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Reviews
Repulsion (1965)
Nightmarish depiction of complete personality disintegration
One of director Roman Polanski's early highlights, Repulsion documents manicurist Catherine Deneuve's descent into madness. Atmospheric and highly suspenseful, there are numerous unforgettable sequences in this slow burn psychodrama.
Deneuve's character is obsessed by cracks in the pavement and later on begins to hallucinate the walls in her London flat literally breaking apart in front of her. Not to mention the way they become as soft as clay when she bumps into them.
Close-ups of eyeballs are a prominent motif featured throughout the film. And Catherine Deneuve is nightmarishly convincing as the detached young woman going through a slow motion process of complete personality disintegration. Made three years before the director's similar, much more well known Rosemary's Baby, this one is just as amazing.
Tree People (2006)
Top-notch acting and a compelling story
Three women go on a trip to the woods to bond and get away from civilization. All three are more or less frustrated with men.
When they arrive at the campground, their paths cross with a wealthy young environmental philanthropist and an extremely creepy park ranger.
After performing a mystical ceremony, each of the campers has their own individual encounter with the attractive environmentalist followed by a harrowing pursuit by the ranger.
The acting is top-notch. The story is compelling. A dark comedy with supernatural elements, Tree People bursts with unexpected twists and hilarious turns.
Red (1993)
Budget restraints hinder potentially amusing short
I remember seeing this expletive-laden short in the early nineties and being thoroughly entertained. It was obviously done on a shoestring budget (about half of it is literally a series of still frames). However, even cutting it some slack for limited resources, I don't believe that it holds up very well.
What begins as a fairly amusing premise - a crank caller making a series of phone calls to a New Jersey bar - before long becomes a bit tedious. The legendary Lawrence Tierney (Reservoir Dogs) plays Red the bartender. When it switches over from still shots to live action its budget restraints are only emphasized.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (1982)
Punk film brims with style and swagger but lacks believability
A cult film about an all-female punk band which has many excellent components is nearly undone by one element: its plot's believability. The gritty look, the inspired casting, the awkwardness of The Stains in their early performances all propel the story along with style and swagger.
In an effort to escape the dead end nature of their small-town lives, two sisters and their cousin literally will themselves into becoming a band when a group called The Looters pass through their depressing industrial suburb. Diane Lane, in one of her earliest roles, absolutely knocks it out of the park as The Fabulous Stains singer. She and the Looters lead singer (Ray Winstone) soon get involved in a messy up-and-down relationship.
In one of the film's lowlights Winstone somehow turns a whole venue full of adoring fans against the Stains simply by pointing out that they have been manipulated into spending money on makeup and hair dye in order to approximate Diane Lane's unique look. I don't buy it.
In short, a flawed movie - but well worth seeing.
Hey! Is Dee Dee Home? (2002)
Tales from the punk rock underbelly
The film takes its title from a line from the song Chinese Rocks written by Dee Dee Ramone. Originally rejected by Johnny Ramone due to its blatant drug content, Dee Dee then passed it on to the Heartbreakers who recorded a rollicking version of it; only later did the Ramones do their own (somewhat halfhearted) take on it.
Much of the footage in this film was taken from a Johnny Thunders documentary shot by Lech Kowalski shortly after Thunder's death. Which explains its focus on the rivalry between the two musicians. However I actually prefer this movie over Born To Lose.
Colorful anecdotes abound and Dee Dee, while from time to time saying that maybe he shouldn't be completely honest, still comes off as a fairly reliable narrator. He mentions a telling interaction between himself and Thunders in which the Heartbreakers guitarist instructs him to go out and get some heroin for him. Dee Dee asks why he should do so and Thunders responds "so you can have the privilege of being around a big rock star like me". Dee Dee says that at least in his own mind he was on par with if not above the spectacular but difficult Dolls/Heartbreaker's guitarist.
Richard Pryor: Live in Concert (1979)
Excruciatingly funny concert documentary
In my humble opinion, this is one of the funniest motion pictures ever made. As a concert film, showing the comic at the very peak of his talent, it succeeds where most other "live" performance documentaries fall short.
Many comedians have flashes of brilliance, but only Richard Pryor's comic tour-de-force lasts the entire length of the film.
Recreating everything from his heart attack to his pet monkey's sex drive, Pryor's act is, of course, excruciatingly funny. At the same time, the intimacy with which he discusses painful real-life events makes this a cathartic experience.
R. I. P. Mr. Pryor!
King Kong (1933)
Giant ape let loose in New York City
He's billed as "the eighth wonder of the world" and, in the more than ninety years since the movie's release, Merion C. Cooper's awesome creature has all but lived up to that title. Fay Wray, predominantly known as a scream queen, actually gives a moving and relatively well-rounded performance.
There are ample reasons why this parable about the notorious giant ape let loose in New York City has had such an enduring impact. As enormous and unwieldy as the whole project is, the simple fable around which the story is built continues to be resonant.
As an adventure-fantasy, King Kong has yet to be outdone.
Re-Animator (1985)
Gleefully over-the-top H.P, Lovecraft adaptation
This gleefully over-the-top thrill ride is one of the most celebrated horror movies of the 1980's. Loosely based on the work of H. P. Lovecraft, the story revolves around the exploits of a group of medical students at a deliriously unhinged graduate school.
Jeffrey Combs is great as Herbert West, the new creepy student intent on testing his reanimation serum. Also excellent is Barbara Crampton as the dean's gorgeous daughter who is in a clandestine relationship with another student.
While the story is perhaps a bit too familiar, the barrage of gruesome splatter effects more than make up for it!