Jun 29
I just spent two nights at the Nilbog Invasion, the tribute to Troll 2 that took place (is still taking place, actually) in the shooting location, Morgan, Utah. You can catch my recaps here and here. (Say — is that something spelled backwards?)
Note: What I wrote isn’t really a review, but if you need more details, you can check out the Unknown Movies’ review.
Teen Sorcery (1999) does have one thing going for it: the utter lack of imagination with which head cheerleader Mercedes wields the dark power of the “Devilstone.” Somehow, the vapid and petty uses to which she puts her magic in making lives vaguely uncomfortable around Pilgrimtown High School strikes me as terribly realistic. Still not a good movie, though.
So I’ve been unofficially running a theme for the summer called “Oceans Against Us,” celebrating the many ways in which the vast majority of the Earth’s surface can rise up to give us trouble. Whether it’s facilitating attack by giant squid or serving as a highway for pirates, the ocean is a terrible and mighty force. What can we mere mortals hope to pit against it?
How about Blue Demon and El Santo?
Santo Vs. Blue Demon in Atlantis
Ten years into his film career, Santo had already faced off against zombies, witches, mummies, mad scientists, vampires of both the male and female variety, hatchet-wielding ghosts, homicidal table lamps, and Martians. So it was only a matter of time before the denizens of Atlantis got to the front of the queue. When that time came, Santo would also find himself mixing it up onscreen for the first time with one of his greatest adversaries from — and I use the term advisedly — the “real world” of lucha libre. And just who would that adversary be? Well, I could try to be coy about it, but the journalistic specificity of Santo vs. Blue Demon in Atlantis‘ title would render the effort redundant.
Jun 23
PIRATES OF BLOOD RIVER
So someone at England’s Hammer Studios, possibly Anthony Nelson Keys or Michael Carreras, walks up to screenwriter Jimmy Sangster and says to him, “Jimmy, old boy, we want to make a pirate film, and we want you to write it.” Sangster, fresh off the astounding success of his scripts for Hammer’s most famous films — Horror of Dracula, The Mummy, and Curse of Frankenstein, among others, excitedly agrees. It’ll be fun to bring the Hammer style into the realm of swashbuckling pirate movies. Sangster’s mind is undoubtedly already formulating a story when Keys and/or Carreras adds, “Only here’s the thing: we don’t have any money for a boat, so don’t write a script that features a pirate ship.”
It’s a bumper issue of Et Al., featuring everyone from Laurence Olivier to Chuck Norris, and from Bette Davis to Melody Anderson; but all the star-power in the world means nothing compared to the fact that at the last, Lyz is driven to – ulp! – defend the Odious Comic Relief….
Courtesy of DVD Drive-In: “On October 14th, Sony Home Entertainment will release ICONS OF HORROR: HAMMER FILMS, which will contain the following Hammer film classics: THE TWO FACES OF DR JEKYLL, THE CURSE OF THE MUMMY’S TOMB, THE GORGON and SCREAM (TASTE) OF FEAR. Expect the set to include commentaries, trailers, supplements and newly remastered transfers.”
I don’t know about “classics”, but all four films are very welcome. No cover art as yet, so in the meantime, here’s one of my personal heroes. Actually, two of my personal heroes:
Jun 18
Numb (2006) is a dystopian tale of futuristic drug addicts. It’s also a self-conscious indie film, which means that it’s shot in black and white, and features scenes out of chronological order with characters talking to each other about what a craphole the world has become. Welcome to the future!
Blake Matthews is one of our first (and only) designated groupies, keeping up with just about every venue in which the various Cabalists make themselves known. It is only good form, therefore, to note that Blake has also joined the ranks of the procreative:
I am happy to announce to you all the birth of our first child. Susan da Silva Matthews was born at 9:15 p.m. (Sao Paulo time) at the Santa Joana Hospital here in São Paulo. While I don’t recall her height(length), she is a big girl, weighing in at 8.1 lbs (cut me some slack, I have to convert everything from kilograms).
By all reports, mother and daughter (and father) are doing well. Me, I’m just tickled that I was on the list of people to be contacted. Congrats, Blake!
(There were two photos attached to the email, but Susan didn’t look any happier in the other one. Methinks she’s a little miffed at her change of accommodations.)
Nathan
Jun 17
Hero: The Love Story of a Spy
The film as a whole is an interesting variation on the spy film that I am used to. I am not prepared to say it’s a bad film, because it has a lot of good elements. By the same time, I can’t call it good, primarily because of it’s excessive length, and it’s attitude towards Pakistan. Sure, in the real world India and Pakistan have their differences, but presenting the conflict as a violent cartoon, and justifying it with some clumsy jingoistic speeches, isn’t the way forward. I think you’ll have to make up your own mind about this curiosity. It’s a strangely affecting film, that lingers in the memory long after you’ve watched it –– well, certain scenes anyway. If you’re a spy fan, there is a lot of ‘classic’ spy imagery. If you’re a Bollywood fan, there’s certainly enough hip shaking and shimmying to please on that level too.
Jun 15
Kaala Sona
Kaala Sona is another example of the Basmati — or “Curry” — Western, that Bollywood take on the Western that seems to draw more on the European model than the American for its inspiration. Of course, the Amitabh Bachchan classic Sholay, released at roughly the same time, is considered the gold standard of that genre, and Kaala Sona follows along much the same pattern. Like Sholay, for instance, it’s a Western in feel rather than period, setting its action in the present day while taking advantage of some of the still relatively untamed regions lying within India’s borders. Such an approach allows both films to highlight a favorite Bollywood theme: the urbanized ne’er-do-well who, in being called upon to defend a rural community from a destructive outside force, has his soul awakened to the simple and essential virtues embodied by that community.