I’ll have more reviews for the first 20th-anniversary roundtable next time, but for now you can start with…
Black Emanuelle (1975), in which the title character is neither strictly speaking Emanuelle nor strictly speaking black…
and…
From Hell It Came (1957), in which an isolated Polynesian tribe could use the services of a good lumberjack.
Then there are these others:
After the Fall of New York (1983), in which the real 2019 has a way to slip yet before it lives up to its 36-year-old fictional counterpart…
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), in which Sid Vicious crosses oceans of time to steal Veronica away from Ted…
The Inferno (1911), in which Dante Alighieri offers a hearty “so there” to every asshole in Florence…
and…
Interview with the Vampire (1994), in which immortality means never having to shut your bloody gob, you narcissistic gasbag!
El Santo rules the wasteland-- and also 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting.
#1 by goddessoftransitory on February 26, 2019 - 1:09 am
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Maaaaan, those last two…
I love the novel Dracula. I reread it every year and have probably read it over twenty five times by now–so when the blowharding about how this film was going to be “the first accurate depiction” of it was trumpeting through the streets, I was young and foolish enough to take it seriously!
What’s most irritating is that they got roughly eighty percent of the structural details correct! The whole Johnathan Harker trapped in the castle first act, Dracula’s de-aging, even the big white mustache: all straight from the novel. But the acting and characterizations and points being made by Stoker couldn’t have been more off the mark than if Bizarro World Coppola had been filming this thing.
As for Interview, I remember being bewildered by the inert performances and how I was actually enjoying Tom Cruise (the hell?) but I do remember Antonio giving a real good read of his lines when Louis asks him why he’s the oldest vampire and why there aren’t more of the Children of the Night around in general: he asks, rightly, how many people/vampires Louis thinks really have the stamina for immortality?
What most people want from “living forever” is to freeze reality as they know it: their friends, loved ones, pets; hell, their favorite clothing and foods and books, all kept from the decay of time. But of course, time doesn’t work that way. Eventually, not only will everyone you love disappear, but every single marker of said reality will go too. How long could you stand knowing that what the current generation of mortals considers not only normal but pretty much permanent is nothing but a wisp of gauze, a filament, in the howling winds of eternity?
#2 by Alaric on February 26, 2019 - 10:16 am
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“What most people want from “living forever” is to freeze reality as they know it: their friends, loved ones, pets; hell, their favorite clothing and foods and books, all kept from the decay of time.”
Really?! To me, the whole attraction of immortality (or at least “living much, much longer than people do”) would be the constantly exploring the future part. It’s never occurred to me to think of it as freezing part of my life like that (though it would be nice to be able to occasionally run into old friends- but even then part of the fun would be finding out where they are NOW, and what’s been happening to them).
#3 by AcademicLurker on February 26, 2019 - 1:27 pm
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“I remember being bewildered by the inert performances and how I was actually enjoying Tom Cruise”
I vaguely recall that there was some controversy about Cruise’s casting that was talked about in the newspapers and trade magazines at the time, including a quote from Rice about how he was all wrong for the part (she apparently retracted that after she saw the film).
I remember being surprised by how good he was in the role having been primed to expect the worst.
I also vividly recall being struck by Pitt’s flat inanimate performance.
#4 by RogerBW on February 26, 2019 - 4:01 pm
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I had forgotten just how strong a cast BSD got together. (And Keanu.) And how it misused them, and then drowned them all in spectacle.
As for Interview… I think I know what that best line is. (“All you ever do…”?)
#5 by Richard on February 28, 2019 - 8:38 am
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Can I borrow…er, quote at length….your summary of Dante’s Comedy? It’s the best one I’ve come across so far (and, as an amateur scholar of the Middle Ages, I’ve read quite a few).
#6 by El Santo on February 28, 2019 - 10:54 am
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Sure, by all means.
#7 by dawn on February 28, 2019 - 1:25 pm
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I remember when BSD came out {The Authentic! Real! Straight from the book!). A friend was telling me about how A-R-SftB! it was, and mentioned about Dracula’s long-lost love. I decided that pretty much negated any claim to A-R-SftB, and I never watched it. I don’t regret that decision, except it’s always a hoot to watch Sir Anthony Hopkins.
#8 by DamonD on March 12, 2019 - 3:41 pm
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Comment…
#9 by maggiesmith on April 29, 2022 - 10:51 am
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Actually, when Gary Oldman is swanning around Castle Dracula in the red kimono, he looks remarkably like Brent Spinner as Data.
#10 by El Santo on May 3, 2022 - 10:48 pm
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“Actually, when Gary Oldman is swanning around Castle Dracula in a red kimono, he looks remarkably like Brent Spiner as Data.”
That too!