The Face With Two Left Feet (John Travolto... Da Un Insolito Destino) (1979)
Runtime: 89 minutes
Directed by: Neri Parenti
Starring: Giuseppe Spezia, Angelo Infanti, Gloria Piedimonte, Franco Agostini, Ilona Staller
From: Laser Films
What a film this is, as I explain below:
Oh my goodness, what a movie this is. Backstory is definitely needed. Back in 2011 the Philadelphia-based Exhumed Films (who typically do horror screenings) had a night of films in other genres, only identified beforehand by their genre. This is certainly the only example of TRAVOLTASPLOITATION; I'll explain the plot in a moment but this is so odd and strange the Philly crowd had a real gas with something that hardly anyone had heard of and I wonder how they stumbled upon such an odd Italian film. Code Red released it on disc a few years later and just recently they put it on Amazon Video-where it's only known as The Face With Two Left Feet-I discovered this last night and I had to watch it as soon as I could as I have known of this since 2011.
The plot: 6 goofball youths love to go to the local discotheque known as John's Fever (subtle); they like to razz the chef at a ritzy hotel; his name is Gianni (again, subtle). Gianni loves the DJ at the club; she's an attractive blond named Ilona. He is totally lacking in confidence so his behavior around her is embarrassing. Due to some clowning around, they realize that Gianni sans mustache and glasses looks just like John Travolta... and he does look like the Travolta of the era, down to the chin. He wears the iconic white Tony Manero leisure suit; now only if he learned to dance... It's also be nice if the gang did not pick on the buffoon desk clerk at the hotel, but at least he unwittingly had a chance to shine in the final act.
This movie is pretty weird. That does not even take into account how it's an attempt at a cash grab by having a celebrity impersonator portray someone who is supposed to look like a very popular celebrity at the time. The movie comes off like a sitcom or a cartoon (the latter especially so during the finale) with goofy humor that is only sporadically funny yet there is a straight hairdresser who acts flamboyantly gay at their job but they're actually homophobic and say some unfortunate comments. Plus, Ilona was played by Ilona Staller, i.e. Cicciolina, who did adult movies, claimed to be a spy for the Hungarian Communist Party as a teen (!), was elected to the Italian Parliament (!!) and offered to have sex with such leaders as Saddam Hussein for the sake of world peace (!!!). What a lady. Anyhow, this is greatly different from the serious Saturday Night Fever.
All in all, I can't get mad about such an oddball film. It was strangely enjoyable and I am glad I got to see such an attempt at exploiting a hot movie and celebrity to earn some dollars.
Thursday, February 8, 2018
Wednesday, February 7, 2018
Phantom Thread
Phantom Thread (2017)
91% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 234 reviews)
Runtime: 130 minutes
Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Vicky Krieps, Lesley Manville, Richard Graham, Camilla Rutherford
From: Focus Features
This was a movie I am glad I saw theatrically. See why below:
As I've done the past few years, one of the two Saturdays that select AMC Theatres hold a marathon of some Best Picture Oscar nominees, I'll be there. This time, on March 3 I'll be seeing Dunkirk again, The Darkest Hour, Call Me by Your Name, The Post, and Get Out; you can expect reviews then. I won't be seeing the rest of the nominees before the ceremony-then again I never do-but this movie I heard strong things about, I do rate some of the director's movies quite high and while retirements in the entertainment or sports industries I never take too seriously, Daniel Day-Lewis has only made 9 films since '93 and as he's 60 years old, it is possible he'll never act in a movie again.
I went into the movie pretty cold; if I ever saw a trailer, it went in one ear and out the other. I just knew the basic plot of how the amusingly named Reynolds Woodcock was a fashion designer in 1950's London and he gets to know Vicky Krieps. I did see a review mention a comparison to something that I was not expecting (which was the case) but otherwise I did not know what would happen. I won't spoil things myself; I'll just mention some traits of Mr. Woodcock.
As he was someone who designed garments for high class people-including royalty-it is not a shock to hear he would be a mercurial person, someone who is not always a pleasant person to be around. Being driven and obsessed with such a job is one thing, but at times I did feel bad for Krieps' Alma character. Maybe I read too much into it and I definitely mean no offense but Woodcock has some Aspergerian traits, including having a set routine, being annoyed by certain things that probably won't enrage most others (nice sound design in those scenes expressed that quite well), and awkward social interactions.
He happens to have a sister, Cyril (Lesley Manville) and they run his fashion house. She is a rather gruff and serious person, so it was always fascinating any combination of Cyril, Alma and Reynolds interacting with each other. The plot, I've come to understand the general public is not as over the moon for it as people like us or the critics. In some ways I can understand why those aspects weren't for them, but such things as the methodical pace of the story I was fine with. The movie would have failed if the costumes were not excellent; thankfully all the outfits are, and not just what Mr. Woodcock designed. Also deserving of praise is the cinematography and Jonny Greenwood's score.
The performances of Lewis, Krieps and Manville were all tremendous, and they were a large part of why I give this movie such a high rating. This is not my favorite PT Anderson movie nor is it my favorite performance from Daniel Day-Lewis but if this is his last hurrah, Phantom Thread is a nice way to go out.
91% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 234 reviews)
Runtime: 130 minutes
Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Vicky Krieps, Lesley Manville, Richard Graham, Camilla Rutherford
From: Focus Features
This was a movie I am glad I saw theatrically. See why below:
As I've done the past few years, one of the two Saturdays that select AMC Theatres hold a marathon of some Best Picture Oscar nominees, I'll be there. This time, on March 3 I'll be seeing Dunkirk again, The Darkest Hour, Call Me by Your Name, The Post, and Get Out; you can expect reviews then. I won't be seeing the rest of the nominees before the ceremony-then again I never do-but this movie I heard strong things about, I do rate some of the director's movies quite high and while retirements in the entertainment or sports industries I never take too seriously, Daniel Day-Lewis has only made 9 films since '93 and as he's 60 years old, it is possible he'll never act in a movie again.
I went into the movie pretty cold; if I ever saw a trailer, it went in one ear and out the other. I just knew the basic plot of how the amusingly named Reynolds Woodcock was a fashion designer in 1950's London and he gets to know Vicky Krieps. I did see a review mention a comparison to something that I was not expecting (which was the case) but otherwise I did not know what would happen. I won't spoil things myself; I'll just mention some traits of Mr. Woodcock.
As he was someone who designed garments for high class people-including royalty-it is not a shock to hear he would be a mercurial person, someone who is not always a pleasant person to be around. Being driven and obsessed with such a job is one thing, but at times I did feel bad for Krieps' Alma character. Maybe I read too much into it and I definitely mean no offense but Woodcock has some Aspergerian traits, including having a set routine, being annoyed by certain things that probably won't enrage most others (nice sound design in those scenes expressed that quite well), and awkward social interactions.
He happens to have a sister, Cyril (Lesley Manville) and they run his fashion house. She is a rather gruff and serious person, so it was always fascinating any combination of Cyril, Alma and Reynolds interacting with each other. The plot, I've come to understand the general public is not as over the moon for it as people like us or the critics. In some ways I can understand why those aspects weren't for them, but such things as the methodical pace of the story I was fine with. The movie would have failed if the costumes were not excellent; thankfully all the outfits are, and not just what Mr. Woodcock designed. Also deserving of praise is the cinematography and Jonny Greenwood's score.
The performances of Lewis, Krieps and Manville were all tremendous, and they were a large part of why I give this movie such a high rating. This is not my favorite PT Anderson movie nor is it my favorite performance from Daniel Day-Lewis but if this is his last hurrah, Phantom Thread is a nice way to go out.
Tuesday, February 6, 2018
Westfront 1918
Runtime:
96 minutes
Directed
by: G.W. Pabst
Starring:
Fritz Kampers, Gustav Diessl, Hans-Joachim Mobis, Claus Clausen,
Jackie Monnier
From:
Bavaria Film/Nero-Film AG
Here is a movie I am glad is not as obscure as it used to be:
I rarely purchase Criterion titles as soon as they become available,
but that is what I did with this movie. I've known of it for a few years
now and copies are on YouTube but they are of a truncated version
that's about 7 minutes shorter; as I read the original cut is the way to
go, I put off the film until I could stumble upon it in its proper
form. Well, I am glad Criterion released it; the picture of course looks
nicer than what is on YouTube.
It was by happenstance that this came out at around the same time as All Quiet on the Western Front. Both are based on novels about German troops in World War I dealing with the savagery of trench warfare, where to gain even an inch is an achievement; life at home when they are granted leave is not good so they can't wait to return to the battlefront, and you see some of the leads die. They even have similar long tracking shots and natural sounds, resulting in eerie quiet between all the gunfire and explosions. The main difference was that Western Front came from Hollywood so they were able to have a wide scope while this came from Germany and was more intimate. I say both films are great and well worth seeing if the topic sounds of any interest to you.
To mention a modern example most people would know, the World War I battlefield as seen in Wonder Woman was accurate to how trench warfare was. It was gray and dreary, chock-full of mud and grime and smoke in the air and neither side could gain any ground; No Man's Land was a nightmare and both Western Front and this movie nailed that spot-on. It was pretty horrifying what they had to go through, all the noise and bombardment, barely having any time to sleep. Both movies are a cold slap to the face in terms of hitting you hard how chilling their experience was. Western Front was not cheery but Westfront is incredibly bleak. Aside from getting to know the characters in the first few minutes as they hang out in someone's house and a random musical/comedy interlude lasting a few minutes (it was entertainment at a camp), this motion picture is no nonsense about putting the characters through hell. Here, one soldier going home for a brief amount of time goes wrong, and home is doing badly anyway as there's a food shortage.
Yet the movie was not a miserable experience for me and I still don't feel depressed after seeing it last night. I was transfixed as I watched all that occurred. G.W. Pabst is a director that doesn't get as much attention as his contemporaries, like Fritz Lang; I am guilty of that myself as this is the first film of his I have seen; I know he made some classic silents I know I need to see; this was his first talkie. I give high marks to the Criterion release and I am happy they put out the complete version of a movie I hope more people watch and at least give a chance to.
It was by happenstance that this came out at around the same time as All Quiet on the Western Front. Both are based on novels about German troops in World War I dealing with the savagery of trench warfare, where to gain even an inch is an achievement; life at home when they are granted leave is not good so they can't wait to return to the battlefront, and you see some of the leads die. They even have similar long tracking shots and natural sounds, resulting in eerie quiet between all the gunfire and explosions. The main difference was that Western Front came from Hollywood so they were able to have a wide scope while this came from Germany and was more intimate. I say both films are great and well worth seeing if the topic sounds of any interest to you.
To mention a modern example most people would know, the World War I battlefield as seen in Wonder Woman was accurate to how trench warfare was. It was gray and dreary, chock-full of mud and grime and smoke in the air and neither side could gain any ground; No Man's Land was a nightmare and both Western Front and this movie nailed that spot-on. It was pretty horrifying what they had to go through, all the noise and bombardment, barely having any time to sleep. Both movies are a cold slap to the face in terms of hitting you hard how chilling their experience was. Western Front was not cheery but Westfront is incredibly bleak. Aside from getting to know the characters in the first few minutes as they hang out in someone's house and a random musical/comedy interlude lasting a few minutes (it was entertainment at a camp), this motion picture is no nonsense about putting the characters through hell. Here, one soldier going home for a brief amount of time goes wrong, and home is doing badly anyway as there's a food shortage.
Yet the movie was not a miserable experience for me and I still don't feel depressed after seeing it last night. I was transfixed as I watched all that occurred. G.W. Pabst is a director that doesn't get as much attention as his contemporaries, like Fritz Lang; I am guilty of that myself as this is the first film of his I have seen; I know he made some classic silents I know I need to see; this was his first talkie. I give high marks to the Criterion release and I am happy they put out the complete version of a movie I hope more people watch and at least give a chance to.
Crocodile Dundee II
Crocodile Dundee II (1988)
Runtime: 111 minutes
Directed by: John Cornell
Starring: Paul Hogan, Linda Kozlowski, John Meillon, Hechter Ubarry, Juan Fernandez
From: Paramount
Sunday night seemed like the perfect night to see a movie I last watched many years ago. The original CD I last saw in 2010 before Saturday night. Now, onto this Aussie adventure:
I realized this was the best time to watch the film, last night soon after the Super Bowl was over and everyone discovered the teasings of a new movie in this series was all just viral marketing for Australian tourism. Whether that will increase tourism to the land Down Under, I have no idea; it was neat seeing Paul Hogan as the character one more time, even if it was for only a few seconds. I watched the first two movies at least a few times when I was a kid, but this one I last saw many years ago.
The plot is not as whisper-thin as the original: there are stakes as Sue's ex-husband takes photographs of a drug dealer in Colombia killing someone, and like a dope sends them to her; they find out so they go and kidnap her. The plotting is not the strongest so I am not quite sure why Dundee doesn't want to work with the DEA on rescuing her, so he does it instead... things happen and the film moves back to Australia. It's not the type of story you want to scrutinize too hard, there's a moment of homophobia and Charles S. Dutton's Leroy Brown is as stereotypical as you'd expect a black character to be that is named Leroy Brown.
Yet I can still say it's fine. Maybe it's nostalgia, or maybe it's me being charmed by Mick and Sue. There were laughs for me throughout, the score from Peter Best was once again good and like in the first, the cinematography from Russell Boyd was quite solid. Plus it was amusing seeing how Dundee dispatched of the villain and his henchmen-including Luis Guzman-in his backyard. But the most amusing for me was the “street gang” that helps out Mick. I remembered the moment with the knife and that guy's Mohawk, and them making animal noises as a distraction.
Yet the gang itself... Kali's gang in that much-derided episode of Stranger Things' second season was more believable than these goofballs. Most of them are pretty white and look like dorks. It was probably for the best it was not an ethnic group of people as the implications would probably be pretty bad, but their lair is like a New Wave club just threw up. It is too silly for me to be grievously offended; a big help is that this was the first time I ever remembered hearing Iggy Pop's excellent version of Real Wild Child (Wild One).
Australians-especially younger ones-may roll their eyes at the Crocodile Dundee character, “That's not a knife... THAT is a knife”, and all the rest. For me, it was nice nostalgia seeing this and the original the past two nights, as it reminded me of the time when those two movies were very popular and Australia fever swept the country in the latter half of the 80's. One day I'd love to make the LONG flight to that country and spend a few weeks there. It probably won't happen so instead I'll settle for watching old films like these.
Runtime: 111 minutes
Directed by: John Cornell
Starring: Paul Hogan, Linda Kozlowski, John Meillon, Hechter Ubarry, Juan Fernandez
From: Paramount
Sunday night seemed like the perfect night to see a movie I last watched many years ago. The original CD I last saw in 2010 before Saturday night. Now, onto this Aussie adventure:
I realized this was the best time to watch the film, last night soon after the Super Bowl was over and everyone discovered the teasings of a new movie in this series was all just viral marketing for Australian tourism. Whether that will increase tourism to the land Down Under, I have no idea; it was neat seeing Paul Hogan as the character one more time, even if it was for only a few seconds. I watched the first two movies at least a few times when I was a kid, but this one I last saw many years ago.
The plot is not as whisper-thin as the original: there are stakes as Sue's ex-husband takes photographs of a drug dealer in Colombia killing someone, and like a dope sends them to her; they find out so they go and kidnap her. The plotting is not the strongest so I am not quite sure why Dundee doesn't want to work with the DEA on rescuing her, so he does it instead... things happen and the film moves back to Australia. It's not the type of story you want to scrutinize too hard, there's a moment of homophobia and Charles S. Dutton's Leroy Brown is as stereotypical as you'd expect a black character to be that is named Leroy Brown.
Yet I can still say it's fine. Maybe it's nostalgia, or maybe it's me being charmed by Mick and Sue. There were laughs for me throughout, the score from Peter Best was once again good and like in the first, the cinematography from Russell Boyd was quite solid. Plus it was amusing seeing how Dundee dispatched of the villain and his henchmen-including Luis Guzman-in his backyard. But the most amusing for me was the “street gang” that helps out Mick. I remembered the moment with the knife and that guy's Mohawk, and them making animal noises as a distraction.
Yet the gang itself... Kali's gang in that much-derided episode of Stranger Things' second season was more believable than these goofballs. Most of them are pretty white and look like dorks. It was probably for the best it was not an ethnic group of people as the implications would probably be pretty bad, but their lair is like a New Wave club just threw up. It is too silly for me to be grievously offended; a big help is that this was the first time I ever remembered hearing Iggy Pop's excellent version of Real Wild Child (Wild One).
Australians-especially younger ones-may roll their eyes at the Crocodile Dundee character, “That's not a knife... THAT is a knife”, and all the rest. For me, it was nice nostalgia seeing this and the original the past two nights, as it reminded me of the time when those two movies were very popular and Australia fever swept the country in the latter half of the 80's. One day I'd love to make the LONG flight to that country and spend a few weeks there. It probably won't happen so instead I'll settle for watching old films like these.
Monday, February 5, 2018
An Update
The past few days I've rewatched some movies. Those were Jurassic Park (which is still great) and Crocodile Dundee, which is still fine. By the way, I have known for awhile those Dundee trailers were part of viral marketing so the commercial during "that one football game" was not a surprise, although it was neat seeing Paul Hogan in the outfit one last time.
Saturday, February 3, 2018
Hanuman And The 5 Kamen Riders
Hanuman and the 5 Kamen Riders (Hanuman Pob Har Aimoddaeng) (1974)
Runtime: 103 minutes
Directed by: Sompote Sands/Shohei Tojo
Starring: Kan Boocho, Akiji Kobayashi, Tanyarat Lohanan, Yodchai Meksuwan, Pipop Pupinyo
From: Chaiyo Productions
OK there's a lot to unpack with this. I explain it all below:
As has happened before, I went down a rabbit hole because of Letterboxd; I was searching for something and stumbled upon information new to me. In this case, I looked at the filmography of Thai director Sompote Sands. Many of his film's posters: pretty outre. Examining the plots to most of his films: really outre. I mean, even weirder than what I'll describe below.
I looked at one in particular and I chortled as not only was this was an unauthorized usage of the Kamen Riders characters, but they outright stole plenty of footage from the Toei movie Five Riders vs. King Dark. Yes, they used like half of the film without Toei's authorization; I know little about those manga characters but at least it was a property I had heard of before. He also did an Ultraman movie and get this, he claims that when he was in Japan to learn about the film industry, he was one of the people who came up with that character. Most everyone says that claim is hogwash and that's been the subject of lawsuits.
Oh, and apparently some Canadians made up their own dialogue for the film and subtitled it and held some pubic screenings. The copy that's on YouTube has subtitles and skimming through it beforehand, I was not sure if that's where the subs came from, as the film is that peculiar. Turns out, it's not, although comedic lines occasionally do pop up, so that may not be a 100% accurate translation either.
I don't want to give everything away but here are the highlights:
* The movie also uses Kamen Riders' King Dark as a villain. That's a giant metal creature with devil horns and red eyes which can shrink down to human size... that element was added here. For some reason he's also cross-eyed. His henchmen are dudes dressed in all black that wear ski masks. King Dark loves drinking blood-obsession is a better term-so he gets it from young women & children. That actually is canon to the series.
* The Riders are referred to as “Ants”. I suppose they are like Ant-Man in a way...
* There are Lake Monsters; I'll admit they (Toei, I mean) were creative in creating ones that were highly bizarre. I am not sure why one of them had a crown made of green leaves, though. It should have been a crown made of flowers so the creature could have gone full Lana Del Rey while having a dragon on its shoulder that belches out smoke.
* Suddenly, we literally go to Hell, where graphic tortures are described and shown via paintings. I presume this was made for families, so yikes. Hell is shown as a spooky place where random Thai dudes (some dressed colorfully) judge people. Three criminals are being judged; they are real A-holes, not only stealing the head of a Buddha statue for some reason but also killing a kid. If you're wondering what a Hanuman is, he's a Buddhist superhero that can also change size and looks like one of those demon statutes you see outside of some Thai temples. After a The Last Jedi-esque moment, he kills the trio in increasingly gruesome ways. One of the criminals does factor into the plot later.
* There are earthquakes in Hell.
* King Dark orders the kidnapping of a professor so they can finish the building of... Franken Bat! Yes, Frankenstein's monster as a bat. Franken Bat was in Five Riders vs. King Dark.
* A fetish video happens as the professor refuses to help, so... his feet are tickled? Then the person doing the tickling gets PEED ON because of an involuntary reaction???
* BTW, one of the monsters in official canon is named Genghis Khan Condor; no, really, and we get to see him. There is also a similar creature that I'll describe as Michael Keaton as Birdman.
* It is rather obvious when they stop using the Japanese footage as the attempt at them making their own monsters... it is men who wear cheap masks of four different animals, red shorts, and that's it. Somehow, I did not think this was impressive, nor was the Thai version of the Ants. Their martial arts ability drastically went downhill; I mean, it's at Dolemite levels.
* The ending, it has a shocking bit of violence.
* At least the Thai countryside looked pretty.
What a bizarre experience this was, and from Google, the director put even weirder moments in his other films. There's one on YouTube that wasn't subtitled and I had to use Google Translate to tell me it was 1973's Tah Tien, where a frog is human sized and not only do we see it smoke a giant rolled-up cigarette, but later on some dude spies on nude women bathing in a river and he hands off his binoculars to a gorilla (only a minute later does he know it's an ape) and the primate actually uses the binoculars to look himself.
What a weird dude Sompote Sands was, in other words.
Runtime: 103 minutes
Directed by: Sompote Sands/Shohei Tojo
Starring: Kan Boocho, Akiji Kobayashi, Tanyarat Lohanan, Yodchai Meksuwan, Pipop Pupinyo
From: Chaiyo Productions
OK there's a lot to unpack with this. I explain it all below:
As has happened before, I went down a rabbit hole because of Letterboxd; I was searching for something and stumbled upon information new to me. In this case, I looked at the filmography of Thai director Sompote Sands. Many of his film's posters: pretty outre. Examining the plots to most of his films: really outre. I mean, even weirder than what I'll describe below.
I looked at one in particular and I chortled as not only was this was an unauthorized usage of the Kamen Riders characters, but they outright stole plenty of footage from the Toei movie Five Riders vs. King Dark. Yes, they used like half of the film without Toei's authorization; I know little about those manga characters but at least it was a property I had heard of before. He also did an Ultraman movie and get this, he claims that when he was in Japan to learn about the film industry, he was one of the people who came up with that character. Most everyone says that claim is hogwash and that's been the subject of lawsuits.
Oh, and apparently some Canadians made up their own dialogue for the film and subtitled it and held some pubic screenings. The copy that's on YouTube has subtitles and skimming through it beforehand, I was not sure if that's where the subs came from, as the film is that peculiar. Turns out, it's not, although comedic lines occasionally do pop up, so that may not be a 100% accurate translation either.
I don't want to give everything away but here are the highlights:
* The movie also uses Kamen Riders' King Dark as a villain. That's a giant metal creature with devil horns and red eyes which can shrink down to human size... that element was added here. For some reason he's also cross-eyed. His henchmen are dudes dressed in all black that wear ski masks. King Dark loves drinking blood-obsession is a better term-so he gets it from young women & children. That actually is canon to the series.
* The Riders are referred to as “Ants”. I suppose they are like Ant-Man in a way...
* There are Lake Monsters; I'll admit they (Toei, I mean) were creative in creating ones that were highly bizarre. I am not sure why one of them had a crown made of green leaves, though. It should have been a crown made of flowers so the creature could have gone full Lana Del Rey while having a dragon on its shoulder that belches out smoke.
* Suddenly, we literally go to Hell, where graphic tortures are described and shown via paintings. I presume this was made for families, so yikes. Hell is shown as a spooky place where random Thai dudes (some dressed colorfully) judge people. Three criminals are being judged; they are real A-holes, not only stealing the head of a Buddha statue for some reason but also killing a kid. If you're wondering what a Hanuman is, he's a Buddhist superhero that can also change size and looks like one of those demon statutes you see outside of some Thai temples. After a The Last Jedi-esque moment, he kills the trio in increasingly gruesome ways. One of the criminals does factor into the plot later.
* There are earthquakes in Hell.
* King Dark orders the kidnapping of a professor so they can finish the building of... Franken Bat! Yes, Frankenstein's monster as a bat. Franken Bat was in Five Riders vs. King Dark.
* A fetish video happens as the professor refuses to help, so... his feet are tickled? Then the person doing the tickling gets PEED ON because of an involuntary reaction???
* BTW, one of the monsters in official canon is named Genghis Khan Condor; no, really, and we get to see him. There is also a similar creature that I'll describe as Michael Keaton as Birdman.
* It is rather obvious when they stop using the Japanese footage as the attempt at them making their own monsters... it is men who wear cheap masks of four different animals, red shorts, and that's it. Somehow, I did not think this was impressive, nor was the Thai version of the Ants. Their martial arts ability drastically went downhill; I mean, it's at Dolemite levels.
* The ending, it has a shocking bit of violence.
* At least the Thai countryside looked pretty.
What a bizarre experience this was, and from Google, the director put even weirder moments in his other films. There's one on YouTube that wasn't subtitled and I had to use Google Translate to tell me it was 1973's Tah Tien, where a frog is human sized and not only do we see it smoke a giant rolled-up cigarette, but later on some dude spies on nude women bathing in a river and he hands off his binoculars to a gorilla (only a minute later does he know it's an ape) and the primate actually uses the binoculars to look himself.
What a weird dude Sompote Sands was, in other words.
Thursday, February 1, 2018
The Omen
The Omen (1976)
Runtime: 111 minutes
Directed by: Richard Donner
Starring: Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner, Billie Whitelaw, Harvey Stephens
From: 20th Century Fox
This is one of those 70's horror movies worth seeing, as I explain below:
Recently I purchased the old Blu set of the first three movies in the franchise (poor Omen IV: The Awakening) and the remake for a pretty cheap price. Last night seemed like a good time to check this out, although I could have waited so I could post this review on June 6 at 6 PM, an “extra” thing that this movie does by having Damien being born at June 6 at 6 AM. Yeah, Damien Thorn is just a name that sounds like this person is an evil MF'er and the score at times is bombastic with the choir chanting in Latin, but thankfully there are plenty of more subtle and nuanced moments throughout this.
The story is outrageous in that an American ambassador and his wife lose a child at childbirth so unbeknownst to his wife, Gregory Peck finds an infant from a church and it turns out to be the Antichrist. There are some big scenes where people are either maimed or killed, and those are unforgettable as at least one is over the top; I understand that 2 and 3 in this series are even more outrageous in that regard. Yet the movie does take its time in telling the story, building up suspense as you wait for Peck to finally figure out that something bizarre is going on. Perhaps he should have realized that a little sooner; then again, another character would have helped himself out by not being so obtuse so often.
Those are minor nitpicks as the film was done so well by Richard Donner. The European locations look nice and there are plenty of super wide angle shots and slow zoom-ins when the time was appropriate. The cast is nice and old pros Lee Remick and David Warner do a bang-up job. But the legendary Peck is the true highlight. It was tremendous that they got him to do this sort of film, as he's a great actor and adds the appropriate amount of gravitas to make such a tale more legitimate. That score by Jerry Goldsmith (which netted him his only Oscar) was appropriate for the film, matching what was on screen perfectly. Oh, and while there are long stretches where you don't see Damien, they did pick a child that could look creepy as hell when asked to.
Factor in the nice sound design and the film usually operating at a creepy level at worst, and this being one of the highest rated studio horror from the 70's is not a surprise to me.
Runtime: 111 minutes
Directed by: Richard Donner
Starring: Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner, Billie Whitelaw, Harvey Stephens
From: 20th Century Fox
This is one of those 70's horror movies worth seeing, as I explain below:
Recently I purchased the old Blu set of the first three movies in the franchise (poor Omen IV: The Awakening) and the remake for a pretty cheap price. Last night seemed like a good time to check this out, although I could have waited so I could post this review on June 6 at 6 PM, an “extra” thing that this movie does by having Damien being born at June 6 at 6 AM. Yeah, Damien Thorn is just a name that sounds like this person is an evil MF'er and the score at times is bombastic with the choir chanting in Latin, but thankfully there are plenty of more subtle and nuanced moments throughout this.
The story is outrageous in that an American ambassador and his wife lose a child at childbirth so unbeknownst to his wife, Gregory Peck finds an infant from a church and it turns out to be the Antichrist. There are some big scenes where people are either maimed or killed, and those are unforgettable as at least one is over the top; I understand that 2 and 3 in this series are even more outrageous in that regard. Yet the movie does take its time in telling the story, building up suspense as you wait for Peck to finally figure out that something bizarre is going on. Perhaps he should have realized that a little sooner; then again, another character would have helped himself out by not being so obtuse so often.
Those are minor nitpicks as the film was done so well by Richard Donner. The European locations look nice and there are plenty of super wide angle shots and slow zoom-ins when the time was appropriate. The cast is nice and old pros Lee Remick and David Warner do a bang-up job. But the legendary Peck is the true highlight. It was tremendous that they got him to do this sort of film, as he's a great actor and adds the appropriate amount of gravitas to make such a tale more legitimate. That score by Jerry Goldsmith (which netted him his only Oscar) was appropriate for the film, matching what was on screen perfectly. Oh, and while there are long stretches where you don't see Damien, they did pick a child that could look creepy as hell when asked to.
Factor in the nice sound design and the film usually operating at a creepy level at worst, and this being one of the highest rated studio horror from the 70's is not a surprise to me.
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