From /tmp/sf.16482 Tue Jun 8 23:55:15 1993 Xref: lysator.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:380 rec.arts.sf.reviews:112 Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: lysator.liu.se!kth.se!sunic!uunet!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ames!pacbell.com!att-out!cbnewsj!ecl From: leeper@mtgzfs3.att.com (Mark R. Leeper) Subject: REVIEW: Three Silent Horrors Reply-To: leeper@mtgzfs3.att.com Organization: AT&T, Middletown NJ Date: Mon, 7 Jun 1993 15:24:35 GMT Approved: ecl@cbnewsj.att.com Message-ID: Followup-To: rec.arts.movies Summary: r.a.m.r. #01936 Keywords: author=Leeper Sender: ecl@cbnewsj.cb.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Lines: 224 [Followups directed to rec.arts.movies.] Three Silent Horrors An article on film by Mark R. Leeper Copyright 1993 Mark R. Leeper I am from the generation of horror film fans that grew up with Forrest J. Ackerman's magazine FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND. It was a magazine of dubious literary merits created by a man of questionable writing talent or cinematic taste, but he did grow up with fantasy films of the silent era and he did give his readers a perspective that the horror film had a long and proud history stretching back into the silent era. These days if you read the electronic bulletin boards you often find someone trying to identify a "really old" horror film that turns out to be eight years old. Readers of FAMOUS MONSTERS knew that eight years did not make a film "really old." Forry's magazine's illustrations made me familiar with cinematic images than the silent days of film and made me anxious to see the whole film. For a handful of films it turned out not to be a really great effort. Silent films like THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA or METROPOLIS were not very difficult to locate, even in the days before video. They were available. Now advances in video technology have made the seeing of old classic films--and even the owning of copies of those films--far easier than at any time in the past. But even so, some classics have remained out of reach due to low demand. I am certain I will never see many of the classic silent films of which I have heard. Some, like LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT, are thought to be completely lost. But there are many others I have never heard were available or were lost. It is a rare pleasure when one of these films surfaces. In the last month or so, three classic silent films have become available to me. Three films that until now have been legendary to me are now showing up in my collection. Those films are THE HANDS OF ORLAC, WEST OF ZANZIBAR, and THE MAN WHO LAUGHS. WEST OF ZANZIBAR features Lon Chaney (Sr.). The other two feature Conrad Veidt. But Veidt was very much Germany's "Man of a Thousand Faces," just as Chaney was in the United States. The MAN WHO LAUGHS may star Veidt, but it has strong echoes of Chaney. It almost certainly was made to recapture the popularity of the THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME and THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. It too is a period piece with a stigmatized and disfigured central character. THE MAN WHO LAUGHS is almost halfway a Chaney film, being based on a novel by the same author as THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME and using PHANTOM's co-star, Mary Philbin. All three of these films involve men who have been abused or injured. Each in its own way is a study of stigma. THE HANDS OF ORLAC It is one of the unfortunate characteristics of film that visual images slow down the story-telling. It takes the camera a lot longer to show you images that can be described in less time. Of course, to describe a scene fully one picture is worth a thousand words, but rarely is it necessarily to describe a scene fully in telling a story. Silent film is even slower at telling a story, since a much higher proportion of the story is told by visual images. For this reason, silent films will often be more simple stories than sound films of equivalent length, though they can be just as much or even more atmospheric. The whole story of THE HANDS OF ORLAC (1924) could well be told in six or seven sentences--including plot twists I will not reveal. THE HANDS OF ORLAC reunites THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI director and its star. Robert Weine directs the vastly under-appreciated horror actor Conrad Veidt in this adaptation of Maurice Renard's novel. The story should be familiar to any who have seen the three other film versions including MAD LOVE (1935), HANDS OF ORLAC (a.k.a. HANDS OF A STRANGLER) (1960), and HANDS OF A STRANGER (1962). Paul Orlac is a great concert pianist who loses his own hands in a train wreck. In their place, a surgeon grafts the hands of a guillotined knife murderer, Vasseur. To Orlac's horror the hands seem to desire to return to their career of crime. It is an idea that would be used many times in film, but this was the first and perhaps the most stylish use of the idea. Under Weine's direction, Veidt's acting is very effective as a man almost being dragged around by his own hands. Veidt's face shows increasing madness as the film progresses. Perhaps the most effective image of the film shows a crazed Veidt, a mad look on his face, as his half-clenched hand, filmed in the foreground, seems to be leading or even dragging him. Beyond this the film has a gratuitously Gothic feel, the camera making much of taking place in a cavernous old house with its huge bullet-shaped doorways. It is a style that would later be imitated by Universal Studios in their 30s horror cycle. More could be done with this story, as Karl Freund's MAD LOVE would prove. Still, the film has enough of its share of effective images to make it worth seeking out. WEST OF ZANZIBAR Most people who are fans of horror films--and who know a little something of the history of the horror film--respect the name of Lon Chaney. Chaney is the best-remembered horror actor of the silent era, at least for his silent work. (Karloff, of course, had his share of horror parts in the silent era, but he is remembered much more for his sound roles.) Chaney is the American horror actor most associated with the silent era. But oddly, his current reputation is based for all but a few horror fans on only two roles and a few stills from other films. It is relatively easy to find opportunity to see THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1923) and THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1925). But how many of us have seen SHADOWS (1922), A BLIND BARGAIN (1922), THE TRAP (1922), or THE SHOCK (1923)? Films like LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT (1927) appear to be totally lost. Most of his other roles require some effort to find. Resurrected for Turner cable television is one of his more interesting efforts, Tod Browning's WEST OF ZANZIBAR. Browning is best remembered as the director of the 1930 film DRACULA, and is a bit less well-remembered for FREAKS (1932), but he has a number of interesting films to his credit. He did several previous films with Chaney including THE UNHOLY THREE (1925), THE BLACKBIRD (1926), THE ROAD TO MANDALAY (1926), and the lost and legendary LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT (1927). He is also remembered for two sound era films: MARK OF THE VAMPIRE, his 1935 remake of LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT with Bela Lugosi and Lionel Barrymore, and his 1936 DEVIL DOLL, again with Barrymore. The story opens in a London music hall. Phroso the Magician (played by Chaney) is a popular attraction, particularly when he performs the illusion of turning a skeleton into his beautiful wife. How, his wife is more interested in Crane, an ivory trader played by a young and handsome Lionel Barrymore. Phroso gets into a fight with Crane only to have his back broken. The magician has lost both his wife and the use of his legs in one evening. Some years later, Phroso's wife returns from Africa, dying and with Crane's baby. Phroso decides to take revenge on Crane and his daughter. Flash forward eighteen years and Phroso is no more, but in his place is the vengeful mystery man called Dead-Legs. In a cannibal village in the title location, Dead-Legs is hatching a plot to destroy Crane. Using his stage magic to control the superstitious natives, he has Crane's daughter brought to his jungle outpost. There he begins to exact his revenge. Admittedly, WEST OF ZANZIBAR has a plot that is a bit simplistic and the twists in that plot telegraph themselves well in advance of actually occurring. This makes it difficult to say this is actually a good film by modern standards. But the macabre jungle melodrama is told with more than a little style and the resulting film is surprisingly enjoyable as an artifact. We see here two of Chaney's claimed thousand faces. Phroso the Magician's stage make-up is obviously played for a laugh, with Chaney even borrowing a gesture or two from Charlie Chaplin. Out of the stage make-up he looks very normal. But Dead-Legs is something very different, something reptilian. His head is shaved so he looks nearly hairless. Out of his wheelchair, he slithers his way lizard-like across the floor not unlike a serpent. Much of the scripting is dated. Natives have names like King Lunkaboola and Bumbu. There is no Kunta Kinte in Tod Browning's Africa! These are savages who glisten as if they had been laminated. They eat their enemies and have independently invented their own version of Indian suttee. But they are easily fooled by the simplest of stage magic. But underneath everything is a story of deep emotions and Chaney's rubberlike face shows impressive subtlety of expression. In short, this film was worth resurrecting. It does show us more of the range of Chaney's acting skills than has been available previously. THE MAN WHO LAUGHS When the 1989 film BATMAN was being cast there was a strong opinion in many people's minds that Jack Nicholson was perfect for the role of the Joker. Nicholson seems to smirk very naturally, like the Joker. In my opinion, Nicholson made a very bad Joker having the wrong stature and actually the wrong facial structure. I told friends at the time that, just as a historical fact, there was once an actor who really could have looked like the Joker. In fact, the comic book figure of the Joker was visually based on the looks of Conrad Veidt in the 1928 film THE MAN WHO LAUGHS. Also, the visage was the inspiration for a later horror film, MR. SARDONICUS (1961). Gwynplaine of THE MAN WHO LAUGHS, however, was not a villain like his later imitators but like Quasimodo a tragic, noble figure living in a deformed body. THE MAN WHO LAUGHS is, in fact, an adaptation of a lesser novel in which Victor Hugo explored some of the same themes he employed in THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME. Gwynplaine was the son of a Scottish nobleman who refused to vow loyalty to James II of England. The noble was given a double punishment of being executed in the Iron Maiden and of having his son have a surgical operation that twisted his (the son's) mouth into a perpetual grin. Whatever Gwynplaine would ever feel internally, to the world his face would always be a broad grin. Gwynplaine is eventually adopted into a traveling show where he becomes a famous clown. There he falls in love with a beautiful blind woman, Dea. Dea is played by Mary Philbin, who seems to attract stigmatized lovers, though here she is spared the unmasking scene she withstood in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. But the royal court of England is not through with the tortured soul with the smiling face. The plotline of the THE MAN WHO LAUGHS is a bit muddled and confusing. The story features a dog whose intelligence puts Rin-Tin-Tin to shame. There are good reasons why this film was not the success for Universal that two similar predecessors, THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1923) and THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1925), were. But none of the film's faults can be attributed to the terrific performance of Conrad Veidt. Given only his eyes for expression over that horrible grinning mouth, he manages to convey a tremendous range of emotion. Most people have seen Veidt at most only as Cesar the Somnambulist in THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI and as Colonel Strasser in CASABLANCA--neither film allowing him much range of emotion. And neither film prepares the viewer for the excellent range of Veidt's acting in THE MAN WHO LAUGHS. The centerpiece of the film is a scene in which Josiana, a rather sexy and over-sexed duchess, tries to seduce Gwynplaine with the latter wanting the love of a sighted woman, but still trying to hide his mouth from her. Veidt carries the scene masterfully with his eyes only. (Josiana, incidentally, is played by Olga Baclanova, who played the villainous Cleopatra in Tod Browning's FREAKS.) This scene and any scene in which we see Gwynplaine's whole face, requires two interpretations from the viewer. How would others interpret the scene if they did not know the smile was meaningless, and secondly, by looking at Gwynplaine's eyes, can we tell what he is feeling? And Veidt controls both interpretations at the same time--an amazing feat of acting. THE MAN WHO LAUGHS is also an artifact of the advent of sound into films. It has a complete soundtrack, mostly music, but also with sound effects, occasional voices, and a song repeated twice in the film. The film heavily abridges the Hugo story and reaches a little too far to place a happy ending where Hugo never intended. But while this is a flawed film, it boasts some of the most impressive acting of the silent era. It certainly has sharpened my interest in Veidt. This may be a hard film to find--it took me several years--but it is a film well worth the wait. These three films show the ability of two similar actors: Chaney the American and Veidt the German. Veidt, incidentally emigrated with the coming of Naziism to Germany. Apparently he returned to Germany for a short visit in 1930 and was held prisoner by the Nazis until Gaumont British Studios were able to get him out safely. (There is a short account of this in Ephraim Katz's FILM ENCYCLOPEDIA.) Each made major contributions to the pre-sound horror film. Mark R. Leeper att!mtgzfs3!leeper leeper@mtgzfs3.att.com Copyright 1993 Mark R. Leeper From /tmp/sf.1110 Fri Jul 23 13:39:04 1993 Xref: lysator.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:384 rec.arts.sf.reviews:118 Path: lysator.liu.se!isy!liuida!sunic!mcsun!uknet!doc.ic.ac.uk!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!darwin.sura.net!bogus.sura.net!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!concert!rutgers!att-out!cbnewsj!ecl From: leeper@mtgzfs3.att.com (Mark R. Leeper) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: REVIEWS: Four Disappearing Films Summary: r.a.m.r. #01940 Keywords: author=Leeper Message-ID: Date: 10 Jun 93 20:29:00 GMT Sender: ecl@cbnewsj.cb.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Reply-To: leeper@mtgzfs3.att.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies Organization: AT&T, Middletown NJ Lines: 94 Approved: ecl@cbnewsj.att.com [Followups directed to rec.arts.movies. -Moderator] Four Disappearing Films A film review by Mark R. Leeper Copyright 1993 Mark R. Leeper One of the things I like to do occasionally in my film reviews is to make reference to some very good film that I doubt most of my readers have heard of and that I would like to call some attention to. There are a lot of decent films, and a handful of very good ones, that at this point may exist only in the film libraries of obscure television stations, and when these few prints disappear the films will be gone. I would like to generate some interest in four of these films, if not to help save them, at least to alert people that if you do get a chance to see these films, it is a rare chance and you should give them a try. Of course, there are a lot of obscure films that are showing up on videotape today, many of them very poorly-made films, and it is ironic that some terrific films are being over-looked, but in each case I think I can understand why some producer would think the film would not sell well on tape. There are three science fiction films and one horror film. However, none of the film has special effects. Particularly for science fiction, people have come to expect visual effects. I guess they feel that if they do not really enjoy the story then at least there will be something interesting to watch. These films are just actors in front of a camera, perhaps with a very rudimentary make-up effect thrown in (but very little). Three of the films are in black and white and unfortunately that is also considered to be a strike against a film. I still recommend these films highly to watch for. THE MIND BENDERS (1962) (directed by Basil Dearden) This film combines Cold War thriller elements with science fiction and a compelling human story. A scientist working on sensory deprivation commits suicide and is discovered to have been passing secrets to the Soviets. Was he to blame or could his mind have been twisted while under the influence of the sensory deprivation tank? The government decides to experiment to find out. Another scientist working in the same field (played by Dirk Bogarde) is very devoted to his wife and family. Can they change that in his personality while he is in the tank? This film is well-acted, enthralling, and atmospheric. UNEARTHLY STRANGER (1963) (directed by John Kirsh) A secret project is working on space exploration right in the heart of London. The approach to exploration is a novel one. Rather than sending the whole human into space, they are working on a sort of technological out-of-body experience. Project your mind to another planet and there have it take on physical form ... invasion by mental projection. The rub is that scientists on the project are being killed in some mysterious way involving super-high energy. And the wives of some of the scientists seem to have no background that project security can trace. The script is tense and the acting is quite good, with a cast that includes John Neville (A STUDY IN TERROR, THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN) and Jean Marsh (UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS). (This film is so obscure that Leonard Maltin's usually very complete MOVIE AND VIDEO GUIDE overlooks it.) DARK INTRUDER (1965) (directed by Harvey Hart) This film is only 59 minutes long and originally was intended as a television pilot, but was released to theaters to play with films such as William Castle's I SAW WHAT YOU DID--which it far out-classed. Leslie Nielson plays a detective in late 19th Century San Francisco whose foppish appearance hides a man very knowledgeable and adept in matters of the occult and the supernatural. A series of unsolved murders and a friend's blackout spells may be connected and have some occult significance. Mark Richman and Werner Klemperer also star. The latter, best known as the gullible commandant from HOGAN'S HEROES, does a terrific job in a sinister role. QUEST FOR LOVE (1971) (directed by Ralph Thomas) This film is loosely adapted from the short story "Random Quest" by John Wyndham. Colin Trafford (played by Tom Bell) is a leading scientist at Britain Imperial Physical Institute when one of his experiments goes wrong. Suddenly he finds himself in a parallel London in a parallel Britain that has not been to war since the Great War in the early part of the century. Trafford here is not a physicist, but a popular playwright. He is also now married to a beautiful woman (played by Joan Collins) whose life he has made miserable with his selfish ways and his philandering. Can Colin convince the world he is the playwright while convincing his new wife that he is different? Then there are plot complications that lead to a fast- paced climax across parallel worlds. Denholm Elliot also stars in the story which is part science fiction adventure and part love story. Of these four films only the last is in color. At present, the only one available on video, UNEARTHLY STRANGER, is offered only by a tiny specialty house, Sinister Cinema. Of the four, only QUEST FOR LOVE has played on New York area television in the last fifteen years. I would much like to get my hands on copies of THE MIND BENDERS or DARK INTRUDER. Mark R. Leeper att!mtgzfs3!leeper leeper@mtgzfs3.att.com Copyright 1993 Mark R. Leeper From ../rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Nov 14 14:36:00 1995 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Sep 11 08:18:21 1995 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!news.luth.se!eru.mt.luth.se!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!news!nobody From: legeros@nando.net Subject: REVIEW: KIDS, MORTAL KOMBAT, THE PROPHECY, THE USUAL SUSPECTS (Capsules) Message-ID: Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films Summary: r.a.m.r. #03993 Keywords: author= Michael J. Legeros Sender: news@media.mit.edu (USENET News System) Reply-To: legeros@nando.net Organization: Date: Tue, 5 Sep 1995 22:36:08 GMT Approved: wex@media.mit.edu (Alan Wexelblat) Lines: 79 Capsules of KIDS, KOMBAT, PROPHECY, and SUSPECTS A movie review by Michael J. Legeros Copyright 1995 by Michael J. Legeros Contents - KIDS - MORTAL KOMBAT - THE PROPHECY - THE USUAL SUSPECTS KIDS Once you get past the novelty of their uncensored (and unrated) behavior, the remarkable first film from celebrated photographer Larry Clark becomes a bit of a bore. Though realistic enough to qualify as a documentary, the *extremely* explicit story skirts dangerously close to the one-note repetition of pornography. (Which some will label this film as.) KIDS is compelling, but cold. There's very little joy in the lives of these promiscuous, drug-abusing Manhattan teens. I'd like to see a greater contrast between the "adult" abusive behaviors and the "children" performing them. Alas, this is Clark's vision of hell, and his sermon has no place for poignancy. Grade: B+ MORTAL KOMBAT A single hour of this was plenty for me. Too much talk; too little action. (And poorly filmed at that.) Far more interesting were the male patrons who began grunting as the MORTAL KOMBAT theme played over the opening credits. Perhaps experiencing some sort of post-video combat stress syndrome? Great theme music, tho. THE PROPHECY Screenwriter Gregory Widen (BACKDRAFT, HIGHLANDER) makes his directing debut with a modestly engaging religious thriller that wouldn't have been out of place 20 years ago as a follow-up to THE EXORCIST. Now, in the nineties, where standards are *much* higher, plot problems and cheap FX nearly sink the fascinating premise of renegade angels waging a millennia-old war on Earth. (The situation isn't helped by that awful, ambiguous title. The original-- GOD'S ARMY-- was much better.) Christopher Walken stars as Gabriel, horn player extraordinare and leader of the rogue seraphs. He's delightfully wicked in his cross-country search for the "blackest" of human souls. Also watch Viggo Mortensen, sinister fun as the late-arriving Lucifier. Less appealing is the opposition. The good guys include Simon (Eric Stoltz) and his human helper Thomas Dagget (Elias Koteas), a former priest-turned-police investigator. Both are a bore. Grade: C+ THE USUAL SUSPECTS I don't know if you'll find a better film in Triangle theaters this week than Bryan Singer's THE USUAL SUSPECTS. His tale of a "heist gone bad" is told in detailed flashback, as part of an interrogation between the sole surviving participant (Kevin Spacey) and a very-interested investigator (Chazz Palminteri). These two are the anchors of a top-notch ensemble cast that includes Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Pollack, Pete Postlethwaite, Benicio Del Toro, and Dan Hedaya. The convoluted plot requires a second viewing to fully appreciate the intricacies of Christopher McQuarrie's ingenious screenplay. Hint: take notes. However confusing to the uninitiated, THE USUAL SUSPECTS rewards on more levels than I choose to describe here. My favorite is the lush score by John Ottman, who, oddly enough, also edited the picture. Recommended. Grade: A- -- Michael J. Legeros : SAS Institute Inc. : "All of life's riddles are answered in the movies." legeros@unx.sas.com : - Steve Martin in GRAND CANYON 919-677-8000 x6735 : From /home/matoh/tmp/sf-rev Fri Aug 22 16:45:39 1997 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Aug 18 15:23:29 1997 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news99.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!sunic!02-newsfeed.univie.ac.at!newsfeed.de.ibm.net!ibm.net!newsm.ibm.net!ibm.net!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!newsfeed.direct.ca!news-sea-19.sprintlink.net!news-in-west.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!Sprint!131.103.1.114!chi-news.cic.net!204.71.1.61!news-out.internetmci.com!worldnet.att.net!news.u.washington.edu!grahams From: "Max Scheinin" Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Reviews: Contact (1997), Men In Black (1997), My Best Friend's Wedding (1997). Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.movies.current-films Date: 1 Aug 1997 16:30:35 GMT Organization: Cruzio Community Networking Service Lines: 123 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <5rt2vb$7tj@nntp5.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer32.u.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #08417 Keywords: author=scheinin X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer32.u.washington.edu Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:7820 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1465 **** = perfection *** = Good, not great ** = Not good, not bad - merely acceptable * = Not acceptable but not unbearable, merely very bad ZERO = Horrid - avoid at all cost. 1/2 = icing on the cake. Contact: **** Men In Black: * My Best Friend's Wedding: **1/2 Black. A moment's hesitation and then we see the word in simple white lettering: CONTACT. Real movie buffs will know that I am quoting the third draft of THE GODFATHER, except that the title we see isn't CONTACT. In a moment we are staring into a familiar corner of the earth rather then the face of Bonasera. We look on for a moment - the theater is utterly silent. You can almost feel the collective awe. Then we begin to pull back. Still silent. Galaxies fly past us slowly, spiralling into oblivion. They look less like galaxies then like big puffy clouds. And then we realize what the movie is trying to communicate; that the universe is a huge place that streches back and back ... farther then we can see or even imagine. That we will never reach into these strange corners, and meet or find those that inhabit it. It's well communicated. And when we are sure that we can't go back further, we do. It's an amazing unbroken shot, far more effective then - say the opening shot of last year's STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT. But how can the movie top such a wonderful opening? I wasn't sure myself. But, it does. And it's quite a feat. The sublime shot - practically a bliss out - is broken. It hasn't even happened - it took place in the mind of a young girl, Ellie Arroway. After a short introduction we cut to Ellie as an adult. She is everything we want to be - confident, attractive, Jodie Foster. To be honest, we also suspect that she is a little stupid. Later on she goes to bed with Palmer Joss ( Matthew McConaughey ) so we think "Yes, she is stupid. Just a little." But we are wrong. She's smart - we realize that when she finally contacts aliens ( in a thrilling scene ). Through a series of beautifully staged events she finds herself in a space ship ( well, sorta ) about to be transported to the star Vega. And she is ... oh yes, she is. When she arrives there you are struck by the beautiful vision of a far away planet, in all it's glory. Gentle waves lap on the shore ... you are awe struck. How can director Robert Zemeckis live up to all of our excpectations when he finally shows us aliens? He does. The film is glorious. I have now seen Contact twice, and I loved it both times. It's not quite 2001: A Space Oddessey, E.T, or Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. Who cares? Do we mark it down because of that? Rarely has a film astounded me on so many rare and diverse levels. Contact is a masterpiece and an achievement. The last shot tops off everything else and brings the picture to a wonderful and amazing conclusion. Intelligently scripted ( gasp! ) with characters we ( gasp again! ) identify with, understand and like. Contact is a most remarkable film. It is also a spectacle - be sure to see it on the big screen. The greatest films - The Godfather, Casablanca, Singin' In The Rain, Vertigo, Citizen Kane, Psycho, The World Of Apu, - cast spells. But the 90s has been a bit short on films like the ones I decsribe. Contact breaks the trend. I can't say that about Barry Sonenfield's MEN IN BLACK, which is pretty bad. The first scene is probably the best; the credits sequence is spectacular and good fun, and the special effects are dazzling. I saw Men In Black twice, ( an accident - it's not the kind of film you would like to see more then once. The second time was at a double feature with the mediocre Julia Roberts comedy, "My Best Friend's Wedding" which has a review below ) and I found comparing my reactions more interesting then thinking about the movie. The first time I liked the movie, but was dissapointed by Danny Elfman's score. The second time I found the movie stupid and sappy - just barely watchable - made more so by the score which, this time, I liked. Yet the score is never as overwhelming as it is in his Tim Burton films ( the best of his scores can be found in Batman, Edward Scissorhands, and The Nightmare Before Christmas which was not directed by Burton but was concieved by him. Blah, blah, blah ). Sonenfield is, undoubtedly, the wrong choice for director. So if I you are gonna keep talking who would YOU elect? My candidate is Tim Burton who would have made this a masterpiece ( as Steven Spielberg would have made Contact one of the best films ever. Pity he didn't direct that rather then The Lost World - which was entertaining and accomplished what it wanted to ). I'm also a bit sorry to say that the sense of humor this film celebrates doesn't apeal to me. I would have preffered a spoof of old alien movies of the 50s with the aliens invisible, yet causing mayhem. To be fair, there are two excellent scenes/shots. The first is when Will Smith is first transformed into Agent K. I won't say how it is done, but I will say that is a comic moment, and it is truly inspired. The second is the films last shot, a remarkable pull back that is a fancy - less magical and mysterious, but still fun - take on the last shot of Contact. If the rest of the film had been that good, and had that impact, we would have been on to something. I loved Contact. I disliked Men In Black. I have no feelings towards My Best Friend's Wedding. It is a Julia Roberts comedy. It is what you would excpect a Julia Roberts comedy to be, only a little better. It isn't that bad - it's a bit of fluff. If you are sick of event movies then see it now. Julia Roberts is good - very good, - and it begins wonderfully. Then it degenerates into a formualic mess. It has the best scene of the year, featuring the dazzling vocal talents of Cameron Diaz. It has another great scene which involves a musical number that takes place inside of a resteraunt. Otherwize it's the kind of film that is pleasent and fun. To snooze through. But, hey - it could have been worse. It is worth noting that apart from Contact, Hercules is the only other really good film I have seen this year. It is far more sophisticated then your average Con Air. Naturally it's doing dismally at the box office. Frankly, I'm not suprised at all. Just depressed. I also think that 1997 will be remembered as one of the great years for movies. Not for new movies but for old ones. Reissue galore! The films being released are mostly bad, but this is a movie lover's dream! Coming soon, reviews of three classics seen on the big screen: The Neverending Story ( well it SHOULD be a classic ), The Godfather, and Vertigo. Also: The greatest American comedy ( not counting Chaplin ), Some Like It Hot. Check out Max and Micah's movie page Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Misc: Movie Trailers--Millennium Philcon Approved: ramr@rottentomatoes.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.misc Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2001 02:31:50 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-RAMR-ID: 29584 X-Language: en X-RT-AuthorID: 1309 Summary: r.a.m.r. #29584 X-Questions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Submissions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Lines: 225 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!grendel.df.lth.se!snopp!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!news.net.uni-c.dk!newsfeed1.uni2.dk!newsfeed.online.be!sn-xit-01!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:27766 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2941 Movie Trailers--Millennium Philcon Film comment by Mark R. Leeper The World Science Fiction Convention's annual presentation of upcoming films has devolved into a presentation that is mostly just a string of trailers for the films. It is really tough to tell how good films are from the trailers. I have become cynical about the films shown in these presentations. And while I was absolutely right about some films such as BLAIR WITCH PROJECT 2, I would be less than honest if I did not say that at least two excellent films when previewed looked like they would not be worth seeing. GATTACA, the best science fiction film of the 1990s looked from the trailer like a bad made-for-TV distopia. REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, which previewed like an incoherent mess, was a very fine film also. This report is doubly removed from reality since it is based on the trailers and not the films themselves and further it is only my impressions from the trailers. Two positive trends are noted. First overall the films look better this year than they have in previous years. A lot of these films I have some interest in seeing. The second not entirely unrelated trend is that while the film industry used to shy away from films set in historical eras under the assumption that schools were not doing a good job in teaching history. This year there seem to be four or five historical films. I hope they do well. Now to my comments on the trailers. 1. PLUTO NASH stars Eddie Murphy in a comedy crime film set on what appears to be the moon. The idea, if that is the idea, has been done before as a nearly missing film, MOON ZERO TWO. That was not a great film, but this does not look a whole lot better. It look not so much like a space movie starring Eddie Murphy as an Eddie Murphy movie set in space. 2. ROLLERBALL is a remake of Norman Jewison's film based on a story by William Harrison. The original film mixed sports, violence, a view of the future, and introspection. The latter two are not obvious in the trailer of the new film. It has some familiar actors including Jean Reno. I am not fond of sports films, but it deserves a chance. 3. SHALLOW HAL is a trailer I have already seen in the theaters. Jason Alexander of Seinfeld plays the main character. The plot is the story of a man who wants to date only beautiful women. Under hypnosis he is made to believe that even unattractive women are attractive. He falls for a grossly fat woman whom he sees as Gweneth Paltrow. The trailer has scenes that shows how fat the woman is, then we see it from the main character's eyes and it is Gweneth Paltrow who is making the huge splash in the pool. The film looks like a compendium of tasteless fat jokes simply being filmed with Paltrow. Curiously in a film industry that likes to use younger stars, an older man, perhaps older than would be dating, is cast as the disagreeable lead. Why insult the ticket- buying demographic? That is the bad news. The good news is that showing surprisingly more taste than the filmmakers did the audience booed the film. Perhaps mean-spirited, poorly written comedies are losing favor. I hope this film is not as bad as the trailer makes it look, but there is little reason for hope. 4. Recently we saw a fairly interesting update of an old low budget William Castle horror film, THE HOUSE ON THE HAUNTED HILL. That formula continues with the creaky classic 13 GHOSTS. F. Murray Abraham dies leaving a strange futuristic haunted house to some younger (presumably) relatives. If you have to remake an existing film, this is the way to do it. I cannot believe anyone has much fondness for the original. The first version was really just an exploitation film to show another use of red and green cellophane. You had a ghost viewer so you could see or not see the ghosts. Of course that is the kind of film that should be remade, not a CASABLANCA that so many people love. 5. AFFAIR OF THE NECKLACE seems to be a stylish film set in the late 19th century. It is hard to tell a lot from the trailer, but a film that works so hard to create the period probably will show care in other aspects. 6. HEARTS IN ATLANTIS stars Anthony Hopkins in a Stephen King story with a light tinge of fantasy. Hopkins appears to be a psychic who comes to live in a boarding house and forms a relationship with a young boy. Hard to say, but the film appears to take place at least a few years in the past. Word from film critic Dan Kimmel is that Hopkins is better than the rest of the film, though in my experience Kimmel tends to be less fond of sentiment than I am. [Previewed at Toronto: Not too bad a film.] 7. The next trailer seems to be telling the story of a young man in early 19th Century France. The dialog calls him Edmund Dantes and I let out an involuntary "Ah" of approval. The man is treated grossly unjustly and thrown into prison over circumstantial evidence. Of course he will spend years in prison only to escape, find a fabulous fortune, and seeking revenge return to France as his alter ego THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO. The Alexander Dumas classic was due for a remake. It has been done for TV, but I do not know of a theatrical version since the old Robert Donat version. This version seems to play up his sword skills to add some visual excitement. This one I am looking forward to. 8. MONSTERS, INC is a Pixar animated film whose trailer is already in theaters. There is a good reason monsters hide under the bed. They are as afraid of humans as humans are of them. Monsters have there own world and one day a little girl crosses over. The film looks charming. Billy Crystal, John Goodman, and James Coburn lend their voices. 9. BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF looks like a very intriguing French horror film set in the 18th century. The countryside is up in arms about some sort of wolf-like monster making life difficult for the local populace. It may resolve to a werewolf film or may be something better. [Previewed at Toronto; familiar story, good period look sabotaged by anachronistic martial arts and 20th Century political attitudes. Disappointing in the long run.] 10. "Smallville", while it was not made clear here, is a TV series, not a film. It is about a humanoid from outer space sent to Earth by spaceship as a child. The boy, Clark Kent, is growing up not knowing who he really is and keeping to himself the fact he seems to be acquiring special powers including indestructibility. A lot of his problems are ones that any teenager might have. Some are unique to him. At least in the trailer there is no mention of the future we know he will have. (Nod, nod. Wink, wink.) It does sound like it will have more human values, perhaps like Buffy. 11. Next was a small piece on a theatrical film network film based on POWERPUFF GIRLS, the TV series on the Cartoon Network. It does not look like very good animation. 12. Another Alexander Dumas story is THE MUSKETEER. This is an adaptation of the frequently film adapted THE THREE MUSKETEERS. The period seems almost stylishly recreated but the photography is dark. Perhaps inspired by CROUCHING TIGER, the athletic seem to be assisted by an excess of not very believable wirework. Probably not very good. [By now it has been released and has gotten very, very bad reviews.] 13. THE SCORPION KING is the origin of the character we saw in THE MUMMY RETURNS. Not a lot can be told from the trailer, but the style seems to be borrowed from CONAN THE BARBARIAN. That could be worse. The character certainly did not look that good in THE MUMMY RETURNS. Still the audience seemed unimpressed by the trailer and hissing was heard. 14. The audience was much more pleased by the trailer for BC. We could not tell a lot about the movie, but what we saw was a sequence featuring a squirrel on an ice field trying to bury an acorn and causing himself a great deal of trouble in the process. The film is done in 3D animation. Whether BC is from the comic strip "Hey, BC" or if it is just some other story set in prehistoric times is not clear. 15. FROM HELL stars Heather Graham and Johnny Depp. The style seems similar to that of SLEEPY HOLLOW. This film takes place in London and is the story of a detective tracking Jack the Ripper. It is said to have an authentic recreation of the original murder sites. Stage sets were made on a scale unmatched since the Golden Years of Hollywood. It also claims to be a new way of looking at the Jack the Ripper case. 16. In THE ONE with something like 123 counts of murder, a killer (played by Jet Li) goes from one parallel universe to the next (as in the TV show "Sliders") killing people. Our universe's version of this person (also played by Jet Li) decides to stop him. Again the action is enhanced and made less believable with an excess of wirework. Delroy Lindo co-stars. 17. This coming attraction is a teaser showing a bank robbery filmed to reasonable action film standards. The robbers escape by helicopter. As the helicopter weaves its way among buildings suddenly it stops still in air. Then it seems to be bouncing around in air. It has been caught in a giant spider web. Cut to the title SPIDERMAN. We see one side of the head of Spiderman with a big dewy green eye. Now did Spiderman figure their route, get ahead of them and spin his web in time to catch them? Did I miss something? Was he also bitten by a radioactive version of The Flash? People were making a big fuss over this, but it does not look that good. 18. HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCEROR'S STONE looks like it has nice art and production design. It features actors like Maggie Smith and John Hurt. It looks like it recreates the look of a British boarding school very nicely. You can tell that a lot of care is going into the production. Chris Columbus will direct. 19. As the capper of the previews is a trailer for Peter Jackson's production of J. R. R. Tolkein's THE LORD OF THE RINGS. This looks like a beautiful production up to some of the best artwork that has been used to illustrate the classic fantasy. Jackson will do the trilogy as three films. The trailers were followed by a question and answer period with presenter Jeff Walker. The following are among the facts gleaned. These should be regarded as strong rumors: -- MATRIX 2 will be released soon. -- 2001 and E.T. will get re-releases. E.T. will be in a special enhanced edition. -- A title has been announced for the next STAR WARS film. It will be STAR WARS 2: ATTACK OF THE CLONES. -- A live action SCOOBY DOO film is coming. -- A new SUPERMAN is under development -- A FANTASTIC FOUR film is in the works -- An Elfquest film is being developed -- X-MEN 2 is being made with new mutants. The world needs some more new mutants, I guess. -- PERN, a TV series based on the Anne McCaffrey novels, was in the works but the plug was pulled by Warner Brothers TV and is looking for new venue. -- QUEEN OF THE DAMNED by Anne Rice is coming. -- A HITCHHIKERS GUIDE TO THE GALAXY MOVIE is tied up since author Douglas Adams died. Mark R. Leeper mleeper@optonline.net Copyright 2001 Mark R. Leeper -- Mark R. Leeper, http://www.geocities.com/markleeper/ Or try your search engine on "Mark Leeper" ========== X-RAMR-ID: 29584 X-Language: en X-RT-AuthorID: 1309 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Oct 9 12:59:25 2001 From: Mark R. Leeper Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Misc: Neglected Gems of Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction Films Approved: ramr@rottentomatoes.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.misc Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2001 01:23:38 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-RAMR-ID: 29550 X-Language: en X-RT-AuthorID: 1309 Summary: r.a.m.r. #29550 X-Questions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Submissions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Lines: 434 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!grendel.df.lth.se!snopp!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!news-peer-europe.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.gtei.net!news.maxwell.syr.edu!news-hog.berkeley.edu!ucberkeley!nntp-relay.ihug.net!ihug.co.nz!telocity-west!TELOCITY!sn-xit-03!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:27752 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2938 Neglected Gems of Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction Films Film comment by Mark R. Leeper Copyright 1994, 2000, 2001 Mark R. Leeper Available at http://www.geocities.com/markleeper/forgot.htm One of the things I like to do occasionally in my film reviews is to make reference to some very good film that I doubt most of my readers have heard of and to which I would like to call some attention. There are a lot of decent films, and a handful of very good ones, that at this point may exist only in the film libraries of obscure television stations, and when these few prints disappear the films will be gone. I would like to generate some interest in four of these films, if not to help save them, at least to alert people that if they do get a chance to see these films, it is a rare chance and you should give them a try. Of course, there are a lot of obscure films that are showing up on videotape today, many of them very poorly made films. It is ironic that some terrific films are being over-looked, but in each case I think I can understand why some producer would think the film would not sell well on tape. I still recommend these films highly to watch for. This list was composed in the mid-70s, but in the interim I have been adding to it, and in some cases deleting. I have removed Quatermass and the Pit (a.k.a. Five Million Years to Earth), still in my opinion the best science fiction film ever made, because it is no longer really obscure. I take some pride that my efforts to bring this film to people's attention may be part of the reason it no longer is obscure in the US. Perhaps this list will help in some small way to make some of the other films more available and perhaps be discovered by new fans. Every one of these films had something unique that appealed to me. Not every film will appeal to every viewer. If these films had appealed to every viewer, it is much more likely they would still be around and popular. It is of interest to notice how often the name Richard Matheson shows up in this listing. That is probably as it should be. Matheson is one of the great under-appreciated names in fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He has made a greater contribution than Stephen King, but most modern fans do not even know his name. This list was intended to bring attention to neglected films, but just as important, I hope it brings attention to a neglected man. Faust (1926) Director F. W. Murnau is best known for Nosferatu, the making of which was dramatized in Shadow of the Vampire. This is another fine film from him. There is a lot of good visual fantasy in this film version of the famous play by Goethe. There is a terrific image of the Devil spreading his cape over a village, and many other visual surprises throughout. The Man Who Laughs (1928) The story, based on a lesser-known novel by Victor Hugo, could be better, but Conrad Veidt is terrific in the role of a man whose face is carved into an obscene, huge, involuntary grin. This makes everybody interpret him as constantly happy. Veidt conveys a full range of emotions through his eyes alone. The grinning Veidt was the visual inspiration for Batman's foe The Joker. The Dybbuk (1939) At times this is very slow but also at times a very effective horror film. This was a low-budget film done in Yiddish but is now restored and subtitled in English. The "Dance of Death" scene has become an eerie classic. The story deals with a man's soul returning from the dead to possess the woman promised to him and whom he loved. Most of the filmmakers died in the Holocaust shortly after the film was made. The Seventh Victim (1943) Other Val Lewton films get more attention but this film is blacker and bleaker than anything ever done in film noir is. This is a solid mood piece that stands above Lewton's other films. A woman searching for her sister runs afoul of murder and Satanists. Night of the Demon (a.k.a. Curse of the Demon) (1957) This film has gotten some attention because of an allusion in a song in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, but at the time of the original writing it was rarely seen. Now it is a little better known, but still not to the degree it deserves. That is a pity because it is quite a nice little supernatural thriller. It suffers a little from showing the audience too much too soon, but it still is suspenseful and well-written. The Mind Benders (1962) This film combines Cold War thriller elements with science fiction and a compelling human story. A scientist working on sensory deprivation commits suicide and is discovered to have been passing secrets to the Soviets. Was he to blame or could his mind have been twisted while under the influence of the sensory deprivation tank? The government investigator decides to experiment to find out. Another scientist working in the same field (played by Dirk Bogarde) is very devoted to his wife and family. Can the government investigators change that in his personality while he is in the tank? This film is well acted, enthralling, and atmospheric. Night of the Eagle (a.k.a. Burn, Witch, Burn) (1962) When Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont co-write a screenplay based on a novel by Fritz Leiber, you just naturally expect a good thriller. This story about an empiricist college professor discovering that his wife and several other professors' wives around him are actually witches. It is very well made and remains tense throughout. Devil Doll (1963) This is a wildly uneven film, but it has many very good moments. There have been several attempts to do the stories of ventriloquist dummies who have lives of their own. This is the most intriguing treatment of that theme. For once the secret of what is happening is not a let-down. Unearthly Stranger (1963) A secret project is working on space exploration right in the heart of London. The approach to exploration is a novel one. Rather than sending the whole human into space, they are working on a sort of technological out-of-body experience. One can project ones mind to another planet and there have it take on physical form ... invasion by mental projection and out-of-body experiences. The rub is that scientists on the project are being killed in some mysterious way involving super-high energy. And the wives of some of the scientists seem to have no background that project security can trace. The script is tense and the acting is quite good, with a cast that includes John Neville (A Study in Terror, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen) and Jean Marsh (Upstairs, Downstairs). (This film is so obscure that Leonard Maltin's usually very complete Movie and Video Guide overlooks it.) L' Ultimo Uomo Della Terra (a.k.a. The Last Man on Earth) (1964) One of the more negative aspects of this film is that it started the whole sub-genre of Living Dead and Zombie movies. It is a fairly effective adaptation of Richard Matheson's novel I Am Legend, screenplay by Matheson himself. Matheson must have been disappointed with the film or with Vincent Price's performance since he had his name taken off of the film. He probably lived to regret that decision since this film is much more intelligent than most modern horror films and it is certainly better than the big-budget empty remake, Omega Man. One human remains alive while every other human dies of the plague, but returns as a sort of vampire. Now the one human rules while the sun is up, but at night is besieged by the dead. I saw it on a double feature with the above-mentioned Unearthly Stranger. Wow! Crack in the World (1965) The first and last ideas of this film are pretty silly, but in between this is a fairly exciting super-disaster film. A scientist uses a nuclear missile to open a passageway to the hot core of the earth. Like a crack in a car windshield, this fissure starts to spread threatening to break apart the whole world. Some of the visuals are spectacular. There is also some interesting human drama. Dark Intruder (1965) This film is only 59 minutes long and originally was intended as a television pilot, but was released to theaters to play with films such as William Castle's I Saw What You Did--which it far out-classed. Leslie Nielsen plays a detective in late 19th Century San Francisco whose foppish appearance hides a man very knowledgeable and adept in matters of the occult and the supernatural. A series of weird unsolved murders and a friend's blackout spells may be connected and have some occult significance. Mark Richman and Werner Klemperer also star. The latter, best known as the gullible commandant from Hogan's Heroes, does a terrific job in a sinister role. The Devil Rides Out (a.k.a. The Devil's Bride) (1968) Richard Matheson's very faithful adaptation of the black magic novel by Dennis Wheatley takes a science fiction-like approach to Satanism. It is fast-paced and at times fairly intelligent. As an economy measure they cheapened the effect of showing the Devil by not using a lot of special effects with the ironic effect that he seemed much more immediate and corporeal. This is one of Hammer's best horror films. Witchfinder General (a.k.a. Conqueror Worm) (1968) A vital and well-made historical fringe-horror film about one of the great villains of English history, Matthew Hopkins. Even Vincent Price does a reasonable acting job. The original musical score is actually quite beautiful, though there is a version with an entirely different and much less enjoyable score. Satan's Skin (a.k.a. Blood on Satan's Claw) (1970) In some ways an imitation of the style of Witchfinder General. A 17th Century English ploughman turns up the remains of a demon and the artifact exerts satanic influence on the children of the region. This is a very atmospheric film with an authentic historical feel. Quest for Love (1971) This film is loosely adapted from the short story "Random Quest" by John Wyndham. Colin Trafford (played by Tom Bell) is a leading scientist at Britain Imperial Physical Institute when one of his experiments goes wrong. Suddenly he finds himself in a parallel London in a parallel Britain that has not been to war since the Great War in the early part of the century. In this world Trafford here is not a physicist, but a popular playwright. He is also now married to a beautiful woman (played by Joan Collins) whose life he has made miserable with his selfish ways and his philandering. Can Colin convince the world he is the playwright while convincing his new wife that he is different? Then there are plot complications that lead to a fast-paced climax across parallel worlds. Denholm Elliot also stars in the story which is part science fiction adventure and part love story. Count Yorga, Vampire (1973) This low-budget horror film redefined the concept of the vampire. As a reaction to the staid, hypnotic, and slow vampires of British horror films, this film makes most vampires fast moving predatory deadly animals who hunt in packs. At the time this was pretty scary stuff and the film still has a lot of its impact. The Big Bus (1974) Not very good as a science fiction film, but it is science fiction and it is a good film. Years before Airplane! was this film along the same lines and very nearly as funny. This is a satire of disaster films as the evil villain Ironman tries desperately to destroy Cyclops, the first nuclear powered bus on its maiden voyage from New York to Denver. Phase IV (1974) Two mutually alien intelligences are seen in the beginnings of a serious war. It is really more about how each side collects information about the other and uses its physical differences against the other. Ants somehow develop a gestalt mind and prepare to make themselves the masters of the world. Visually very striking with direction by visual artist Saul Bass (best known for creating arresting title sequences for other directors' films). There is also some terrific insect photography. Who? (1974) This fairly accurate adaptation of Algis Budrys' novel had film stock problems (!) and could not be released to theaters. That is a genuine pity. Cold War story of its near future has a scientist important to military defense in a bad accident. The East Germans get hold of him and return him to the West more prosthetic than living matter. Now the problem is, how do you prove that he is who he says he is? To the Devil, A Daughter (1976) In spite of some scenes that are overly graphic for some viewers and a low-key ending, this is a fast paced supernatural thriller. The hero played by Richard Widmark is disreputable author of popular exploitation books about the supernatural. The villain played by Christopher Lee is a stop-at-nothing idealist trying to save the world in a dangerous experiment using dark forces. The writing is crisp and unusual. The Last Wave (1977) Australian Peter Weir build his reputation on this strange, mystical film about a lawyer who finds he might be the fulfillment of an Aboriginal prophecy. Images of nature out of balance and an intriguing story make this story a real spellbinder. This is a hard film to pigeon-hole and the intelligence of the writing never flags. This is a film of the quality of The Wicker Man, but one which has gotten much less attention. Dragonslayer (1981) Lots of films try to do Medieval high fantasy, but this is probably the best. With the death of a great magician, his young apprentice must see if he has mastered enough of his master's art to destroy a terrific dragon who is ravaging the countryside. There are lots of nice touches in the script and years later the dragon remains the best ever created on film. Knightriders (1981) George Romero says he got this out of his system and never has to make another film like Knightriders. What a pity! This was one of the best films of its year. Superficially this is the story of a traveling Renaissance Fair that features jousts on motorcycles. But it has some terrific characters and a theme of the struggle between integrity and commercialism and between idealism and practicality. And late in the film the viewer realizes that the film has also been doing something else all along--it would be a spoiler to reveal what. This is a neat piece of writing. Lifeforce (1981) Very few fans are willing to look beyond the naked woman and the zombies to see what is one of the most bizarre and audacious concepts for any science fiction film. Vampires, we learn, are really beings that leak lifeforce into the atmosphere like a tire with a slow leak leaks air. They must replenish the force regularly or they die. Much as we put bacteria into milk to multiply and make yogurt or cheese, some huge, incomprehensible, amoral, alien race seeds earth with vampires. The numbers of these vampires will increase exponentially, leaking more and more lifeforce into the environment so the aliens can vacuum it up. Brainstorm (1983) Okay, admittedly I do not like the last third of this film. Up to that point it is magnificent. This is the film that they had to patch together because of the death of Natalie Wood. Up to that point it is a superb examination of how a new invention--the electronic communication of brain sensation, electronic telepathy--is going to completely change the human race. Most films do not portray the R&D environment very well, this one does it nearly perfectly. You could make fifty films an never use up the implications of the premise of this film. Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983) I am not generally a fan of Ray Bradbury's poetic prose. In this film I can appreciate what he is trying to do and he does create a good suspense. Jonathan Pryce really projects malevolence as the owner of an evil carnival. This may be one of the most artistic horror films ever made. This film has several very good scenes and no bad ones. I really like a scene in which the evil Mr. Dark is tempting the Jason Robards character. A Chinese Ghost Story (1987) Hong Kong for a while was making its own horror film movement for their own audience. Their films are fast-paced, usually liberally laced with comedy and martial arts, but also having some interesting horror concepts. No one such film is all that terrific (at least among the films I have seen so far) but some are astonishing and full of unexpected touches. Look for the "Chinese Ghost Story" films, Wicked City, and Mr. Vampire (which must have a different name in China since it is really about Chinese "Hopping Ghosts"). The Runestone (1990) Not a perfect horror film, but one with an intriguing idea and some decent humorous writing along with the horror. The ancient Norse hid a runestone in Pennsylvania to be rid of the thing. It is the key to releasing the Fenris Wolf and bringing about the holocaust of Ragnarok. The stone is found setting in motion events that could bring the end of the world. Peter Riegert is great as a laconic policeman pulled into the proceedings. The Rocketeer (1991) Hey, my introduction to science fiction was with Commando Cody, Sky Marshall of the Universe, who flew with a rocket pack on his back. Those serials were tacky. This is what they would have done if they had a budget. We have a stylish look at Southern California in the 1930s with airplanes, movie stars, gangsters, and Nazi agents. In the middle of all this Cliff Secord finds a jet pack that lets him fly like Superman does. This film was popular in Japan, but never found much of a market in it native United States. Cronos (1993) A strange but very good film from Mexico about an alchemist's invention that gives the user immortality, but only at the cost of making that person a vampire. An aging antique dealer finds the immortality device only to have it destroy his life. One of the most creative horror films to be made in years. Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has a very creative eye. Dellamorte Dellamore (a.k.a. Cemetery Man) (1994) The Italians made the zombie movie that started the sub-genre, L' Ultimo Uomo Della Terra (a.k.a. The Last Man on Earth), it is appropriate that they also made the film that put a bullet into the genre. This film lampoons all the conventions of the zombie film by just accepting them and taking them deadpan. Francesco Dellamorte manages a cemetery so the important job falls to him to kill the dead when they come back. It is not the world's greatest job but someone has to do it and it does allow him to indulge in occasional necrophilia. Very strange film and at times very funny if you are not turned off by the subject matter. Richard III (1995) An alternate history science fiction film by William Shakespeare? I generally hate modern dress for operas and plays set in the past. Here it adds new meaning to Shakespeare's play. By setting Richard III in the 1930s, it becomes a stylish film of a fascist takeover of Britain. Ian McKellen is always great, but has never been better than as the elegant, malevolent usurper of the throne of England. Kyua (a.k.a. Cure) (1997) Even giving away the premise of this Japanese crime film probably gives away too much; however, since the film will probably almost never be seen outside of Japan, I will give the premise. The police have to solve a series of bloody murders, each with a different killer. The killers generally stay at the scene of the crime, but they have no memory of the crime, no motive, and are completely confused. Each case seems to be temporary insanity, but the pattern is too regular to be chance. One person is by force of will influencing chance passersby to become murderers. The process takes only an instant. Even knowing what is going on, the police are stumped how they can find the perpetrator and stop him. Last Night (1998) The film covers six hours, from 6 PM to midnight. Midnight is when the world comes to an end. How would you spend the last six hours of not just your life but the last six hours of the human race? The star, writer, and director is Canadian Don McKellar, who explores just that question in a film literally about the last night. This film is almost a loose and uncredited adaptation of Richard Matheson's 1953 short story "The Last Day." Still, McKellar manages comedy, drama, and a whole gamut of emotions. Lake Placid (1999) The fun of this film is not the monster, a giant crocodile, but the dialog as a mismatched group of investigators hunt for the creature in their local lake. The script writers formerly wrote for Northern Exposure and the dialog is very funny. The actual story of the film is just okay, but that is not why the film is worth seeing. Titus (1999) A horror film by William Shakespeare???? You better believe it. Broadway genius Julie Taymor (The Lion King) brings Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus to the screen as the sickest, most violent, most perverted most wonderful Shakespeare film ever made. Anthony Hopkins in Hannibal seemed like a pale echo of his blood-lusting character in Titus. Jessica Lange also stars. Sudden death, rape, dismemberment, maiming, cannibalism is all part of the story. And it is not toned down because it is for a Shakespeare audience. This noses out Richard III (above) as the best Shakespeare experience I have ever had. Much Ado About Nothing comes in third. -- Mark R. Leeper, http://www.geocities.com/markleeper/ Or try your search engine on "Mark Leeper" ========== X-RAMR-ID: 29550 X-Language: en X-RT-AuthorID: 1309