Longlegs (2024)

 

I saw this film with high hopes, fueled by good word of mouth from several members of my blogging community, and it's surprising performance at the box office. I love Nicolas Cage, and I am always willing to give him wide latitude on his acting choices because they are so out there. I had not seen a trailer for the film before I went, so the only thing I was aware of were the comparisons some had made to "Silence of the Lambs" and "Seven". Brother, are these people overselling this pile of excrement. I started having doubts a few minutes in, and by the time the film was done, I loathed it. Sorting your sock drawer is a more productive use of two hours.

The film starts out as a procedural, but quickly turns into a supernatural thriller when our hero turns out to be psychic. No wait, she is only half psychic because she only scored 50% on a test that the FBI has for supposed psychics. So we are plunged into a world with no worldbuilding, almost immediately. Agent Lee Harker fingers a house where the bad guy is, by just looking around. We don't actually know why they are in this neighborhood in the first place, but whatever. A tragedy occurs when the partner she has been assigned to, ignores her warning and request for back up. The two of them feel like the most inept FBI agents ever, they will fit right in with the Secret Service team that was supposed to be protecting Trump. They are not sympathetic, they are pitiable. 

Just to add to the stupidity, her supervising agent, is an alcoholic who has been working the serial killer case they are on, for a dozen years without any progress. Whether he is incapable of reading her social reticence or is simply pushing her to grow, he comes across as completely thoughtless. When he forces her to meet his family, the director might just has well hung a sign over the front door which reads" Here lives the family That will be targeted at the end of the film". It was such a ham fisted moment it probably tainted everything for me for the rest of the film. In truth though, nothing happens in the first part of the movie that gives this any verisimilitude. Harker comes across as a naif, rather than a steely mind in the FBI. The production design also undermines the film. The time period is set in the 1990s for no particular reason. The location is supposed to be the Seattle area, but making the FBI offices look like log cabins or paneled walls from the 70s seem amateurish. 

The three performances that matter the most are inconsistent. Maike Monroe who plays Harker, is doe eyed and a waif. Even though Jodie Foster's character in "Silence of the Lambs" is being diminished by the men around her, she still felt like a woman, not a shrinking violet. She can hardly make her voice heard, she moves suspiciously slow in every scene and she just never seems to be up to the job. The only thing she might have going for her is that "psychic" vibe, but there is no backstory on how it might have helped her get into the FBI. Her mother is played by Alicia Witt. This character starts setting off warning signals when we just hear her voice over the telephone line. When we encounter her, the phrase "hoarder" comes immediately to mind. This film was produced by the company "NEON", they might just as well put neon signs around every foreshadowing twist. 

Finally, let's get to Nic Cage. The part of Longlegs is a serial killer with satanic influences. We don't get any clues to that except the cryptic messages he leaves in code, so the idea that this is a procedural investigation film goes out the window. This is an X-Files episode that was not strong enough to make it to the screen, unless you have a strong visual hook. Enter Nicholas Cage, in make-up that renders him unrecognizable, and with mannerisms that would set off an air raid siren for every police official within a hundred miles of him. Cage screeches through some dialogue, pops his eyes out, and contorts his body enough to be creepy to look at. Who in their right mind would let a character like this any where near their family?  When we get an exposition dump at the start of the third act, we are asked to accept some incredulous ideas and just go along with them because we now get to see some flashbacks. This film tries to make a mystery of the means of killing, rather than exploiting the supernatural and satanic story that is really there. 

I have been an outlier before on some horror based films. I disliked "The VVitch", hated "The Lighthouse", laughed at "US" and now I am dismissing "Longlegs". I don't have to have something conventional, but I do need something that is coherent and does not insult my intelligence, a standard that this film cannot meet.  

Videodrome (1983) Paramount Classic Summer Film Series

 

David Cronenberg films are an acquired taste. They often have a cult status to them that may be off putting to those who are not familiar with his aesthetic. So it makes perfect sense that the presentation of this film as part of the Paramount Summer Classic film Series, is presented by the Hyperreal Film Club. Their film choices are often off center or feature some esoteric element that makes the movie distinctive. This seems like a perfect match for them. The guest host from the club spent a good deal of time, warning the audience about some of the extreme elements of the picture. They also suggested a number of themes that you could look for in the story to help make it a more insightful experience. There was a little drift in the intro when the film's star came in for a bit of criticism that was not based on the movie and made some presuppositions that were never justified, but that is a minor point.

"Videodrome" takes place in a different cultural time and the technology will seem quaint to an audience forty years from it's origins, but the themes are still relevant, and if we adapt our assumptions from television to the internet, they actually seem more vibrant than ever. At the center of the story is a conspiracy to modify the view of the world for those who consume this product. The hypnotic effects results in fantasy sequences of body horror and violence, or are they fantasies? Cronenberg seems to be having it both ways, the images we are seeing are real and they are imagined. This is also a theme of the film, what is reality? 

Debbie Harry is listed as one of the stars, and she is featured, but her role is definitely a supporting character. After the first act, she is seen only in brief hallucinogenic moments by the protagonist played by James Woods. Max Ren, is a cable TV producer, who has a knack for finding disturbing material that his customers can't take their eyes off of. He is a sleazy character who is primarily motivated by money, but although he does not appear to have a clear ethos, there are lines that he begins to see should not be crossed. Woods appropriately plays him as both hero and victim because that is what Max is. He is heroically, but futilely resisting the Videodrome technology, while at the same time succumbing to the seduction. In what amounts to the first virtual character in a film, Professor Brian O'Blivion , turns out to be the real hero of the film story, although be is never seen except on TV. 

This is one of those mind f*** movies that puts the audience in the position of trying to figure out what is really going on and whether or not they are a part of it. One of the things that makes it disgustingly compelling, is the terrific special effects make-up created by the great Rick Baker. Baker is one of my unsung movie heroes although unsung is hardly the truth, he does have seven Academy Awards to his name. It's just that make-up is often overlooked in the success of a film, but in this case it is essential. Max has physical changes that are revolting to think about, but fascinating to watch on the screen. I do like the trivia that the video tapes used in the film are BetaMax tapes, because VHS was too large for the effect that they created. I think it is also appropriate that they are "Beta" MAX, given out central character. 

The Hyperreal Film Club also presents a short film from one of their members as part of this series. It will supposedly be available later this year on-line. I was quite entertained by "We Joined a Cult", and when it is available, you will get four minutes of gruesome laughs yourself. 

A Quiet Place Day One (2024)

This is a worthy follow-up to the two previous films, set in the world that suddenly has to be silent. The original "A Quiet Place" was one of the best films of its year and continues to inspire us in the performance of Emily Blunt. She does not make an appearance in this film which is set in New York City on the day that the aliens first arrived on Earth. Our new protagonist is named Samira, and she has a different set of problems that she has to manage. She doesn't have children and she's not pregnant, but she does have a cat and I don't think this is much of a spoiler, but she is also terminally ill. This puts a new face on the survival theme of the movie, and the perspective is an interesting one especially when contrasted with the other characters she encounters.

Samira our lead character is played by actress Lupita Nyong'o, who speaks sparingly and communicates so much with her eyes and body language. She is a defiant patient at a hospice facility, she is much younger then most of the other clients there, and this displacement has given her additional attitude toward the world around her. It may in fact be that defiant attitude that helps her navigate the crumbling city as the auditory predators are taking out the population rapidly.

The characters in this version of the story don't have the advantage of speaking sign language, they have to rely on descriptive gestures, pointing, and occasional notes on whatever surface is available for them to write on. This adds an extra wrinkle to the story and makes every potential attempt to communicate a bigger threat because of the high concentration of aliens in the city. Having established that the waterfall effect blocks the aliens ability to hear low-spoken dialogue, there is an interesting sequence where Samira encounters two children hiding inside of a water fountain and she tries to direct them to a safer spot. In the long run we never discover what happens to the vast majority of people that she encounters. We do get a dramatic moment with some of the people that she knew from the hospice, but those folks on the streets are not likely to make it to the next scene, at least not for long.

It is probably essential that another person be involved in the story for us to be able to engage with the character.  About a third of the way into the film Samara encounters a frightened law school student from Great Britain who is so uncertain about what to do that he is practically in tears. The two of them form a tenuous alliance in order to navigate the treacherous streets of New York City in an attempt to reach a pier on the river. Supposedly boats are being used to transport survivors off of Manhattan Island, where it appears that the aliens have trapped themselves due to their inability to navigate water. We know from other films that this is it best a short-term solution, but that's not really part of this particular story. (Although there is one link to the second film)

The first act of the film sets up the conflict and establishes Samira's character, it also provides us with a lot of action beats. During the second act the action moments are more subdued but there are occasional outbursts of violence and more people are sacrificed to the narrative of overwhelming odds facing them. One of the best moments in that opening act involves Samira taking in a marionette puppet show, that she has been maneuvered into attending with other patients at the hospital. Although very resistant to the idea, she did become entranced by a couple of moments in the show, which of course is exactly the point at which the alien invasion arrives. The contrast between human ability to create something beautiful and the aliens ability to destroy everything that humans have created is exactly what was needed at the start of the story. We also get a sense of how headstrong Samira is because of the way she handles being dragged to the puppet show.

The movie is not quite as frightening as it's two predecessors, in large part that's because we already know what the rules are concerning the aliens. We also see the alien creatures far too much in the light of day, and up close. So it is mostly the sudden lightning-like appearance of the aliens when alerted by a sound that gives us a jump scare or two along the way. Most of the fright that takes place in this film is a result of anxiety as we watch the characters that we are growing to care about, struggle to hide and remain silent in the face of the threat. Djimon Hounsou has two brief scenes in the film,  in the first act, a moment of desperation changes him forever, but in the final act, we see that fear and survival instincts have not eliminated his humanity. 

I can recommend the film as a piece of tense theater with two central performances that are very effective. Our terminally ill hospice patient and her frightened companion the British law student, are an unlikely match, but in the long run they show us that humanity can exist even in the worst circumstances, and even between people with very little to connect them,  that is ,except maybe a cat.

Parmount Summer Classic Film Series-Lady Sings the Blues

 

So it has only taken me fifty-two years to catch up with this movie, a film that was very popular in it's release during my favorite decade of movies. So why have I missed it for so long? I can't exactly say, although I suspect I was hesitant because of the downbeat drug elements in the story. Billie Holiday died decades before Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison, but she died from the same disease, out of control drug use. As I was watching the film, I saw that the producers did their best to create an upbeat ending with a redemptive arc, that was not really the way the story ends. In a way, that should have made it more appealing to me as a film, because it focuses on entertaining us, but I still think it is a bit of a cheat.

Nevertheless, "Lady Sings the Blues" is an entertaining biopic that tries to capture the talent of it's subject, while also describing the hard luck existence that describes her life. The biggest plusses the film has going for it are the musical sequences and the star turns by the two leads. I am not an aficionado of Billie Holiday, and I have seen in some places that Diana Ross's interpretations of her songbook are not as impressive, but on their own, they are very effective and I think anyone listening would enjoy her song stylings. Diana Ross also has great star quality, which I don't think was captured in any other screen performance. Of course she only made three films, and was woefully miscast in "The Wiz". She was a better fit for the fashion show that masqueraded as a movie "Mahogany", although that film is not good at all (See my comment on 1000 Nights at the Movies with Dee).

Her acting in this film is stellar, and she maneuvered through a range of ages convincingly, as well as showing us the dark side of addiction. The scene in the bathroom where she threatens Billy Dee Williams with a razor over her drug kit is chilling and sad. The motionless lump that she becomes in the aftermath may seem like an easy shot, but there is physicality to it that requires the actor to commit and boy did she. Her cluelessly high performance while Richard Pryor is being beaten is another spot where her acting talent gets a moment to shine.  Billy Dee Williams as her co-star husband gets credit for spilling his charisma all over the screen. His part is underwritten and I know it is a compendium of characters that his role encompasses, but the script gives him little to do and it is in fact antithetical at the climax of the film. Still, it doesn't matter much when that face appears on the screen and the smile crosses it. That will fill in for a lot of unexplained back story.

There are of course historical markers in the film that are important, but they really come across as cliched, although I think that in 1972, they would have played more dramatically. The incident that provokes the song "Strange Fruit", in particular, feels like it is dramatically staged rather than a natural incident. The screenwriters and director Sidney Furie, try to make it work for the movie, but it feels so staged that it undercuts the moment.   Holliday's defiance of a Klan March while she is on the bus with the band is a good moment for Ross to show off in, but another moment that feels dramatically staged. 

Overall, I quite liked the film and I was impressed with Miss Ross as an actress. She certainly deserved the accolades that she received for that performance. I am not sure, but the soundtrack album may be in my collection in the garage. If it is, it was something that my wife brought to the marriage, because I know i did not buy the record. When I look, if it's not there, I will correct that because the music in the film worked for the movie. This was the third musical in a row that we saw at the Paramount. July is heavy with their theme of "Pop (corn) Idols". They are not all musicals, but I'm happy these were.  

Paramount Summer Classic Film Series-Sunday Double Feature

 

Viva Las Vegas

Over the years, I have had to make a lot of choices as to how to spend my movie time. When I was a kid, if an Elvis movie was on tv on a Friday or Saturday, that is what I watched. I loved the King and was not very discriminatory about the quality of the films. I know I saw parts of this movie when I was younger, but I was not sure I'd seen the whole thing. In the more recent past, I missed a chance to see this on the big screen at the TCM Film Festival. Last Sunday helped me remove my doubts, I had seen the movie, and just forgotten parts of it. One of the Paramount Staff (Zack I believe) told the programmer, Steven Janise, that after watching all of the Elvis movies in a recent binge, that "Viva Las Vegas" was the best. I seem to remember thinking "Jailhouse Rock" was pretty good, but after our screening Sunday, I would not disagree with the "Viva Las Vegas" rating, it is terrific entertainment.

The story of course does not matter, this is not really a drama, and it barely counts as a romantic comedy. The value of the film is in the musical numbers and the pairing of Elvis with the great Ann-Margaret. The two of them have great on screen charisma, and even some romantic chemistry, but the dramatic elements are unimportant and the script does little to address that. There are at least ten musical sequences that are held together by the slim fabric of the story, and those are the things you come to a movie like this for.

The title song gets three showcases, the first is over the titles, with glimpses of Vegas in 1963 shown underneath the credits and making me nostalgic for some of the long gone venues of old Vegas. Elvis gets a showcase presentation of the song, which reportedly was done in a single take, the only time that happened in any of his films. "Viva Las Vegas" is also the exit tune, and it's a good thing the song and performance are so catchy, otherwise a third appearance would be tiresome instead of joyful. Ann-Margaret had some cool dance numbers to songs that were not so easily digested as pop tunes but worked well for the setting of Las Vegas life. Another swinging number by the King is a rendition of "What'd I Say", the Ray Charles number. Elvis does Ray proud with his version.

The only flaw in the entertainment value of the film, comes in the climactic Grad Prix race. Instead of focusing on the contest between Elvis' character "Lucky" and all the other drivers, the majority of the drama is in frequent crack ups of cars in the race. Several of those accidents looked life threatening, but they are only in the film to add a visual flare, there were no stakes. The one crash that should have killed the Count, Lucky's friendly rival, appears to have had no effect since the Count shows up at the end, uninjured and swinging along with everyone else at the celebration. It's all in fun but those crashes looked like anything but fun to me. Fortunately, the King and his Queen, sing and dance again, so all is forgiven.

A Hard Day's Night

The same year that Elvis was in Las Vegas, The Beatles were taking over the world with their own film. The story and plot are just as lazy as the first of our films. This is just a day in the life of the pop group as they get ready to perform on a major television program. "A Hard Day's Night" hold together a little more strongly as a film because it knows it is not taking itself seriously, and all four of the lads get to show their cheeky sense of humor. There is a mix of stage based performances with outlandishly staged musical interludes where the four Beatles are just goofing off for the camera.

Watching the films back to back like this, makes it easy to see how the popular culture was changing in the decade. Although "Viva Las Vegas" is in color with a hip setting, "A Hard Day's Night" black and white photography and mundane London locations, feel so much more innovative and creative. The humor of the film is sarcastic without being nasty, and the four leads all look like they are having some fun at their own expense. It just feels completely modern in contrast to the Elvis film.

Of course the biggest reason for the success of the film are the eleven or so songs from the Beatles, including the title song. The pop melodies of the era were very different than the styling of earlier rockers. It's not hard to think of each song as "three minutes of joy". The songs themselves will stand up without the visual scenes, and that is not the case with many of the tunes in the Elvis film. It would be easy to say that these sequences were precursors of the MTV style videos that would become the standard visual introduction for many artists in the following years.

The subplot about Paul's Grandfather gives the story a chance to get out of the rehearsal studio presentations of the musical sequences. When there is no music though, the scenes are still very amusing. The idea that Paul's grandfather would try to cash in on his grandson's fame is particularly funny. The whole movie is an entertaining high from start to finish. You don't need to smoke, swallow or inject anything to get the effect, you just have to watch and listen. 

Paramount Classic Film Series-Robert Rodriguez Presents Terminator 2

 

We are more than halfway through the Summer Classic Film Series at the Paramount Theater, and I have fallen behind in my posts on the films that I have seen there. Saturday last, I went to the screening of Terminator 2 presented by Robert Rodriguez. The local film maker and Austin hero, has picked several films for the Summer Series and is introducing them himself. He tries to choose films that he can give some personal insight to, often through his connection to the film makers that he has worked with or connected to. These week we got some James Cameron stories. 

I loved the story he told about meeting James Cameron. Back in 1994, he ran into his close friend film maker Guillermo del Toro, at the Virgin Megastore in Hollywood. Del Toro was meeting his own friend at the location and asker Robert if he would like to meet his buddy James. Of course, and when they were talking, Rodriguez mentioned that he was working with a new Steadicam and Cameron said he had one of those, but he wasn't using it to make a film, he was taking it apart to re-engineer and improve it. He told a similar story about visiting Cameron at his home and finding an Avid editing complex, not just one device, set up in a giant screening room. I like thew fact that all three directors met at the Virgin Mega Store in Hollywood. It had the best Laserdisc Sales set up of any retailer and I visited there often. 

"Terminator 2" was the biggest movie of it's year and the most expensive movie ever made up to that point. I have always preferred the original film over the sequel, not for any defect in "Judgement Day", but because the tools used in making the first film are just more meaningful to me. The stop motion animation, the puppetry are all so cool. Terminator 2 ups the ante on effects, and although it uses some of the first really dynamic digital effects, there are still a plethora of  practical effects and make up in the film.

The brilliant twist was to turn the original model of a Terminator into an ally rather than just the antagonist. Kyle Reese still kicks ass but having your own terminator as a protector is just awesome and Cameron, Schwarzenegger and Edward Furlong have a great time playing with that concept in the movie. I mentioned practical effects a minute ago, maybe the greatest of these was the way co-star Linda Hamilton sculpted her body to become the bad ass no nonsense momma bear in the film. Also, when you see the doubles in the film, Hamilton at the end and the security guard at the mental hospital, Cameron used a really old school tool, twin siblings. 

I did not have my shirts in time for the screening, they arrived  Monday, so let's just pretend I was at the club when a gunfight broke out and i was lucky to get out of TechNoir and make it over to the theater to see the movie. 

Fly Me to the Moon (2024)

After the first 10 minutes of this movie I was afraid I was going to be disappointed. In an attempt to create the character that Scarlett Johansson plays, the script creates a series of moments where her bright go-getter, thrives on besting men who are too dim to see the argument that she's making for the advertising campaign she wants to undertake. She relies on manipulation, lies, and downright fraud to convince people to go with her ideas. Since she's supposed to be the romantic lead in the movie, it seems strange to start off by making her an unsympathetic character. The goal might have been to do a Howard Hawks type comedy ala "His Girl Friday". The problem is that it seems rushed in concept not just execution.

Fortunately things calm down when she reaches Florida and encounters her romantic counterpart played by Channing Tatum. Her character, Kelly Jones, is still manipulative but feels a lot less smarmy and condescending. Instead she is showing her smarts and being wily at the same time. Tatum as Cole Davis, deservedly needs some direction with the obstacles he faces, but at least he's not portrayed as a witless man who can be turned simply by the slightest of feminine manipulation. After their meet-cute, we get a much more sophisticated and well-developed character relationship between the two of them. The setting of the late 1960s at Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach gives the filmmakers a chance to add some nostalgic romantic elements to the film as well.

Setting the story against the first attempt by man to reach the moon is fine, I think most of us who lived through that era consider it an important period of time. The the complications of NASA and the space program were fraught with danger and uncertainty, but also the thrill of exploration and discovery. Tatum's character is supposed to be the launch director of the mission, a pilot who lost out on being an astronaut because of a heart afib. He's a competent and sincere person, who lives with the guilt that comes from being a survivor of what up until that point, had been the worst disaster in manned space flight, the fire that killed the three astronauts of Apollo 1. He feels responsible, because he was in charge, not because of any real neglect on his part. One of the best things about this film is the sincere respect given to that incident, and the understandable grief that it evokes in one of our main characters.

The romantic parts of the film start working as the two characters clash over little things, and they work their way through mutual obstacles. Lurking in the background is a shadowy character who invents a plot, an hour into the film, that might be the main selling point of the movie but also something that may in fact be unnecessary to make the romance work. Woody Harrelson plays the mysterious government operative, who's using Johansson's character to create an alternative moon landing scenario. The idea is to twist the conspiracy theory of the moon landing on its head, and make the subterfuge a sort of insurance against failure as opposed to a substitute for success. So screenwriters Keenan Flynn, Bill Kirstein, and Rose Gilroy have concocted a story that allows them to play the conspiracy card and then dismiss it. Thank goodness, otherwise this film would have been sunk from the get go. 

Basically, this is an adult film, with charismatic leads in an interesting setting, but with unbelievable plot twists and incidents. In other words, it's a typical Rom-Com. Perfect for date night, but insubstantial beyond that. We don't end up on the dark side of the moon, so you can live with it. 

Body Double (1984) Revisit

 

Contains some Spoilers.

Paramount Summer Classic Film Series-Jaws and Point Break

 

A change of pace for the Paramount Summer Classic Film Series, a Video post for the Sunday Movies.

MaXXXine (2024)

There was probably no way that my most anticipated movie of 2024 would live up to my expectations. The bar had been set too high and I amped myself up for months looking forward to this film. I can't say that it's a disappointment, but maybe more of a let down. I wanted something more, and I thought I was going to get it when I saw the opening 5 minutes of the film in a preview with the film "X", that this is a sequel to. Mia Goth has a great moment at the start of the film, and her character of Maxine has flashes of that brilliance throughout the film. However those are only moments and there's a lack of consistency in the character which was frustrating.

Those of you not familiar, "MaXXXine" is the continuation of a story that we got in 2022 set in 1979 in Texas, about a group of wannabes trying to make an X-rated film, and running into a couple of older people who resented their youth and their sexuality. This movie tries to continue the story by tapping into a connection that was made near the end of that film. From the very beginning I knew who the villain of the film was going to be, and the lack of suspense there undermined what I was looking for in the movie. The film does manage to create the same tone that some of the sleazy action films of the mid 80s had. The most likely comparison that will make sense is to the movie "Angel" 

where the featured ingenue is a student by day and a hooker by night on Hollywood Boulevard. The gritty streets, over the top clothes and mannerisms on the street people from the 1980s feels like it was matched pretty well in this movie. Director Ti West has also tried to slip in some red herrings with the presence of the Night Stalker, the notorious killer who terrorized Southern California in 1985. For the most part the connection needs to be stronger, we're not sure why the LAPD detectives who are investigating the murders of young women in the adult film industry believe that the deaths are unrelated to The Night Stalker, especially when the media seems to be playing up such a connection. This is simply part of an incomplete storyline about the investigation of the murders. Maxxxine is a witness, and ultimately a target, but seems to be incapable of deciding how to proceed in the situation. That is not the way the character in the previous movie and the first 5 minutes of this movie would react.

Kevin Bacon shows up as a sleazy private detective who is working for an unseen superior, trying to track down Maxxxine and lure her to an address in the Hollywood Hills. We know right away that this is where bad things are happening, because some of the girls that Maxxxine works with mention that they were going to a party in the Hollywood Hills, and later we see them being abused on video camera. It's not until the climax of the movie that we see the totality of what is going on, but the mere fact that we didn't see the murders of those girls first hand, doesn't mean that we can't see what's coming.

Another subplot that lacks development, but should be the most important part of the story, is Maxxxine being cast in a traditional film and starting to play that part. Instead we get the director pontificating about being ruthless in pursuit of her objective, and therefore acting as a role model for Maxxxine. But we already know that Maxine does not need that kind of role model, she is capable and driven and I would pity the fool who goes up against her. We even get a brief sequence, that has nothing to do with the main plot, which shows exactly how brutal Maxxxine can be in pursuit of her goals. This was exactly a flattering image of Buster Keaton, let's just say some impersonator did get something busted. (Nut Busted Keaton should be the credit name for the character)

The movie is not really a horror film any longer, but rather a suspense thriller. The problem is that there's just not much suspense. The main victim should be stalked more ominously, and the threat should be visualized a little more directly. Other than the occasional interviews by the detectives you don't really see how Maxxxine is being threatened by the secretive employer of Bacon's Detective. In one scene that makes no sense whatsoever, the detective chases Maxine menacingly around the Warner Brothers lot, which then turns into the Universal lot, and puts her in the Psycho house hiding, without a plan. OK, we get the reference to the first movie, but it was a weak scene. Maxxxine can be backed into a corner but she always has a plan, in this movie though,  she just lucks out. And the convenience of at least two lucky interventions undermines the storytelling we'd seen in the two previous movies. The side stories might be consistent for the 1980s style film but as we've said before the things that are happening in the past need to be visualized more in the present. For a film set on the fringes of the pornography industry is surprisingly light on sexuality. There's one passing moment when an X-rated video is being filmed as Maxine walks by, all of the other porn references are to the film that was made in the original movie.

Were I ranking the three movies in the X Series I would simply say they were in declining order. The gap between "X" and "Pearl" is the smallest, those two films were near perfect in the way they mimicked the filmmaking styles of earlier times. They were inspired by films of different eras. Maxxxine is a step down, it gets some of the 80s vibes right but in trying to become something more, like the movie Puritan 2, featured in the storyline, it just doesn't amount to anything nearly as great.

Paramount Summer Classic Film Series-The Muppet Movie

You don't think going to the movie theater is going to be a dangerous enterprise, until you realize at the end of an hour and a half that your face is strained from smiling so frequently and laughing on a regular basis. The soreness of my face is a small price to pay for the joy of "The Muppet Movie". This delightful piece of Cinema from 1979 brings the Muppet team together for their first motion picture, and keeps all of the characters in line with their personalities and comes up with a storyline to connect them all.

I first saw "The Muppet Movie" at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood in 1979. I felt about it pretty much then the way I do now, it is a brilliant and clever application of puppetry to movie making and it delivers a heartfelt message to all of the dreamers out there. The biggest dreamer of all of course was Jim Henson, the creator of The Muppets. Henson continues to inspire filmmakers and storytellers, and some of the innovations found in this movie are still around today.

It is possible that there has never been a more personable character than Kermit the Frog. As the leading man in the picture he is both thoughtful and a little fearful as he confronts the world around him in pursuit of his dreams. Kermit's sincerity is reflected by the circumstances he frequently finds himself in. One of the joys of this movie is the plethora of cameos by actors, comedians, and historical movie people, which populate the background. Bob Hope distributing ice cream, Edgar Bergen judging a small town beauty contest, and Richard Pryor selling balloons are all in this movie together. If you ever get stuck playing Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, remember that the Muppet Movie will let you connect a whole lot of people if you can just remember everyone who showed up in this movie.

The Paramount Theater was packed with families bringing small children to encounter The Muppets in a format that they probably haven't seen before. Based on the laughter and applause I heard,  the mayhem created by the Muppets continues to be something that the young and old can share. It's probably a little nostalgic for people of my generation, but there's still plenty of things that are funny regardless of the time line. Statler and Waldorf heckling everybody is always funny. I think the joke with Carole Kane reappearing each time somebody uses the word "myth", and she acts as if they are saying Miss, is still viable. Maybe the Hare Krishna reference will seem a little out of date, since that religious group is not nearly as prominent as it was in the 1970s. I still laughed however at that recurring joke.

I want to embrace Fozzie Bear, bring Gonzo the great home, and attend the wedding of Kermit and Miss Piggy. 5 years later we got a chance to do that, and that 1984 film, "the Muppets Take Manhattan" will hopefully play at the summer film series sometime in the future. I got a kick out of seeing the audience respond to an extremely young Steve Martin, a nearly silent Orson Welles, and Mel Brooks looking young and acting silly playing a Teutonic neurological doctor, who's going to do a brainectomy on poor Kermit. Geez there are a lot of people in this movie.

In addition to smiling I teared up occasionally, because this was one of the movies that my late wife and I attended together and loved passionately. The Muppets were one of the things that we shared both before and after we were married. When our kids came along we loved the chance to share that with them as well. As far as I'm concerned the world is a lesser place when there isn't a Muppet Movie on the horizon. Fortunately in 1979 the future would be ripe for these for these characters, and in 2024 we luck out again because they showed up here in the Paramount classic Summer Movie film series.

Paramount Summer Classic Film Series Double Feature

 

We had a Double Feature at the Paramount Theater last night. Two 1980s era musicals about dancing. Not to put too fine a point on it, the line for the ladies room was extremely long, for the gentlemen, not so much.

Dirty Dancing

I saw this film when it originally came out in 1987 and I remember enjoying it but not particularly embracing it. I think I have seen it once since then, but more that twenty years ago, again, with some appreciation but not necessarily enthusiasm. After last night's screening however, I think I can say I am a fan. Maybe it was the passage of time, the fact that I was seeing it with my daughter, or simply the audience enthusiasm that became contagious that converted me. This is a very well made movie. It may be a little hokey, but all of that hoke works the way it is supposed to. 

Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey are terrific in the movie. He is a dynamic dancer with looks that can make a female audience member swoon, and she is fresh and authentic and has the dramatic chops for the part that she is playing. So what that the story is the well worn plot path of two people from different worlds falling in love. They get to do so against a great soundtrack, with a nostalgia painted background and dance while it happens. 

Jerry Orbach as Baby's (Grey) Father, manages to create the kind of father figure who remains sympathetic in spite of his opposition to the pairing. His interjection into the story because of a medical emergency seems right, after all he is a doctor, and the confusion about what is happening was understandable. The third person perspective the audience has allows us to identify with all the characters, and also applaud when the indifferent villain of the piece gets his comeuppance, both at the hands of Johnny (Swayze) and Baby's Dad. 

The audience last night filled the Paramount with cheers, catcalls and swoon filled ahhhs, as Baby and Johnny come together. The humorous courtship through a crash course in mambo dance training was just the ticket for the blossoming romance. Little expressions on the faces of the two lovers, or a gesture from one to another, elicited a tickled response from the audience. I had not remembered how long the dance sequence in the employees quarters was near the start of the story, but it was worth it.   

In spite of a serious abortion subplot, most people will remember this as a light romance with charismatic actors who had great on screen chemistry. I have read that Swayze and Grey had some personal clashes but managed to successfully work together in making the movie. From watching them in the film, it is hard to believe they frequently did not get along. Choose the fantasy. 

The second film had lost nearly a third of the audience but none of the enthusiasm.

Footloose

Although not as well constructed as "Dirty Dancing", "Footloose" manages to be just as entertaining, with it's own sense of purpose as well. No doubt there are repressive communities like the one imagined here, but the stereotypes are a little more jarring in comparison to the first movie. This was a star making turn for Kevin Bacon, who is still in demand as an actor, forty years later (He appears in "Maxxxine" which I will be seeing later today).

The dance sequences in "Dirty Dancing" grow out of the story setting, with dancers at a Catskills resort. Here, there have to be invented moments which will allow for some of the dance moves to be demonstrated. The audience approved of the moves in Bacon's warehouse solo dance scene, although those approving cheers were frequently preceded by laughter at the set up. Regardless, I think I will have to agree with Peter Quill:

Peter Quill:  on my planet, we have a legend about people like you. It's called Footloose. And in it, a great hero, named Kevin Bacon, teaches an entire city full of people with sticks up their butts that, dancing, well, is the greatest thing there is.

As much as the dancing is about Kevin Bacon, most of the drama is about Lori Singer. I wasn't convinced by her relationship with Bacon's Ren, but she does hit the mark with her contentious but still loving relationship with her father played by John Lithgow. Reverend Moore is trying to protect his whole congregation, in an attempt to compensate for the loss of his son, and the pain he feels is balanced by his sincerity. When he snaps and slaps his daughter Ariel, it is a shocking moment that brings uncomfortable realism to an otherwise light weight fantasy film.

The "Footloose" soundtrack is filled with original compositions that were co-written by the screenwriter, Dean Pitchford. He has eight credited songs in the film, songs that he worked on with the likes of Kenny Loggins, Jim Steinman, Sammy Hagar, and Eric Carmen. It has a very different feel than the 60s needle drops of the other film on this double bill. The scene where Ren plays "chicken" on a tractor, gets the over the top Steinman treatment and it is a perfect fit of grandly over the top song with ridiculous scenario. "Let's Hear it for the Boy" is a comic gem in the spot that it is used. Overall, the audience was thrilled. 

I'm inclined to accept this summary.

Peter Quill: The Avengers?

Thor: The Earth's mightiest heroes.

Mantis: Like Kevin Bacon?

Thor: He may be on the team. I don't know, I haven't been there in a while.

Paramount Summer Classic Film Series-Chinatown

As I am putting this post together I just read that screenwriter Robert Towne passed away Monday night at the age of 89. "Chinatown" is his masterpiece, and it certainly seems fitting that we were seeing it on the big screen at the time he was moving on to his final resting place. This is the second time we've seen the film on the big screen this year, having enjoyed it at the TCM Film Festival back in April. This year is the 50th anniversary of Chinatown, and celebrating it with multiple screenings, as well as spending time with the book "The Big Goodbye" which is primarily about the making of the movie, all seems fitting.

The screenplay of course is one of those that manages to get everything pitch perfect. We know from the background on the film that it took long battles and big arguments between screenwriter Robert Towne and director Roman Polanski, to get to the finished product. Ultimately, Towne was unhappy with the ending of the movie, which of course features tragedy rather than redemption for the heroine. I think we're lucky that Polanski won, because the final line of the movie, which everyone knows, is the perfect coda for what we have seen in the previous 2 hours.

Again we need to credit the great Jerry Goldsmith for coming in at the last minute and replacing the score with a jazz infused time period appropriate combination of horns and piano. The film just wouldn't work without that set of themes or nerve racking minor key piano notes. It's also easy to give huge kudos to the production design, which manages to make Los Angeles of the 1970s look like Los Angeles of the 1930s. I imagine that there was some graffiti removed around the Los Angeles River, certainly some traffic controlled on Alameda, and the flood control channels look a heck of a lot more pristine than they probably do today. Let me also say that every piece of clothing worn by either Faye Dunaway or Jack Nicholson, should be available for us to purchase today. I know I could rock that jacket that he's wearing in the last part of the film. 

We were encouraged by the Paramount to dress up for the occasion, and although I didn't have an appropriately colored fedora, I did have a black one that worked pretty well. The tie I picked out belong to my uncle Howard, who was actually my father's uncle, and I have no doubt that he bought it sometime in the 1930s, the style is just too precious. I added some suspenders but most importantly I added a bandage to my nose to complete the picture. I got several compliments from people walking out of the theater, who appreciated a little bit of extra effort. I know I had fun and I know I love this movie.

Paramount Summer Classic Film Series-Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

It's always a joy seeing animation on the big screen but when it's combined with live action as effectively as is done in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?", it's an even greater pleasure. This was a groundbreaking film from director Robert Zemeckis who must have twisted some arms, kissed some butt, and prayed to the movie gods to be able to have access to all of the classic cartoon characters that appear at some point or other in the film. It seems almost impossible to believe that Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny would share a scene together. But they do and it's hysterical.

The story builds on a well-known fantasy that there was a deliberate effort by car companies and the oil industry to get rid of the public transportation in Los Angeles. The rate at which the city was growing and the space that it was taking up was never going to be accommodated by the old red line, but the world is full of conspiracy theorists, and this plot takes its cue from that Old Chestnut. The most fantastic conceit in the film is that the characters are film stars who are animated and live in the real world. That means that humans and hippopotamuses are going to bump into one another. It means that that old joke where Bugs Bunny paints a line on the road to move the pursuers into crashing into a wall, can actually happen. And in this film it does.

Bob Hoskins needs more credit for the work that he did in this film. As the human private detective Eddie Valiant, Hoskins has to be handcuffed to animated Rodger Rabbit, have his hair stroked by an animated Jessica Rabbit, shake hands with a variety of cartoon characters that we will recognize from our childhood, and be the butt of some of the gags that we all knew from Saturday morning. He's terrific in this movie. So many people deserve credit for making the film work but let's not forget to mention animation director Richard Williams who managed to get animated critters to interact with human beings in a believable way.

There's so many things to admire about the movie, but I want to start with the opening cartoon which is done in a text Avery Style with characters that feel familiar but are completely original. Baby Herman and Rodger Rabbit dashing through the kitchen avoiding tragedy with every movement, and the toon ending up being targeted by just about every item in the kitchen drawers is just funny. When it breaks at the end because Roger can't come up with stars to show his concussion, rather than tweeting birds, it's a Hollywood Insider's dream.

Everyone should remember that Christopher Lloyd is not just a character actor but was an important star in the 1980s. Of course "Back to the Future", but also "Star Trek 3"," The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai across the 8th Dimension", and this film, where he plays Judge Doom, a cartoon masquerading as a human. His maniacal eyes, somber expression, and creepy voice almost give him away. And when the secret is out, believe me text Avery is applauding somewhere.

The film was playing at the State Theater next door to the Paramount because there was a concert being set up at the bigger venue. We had arranged to meet a couple of friends of ours from the neighborhood in front of the theater, but they were running a little late from some appointments they had on Sunday morning. Ultimately they got into their seats about 20 seconds before the film rolled. It was nice to get a chance to do something with people that we know from the neighborhood. We had a nice lunch afterwards, and Sunday afternoon is a great time for a cartoon and something to fill your belly.

Horizon an American Saga Chapter 1 (2024)

I'm a fan of westerns, a genre that doesn't get much love these days. It's rare when a Western shows up in a theater, although there seem to be a plethora of them on streaming services. Actor/director Kevin Costner seems to be a fan of westerns also, he made two terrific westerns in the past, one of which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. I have yet to catch up with the various seasons of Yellowstone, and having seen only the first three episodes of the first season I'm not sure how closely it hones to traditional westerns, but from what I saw it sure felt like a contemporary version of some of those old style films.

"Horizon" attempts to do something that is very ambitious, tell a story about the settling of the West, through multiple characters in simultaneous time settings. It also attempts to do this by making the characters complete and the stories unique. As a result of this attention to detail, there is a vast amount of information and story play out. This means that even a 3-hour movie will be insufficient to provide the canvas that screen writer Kevin Costner and his co-authors have come up with. Thus, this movie is only Chapter one. Chapter 2 is complete and will be coming in August, and Chapter 3 is being filled now. It doesn't look like the films will be making back the money that was invested in them, so I have some doubt about whether the fourth film in in The Saga will be completed. That is neither here nor there though, today we are talking about the first film.

From my point of view "Horizon" is managing to do something that is terrific, giving us an engaging story with a multiplicity of plot lines that all managed to engage us but in completely different ways. Some of the stories involve a mystery, that will certainly be explained as we go along. Some of the stories are a bit of a quest, mostly with characters seeking vengeance, or defying the inevitable wave of immigrants seeking a home in the West. It also looks like we are going to get some love stories, a little bit of political intrigue, and definitely more gunfights.

This first chapter opens quietly with a few souls trying to survey property that they hope to turn into a homestead. Then later, as a larger group has assembled in this particular spot, there is a massive Indian raid and and dozens of homesteaders are killed, and the animosity between the Apache's and the new immigrants is set up. Sienna Miller plays a woman whose family is decimated in the attack, and with her preteen daughter, she seeks security and safety with a troop of Calvary men not too far from where the massacre took place. Sam Worthington is the lieutenant who back ends into managing the aftermath of the Indian Massacre, he also looks to be a potential romantic partner for the newly widowed Miller.

It takes more than an hour before Kevin Costner's character appears on screen, but the roots of the conflict that he's going to become involved in were set up early in that first hour with the character played by Jenna Malone. It actually becomes quite complicated, because it is uncertain what Malone's character has done, and why. Let's just say that a toddler, a lady of the evening, and a saddle tramp are about to be connected in a very unusual way. Meanwhile we are also introduced to a wagon train filled with immigrants headed toward Horizon, which is the name of the future town that they hope to establish. They will be facing cultural disputes, personal antagonisms, along with water shortages and hostile indigenous people.

We are not seeing this story merely from the perspective of the new immigrants however. The Native Americans are having their point of view illustrated on screen as well. There is no unanimity among the natives as to how the indigenous peoples want to confront the newcomers. The oldest chief, seems ready to cave to the inevitable tide of white men coming into his territory. Two of his sons and the band of followers however have a vastly different approach to the influx of a new population.

The film looks spectacular, it was shot in Utah which has some of the most beautiful landscapes in the West. Director Costner is taking full advantage of the diversity of physical settings that are available in these locations. His character Hayes Ellison, is traveling through these vistas, accompanied by a temporary family, and pursued by another family who are out for vengeance. You can see the tension building in all of the stories, but you will not find a complete plot in this movie. It literally is a single chapter in a much larger tome.

It looks like the general critical word on this movie has been negative, but that's the polar opposite of my view. This is going to be one of the finest films of the year, and it has more ambition, interest, and compelling characters than any of the other films that I've been seeing this year. Although the movie is 3 hours long, it flies by because some of the action scenes are so compelling that you don't realize how much time has gone by. We never stay too long with one story, before another story starts playing out its events, and then we're on to the next story before you know it. As we come back to each set of characters we have an expectation that something new is going to take place, and it is usually enough to keep us wanting more.

Admittedly director Costner has cribbed substantially from The Works of John Ford, but if you're going to steal from someone it makes sense to steal from the best. Long live the Western, I can't wait for chapter 2 in August.

Paramount Summer Classic Film Series-Rocky Horror Picture Show

 

Once again my unconventional convention years it's time for us to visit transsexual Transylvania and the castle of our host Dr. Frankenfurter. Brad and Janet get lost on the way to visit their friend Dr. Scott and we get taken along on the journey to a forbidding Castle filled with crazy weirdos doing their native dance the time warp.

I come to this movie with a long tradition of participation in the usual Rocky Horror audience call back. I do however find that people overindulge in this particular venue with their own personally created comments and inserts, which can sometimes work well, sometimes miss the mark, and frequently can't be made out in the crowd because someone else is engaging in the same behavior. When everybody knows the call-outs and participates as a crowd it's great fun, when voices are calling out randomly and the words are running over one another and it's barely loud enough to make out any of the words but it is loud enough to drown out what's going on on the screen, that's a little bit of a problem. Although I have to admit I am usually overcome by the enthusiasm of everybody who's participating this way. So let's go ahead and indulge them a bit and hope that once in awhile there's self-created call back to the Antics on the screen will provoke a laugh.

The theater was full, lots of people dressed up, and surprisingly there were a couple of hundred people who were seeing the movie for the first time, Lucky them. We had a good time calling out the familiar chants, and singing along to the songs, but most especially cheering the arrival of characters on screen. I do think the a****** and s*** call outs are a little excessive, the first time is fine the 25th time is boring, but once again who am I to say where the line is. I can however enthusiastically cheer when Riff Raff appears in the window during the storm, when Eddie breaks out of the Deep Freeze on his motorcycle, and most especially when Frankenfurter comes down the elevator to greet his guests. This is one of the Great Moments of a character appearing on screen in all of film history. Yeah I said it and I'll defend it.

If you've never seen Rocky Horror Picture Show then you won't understand, but then what the heck are you doing reading this page anyway?

Paramount Summer Classic Film Series-Evil Dead II

The Evil Dead series has fascinated me since I first discovered it in the early 1990s. I was aware of the films for a number of years but never bothered to investigate them, because I didn't know anybody else who had seen them. That changed one night on a Halloween when I was at a friend's party and we watched "Evil Dead 2" after the kids had gone to sleep. I laughed and screamed at the ridiculous amounts of blood, body parts, and Three Stooges jokes that were being thrown at me. These were my people.

I've seen the Evil Dead, and Army of Darkness, on the big screen multiple times. This may have only been the second or third time I have seen "Evil Dead 2" in a theater. But as with most theatrical experiences, the presence of an audience as well as the big screen, and the requirement that you stay engaged, makes the experience something that is far superior to home viewing.

I've been to two or three presentations where the "Man God" Bruce Campbell, has appeared in person to talk about the films we are watching. 3 years ago in this same theater we came for a screening of the original "Evil Dead", and Bruce was there. We had sprung for an extra couple of bucks in order to get a picture opportunity, but it was Covid and the pictures required social distancing, which makes it look a little bit like it's photoshopped. I don't care, we were in the presence of greatness. The talent of Bruce Campbell is especially on display in "Evil Dead 2". His performance involves a physicality that most actors in an action film would have a hard time achieving. In addition he has to convey some of those emotions that are going on in the character while under a layer of makeup and appliances that would make most of us cringe to think of having on our bodies. He is really quite effective and there are so many close-ups on his face that require him to communicate those emotions in a humorous way but in a way that is also quite immediate. He Nails it.

Some of the storytelling and much of the acting is deliberately ham-fisted in order to gain as much humorous power as possible. The audience last night laughed uproariously at each situation that required Ash to come up with another solution that was ridiculously violent. Most of those moments occur after he has decapitated his girlfriend with a shovel. I understand that budget limitations produced some of the slightly clunky stop motion effects in the film. I have always been a fan of stop motion special effects, I'm not sure that Ray Harryhausen would approve of the way the technique is used in the first part of the film. It's definitely brilliant, even if it isn't as polished as a Harryhausen film would be.

Even the cheesiest jokes work well in this film, because director Sam Rami, knows what he's going after. The goal is to shock and entertain the audience with the most audacious visualized or violence, and the silliest hero's journey you can imagine. There's just one word for the whole thing... groovy!

Paramount Summer Classic Film Series- A Clockwork Orange

This has always been the controversial film, but especially at our house. My late wife rarely disliked movies but when she did she did so with a passion and "A Clockwork Orange" is one of the films that she loathed. The reason that makes it controversial at our house is that it's a film that I have loved since I first saw it in the mid-70s. Despite our difference of opinion on the movie I continued to watch it every few years. And last night's screening gave me a little bit more insight into why my dearly departed love disliked the film so much.

Not only is the film misanthropic it is highly misogynistic and rarely offers any sort of redemption for those attitudes. Alex DeLarge, the self-described hero and narrator of the film, is a loathsome violent criminal, who has disdain for any conventional rules, although he is capable of putting on a facade of politeness when it suits him. There are three distinct scenes where women are helpless as they're being assaulted by multiple criminals in the story. None of these woman are really given much of a chance to be a fully realized character. Although the defiance of the cat lady who is the final victim of Alex, is at least an attempt to give a female character a personality in the story.

The movie is a dystopian view of a not too distant future, and although the book was written in 1962, and the movie came out in 1971, 2024 does not feel as if it is too far in front of a world very similar to the one depicted in this story. The plot goes a long way toward trying to criticize the nearly fascist political party in charge of Britain and its criminal justice system. And although Alex suffers as a result of the treatment that he receives, it's awfully hard not to sympathize with the victim that turns the tables on him at the end of the film. The whole tone of the movie is one of cynicism directed at irredeemable youth, intransigent bureaucracy, and conniving political creatures.

As much as she disliked the film, my wife would have agreed with me about Malcolm McDowell the star of the movie. He is perfect in this movie. Director Stanley Kubrick notoriously a perfectionist, must have worked McDowell to near exhaustion to get some of the scenes that resonate so well especially in the final sections of the film. When the Minister of Justice starts hand feeding Alex in his hospital bed, he is mocked subliminally by the smacking noise that Alex makes with his mouth each time he's ready for another bite of food. The political obtuseness of the minister is one of the points of the film. There is a theme in the movie that also concerns free will, but that feels like it is only there is as justification for making us feel guilty about the treatment that Alex receives.

Alex's parole officer, is not a particularly pleasant person, but he seems to have one of the most accurate views of Alex of anyone in the film. The corrections officer at the prison, is seen as a totalitarian tool, but he also has a keen understanding of Alex, although one that is so single-minded that it seems unreasonable. And that's in spite of what we know about Alex and his character. This may be one of the faults that critics of the film justifiably point to because it makes Alex a victim when what he really is, is a monster. The feckless parents and the manipulative Justice minister are reflective of the powerless society that has allowed this sort of crime spree to exist. Kubrick, and apparently Anthony Burgess the author of the book, seem to be trying to have it both ways, abhorring the aberrant behavior of the young thugs, but also averting our eyes in horror at the brainwashing of those same thugs to condition them to be more social creatures.

The movie has the added bonus of a synthesizer heavy score that frequently manipulates classical music into its themes. There's nothing wrong with a little Beethoven to go along with your ultraviolence. 

Paramount Summer Classic Film Series-Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

 

Once again we are back at the Paramount for another Summer Classic film. This time it was the first film of this season in the "Robert Rodriguez Presents Series", "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan". Local hero Director Robert Rodriguez chooses films that he was inspired by or has some connection to and then introduces them with behind the scenes stories and tidbits about the actors. The villain in this film was played by Ricardo Montalban, who made a couple of the "Spy Kids" movies with Rodriguez. The director noted how the question always comes up about Ricardo's physique and whether he wore a prosthetic chest piece. That is in fact Montalban's own chest, and the costume designer was so impressed with his appearance, they created costumes that accentuated his look.

Director Rodriguez also recounted the sad history of Montalban's back injury and the surgery years later that confined him to a wheelchair. Of course movie magic allowed the actor to run in one of the "Spy Kids" films and that was a nice moment that he shared with us. The director has a long list of notes in a notebook that he refers to as he prowls the stage like a tiger, not from anxiety but rather enthusiasm. He surveyed the audience and found one person who saw Star Trek II when it opened, at the same theater he had done so back in San Antonio in 1982. That audience member was presented with a nice picture book about the making of the movie. I suspect it was also autographed by our host.

"The Wrath of Khan" was a follow up to "Star Trek the Motion Picture", which was financially profitable but at a huge cost. The sequel was done with a miniscule budget in comparison, and the production was taken over by the TV unit of Paramount to hold down costs. Still, there are several great production moments in the movie, including the battles between the two starships and the Genesis Project video. There are several spots where shots are cribbed from the first movie but it is not egregious. The fact that "Khan" was a continuation of an original series episode was discussed and Rodriguez had edited together a ten minute version of the episode for us to watch before the movie.

You can read my thoughts on the movie here, and  here, and here. This is a movie that I adore and every chance to see it on the big screen should be jumped at. There are two things I would like to add about the screening. Robert Rodriguez explained that another way to save costs was by skipping the more expensive Jerry Goldsmith as the film composer and hiring James Horner. The future Academy Award winning composer was the go to Roger Corman and Star Trek II was his big break. Ironically, Director Nicolas Myer said he was hired because they could not afford Goldsmith, but when Meyer returned to the series for Star Trek VI, they could no longer afford Horner.

The other thing I wanted to mention was the beautiful artwork done by Bob Peak. The prolific film poster illustrator did images for all of the original cast movies, but his work on Trek II was superb. So good in fact, that I draped myself in it for the Sunday night show.