Movieline Online

THE FLICK: As the rather shoddy cover art on the new collector’s edition DVD implies, George Pal’s The War of the Worlds was the Independence Day of its time. All action, spectacle, blinding light and booming sound, it was the invasion film that subsequent B-movie producers aspired to create but never achieved. Working from H.G. Welles novel (which set the action in Victorian London and accessorized the alien ships with tentacle-like legs), Pal expertly transposed the story into ‘50s American culture and emulated the newsreel docudrama success of Orson Welles 1938 radio broadcast. And while Pal, the producer who made sci-fi respectable with When Worlds Collide and The Time Machine, gets most of the accolades, he shares credit here with director Byron Haskin and a team of effects technicians that deliver otherworldly destruction on a grand scale. From the first appearance of the alien ship, a snake-like appendage poking out of a glowing meteor, War of the Worlds creates a tangible menac...

DOMINION: PREQUEL TO THE EXORCIST – The Hollywood equivalent of a “do-over,” director Paul Schrader’s version is the one that was shelved and re-shot by director Renny Harlin as Exorcist: The Beginning. Now premiering on DVD, it’s an interesting film that emphasizes character over scares, but not nearly enough to compete with the ’73 original. Father Merrin (Stellen Skarsgard), haunted by a WWII tragedy and suffering a crisis of faith, discovers a buried church in the wilds of Africa, the unearthing of which unleashes a wave of evil that pits the native population against the visiting British troops. Schrader’s film focuses much more on Merrin’s personal demons, as opposed to the flashier, up-tempo version turned in by Harlin that streamlined the story almost to the point of incomprehension (although it still looked beautifully eerie). It’s a noble effort, but the Merrin character is so bland that secondary players steal most of the scenes. The finale – featuring an asexual demon float...

THE FLICK: George Romero has dodged the “horror director” label for most of his career, as have many other industry folks behind and in front of the camera. Likely because it’s not a genre that commands the sort of professional respect (or golden statuettes) that come to those working in costume dramas, exposes on the mentally ill or even the odd romantic comedy. When you work in horror (even accidentally, as is the case with Romero), your work is rewarded only by the fans and as far as the industry is concerned you’re only good for one thing...making more horror films. But there’s an upside. Horror fans are some of the most enthusiastic folks you’ll ever meet. I mean, when was the last time you saw a Pretty Woman convention? And as connoisseurs of the macabre, these same fans will watch almost anything by their favorite contributors to the genre. Hence, Season of the Witch, which contains only marginal supernatural elements and very few scares, still earns itself a full-fledged collec...

TARZAN: Special Edition – Although only a moderate hit with the kiddie crowd at the time of its release, this Disney adaptation may adhere closest to the spirit of Edgar Rice Burrough’s original ape man novels...if you forget about the touchy-feely Phil Collins songs, that is. Visually, Tarzan is one of the studio’s most lush and organic efforts of the modern era, set against a jungle backdrop that is almost prehistorically beautiful. Tarzan himself moves with an athletic grace that could never be realized outside of animation, while the action scenes are nothing short of astounding! One can’t help but wonder what kind of masterpiece might have developed had the marketing folks not required Rosie O’Donnell’s voice as his wisecracking monkey sidekick. Oh well, it’s still a sight to behold and Minnie Driver does a bang up job with portrayal of Jane as the exuberantly naïve love interest. This new edition includes a remixed soundtrack, music videos, point-n-click games, plus deleted scene...

THE FLICK: After Joel Schumacher drove the franchise into the ground (but, let’s be honest, there’s were a lot of Warner execs helping him pound the stakes), Batman seemed like a property that was bound to gather dust. That is until Marvel, the rival to DC’s pantheon of do-gooder superheroes, made a decided impact on the box-office with X-Men and Spiderman. Suddenly, Warner seemed to be sitting on a pot ‘o gold (two pots if you include the upcoming Superman Returns). The only problem was how to rectify the previous installments’ nipple fetish, neon-glow aftertaste. The decision seemed to be a fresh start...really fresh. Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins is an origin story, which is ironic considering much of Bruce Wayne’s childhood angst was already covered by the 1989 installment by Tim Burton and whatever was left certainly was touched on by the three sequels. But co-screenwriter David Goyer (a comic book specialist, having helped bring Blade successfully to the screen) chooses to sp...

THE FLICK: The Freakmaker (or The Mutations as it was widely released) is an anomaly in the career of its director Jack Cardiff, better known as the award-winning cinematographer for Michael Powell’s Black Narcissus and The Red Shoes. That such a renowned filmmaker would even consider dabbling on a project that included genetically-altered man-eating plants, a parade of circus freaks, and copious amounts of swinging ‘70s female nudity is mystifying, to put it mildly. But dabble he did. And what may be even more surprising, Cardiff’s cinematic skill didn’t exactly carry over to The Freakmaker’s bottom line. The film, which was also lucky enough to score actors Donald Pleasance and Tom “Doctor Who” Baker, falls squarely in the realm of other cheapie monster flicks of the time such as The Creeping Flesh and Scream and Scream Again; equal amounts guilty pleasure and outdated tedium. Yet the association with Tod Browning’s Freaks, which the script references most directly by recreating the ...

THE FLICK: Unlike his recent remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, producer Michael Bay isn’t treading on holy ground by updating The Amityville Horror. Yes, it was THE haunted house flick of its generation; a pop-culture popcorn flick pre-sold to audiences on the success of a best-selling book based on the “true” experiences of the Lutz family. But we’re not talking about a masterpiece here. The original was about as edgy as a TV “Movie-of-the-Week.” But certain moments (namely the swarms of flies and a demonic smoker’s voice that commanded, “Get Out!”) stuck in the subconscious, combined with that often duplicated but never replicated 70’s film stock style. Even after 3 or 4 piss-poor sequels, the slate was basically clean for Bay to do whatever the hell he wanted. What’s surprising is that he didn’t change much. George and Kathy Lutz find what they think is the bargain of the century, a three-story colonial mansion priced well-below market value. Of course, there’s always a catch. ...

THE INNOCENTS (1961): This darkly adept translation of Henry James classic novel, The Turn of the Screw, stars Deborah Kerr as the fragile first-time governess to a pair of orphaned children who may or may not be possessed by the spirits of an isolated country estate. Director Jack Clayton and cinematographer Freddie Francis paint some of the most beautiful shadows in screen history, while Truman Capote’s script keeps Kerr on the edge of insanity. On the surface, it’s a film of billowing curtains and half-seen phantoms. But Kerr’s descent into a Freudian nightmare of sexual repression is scandalously frightening even by today’s standards. An obvious inspiration on Nicole Kidman’s The Others, it might just be the ultimate ghost story for adults. Both the full screen and correct widescreen version are included along with a vintage trailer.

THE FLICK: The conventions of the giallo genre – for all its stalk, slash and kill pleasures – can become a bit tiresome, especially when one accounts for the Italian tendency to ride a good thing into the ground with sequels to remakes of American rip-offs three or four generations deep. So it’s no small surprise that Sergio Martino’s Your Vice Is A Locked Room And Only I Have The Key turns out to be a thriller of distinction and class with all the perversions of the best Italian gialli – yet completely unlike anything that came before it. Incorporating a key element from Edgar Allen Poe’s The Black Cat, the film stages almost all its action within the confines of a neo-gothic estate in the Italian countryside, the residence of a has-been alcoholic author (Luigi Pistilli) and his wife (Anita Strindberg), whose marriage has deteriorated into a brutal stage play of Freudian issues and open physical hostility. Into this chaos comes a visiting relative (the lovely Edwige Fenech) who bring...

THE FLICK: It’s been said only a few hundred people bought the Velvet Underground’s first record, but every one of them became musicians. I’m not sure how many people got a chance to see Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead 2 in theaters, but it’s a safe bet the majority of them walked out wanting to be filmmakers. I know I sure the hell did! A bigger-budget (notice I didn’t say big budget) re-imagining of the original Evil Dead, which got a good boost of publicity thanks to a quote from Stephen King, Evil Dead 2 is the equivalent of cinematic anarchy. It breaks every rule in the Hollywood handbook except the most important – keep the audience entertained. Combining Three Stooges slapstick with non-stop gross-out gags, Raimi and his puppet of punishment Bruce Campbell elevate the horror/comedy genre to Citizen Kane standards. The first fifteen-minutes are a deliberate celluloid hazing. The audience is pummeled with visual tricks that don’t seem physically possible. It’s not just steadicam, it’s “shak...

THE FLICKS: As the DVD format digs ever deeper into the burial grounds of the horror genre, there are fewer true “classics” left to be unearthed by pioneering producers. Many fans have made a case for Amando de Ossorio’s Blind Dead series (or at least the first entry) to be enshrined on home video and, for the faithful; Blue Underground’s Blind Dead Collection will likely surpass their wildest hopes. While those unfamiliar with the particular pleasures of 70’s Spanish horror (which includes contemporaries Paul Naschy and Jesus Franco) might want gather a few opinions about this extravagantly packaged box-set, which contains four films, one documentary and a 40-page booklet full of beautiful poster art. Released once before on a now out-of-print Anchor Bay double feature DVD (which included the first two films in the series), The Blind Dead are certainly an acquired taste. While one comes to expect and sometimes inexplicably embrace the flaws inherent in the low-budget Euro-horror, Osso...

KONTROLL: Set in the grimy underworld of the Budapest mass transit system, director Nimrod Antal’s debut feature (which won several major film fest awards) is a spectacularly vivid portrait of a class of citizens who spend much of their time in the dark. Part psycho-thriller, part gonzo comedy, Kontroll feels more alive than most films made in the last 10 years. Working as part of a team of ticket inspectors, Bulcsu (Sandor Csanyi) suffers blackouts that just happen to coincide with a series of murders in the subways. And the non-stop craziness of his job compromises his own fragile sanity as the general population regularly punches, pummels or spits on anyone wearing the red “control” badge. The characters are endearingly and energetically sketched, the action scenes (particularly a suicidal game called “railing”) are dynamically photographed, and the world Antal creates is so complete – from the constant hum of the fluorescent lights to the wind of each passing train – you feel like ...

THE FLICK: Clive Cussler books are beach-reading for men. Shallow, superficial and pumped full of testosterone, they appeal to our inner-jock who dreams of traveling the world, uncovering valuable historical relics and charming women with our masculine indifference to their own exotic temptations. If you thought Ian Fleming’s superspy was an affront to literary logic and feminist ideology, Dirk Pitt is a big ‘ol slap in the face. I say this even though I’ve read nearly all of Dirk’s underwater adventures (until the plots became so ludicrous Cussler had to take on co-authors to shoulder half the blame), and without exception, enjoyed every single one. How can this be? Well, Cussler’s “top-that!” style of writing doesn’t mince words, it gives you one spectacular set-piece after another, stringing together globe-hopping disasters and discoveries with laughable coincidences that somehow seem perfectly plausible in the world of Dirk Pitt and his rough-n-tumble buddy Al Giordino. But in the ...

THE FLICK: Although it was the first movie since Emmanuelle to be marketed as a mainstream film with an “X”-rating, it’s obvious director Marco Bellocchio is using sex much the same way Spielberg used violence in Saving Private Ryan. In other words, there’s a point to all that heavy breathing besides just juvenile titillation. What that point is, however, is quite challenging to discern, since Devil in the Flesh is a film that shatters itself in three or four thematic pieces. First is the surface level plot about a daydreaming schoolboy, Giacomo (Frederico Pitzalis), who falls passionately in love with Guillia (Maruschka Detmers), the emotionally (and perhaps mentally) unstable fiancé of an Italian terrorist. As their affair deepens, Guillia’s emotional state becomes more and more unstable; alternately pushing the two lovers apart and then pulling them back together. Meanwhile, their fate as a couple seems doomed by the impending release of Guillia’s fiancé and his overprotective mothe...

THE FLICKS: The “dream logic” prevalent in most of Dario Argento’s work serves as both ammunition for his critics and an inspiration for his fans. For those looking for flaws, it’s as if the director explains away his underdeveloped scripts and over stylized visual technique with a Pee-Wee Herman-esque “I meant to do that!” And certainly, for a filmmaker with Argento’s background, he should be able to balance his Giallo murder-mysteries with a degree of literary panache to match his technical bravado. But both Trauma and the more recent The Card Player still find the director, who was once labeled “The Italian Hitchcock,” treading water in the genre that made his career. The first film Argento shot in America, Trauma also features his daughter, Asia, in her first leading role as an anorexic Romanian on the run from the administrator of a mysterious psychological institution. Befriending, and eventually romancing, a local news artist, the two set out to find a serial killer who beheads ...

THE FLICKS: With the Italian Giallo and Spaghetti Western genres making a big dent in the cult DVD industry, newcomers No Shame films are making a strong case for the inclusion of Italian poliziottesci – crime pics inspired by gritty American imports like French Connection and The Godfather – in fans’ collections. First up is Almost Human (1974) starring Tomas Milian in a Scarface-style story of a bottom-feeding criminal who hatches a kidnapping scheme that will earn him the money and respect his deranged ego so desperately craves. Milian, an Actor’s Studio grad, always invests his roles with a dangerous amount of energy. And as Guilio Sacchi he finds a role that matches his over-the-top talents, with a healthy dash of Pacino envy to play-out onscreen (indeed, Pacino’s own Tony Montana in Brian DePalma’s Scarface could be Guilio’s Italian half-brother). A petty crook who graduates from stealing quarters from phone booths to slaughtering an entire family, Guilio’s kidnapping of a rich i...

THE FLICK: Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira stands like one of Kubrick’s black monoliths over the whole of Japanese animation, a creative achievement most fans deem impossible to top – even though other entries in the genre have scaled its lofty heights more than once over the past two decades. On the flip side of the monument is Hyao Miyazaki, whose “kid-friendly” style (for lack of a better word) seems to represent the polar opposite of Akira’s bloody, apocalyptic vision of the future. Truth be told, the two masters of anime are not that far apart thematically; the recent release of many of Miyazaki’s films (Naussica, Spirited Away, etc.) on DVD made that abundantly clear. And with Steamboy, Otomo’s long-awaited return to the screen, the director incorporates many elements that would feel more at home in Miyazaki’s universe: a pre-pubescent hero, noisy foil/love-interest, and rousing (but mostly bloodless) action sequences. Structured like a serial matinee (or, if you prefer, the more recent ...

THE FLICK: Listing a film’s inspirations seems criminally unfair at this juncture of cinematic history. Post-modernism has evolved into an entirely new movement of creative borrowing, lifting and sometimes outright thievery to become a capitalistic collage of ideas so cluttered no one can really lay claim to much original thought. It’s what you do with those borrowed elements that is the measure of most films’ success. And Constantine, although a failure on the grand scale of things, has moments that break through the surface of mediocrity with stunning clarity. Based on the Hellblazer comic series, Keanu Reeves portrays (rather uncomfortably) the demonic detective John Constantine, cursed to witness the dark forces at work amongst us, but blessed with the ability to do something about it. His character is a cynical, defeated, mess of a man, quoting tough-guy dialogue with an ever-present cigarette dangling from his lower lip. The fact that he’s dying of lung cancer is just another inc...

THE FLICK: A lesser reviewer might not have had the courage to write about the misleadingly titled Deep Throat Special Edition. But I feel compelled to give this release from NY After Midnight (actually a division of cult faves Blue Underground) some face time for a couple of reasons. One, to clear up the misconception that this is actually a version of the Linda Lovelace pornographic landmark. It’s not. And two, because this is actually a fascinating time capsule of public-access history. Part of the Midnight Blue Collection (the cover claims this is volume one), the DVD includes several episodes from the public access program created by Screw magazine founder Al Goldstein, which aired on Manhattan Cable for several decades. Or at least most of it did. The content of each program pushed the vague limits of what the FCC allowed on cable TV, sometimes to the breaking point, forcing the program to delete the visual portions of the show that went too far. After you’ve watched the first 5-...

THE FLICK: They Came Back is a film of staggering emotional power built on the premise of a zombie film. And ironically it’s the “Z”-word that will most likely be both a blessing and a curse for French director Robin Campillo’s debut feature. A certain number of critics dismiss most of the horror genre (however tenuous the connection) outright. While a select group of cinephiles will watch anything that promises an appearance by the undead (preferably with ample amounts of gore). In that case, both camps will be disappointed. The zombies of They Came Back are not rotting corpses; in fact, they are the embodiment of perfect health besides being mentally slow and a few degrees cooler. And the only immediate threat they pose to the general populace is their reintegration into normal society. How are they reunited with loved ones? Who will provide them jobs? Can a zombie be a self-sufficient citizen? Even George Romero at his best (which was Dawn of the Dead) never imagined this sort of so...

STARCHASER – THE LEGEND OF ORIN: A curious relic of the ‘80s 3D fad which included new installments in the Jaws and Amityville franchises, at the very least Starchaser can claim bragging rights as the first animated 3D release. Everything else about the story of an escaped slave boy who hitches a ride with a smuggler to help the rebellion on his home planet with the help of an “invisible saber” is embarrassingly derivative. Still, it manages to more true to its pulp sci-fi inspirations than the self-important Star Wars prequels, and even comes with a Casio composed videogame soundtrack that will have you pulling out the Atari joystick from pure instinct. Trapped between the adult themes of Heavy Metal and the pure kid flicks from Disney, Starchaser manages to introduce some memorable images amidst the confusion – like a tribe of decomposing cyborgs hungry from human parts and a programmable “fembot” that really pushes the PG rating. No extras are included on MGM’s release but consider ...

THE FLICKS: Tonight two failing horror franchises go head to head (or horns to horns, as the case may be) in an attempt to resurrect themselves from a fate worse than death: direct-to-video obscurity! In this corner, The Prophecy: Uprising, the fourth chapter in the moderately successful franchise headlined by Christopher Walken...only Chris has left the building this time around. And in this corner, wearing the leather S & M outfit and headgear, we have Pinhead in his sixth outing, Hellraiser: Deader. Neither franchise is much of a pay-per-view event at this point, having been abandoned by their creators and bled dry in sequel after sequel. Particularly Hellraiser, whose originator Clive Barker invested the material with a uniquely twisted form of gothic necrophilia, only to see his demonic creation pimped out like a two-for-one-rental ‘ho. Such a waste of good suffering indeed! So it’s The Prophecy: Uprising that seems lightest on its feet, starting with a fresh set of characters...

THE SHOW: Sold to UPN as in attempt to win over young male viewers lost to the burgeoning video game phenomenon, the creative team behind Game Over obviously had more honorable ambitions. The six episodes presented here (one, Monkey Dearest, never made it on air) show a great deal of potential, most of which went unfulfilled when the expensive series wasn’t renewed. But the high-concept ideas, whip-smart humor and (mostly) endearing characters are memorialized for your enjoyment in Anchor Bay’s 2-disc set. Billed as a “behind-the-game” 3D animated sitcom, the series follows the Smashenburn family, led by Rip and Raquel, working parents who just happen to punch the clock for your favorite videogames. Rip is a perpetual loser on the Gran Turismo circuit while Raquel earns a living acquiring historical relics Tomb Raider-style. This lifestyle is hard on their kids, Alice and Billy, who, in between their own 64-bit adventures, desperately crave their parents’ attention. If you’re thinking ...

THE FLICK: Werner Herzog is a man whose personality is as overtly dramatic as his films. Stubborn, inspired, prone to flourishes of verbose exaggeration and outrageous generalities, the director cut quite a swath through the ‘70s with films like Aquirre, The Wrath of God and Nosferatu. But Fitzcarraldo remains the seminal expression of Herzog’s cinematic tenacity and also serves as an infamous legacy of on-set arguments, production overruns, political tension and disasters both natural and man-made – all of it captured in Les Blank’s Burden of Dreams. A documentary filmmaker in the truest sense, Blank is by no means the progenitor of the current rash of marketing department fluff. In fact, as Herzog points out in a new interview, many of the most interesting aspects of Burden of Dreams have nothing to do with the making of Fitzcarraldo. But it was under those auspices that Blank traveled to Peru to document the challenges faced by Herzog’s crew, not the least of which involved dragging...

THE FLICK: Although it could be interpreted as feminist propaganda, this adaptation of Miles Franklin’s semi-autobiographical novel set in turn of the century Australia is above all else a romance...only its central character, Sybylla Melvyn, is in love with life rather than any one man in particular. An early prototype for the Merchant-Ivory films that would clog arthouses a few years later with the adventures of upper-crust Brits abroad, director Gillian Armstrong gives her story more room to breathe, using the wide open landscape as a counterpoint to her central character’s social and creative oppression. A plain-faced teen with grand artistic ambitions, Sybylla (Judy Davis) is stifled on her parent’s dirt farm until her wealthy grandmother whisks her off to a life of upward mobility by way of marriage. After turning down one proposal, Sybylla finds herself torn between her unexpected feelings for childhood chum Harry (Sam Neill) and her dreams of experiencing the world on her own t...

THE FLICK: can almost guarantee that every review for Wes Anderson’s latest film will include a description such as “quirky,” “off-beat” or even “not for all tastes.” And with good reason, because despite starring Bill Murray – whose work prior to his flirtation with Oscar gold in Lost in Translation was mostly predictable goofball comedies – The Life Aquatic is lost in a world of its own invention. And, frankly, Wes Anderson could care less if you hang around or not. At least that’s the vibe the movie puts out, cast with a eclectic array of acting talent, (Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchett, Willem Dafoe and Jeff Goldblum) who ride the tides of black comedy, heartfelt fantasy and general silliness. Steve Zissou (Murray) is a has-been underwater adventurer who vows revenge against a rare shark that ate his mentor and best friend. Joining his usual crew of misfits is Ned (Wilson) – who may be Zissou’s son from a previous relationship – and a pregnant journalist (Blanchett) who creates a romant...