parks and Recreation providing the biggest pleasures. I have had time for some older works though and here are some thoughts on the more recent that I've had in my player:

1. Born Innocent: Fascinating 1974-television film starring a tremendous Linda Blair. Surprisingly rough in spots, the film will be extremely interesting to fans of The Exorcist as this was the first picture Linda shot after it. Keep an eye out for Janit Baldwin, seen here the same year she shot Gator Bait with Claudia Jennings!

2. The Rocker: Thin Lizzy’s Phil Lynott: I’ve been listening to a lot of Thin Lizzy lately, and in no way is that a bad thing. This engrossing 60 minute documentary on their legendary founder is filled with killer clips of live Lizzy, vintage interviews as well as insightful commentary from the surviving band members, peers, family and friends.

3. Murder Obsession: The final film from important Italian director Riccardo Freda is a fairly flawed affair at best. Featuring lovely Laura Gemser as well as Anita Strindberg and John Richardson, Murder Obsession is a confused late period Giallo that never really comes together. It has its moments and includes an interesting score from Franco Mannino, but it is nowhere near Freda’s better works.

4. Return of the Ewok: An odd little documentary shot during the making of the thrilling Return of the Jedi featuring Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher (in her Jedi bikini gear), Mark Hammill as well as some other familiar faces from the original Star Wars saga. Nowhere near as embarrassing as the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special, I found this short little film sort of sweet and it would make a nice bonus feature to a future Jedi DVD release.

5. Smile Jenny You’re Dead: The best thing about this boring 1974 TV film starring David Janssen is getting to see a young Jodie Foster together with Barbara Leigh in a couple of scenes. Otherwise this Harry-O mystery is pretty limp stuff although anything with both Zalman King and Victor Argo on hand isn’t all a bad thing.

6. Super Fly TNT: I’ve wanted to see this sequel to one of my favorite films from the seventies for years, but unfortunately it is about as bad as its reputation suggests. Despite being scripted by none other than Alex Hailey, Super Fly TNT is just bad throughout. Ron O’Neal was an incredibly talented actor but his direction here is flat at best. A solid cast is wasted and this film film deserves to be just a footnote to Gordon Park Jr’s landmark work.

7. The Buddy System: A fairly dreadful 1984 film starring Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon and Nancy Allen from director Glenn Jordan. I admittedly just watched it for Allen, who is wasted in a supporting role.

First-Time Viewings (January 2011)

I'm not really one to make New Years Resolutions but I did promise myself that I would watch more films that I haven't seen before in 2011, since I slacked off quite a bit in 2010. I also decided I would keep a month by month tally instead of attempting to compile them all at the end of the year, so here are the films I caught up with in January with a few notes:

Asylum (2008) *1/2
An extremely flat horror film from director David R. Ellis of the solid Final Destination 2 that has very little to recommend.

Bloody Birthday ****
TCM recently showed this terrific early eighties fright film, featuring a young Julie Brown among others, and I loved it. Severin's upcoming special edition disc of this film is one of my most-anticipated of 2011.

Blue Valentine *****
This truly exception film finally came to my area recently and it would have appeared on my top ten list from 2010 had I seen it sooner. Featuring incredibly heartbreaking and expertly realized performances from Michelle Williams and Ryan Gossling (who really got ripped off by the Academy this year), Blue Valentine is a tremendous work.

Cherrybomb **1/2
This still unreleased in the States film features the wonderful young Rupert Grint, in one of his only appearances away from the Harry Potter franchise. I found the first hour to be fairly effective but felt like it collapsed in on itself by the end. Still, Grint is terrific and the score by David Holmes is exceptional.



Critters ***
Somehow this sci-fi Gremlins inspired creature fest from the mid-eighties had escaped my viewing until now. It’s fairly enjoyable and any film feature Dee Wallace-Stone and M. Emmet Walsh is worth a look. It’s not extremely memorable but the hands-on creature effects are nice, in this age of CGI, and I can certainly think of a worse way to spend 80 or so minutes.

Easy A ****1/2
Another film that would have possibly been on my top ten list from 2010 had I seen it sooner. A damn near a perfect teen flick with a charismatic and winning performance from the extremely gifted Emma Stone, a young actress really worthy of getting excited about.

Fanboys ***1/2
Critics weren’t too kind to this when it hit theaters a couple of years ago, especially Roger Ebert whose malicious and quite nasty review deservedly drew the wrath of a lot of folks, but I was quite taken with it. Consistently funny and finally mildly touching, Fanboys had me from the get-go. I was especially impressed with Kristen Bell, a charming actress so often underused.

Greenberg ****1/2
Probably my favorite film from Noah Baumbach since Mr. Jealousy back in the nineties. It is so refreshing to see a modern film focusing on a guy who, let’s face it, is more than a bit of an asshole. Ben Stiller delivers perhaps his best performance since Permanent Midnight and Greta Gerwig continues to offer up proof that she is one of modern cinema’s most distinctive young voices. A great film…

I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale *****
John Cazale was a national treasure and this long overdue documentary is a fitting tribute to him. If you can get through this without tearing up at least a couple of times, I don’t know you.

I'm Still Here *****
Casey Affleck’s hilarious and savagely satirical mockumenatry on our national obsession with celebrity is an instant classic to me eyes. There were few films from 2010 that were as truly fascinating as this one.



Machine Girl ****
A dazzling piece of gore soaked insanity from Japanese Director Noboru Iguchi that is an audacious blast of adrenaline all the way through.

Miss March *
A dismal ‘comedy’ with barely a laugh in site that not even the brilliant Craig Robinson can save. Dreadful…

Night of the Devils ***
A strange 1972 Italian thriller from director Giorgio Ferroni that never really reaches the realms of the great like-minded films of the period but it's interesting enough to recommend. Fans of Bava's Black Sabbath will absolutely want to check it out and the score from Giorgio Gaslini is well-done.

Ninja Assassin **
Save for a few potent action scenes this film is surprisingly dull and the CGI blood outstays its welcome almost immediately.

Nude For Satan ***
Rita Calderoni haunts my dreams and she is unforgettable in this eerie and outlandish Italian production that never quite reaches greatness but it gets close.

Summer's Moon ***1/2
Another winner from Smash Cut director Lee Demarbre starring lovely Ashley Greene. Demarbre is a real talent and Summer's Moon is a terrific little thriller.

The American Soldier ****
My thoughts on this Fassbinder film can be read here.



The Beach Girls (1982) **1/2
Who in the hell is Debra Blee and why didn't she appear in more films? Honestly I should probably give this silly little sexploitation beach romp a lower score but there was something infectious about how joyously exploitative it is and Blee is really, really something.

The Disappearance of Alice Creed ****
Powerful performances from Gemma Arterton, Martin Compston and Eddie Marsan highlight this terrific and tense British Kidnap thriller that felt a lot more fresh and vital than I expected it to.



The Extraordinary Seaman *
Ugh, this was really terrible and the fact that such a great director (John Frankenheimer) and wonderful cast (David Niven, Faye Dunaway, Alan Alda) were attached to it makes it all the more regrettable.

The Neptune Factor *1/2
I watched this mostly for Ben Gazzara and it's as poor as its reputation suggests. Terrible special effects and a hellishly sluggish pace capsize it at every turn.

Triage ***
Colin Farrell's thoughtful performance elevates this slow and jumbled war film centering on PTSD. Paz Vega and Christopher Lee also lend able support but it is Farrell that really makes this recommendable.

When Michael Calls ***
Another early seventies Ben Gazzara film I caught up with and this was much better than The Neptune Factor. This creepy little chiller also features Michael Douglas and I found it to be effectively eerie all the way through.



Women in Trouble **1/2
If I was rating just Carla Gugino as Elektra Luxx then this would get five stars. However the mesmerizing Gugino is only in Women in Trouble sporadically and it never comes together as a cohesive piece, despite the best efforts of a number ogf good actors including Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Josh Brolin and scene-stealing Adrianne Palicki.

Finally, I caught up with two 2011 films at theaters:

The Green Hornet **
What a monumentally disappointing work this is. I am a huge fan of the writing team of Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg, and Michel Gondry is one of my favorite young directors, so I had high hopes for The Green Hornet. Nothing really works here, save for a few inspired bits from Christoph Waltz. A real mis-fire all the way around.

The Mechanic ***
Longtime readers here will know how much I love Michael Winner’s original version of The Mechanic but you might not know that I am also a huge fan of Jason Statham so I had mixed feelings going into this. While it doesn’t touch the original, I found the new version of The Mechanic to be a perfectly acceptable modern action film and was a lot moodier and effective than I thought it would be.

First Time Viewings: February 2011

February proved to be the first month in as long as I can remember that I didn't go see any new films at the theater. There just wasn't any 2011 film that appealed to me enough to make me want to go out, buy a ticket and watch it.
I did manage to catch up with these twenty or so, new-to-me, pre-2011 films at home (Sofia Coppola's remarkable 2010 work Somewhere was the one film I caught on the big screen) and here are my quick thoughts on them.

2020 Texas Gladiators ***
This entertaining 1986 offering from Joe D’Amato is neither the best nor the worst of the many Italian post-apocalyptic films of the eighties, but it’s well worth watching for fans of the genre or D’Amato. Apparently partially directed by D’Amato regular George Eastman, 2020 Texas Gladiators is helped immeasurably by its cast of genre favorites, which includes Al Cliver, Sabrina Siani and Donald O’Brien. This is mostly low-rent D’Amato, and it’s the kind of film many will just be content to make fun of, but there’s a lot to love here for folks, like me, who love these films.

Best Worst Movie ****
Michael Stephenson’s engrossing look Claudio Fragasso’s infamous Troll 2 (1990) is a really fascinating and compulsively watchable work that surprised me at every turn. For the first hour, it is a rather nostalgic look back at a film that has garnered a major cult following, shown as the film’s star (Dentist George Hardy) travels with the film to sold-out Midnight showings across the country. Best Worst Movie turns surprisingly dark in its last half hour as Hardy’s apparent bitterness (his extremely callous and rude behavior at a particular horror convention was really hard for me to watch) becomes apparent. The film also makes for uncomfortable viewing when Fragasso, who is proud of the film, comes to American to find it loved the being 'the worst film ever made'.

Blue Rita ****
A startling Jess Franco film from 1977 starring Martine Flety and Pamela Stanford, Blue Rita is an extremely eccentric work from a director truly possessed by a mad genius. Short at just around 75 minutes and clearly shot on a barely there budget, Blue Rita still manages to be quite a mesmerizing work due to Franco’s cinematic touch, which is unlike any other around.

Dominique **1/2
Sometimes referred to as Dominique is Dead, Dominique is Michael Anderson’s 1980 chiller starring Cliff Robertson, Jean Simmons, Judy Geeson and Jenny Agutter. At times effective, the film finally feels more like a sluggish TV movie barely held together by a talented cast and a few sporadically interesting moments. In all fairness, I did have to watch the film via a horribly blurry full-frame copy that rendered certain sections so dark I could barely make out what was going on. I would be curious to see how much a good copy would help the film.

Hate Thy Neighbor **1/2
A so-so 1970 Italian western from the interesting director Ferdinando Baldi starring George Eastman among a few other familiar genre faces. Not so much a terrible film as just an average one, Hate Thy Neighbor is nowhere near as good as some of Baldi’s other westerns like the exciting Goodbye Texas (1967) and the supremely strange Blindman (1971).



Invisible Stripes ***
Lloyd Bacon’s 1939 prison melodrama is helped immeasurable by its extraordinary cast which includes George Raft, William Holden and Humphrey Bogart. Bacon’s direction is not terribly exciting, and the screenplay by Warren Duff is fairly routine, but each one of the leads delivers stirring work and make the film never less than compelling.



Love Before Breakfast ***
A low-key if charming 1936 Carole Lombard vehicle from director Walter Lang, Love Before Breakfast is a breezy comedy that doesn’t hold a candle to Lombard’s greatest films, but its provides enough entertainment value for a slight recommendation. Lang’s film would have been much stronger if he had given Carole better leading men, as neither Preston Foster nor Cesar Romero bring much to the table here.

Model Shop **1/2
Jacques Demy’s extremely strange, and oddly lifeless, English Language film from 1969, Model Shop is a partial follow-up to Demy’s much more successful 1961 film Lola. Featuring the entrancing Anouk Aimee reprising her role as Lola, Demy is more focused here on the directionless Gary Lockwood, whose character spends the majority of the films running time just driving around Los Angeles. Model Shop is gorgeous to look at, and the score from the rock group Spirit is great, but it’s finally just a not so successful look at the American youth culture of the late sixties and, much like its lead character, it is mostly misguided.



One Down Two to Go ***
If you think I am going to rank anything starring Fred Williamson, Jim Brown, Richard Roundtree, Jim Kelly AND Joe Spinell less that 3 stars then you’re crazy. Williamson writes and directs this 1982 feature that uses the world of kick-boxing as a backdrop to its rather by-the-numbers story of revenge and sticking it to the man. It’s nothing monumental, and it would have been better if it had been made about five years earlier, but it’s a lot of fun and it has a nonsensical final moment that has to be seen to be believed.

San Quentin ***
Another Lloyd Bacon film starring Humphrey Bogart that I liked this one slightly more than Invisible Stripes, if mostly due to the fact that one of my favorites, Ann Sheridan, is on hand. Like Invisible Stripes it is a fairly pedestrian work that only really sparks when Bogart and Sheridan are on the screen.

Silkwood ****1/2
I’m not sure why it took me so long to catch up with Silkwood, Mike Nichols chilling and wonderfully acted true-life tale from 1983. I certainly have had many chances in the past 28 plus years to watch it but I just recently finally sat down with for it with TCM’s recent screening. It’s a haunting and incredibly well acted work (I sometimes forget just how astonishing Meryl Streep can be) that really shook me up watching it. I won’t wait 28 years to watch it again…

Sleepy Head ***
My look at this Joe Sarno film can be found here for those interested.

Somewhere *****
Masterpiece. Sofia Coppola makes it a dazzling four for four with the stunning Somewhere, a brooding and meditative work that manages to recall films by both Michelangelo Antonioni and Vincent Gallo! Coppola’s work is all her own though and this lovely film offers up another reminder as to why she is one of the most valuable young voices in all of cinema. I can’t wait to revisit this work again and again when it hits Blu-Ray later this year.



The Boston Strangler ****
Often criticized for being factually inaccurate, The Boston Strangler is still an undeniably powerful work from inventive director Richard Fleischer, who uses a lot of brutally effective split-screen work to tell this frightening tale of one of America’s most infamous serial killers. The whole cast is great but it is Tony Curtis, as Albert DeSalvo, who really wows here delivering a performance of startling power. He was robbed when he didn’t get at least a nomination for this film.

The Dynamite Brothers **1/2
It would be easy to pick apart this cheesy little Al Adamson feature from 1974 but it supplies enough goofy and energetic fun to keep to keep it watchable, plus it has Carol Speed in it so you know it’s not all that bad. The soundtrack from Charles Earland, which is what led me to the film, is honestly the best part and it is pretty kickass.

The Fighting Fists of Shanghai Joe ***1/2
Mario Caiano’s extremely enjoyable genre-mixing romp from 1974 features a terrific Chen Lee as the title character along with Klaus Kinski, Carla Mancini, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart and Carla Romanelli in supporting roles. The film’s a blast, Caiano’s direction is energetic and the score from Bruno Nicolai is out of sight.

The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh ***
One of the main inspirations for Will Ferrell’s woefully undervalued Semi-Pro from a few years back, The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh (which I caught part of years ago) is an endearing, if overlong, production that is hard to dislike even though it finally isn’t as good as it could have been. Here’s a bit of trivia for you, Dawn of the Dead star Ken Foree is listed over at the IMDB as an uncredited Pittsburgh Python Player!

The Passions of Carol ***1/2
My look at this fascinating Shaun Costello film can be found here.



Tonight and Every Night ***
I’ll be the first to admit that I am not a big fan of Musicals. I am a big fan of Rita Hayworth though, which is mostly why I gave this Victor Saville WW11 songfest a go. While I wasn’t blown away by it, I did enjoy Rita’s performance and there is no arguing with the songwriting Cahn and Styne. I also appreciated how strange some of the musical sequences were and that the film didn’t have the stock ending I expected. My appreciation for the film was ultimately marred by a lame write-in character of a priest, not in the original play, that the studio wrote in but, all in all, this is a pretty good (and great looking) little film.

Zombie Strippers ****1/2
Jay Lee’s fabulous gory satire is a truly inventive and intelligent work that I wish I would have seen in the theater. Featuring a go for broke performance by Jenna Jameson and a hilariously self-referential turn from Robert Englund, Zombie Strippers is equal parts Lucio Fulci, Bertolt Brecht and Russ Meyer and it’s a marvelous DIY-spirited work from Lee (and his crew). I have to say as well that I would love a spin-off film featuring lovely Laura Bach’s ass-kicking, zombie-crushing Sassy Sue as soon as possible please.