The Last Starfighter (1984) - Revisit 2014

 

The above is not the trailer for the film, rather it is the YouTube version of the podcast that we did on the LAMBcast a month ago. I also wrote about the screening we went to last year, and you cna check that out HERE. 

So there are no additional comments that I want to add at this time, but I will share a picture with you.

We have been recruited to defend the frontier against Xur and the Kodan Armada

Paramount Summer Classic Film Series- 2001: A Space Odyssey

 

Every time I see this movie I am floored by the accomplishment of the technicians, craftsmen and especially the director of this film. I have written about the movie a couple of times before. You can read my comments from last year's screening at the Paramount Theater here. I have a more extensive look at the film from a screening I took my daughter to at the Egyptian Theater in 2016. It still befuddles me how she can love movies, the way I do, but not love this film. As the programmer mentioned in his introduction, everyone will see something different in the movie, and probably different every time they see it.

This time around, I thought I might talk a bit about 2001 as a horror story. It may not be a slasher film in the traditional sense, and there is no monster per se in the film, except for the A.I. at the heart of the main part of the film. The HAL 9000 is the apex of computer technology in the era of the film. Referred to as "Hal", it really feels like a crewman aboard the Discovery. Along with Dave Bowman and Frank Poole, Hal works and interacts with the team onboard like any other soul. In fact at times, his warm voice and cheerful demeanor in playing chess, doing his psyche profiles of the crew and diagnosing problems with the telecommunication array, Hal can feel less mechanical than the speech and appearance of his human compatriots.  We realize however, in the first inkling of the horror to come, that Hal has his own agenda, when he eavesdrops on Frank and Dave when they isolate themselves in one of the pods. This perfect intermission pause lets us ponder the danger ahead. 

Hal turns out to be a spree killer. There is something wrong with him despite the vaunted reputation of the 9000 series of computers. His protestations that he is only acting in the best interest of the mission by preventing Dave and Frank from shutting down his higher level capacities, is really just a cover for killing to protect his self image. He cannot accept the fact that he has made a mistake somewhere, and that it is not human error that accounts for that failure. He does not need to kill the three crewman in hibernation to prevent his shutdown, and they are an essential part of the mission. So his action is a reflex to being discovered as a fraud. The AI in Hal has become a little too human. 

The dramatic sequence where Hal shuts down the life support for the sleeping crew is horrifying without any overt violence and no blood at all. The more direct murder of Frank Poole is more visually engaging and intellectually cruel, but the starkest element of the whole thing, which really turns this section into a horror film, at least for a moment, is when he is confronted by Dave in the excursion pod. Not yet realizing what Hal has done, Dave attempts to rescue Frank, and learns upon his return to the ship that Hal will no longer cooperate with him. By letting Dave remain stuck in the pod without any recourse, it is as if he has buried him alive and he is walking away without a second thought. 

Hal once again tries to gain back some humanity, when Dave finds a way to defeat Hal's attempted murder. Hal grovels and pleads for understanding. In essence he is begging for his life. Dave becomes a vindictive avenger, but it is only an act of self preservation. He won't kill Hal without at least allowing him a human moment, like the one Hal tried to deny him. If this interpretation seems unreasonable to you, contrast this movie with Kubrick's version of "The Shining". Hal Kills more people than Jack Torrance does, and he is as evil in his banality as Jack was in his fever dreams.

Like I said, there are a myriad of ways to see this film, I just thought I'd take a different journey for this screening. I had a marvelous time, in part because I received several comments from other audience members on my shirt. In fact, the compliment I received allowed me to engage in a nice conversation with Mark and his daughter Nari, who were seated right behind me. He asked if he could take a picture on my shirt and I asked him to take one for me. Mari had not seen the whole film before last night. Her previous attempt did not make it to the intermission and the home viewing experience according to her was marred by her own cell phone distraction. She seemed sufficiently satisfied at the end of the movie, so it's likely Mark will get the pleasure of seeing this again with his daughter. I wish I could say the same about my own kid. Oh well, be your own person, but you are missing out on something here. 

 

Paramount Summer Classic Film Series-The Searchers

 

We missed "The Searchers" at the TCM Film Festival this year because it was opposite to "Chinatown". I am so thankful that Steven Jannise and the Paramount Programmed it for their 70mm week, because that was the format we missed when we were in Los Angeles. This iconic western has one of the all time great John Wayne performances, and it is another of his many collaborations with the great John Ford.

Ethan Edwards (Wayne) is a returning Civil War vet, from the losing side, who reconnects with his brother's family in Texas. Ethan is a hard case in regard to an adopted nephew, who has some of the Native American blood that ran through the veins of the Indians who killed Ethan's parents. Marty, has been considered a brother and son to Aaron and Martha and their children. Marty is played by Jeffrey Hunter, who I knew best as Captain Christopher Pike in the pilot for Star Trek. His easy going manner and sincerity become a counterpoint to Ethan during the film. Ethan is wise and sly and plays his cards close to the vest. Like Sonny Corleone, Marty sometimes lets people outside of the family know what he is thinking, resulting in complications. 

The thing they are searching for is the remaining sister of the family, everyone else having been slaughtered in an Indian raid while Ethan and Marty were with a posse pursuing a false lead. The young Debbie has been taken by a Chief they learn is named "Scar", and for five years, they pursue rumors, stories and tips about the white girl and the Indian Chief who has taken her into his tribe. Wayne's performance is frequently grim for several plot related reasons. It is strongly suggested that he carried a torch for his sister-in-law, and one of the reasons he was slow to return after the was was this unstated love. It also appears that he has been a bit of a tough guy on the trail, maybe benefiting from some less than savory means of making a living, although he does seem to have a code which would preclude anything we might thing of as unethical.

Most of the movie is filmed in Monument Valley and it looks spectacular in color. Ford seemed to really love that part of the country and made it the backdrop in several of his films. The hostility of the Indian tribes is not the only problem that Ethan and Marty face on the trail. In addition to inclement weather, they encounter bushwhacking merchants, overzealous Texas Rangers and domestic conflict at home. It seems that Mary and Laurie, from the neighboring homestead, have a less than well defined romantic relationship. Each of them finds themselves involved with a different partner that they truly don't want.  There is a lot of humor in the film, and most of it comes from their tempestuous long distance love affair.

Ethan and Marty are also at cross purposes in regard to Debbie. Both of them want to save her from captivity and sexual slavery as one of Scar's wives, but they have completely different ideas about what that means. Ethan's bitterness at the loss of his family drives hatred toward the Indians and their path. There are two or three action sequences where a fight between the Searchers and Indian warriors take place. Ethan is in his natural environment in those moments.  He lets his hatred overcome him when plotting against Scar. Marty is the hopeful optimist who wants to reunite his sister with the homelife that he knows. The main conflict in the end is between he and Ethan and also Ethan's inner selves. At the resolution, Ethan remains an outsider, in spite of the ultimate decision he makes.This is a deep thought western, not just a shoot'em up. So glad to see it on the big screen and in 70 mm.

Paramount Summer Classic Film Series-Josie and the Pussycats

 

When I first saw this movie in 2001, I thought it was a fantastic satire of pop culture and consumerism. My opinion was not widely shared, as the film was a big flop and to rub dirt in the wound, prominent critic Roger Ebert gave the movie half a star as it's rating. I think after losing Gene Siskel as a partner, Roger got an inflated opinion of his own opinion, and drifted from the audience a little to often. This movie is a pop confection with a nice subverted message about pop culture, and the most well known film critic of his time, missed the whole point. 

Rather than rebut the review of the long gone Mr. Ebert, I plan on explaining my point of view, right here, right now. There are several ways that you can process the film, and I am going to talk about three of them. The first and most elemental take on the movie is that it is a teen comedy, made primarily for young girls and enlightened boys. Josie, Val, and Melody are three girls from a midwestern town, dreaming of rock stardom but fated to play at the bowling alley, mostly on spec. Josie has a crush on longtime guy pal Alan M, but is flummoxed about saying anything, just as he is. This is your usual case of pluralistic ignorance in a romantic comedy. By the end of the story will they overcome their mutual intimidation and get together? Of course they will, but guess what, this is barely the C plot in the story. If you are focusing on romantic comedy, you are going to miss the point of the film. Mel and Val don't get romantic counterparts, Alan M is mostly superfluous to the story, the usual rom-com tropes are missing, deliberately so. That is so not what the movie is about. 

The second way of looking at the film is as a rags to riches rise of a pop band. "The Pussycats" struggle to find a place in the music industry, and break through the barriers they encounter with gumption and talent. This is a little closer to the real story of the film because so much of the movie involves the songs and performances that the band create. There are recording sessions, promotional videos for MTV, and stage shows for audiences primed by their love of the music. Anyone who says the songs are not good enough to produce success, much less be entertaining, has not heard any pop music since 1962. Maybe every song is not a banger, but "Three Small Words", "Pretend to be Nice" and "Spin Around" are the kinds of tunes that could easily form the backbone of an album.  Each of those tunes could be the encore song for a popular girl band at the turn of the century. Song writers Adan Schlesinger, Adam Duritz and Kenneth 'Babyface' Edmonds are all part of the ensemble of producers, writers and music professionals, who made sure that the songs of the Pussycats were credible pop tunes. I will put their credibility and my personal taste, up against any of the naysayers out there. 

Still, in spite of the fact that the rise to stardom plotline is substantial, it is not the main paradigm by which the film can be judged. The third and maybe most important element of the film is the satire on consumerism and the influence of the media on teen culture. This film suggests a secret cabal of product manufacturers, government, and technical media wizardry could drive the economy with the money from teens. This is before Facebook, You Tube, and Twitter existed. The writers of this film saw that the rise of media influence would be the strongest force for consumption in the future. Everyone out there making a career as an influencer, can look at this movie and say, "that's how it starts". Replace the Head of the Record Company, Fiona, and her toady assistant Wyatt, with some You Tubers and a couple of media analysts, and you have the world of today.  (Of course none of them are as much fun as Parker Posey and Alan Cummings)

The whole opening segment with the boy band is a commercial for dozens of products, satirically.  That joke is extended through the whole movie. Amazingly enough, these were not paid placements, like they would have been in a hundred other movies, they were targets (Including Target) of the film makers suspicion of consumer manipulation. If you think "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from Nirvana was cutting criticism of youth consumerism, how could everyone miss the savagely aggressive takedown of product placement, teen fashion trends and celebrity worship that this movie took on? I don't know, but somehow they did. 

If the rise of Boy Bands, manufactured by record companies and supplemented by autotune and other technologies is a sore point with music lovers, why is it that the "DuJour" song "Backdoor Lover" from the fictional band in this film, not become a rallying cry against manufactured music? It is a great takedown of the form, and it is also hysterical. There might be some PC resistance to it these days, but a quarter of a century ago, it would be embraced by hipsters as ironically ideal.

The three girls in the power trio that make up the Pussycats are spot on. Rachel Leigh Cook has that punk girl next door quality. She has attitude but not bitterness and she is cute as heck. Rosario Dawson has been the thinking mans sex symbol for two decades now. She is smart, tough and attractive and her character is in tune with what is going on from the beginning. Tara Reid, was the staple hot chick of 90s movies and she is delightfully dingy and sweet as Melody, who loves puppies and plays the drums with gusto. 

"Josie and the Pussycats" has all the markings of a cult film. It was a flop initially, it has undergone re-evaluation and it has a devoted following of fans who are willing to humiliate themselves to show their love. That was evident Sunday Night as the audience was full of people wearing their cat ears through the whole movie. Me Included. I am not a late arrival to the cult, I could easily be the founder.  I have shouted praise for this movie for a long time. Back in 2013, I featured it in one of my posts "Movies I Want Everyone to See".   

Paramount Classic Film Series-Roman Holiday

I think it might be interesting to know the effect this film can have on a person by describing to you the context in which I saw it and the impact had on me last Sunday. We had a tight schedule, and so left for the movie with just an hour to spare. It is usually a 40-minute trip down to Austin from where we live, and then a 5 to 10 minute walk over to the theater. Typically we leave much earlier and arrive anywhere from 30 minutes to 60 minutes before the film is supposed to screen. Clearly we were cutting it close. When we arrived at the parking garage, the kiosk that distributes the tickets was not working and we had a backup of cars behind us who could not get into the structure as we could not. I used the call box and a voice said somebody would be coming down to take care of the problem, but I had no idea how long it was going to take them. The car is behind me finally backed up and left the structure which allowed me to do the same. As the time was getting closer to the start of the film, while I was stuck, I sent Amanda on ahead and told her I would find parking and just meet her in the theater. When I finally got out of the structure which has been my usual parking spot for the summer, and for which I have a prepaid voucher, I needed to find a place to park in downtown Austin. There was a lot on the corner three blocks south and I pulled in there, thinking that would be the solution. When I checked the QR code instructions I discovered that the fee for parking in this lot was $11 an hour, far higher than I had imagined it would be for a Sunday afternoon. So I pulled out of that lot drove around the block and pulled into another structure for one of the high-rises in downtown, it had a list price of $10 a day for weekend parking. That was much more reasonable but it was a slightly longer walk. At this point I was pretty irritable, and then somebody on the street with a political message that I don't particularly care for approached me and I lashed out. I rudely told them what I thought of their message and plowed on with as much indifference as I could muster after having blown my stack. I got to the theater made it inside and sat down next to Amanda 5 seconds before the lights went down and the movie started. I was still quite wound up and frustrated, but within 5 minutes my soul was soothed, my mind was at rest and the negative memories were far away. That's what this movie can accomplish almost instantaneously.

This effect is entirely responsibility of the ephemeral and eternal beauty and charm of the star Audrey Hepburn. As a put-upon princess who longs for connection with the real world, Hepburn is the epitome of grace and loveliness. We can instantaneously sympathize with her frazzled persona, as she stands in a presentation line with one shoe off, and she struggles to get it back on so as not too embarrass the nation she represents. The baroness and the doctor who are responsible for managing her, or micromanaging her, are supportive bureaucrats, merely carrying out their dictates. It's a miracle that she figures out how to escape the surroundings before she collapses from the drug that has been administered to help her sleep. Of course this sets up the cute meet with a journalist, Gregory Peck. Their first 10 minutes together are quite charming, and once he takes her back to his apartment to safely allow her to fall asleep, the movie takes on an almost slapstick nature. You're expecting sophisticated comedy from the film, and there's plenty of that, but there are also pratfalls in the small apartment, tumbles from the bed, and mistaken inferences by the housekeeper and the landlord. Gregory Peck is as solemn as he usually is but he does get a little bit more excited and in character when he realizes what he's gotten himself into and the opportunity it presents. This is a romantic comedy that plays with the idea of social status in a more serious way than any of the other royalty falls in love with commoner films you are likely to have seen. This is not the "Princess Diaries".

Once the journalist and the princess start off on their excursions around the Eternal City of Rome, the fun begins to be more consistent. Accompanied by his friend, a photographer played by Eddie Albert, Peck is trying to maneuver the princess into not only having a good time, but revealing things about herself that he would never have any chance of getting in a formal interview. The fact that he is being duplicitous is a little off-putting and it takes the dawning love between the two of them to show that his true nature is not really his harsh as we were led to believe. Nowadays it would certainly be a fairy tale to imagine that somebody working in this sort of journalistic format could be circumspect enough to choose not to publish some information. This may in fact account for the notion that this is more of a fairy tale than a romantic comedy. I still found it quite affecting when after the princess has returned to her role, she discovers that her partner was in fact a reporter, but that he has no intention of violating her trust. They played at a surface level that is just right for their stations in this story. And of course while all of this was happening, we got a little travel log of the city of Rome.

There was so much to smile about by the end of the film that I  nearly forgotten how crazy I  was when I first sat down. The rest of the day went so much more smoothly and I felt so much better having been entertained by two fabulous stars of the golden era of Hollywood. If anyone ever suggests that Audrey Hepburn didn't deserve to win the award for best actress in "Roman Holiday", just make them watch the 5 minutes seen at the end where she wordlessly accepts the circumstances of her responsibility, and the love that she's not going to be able to follow. It's a perfect example of acting for the screen. All hail the princess.

Reagan (2024)

We unfortunately live in a world where any sort of political position seems to result in backlash instead of discussion. There shouldn't be anything controversial about reviewing a biopic that covers the life of the 40th President of the United States. The man had a compelling story, starting with an impoverished childhood, running through the Golden Age of Hollywood, touching down on the Red Scare of the 50s, the counterculture of the 60s, and the threat of nuclear war as a result of the Cold War in the 1980s. The fact that there's so much to talk about May in fact be the key weakness of this film. The script tries to cover so much of Reagan's life and so many of the key events in his political career, that there's not really much time to reflect on any of it. This plays like a slideshow reminder for people who lived through the era, and a set of bullet points for younger viewers who only know Reagan from their history books or memes on the internet.

As I said, I hesitate to even discuss the film because people will have knee-jerk reactions to the mere mention of a political figure. On one side you'll have people who will react negatively simply because they identify with a different political philosophy. On the other side of course, worshipful fans might be too forgiving of the flaws of the film. Everyone will be looking to score some political points one way or the other from the movie. I remain committed to my goal of writing something about every film I see in a theater, so I'm not going to let the fear of opening a can of political worms keep me from putting some words down on this film.

Reagan is an interesting political figure because he was elected president with a 40 state Electoral College victory in 1980, and a 49 state victory in 1984. He was clearly a very popular president, and the film gives us several reasons to see why. The one thing that the film does which makes it worthwhile, is to focus on the character of the president, his sense of morality, and the ethos that drove him. Even if you don't care for that sort of philosophical bent, I think you'll have a better understanding of how it influenced Ronald Reagan over his lifetime. The other big thing that the film has going for it is the lead performance of Dennis Quaid. He's not quite doing an impersonation of the well-known president, but he does get his cadence and intonation pretty well covered. He also presents him as a cheerful advocate for his positions, rather than the impenetrable wall that many biographers have found. If there is a weak performance in the film it is probably Penelope Ann Miller as Nancy Reagan. Her performance feels a little brittle and stagy. Sometimes she seems to be shouting when it's not completely necessary. I'm sure she has Nancy Reagan's unfailing love for Ronald Reagan completely covered, but whenever her character steps out of the romantic entanglement and into the larger political sphere, it feels overdone.

There's a terrific supporting Cast in the film, many well-known character actors get a chance to shine in the spotlight during the course of the story. Nick Searcy is doing a great job as chief of staff James Baker. Xander Berkeley is George Schultz and Dan Lauria does a pretty reasonable impression of House Speaker Tip O'Neill. C. Thomas Howell is also in the film as part of Reagan's Cadre of advisors. The most significant role in the film, for an actor playing a character part, is the former Russian analyst portrayed by John Voight, using an accent it is a lot more clear than the one he used in Anaconda. This plot line is really the backbone of the film, in spite of its fictionalized nature. His character is telling the story of Reagan from the perspective of an adversarial spy, after the events have already occurred, in an attempt to explain the significance of Reagan's personality but especially his political ideology. Some of the things that get developed in the story might be the kinds of things that would justify some political shenanigans. This framing story however is not that central to the main character of the film.

Although the film comes from a specialty Film Production, the technical aspects of the film are very solid, and the effects, sets, and photography do not let down the professionalism of the movie. The story is a little schmaltzy because it is trying to cover the entire life of Reagan. It remains shallow as a consequence. I think this would have been a film which could be more successful artistically if it picked a significant event from Reagan's presidency and connected it to maybe his early anti-communist stance. That's the approach that Spielberg took with his Lincoln film, and it might have been a better choice for this movie. Regardless of the weaknesses of the script, I do think that the film achieves one of its objectives, namely making Ronald Reagan a real person for a large part of the audience that did not live in his times.

The Crow (2024)

 

I've never been the biggest fan of the original "The Crow" from 1994. It's a perfectly acceptable film, it's main attraction being the goth-like look of the city in decay that is haunted by the avenging spirit of Brandon Lee's character. The whole plot itself mostly consists of a revenge driven fantasy, which doesn't do much to build character, or make us loath the villains who are being given justice. It's a paint by numbers Vengeance film with a supernatural element to it. In that version of the film there is no explanation whatsoever as to why the character comes back from the dead. There is only some mumbo jumbo about crows leading the dead to the after world or back to this one if something is left undone. The impervious nature of Eric's body to weapons and punishment is clearly supernatural but not very clear as to why it is happening.

This version of the movie attempts to answer those questions and make the plot line conform to a more coherent structure. I'm not sure that that's completely necessary but I had a better understanding of what the hell was going on when watching this than I did with the original. That however is not enough to make this a good movie. The fact that we meet the hero and his lost love early in the film and spend some time understanding how they got together and what they mean to one another, does help a little bit, but it moves pretty slow and I'm not sure how much the audience really care about this. Apparently the whole plot that appears in this film concerning a minion of Satan using his powers on Earth to send innocent souls to hell is completely new with this screenplay. I didn't have any problem with this since it conforms to the other part of the story about why Eric comes back from the dead in the first place. It also makes the ultimate villain of the piece a little bit more interesting than in the previous film.

The slow moving first hour is not likely to endear this film to most viewers. A love story between two drug users, who break out of rehab and somehow managed to find an upscale apartment to stay in and unlimited resources to function with, is not really that appealing. The two characters are all right, with the female lead being more appealing than our main protagonist. There's a convoluted connection to the villain and why this young woman is being sent to hell and why Eric feels he must come back from the dead to try and save her. Blah blah blah.

I suspect what fans really want from a film like this, are the sequences where the hero makes the bad guys suffer for their sins. I know that's what I was sitting here waiting for. When it happens this film goes further in making the punishments seem harsher and more just, given what the criminals are responsible for. Eric doesn't seem so much like a righteous angel as he does an Angry Young Man who simply has an extraordinary power to survive deadly force. Apparently death also makes him an expert at using a sword and firing a gun. It doesn't matter how he got so good with those tools, all that matters is that he uses them and we get to see. So there are dismemberments, piercings, and face shooting galore at the start of the third act, and damn it that's what we've been waiting for.

Bill Skarsgårdis is in fact a perfectly acceptable replacement for Brandon Lee and the role of The Crow. He has a washed out hollow look, and the lanky frame of a drug user, who's still possesses a little bit of physical capability. He never comes across however as anything other than an angry man. There is very little depth to his mission, even when it appears that he has to accept a truly negative consequence in order to pursue it. Little thought has been put into whatever intellectual concepts might have been relevant in a revenge story of this type. Danny Houston is particularly reptilian as the minion of the evil one, who is trading the souls of hundreds of Innocence, for his continued existence on Earth. He seems to have some Supernatural persuasive voice, like some Hellbound Bene Gesserit, convincing the innocent to do something that will damn them. It's all a little fuzzy, as are most of the things in this story.

As I've already said, the main difference between this film and the previous iteration of "The Crow", is the look of the film. So much of this version occurs during daylight hours, maybe the skies are cloudy, but it is certainly not as dark is the 94 film was. The original Crow had the death of Brandon Lee hanging over it, which probably also accounts for its cult status. This version of the movie will probably not achieve that standard. I guess is it will be forgotten after this last weekend, in fact I nearly forgot that I had seen it myself.