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Mark of the Damned (2006)
A promising first film.
A modern-day Noir horror film, with liberal borrowings from Mexican wrestling movie lore, the arcane horror of HP Lovecraft and later Lovecraftians, and explorer films like The Lost World and King Kong. A scientific/archaeological expedition goes to deepest darkest Mexico and accidentally unleashes Hell on Earth. Old gods, revived rituals, and an awakened Queen who hungers for blood. Will humanity survive?
Warning: this was shot MOS, then dubbed. The creators of the "Amplified Universe" wanted this movie to seem like a Mexican wrestling film from the 1950s or early 1960s. It's very disorienting, but you eventually settle into it and it's just one of the many high weirdnesses on tap.
The black-and-white cinematography, shot with consumer-grade video cameras, is strikingly good considering everything. Someone paid attention in film history class when they were talking about German Expressionism and Noir horror. (original Cat People, The Black Cat, The Seventh Victim, etc.)
All in all, give it a chance. It's difficult, but fun, and there are bits of humor pitched to horror fans that will give you a few chuckles while you follow the many bloody threads in the film.
Lost Horizon (1973)
If Ed Wood got high on LSD and made a musical...
...and somehow persuaded Bacharach and David to write songs for it, this is what would result. Of course, Ed Wood would never have the kind of budget to make this, nor his pick of prestige stars.
Funny thing, when I saw this as a little kid I was actually impressed. I think the gorgeous footage shot in the Cascade range of the Pacific Northwest was a part of why, and the obvious care put into the building of sets. The production values are through the roof here. However, looking back on it, this deserves all of the brickbats it's gotten.
John Gielgud in yellow-face. Sally Kellerman and Liv Ullman and Peter Finch trying to sing. Everyone trying to dance except for Bobby Van, who obviously is a hoofer. And Bobby Van lays on the corniness, almost making his dancing as cringe-inducing as the non-dancers trying to dance.
This is most definitely a creature of its time as well. The cheesy New Age philosophy of the lyrics is cringe-worthy. And of course, the misunderstanding of Tibetan Buddhism that goes all the way back to James Hilton's original novel. Yes, it's directed like a '40s or '50s golden age musical, and movie musicals from the period like Godspell, Jesus Christ Superstar and The Wiz had more of a gritty texture from shooting on location instead of on a back lot with something other than big, lumbering 65mm cameras. And the costumes...dear goddess the costumes look like they came from Sears' Exotic Groovy India and China collection of 1971.
Yes, it IS that bad. Producer Ross Hunter wound up never doing theatrical pictures again after Lost Horizon. He spent the rest of his career doing TV movies, exiled from the big screen. Making a flop-o-roony like this, which cost $12 Million in early '70s dollars to make and only took in $3 Million in early '70s dollars at the box office, was definitely enough to make no studio want to take a chance on future projects of his. It ranks with the legendary failures of Hollywood studio pictures...Heaven's Gate would come later, and would actually wind up being vindicated after the fact.
I see a few people actually sticking up for this steaming pile. Each to their own taste, I suppose. But really...
The Prince of Egypt (1998)
Why is this not a classic aired every year around Easter/Passover?
This is the first Biblical epic I can think of that was really done from a Jewish rather than a Christian perspective. I suspect, to answer my own rhetorical question, the reason why this is not a classic aired every year is because of its yiddishkeit. Even Yemeni Jewish singer Ofra Haza (RIP) gets a chance to sing in Hebrew as part of the musical comedy format.
The art style is very unique, with cushy Disney-esque animation but a different sensibility in the character and background design style. The naturalistic art style of the Egyptian "Amarna" period (the reign of Akhenaten) seems to have been a major influence.
Val Kilmer as Moses is sort of meh, and of course the Evil Egyptians all have to have very theatrical British accents to contrast with the Good Israelites, who speak with a TV "Middle American" American accent.
I'm sure the biblical experts will quibble with a lot of the liberties taken with the story. But basically this is a fable about the arrogance of power and how the most unlikely people can be heroes.
Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)
Not a perfect 10 but important nevertheless.
Firstly, to all the crapflooders from the "Free Republic" (major misnomer) who have been crapflooding this review database...bite me.
Second: this is a very important movie. I knew everything that was in the movie, there were no factual surprises, but what hit me the hardest was seeing the soldier writhing around on the ground with the very large wound in his leg. Realizing that what I was watching was real, not special effects or makeup or anything like that, hit me like a gut punch. Like the Bowie song goes, "It's No Game."
I will say this here and now: this should have been rated PG-13. The biggest obscenities of this movie have nothing to do with the MF word, and besides, by the time I was in 4th grade we talked dirtier than that anyway. No, the biggest obscenities are the actions of a small cabal of people who have hijacked the country I love.
The jerk with his movie "Michael Moore Hates America" is totally, completely wrong. Michael Moore LOVES America. And ultimately F 9/11 is his love letter to his country and mine. If you love your country, you will go see this movie with an open mind, without prejudice. And you will take your children too. By children I mean Middle School or High Schoolers, not Elementary School children. Elementary School-age kids are a bit too young for this. But the thing is that military recruiters are cruising Middle Schools in barrio and ghetto neighborhoods all over the US looking for children. You can "jine up" as early as Middle School now...it's called "Delayed Recruitment." I have a neighbor whose daughter will be going into the Navy after she graduates High School. I wish I could take her to see this movie. But I suppose we should be glad that this movie IS being seen here in America now, considering the current chilly climate for individual rights and liberties.