087 - At close range

Synopsis: Adolescent gets drawn into crime, and even the love of a good woman can't save him

Director: James Foley

Actors: Sean Penn, Christopher Walken, Mary Stuart Masterson

Date: 1985

How viewed: Lovefilm

Rating: 2/5

David Meyer says:
He [Foley] shows the frustrations such a modern pastoral life produces and the violence that can provide the only relief

I say:

Another true story, of a dysfunctional family in rural Pennsylvania. Brad Jr (Penn) is drifting through his adolescence when his father (Walken) turns up, and Brad Jr is seduced by his money and fast cars. He joins his father's tractor stealing (that's what you do in rural Pennsylvania!!) gang, but after a while it goes pear-shaped and a lot of people end up dead. It's pretty predictable stuff (though somewhat scary given that it actually happened), and it's difficult to have much sympathy with Penn (perhaps there's not enough back-story). Walken, as always, even at this stage of his career, is charmingly terrifying (even with bizarre hair and a moustache!), and the cast includes Tracey Walter (about as different from his character in Repo Man (one of my favourite films) as is possible), and Keifer Sutherland (who I hadn't noticed until the last couple of minutes) who, when you see him, makes you suddenly think 'blimey what's Jack Bauer doing there???'

086 - Tom Horn

Synopsis: Old West legendary cowboy's struggles with the emerging New West

Director: William Wiard 

Actors: Steve McQueen, Linda Evans, Richard Farnsworth, Slim Pickens

Date: 1980

How viewed: Lovefilm

Rating: 3/5

David Meyer says:

Tom Horn takes place during that narrow and neglected time-slice between the Old West and the new, where only the finest westerns dare tread.

  I say:

Tom Horn was a legendary tracker, marksman and gun-for-hire, and the film is based on his autobiography, written whilst awaiting execution for a murder he probably didn't commit. The story covers the last couple of years of his life (around 1901-3), when, after drifting into a small town, he is hired by the local Cattle Association members to put a stop to all the cattle rustling. He does this simply by shooting any rustlers. The Association realise this is bad publicity for them, and want out. Then a young kid is shot, and either Tom killed him, or he was set up - either way, he seems resigned that he will be hanged. I feel this could have a much better movie - McQueen seems somewhat distant (and his long hair looks strange), there's an annoying superfluous love interest, and some strange jump cuts in the film. On the positive side of course there's the wonderful Richard Farnsworth and Slim Pickens, and the depiction of the period (evolving from Old to New West) feel very authentic (for example, the Cattle Association eat lobster at their dinner).  There's one great quote (referring to Horn's lassoing skills): 'He sure don't rope like a Christian' - what??

085 - The Thief of Bagdad

Synopsis: Impressive telling of the Arabian Nights tale

Directors: Michael Powell, Ludwig Berger, Tim Whelan, Zoltan Korda

Actors: Conrad Veidt, Sabu, John Justin, June Duprez

Date: 1940

How viewed: Bought on Amazon

Rating: 4/5

David Meyer says:

The story lags, the transitions are clumsy, and the dialogue is occasionally campy, but the intent - to combine available technology, unlimited imagination, and a substantial budget to create a captivating dream for adults and children - is fully realised.

I say:

This is the stuff of fairy tales, featuring, of course, the evil wizard (with the power to summon up storms, and turn a boy into a dog) and the young King, who are both in love with the beautiful princess (who falls into a Sleeping Beauty type coma).  It also comes with the obligatory sword fights (surprisingly gory in places), impressive beards, moustaches and indeed eyebrows (!!), a flying carpet, man-eating spider, killer robot, huge genie who is released from a bottle and grants 3 wishes, a rose (whose scent erases memory, what??) and of course, being saved from execution at the last moment (though does beheading really count as the threatened 'death by a thousand cuts'). I expected the film to be a bit clanky, and of course it is in some places, but, give over, it was released in 1940, and so the special effects aren't that special - but it's still a technicolour dream with plenty to enjoy. 

  

084 - The King of Comedy

Synopsis: Talentless comedian stalks his hero to try and kickstart his career

Director: Martin Scorsese

Actors: Jerry Lewis, Robert de Niro, Sandra Bernhard, Diahnne Abbott

Date: 1982

How viewed: Bought on Amazon

Rating: 3/5

David Meyer says:

By turns it's funny, unsettling, surreal, and unbearable. Consider it an exercise in truth through exaggeration. 

I say:

This feels like quite a disturbing films on a number of levels. Robert de Niro plays Rupert Pupkin a sad, lonely, budding comedian with enormous self-belief and no talent, who stalks and harasses his hero (Jerry Lewis playing a top talk-show host) for a slot on his show - and not taking 'no' for an answer, resorts ultimately to kidnap to achieve his dream (and he believes, his right). It feels like the precursor for all the current reality shows - people with no talent being able to achieve fame and fortune just by being pushy. So, this is one of those films that I'm sure some people find extremely funny, but others (including me) find just a little bit sad, and creepy, and irritating. I'm still not convinced de Niro does comedy (maybe in this film that's the point), but Jerry Lewis is sensational as the successful but world-weary talkshow host (such a contrast to his previous incarnation playing the stupid partner of Dean Martin) and Sandra Bernhard is manically brilliant in one scene. So, what else to report - the musical score is by Robbie Robertson (mainly music by Ray Charles which can't be bad), I liked the way the scenes switched between reality and Pupkin's daydreams, and there's plenty of cameos to look our for (including Martin Scorsese himself). The ending suggests that indeed infamy trumps real talent (but alternatively that may simply have been another of Pupkin's daydreams).  

083 - Big Wednesday

Synopsis: Coming of age of 3 surfing buddies in LA in the 1960's and 1970's

Director: John Milius

Actors: Gary Busey, Jan-Michael Vincent, William Katt, Patti D'Abanville

Date: 1978

How viewed: Lovefilm watch list

Rating: 2/5

David Meyer says:
Sacrificing anything resembling subtext, Milius creates an enduring vision of the surfer-as-samurai and of the surf movie as Western.  

I say:

So, this is a coming of age tale of 3 Californian surfers - looking at their lives and loves around the time of each of 4 big ocean swells, starting in 1962 with The South Swell, then The West Swell 1965. then The North Swell in 1968 and finally the Great Swell of 1974. That must have looked good on the story-board but it's actually all very pedestrian - not much happens - even the diversion of the Vietnam war is not told with any real impact, and indeed a huge amount of time is spent on shots of bare-chested surfers posing with their boards gazing out into the distance. Maybe that echoes surfing - a lot of hanging around waiting for the right wave. Also, off-hand, I don't think I can recall a film where the orchestral theme music has so flattened a movie - it's so ponderous - it should have been Dick Dale!! That said, there's a lot of good music in the first (1962) segment - Green Onions, Lucille, Money, Will you still love me tomorrow, The Locomotion, etc - but then they seem to forget it thereafter. One of thing of note were the station-wagons (with the surf boards on top) they drove - as a big fan of VW vans I was almost won over! But I suppose most noteworthy are the final surfing scene with huge waves - obviously filmed with professional surfers (rather than the actors) which must have looked fantastic in wide-screen cinema.

  

082 - Predator

Synopsis: Arnie flexes his muscles and kills everything in sight

Director: John McTiernan

Actors: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Elpidia Carrillo, Bill Duke, Jesse Ventura

Date: 1987

How viewed: Lovefilm rental

Rating: 2/5

David Meyer says:
Great trash wallows in the gutter while gazing at the stars. And this is stellar trash.

I say:

I watched this a few months ago and, at the time, just couldn't think of anything positive to say - but I watched it again this afternoon, and sort of relaxed into it. What I can say is that it does do exactly what it says on the tin: a team of Commandos, on a mission 'over the border' in a Central American jungle to ostensibly free hostages taken by a guerrilla group, find themselves hunted by an extra-terrestrial warrior. The film is completely macho (big guns and bigger muscles), makes no logical sense (the clue to fooling the alien is to cover yourself in mud!), is completely predictable (the 'A' team get taken out one by one), contains every cliche going, fails to build up any tension at all, and the extra-terrestrial looks like a man in a lizard suit or a rasta on steroids. Hey ho, some people like it...