Dracula A.D. 1972

1972 - Hammer Films
Directed By Alan Gibson


SYNOPSIS


A group of hippies are bored so they hold a black mass and resurrect Count Dracula (Christopher Lee.) Dracula arranged the whole thing to get revenge on the Van Helsing family. Jessica Van Helsing (Stephanie Beacham) is one of the hippies. When some of her friends turn up dead and then she goes missing, her grandfather and occult expert (Peter Cushing) goes looking for her.

MY THOUGHTS

Should have been called Drek-ula.


I know Hammer's films tended to be on the cheesy, campy side, but this goes TOO FAR. It's in Limburger territory.


The closest thing to creativity in the screenplay is the lead hippie's name is Johnny Alucard - yes Alucard is Dracula spelled backwards. Far out man... Some of the hippie lingo and one-liners are so bad it's amazing the actors didn't wince while saying them ("Laura will be there. A bit drained, but she'll be there.") Plot-wise its the same old tired Dracula story.


Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing are both fine actors, and in their signature roles, Dracula and Van Helsing. They deserve much better than this steaming pile. They also hold the distinction of being the only two actors in the film who don't give a completely embarrassing performance.

The music seems to be from an entirely different film or it could be made up of rejected theme songs from 1960's game shows. They should have just used the theme from the Benny Hill Show - it would have been just as effective.

If you do decide to see Dracula A.D. 1972, make sure you have some holy water, garlic and a crucifix or you may not survive.

Friday Night Lights

2004
Directed By Peter Berg


SYNOPSIS

In Texas, where high school football is practically a religion, one very competitive team strives to overcome extreme pressures from the community, their coach (Billy Bob Thornton) and their everyday lives in order to succeed and make it to the state finals.

MY THOUGHTS

Based on a book (based on a true story) Friday Night Lights faithfully creates the struggles of small town high school students trying desperately to succeed and impress their coaches and community.

It's an incredibly difficult task to tell an entire high school football season in under two hours... and as a result the film moves at a very brisk pace filled with many montages. Several games are completely skipped over. Sometimes all we see are brief highlights of the important games.

The high school players are introduced and all there's time for is the basic gist of the character. So, they are very stereotypical and cliched young lives (one is an egotistical hotshot, one has an abusive father, one is caring for his sick single mother, etc.) We learn little more about the young players (other than their hopes to play in college,) but the young actors are so effective in their roles that they appear practically fully-fleshed.

Lucas Black (as the quarterback with the ill mother) is excellent in his deeply emotional role as the center of the team. Garrett Hedlund also shines as the running back with his abusive ex-football playing father (Tim McGraw) that he's trying to please and impress.

These character introductions are done very fast in the film and its impressive that we understand these players before the 30 minute mark in the film.


The game scenes create as much tension as you would find in the fights in the original Rocky. The in-game action rivals even the best NFL games... with many jaw-dropping hits.
The film also matches Rocky's main theme that the struggle is far more important than the actual win. This theme is far more effectively achieved by using a team sport rather than a solo sport like boxing.

Football is a sport that doesn't translate as well as others to the big screen like boxing... but Friday Night Lights is by far one of the best football films.

Fat City

1972 - Columbia Pictures
Directed By John Huston


SYNOPSIS

An alcoholic down-on-his-luck boxer Tully (Stacy Keach) spots 18-year old boxing hopeful Ernie (Jeff Bridges.) He sends the young man to his old manager (Nicholas Colasanto.) Soon, Ernie is a rising star but gets sidetracked when his girlfriend (Candy Clark) gets pregnant. Tully is a migrant laborer picking walnuts and onions for handouts in between drinks and hooks up with another hopeless drunk (Susan Tyrrell.) His frustration with their relationship convinces him to start training to box again. He convinces Ernie to return to the ring as well... but can he stay away from the bottle?

 MY THOUGHTS

A deep and meaningful character piece.

Fat City fits the 'mold' of the many intimate personal films of the early 1970's...stories that were never told that way before or since in the Hollywood mainstream. Films like Five Easy Pieces, The Last Detail, and Mean Streets are great examples of this sadly short-lived freedom that filmmakers had before the onset of blockbuster-itis killed creativity.

The story is of two boxers headed in opposite directions. Boxing is used only a metaphor here and not the gist of the story. The sport merely represents the everyday struggle of life. To fit this lack of focus on the sport, the boxing scenes are not central to the story and are shot very ordinary - unlike the fights in Rocky or Raging Bull would be later.

Above all, the performances make the film work. As usual with character studies, there isn't much of a heavy plot. It's more of the average everyday occurrences that happen to everyone. All of the actors bring a realism to their parts and have the freedom to make the roles their own without the encumbrance of a rigid plot... almost as much as the actors in the films of John Cassavetes.

All the characters are essentially losers... but they're oblivious to this.
Stacy Keach is certainly the standout performance. He is a drunk deadbeat whose life is in the toilet and would rather float in the bowl than try and climb out. He's been taken in by the American Dream, chewed up and spit out. Yet, we get to know this loser and even care about him despite his numerous flaws. That's very hard to pull off but Keach succeeds.

Also adding to the realism, much (or all) of the film seems to be shot on location using real crummy places that the characters would inhabit in Stockton, California. It's all shot with natural light, giving it a grittiness that's missing all that Hollywood gloss.

With so many gems in director John Huston's resume, Fat City is certainly overlooked... but it is a masterpiece that deserves FAR more recognition.

Three On A Match

1932 - First National Pictures/Warner Brothers
Directed By Mervyn LeRoy

SYNOPSIS

3 schoolmates meet up after 10 years. Mary went to reform school (Joan Blondell,) Vivian went to a prestigious boarding school (Ann Dvorak) and Ruth on to a technical college (Bette Davis.) Vivian married a wealthy lawyer (Warren William) and had a boy. She’s unhappy in the marriage and takes the child with her on a vacation without her husband. While at a pre-sail party, she falls for Michael (Lyle Talbot) and leaves the ship and shacks up with him. Mary finds out where she is and tells her husband who comes for the child. He files for divorce and asks Mary to marry him. Michael owes money to gangsters and decides to kidnap the kid. The gangsters (Edward Arnold, Humphrey Bogart, Allen Jenkins) hold Michael, Vivian and the kid in safe keeping until they can get the ransom money.

 MY THOUGHTS

The above (long-winded) synopsis makes Three On A Match seem like a long drawn-out soap opera that could be a 6 hour TV miniseries… but in reality the film clocks in at just over an hour. It’s very economical filmmaking. Every second is there in order to advance the plot. No fancy, artsy, self-indulgent camera shots, no meandering sub-plots, no foreshadowing or subtext - it’s just the high speed rollercoaster ride complete with lighting-quick dialogue that defined the Warner Brothers films of the 1930’s.

The breezy pace keeps characters (or the audience) from stopping to think about their actions. There are more than a few head-scratching moments. This is most evident in the relationship between Warren William and Joan Blondell’s characters. ‘Match’ moves on so quickly to the next part of the story that the audience never gets a chance to say “Wait… what????”

The film certainly fits the bill as a pre-code film.  The violence and racy double entendres that defined the pre-code era are not as strong here as in other films, but Vivian’s blatant infidelity and lack of care for her child definitely wouldn’t fly after the Production Code was strictly enforced in 1934. It’s not explicitly mentioned, but it’s clear that Vivian also develops a drug (cocaine?) habit along with her rampant  alcoholism and develops dark circles around her eyes by the film’s end. These elements give the film a rougher, darker edge that would virtually disappear a few years later.

Joan Blondell and Ann Dvorak shine in their bad girl roles.  One starts out bad and goes good while the other starts good and goes bad. The rest of the characters are not as dynamic and as a result less memorable. Bette Davis’ character barely has an influence on the story and spends most of her screen time on the periphery.

Three On A Match is still a unique and eye-opening film and a great example of pre-code film.

Youth In Revolt

2010 - Dimension Films
Directed By Miguel Arteta


SYNOPSIS

All teen Nick Twisp (Michael Cera) wants is to get laid. When his mother's boyfriend (Zack Galifianakis) gets into trouble the three of them hide out in a trailer park. There, Nick meets Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday) and falls in love. His family soon leaves and Nick must find a way to get back to be with the girl he loves. After committing arson and getting Sheeni kicked out of a prestigious school, Nick must now avoid the cops and convince Sheeni he's the guy for her.

MY THOUGHTS


C.D. Payne's novel Youth In Revolt is probably the funniest novel I've ever read, so going into the film adaptation I was expecting a lot. There was far too much going on in the novel to fully translate into a film without a chainsaw being taken to the text. And it was.

The film works as a sort-of Cliffs Notes version of the book. Several memorable set-pieces and characters are severely trimmed down or cut completely to fit space of the film, leaving a hollow shell of what was, yet the highlights are strong enough to tell a decent story.

Youth would have worked perfectly as a mini-series. At one time, MTV was trying to develop one that never came to be. To fit as a feature film, too much had to be sacrificed to tell a truly hilarious and memorable story. This 'butchered' version of Youth In Revolt is merely OK. There are several laugh-out-loud moments, but were FAR more hilarious in the book.

Payne's novel followed a daily journal format, which is abandoned for the film. This loses a sense of immediacy and an understanding of the real working of Nick's brain, which made him seem far more real on the written page.

The film, however, was perfectly cast. Michael Cera was born to play Nick and his alter ego, Francois Dillinger. Nick is the same impish socially awkward type that Cera has been playing since Arrested Development. Francois represents something completely different. He's dangerous and conniving and the complete opposite of Nick. Cera is able to show far more range than he's be allowed to in other films. It would have been nice to see more of Francois, but much was lost in translation to the screen.

The rest of the all-star cast, including Fred Willard, Steve Buscemi, and Jean Smart provide solid and often hilarious support, but their truncated parts left me pining for the book.

Without reading the book I would have found it hard to connect with the oddball characters and likely hated the film, but reading it allowed me to somewhat appreciate the film, and yet watching the film made me want to go back and read the book again instead.


the book:

Tron

1982 - Disney
Directed By Steven Lisberger


SYNOPSIS

Fired computer programmer Flynn (Jeff Bridges) breaks into his former employer's computer system to retrieve a file that would prove he created the company's most profitable video games instead of company head Ed Dillinger (David Warner.) The master control program (MCP) sucks Flynn into the computer. Inside, Flynn meets Tron, a program created by (and looks like) his friend/coworker, Alan, (Bruce Boxleitner.) He must help Tron overcome and take down the MCP.

MY THOUGHTS

I've been geeking out about the upcoming sequel to Tron (Tron Legacy) and decided to revisit the original. I was never a huge fan of the film as a child. I found the film confusing (both plot-wise and all the jargon) and very boring except during the major effects sequences.

Upon my revisit, I found a very intriguing and intelligent film that was often misunderstood.
The plot is very simple. Look at it as a take on Spartacus. Flynn is taken from his normal life and made to become a gladiator in the virtual world, much like Spartacus. He teams up with an ally to create a better world.

Much of the jargon has become commonplace to anyone with a basic computer knowledge in today's world and that helps alleviate much of the confusion.


Tron was released the same year as the equally misunderstood and ahead-of-its-time Blade Runner. Both were similarly trashed by critics and turned up dead at the box office only to later gain a large following. Blade Runner is a deep film and Tron is no different. The real and virtual worlds of Tron create interesting parallels that are sealed by the closing time lapse shots of the city showing (ground and air) traffic moving along much like data moving along circuits. The corresponding actors in each universe help to show how both worlds are interrelated.

The performances are strong especially Jeff Bridges and David Warner as the villain. Bridges' badass Flynn keeps the film from getting boring (to a now older viewer!) Boxleitner has the thankless role as the bland all-good hero but still is able to create an unique character.

The then-groundbreaking special effects of 1982 don't equal the resolution and detail of  your average 2010 production, yet are still very effective today. They definitely create an otherworldly look that represents an abstract virtual world and still work as great eye candy today.


Tron is still a unique and different film in 2010 and hopefully it's sequel will be equally as groundbreaking and uniquely cool.

 Here's the trailer for Tron Legacy:

Shaolin Tiger Claw

1974
Directed By Tin Chi Ng

SYNOPSIS

A young man (Cliff Lok) quests to be the best in kung fu. He discovers one of the best masters around is in prison, so he gets thrown in jail. He meets the man known as The Tiger (Kien Shih) and demands a fight. The Tiger wants nothing to do with him, so he knocks The Tiger out and escapes from prison with him. The Tiger has many enemies outside of prison and the young man must fight them all off to preserve his chance to fight him.

MY THOUGHTS

An unremarkable but serviceable kung fu film.

The plot is threadbare, but you usually don't turn to kung fu films for intricate plots - it's all about the action. Shaolin Tiger Claw delivers fight after fight. The film was clearly a low budget affair, so you don't have the best fight choreographers. The choreography is still strong, but after awhile each battle starts to look like the one before. The fights are still very entertaining to watch, filled with many flying fists and the occasional weapon. Some of the fights are very lengthy, yet no one ever seems the least bit fatigued, which is more than odd.

Cliff Lok was clearly chosen for his fighting ability as the lead. He lacks the charisma and screen presence that made people like Bruce Lee, Sonny Chiba and Jackie Chan some of the big stars of the genre.

He's followed/assisted by a young woman. Her role is never explained. Is she a girlfriend/friend/sister/hired assistant? Who knows. She's just there.

The lackluster DVD transfer makes the low budget cinematography look even worse and the unusual dubbing takes most of the emotion out of the characters.

I went into the film worn out after a long day at work and just wanted some mindless action-filled entertainment and Shaolin Tiger Claw delivered just that.