cult film freak: March 2017

Written by James M. Tate / 3/26/2017 / No comments / 2017 , creature , john c. reilly , king kong , monster , new , samuel l. jackson

EXTREMELY BELATED REVIEW OF KONG: SKULL ISLAND

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p2K3LON6_BE/WNhx69V3DvI/AAAAAAAAxQ8/EHzEG62jBOkxxfaYi4MKuphchWvjiQVwwCLcB/s1600/two-new-kong-skull-island-posters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p2K3LON6_BE/WNhx69V3DvI/AAAAAAAAxQ8/EHzEG62jBOkxxfaYi4MKuphchWvjiQVwwCLcB/s400/two-new-kong-skull-island-posters.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Apocalypse Now style poster for Skull Island YEAR: 2017</u></td></tr>
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Being a rabid fan of KING KONG, from the original 1933 Fay Wray adventure classic to the 1976 Jessica Lange action-packed modernized reboot, KONG: SKULL ISLAND throws the usual damsel in distress template out the window, replaced with a group of soldiers, their mission never quite explained, even by exposition bearer John Goodman, occurring right after Vietnam where Sam Jackson's character is still sore from losing, or as he puts it, abandoning the war...<br>
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Between the Thirties and Seventies, Toho films (along with Rankin/Bass) kept Kong alive as a protagonist adversary verses Godzilla and other monsters, and in KING KONG VS GODZILLA the giant ape battles an octopus that, as you can imagine, paying homage with today's technology, looks pretty cool despite having little to do with what SKULL ISLAND lacks completely: an actual plot...<br>
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2017, creature, john c. reilly, king kong, monster, new, samuel l. jackson

EXTREMELY BELATED REVIEW OF KONG: SKULL ISLAND

Apocalypse Now style poster for Skull Island YEAR: 2017 Being a rabid fan of KING KONG, from the original 1933 Fay Wray adventure classi...

JOHN GUILLERMIN RETURNS TO DIRECT 'KING KONG LIVES'

brian kerwin, eighties, franchise, king kong, linda hamilton, sequel

JOHN GUILLERMIN RETURNS TO DIRECT 'KING KONG LIVES'

Foreign Poster to King Kong Lives YEAR: 1986 A rather unnecessary sequel of a remake for the 1976 Dino DeLaurantis's epic, which mad...

OPAQUE GLIMPSE OF THE 'LAURA' NOIR OF 'SHARKY'S MACHINE'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Blu Ray for SHARKY'S MACHINE Year: 1981</u></td></tr>
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Burt Reynold's later CITY HEAT co-star and then-current action flick competitor didn't go nuts for SHARKY'S MACHINE...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Source Novel turned Novelization Style</u></td></tr>
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In tough guy competitor Clint Eastwood's view it was "DIRTY HARRY in Georgia" when, in a technical sense, the pot-boiler of a resilient yet vulnerable cop, falling for a gorgeous dame who, with several men after her, winds up being mistaken for another tall beauty that gets shot and, well, the MACHINE source novel author William Diehl must have been heavily influenced by Vera Caspary's LAURA directed by Otto Preminger and starring two of our favorites, Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney.<br />
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And this movie's ingenue, Rachel Ward, would be, in the decade to come, no stranger to Neo Noir, later replacing Jane Greer in a steamier OUT OF THE PAST remake titled AGAINST ALL ODDS, and in the Steve Martin archive footage Noir fest, DEAD MEN DON'T WEAR PLAID. Meanwhile, Reynolds played in several Neo's including SHAMUS, HUSTLE, FUZZ and as director, this MACHINE was his chance to go underneath the character — starting out where Quentin Tarantino's JACKIE BROWN would almost-finish-up: a bearded undercover Reynolds as Sharky determinedly strolls to Randy Crawford's funky soul track titled <i>Street Life</i>, followed by an bloody violent shoot-em-up that's part Western and does in fact resemble Eastwood's HARRY more than any other scene. But Sharky has much less control than Eastwood's icon, quickly being demoted down to Vice inside a grungy basement quarters, where the real story begins...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Neat Neon Noir Poster</u></td></tr>
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From terrific arial copter shots of a glass skyscraper with a see-through elevator to a lonely montage of Sharky staking out Ward's Domino from an empty building across her million dollar suite, Burt does as fine a job directing this murky tale, full of urban daylight contrasting with neon darkness, shadows, alleyways, a lake in the middle of nowhere, and side-characters including crooked politician Earl Holliman (who semi-recently signed the LP below), an even more crooked cop and Kung Fu assassins with nunchucks...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aUQ6y9_Ukn0/WMo30Slwo2I/AAAAAAAAwh8/wQXUmj_rEpInH1dsWgb8mHwob-4Zp-YyQCEw/s1600/17342584_285999318495918_7727592696766594446_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="319" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aUQ6y9_Ukn0/WMo30Slwo2I/AAAAAAAAwh8/wQXUmj_rEpInH1dsWgb8mHwob-4Zp-YyQCEw/s320/17342584_285999318495918_7727592696766594446_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Original LP Signed by Earl Holliman</u></td></tr>
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The cool and gritty aesthetic matches his on-screen persona here, better than he'd been in years, since his pre-fame days, and not to be trivial, but his hair — a sort of skin diver's cut that seems like it's just-about to recede — makes his presence more credible than the SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT flicks where he'd often wear a hairpiece hybrid of Liberace and Harpo Marx...<br />
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For fans of his better Hal Needham action flicks like HOOPER and even the first CANNONBALL RUN, there's good news and bad, and for those weary of Burt's acting troupe behaving like they're involved in an end credit blooper reel or a improvisational workshop, it's mostly good since, when it counts, the performances are right to the point, sparse like the dialogue and old fashion tough. That's if you don't count miscast motormouth wire man Richard Libertini and grouchy lecturing Vice boss Charles Durning — the latter who's usually always overboard yet good but he goes so horribly over the top, the other actors have to wait until his frantic monologues end: and often seem in a different movie altogether... <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-coGzvThZwHI/WLpyL2vjECI/AAAAAAAAwSc/ZW04ZDFeEmc8a1FoV8iQ-x-EooT2UBi2QCLcB/s1600/scan0071_150.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-coGzvThZwHI/WLpyL2vjECI/AAAAAAAAwSc/ZW04ZDFeEmc8a1FoV8iQ-x-EooT2UBi2QCLcB/s400/scan0071_150.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Burt, Richard, Bernie and Brian SHARKYScore: ****</u></td></tr>
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What brings some of the obvious improv down is scene-stealer Bernie Casey as one of Sharky's two partners, Arch, who has a penchant for Eastern philosophy and contrasts wonderfully with veteran actor Brian Keith, who, on his own, brings Durning down a few notches just by being older, cooler, calm, quiet and weathered in the same motion picture (not unlike PULP FICTION fans realizing Sam Jackson could kick boss Ving Rhames's fat ass)...<br />
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An underrated, forgotten gem, lost within a myriad of Burt Reynolds flicks during his popular peak, and, with only sporadic action sequences, relies mostly on grisly murders... a few bordering on an exploitation body-count horror flick mostly from the hand of Henry Silva, the gloriously insane, drugged-up, wide-eyed hit man brother of lead heavy Vittorio Gassman (a deathly charming gentleman liken to a powerfully rich Bond villain), who's put in his place too quickly for Sharky to fight for his life once the second half shifts from a cop melodrama into high octane bedlam where Burt Reynolds, in front of the screen and behind the camera, sure ain't fooling around this time.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Henry Silva is Clifton Webb's wild side; Vittorio Gassman the classy side: LAURA and SHARKY'S MACHINE</u></td></tr>
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action, bernie casey, brian keith, burt reynolds, cop, crime, eighties, henry silva, jazz score, neo noir, rachel ward, vice

OPAQUE GLIMPSE OF THE 'LAURA' NOIR OF 'SHARKY'S MACHINE'

Blu Ray for SHARKY'S MACHINE Year: 1981 Burt Reynold's later CITY HEAT co-star and then-current action flick competitor didn'...

Written by James M. Tate / 3/14/2017 / No comments / bruce dern , eighties , matt dillon , neo noir , nineties , remake , suspense , thriller

PROANTAGONIST: THE ECLECTIC NEO NOIR OF MATT DILLON

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Matt Dillon in the Noir remake A KISS BEFORE DYING</u></td></tr>
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<u>THE RUMBLING OUTSIDER</u>: Matt Dillon as the kind of face that seems perfectly suited for Black & White, even in color...
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Rumble Fish Blues</u></td></tr>
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For example, when he looks into the hospital mirror during the riskiest of many risky heists in DRUGSTORE COWBOY, his slick black hair contrasts dramatically to pale white skin and then, with the turn of his head, the blood red along his forehead accents the fevered heat of the moment... The sudden contrast is reminiscent of the actual Chinese fighter fish i.e. RUMBLE FISH, the only colored objects (red) in an otherwise completely B&W film, steals the picture in Coppola's first of the two S.E. Hinton collaborations beginning with THE OUTSIDERS as the James Dean/Marlon Brando hybrid: A rogue rebel completely idolized by the two young central characters played by C. Thomas Howell and Ralph Macchio... But to everyone beyond the gang, being a outright criminal as well as a charmer, if anyone of the cast of future teen heartthrobs (including Tom Cruise and Patrick Swayze) makes this otherwise teen gang melodrama, it's his character, Dallas Winston, who, unlike his ambitious RUMBLE FISH little brother character, Rusty James, doesn't want to be a leader <i>or</i> a follower...<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>RITCHIE: "A kid who tells on another kid, is a dead kid."</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Lighting up The Outsiders</u></td></tr>
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And, behind the scenes according to the Coppola commentary track of THE OUTSIDERS; while it took days, even weeks, for some of the other actors to be cast, Dillon walked in and got the job right away (both RUMBLE FISH and OUTSIDERS will be reviewed on their own territory with an upcoming "Coppola Does Hinton, Twice"). The former OVER THE EDGE "post child actor" was fourteen in his first role in 1979 where his bike riding, chain smoking Ritchie White is the Dallas Winston of the suburban outskirts, again leading the underdogs (whether he's present or not) to victory. But it was MY BODYGUARD the following year that proved Dillon could really act, and it took the second Coppola/Hinton flick to underline that fact...<br>

bruce dern, eighties, matt dillon, neo noir, nineties, remake, suspense, thriller

PROANTAGONIST: THE ECLECTIC NEO NOIR OF MATT DILLON

Matt Dillon in the Noir remake A KISS BEFORE DYING THE RUMBLING OUTSIDER : Matt Dillon as the kind of face that seems perfectly suited...

KEVIN SMITH GOES ONLY SKIN DEPP FOR HIS YOGA HOSERS

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Smith and Depp's daughter hit the big time, kinda YEAR: 2015</u></td></tr>
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Because he had no other choice, Kevin Smith started exactly where he was at... the very bottom, financially... for his black and white crass comedy, CLERKS, which had a great script, a gang of real characters playing fictional ones and a location that really put you <i>there </i>for the action and, on purpose, complete lack of...<br>
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Which was followed by the much too colorful (and hopelessly vacant) MALLRATS that led to Smith's best venture, CHASING AMY and, years later when his indie magic had dried up and after failing at the conventional box office, he intentionally returned to the slacker's den where, along with a podcast show, there's an attempt to make daughter Harley Quinn Smith a star. But not by herself. Along with this every-girl, just comfortable enough in front of the camera, is pixie model Lily-Rose Depp; the daughter of Johnny Depp, who, between million dollar PIRATE successes and a string of artistic misfires, seems to be doing Kevin a return-favor by appearing in both TUSK and the latest, YOGA HOSERS, as a spaced-out, boil-faced, scraggly-haired private eye (of sorts) named Guy Lapointe, a hybrid of Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau, Robert Shaw's Quint from JAWS and Peter Falk's scruffy TV Detective COLUMBO.<br>
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2016, comedy, horror, kevin smith

KEVIN SMITH GOES ONLY SKIN DEPP FOR HIS YOGA HOSERS

Smith and Depp's daughter hit the big time, kinda YEAR: 2015 Because he had no other choice, Kevin Smith started exactly where he wa...

VICTOR MATURE & PHILIP COOLIDGE IN 'THE SHARKFIGHTERS'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Lobby Card with Victor Mature in SHARKFIGHTERS</u></td></tr>
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THE SHARKFIGHTERS is but an ingredient of what would make a bonafide World War II movie's main course: In order for soldiers to survive in the ocean — either far out or close to an invading beach — without being eaten by those infamously ravaging dorsal-finned predators, it's the job of a scientific military unit, stationed in pre-Castro Cuba, to develop a liquid-repellent to keep sharks away, and for long enough to matter...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>YEAR: 1956</u></td></tr>
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That's the plot overall, and there's a lot of testing in-between, making up a few suspenseful scenes when not wasting superfluous time inland, at Havana, where the main character, war hero Lt. Cmdr. Ben Staves, played by Victor Mature, enjoys live mamba music with his gorgeous wife (Karen Steele), whose character is all but deleted by the token expository shark expert who, like any film's stock "better half" sans the romance,  must weather his new moody boss on the boat or back at a compound, located at a fishing village looking straight out of Hemingway...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dime Paperback Style Cover</u></td></tr>
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Lanky everyman Philip Coolidge's uptight Lt. Cmdr. Leonard Evans lets Mature (and the audience) in on everything about sharks, often providing more information than a documentary in this entertaining war-prep feature where few guns are fired and not a ship is sunk, and yet, one went down in a discussed backstory much liken to, years later, that of Robert Shaw's iconic U.S.S. Indianapolis monologue in the QUINTessential shark flick, JAWS; thus injecting Revenge into the storyline since Mature, having lost half his men, is in a mad rush to get that liquid working, ASAP, no matter the risks or consequences...</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Philip Coolidge talks shark with Victor Mature</td></tr>
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Meanwhile, the side characters stand out enough to be interesting without stretching beyond the contained, structured plot: A young, idealistic, blond-haired/blue-eyed James Olson as a self-loathing scientist who'd rather handle a PT-Boat than a beaker along with cameraman Claude Akins and his sidekick in BLACKBOARD JUNGLE hispanic youngster, Rafael Campos, as the native crow's-nest shark-spotter who's so jovial on-deck, frolicking and overly optimistic about an educated future in America, and, well... There are very few surprises in THE SHARKFIGHTERS, which takes itself seriously enough to feel like a genuine biopic despite the fact that, unlike our first Obscure Shark Month feature, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2017/02/sharksT.html">SHARKS' TREASURE</a>, the sleek myriad of Tiger Sharks, though cunning and deadly, are only viewed from dorsal fins-up without a single glimpse of them slashing around underwater, in their turf. But when Victor Mature decides to put the desired liquid (a twist in itself) to the test, it's a suspenseful, fulfilling climax despite the picture ending too soon. </div>
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action, claude akins, fifties, karen steele, philip coolidge, rafael campos, shark, suspense, victor mature, war