rikumovie

HAPPY HALLOWEEN from Great Old Movies!

Here's a round-up of horror films and TV shows to check out during this sinister occasion!

Dress up, grab some pumpkin pie and cocoa -- or something stronger -- and watch a good -- or not so good -- horror flick this evening.

Have fun -- and, as always, thanks for reading!

LIZZIE BORDEN TOOK AN AXE (2014 Lifetime telefilm). Director: Nick Gomez.

Lizzie Borden (Christina Ricci) is arrested and put on trial when her father, Andrew (Stephen McHattie of XIII) and stepmother Abby (Sara Botsford of Murder By Phone), are axed to death about an hour apart in their own home. Lizzie's sister Emma (Clea DuVall) sticks up for her sister but has nagging doubts, and the whole town turns against them. This look at the famous, unsolved murders offers nothing new, has stick-thin characters, provides little motivation, and is awash in a rock score that is not only inappropriate but gives the whole project a mindless veneer. The acting is okay enough, although to be fair to Ricci she really isn't given much of a character to play. Lizzie's alleged lover, actress Nance O'Neil [Transgression], is briefly portrayed by Andria Wilson, but there is little about Lizzie's possible lesbianism or how it may have influenced prosecutors. The movie gets a lot wrong about the case -- it's as if the writer just threw together a script based on conjecture and other movies and didn't do any research.

Verdict: Not much to this by-the-numbers look at an infamous murder case. **.

JOHN WAYNE: THE LIFE AND LEGEND. Scott Eyman. Simon and Schuster; 2014.

Examining the life and very long career of John Wayne from a largely positive angle, the book makes a case for him as a fine actor and misunderstood human being who had more facets to him than people realized. Frankly, the lengthy book probably won't change the minds of people who saw Wayne as distinctly limited, especially in his middle-aged years (although he could give very good performances and was more talented than his detractors would suggest) nor those who saw him as a swaggering hypocrite. Wayne became quite the war hawk when he was too old to serve in the military, but during WW2, when other actors with big careers enlisted, he fell back on deferments that other stars rejected. [His attempts to get into the O.S.S. do not seem that whole-hearted.] Eyman scrutinizes Wayne's friendships, romantic involvements, movies, and performances, and the book may make you want to search out such classics as Stagecoach and The Searchers, if you haven't seen them already. While Eyman does include some negative critical and political reaction to Wayne, his approach is, frankly, so worshipful at times that the book can't be considered objective by any standard -- but that, of course, is the author's right.

Verdict: Informative and well-done for the most part if just a bit slanted. ***.

TINSELTOWN: MURDER, MORPHINE AND MADNESS AT THE DAWN OF HOLLYWOOD. William J. Mann. HarperCollins; 2014.

Biographer Mann resuscitates the William Desmond Taylor murder case in this recycled but entertaining look at scandals in old Hollywood. Besides actor-director Taylor, who was homely but attracted more people than you would imagine, the players include the "three desperate dames" Mabel Normand, who was Desmond's friend; Mary Miles Minter, who was sure she was in love with the older gay man; and Margaret Gibson, who tried to reinvent herself as "Patricia Palmer" after a prostitution incident. Another major figure in the cast is Darryl Zanuck, who is terrified of scandals during an era when self-appointed moralists and church ladies were coming out of the woodwork to denounce the motion picture industry. Then there's Will Hays, who was appointed to monitor said industry to prevent dreaded government censorship, and Gibson's circle of sleazy friends. not to mention Minter's possibly maniacal mother. Without fictionalizing, Mann tells the story in the style of a novel, which is occasionally awkward, but does build some suspense. While many might dismiss the book as a rehash of old material -- albeit a clever rehash -- Mann does uncover some interesting new information about some of these individuals, and has come up with a new theory as to the identity of Desmond's murderer which makes sense while at the same time involving some slightly far-fetched speculation. Tinseltown does do a good job of recreating the feel of the period, the desperation of many of the people there, and the tireless efforts to prevent an art-destroying censorship due to the interference of self-styled moralists. At least six previous books have been published about this unsolved mystery. Mann is the author of excellent biographies of Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor and John Schlesinger, as well as of Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood. NOTE: This review is of an advance reading copy of the book.

Verdict: At the very least a good read with some compelling material. ***.

GODZILLA (2014). Director: Gareth Edwards.

A gigantic egg is discovered in the Philippines and taken to what is supposed to be a nuclear power plant in Japan. When a "meltdown" occurs scientist Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) must close a hatch on his own wife (Juliette Binoche) to keep radiation from leaking. That's pretty much the last dramatic thing -- in the human sense -- that happens in this new/old take on Godzilla, in which the main monsters are not the Big Guy but a pair of creatures known as "MUTO"s [Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism]. It was the emergence of one of these creatures that actually caused the meltdown. It also develops that Godzilla actually did appear back in 1954 (when the first Godzilla film was released), and he's come back to set nature right and get rid of the MUTOs, who are ravaging Las Vegas after causing much destruction on Honolulu. Joe's son Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is one of the military men fighting against the monsters. Godzilla got surprisingly good reviews and fan reaction. Unlike the first American Godzilla film with Matthew Broderick, the movie doesn't ignore what's happened in the Japanese films -- Godzilla is a good guy fighting the bad monsters; there are little kids running about; one of the MUTOs attacks an elevated train -- but what the geeky fans of the Japanese movies may love about the series pretty much sinks this reboot. There's not enough of Godzilla, whom others have described as "a guest star in his own movie." The too-metallic MUTOs remind one of the monster in Deadly Mantis, and while Godzilla doesn't look bad, some of his scenes are so underlit that it's hard to see what's happening or be especially impressed. There are a couple of good scenes and shots -- Godzilla swimming under a bridge where the people look like ants; the flood that washes through Honolulu --- but these aren't enough to save the movie. Only slightly better than Pacific Rim, another movie influenced by Japan's monster flicks.

Verdict: Too much pandering to the geeky fans of the Japanese series -- but it appears to have paid off commercially. **. 

The Rampant Age

FREE CLASSIC MOVIES website. 

A gentleman named Jimbo Berkey has put together a website -- Free Classic Movies -- from which you can very easily download hundreds of movies from the public domain. It's a mixed bag of genres, countries, decades, and quality -- not every movie is a classic (but then not every movie I review here is "great" or even old) -- but there are surprises and some real gems in the batch. You can search the site by decade, year, stars, or genre, and you can also sign up to get weekly emails that list all the new movies that have been recently uploaded. Berkey helps you decide which movies you may want to spend time watching by giving synopses and posting numerous screen captures for each movie. I have downloaded a number of movies that I have always wanted to see and couldn't find anywhere else and am just waiting for an opportunity to catch up with them. The website is well put together and fun, and you'll never know what you may find waiting for you. Berkey also has a website devoted to classic TV shows. Lots of great old episodes! Recommended!

Kellan Lutz as Hercules

THE LEGEND OF HERCULES (2014). Director: Renny Harlin.

Argos, 1200 B.C.: Wanting a hero to end the reign of tyranny of her husband, King Amphitryon (Scott Adkins), Queen Alcmeme (Roxanne McKee) agrees to bear the child of Zeus, a boy who becomes known as Alcides. However, the child's true name is Hercules (Kellan Lutz) and he grows into a hero who takes on the forces of his evil stepfather with the aid of such friends as Sotiris (Liam McIntyre). A complication is that Hebe (Gaia Weiss) is engaged to Iphicles (Liam Garrigan), Alcides' half-brother, but is in love with Alcides. Who cares? Legend of Hercules has excellent scenic design and some astounding shots [Sam McCurdy], but unlike the tales of mythology that spawned it (but which it pretty much ignores) it hasn't got a bit of  fantasy in it. Director Harlin has a habit of freezing the action for a second or two (or employing slow motion) during fight scenes, a "technique" that quickly becomes annoying. A Nemean lion that briefly appears looks like something out of a video game. Tuomas [sic] Kantelinen's musical score is a plus, but if anything puts this over it's the acting, especially the performances of Lutz and Adkins as chief opponents. Renny Harlin also directed the unfortunate Exorcist: The Beginning.

Verdict: As mythological films go this is much too prosaic but plenty butch, a fantasy film with nothing fantastic. **1/2.

Joel Kinnaman as RoboCop

ROBOCOP (2014). Director: Jose Padilha.

In the future American robots are used for overseas combat, but so far the country has resisted the idea of having robot police men back in the U.S. Omnicorp, a company run by Raymond Sellars (Michael Keaton of Batman),  hopes to change all that, and figures the answer is to use the same technology on a real human being. Their opportunity comes when Detroit officer Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) is nearly destroyed by an explosive device put in his car by a man named Vallon (Patrick Garrow). There's not much left of Murphy -- the movie's most startling scene has his armor dropping off to reveal how much of his original body is actually missing -- but he's put in a high-tech suit and given assorted abilities to fight crime. Dr. Dennett Norton (Gary Oldman) is able to override Murphy's consciousness, but his memories still fight to the surface and take over. Do either Norton or Sellars care about the ethical concerns of this "project," and why won't Omnicorp let Murphy's wife Clara (Abbie Cornish) visit him? There are many interesting elements to this remake of the original Robocop, and the film boasts some excellent performances from Keaton and especially Kinnaman, with a solid supporting cast (such as Jackie Earle Haley [Shutter Island] as the snarky Mattox and Samuel L Jackson [The Spirit] as a commentator, among others), but the action scenes are cluttered and uninvolving, even a bit dull. The amount of time, energy and money made to turn Murphy into RoboCop doesn't make the project seem very cost-effective, which the movie hilariously ignores.

Verdict: The performances help put this over. **1/2.

THE HORROR COMICS: Fiends, Freaks and Fantastic Creatures, 1940s - 1980s. William Schoell. McFarland publishing; 2014.

Another shameless plug for my latest book, which covers about forty-five years of horror stories told in comic books. Many of these were influenced by films and radio, and sometimes the stories in horror comic books were turned into movies -- without crediting the comic book. Fans of the controversial and vivid EC horror comics will enjoy reading about the stories that were adapted for such series as Tales from the Crypt as well as for the theatrical films Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror. Then there were long-running comics based on The Twilight Zone and Boris Karloff's Thriller. Giant bugs, bloodsucking vampires, flesh-eating fiends, giant voracious man-eating crabs, psychotic wives with axes, deals with the devil, adulterous husbands with murder on their minds, flesh-tearing werewolves, giant spiders with human heads and fangs, dinosaurs out-of-time and on the rampage, Frankenstein and Dracula -- The Horror Comics has it all. You'll read about such stories as "Airboy vs the Rats;" gory classics like "Foul Play;" weird ones like Simon and Kirby's "Head of the Family;" chilling heart-breakers like "Mr. Reilly, the Derelict" and "The Kid's Night Out;" adaptations of Poe, Lovecraft, Stevenson and Ray Bradbury -- and much more, such as the classic terror tale from Dell's Ghost Stories: "The Horror of Dread End," which gave many a kid nightmares back in the day. You can order direct from the publisher's website or from Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

David Suchet as Hercule Poirot

THE BIG FOUR (2014 telefilm/PBS: Masterpiece Mystery -- Poirot.) Director: Peter Lydon.

Agatha Christie's "The Big Four," published in 1927, was an unusual Hercule Poirot novel in that -- while there were elements of classic detective fiction in it -- it was seemingly inspired by pulp fiction. Poirot was up against four powerful and well-known individuals -- one of whom was a former actor and supreme master of disguise -- who had banded together to achieve world domination. While Christie's prose lacked the rich atmosphere and descriptive power of, say, Sax Rohmer (who wrote the Fu Manchu novels), the novel moved at breakneck speed, was suspenseful and exciting, and had Poirot solving intricate cases (which always had to do with the Big Four)  in his usual adept and clever manner. After many skirmishes with the enemy, Poirot triumphs in the literally explosive conclusion.

In this adaptation of the novel, script writer Mark Gatiss has taken the basic premise of the book and turned it on its end. [The teleplay takes place much closer to WW2 than the novel does.] Along the way it at times becomes just as absurd as one could accuse the book of being, although the producers of the series probably think they are being more reasonable. There is a reporter (Tom Brooke) who believes rumors of a Big Four; an American millionaire, Ryland (James Carroll Jordan); and a French lady scientist of distinction, Madame Olivier (Patricia Hodge). One man is murdered while playing chess, while another meets his end with his head in a fireplace. Two other individuals embroiled in the events are actress Flossie Munro (Sarah Parish) and Dr. Quentin (Simon Lowe); the latter in particular is a cast stand-out. Assistant Commissioner Japp (Philip Jackson), secretary Miss Lemon (Pauline Moran), and dear old friend Hastings (Hugh Fraser) are along for the ride, albeit briefly. David Suchet [Dracula] is, as ever, superb as Poirot. This is vastly inferior to the novel, but not bad for what it is.

Verdict: Entertaining and well-acted. **1/2.

JASON PRIESTLEY: A MEMOIR. Jason Priestley with Julie McCarron. HarperCollins; 2014.

Jason Priestley became well-known when he appeared on the long-running television series Beverly Hills 90210 -- he has been a busy actor ever since. In this memoir Priestley, who started working as a model and actor at a very early age, writes about the effects of fame, his colleagues on the show, his film projects, occasional stage appearances, early girlfriends, a racing accident that nearly killed him, and his wife and children. Along the way he documents some truly stupid behavior, and on more than one occasion writes about how he needed to grow up, that being a celebrity did not prepare one for a normal life. Priestley is typical of some celebrities who bemoan the fact that they lose their privacy and all that goes with it, but forgets that this loss came about because of success, not because of a personal tragedy or some disaster -- would he rather have been an unknown waiter desperate for an acting career? McCarron insures that the book reads well, and it will probably be of interest to young, aspiring actors as it does describe how the business of acting, and making a career at it, works. Priestley writes hardly a word about his film with John Hurt, Love and Death on Long Island. For some reason Priestley uses a comparatively crappy photo of himself on the cover.

Verdict: Strictly for fans and aspiring actors. **1/2.

Chad Allen and Robert Gant of Save Me

In honor of New York's Gay Pride March this Sunday June 29th, 2014, we present our second annual round-up of gay-themed movies (or at least films with gay characters). This year we focus on a drama about the ex-gay industry, Save Me; a political thriller with a gay lead character, The Walker; a Lifetime telefilm about a young woman's coming out, The Truth about Jane; the cable biopic about the flamboyantly stereotypical Liberace, Behind the Candelabra; the first major Hollywood movie on gay relationships, Making Love; the first telefilm to deal with homosexuality, That Certain Summer; and the controversial The Dying Gaul, which has been called a "gay revenge fantasy" -- among other things.

More reviews on their way! [including The Jones Family Go to Provincetown].

TWC spokesman

New Time-Warner Cable of NY commercial.

In a new commercial for Time-Warner Cable of New York, which offers a "bundle" offer of phone, TV and Internet, we see a wife dreamily starring out the window at a good-looking guy washing his car. Her husband -- who is whiny and nerdy and much less attractive -- is doing a crossword or something along those lines. "Do you think you settled?" the husband says, startling the wife, who is thinking just that as she watches the good-looking guy. But the husband is talking about cable service. Suddenly the TWC spokesman magically appears in their living room, and tells them about the new TWC bundle. The husband is ecstatic. "We don't have to settle!" The wife is pleased, but you can tell she's still thinking about the guy washing his car. I don't know -- I recognize that when it comes to couples many people do feel that they've settled, but is dissatisfaction in marriage, as well as sexual frustration, something that should be used to sell cable service? The spot is meant to be amusing, but there's something creepy and pathetic about it.  You're not certain if you're supposed to feel sorry for the frustrated, disappointed wife or the clueless husband. In any case, the "creators" of the ad seem to understand that in some marriages there is more satisfaction in watching television than there is in the bedroom or anywhere else. Sad.

Verdict: Kind of gross all told. **.

Now in [trade] paperback!

CREATURE FEATURES: NATURE TURNED NASTY IN THE MOVIES. William Schoell. McFarland.

Shameless plug:

McFarland has just issued an inexpensive trade paperback edition of my book Creature Features: Nature Turned Nasty in the Movies. It can be ordered on their website and from amazon. 

The hardcover edition of Creature Features got some interesting reviews. One gal apparently thought the book was too cerebral, while another fellow thought it wasn't cerebral enough. These were two diametrically-opposed critiques, with one basically saying that there's no point in subjecting these kinds of movies to serious analysis, and the other going on pretentiously about the lack of "sub-texts." [I see nothing wrong in looking at the performances in say, giant bug movies, but nothing will get me to say that The Giant Behemoth is actually a study of post-Freudian separation anxiety or something like that.] What can you do with reviewers like those but laugh?

On the other hand, Monster Memories magazine called it "A must read ... Schoell knows his stuff ... Schoell has done a superb job in offering a fresh slant on a genre we thought we knew everything about." American Reference Books Annual listed it as a "critical, informative review."

While published by a scholarly press, Creature Features is written in an accessible, popular and not stereotypically "academic" style.

In other words, it's informative but fun.

End of shameless plug.

Robert Sella, Arnie Burton, Robert Sella, Arnie Burton

THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP. Written by Charles Ludlam. Directed by Everett Quinton. At the Lucille Lortel Theatre on Christopher Street; New York City. April - May 2014. Presented by Red Bull Theater.

This is the 30th anniversary of the late Charles Ludlam's "camp classic" The Mystery of Irma Vep, which starts off as a spoof of Rebecca, set at "Mandercrest," throws in a little of The Wolfman and Dracula as well as Jane Eyre and many other Gothic stories, and almost turns into Psycho before it's over  -- half the fun is getting the references. All of the parts are played by two wonderful actors, who perform (more than) half the time in drag and the rest out of drag. The maid at Mandercrest, Jane (Robert Sella), thinks that the new Lady, a former actress named Enid (Arnie Burton), is a vulgarian who can't hold a candle to the late Lady Irma, whose picture and aura hang over everything and everybody. The one-legged Nicodemus observes as his Lord Hillcrest snares the werewolf that's been devouring their sheep -- but is it the right wolf? Then there's the question of the Egyptian mummy who looks so much like Lady Enid which the Lord discovers in a surprisingly un-dusty tomb ... Admittedly Irma Vep can be pretty silly and it isn't everyone's cup of java, but if you're in the right mood and appreciate extremely talented farceurs, it will have you steadily laughing. Quinton's direction is inventive and the actors seem to be having as much fun as the audience, and there's a hilarious bit when Jane tries to explain to Lady Enid why Nicodemus can't join them in the room [it's the same actor, of course]. Amazingly, there is a plot and everything is explained at the end.

I first saw this in the late nineties with that genius Everett Quinton playing one of the leads. If memory serves me well there was perhaps more "quick change" artistry in that production, with an actor, say, walking around a column and literally becoming a new character in new dress in what seemed like seconds; I just remember being astonished. There's none of that in the production at the Lucille Lortel but don't be too disappointed -- Robert Sella and Arnie Burton are still amazing and spirited as they good-naturedly spoof cinematic types and conventions and occasionally indulge in some old-style silent movie type flamboyance. Fans of classic movies will perhaps enjoy the show best of all -- it runs until May 11th, 2014.

Verdict: Inspired lunacy with very talented performers. ***1/2.

The cast of City Center Encores' The Most Happy Fella

THE MOST HAPPY FELLA. New York City Center Encores. April 2014.

Arguably lyricist-composer Frank Loesser created the finest version of Sidney Howard's Pulitzer prize-winning "They Knew What They Wanted" with his musical theater masterpiece The Most Happy Fella. City Center Encores presented a semi-staged production with lots of singing and dancing in April 2014, and it served to remind the very appreciative audience of just how memorable this musical/opera is. Awash in sensitive melody from start to first, it tells the story of vintner Tony Esposito (Shuler Hensley), an uneducated middle-aged man who falls for a young and pretty waitress he calls Rosabella (Laura Benanti). Foolishly he sends her the picture of his young friend and worker, Joe (Cheyenne Jackson), instead of his own, setting up a situation that can only culminate in, as his sister Marie (Jessica Molaskey) would put it, trouble. Rosabella agrees to marry Tony, but gets a bitter surprise when she shows up in Napa Valley ... Besides this triangle, there's a secondary, comical romance between Rosabella's friend Cleo (Heidi Blickenstaff) and another of Tony's workers (Jay Armstrong Johnson). Directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw, this production boasts a remarkably talented cast. Benanti has a wonderful voice that wraps itself around such numbers as "Warm All Over" and "Somebody Somewhere." While he may not be a Robert Weede vocally (Weede sang the role in the original production), Hensley still has a good voice and his acting is excellent. Jackson demonstrates his beautiful singing with Joe's big number "Joey, Joey, Joey," and Blickenstaff, Molaskey, and Johnson also give superior performances. I was also especially impressed with Zachary James and Kevin Vortmann, but I must say the entire company performed with verve and enthusiasm. But if The Most Happy Fella doesn't bring out the best in everyone, what will? One final note: We don't learn that "Rosabella's" real name is Amy until the very end of the show, but of course Tony had to know her real name because of their exchange of letters. This production makes a few cuts, and Marie's number (Eyes of a Stranger, but don't quote me) rarely is included these days.

Verdict: A masterpiece. ****.

A few members of the mighty Justice League

JUSTICE LEAGUE: WAR (direct-to-video animated feature/2014). Director: Jay Oliva.

In 2012 DC Comics decided to reboot its entire line of comic books, including Superman, Batman, and Justice League of America, basically starting at the beginning and picking and choosing what would stay in continuity and what wouldn't. This animated feature film is based on the first few issues of the new Justice League comic book, and details the birth of the hero Cyborg (Shemar Moore), the first face-to-face meeting of Batman and Superman (not to mention Green Lantern), and the introduction of the new butch warrior Wonder Woman, who is somewhat scary. There's also Captain Marvel, who joins the others to take on the threat of Jack Kirby's creations Darkseid, his lieutenant DeSaad, and a whole slew of monstrous "parademons." The animation is fluid, the direction good, but the parademons don't make the most interesting antagonists, and there seems to be more of them than of Darkseid, although the villain does get his licks in during a big-time battle at the end. Superman and the Justice League's fight with Darkseid in the Superman cartoon program was more entertaining. You can read about the origins of many of these heroes in The Silver Age of Comics.

Verdict: Colorful and fast-paced, if strictly for Justice League fanatics. **1/2.