LONESOME JIM / Steve Buscemi (2006)
September 30th, 2007 by Scott Marks
LONESOME JIM (2006)
Directed by Steve Buscemi
Written by James C. Strouse
Starring: Casey Affleck, Liv Tyler, Mary Kay Place & Kevin CorriganRunning Time: 91 min.
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
As a director Steve Buscemi charged out of the box with his first feature Trees Lounge and his subsequent two films have not show any signs of growth. Casey Affleck plays a 27-year-old loser forced to move back in with mom and dad who is saved by saintly Ms. Tyler and her son. Anything with Liv Tyler, except those films that have the word “Rings” in the title, is worth seeing, but you’ll be hard-pressed to understand her attraction to Affleck’s loafer Jim. It doesn’t help that this is one of the ugliest shot-on-video films to find theatrical distribution.
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Dig A Hole: “Night of the Living Dead’s” Karl Hardman
September 29th, 2007 by Scott Marks
Maybe the cellar was the safest place for Mr. Cooper after all.
Why Karl Hardman didn’t have a bigger career is beyond me. In Night of the Living Dead Hardman not only played the bald-headed, perennially agitated Harry Cooper, he also did makeup, provided electronic sound effects and acted as producer.
The scariest thing thing remains how an insurance agent type like Cooper managed to get such a hot wife both on and off screen. He wound up marrying Marilyn Eastman after the film was released. Even more trivial, the little girl who played the trowel-wielding Karen Cooper was Hardman’s daughter from a previous marriage!
Hardman lost the good fight to the zombie menace on September 22. He was 80.
Tags: Karl Hardman, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, ObituaryFiled Under Obituaries
EVIL DEAD II: DEAD BY DAWN / Sam Raimi (1987)
September 29th, 2007 by Scott Marks
EVIL DEAD II: DEAD BY DAWN (1987)
Directed by Sam Raimi
Starring: Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry, Dan Hicks, Kassie DePaiva, Ted Raimi as Henrietta and a whole lot of “Shemps”
Running Time: 85 min.
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Sam Raimi’s affectionate sendup of virtually every horror/fantasy film made between The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Terminator 2. The sole survivor (Bruce Campbell) of Evil Dead and five others are terrorized by unspeakable evil in a remote cabin. The lightning pace, flying camerawork, and non-stop laughs help make this one of the finest (and funniest) horror films ever made. There’s more style, passion and cinematic knowhow on display than in all three Spiderman movies combined.
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Original BLADE RUNNER Toys, Merchandising Material & Stills
September 28th, 2007 by Scott Marks
Why aren’t there six Blade Runner films instead of all those interminable Star Wars kiddie soap operas?
I know, I know. The Empire Strikes Back was written by Leigh Brackett and it’s the best in the series because it’s like watching a film noir in outer space.
Horses*it! They all stink!
Blade Runner is the anti-Star Wars, the most visually dazzling science-fiction film since Lang’s Metropolis. Lucas used desaturated colors and dirty space ships to make his toy future appear bleak and lived-in. It was his answer to the candy-color metallic universe as seen through the eyes of 1950s Hollywood production designers that he and Steve Spielberg grew up on..
As Blade Runner so elegantly proves, you don’t have to remove color in order to make the future look gray. All you need is imagination and a cast of characters played by adults. And say what you will, Rutger Hauer can kick Darth Vader’s ass from here to the planet Mongo.
For years, the only way to see the original version was on Laser Disc.The DVD pressing is the Director’s Cut that strips away the voice over and clearly spells out the fact that Deckard is a robot.
They cast Harrison Ford as Deckard. I got it the first time.
Am I the only one that misses Ford’s narration? Now that’s film noir! Not some quadriplegic dwarf in a garbage can carrying a light saber.
Now is the time to unload your old director’s cut DVD. On December 18, Warner Bros. is releasing the Blade-Runner-Five-Disc-Ultimate-Collectors Edition.
While awaiting the mailman’s knock upon on your door, here are some merchandising ads and stills to whet your appetite:
Tags: BLADE RUNNER, BLADE_RUNNER, STAR WARSFiled Under DVD, Image Blog, Rants
MANDA BALA (SEND A BULLET) / Jason Kohn (2007)
September 28th, 2007 by Scott Marks
MANDA BALA (SEND A BULLET) (2007)
Directed by Jason Kohn
Shot by Heloisa Passos
Genre: Documentary
Aspect Ratio: 
Running Time: 85 min.
Rating:
Brazil may be the land of sun, fun, rain forests and stunning fashion models, but it’s a sure bet that tourism will be down once Manda Bala hits American screens.
Director Jacon Kohn set out to make “a non-fiction film…using the same visual language as a fictional one.” With its keen awareness of visual literacy, Manda Bala is unlike any documentary we’ve seen since Gunner’s Palace. Sao Paulo is the largest city in the Southern Hemisphere with more financial capital than the rest of
South America combined. In steep contrast to the country’s unparalleled riches, we find poverty, corruption, violent crime and many other maladies often associated with a developing nation.
Continue reading MANDA BALA (SEND A BULLET) / Jason Kohn (2007)
Tags: MANDA BALA, SEND A BULLETFiled Under Reviews, Theatrical
ACROSS THE UNIVERSE / Julie Taymor (2007)
September 28th, 2007 by Scott Marks
ACROSS THE UNIVERSE (2007)
Directed by Julie Taymor
Written by Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais
Starring: Evan Rachel Wood. Jim Sturgess, Joe Anderson, Dana Fuchs, Joe Cocker (in no less than 3 roles), Eddie Izzard, Bono & Salma Hayak
Running Time: 131 min.
Aspect Ratio: 
Rating:
Julie Taymor’s Across the Universe wants nothing more than to be another Tommy or Hair, yet it barely has what it takes to surpass the Bee Gee’s fiasco Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band.
Normally I’ll concede a good idea in hope of finding at least one positive thing to say before performing my critical disembowelment. Films dependent on Beatles cover versions to help sell their stories should never progress beyond a treatment.
The very thought is hateful.
Any and all attempts have only resulted in embarrassment for their participants. Look at the meteoric film careers the Brothers Gibb and John Denver had after Sgt. Pepper’s. And as Sean Penn so capably proved, only a drooling retardate could find pleasure in the soundtrack to I Am Sam.
Most of Taymor’s period detail (and narrative drive) stems from movies and TV rather than actual life experience. Every Englishman in the 60s worked every day ‘cept Saturday night and Sunday morning in a coal mine. Back in the States, it’s all sock hops and poodle skirts when it comes to depicting teen life.
This may work when parading Disney giraffes up and down a Broadway theater aisle, but when blown up forty-feet wide, the lack of truth will out.
In Across the Universe, it’s Evan Rachel Wood that gets knocked down a few pegs. As Lucy, Ms. Wood, the brightest young actress of her generation, looks the part of the brainy girl next door, but who is she kidding? We’re talking Marilyn Manson’s main squeeze, not the Sandra Dee type that Bobby Darin found so nice to come home to.
After a down and dirty string of provocative performances in Thirteen, Down in the Valley and Pretty Persuasion, Wood can no sooner convince an audience that she’s a goody two shoes than DeNiro did playing dumb in Stanley and Iris or Awakenings. He’s too smart and she’s too dangerous.
As Jude, Jim Sturgess looks McCartney and acts Lennon, but I don’t think his character was supposed to represent one of the Beatles in their teens. Ms. Taymor is more interested in clever ways to name her characters after Beatles songs or incorporate a few lyrics into the dialog. When Maxwell goes off to war, we are spared his death and the subsequent silver hammer that should have come down upon his head.
A couple of the music videos, particularly Uncle Sam’s animated rendition of I Want You, work and there is an Asian chick so everyone can point to the screen and yell “Yoko!”
It never should have gone past the 90 minute mark. (Was Sgt. Pepper’s really 113 minutes?!?!?) Set decoration as subject is as rare as it is hard to pull and this ain’t Rear Window, The Ladies’ Man or Exorcist II: The Heretic.
Unless you’re desperate for visual stimulation, don’t walk across the street to see Across the Universe.
Tags: ACROSS THE UNIVERSEFiled Under Reviews, Theatrical
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