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Reviews
Up in Arms (1944)
Dated but Still Delightful
This recently showed on Turner Classic Movies and I was lucky enough to catch most of it. The film is old and features some cartoonesque lampooning of racial stereotypes (especially the Japanese, but hey it was made in 1944 - do the math), but nothing as offensive as incidental references made in the modern media. Danny Kaye's antics had me in stitches and the ladies are still lovely despite the age of the material - the song-and-dance silly humor is unlike anything you'll find in Hollywood these days but was quite fitting at the time. Overall it was highly entertaining and I would not mind watching it again either alone or with company.
Darkhunters (2004)
Terrible, but fun.
The main title sequence for Darkhunters is very well done. A series of black and red images set the scene for an adventure into the gritty line between life and death - a place that isn't just black and white. It's a place that's horribly funny, if you can get past the Ed Wood-ish editing.
Cheesy dialogue, a terrible script, absolutely horrid camera-work and editing ... it's either an incredible disaster or a wonderful success. The main title sequence promised an interesting adventure - however, it appears they spent their entire production budget on this part of the film. Afterwards, we meet Charlie, a deranged psychotic who meets and interacts with a psychologist-turned-... what? Supposedly a 'bounty hunter of lost souls', but as portrayed in the film, she's just another deranged psychotic, and the merry pair go trick-or-treating in the land of long takes of cats in fields, fast-motion cloud shots, and terrible scripting; along the way they meet a Darth Maul look-a-like cat lover who mumbles all of his lines because his scary costume has been badly abused by a group of school children with fat magic markers.
In essence, this film is a work of art beyond expectations. If you examine its parts, it is an utmost failure in almost every aspect. However, as a whole, may have you laughing through almost every scene like a deranged lunatic yourself.
Definitely worth watching. It's no Citizen Kane, but I had a GREAT time viewing it. If some of the ludicrous shots had been cut shorter (exactly how long do we have to spend looking at cats and clouds?), it might even be worth watching TWICE. Cult Comedy potential is there.