Little Girl Extra Freaks Out In "The Adventures of Superman: The Monkey Mystery" (1952) (video)

Check out the little girl extra in this scene. 

She's going NUTS!

Let's hope we all live long enough to get that excited about something!


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

Little Girl Extra Freaks Out In "The Adventures of Superman: The Monkey Mystery" (1952) (video)

THE JACKIE GLEASON SHOW IN COLOR: DELUXE EDITION -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 5/3/18

 

One of my favorite variety shows as a kid was "The Jackie Gleason Show."  It was bright, colorful, funny, and fun, one of the best of a TV genre that is pretty much obsolete now but kept whole families entertained back in the 60s. 

I'm happy to say that a fresh look at twelve episodes from the show, thanks to Time-Life's 3-disc DVD set THE JACKIE GLEASON SHOW IN COLOR: DELUXE EDITION, finds Gleason's brand of comedy just as funny and appealing today as it was then, and perhaps even moreso since it now comes with a bracing blast of pure, blissful nostalgia. 

The sets and costumes are a blast of color all by themselves (after all, more and more people at the time were buying color TVs) but it's Gleason's deliciously down-to-earth wit and breezy interplay with his guests, made up of the top names in comedy at the time, that make these shows such a delight to watch.

Each show kicks off with Gleason's crowd-pleasing catchphrase "How sweet it is!" and his jokes about bandleader Sammy Spear's outrageous attire (a bit Johnny Carson would repeat nightly with Doc Severenson), after which he entertains the live audience by bringing out each guest one at a time, trading uproarious comedy barbs with them for awhile, and then leaving them alone to perform their acts.

These guests include such names as Groucho Marx, Jack Benny, George Burns, Milton Berle, Phil Silvers, Mickey Rooney, Red Buttons, Nipsey Russell, Sid Caesar, Jackie Vernon, Alan King, Jack E. Leonard, and Jan Murray. 

Also appearing with their stand-up routines are comics such as a very young George Carlin, Slappy White, Victor Borge, and some I've never even heard of.

Musical guests aren't as frequent on the show as the comics, but the ones we do see include the likes of Tony Bennett, Florence Henderson (pre-"Brady Bunch"), Frankie Avalon, Edie Adams, Robert Goulet, and Frank Sinatra, Jr.

Best of all, Gleason's late-60s variety show was the home of the classic color episodes of "The Honeymooners", with Jackie as blue-collar bus driver Ralph Kramden, Art Carney as his sewer-worker friend Ed Norton, Jane Kean as Norton's wife Trixie, and Sheila MacRae ably taking over the role of Ralph Kramden's loyal, long-suffering wife Alice. 

This DVD set offers seven "Honeymooners" sketches which haven't been seen since first aired--"Six Months To Live", "Alice's Birthday", "Lawsuit", "Hot Tip", "The New Bowling Ball", "Norton Moves In", and "The New Manager."  Each one is a prime example of the show's great writing and acting, resulting in some truly groundbreaking comedy, tinged with heartfelt pathos, that's still amazingly good.

The picture quality is fine considering the age of the shows.  Completists may chafe at the fact that all of the numbers by the June Taylor Dancers which normally opened each show have been snipped as well as anything else that might impede the comedy and songs.  The first disc was previously released as a single-disc DVD which we reviewed HERE.

Whether you're looking back in fond nostalgia or just discovering these shows for the first time, THE JACKIE GLEASON SHOW IN COLOR: DELUXE EDITION is a laugh-packed jaunt down Memory Lane that you're sure to get a kick out of. 


THE JACKIE GLEASON SHOW IN COLOR: DELUXE EDITION
Type: DVD/3 Discs
Running Time: 496 mins.
Rating: N/A
Genre: TV DVD
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 (4:3)
Audio: Stereo
Captions: English

THE JACKIE GLEASON SHOW IN COLOR: DELUXE EDITION -- DVD Review by Porfle

Little Harry Shearer in "ABBOTT & COSTELLO GO TO MARS" (1953)

Harry Shearer does lots of voices on "The Simpsons."

He also played Derek Smalls in the 1984 rock mockumentary "This Is Spinal Tap."

But before all that, he was a little kid -- making his film debut in a 1953 Abbott & Costello movie!



I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

Little Harry Shearer in "ABBOTT & COSTELLO GO TO MARS" (1953)

SPACEBALLS: THE TOTALLY WARPED ANIMATED ADVENTURES! -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

(Originally posted on 1/11/10)

 

 

 

When Mel Brooks' sci-fi spoof SPACEBALLS came out way back in the 80s, I only watched it once because it wasn't all that funny to me compared to his previous films, and I didn't like it very much. The same could be said for Mel Brooks' SPACEBALLS: THE TOTALLY WARPED ANIMATED ADVENTURES! (2008), only with even more emphasis on "not funny" and "didn't like." As low comedy, the laughs just aren't there, and as an exercise in shock value (cartoon characters saying and doing very crude things) much of it is enough to embarrass even John Kricfalusi.

As in the original film, Mel plays (that is, voices) the evil President Skroob of the planet Moron. Together with his diminutive henchman Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis in the movie, Dee Bradley Baker here), Skroob comes up with one dastardly scheme after another for ruling the universe, but is thwarted every time by interplanetary good guy Lone Starr (Rino Romano) and his canine co-pilot Barf (Tino Insana), who are patterned after STAR WARS' Han Solo and Chewbacca. Bill Pullman and the late John Candy are missing from these roles, but Daphne Zuniga and Joan Rivers are back as the ever-in-peril Princess Vespa and her faithful protocol droid Dot Matrix, who is like a female C3PO. Brooks also supplies the voice for Yogurt, a Yiddish Yoda who aids Lone Starr in using "The Schwartz" to battle evil.

The artwork for the series is pretty good--at times resembling a moving Bill "Zippy the Pinhead" Griffith comic--while the animation is done via digital manipulation a la "Aqua Teen Hunger Force." This doesn't quite compliment the series' BLAZING SADDLES-style humor which depends so much on performance to put it across, especially considering that much of the voice work here is less than stellar.

Brooks tries his best to liven up the stale, smut-filled dialogue he has to work with but the medium is simply too constricting and makes him sound stilted. His "Yogurt" character grows especially tiresome with its endless string of Jewish jokes, and the attempts at topical humor mostly fall flat (Yogurt's nagging wife Yenta chides him for eating imitation shellfish: "Kosher-shmosher! Still gives you more gas than Dubai.") The "adult" nature of the show's humor manifests itself mainly in a plethora of boobs, barf, blow-up dolls, overt sexual sight gags, single entendres, and fart jokes.

Four of the series' thirteen episodes are on hand here, and can be viewed either seperately or combined into a "feature" with new interlocking segments in the form of a telethon-slash-infomercial for President Skroob's new book, "The Moron's Guide to Conquering the Universe and Beyond." The first episode, "Outbreak", concerns Skroob and Dark Helmet's plan to spread Ebola and Ecoli throughout the galaxy with a new soft drink called Ecola. When all shipments of the tainted cola are accidentally sent to their own planet Moron, they must call upon Lone Starr and Barf to save the day as the entire infected population begins to drown in its own barf.

There's a big barf sequence with a random fart-joke topper that provides a few laughs. We also get some pretty groan-inducing lines such as a conversation about "moving the bowels" of the ship, Dark Helmet's "I'm getting a bad case of deja-voodoo!", and Skroob announcing "I can see your Schwartz is as firm as ever, but it's no match for mine!" A sequence showing Dark Helmet trying to fit his head into the tight folds of a tent entrance is a prime example of the kind of anatomical visual humor this series has to offer.

"The Skroobinator" pokes fun at a certain Arnold flick (along with BACK TO THE FUTURE) with Skroob scheming to go back in time to the 1980s and kill Lone Starr's great-great-great-etc-grandmother. The one redeeming feature of this episode is a pretty good chase sequence although the "hog" joke might make you wince. In "Deep Ship", Skroob tricks Princess Vespa into his clutches by luring her and Dot Matrix onto an interplanetary cruise ship to the planet Areola (where things tend to get "a bit nippy"), making way for a string of clunky gags based on TITANIC and THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE. Not surprisingly, the ship eventually gets sucked into the Galaxy of Bad Gas, prompting Skroob to announce to us: "Lucky for you this isn't Smell-o-Vision!"

"Grand Theft Starship" wraps things up with Lone Starr's videogame obsession resulting in him and Princess Vespa being sucked into the titular game and forced to play for their lives. Skroob and Dark Helmet get into the act with a scheme to take over videogame land, and with Yogurt's help Barf must enter the game MATRIX-style and save his pals. Gamers might appreciate the myriad of references to everything from Tetris to Super Mario Brothers to (of course) Grand Theft Auto, with other gags aimed at the likes of THE MATRIX, TRON, and THE ROAD WARRIOR.

The DVD from MGM and Fox Home Entertainment is 1.33:1 full-screen with Dolby Digital stereo and English soundtrack and captions. Besides the four episodes, there are the five brief connecting segments mentioned previously, plus an additional closer entitled "One More Goodie."

SPACEBALLS: THE TOTALLY WARPED ANIMATED ADVENTURES! would probably be dandy entertainment for little kids if it weren't packed to the gills with bouncing boobs, bawdy (and oddly old-fashioned) burlesque humor, and resounding farts. As a cartoon aimed at adults, however, it wouldn't last long on Adult Swim alongside far superior shows of its kind such as "Aqua Teen Hunger Force", "Futurama", and "Sealab 2021." Back to the drawing board, Mel!

SPACEBALLS: THE TOTALLY WARPED ANIMATED ADVENTURES! -- DVD Review by Porfle

She Acted In 2 Of The Most Iconic Films Of The 60s (video)

In 1964, exotic model Margaret Nolan gained cinematic immortality...

...by appearing in two of the most iconic films of the decade.

"Goldfinger" (1964)
We first see Margaret as the "golden girl" in the opening titles...
...and later as Bond's friend "Dink."

"A Hard Day's Night" (1964)
Margaret plays the sexy casino escort of Paul's grandfather (Wilfrid Brambell).  

 

I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

She Acted In 2 Of The Most Iconic Films Of The 60s (video)

KING KONG (2005) -- Movie Review by Porfle

(NOTE: I wrote this review in 2006 and posted it at the now-defunct Bumscorner.com.  My opinion of the film has soured considerably since this somewhat overly generous review--I can barely watch it now--but most of my reservations toward it are adequately expressed.)

Well, I never got around to seeing it in the theater, but thanks to the magic of DVD, I finally watched Peter Jackson's 2005 remake of KING KONG. If you're curious about my reaction to it, please keep reading. If not, here are some lovely pictures of giraffes.

(There are spoilers ahead, even if you're well familiar with the original film, since Jackson's version differs in several ways. So please proceed with caution if you haven't seen it yet.)

The story in a nutshell: flamboyant movie producer Carl Denham charters a merchant ship to take him and his leading lady, Ann Darrow, in search of the legendary Skull Island, where he hopes to capture such wonders on film that audiences will line up around the block to pay admission. But instead, he ends up capturing a fearsome 25-foot-tall gorilla named Kong -- who has left the safety of his jungle lair to pursue Miss Darrow, with whom he has become hopelessly smitten -- and then transports him back to New York to put him on display and make millions of dollars. Kong escapes, of course, and wreaks havoc in downtown NYC before recapturing Ann Darrow and climbing to the top of the Empire State Building, where he is picked off by machine gunners in biplanes.

The original 1933 version of this story by producer Merian C. Cooper and director Ernest B. Shoedsack is an undisputed classic. Okay, maybe it's disputed by some who now regard it as a creaky old black-and-white bore with crummy special effects. I feel that these people are missing out on one of the greatest cinematic experiences of all time -- a marvel of compact storytelling, pacing, and bravura filmmaking with a wonderful cast and groundbreaking special effects by master craftsman Willis O'Brien that are still astounding.

How does Jackson's film compare to the original? First of all, it looks absolutely beautiful. The first and last thirds of the movie display a dazzling recreation of Depression-era New York City that is rich in detail and utterly convincing. Jackson spends a lot more time here than Cooper and Shoedsack, who were more interested in setting up the story and getting us on our way to Skull Island as quickly as possible. In fact, Jackson spends a lot more time on everything in this version, making it twice as long as the original.

This time, we get Ann Darrow's (a radiant Naomi Watts) backstory in more detail -- she's a struggling vaudeville hoofer whose show just closed down, forcing her to consider the horrors of performing in burlesque rather than starving -- before her fateful meeting with Carl Denham, who in this version is a much more devious and manipulative, almost villainous character (although Jack Black somehow manages to make him mostly likable anyway).

Ann accepts Denham's offer of "money, adventure, and fame -- the thrill of a lifetime and a long sea voyage" after finding that a playwright she greatly admires, Adrien Brody's Jack Driscoll (who was the ship's first mate in the original version) is writing the screenplay to Denham's picture. So off they go, one step ahead of the police who have a warrant for Denham's arrest for bilking his previous film's investors.

The voyage to Skull Island gives Jackson a chance to introduce us to still more characters, subplots, etc., such as the close relationship between the first mate and a youngster named Jimmy (Jamie Bell, TURN: WASHINGTON'S SPIES) whom he once found stowed away in the cargo hold. This doesn't really go anywhere, except for the fact that Jimmy is reading Joseph Conrad's "Heart Of Darkness" and it's supposed to tie in with everything somehow. I never read "Heart Of Darkness" but I know APOCALYPSE NOW was based on it, so I guess Kong is Colonel Kurtz. Come to think of it, the later Marlon Brando would've made a pretty good Kong.

Anyway, Ann and Jack sorta fall in love, Denham and Captain Englehorn clash (Englehorn pretty much despises Denham in this version), the self-absorbed actor hired as Denham's leading man, Bruce Baxter, admires himself in the mirror, and when they finally get to Skull Island there's a thrilling sequence in which the ship is almost dashed against the rocks.

The island natives are a much more bizarre and murderous bunch this time, leading to some truly creepy moments, and when they kidnap Ann and offer her as a sacrifice to Kong by tying her to one end of a rickety drawbridge and then lowering it across a deep chasm on the jungle side of the great wall which separates them from the rest of the island, Jackson's staging and execution of the scene are impressive. All of which leads up to the big moment -- Kong's entrance -- which somehow just doesn't have the impact of the original. We only get to see fog-shrouded glimpses of him at first, and a close-up of his eyes, but never one definitive reveal, which I found disappointing.

Kong snatches Ann from her bonds (somehow managing not to rip her arms off in the process) and heads off into the jungle with her. This leads to a protracted series of fierce battles as Kong protects his golden-haired prize from a succession of prehistoric foes such as T-Rexes (three this time instead of the previous one) and giant bat-like creatures that infest the cave inside his mountaintop lair. Meanwhile, Driscoll, Denham, and a group of sailors who have set out to rescue Ann end up running for their lives from a herd of stampeding brontosauruses who are running from a group of hungry raptor-like creatures. This scene becomes almost cartoonish as the men skedaddle between the stomping brontosaurus feet and the huge beasts finally begin to pile up in a scene that resembles, as one message-board poster put it, the police car pile-up at the end of THE BLUES BROTHERS.

As if that weren't enough, their attempt to cross a gorge via a fallen log (which parallels the famous scene from the original) is foiled as an angry Kong shows up and starts to shake them off the log and into the pit below. Here, Jackson makes up for the excision of the fabled "Spider Pit Sequence" from the '33 version by having the hapless sailors attacked by the most nightmarish collection of giant insects, spiders, leeches, etc. that he and his SPFX crew could conceive of. I'm wondering how many walkouts there were when this was in theaters -- it's pretty horrifying. But it's also pretty cool.

Jack survives the pit, of course, and goes it alone as he makes his way up to Kong's lair. What he and the ragged remains of the rescue team don't know, however, is that while they were going through hell trying to rescue Ann, she was falling in love with Kong. And this is the element of Jackson's remake that I was dreading the most since advance word on the movie began to hint at it, and which serves as a giant stumbling block in my enjoyment of the film as a whole. I thought it was a dumb idea when it was injected into the stupendously awful 1976 remake, and I still do.

Let's face it -- if a giant rampaging gorilla grabbed me and carried me off into a jungle filled with prehistoric monsters, I'd be screaming my head off in mortal terror non-stop, just like Fay Wray's Ann Darrow did any time Kong came near her. I wouldn't be teaching the big, hairy ape sign language, nestling in his lap to watch the sunset, or making soulful googly eyes at him. I like the part where Ann attempts to calm the beast down by performing her vaudeville routine for him and eliciting a delighted reaction, but I just can't accept seeing the film turn into a love story that could almost pass for a Harlequin Romance novel with Kong taking Fabio's place on the cover.

At this point in the movie, it's almost as though Jackson had decided to remake TARZAN, THE APE MAN instead of KING KONG -- but when Tarzan carried Jane off into the jungle and she eventually came to love the untamed wild man, it was romantic. Here, it's just weird, and I found myself wondering at times if Ann wasn't a bit off in the head. And when Jack finally shows up and whispers for her to leave the sleeping Kong and come to him, for a moment there I thought she might actually refuse.

Perhaps recalling that she does have a prospective human lover and a life back in the real world, Ann manages to tear herself away from her beloved Kong and join Jack as they race back to the native village with Kong hot on their heels (a shot from the '33 version of them running through the jungle is beautifully duplicated here). When they arrive, Ann realizes with horror that Denham and Englehorn plan to capture Kong and take him back to New York as a big money-making attraction.

As Kong kills still more sailors left and right by smashing them, flinging them, and biting them in half, Ann can hardly contain her indignation and heartbreak at such a foul scheme. Although she must've come to know these hapless guys during the voyage -- we see her happily dancing for them at one point -- their violent deaths now seem to mean little or nothing to her, just as the deaths of several innocent New Yorkers and would-be rescuers in biplanes will later have no effect on her while she's in Kong's thrall. She's even furious at Jack for restraining her as Kong smashes his way through the door of the great wall, so I guess going through all kinds of hell to save her didn't keep her erstwhile human love interest out of the old debit column for long.

Kong, as everyone knows by now, does get captured and taken back to the big apple and made the star of the biggest show on Broadway. We discover that Jack and Ann have drifted apart in the interim, and he goes to the theater to try and win her back, not even knowing that she's left Denham and gotten a job in a chorus line somewhere else.

Kong's unveiling to a shocked audience is a grand affair which Jackson uses as one of the film's most blatant homages to the original, as Jack Black's Denham recites almost word for word the introductory speech Robert Armstrong gave back in '33 and the orchestra strikes up a stirring rendition of Max Steiner's famous score. The stage show also consists of a re-enactment of the native sacrificial ritual from the old version, but when the shackled Kong wakes up to find that the peroxide-blonde actress being offered to him as a bride isn't Ann Darrow, he goes ape and breaks loose. (I had to use the term "goes ape" somewhere.)

This is when the movie really starts getting good. Kong smashes his way through the front of the theater and goes on a destructive rampage through the icy streets of New York City, smashing vintage autos and trolley cars, snatching up any blonde he sees in search of the real Ann and tossing her aside when she turns out to be the wrong one. Jack jumps into an abandoned taxicab and tries to lure Kong away, but in the resulting chase Kong manages to cause even more destruction than before.

But just when he catches up to Jack and is about to smash him to a pulp, he senses something and looks around -- and there, gliding toward him out of the mist, is his beloved Ann. She leaps into his outstretched hand and off they go to Central Park for a romantic romp on a frozen lake (referred to by some as "the Thumper scene"), where they exchange more soulful gazes until the military arrives to break up their reverie. As the army guys blast away at everything in sight and terrified civilians run for their lives, Kong at last makes his way to the Empire State Building and begins his legendary climb.

All else aside -- and whatever gripes I may have, this is still an awesome film packed with one exhilarating scene after another -- Peter Jackson's staging of Kong's last stand atop the Empire State Building is a magnificent achievement. The attacking biplanes swoop down deliriously out of the sky toward Kong in several vertigo-inducing shots as he leaps around fighting them off amidst a hail of bullets. Every time I see this movie I have to go back and watch this part again, because it's simply one of the best action set-pieces ever filmed.

It's also one of those rare instances in which I'm glad they created CGI -- rarely has it ever been employed to such impressive effect (and when it is, come to think of it, it's usually in a Peter Jackson film). By this time, Kong has come into his own as a character that we can sympathize with (due to both the skill of the SPFX technicians and Andy "Gollum" Serkis' motion-captured performance), and his final emotional scene with Ann as he clings tenuously to the side of the building before finally slipping off and falling to the street far below is memorable. Even Jack Black's stiff repetition of the original film's final line somehow works as we reach the stirring fade-out at last.

So there you have it -- a rousing, gorgeously-photographed adventure story, a heartfelt tribute to the 1933 version by one of its most ardent fans, and a film that stands on its own and is definitely worth seeing and worth having. Which makes its one great, nagging flaw all the more bothersome to me. Maybe if Peter Jackson hadn't gone so overboard on the Ann-loves-Kong angle and used a bit more subtlety it would've worked, and might even have made Ann's offering herself to Kong in New York in an attempt to avoid further carnage seem like a more heroic act.

But as it is, she just seems abnormally and irrationally obsessed with this giant ape in a weirdly romantic way, as though he were the "man" of her dreams. Which makes her embrace with Jack at the end seem somewhat cursory. (There are, however, an awful lot of people who are utterly enamored with this aspect of the film, so -- as with any movie review -- take my opinion for what it is and decide for yourself.)

Anyway, that's the thing that really bugs me about the remake and prevents me from wholeheartedly embracing it; otherwise, I found the new KING KONG highly enjoyable on its own terms. Definitely a worthy effort, although, for me, it still doesn't quite live up to the first one.

KING KONG (2005) -- Movie Review by Porfle

"KING KONG VS. FRANKENSTEIN" Main Titles (What If?)

There was a time when famed "King Kong" animator Willis O'Brien pondered the possibility of pitting the giant ape King Kong against an oversized Frankenstein monster in what would certainly have been quite a rumble. (The idea was later "borrowed" for KING KONG VS. GODZILLA.) 

Not sure exactly what the movie would've looked like, but here--just for fun--is our version of what the opening credits might have looked like. (One of Willis O'Brien's actual preliminary drawings appears at the end.)

We neither own nor claim any rights to any of this material. Just having a little Monster Kid fun with it!

"KING KONG VS. FRANKENSTEIN" Main Titles (What If?)

First Screen Frankenstein: Edison's 1910 "Frankenstein" (video)

Thomas Edison's film studio released the first screen adaptation of "Frankenstein" in 1910.

The Monster was played by Charles Ogle.

A young scientist named Frankenstein creates life in his laboratory.
But his "perfect being" turns out to be a hideous creature.

Frankenstein's impure thoughts are to blame.

Frankenstein rejects his creation, but it is insanely devoted to him...
...and jealous of Frankenstein's bride-to-be, Elizabeth.

Finally, Frankenstein's pure love for Elizabeth causes the Monster to fade away.

The film was lost for many years.  A rediscovered print became widely seen in the 1970s.


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

Music by Uniq

First Screen Frankenstein: Edison's 1910 "Frankenstein" (video)

DEAD SPACE: AFTERMATH -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 1/20/11

 

Coinciding with the release of Electronic Arts' new videogame "Dead Space 2" comes the animated outer space epic DEAD SPACE: AFTERMATH (2011), which combines a compelling story with fantastic animation to create one of the most intriguing and action-packed sci-fi/horror adventures of recent years.

The four survivors of a catastrophe in deep space are found aboard their wrecked spaceship, the O'Bannon (in a nice nod to the late co-writer of ALIEN) amidst the bloody remains of the crew.  But for Dr. Isabel Cho (Gwendoline Yeo), security chief Kuttner (Christopher Judge), research specialist Stross (Curt Cornelius), and chief engineer Borges (Ricardo Chavira), the nightmare has just begun as they are subjected to brutal interrogation and forced to relive the horror of their recent ordeal. 

The object of all this is a shard of an alien artifact recovered from doomed planet Aegis VII, which is coveted by the powers-that-be for the scientific secrets it holds.  On the journey home, the shard first begins to wield an unearthly influence upon those who touch it, then reanimates the recent dead and transforms them into hideous bloodthirsty creatures.  What happens next is recounted in flashbacks by the four survivors as they are mercilessly grilled by their interrogators.
 

With each segment executed by a different animation director under the supervision of Mike Disa, the unique looks of the four flashback stories reflect the changing perspectives of the narrators.  All are painstakingly detailed and beautifully rendered examples of animation art which are directed with style and creativity. 

Character design and animation are strong--the faces are expressive and the body movements fluid.  The artwork displays a pleasing combination of western and Asian styles, with the framing scenes aboard the rescue ship done digitally.  Voice work is particularly good. 

The outer space scenes are dazzling, as is a superbly suspenseful sequence in which the landing party tries to escape from the surface of Aegis VII as the planet breaks apart around them.  The spaceship O'Bannon's attempt to outrun the shockwave and debris from the exploding planet is another highlight.  Later, the battle between the humans and the creatures is consistently exciting. 

Brandon Auman's script gives the main characters sufficient depth, with security chief Kuttner's story of particular interest.  Having recently suffered the death of his daughter, he begins to have visions of her after touching the shard, and sees his fellow astronauts as monsters trying to kill her.  This, as we discover in graphic terms, leads to all kinds of trouble as his segment reaches a moving climax.
 

Meanwhile the unstable Strosser, who views aliens as mankind's deities, invites disaster by exposing himself to the shard's power and allowing its influence to spread throughout the ship.  His personal story is ultimately much darker than even Kuttner's.  Dr. Cho and Borges are strong characters as well. 

The DVD from Anchor Bay is in 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound.  Subtitles are in English and Spanish.  No extras besides a trailer for the "Dead Space 2" videogame. 

Some will probably regard DEAD SPACE: AFTERMATH as nothing more than an elaborate commercial for the videogame.  Since I haven't been much of a gamer since the Atari 2600 went the way of the mullet, this doesn't affect my view of it either way.  I simply see it as an impressive, visually stunning animated sci-fi/horror flick that's a lot of fun to watch. 

DEAD SPACE: AFTERMATH -- DVD Review by Porfle

BALLET BLANC -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 10/4/19

 

If you're looking for something weird to watch--and I mean, really weird--look no further than writer-director Anne-Sophie Dutoit's BALLET BLANC (2018).  Because this is one seriously weird movie.

Dark, enigmatic, and practically unfathomable, it's the sort of deeply unsettling narrative that most people will either shrink away from pretty quick or else stay riveted to like a bird being hypnotized by a snake, helplessly waiting for it to strike.

A young orphan boy named Coco (Colter Carlbom-Mann), wearing long, girlish hair and dressed in a white tutu, silently dances a somber ballet during church choir practice while a witchy eccentric, Mrs. Willis (Shelley Starrett), looks on with an appreciative smile. She seems to be recognizing and/or evaluating his potential.

Before we know it, she has somehow adopted the troubled boy--whose parents recently died in a fire from which he narrowly escaped--and is now indoctrinating him, steeping him like a highly-absorbent teabag, in the bubbling cauldron of her own warped and deeply disturbing lifestyle and philosophies.

If any other movie had been photographed this dark, I'd probably think it a flaw. But BALLET BLANC belongs in the dark.

I won't even go into the extremes of strangeness to which both we and the regrettably very impressionable Coco are subjected under flickering candles or the fading glow of eerie twilight where unimaginable things are consumed, graves are exhumed, and the hapless social worker (Brian Woods) who arrives to investigate neighbors' complaints is, by our best guess, doomed.

Woods gains our sympathy playing a character with good intentions whose personal religious faith is seriously tested as things go from uncomfortable to insufferable during his traumatic visit. As the monstrous Mrs. Willis, Starrett out-weirds Susan Tyrell in a chilling, full-bodied performance. And Colter Carlbom-Mann is pretty amazing as Coco, the caterpillar who threatens to emerge from its cocoon a monster.

The film is intensely effective for most of its running time, stumbling only in the final act when the increasingly hostile Coco is being held under scrutiny in a white room and interrogated by mysterious people from behind a two-way glass.

Here, the tightly-knit story begins to unravel a bit as some conventional horror movie elements creep in to undermine our anticipation of a fully original and surprising finale.

Even so, horror fans looking for something immersively dark and disturbing should endeavor to experience BALLET BLANC. It's the sort of creepy-crawly chiller that grabs on and clings to you like a leech.


Read more about it at Indican Pictures

TECH SPECS
Runtime: 90 minutes
Format: 1:78 HD
Sound: Dolby Sr.
Country: USA
Language: English
Rating: Pending
Extras: Behind-the-scenes featurette

BALLET BLANC -- DVD Review by Porfle

TEENAGE CAVE MAN (1958) -- Movie Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 7/19/21

 

Currently watching: Roger Corman's TEENAGE CAVE MAN (1958), starring a young Robert Vaughn as a rebellious teenager in an animal hide mini-skirt who chafes at the tribal law forbidding him to cross the river to the lush and fertile land beyond.

Naturally, this is all in the vein of the then-current craze for teen rebel flicks such as American-International's other genre films I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF, I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN, and BLOOD OF DRACULA, and of course the grandaddy of them all, REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE with James Dean.

For Corman, of course, it's a matter of spending as little money as possible (approx. $70,000 according to IMDb) to mold the semblance of a movie out of such meager elements as a barren mountainside location (with cave) and a bunch of people garbed in mangy animal skins.

 

This is augmented by generous stock footage, mainly the familiar iguana-saurus stuff from the much-earlier ONE MILLION B.C. and various other clips to help set the prehistoric mood.  

Vaughn himself sports a stylish caveman ensemble and is both clean-shaven and coiffed in the same modern hairstyle he'd later retain as TV's "Man From U.N.C.L.E."  Older members of his hillside clan are a bit more hirsute, with beards befitting their status as the keepers of "The Word"--which the young caveman is dead set on violating by venturing into the forbidden zone and perhaps even encountering the dreaded creature whose very touch is said to cause death.

Joseph Hamilton (CAT BALLOU, ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES) and Michael Shayne (THE NEANDERTHAL MAN, "The Adventures of Superman") are two of the older actors struggling to hide their embarrassment as tribal elders. Frank De Kova gets to gnaw on the rocky scenery as a hothead who keeps calling for Vaughn to die for his blasphemous actions against tribal law.

 

Some of the younger castmembers include Ed Nelson (A BUCKET OF BLOOD), Jonathan Haze (LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS), Barboura Morris (THE TRIP), and Corman regular Beach Dickerson (CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA), who plays multiple roles including a boy who gets sucked into some quicksand. The very statuesque Darah Marshall ("Lock Up", "Bachelor Father") plays Vaughn's girlfriend, "The Blonde Maiden", in her only film role.

The dialogue is a bit stage-pretentious here and there, complete with the occasional "Aye." Acting is okay, considering these players couldn't have had much to go on in developing their characters.

Vaughn, for the most part, is likably competent but resembles a frat kid hanging around in the wilderness as a pledge challenge. He does, at one point, get to invent the bow and arrow, although it looks like the dime store variety. 

 

Production values are meager to say the least, except for a very good bear costume that's convincingly worn by Dickerson. Other animal props are not so well done.  A big plus is a characteristically bombastic score by the great Albert Glasser, who was famous for wielding the studio orchestra like a blunt instrument.

How much you enjoy TEENAGE CAVE MAN will depend mostly on whether or not you're in the mood to put aside all expectations and lightly indulge in something pleasantly goofy for about 65 minutes. The fact that there's a nifty twist ending left me feeling surprisingly good about the whole thing.

 

TEENAGE CAVE MAN (1958) -- Movie Review by Porfle

Mike Hill -- Super Sculptor!

 

Originally posted on 8/10/09

 

We'd like to introduce you to an amazing artist named Mike Hill, who definitely has a knack for creating some of the most exciting and lifelike sculptures of our movie, TV, and comic book icons that we've ever seen!

To give you an idea of how good his work is, this bust of Maria Ouspenskaya as the old gypsy Maleva in "The Wolf Man" (right) isn't even finished yet (note the clay eyebrows). And take a look at another of his latest projects, a tribute to Elsa Lanchester's "Bride of Frankenstein":

Here, enjoying a spot of tea while being made up once again as the Frankenstein Monster by the great Jack Pierce, is our very own "Dear Boris" (Karloff):

How does Mike render such a masterpiece without a model? "I used stills and DVDs," he informs us. "He [Boris] was sculpted in a water based clay. And cast in silicone. I did not do a lifecast of someone's body--I sculpted the whole thing."

From his bio: "Michael E. Hill was born in Cheshire, England. From an early age he developed a passion for the fantastic whether it be comic books, television or movies...From the age of four Mike's artistic ability started to shine and he began to draw the fantastic images he adored.

"As he grew older, Mike's artistic visions progressed into 3D sculpture and costume and mask making.

"Having become one of the worlds leading figure sculptors and a master of capturing the human likeness, his career to date has included figure kit sculpting, wax figures, creature designing, prosthetic make-up, and creating hyper-real character statues."

Check out Mike's website for many more incredible works of art that should warm the heart and chill the blood of any monster and comics fan. We guarantee you've never seen anything like it!

(Thanks to Mike for the use of these pics and material from his website.)

Mike Hill -- Super Sculptor!

Phantom Animation Devices Visible In "KING KONG" (1933) (video)

In the old days, stop-motion animators like KING KONG's Willis O'Brien and crew used a "surface gauge" to measure minute movements.

Sometimes they'd accidentally leave these devices in the shot. This happens at least twice in KING KONG. The first time isn't so noticeable. The second time is pretty obvious.

I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Hope you enjoy it!

Phantom Animation Devices Visible In "KING KONG" (1933) (video)

BELOVED BEAST -- Movie Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 4/23/19

 

An impressive, often brilliant horror-thriller that's miles above much of what's coming out of the genre these days, BELOVED BEAST (Indican Pictures, 2018) excells on almost all levels and comes off like something Quentin Tarantino might do if he really got serious about making a grim, mind-bending horror movie.

Nina (Sanae Loutsis) is the injured survivor of a car crash that kills her parents and puts her in the home of a surly, irresponsible aunt, Erma Ritz (Joy Yaholkovsky), who doesn't want her.  Erma's a dopehead who is friends with the lowest elements in town including its worst criminal, Ash (Earl Gray), who deals not only in drugs but human trafficking as well, and will soon set his sights on Nina.

Meanwhile, the biggest, craziest, scariest psycho ever (Jonathan Holbrook as "Milton Treadwell") has just turned the asylum into a corpse-strewn charnel house and escaped into the wild.  A horribly disfigured behemoth with the mind of a ten-year-old, Milton will eventually murder his way to Nina, who will mistake him for the Rabbit King in her favorite fantasy story that her parents used to read to her.

There's a lot of story contriving going on here, but it all works so well that we don't really care. Milton ends up wearing the big rabbit-head mask that belonged to Nina's father and protecting her from all potential harm, mainly by slinging a hefty wooden mallet that smashes skulls with one blow. 

Milton smashes a lot of skulls in this movie--sometimes those belonging to people who deserve a good skull smashing, and sometimes to nice people in the wrong place, wrong time.

But lest you think BELOVED BEAST is just some slasher/smasher flick, writer-director Jonathan Holbrook (TALL MEN, CUSTOMER 152) has crafted this thing like a true artiste, loading it to the gills with fascinating characters exchanging sharp, smart dialogue and situations that are either tongue-in-cheek funny (I love the scenes between the jaded police chief and his constantly appalled rookie deputy) or blood-chillingly grim (as when Ash meets "The Belgian", a bad guy so vile and inhuman that even he is taken aback). 

Direction and photography are top-notch, as is a cast of excellent actors making the most of their fully-rounded, often eccentric characters, each of whom contributes added delight to the story.  The narrative often lapses into a sort of fever dream quality, as when Erma's drug-fueled house party turns surreal or Nina's head injury has her imagining rabbit-headed, hammer-wielding Milton as her fairytale savior.

Switching easily between horror film and ultra-gritty crime thriller that's occasionally dipped in delirium, BELOVED BEAST is one of the most heady, engaging, and thoroughly entertaining movies I've seen in the last ten years. It's only flaw is its length--at almost three hours, the ending is stretched out way longer than necessary--but its overall awesomeness more than makes up for being a bit too much of a good thing. 

BELOVED BEAST -- Movie Review by Porfle

The Infamous Jump Cut in "Night of the Living Dead" (1968) (video)

In George Romero's classic 1968 zombie thriller, "Night of the Living Dead", there's a glaring jump cut...

...where several minutes of dialogue have been removed.

It comes right in the middle of a shot.

Here is one suggestion for eliminating the jump cut.


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

The Infamous Jump Cut in "Night of the Living Dead" (1968) (video)

THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 11/28/08

 

Taking over the directorial reins from Stephen Sommers, Rob Cohen (DRAGONHEART, XXX) continues the saga of Rick and Evy O'Connell and their never-ending battle against mummies in 2008's THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR. If you didn't like the first two, chances are this one won't win you over either. If you did like them, you should have an exceedingly good time.

A lengthy prologue tells the story of Emperor Han (Jet Li), a ruthless conqueror who's bent on ruling the world with an iron fist. He summons the aid of a beautiful witch, Zi Juan (Michelle Yeoh), to make him immortal, but when she falls in love with his trusted General Ming, the jealous emperor condemns them both to death. Zi Juan then places a terrible curse on him, turning him and his entire army into terra cotta statues.

Cut to 1946, as a retired Rick and Evy's grown-up son Alex (Luke Ford), now an action archeologist like his parents, uncovers the emperor's tomb. Needless to say, old clayhead gets resurrected and sets off to find the legendary city of Shangri-La, where he'll be able to shed himself of the curse once and for all, reanimate his terra cotta army, and conquer the world.

All our favorite characters are back, though some have changed a bit. Evy looks a lot more like Maria Bello than Rachel Weisz these days, which is cool since I've always been a fan of the lovely Maria. Luke Ford is a reasonable grown-up version of son Alex, who displays character traits from both parents--intelligence from his mom, recklessness from his dad. And speaking of Dad, Brendan Fraser is his usual wonderful self, able to perform comedy and action heroics with equal skill as few other actors can. John Hannah returns as Evy's cowardly brother Jonathan, while newcomers to the Mummy saga, Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh, add a whole new dimension to everything, as does Isabella Leong as Lin, Zi Juan's daughter and love interest for Alex. A particularly welcome presence is Anthony Wong (INFERNAL AFFAIRS, EXILED) as the Emperor's toady, General Yang.

Rob Cohen's direction and editing are too busy-looking at times, and I found myself wishing he'd just keep the camera still more often. Another thing that bugged me is the frequent use of less-than-convincing CGI. Of course, that's something I should be used to by now after watching the first two MUMMY films, yet it always seems to take me out of the movie.

Some of it works--an avalanche that threatens to annihilate the O'Connell party in the Himalayas looks pretty awesome, as do some of the climactic battle scenes between the Emperor's army and a horde of ancient undead summoned to engage them. The Yeti are another story, though, along with some of the character animation of Jet Li and the various supernatural creatures that he turns into (one of which bears a startling resemblance to Ghidrah). But if the digital monsters in the first two MUMMY movies or in Sommers' own VAN HELSING didn't bother you, then you shouldn't have any problem with these.

That said, there is a ton of exciting action setpieces in this film. A lengthy chase scene down the crowded streets of Shanghai is a highlight, and a fierce gun battle in the Himalayas is pretty intense. The clash between the terra cotta army and the undead is reminiscent of RETURN OF THE KING's main battle sequence. Along the way we're treated to lots of hard-hitting fistfights and other mayhem, and we even get to see Chinese superstars Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh go at it. The settings for these scenes are fantastic, including some impressive standing sets found in China (such as the old Shanghai streets) and numerous actual locations. Interior sets constructed for the Canadian phase of the shoot are also quite lavish.

Presented in anamorphic widescreen 2.40:1 with Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 sound, the movie looks and sounds great. Disc one of the deluxe edition features some deleted and extended scenes and a scene-specific commentary from director Cohen. Disc two includes featurettes "Preparing for Battle with Brendan Fraser and Jet Li", "The Making of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor", "Jet Li: Crafting the Emperor Mummy", "Creating New and Supernatural Worlds", "Legacy of the Terra Cotta", "A Call to Action: The Casting Process", and "From City to Desert." Subtitles are in English, French, and Spanish, and there's even one of those tracks for the hard-of-seeing with a narrator breathlessly describing what's going on ("Rick ducks behind a column as the Emperor throws a fireball!")

While perhaps not the best in the series (I still prefer the second one), THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR is a welcome continuation of Rick and Evy's seriocomic adventures. Extravagant, action-packed, funny, and loaded with dazzling imagery, it's what the term "dumb fun" is all about.

THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR -- DVD Review by Porfle

Dwight Frye's 5 Most Unhinged Horror Movie Creeps (video)

Dwight Frye dreamt of someday returning to musical comedy, which he'd performed for years on the Broadway stage.

But this was not to be once he became typecast as one of the screen's leading loons.

Here's are five examples of this...

Dracula (1931)
Frankenstein (1931)
Vampire Bat (1933)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Dead Men Walk (1943)

Dwight Frye died shortly after being cast in a screen biography of Woodrow Wilson.

At the time, he was working as a draftsman for the Lockheed Aircraft Company.

On the death certificate, his profession was listed as "tool designer."

But it is in the horror film where he is truly immortalized.


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

Dwight Frye's 5 Most Unhinged Horror Movie Creeps (video)

BAD LUCKY GOAT -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 12/8/17

 

Not quite the "boy and his goat" story I expected, BAD LUCKY GOAT (Film Movement, 2017) is more the story of a boy, his older sister, and their goat head.

It starts out as an entire dead goat but they sell the carcass to a butcher, trade the skin for a watch that someone found on the beach, and hang onto the head until they're convinced that it's the cause of all the bad juju they've been suffering since leaving the house.

But that's just the bare bones of what happens on that ill-fated day when Cornelius ("Corn" for short) and his sister Rita, while heatedly arguing about things as usual, smash the family truck into an escaped goat while on an errand for their parents in a rural village in the Caribbean. 

The damaged truck and the dead goat are problems the two will spend the rest of the day trying to solve, and their troubles only increase when they do so by lying, cheating, and generally avoiding responsibility whenever possible.

They're likable kids, though, despite constantly being at each other's throats as siblings often are.  Their misdeeds really aren't so bad that we can't identify with them--mostly--and they do keep us entertained not only with their attempts to earn enough to have the truck fixed (hence the goat carcass transaction and various other bartering attempts) but also by ending up on the wrong side of the local crime boss whose goat it was in the first place, not to mention the police.

We get to meet a succession of colorful characters, most of whom are either earning a meager living without getting all that worked up about it or making cheerful indigenous music in peaceful natural surroundings with their friends. 

I enjoyed listening to their Creole patois, which I only recognized as a form of English after listening to it for a few minutes (I challenge anyone who speaks English to decipher the dialogue without the subtitles). 

During all this we get a chance to drink in the beautiful tropical scenery and mostly laid-back ambience while the story ambles along at its own unhurried pace just like a reggae song.  (With a little kidnapping, cock-fighting, and other things thrown in to spice things up.)

Colombian director Samir Oliveros doesn't try to grip us with any big drama or hilarity, and there isn't a chase to cut to.  This gives us time to get to know Corn and Rita, and watch them gradually and somewhat begrudgingly grow closer during their long day of tedious travails which will test both their mettle and their basic humanity. 

This relationship is what the film is really all about, and its sweetly-rendered resolution makes watching BAD LUCKY GOAT not unlike a soothing balm for the soul. 

Buy it from Film Movement

Extras:

Bonus short film "Miss World" by director Georgia Fu
Film Movement trailers

5.1 Surround Sound/2.0 Stereo
2.40:1 Widescreen
Creole With English Subtitles
76 Minutes

BAD LUCKY GOAT -- DVD Review by Porfle

SHATTERED -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 12/20/17

 

Sometimes it's a chore to watch one of those Lifetime Channel-type dramas that gets a female protagonist into an untenable situation and then pulls out all the predictable stops to get her out of it.

Every once in a while, though, I find myself in the middle of one and stop and think: "Hmm...I'm enjoying this."  It's such a pleasant surprise that I'm compelled to regard the movie in a much more charitable light rather than wincing at every tired plot turn or turgid dialogue exchange.

In the case of SHATTERED (2017), the surprise doesn't stop there. In fact, it's full of surprises.  Just when things seem headed in the old familiar directions and we settle in to see them played out, the movie deftly sidesteps expectations and heads down an entirely different avenue.  Not just once, but several times--enough to keep us not just interested, but intrigued.

Molly Burnett (THE WEDDING PARTY, "Days of Our Lives") stars as Maureen, a smalltown single girl who meets, falls for, and marries Ken (Tom Malloy, HERO OF THE UNDERWORLD), the son of the town's wealthiest man.  They adopt a son named Logan, have a daughter named Emma, and start living the happy, carefree lives of the upper-class married.

But not is all as it seems.  Tom's father, Forest Burnett (the venerable Ray Wise, "Twin Peaks" ROBOCOP, THE AGGRESSION SCALE, HALLOWEED, CHILLERAMA), is an aspiring big fish/little pond politician whose fake smile masks a volatile demeanor as well as some deep, dark secrets.  His trophy wife Kate (Arianne Zucker) knows the secrets, but is trapped by fear and dependence. 

Maureen's trapped too but she just doesn't know it yet. Things start to go wrong when her adopted son Logan turns out to be a deeply troubled mental case who wields sharp instruments and mutters "Kill!"  Attempts to find out about his real parents and get professional help for him are blocked by the Burnetts, who fear the bad publicity. 

Or, in Forest's case, is there even more to it than that?  Of course there is, and thereby hinges the inevitable morass of marital and parental disaster that we're about to watch Maureen wade through like a leech-infested swamp for the next 90 minutes or so.

As I said, it all sounds so comfortingly yet tiresomely predictable, until something happens that comes right out of left field and changes everything. This messes with all our predictions to a degree that we're never quite sure what's going to come out of left field next. 

Not that any of it is particularly world-shaking, mind you.  The story progresses at a leisurely pace, with none of the dramatic intensity or thriller-type incidents usually found in these films (thus thwarting expectations yet again), and plays itself out with a sort of off-kilter calm. 

I was halfway through the big climactic scene before I realized it was the big climactic scene--that's how deceptively unsensational this story is.  It's just engaging enough to hold our attention and make us want to stick around to see how it all plays out. 

Direction by Natasha Kermani (IMITATION GIRL) is capable, with adequate-to-good performances.  Old pro Ray Wise comes off best, naturally, as does Arianne Zucker (once a co-star with Molly Burnett on "Days of Our Lives") as Forest's morally-conflicted wife.  Morgan Freeman's son Alfonso appears briefly as a mental health doctor.

I haven't revealed much about the plot (madness, infidelity, scandal, etc.) because finding out is the fun part.  SHATTERED is like a passable TV-movie that gradually evolves from dull to interesting and manages to stay that way until the end, which is more than I can say for a lot of movies I've seen.


Official site

SHATTERED -- DVD Review by Porfle