cult film freak: May 2018

Written by James M. Tate / 5/31/2018 / No comments / david keith , dennis hopper , drew barrymore , horror , malcolm mcdowell , mark l. lester , miniseries , science-fiction , sequel , tangerine dream , TV , zeroes

DOUBLE 'FIRESTARTER' FEATURE W/ ORIGINAL AND 'REKINDLED'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Heather Locklear and Drew Barrymore YEAR: 1984</u></td></tr>
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<u>FIRESTARTER</u>: During what looks like a five-dollar opening credit sequence, the synth score by Tangerine Dream, a hybrid of Pink Floyd and John Carpenter, provides a silk hat on a...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Love the spaceman on the right</u></td></tr>
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Well FIRESTARTER isn't exactly (or entirely) a dog: But based on a novel by Stephen King, it can mislead rabid horror fans as a droning Science-Fiction thriller without wraiths or psychos but nefarious government agents with black suits, like HALLOWEEN 3: SEASON OF THE WITCH compared to its famous, popular predecessors involving tangible killer ghost Michael Myers...<br />
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Although, directed by capable b-movie/drive-in staple, Mark L. Lester, it's got a terrific look, produced by movie mogul Dino De Laurentis — plus the cast of otherwise great actors turning in good-enough performances: Particularly young lead, Charlie (short for Charlene), played by the ET-famous Drew Barrymore: She displays the right amount of possessive power and, most important, empathetic vulnerability in a picture that feels like a dark espionage mated with a pulpy and Gothic, coming-of-age melodrama — using random bouts of cringe-worthy dialogue along with a sporadic overdose of technical exposition...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Your bunny mug floweth over</u></td></tr>
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Things tighten after being captured and separated by her father (played by) David Keith, who has Old Testament powers to make people see what he tells them — the proverbial Pharaoh's staff-into-serpent kinda deal...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_e6VknV0d6A/Ww0yagh7veI/AAAAAAAA2Xk/inhBcGUzNY0gUxPjktKHE0D9htg7N0GjwCLcBGAs/s1600/414YZWMFN4L._SY445_.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="327" data-original-width="210" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_e6VknV0d6A/Ww0yagh7veI/AAAAAAAA2Xk/inhBcGUzNY0gUxPjktKHE0D9htg7N0GjwCLcBGAs/s320/414YZWMFN4L._SY445_.jpg" width="205" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Original Firestarter Score: ***1/2</u></td></tr>
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This after Dad and Charlie are on-the-run (which includes well-done flashbacks leading to the present time) during an action-led first act act, befitting Lester's <i>appeal to a primal audience </i>style that made those old "cheap" vehicles so appealing (and would progress the next year with his popular-peak COMMANDO)...<br />
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Then when dad and daughter are both "politely" sequestered inside contrived cozy living/bedrooms (including the usual steel wall behind a draped steel window) inside a rural government compound (which we never get an establishing shot of), it's the chemistry between Barrymore and assassin George C. Scott as Raintree, established earlier as a coldblooded killer and now pretending to be a friendly old orderly named John, that really works. He warms her heart with a hypnotic (for her) and comfortably creepy ruse (for us) in what's overall a <i>pretty good</i> film that doesn't try to be<i> really great</i>, and with just enough of the titular promise of torched/scorched bad guys while the characters, good and bad, develop between scenes that moves the story forward in an economic B-movie that has enough A-value to feel completely legit in the King-adapted galaxy.  <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>McDowell with Not-Drew YEAR: 2002</u></td></tr>
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<u>FIRESTARTER 2: REKINDLED</u>: Better than one would expect from a miniseries of a sequel based upon a semi-famous Stephen King novel adaptation, especially after THE SHINING miniseries, which was the famously opinionated author's attempt to erase Stanley Kubrick's legendary classic off the chalkboard (nice try, Stephen, but Steven Weber's don't know Jack)...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>RekindledTVMovieScore: ***</u></td></tr>
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Same thing happens here as the child version of the second Charlie doesn't follow what happened in the first; that which was more logical and suspenseful...<br />
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For example, Malcolm McDowell takes George C. Scott's role, with half his face burned from what seemed his scorching barnyard death, and instead of the aforementioned deception between the first Raintree and Charlie — in this case, after the father gets shot on the street, McDowell's simply walks up and grabs her hand, replacing daddy — and she doesn't freak out?! <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>3/4ths of the DVD double feature</u></td></tr>
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But this is really about the grownup twenty-something Charlie whose powers are sought to be REKINDLED by everyone but herself. The gorgeous (and yes, talented) former MIGHTY DUCKS child starlet Marguerite Moreau (coached by Emilio Estevez, first son of Martin Sheen, Barrymore's captor in the original) turns in a smooth performance despite way too many uneven, confusing, off-color flashbacks. And it's part romantic-soap as she's paired with a well-written but mediocre-acted standard handsome (and intentionally oblivious) employee of the agency tracking her down... <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>One of those devilish Stephen King adapted touches</u></td></tr>
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Whether taking place in a constructed small town main street, or the city that it purposefully mirrors (for the final battle), there's simply not enough fire... or victims of the flames... to go around...<br />
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With sexy dark-grunge Charlie's powers more spoken and/or anticipated, the bedlam's handed to a group of boys who share her formidable gift, mentored by Raintree, yet are pretty weak in the antagonist department. Enough elements work, though, like an important cameo by Dennis Hopper (as a survivor of the initial test that screwed-up Charlie's parents); an effective hybrid of body count terror (still not horror); and with a more backseat yet still palpable element of sci-fi, this REKINDLED miniseries (with ten minutes trimmed for a movie-length DVD) is a ride worth burning through. At least once.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Cult Film Freak amigo Antonio "Huggy Bear" Fargas in a thrifty but important cameo as a cab driver</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Raintree warming up to our little Firestarter Drew Barrymore, which is the epicenter of the movie</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>When she was the cutest thing in the world, Heather Locklear meets future husband David Keith during THE Gov't test</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Drew Barrymore David Keith Firestarter Drew Barrymore David Keith Drew Barrymore Firestarter</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>George C. Scott's assassin's assasin Raintree takes aim at an unsuccessfully hidden away...</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Firestarter and father, who hid in a property that they own... Not very smart...</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>A terrific unfolding by director Mark L. Lester Firestarter as Agents appear out of trees... It's the evil E.T.</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3gO7-h04sE4/WwzhsdjEISI/AAAAAAAA2Tg/iNn9AOM_YMo63o85m50VQ5X5wK6pVgdoQCLcBGAs/s1600/33727687_483549908740857_977438697194520576_n.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="643" data-original-width="903" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3gO7-h04sE4/WwzhsdjEISI/AAAAAAAA2Tg/iNn9AOM_YMo63o85m50VQ5X5wK6pVgdoQCLcBGAs/s1600/33727687_483549908740857_977438697194520576_n.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>In The Shining, that power was compared to burning toast, so there it is, another King connection</u></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jaooOIvXG7U/WwzX_Y06PdI/AAAAAAAA2Sw/UR5VizsgzaocCELnAildFmcEAalsHaPBwCLcBGAs/s1600/DeRII-mV4AA2mQE.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="692" data-original-width="884" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jaooOIvXG7U/WwzX_Y06PdI/AAAAAAAA2Sw/UR5VizsgzaocCELnAildFmcEAalsHaPBwCLcBGAs/s1600/DeRII-mV4AA2mQE.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>"Ha! Thanks... I had some photos at one point but have no idea where they are now. Appreciate it!"</u></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibeI8yf0zkyUGMjdNs9fU52aff4U_Ef9l_VF8JlSbQzgdK3FKv9b_rkCAfAhlXLKOHkD1qSkshDeom3psWVzTKs5tr0GCjmXAYALY7IghyQuQyteGoA4dYDa40CbV0jMdgTPBVIA4akdyp1NLcwr_Pbganhl6_mMriCyJB8tBgxo3zFIh0K6ReDHyYnw/s1597/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-17%20at%2010.55.25%20PM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="771" data-original-width="1597" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibeI8yf0zkyUGMjdNs9fU52aff4U_Ef9l_VF8JlSbQzgdK3FKv9b_rkCAfAhlXLKOHkD1qSkshDeom3psWVzTKs5tr0GCjmXAYALY7IghyQuQyteGoA4dYDa40CbV0jMdgTPBVIA4akdyp1NLcwr_Pbganhl6_mMriCyJB8tBgxo3zFIh0K6ReDHyYnw/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-17%20at%2010.55.25%20PM.jpeg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u> Lisa Anne Barnes as Serviceman's Girlfriend in FIRESTARTER</u><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />

david keith, dennis hopper, drew barrymore, horror, malcolm mcdowell, mark l. lester, miniseries, science-fiction, sequel, tangerine dream, TV, zeroes

DOUBLE 'FIRESTARTER' FEATURE W/ ORIGINAL AND 'REKINDLED'

Heather Locklear and Drew Barrymore YEAR: 1984 FIRESTARTER : During what looks like a five-dollar opening credit sequence, the synth s...

Written by James M. Tate / 5/29/2018 / No comments / elmore leonard , lee grant , leigh taylor-young , neo noir , robert webber , ryan o'neal , sixties , van heflin

RYAN O'NEAL IN 'THE BIG BOUNCE' WITH LEIGH TAYLOR-YOUNG

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The full-lipped Theron/Jolie of her time, only better YEAR: 1969</u></td></tr>
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If there's ever been a movie ruined by a soundtrack, it's THE BIG BOUNCE: a late-sixties balance of sunny sea-blue and  rural-gray tones, adapted from Elmore Leonard's Neo Noir novel beginning with a convict bashing an inmate's face with a baseball bat, and then, on parole and stuck within the small town, he's both feared and revered...<br />
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Depending who's around, and where he's at, and, while still in the film's rushed rudimentary stages, he seeks work for a dishonest rancher who exploits cucumber farm workers. But with the help of a particular friend, he lands a soft job as a maintenance man at a beach side motel, where so much potential, pitting Ryan O'Neal against one of the sexiest sirens of Neo Noir... played by his then-wife and former PEYTON PLACE co-star Leigh Taylor-Young, who's the buried lead here: A seemingly sophisticated femme-fatale, she's bad news and big trouble.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z-yfIXwjqoM/WyVsyf_cS_I/AAAAAAAA294/KrU0YWM-03g-N2Ieiygf9ABgYdBWYxFTACEwYBhgL/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-06-16%2Bat%2B9.06.13%2BAM.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1182" data-original-width="1206" height="313" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z-yfIXwjqoM/WyVsyf_cS_I/AAAAAAAA294/KrU0YWM-03g-N2Ieiygf9ABgYdBWYxFTACEwYBhgL/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-06-16%2Bat%2B9.06.13%2BAM.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Seven Arts Warner Shield BOUNCE SCORE: **1/2</u></td></tr>
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Author Elmore Leonard said all adaptations before GET SHORTY and JACKIE BROWN never <i>got it</i>... But maybe, in critiquing BIG BOUNCE piecemeal, he saw a dark ray of hope in Taylor-Young's Nancy Barker, both effectively sinister and sexy: The aforementioned crappy music, arranged by the usually capable Tony Curb, sounds like The Beach Boys possessed by folk singers drowning-out an otherwise groovy Jack Nitzsche-like surf music score — one particularly godawful track repeats Nancy's name over and over... killing whatever edge her character's supposed to have.<br />
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But it's not all that bad: the overall vibe is lean and edgy, and there are terrific moments when Jack and Nancy hang out, night and day, discussing an upcoming heist, and possible murder. But Jack spends too much time with his old-timer friend played by veteran actor Van Heflin... so overly (and quickly) helpful to Jack's plight... he hardly has any obstacles in his way, or rungs to climb, or corners to paint himself out of.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Ryan O'Neal in the pad of Van Heflin in The Big Bounce</u></td></tr>
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It's really all about our femme fatale Taylor-Young being really bad and getting progressively worse (as in, badder and badder): and then, possibly becoming lethal while keeping her ridiculously beautiful poker face intact... <br />
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But really, TV director Alex March needed the intentionally flawed heart-of-gold convict ani-hero to take more risky chances, early on, to live up to any manipulative competition. And it wouldn't be the first time Ryan O'Neal would get what was supposedly <i>his</i> first-billed vehicle stolen by a close relative. He probably never got over PAPER MOON belonging solely to daughter and Oscar winner Tatum O'Neal. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Leigh Taylor-Young The Big Bounce Ryan O'Neal Leigh Taylor-Young Ryan O'Neal The Big Bounce</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leigh Taylor-Young takes in the sun and steals what she can of THE BIG BOUNCE</td></tr>
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elmore leonard, lee grant, leigh taylor-young, neo noir, robert webber, ryan o'neal, sixties, van heflin

RYAN O'NEAL IN 'THE BIG BOUNCE' WITH LEIGH TAYLOR-YOUNG

The full-lipped Theron/Jolie of her time, only better YEAR: 1969 If there's ever been a movie ruined by a soundtrack, it's THE B...

Written by James M. Tate / 5/28/2018 / No comments / liam neeson , nineties , ralph fiennes , steven spielberg , war

FOUR PARAGRAPHS ON THE EPIC CLASSIC OF 'SCHINDLER'S LIST'

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FqckmeF1_J8/WwvdGgjQImI/AAAAAAAA2PA/tyUnCoK3nSc-kRBxm7Mvt95ZlXQ_8SC-wCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-05-28%2Bat%2B3.36.35%2BAM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="727" data-original-width="1015" height="286" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FqckmeF1_J8/WwvdGgjQImI/AAAAAAAA2PA/tyUnCoK3nSc-kRBxm7Mvt95ZlXQ_8SC-wCLcBGAs/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-05-28%2Bat%2B3.36.35%2BAM.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goeth in Schindler's List YEAR: 1993</u></td></tr>
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Especially before it gets really moving and downright tear-jerking, particularly with the girl-in-red and other exploitation (in a necessary fashion) sequences, SCHINDLER'S LIST is a brilliantly directed film by Steven Spielberg like Francis Ford Coppola's first two GODFATHER movies...<br>
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In an opposite manner, the theory of an important subject matter more meaningful than the story... or making the story better for its meaningful purpose... doesn't apply to Spielberg's holocaust classic that, while epic in scope, centers tightly on specific characters, from Liam Neeson's titular Oskar Schindler to Ralph Fienne's worse-than-your-average-evil-Nazi Nazi, Goath (his deserved Best Supporting Actor robbed by Tommy Lee Jones's mainstream FUGITIVE role), which is one of the greatest performances of all time, seemingly inspired by Orson Welles's Harry Lime in THE THIRD MAN: both monsters humanly suffering the effects of an annoying cold when first (physically <i>and</i> audibly) introduced... And the nightmarish scene where a shirtless Goath takes idyllic sniper potshots at random Jews working around the camp, while managing to smoke a morning cigarette without use of his hands, is like watching Satan imitating Keith Richards, contentedly basking in his own perdition between encores and never ridding of his smoke...<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Ralph Fiennes in one of many infamous moments LISTScore: *****</u></td></tr>
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Meanwhile, any writeup of LIST can name names of actors since the whole cast fits perfectly within Spielberg's detailed, intimate framework: But Ben Kingsley's meek and mellow "sidekick" to Schindler's alpha male, womanizing, selfish Nazi entrepreneur turned lifesaving hero could only be so effectively peripheral by an actor who can (also) carry a picture with equal strength, and their side-side-characters are just as important...<br>
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Of the inmates, around six are centered on, from married couples, young and old, to children, girls and boys, all creating a desperate though somehow hopeful atmosphere within a closely huddled, unbreakable, inseparable and even unimaginable bond (there's even some humor, from everyone including the villain) through the horrendous and palpable, true life tragedy that scriptwriter Steven Zaillian should receive equal significance along with Spielberg (who has failed without proper scripts). Thankfully the finished product, except maybe around fifteen minutes that could've used some trimming during the "I'll miss you most of all Scarecrow" epilogue (the hand-in-hand walking shot straight out of the Clark Gable disaster epic SAN FRANCISCO), makes SCHINDLER'S LIST a great Movie and not just a great Important History Lesson.<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jgjx0nyWVfA/Xf9UAWuqmHI/AAAAAAABMrs/ILHh8gFAY6Ux7lADDpm20s8N_PTsAl0pACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-12-22%2Bat%2B3.28.40%2BAM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1122" data-original-width="1600" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jgjx0nyWVfA/Xf9UAWuqmHI/AAAAAAABMrs/ILHh8gFAY6Ux7lADDpm20s8N_PTsAl0pACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-12-22%2Bat%2B3.28.40%2BAM.jpeg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Magdalena Dandourian is hot enough to get arrested for from SCHINDLER'S LIST</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hSDsyeVqDc8/Xf9RVpih3PI/AAAAAAABMrg/ssLamIBMWDogVhb2AnLinKOX0ICulTSEQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-12-22%2Bat%2B3.12.09%2BAM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="907" data-original-width="1600" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hSDsyeVqDc8/Xf9RVpih3PI/AAAAAAABMrg/ssLamIBMWDogVhb2AnLinKOX0ICulTSEQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-12-22%2Bat%2B3.12.09%2BAM.jpeg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Magdalena Dandourian as the girl anyone would kiss from SCHINDLER'S LIST</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Ralph Fiennes and Embeth Davidtz "Is this the face of a rat" from SCHINDLER'S LIST</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Ralph Fiennes and Embeth Davidtz "Is this the face of a rat" from SCHINDLER'S LIST</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Liam Neeson's title character testing secretaries is a tough time in Schindler's List</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>But the most talented one, who can actually type, is far from his type... Schindler's List</u></td></tr>
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liam neeson, nineties, ralph fiennes, steven spielberg, war

FOUR PARAGRAPHS ON THE EPIC CLASSIC OF 'SCHINDLER'S LIST'

Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goeth in Schindler's List YEAR: 1993 Especially before it gets really moving and downright tear-jerking, parti...

CAROLE LOMBARD WITH JACK BENNY IN 'TO BE OR NOT TO BE'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: TO BE OR NOT TO BE Year: 1942 </u></td></tr>
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Ernst Lubitsch takes a 
complicated plot and with an easygoing acting style of the performers 
under tightly-wound direction, headed by Jack Benny and Carole 
Lombard, it flows from beginning to end as the ups and downs, curves, 
twists and turns provide both subtle humor and edgy suspense, centering on
 a group of stage actors in Poland before and during the Nazi takeover on the boot-heels of World War II...<br>
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They must trick their antagonists into thinking 
Benny... who plays a hammy actor (exactly the opposite of himself)... is a scientist who's a traitor to the 
good guys and... well it really doesn't matter because TO BE OR NOT TO 
BE has to be seen and concentrated on for the plot to make clear and interesting (as well as intriguing) sense...<br>
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imposing to instill enough danger for all the verbal laps to 
matter beyond hitting punchlines at the right moment...<br>
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Although everything does rely on the actors-within-the-movie hitting their own marks for the ruse to work, hence the title taken after a 
pivotal line from William Shakespeare's Hamlet that, if spoken by a novice stage 
performer, can hinder the entire show...<br>
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The fun's watching Benny trying to outdo 
his character's own lack of talent (scenes with German actor Sig Ruman work splendidly) while Lombard is the real trickster, weaving in and out of both the bad guys and a handsome young lieutenant Robert Stack (whose role is played by Tim Matheson in the Brooks remake, and both starred in another war comedy, 1941, which centered on the same war and is named after the year before this picture came out): If anyone on board has the most work, it's Lombard... in what's sadly, tragically, her last picture. <br>

carol lombard, carole lombard, comedy, ernst lubitsch, forties, jack benny, robert stack, sig ruman, war, world war II

CAROLE LOMBARD WITH JACK BENNY IN 'TO BE OR NOT TO BE'

Title: TO BE OR NOT TO BE Year: 1942 Ernst Lubitsch takes a complicated plot and with an easygoing acting style of the performers unde...

THURSDAY NIGHT REVIEW OF 'SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY'

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OsmXMiLhalQ/WwfKtkgxqJI/AAAAAAAA2JE/zsI1VXZrBcs8kT8uU0bSdBfrEHNuisgRwCLcBGAs/s1600/solo-a-star-wars-story-4k-poster-sd.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1002" data-original-width="1600" height="250" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OsmXMiLhalQ/WwfKtkgxqJI/AAAAAAAA2JE/zsI1VXZrBcs8kT8uU0bSdBfrEHNuisgRwCLcBGAs/s400/solo-a-star-wars-story-4k-poster-sd.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year of Release: 2018</u></td></tr>
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About as intense as watching someone play a video game, or playing one you've already mastered...  </blockquote>
As is already known, Ron Howard had the task of correcting while directing SOLO — replacing the original filmmakers whose take was too comedic, or something that didn't gel with Lucasfilm's Kathleen Kennedy and writer Lawrence (partnered with son Jonathan) Kasdan: Could be those poor young filmmakers, who made the popular kid flicks LEGO MOVIE and CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS, put too much color into a story meant to be edgy and dark...<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zL-T_6S02tM/W0CClrDBmII/AAAAAAAA3co/twISy379QX88RJbosdsjuBFYHQw-hMxZACLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-07-07%2Bat%2B1.53.36%2BAM.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="244" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zL-T_6S02tM/W0CClrDBmII/AAAAAAAA3co/twISy379QX88RJbosdsjuBFYHQw-hMxZACLcBGAs/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-07-07%2Bat%2B1.53.36%2BAM.jpg" width="104"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>A Pointy Falcon</u></td></tr>
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If so, Ron Howard sure did darken it up, and not in a good BLADE RUNNER gloomy industrial kind of way. It's like looking outside a dirty window — at more dirt. And this galaxy doesn't seem all that far, far away like a fantasy-driven STAR WARS installment should. With human characters so immensely droll and mundane, every time the usual weird-looking alien pops up, it seems out of place and, for lack of a deeper, more insightful description, pretty stupid. <br>
<br>
But there's really only one big question for die-hard fans concerning this STAR WARS STORY. Does <i>He</i> live up to <i>Him</i>? Him meaning Harrison Ford and He meaning Alden Ehrenreich, not tall and deep-voiced but an irritating shrimp with a nasally whine, as if Leonardo DiCaprio were imitating Christian Slater channeling Jack Nicholson... <br>
<br>
With a filler girlfriend/crush (Emilia Clarke), and the gurgling Chewbacca at his side (after meeting in a fight scene that could've been decent given more logic in the first place), Ehrenreich doesn't even seem to be trying — for anything. His brand of cocky confidence is narrowed into a bratty grin. And while critics are praising Donald Glover's imitation of Lando Calrissian, he's got as much to do with the story as anyone on board: He's just there. And bored.<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>SoloMovieScore: *</u></td></tr>
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With a non-existent plot involving several raids including a train robbery (why would tracks be needed in a world full of hovering vehicles?) to nab some kind of expensive gas to pay off a crime lord, the attempt for a pulpy pirate adventure is drowned-out by melodramatic pathos concerning slave labor, which happens on a pathetic, pretentious, manipulative loop. Even Lando's female robot literally screams for "equal rights"...<br>
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And while Woody Harrelson tries his best as a semi-rogue named Beckett (the kind of clever/crooked mentor you'd think Solo would emulate to reach his maverick NEW HOPE persona), he's simply another ragged soul along for the ride. What's meant to be the most suspenseful scene is both a carbon-copy and contradiction of the Millennium Falcon asteroid-dodge in EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. The characters are either sitting on board the old reliable ship or flying it. Neither matters. It's about as intense as watching someone play a video game, or playing one you've already mastered...  <br>
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While SOLO <i>seems</i> to be about how the experienced, world-weary smuggler acquired the guts to take big risks at a young age, Alden Ehrenreich plays him so bland and lazy, any intrepid skills seem merely built-in and unexplained during capers both simplistic and overly-complicated. But nothing's worse than the random pockets of embarrassingly awkward silences: Whether it be after Ehrenreich fouls-up yet another glib one-liner, or Chewbacca waiting passively for something meaningful to react to, Ron Howard, in attempting to resurrect a broken engine, has pieced together a vapid, sterile machine that's not just a let-down in the inevitable grade-curve of the STAR WARS franchise, but is simply a lousy, cheap-looking movie. Period. 
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2018, action, adventure, alden ehrenreich, donald glover, emilia clarke, fantasy, franchise, new, ron howard, science-fiction, star wars, woody harrelson

THURSDAY NIGHT REVIEW OF 'SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY'

Year of Release: 2018 About as intense as watching someone play a video game, or playing one you've already mastered... As is alr...

ARCHIVE SUMMARY REVIEW FOR 'RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5tJXg0mQ3ldAirFBggJKZk4T2v-tF4ehqQGyI7gQVRdFS2-Xdw2B2a87f-GsiF6gDDdE_swBSQqHJZRVHhmETcPed5iOzzfKXm2mMtloqRt22hvp8vT_qvlBeYbR6leXvHfSkqQENd22WD5HigM5Eo6os83iPHK7TL9y2KHDV576fq39IH4AM21hn7w/s681/Screen%20Shot%202023-03-12%20at%207.08.36%20PM%203.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="591" data-original-width="681" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5tJXg0mQ3ldAirFBggJKZk4T2v-tF4ehqQGyI7gQVRdFS2-Xdw2B2a87f-GsiF6gDDdE_swBSQqHJZRVHhmETcPed5iOzzfKXm2mMtloqRt22hvp8vT_qvlBeYbR6leXvHfSkqQENd22WD5HigM5Eo6os83iPHK7TL9y2KHDV576fq39IH4AM21hn7w/s320/Screen%20Shot%202023-03-12%20at%207.08.36%20PM%203.jpeg" width="320"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u> Raiders of the Lost Ark YEAR: 1981 *****</u></td></tr></tbody></table>Epic celebration of serial pulp adventures, George Lucas (and Philip Kaufman) created Indiana Jones, an intrepid archaeologist/college professor who, when he isn't being ogled by female students, goes in and out of foreign countries: not only retrieving artifacts but trying to keep them from the wrong hands...<br>
<br>
Harrison Ford brings "Indy" to life with humor as well as bravado. Karen Allen, as his female counterpart, is as tough as any man but delicate and vulnerable as well. The plot is simple: find the lost Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis, aided by French  archaeologist Belloq (played with subtle villainy by Paul Freeman) or the sinister yet smiley Peter Lorre-style gangster, Toht. Director Steven Spielberg's mesmerizing camerawork carries our heroes from one perilous situation to the next. And brief pockets of essential downtime not only build the characters, but allows the next obstacle to mean that much more.<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Harrison Ford as the day-job Professor Jones </u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>One of the great all-time movie villains, twice: Paul Freeman and Ronald Lacey with captured Karen Allen</u></td></tr>
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action, adventure, denholm elliott, eighties, franchise, george lucas, harrison ford, karen allen, steven spielberg

ARCHIVE SUMMARY REVIEW FOR 'RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK'

Raiders of the Lost Ark YEAR: 1981 ***** Epic celebration of serial pulp adventures, George Lucas (and Philip Kaufman) created Indiana Jon...

ARCHIVE REVIEW OF HAN SOLO AT STARS' END BY BRIAN DALEY

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>HAN SOLO AT STARS' END review archived from 2008</u></td></tr>
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After STAR WARS came out, kids wanted everything to do with the 
characters, even following their lives before and after the film: And here 
we have fan-favs Han Solo and Chewbacca on their own adventure(s), in book form, pre Death Star battle, and there's enough action and suspense to pull
 the ears off a... you know the rest...<br>
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Han's out to free captives, including his furry sidekick, from a remote prison planet 
called Stars' End. Before and after the proverbial tractor beam pulls us into 
fulfilling this main plot, there are plenty of close-calls, dog fights, 
fist fights, and tons of action as the writing flows swift and neatly. 
Sometimes corny but never too much. You almost always have a gallant footing of 
time and place (and space): STARS' END would have made an excellent movie. And so, since nothing can touch the original trilogy, let's hope, at the very least, that SOLO (reviewed tomorrow) lives up to this cult book trilogy by Brian Daley: three in all followed by HAN SOLO'S REVENGE and HAN SOLO AND THE LOST LEGACY.<br>

book review, fantasy, science-fiction, seventies, star wars

ARCHIVE REVIEW OF HAN SOLO AT STARS' END BY BRIAN DALEY

HAN SOLO AT STARS' END review archived from 2008 After STAR WARS came out, kids wanted everything to do with the characters, even f...

TOM BERENGER & DEBRA WINGER IN 'BETRAYED' WITH TED LEVINE

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Tom Beranger and his dog Ronnie in Betrayed YEAR: 1988</u></td></tr>
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A highly 
entertaining, thoroughly enjoyable film about an FBI agent, played by 
the always reliable on screen (yet supposedly monstrous off-screen) Debra Winger, who goes undercover to white bread 
Farmland USA (as a combine driver) to learn about a man, played by Tom Berenger, who might not only be 
racist, but responsible for murdering a controversial Jewish disc jockey
 (Howard Stern sans any charm or humor)...<br>
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She begins to fall for Tom while slowly 
realizing he's not just a handsome farmer/family man, and yet remains optimistically skeptical about 
his involvement in the case until... something 
happens, less than an hour in and much too quickly, that just about ruins the film: He takes her on
 a group "hunting trip" — for a human, not animal, target: This scene's obvious purpose is so the audience can hate 
Tom's character — after all, he and his pals are likable, and in some 
aspects, being part of the neglected working class, relatable (a natural, low-key performance by John Mahoney adds to that)...<br>

debra winger, drama, eighties, john mahoney, ted levine, tom berenger

TOM BERENGER & DEBRA WINGER IN 'BETRAYED' WITH TED LEVINE

Tom Beranger and his dog Ronnie in Betrayed YEAR: 1988 A highly entertaining, thoroughly enjoyable film about an FBI agent, played by ...

MEL BROOKS & ANNE BANCROFT REMAKE 'TO BE OR NOT TO BE'

anne bancroft, comedy, mel brooks, nazi, remake, tim matheson, world war II

MEL BROOKS & ANNE BANCROFT REMAKE 'TO BE OR NOT TO BE'

Mel Brooks makes a Bust of Hitler SCORE: **1/2 Year: 1982 Starts out decently enough, and surprisingly different for Mel Brooks to dire...

GARY BUSEY TAKES FULL EIGHTIES CHARGE IN 'BULLETPROOF'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year of Release: 1988 Bulletproof Gary Busey Rating: ***</u></td></tr>
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Guns blasting, buildings exploding, cars crashing, and that's 
just the first ten minutes: This action-packed film involving a rogue 
ex-CIA bad ass who can't seem to die no matter how many times he's shot 
(hence the title) is pretty decent...<br>
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Tough and toothy Gary Busey, usually
 cast as a villain in these kind of flicks, has his usual crazy charm, yet is a tad more subdued: after all he's carrying the entire show: Which doesn't take away from supporting roles by 
William Smith, Luke Askew, Henry Siliva and several other "forgotten" 
character-actors. Meanwhile, there are enough smaller action sequences to hold up the
 entire mainline: Busey has to free a group of "kidnapped" American 
military elites and return a high-tech "supertank" (shown above) back to the States. But does America 
deserve this formidable killing machine any more than the bad guys? This question 
is raised, of course, like in any film centering on the CIA... but 
without getting preachy. <br>

action, eighties, gary busey, william smith

GARY BUSEY TAKES FULL EIGHTIES CHARGE IN 'BULLETPROOF'

Year of Release: 1988 Bulletproof Gary Busey Rating: *** Guns blasting, buildings exploding, cars crashing, and that's just the fir...

ERIK ESTRADA GOES (FOR) BROKE IN THE FINAL 'CHIPS' SEASON

andra evans, cop, dominique dunne, eighties, erik estrada, larry wilcox, TV

ERIK ESTRADA GOES (FOR) BROKE IN THE FINAL 'CHIPS' SEASON

Tom Reilly gets the first Season 6 episode named for him 10/10/1982 No one wants to remember Tom Reilly on CHIPS. He was the blond-hai...

CULT STARLET JUDY BROWN PLAYS 'A WOMAN FOR ALL MEN'

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0xgAKAbuvpY/WvQrnlZ_Y2I/AAAAAAAA1n8/6H7KnzjogE056kivAOR7W9KNULHS9G4SgCLcBGAs/s1600/0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1119" data-original-width="1600" height="278" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0xgAKAbuvpY/WvQrnlZ_Y2I/AAAAAAAA1n8/6H7KnzjogE056kivAOR7W9KNULHS9G4SgCLcBGAs/s400/0.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year of Release is the Nineteen-Seventies by proof of the telephone</u></td></tr>
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The fact a sexpot from Roger Corman women-in-prison flicks (directed by Jack Hill)  could hold more power and importance over Andy Robinson and Keenan Wynn is proof that the seventies were far from over... In fact, racy drive-in vehicles from the infamously dirty decade were going through an awkward and contrived mid-life crisis...<br>
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That same summer, 1975, a giant shark named JAWS was devouring audiences in record-breaking numbers. Because of this "bigger boat," it was up to smaller theaters to suit those embarrassed to frequent porno houses: Sitting on the fence were a pileup of R-Rated wannabe X's, and most were pretty bad: Enter Judith Brown, star of THE BIG DOLL HOUSE and WOMEN IN CAGES when she was billed as Judy (whose name seemed to change with a haircut), playing the title character with a title that's exploitation enough: A WOMAN FOR ALL MEN...<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>ExploitaScore: ***1/2</u></td></tr>
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The basic though tangled plot has the usual grouchy millionaire marrying a young beauty. In this case the rich dick is Kennan Wynn, who owns a construction company where his two sons, played by "The Scorpio Killer" Robinson and blue-eyed oddball Peter INGLORIOUS BASTARDS Hooten, work hard outdoors without cozy office jobs, providing enough frustration in what's already predictably forced into the overall Film Noir template...<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Judith or Judy Brown</u></td></tr>
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Soon enough, oldest son and dad's trophy wife hook up and, like TAROT starring Sue Lyon and Gloria Graham a few years earlier, it's the heart-of-gold housekeeper (a respectfully aged Lois Hall) who begins figuring things out: along with dad's only-daughter played by Patty Bodeen, a blue-eyed, round-faced, pouting beauty who should have been in a lot more of these kitschy thrillers... Her melodramatic gusto really fits when needed: And with more dialogue than action, anything spontaneous is welcome to wake things up: Especially since Brown, usually the "straight woman" of Corman films, has to remain firm and one-dimensional in the lead role.<br>
<br>
The suspense builds nicely but it's almost too late once the viewer gets lethargically captured. Then again, random twists and turns occur too soon for the essential "boiling point" to amount to anything beyond a reason for square-jawed Brown to shed her clothes (in an ongoing homemade film within this film). And yet, with recognizable actors Don Porter as Wynn's lawyer and Alex Rocco as the inevitable snoopy cop, this WOMAN is better than one might think. Perhaps those who had served in classic crime heaven (the likes of THE GODFATHER, THE MECHANIC and CHARLEY VARRICK) lacked the usual guilt while reigning in this sizzling perdition of super-low-budget fare.<br>

andy robinson, exploitation, judy brown, keenan wynn, neo noir, peter hooten