THE DANMAN CAN

Two years before making his more famous and successful of the two screwball comedies , The Philadelphia Story  (1940) (my review here ),  George Cukor directed Holiday   (1938), also starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant  (the third of four pairings of the two cinema greats). Of those two films, Holiday is a more somber affair—trading over-the-top laughs for dry humor. While it's hard to relate to rich people being rich, that's kind of par for the course in 1930s and 40s comedies, and there is still a compelling story here about the patriarchy and the very distinct ways it affects each of one affluent man's three children. Hepburn is on fire and Grant, while not quite as memorable as in, say, Bringing Up Baby (1938) or His Girl Friday (1940) (my review here ), is also very good (and uses his physical comedy skills to great effect).  Holiday provides a satisfying blend of humor and drama in a story about two people from very different backgroun...

Much like Richard Stanley 's debut feature film,  Hardware  (1990) (my review here ), his latest, Color Out Of Space (2019) has so much potential on the surface—the source material, the concept, and, of course, Nicolas Cage —and like Hardware , it unfortunately just never fully delivers. Stanley hadn't completed a narrative feature film in twenty-seven years (he's made a number of documentaries), since his best one, Dust Devil (1992). He was famously fired from The Island Of Dr. Moreau (1996), which is covered in depth in the excellent documentary Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey Of Richard Stanley's Island Of Dr. Moreau  (2014). Having finished H.P. Lovecraft 's excellent  1927 short story  which serves as the basis for this film right before I commenced to watch it, I had the tale fresh in my mind. It involves a meteorite that crashes on the farmhouse of the Gardner family, "poisoning every living being nearby; vegetation grows large but foul tasting...

After ripping off Star Wars (1977), Barbarella (1968) (my review here ) and Flash Gordon (1980) (my review here ) in his 1978 film Starcrash (my review here ), Luigi Cozzi  (under the alias Lewis Coates) decided to tackle an Alien  (1979) (my review here ) rip-off (with James Bond villain elements for good measure) with Contamination  (1980). Despite gory slow motion chest explosions (which earned the film a place on the Video Nasties list), a fantastic score by "The" Goblin  (in actuality only three key members of the band, which has had many, many varied lineups), some very amusing dialogue, and a laughably poor and immobile "Alien Cyclops" puppet in the film's climax (which isn't a spoiler because it's mentioned right in the intro credits), Contamination  still manages to drag quite a bit and never fully recovers. As far as Italian exploitation, you can do much worse but you can also do much better. I've seen the film three times now an...

I finally got around to seeing Maximum Overdrive (1986). Its reputation precedes it. The film makes very little sense (a comet causes machines to go haywire but some machines aren’t affected?), it lacks any suspense, has paper thin characters (and particularly poor women characters), sloppy editing, a choppy score (the AC/DC songs are fine), and lots of goofiness. There’s some fun and laughs (and lots of explosions) to be had—in a very ‘80s way. But somehow, despite a cool concept, a film that had the potential to be a camp classic is just sorta...OK. I guess what can you expect when the director ( Stephen King himself in his sole directing credit) claims he was coked out of his mind when he made it? Yo u can find my Stephen King Feature & Television Film Adaptations Ranked list here .

The Deer Hunter (1978), which I've seen numerous times, has always been a frustrating watch for me. On one hand it's a masterpiece and rightfully beloved; on the other it's overlong and drags on more than one occasion. Michael Cimino 's directing,  Vilmos Zsigmond 's cinematography, and all of the performances are outstanding. The way the film unfolds is much like the first two  Godfather films, even sharing two of the same actors. I just don't find the film as engaging as  Coppola 's epic gangster films. I'm not disputing the intensity and emotional devastation on display, thanks to the impressive cast. And I don't mind the wedding sequence being as long as it is. I do appreciate that you get a real feel for the film's working class characters before they go to war. But I've always found that The Deer Hunter  loses a lot of steam after the initial Russian roulette sequence. There are still some really powerful scenes that follow. But I ...

Papillon  (1973) or the other Great Escape . Released ten years after that classic John Sturges   film —also starring Steve McQueen — Franklin J. Schaffner 's epic drama co-stars Dustin Hoffman  and sees both stars giving two of their best performances. The mood is bleak yet sprinkled with humor, the cinematography is exceptional throughout—making excellent use of the 2.35:1 aspect ratio and employing various techniques (slow motion, split diopter, and interesting points of view), and Jerry Goldsmith 's score, though sparingly used, is great (seriously, when are his scores not?). The film drops you right into the action—the year 1933, our two main characters marching through the streets on their way to French Guiana to serve life sentences—one wrongfully accused of murder and the other an embezzler who believes his wife will get him released. Papillon chronicles French convict  Henri Charrière 's real experiences regarding his incarceration and escape, recorded in...

Review

I wish I'd seen 10 To  Midnight   (1983) sooner, as I'm willing to go out on a limb and label it a minor sleaze classic. I really wasn't expecting the film to be as good as it is, but I'm sure the fact that J. Lee Thompson ( Cape Fear  (1962), The Guns Of Navarone (1961), and two of the 70s POTA films, including one of the very best,  Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes   (1972)) directed it has something to do with that fact. I'd seen a few of their productions when I was younger, but for the most part I didn't grow up watching Cannon Group / Golan & Globus  films, so it's been a real treat discovering their work in my 30s and now 40s (gulp). Their brand of exploitation is recognizable across genres and carries with it a certain mark of quality, despite the low to mid level budgets of their films. Of their  films that I've seen , none are complete schlock and they are frequently and consistently entertaining. The production values alway...

Review

The Point (1971), a childhood and family favorite of mine, is a humorous, poignant, and trippy fable about tolerance, inclusion, and individuality. Based on Harry Nilsson 's excellent sixth studio album, The Point! , released the same year, and beautifully brought to life by director/animator Fred Wolf , the animated film is the story of one Oblio, a child born with a round head in the Land of Point, a village where everything has a physical point (buildings, art, food, and everyone else's heads). Oblio and his trusted dog Arrow  are eventually banished to The Pointless Forest, where the duo meet many unusual characters and learn life lessons. Originally airing as an ABC Movie of the Week , the film has had four narrators over the years— Dustin Hoffman (first telecast), Alan Barzman (second telecast), Alan Thicke (third telecast on The Disney Channel and the version that I grew up with), and Ringo Starr (home video releases). The message is delivered a bit heavy...

Deliverance  (1972), one of three excellent John Boorman films made within a five year span, still packs a punch nearly fifty years since its release. Disturbing, moving, funny and visceral in equal measure, Deliverance is a beautifully photographed (by Vilmos Zsigmond ), smartly edited, and perfectly cast story of friendship, survival, and the unforgiving nature of mankind and the wilderness.

Review

It's already been another six months since the last  DB Mixes   were posted! Time sure flies. It's the 16th day of the month, so we got another for ya. Read on to get the lowdown on  DB Mix Series 7 – Epilogues . For those unfamiliar with these music challenges—my cousin Bryan and I alternately choose a concept, we each choose the appropriate number of songs, make a playlist, share with each other, then I mix the playlists, design the album art, and share with you! You can check out the previous  DB Mixes  here . The concept this time was chosen by Bryan—each of us was to make a 26-track mix (one artist for each letter of the alphabet) of nothing but album closing tracks (from our available MP3 collections). We thought this would be an interesting mirror to  DB Mix Series 6 – First Impressions , where we chose all opening tracks. We decided to go Z–A for the artists chosen this time. We followed the same rules that we set for the previous mix: the...

Review

Before The Night Is Over (2020) is half of a really great film. It has a lot of intriguing elements going for it—a male bordello, murder, the occult, the devil. It doesn't all quite gel, but that doesn't mean that there isn't anything to appreciate about  BTNIO . The cinematography is often quite good but there were a few inconsistencies in the color grading (sometimes within the same scene), where you could tell shots were filmed on different days and in different lighting. While the photography of some of the sex scenes is well done—and, yes, the film is set in a brothel, so sex scenes are expected—they start to wear thin for such a short film (just shy of 80 minutes). I think part of the reason for that is that they feel a bit forced, playing as humorous (sometimes intentionally), rather than erotic. The lack of gore also hurts an exploitation film such as this—a few jaw-dropping scenes of violence with some well-executed makeup f/x would do much to up the shock fact...

On a rewatch, I'm still very conflicted regarding how I feel about Once Upon A Time In Hollywood   (2019)   due to what it depicts, how and why it depicts what it depicts, and due to Tarantino 's real life controversies and the context of his art. I will say that my feelings from my  original review  are still basically the same and there is plenty to appreciate. It's a complicated relationship and good art can sometimes be complicated.

I hadn't remembered specifics of The Brotherhood Of The Wolf (2001) but I do remember that I saw it when it was first released to the States in early 2002 and I remember loving it. That was 18 years ago though, I was much younger, I watched it in French, and my taste in film has changed. I'm pretty certain that I saw the film at least once more when the DVD was released in 2003. The melodrama is kind of amusing, the oversexed characterizations are good for a chuckle, Monica Bellucci  and Vincent Cassel are great (as always), and the fight scenes are decent (though too busy and quick-cutty to understand what is happening a good portion of the time). A lot of the techniques (such as the now overused camera slow-downs) were still fairly new at the time, so they probably seemed novel then. Parts of this genre mish-masher have not aged well at all—namely the titular CGI beast and the film's bloated running time. The English dub does BOTW no favors—it just amplifies the hu...

What's Eating Gilbert Grape  (1993) is commendable for the way that it treats its characters, those members of the Grape family that sit outside "normal" functioning society, never making them a joke (to quote Momma Grape). Outside of that fact and an excellent and sensitive performance by Leonardo DiCaprio , I found a lot of the characters underutilized and underdeveloped (a shame with such an incredible cast). I also found the score to be quite saccharine, with  Depp just floating his way through it all. Which kind of makes sense for the character of Gilbert, but the film really drags and becomes too po-faced in the second half, only to be "redeemed" by a typical happy ending. It's still very enjoyable and well-made, but this film had the makings of something truly special—it just never quite gets there for this viewer.

It's interesting that I've watched  Benny and Josh Safdie 's films in reverse chronological order, as they've gotten better and better with each film—my review of  Uncut Gems  (2019) here , my review of  Good Time  (2017) here , I have yet to see Daddy Longlegs  (2009). I am glad that it happened this way because, honestly, if this had been the first film of theirs that I'd seen, followed by Good Time , I might have been less interested to see Uncut Gems . Which is to say, Heaven Knows What (2014) is my least favorite of their films that I've seen and I can't see myself rewatching it. However it's still a good film—it has their trademark style of shooting and editing with an even more documentary-like quality. But I couldn't find myself connecting with the characters at all (it's like a  Harmony Korine  film without the comedy). I can appreciate that Arielle Holmes  laid herself bare with her story and performance, based on her real life...

Upon a rewatch, I'm very pleased to find that my feelings toward The Nightingale (2018) remain true to my original review . Jennifer Kent 's second feature film is a huge step up in quality—a powerful, emotional, visceral experience that doesn't seem to have received the attention it deserves.

Lucio Fulci 's The House By The Cemetery  (1981) has always instilled in me a feeling of frustration. Frustration at the fact that, with a little more fine-tuning, I think it could have been a much better film. As it is, though there is a supernatural quality to the film, it lacks the ghoulish atmosphere of better Fulci films like  The City Of The Living Dead (1980) ( review ) and  The Beyond   (1981) and uses enough of the same themes and situations, in less satisfying ways, that it feels more like recycling, as opposed to trademarks. The acting also isn't great (save for Catriona MacColl )—the reactions too slow or nonexistent—Fulci is known to linger uncomfortably long on takes but in House  it feels particularly awkward. Fulci made three films released in 1981 and only one of them, The Beyond , is truly noteworthy (one of his best). The other one, The Black Cat  ( review ) is, like House ,   enjoyable overall but nothing special. There are ...

After a second viewing of The Predator  (2018) (my initial review here ), my thoughts from the first time are not only confirmed, but amplified, resulting in a full star deduction. In addition to everything wrong with the film that I mentioned in my original review, add the annoyance of the dialogue constantly being delivered too quickly—including  Olivia Munn 's snarky delivery of every line (which really gets under my skin), callous and unnecessary killing of characters that don't deserve it (often times by our "heroes," rather than the aliens), and outdated humor that revolves around autism and Tourette's. The Predator  is a tonal and total mess, populated by weak characters, messy action, and zero gravitas, that devolves into typical action movie fare by the finale (which can't arrive soon enough). Woof.

I watched  Michael Radford 's  1984 film adaptation  of  George Orwell 's novel  1984   (1949) for the second time last year. In my review of the film ( here ), I commented how I hadn't read Orwell's book since high school and that I couldn't vouch for exactly how faithful to it the film remained. I've now finally read the novel for a second time and all I can say is "wow"—the film really is an accurate representation of the imagery that is conjured in my head when I read the book. Perhaps it's unfair to the book (even though I did read it first, probably about 25 years ago) for me to picture scenes from the film as I read it, but it is just so incredibly true to the tone and descriptions. I think the one area where the book falls short is in addressing race, as it pertains to the state of the world in 1984. It barely touches upon the subject and it doesn't seem realistic that it wouldn't factor into the class structure of the novel. ...