Grey Matter, Like Water, Semper Fi, Detective Dee, Joe May and The Journals of Musan or April 22 at the Tribeca Film Festival

As you know there are a bunch of films which I'm not allowed to speak about until a certain moment. One of them is the first film I want to tell you about today, a must miss film.

Grey Matter is a beautifully made and acted film that is subverted by a script that seems to have cobbled together in order to get the film a release. The write up in the Tribeca Festival guide talks about the film as the story of filmmaker who loses his funding but presses on ward only to find the script coming to life. The reality of the film is that we watch as the filmmaker getting ready to make his film but finds that the funding isn’t there. He then goes to bed and we see the film. It’s about 20 minutes of the filmmaker and an hour and twenty minutes of the film before we get one last shot of the filmmaker shooting a woman playing an instrument and singing.

The filmmaker stuff is okay, even if it seems to be referencing things we don’t know (yet). The trouble happens when we see the film (The Life Cycle of the Cockroach) which deals with people abusing cockroaches and dealing with the terrors of the Rwandan massacres. It’s pretentious twaddle with people having visions, long real time takes and the pain of living with terrible things that happened.(I won’t get into the cockroach nonsense).

It’s really well done, but to what end? I don’t know. It has the feel of the work of an overly clever film student who loved the surrealists and avant garde and threw everything he ever knew into it. The result is a film that means something to the director but confuses everyone else. Worse, it looks like the filmmaker sections that bookend the cockroach part was added because no one would buy his bullshit other wise. I know what he was getting at, but how it’s done it’s mess. One of the absolutely must miss films of the year. (I passed the press screening on the way out to go to lunch and I wanted to stop in and tell them to runaway and not lose an hour and a half of their life, but I left figuring that they could always walk out on on their own)

Speaking of walking out, today was that sort of a day that had me walking out of movies...then again it had me seeing three great films and having a great lunch.

The first film of the day and the first walk out of the Film Festival was Journals of Musan. Its a Korean film about a North Korean defector trying to get along in the South. He is forever the outsider and abused at every turn, especially by his employers. It was a slow, unremarkable first hour that had me checking my watch repeatedly, hoping that something exciting, or at least not cliched as far as this sort of story goes (it's the sort of thing that Korean action films and comedies have made fun of or used to better effect). I finally found I couldn't sit any more so I left. I could be wrong, it might have picked up, one person who stayed to the end liked it, but for me it was a snoozer.

For me the walk out was advantageous since I got to see one of the great finds of the festival Like Water about mixed martial arts (MMA) champion Anderson Silva.(The title refers to a Bruce Lee statement that water is strong and formless taking the shape of whatever it's placed in)

I'm not an MMA fan. I used to love it but the move toward the territory occupied by the World Wrestling Entertainment has turned me off. Seeing this film was refreshing since Silva is a guy who has been in trouble with the UFC for not playing along with the promotional trash talk or needlessly beating up a beaten opponent. The film follows Silva during the three months before his battle with a trash talking opponent. The film that results is a note perfect sports film with a final confrontation that will have you cheering. I loved the film. If you get a chance see it. (A more detailed review will follow after Tribeca ends)

After Like Water I saw a film that kicked me to the curb. Its the heartbreaking documentary, Semper Fi:Always Faithful.

Semper Fi tells the story of Jerry Ensminger, a career Marine who has been battling the Corps to get help for all the people who have been, or might have been hurt by the contaminated ground water at Camp Lejeune. The camp has had a problem for decades, only the Corps never bothered to tell anyone. The result was the deaths of not only Marines, but also the wives and children of the soldiers (Ensminger lost his daughter). Trust me on this, this film will break your heart. Its the story of a few men and women trying to get help for a million or so other people who may be at risk for cancer.

I thought the film was going to be your typical David and Goliath story. I thought the film was going to hit all the cliche notes...and then I realized I was crying. I was crying all through the film. The sadness of the story, of how the men who agreed to fight for this country were betrayed by it, left me broken. I dare you not to be reduced to mush by the story of the mother who her lost children in rapid succession.

This is a great film. It's one of the most important films of the year. You really need to see this film, you need to feel the outrage and do something about it.(A longer review will be coming after the festival)

From there I took a subway down town and went to lunch with Mondocurry and Shigeko. They were going to join me for the fourth film, Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame. As you no doubt know I reviewed this film back in November. I loved the film and was correct in thinking that seeing this on a big screen only improves the film.(Also seeing it a second time makes it clear how neatly plotted the film is). It's a must see... but you knew that.

I should mention I'm hoping that we'll be getting their take on the film and the festival soon since they have several films scheduled at Tribeca.

After the movie I peeled off from my friends and head back to Chelsea for the World Premiere of The Last Rites of Joe May. This is a sad little film about a down on his luck minor gangster named Joe May, played by Dennis Farina. May has been in the hospital for seven weeks and since no one has seen him, his landlord throws his stuff out and rents out his apartment to a single mom and her daughter. It gets worse from there as May finds his whole world turned upside down. Feeling sorry for the older gentlemen the mother takes him in...

Sadly, despite some good performances, the film doesn't amount to much. While not bad, the film never really gets out the swamp of cliches. You know how its going to go from the opening credits which happen to the sound of opera. Trust me as each character comes on you know what they will be. I wasn't particularly impressed and I got out of there as soon as I could and I missed the Q&A.

For now thats it. It's bed time for me. I have to get up early and see a few more films...so check back tomorrow...

Mil Mascaras Double Feature

The final day of monster movies for my my mom's birthday and I'm going back into masked wrestler territory with a pair of films starring Mil Mascaras, who was the first masked wrestler I ever knew the name of. The pair of films were put out unsubtitled by the now defunct BCI as a double feature. While there are certainly better and more fun films with wrestlers in the lead, this pair has an abundance of the monster masked baddies my mom loved.


El Robo de las Momias de Guanajuato (1972)
Wild and weird film about a a Dracula like guy who rides around in what amounts to a horse drawn hearse. He is aided by five or six little people. He gets hooked up with a mad scientist with whom he resurrects a bunch of mummies and controls them with electronic means. A street kid and his dad see the mummies marching out the municipal cemetery and does the only logical thing, he goes to a wrestling match so he can tell Mil Mascaras about it. It seems Mascaras, his buddy the Blue Angel (Think of a wrestler with Captain America's head piece complete with large white A) , and another wrestler are also secret agents helped by buxom young women in tight red sweaters. The battle lines are drawn and it's Mil and his friends vs. the Dracula guy and the zombies.

A hoot and a half for much of the running time, the film is a technical mess with the mummies guys in various Halloween masks. The lighting seems to be rather a random affair with much of it seeming to be little more than a spot light aimed at whatever we are looking at. It's a bad movie lovers dream, and the sort of thing that Mystery Science Theater would have had a grand time with. On the other hand in the right frame of mind it's as non-taxing a guilty pleasure as you can find.

If there is any serious flaw in the ridiculous proceedings it's that there are simply too many sequences of people walking, from here to there. You could probably chop ten minutes out of this film with the removal of the walking. SO keep your remote handy.

Definitely worth a look if you're in a non serious silly mood.

Leyendas Macabras de la Colonia (1973)
Further masked wrestler madness starts off slow. Actually it starts off with the purchase of a painting and then shifts to a twenty minute wrestling match which serves NO real purpose (and is my new definition of filler.) After the match the painting transports our heroes (Mil Mascaras and two other wrestlers) and their women back in time to the period of the Inquisition. There they wander around while an evil woman tries to resurrect a mummy... oh and the whole thing is told by an oozing ghoul sitting at an organ.

Once the film gets going it moves at a good clip with truly bizarre event following bizarre event. I'm sure had I understood what was being said I might have thought it less strange, but I think not. Frankly, this is just one weird movie. I don't think it's a particularly good film, but it is a perfect bad movie party film with a steady stream of wacky nonsense to keep the pointed comments coming.

Recommended for anyone who likes monsters, sword fights and masked wrestlers all in one movie.

Mama Africa, Let the Bullets Fly and The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye or Tribeca starts in earnest

I was out of the house and on the train into Manhattan this morning for a day of movies on the first real days of screenings. reading my Press and Industry Book on the train I realized this festival is way too big. It's monstrous and the only way to do it justice would be to have three more full time people running about with me going to round tables, panels and of course screenings.

Apologies to anyone I may have run in circles from the promotional departments, I'm knee deep in the hoopla and I really didn't realize what it was going to take to do this festival.

My plans today have been in flux.I'm revising my plans as I go so at this point I don't know what I'll end up seeing. Basically I'm finding new combinations of films so I maybe playing fast and loose with a few things.

My first film today was a no brainer as to choice. Today would have been my mom's birthday and they were running a film on Miriam Mekeba one of my mom's favorite singers so that was my choice.

MAMA AFRICA is the a celebration of the life and times of South African singer and activist Miriam Mekeba. It's told via archival footage and interviews with friends and family. The film is like getting to know the feel of it's subject rather than a straight forward biography of her life. I think the best term would be tone poem, which considering the wall to wall and non-stop music is, I think apt. We watch how Miriam sings, gets involved in politics (though as she said "I never sing about politics, I only sing the truth"),raises a family and sings some more. Its a wonderful celebration of a life and of music.

I grew up on the music thanks to my moms (both of them) who loved the songs, so I was in heaven as long as the songs played. The trouble for me came about half way in when I realized that as good as an over view of the life the film is, it really isn't all that detailed. I mean once we get passed about 1964 any sense of time goes out the window (We learn of the death of her daughter and how it affected her only to jump back in time to talk about her and other things.) It's a quibble of a sort since the film is very entertaining and the sort of thing I'll get on DVD just so I can use the film as a sort of musical mix.

LET THE BULLETS FLY- take two
I reviewed this a while back when I saw it with out subtitles. I really liked it, then and I really liked it now. Being able to understand what is being said adds several layers to the film that just watching the action doesn't have. Seeing the film with subtitles I realized that the film is both funnier and darker than I had earlier thought. We'll be doing a full review down the road. Just know this is a must see. It's a great little epic.

My day was supposed to end there. I was supposed to be going out with my family for a dinner in my Mom's memory, but my brother couldn't get away from work in time so we changed plans up and decided that we were going to do take out. This left me with some extra time so I hung around and caught another film.

While I waited I watched the producers of the film Renee,a documentary about tennis pro Renee Richards, get ready for the big reveal. It was amusing watching the very serious producer try to make sure every detail was perfect while the expert and professional Tribeca staff assured him all would go perfectly (and I say that with a great deal of love- trust me boys and girls these people make the festival- seriously).

I also talked to several other members of the press about a variety of subjects including how good the film The Trip is (it's been described as a movie so funny as to send you to the bathroom by several people I've met), how it's getting tough to get to the end of a movie because of the lack of tolerance for anything other than a great film due to having too many other distractions, the growing annoyance of social media (one woman was annoyed that they need to be constantly checking a variety of outlets because no one just puts out a press release), and which film we should be seeing next (there were some heated arguments).

The last film of the day was The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye about Genesis P-Orridge and his wife Lady Jaye. He is one of the founders of the industrial music movement and the lead singer of Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV, not to mention an accomplished artist. The nominal focus of the film is on the relationship of Genesis and Jaye and how they began to merge not only psychically but physically, with both of them having surgery in order to look like each other. For me the film is a good film in some ways and a bad way in others. For me I liked the music and some of the sequences, but over all I don't know what the film was all about. While the film is titled to be about the two lovers, she is very much a cypher. yes she is in the film, but we never get to really know her. Granted she died a few years ago, but we never really get to know her even though she is on screen for much of the film. On the other hand the film does present a good portrait of Genesis. I'm mixed on the film but I kind of think this film would have been better either cut down by fifteen or twenty minutes or made tighter with more information on Lady Jaye.

After that I headed home to get ready for a long day in the trenches tomorrow (it's four or five films plus lunch with Mondocurry).

Keep reading over the weekend since there is a great deal to talk about including some that are among my favorites of the year)

Brainiac (Aka The Baron of Terror) (1962)

Today would have been my mom's 67th Birthday so it's time for one of my all time favorite popcorn films...The Brainiac.

This is a ridiculously silly film. It's so out there that you either except it's incredibly stupid premise and have fun or you don't and turn it off. I accept the stupid premise and I go for it.

Okay let me tell you the plot:

During the time of the Spanish Inquisition the tribunal finds a really bad guy and sentences him to death. As he's enjoying himself being burned alive he vows to return and exact revenge when the comet flying over head returns in some 400 years.

When the comet comes back he returns to earth and sets about getting revenge and eating brains. You see he's come back as a hideously hairy monster with a weird forked tongue that is used to suck out peoples brains. He also keeps a chilled dish of the grey matter on a sideboard in case he wants a nosh.

Yes it is as out there as it sounds and if you are turned to it's wave length its a blast. If you're not it's one of the the worst wtf experiences you can have. Is it any wonder that this was a staple of shows like Commander USA for decades?

I think this movie is wonderful.

I like it even more after hearing the commentary track on the now out of print Casa Negra DVD which makes it clear that the nuttiness was intentional. If you can find yourself a copy of that DVD get it because it will give you an appreciation for the film you might not otherwise have ever had.

Do yourself a favor, if you're going to try one way out there horror film from Mexico, try this one.

The Films of Winsor McKay The Master Edition

"It was as if the first creature who emerged from the primeval slime was Albert Einstein and the second was an amoeba because after McKay's animation it took his followers nearly twenty years to find out how he did it."

"The two most important people in animation are Winsor McKay and Walt Disney."

-Chuck Jones as quoted by John Canemaker.

He was a man who changed comics and was one of the fathers of the animated cartoon and yet most people don't know who he was.

Winsor McKay was a self taught artist who drifted into newspaper work who changed the art form with his Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend and a short time later Little Nemo. In 1911 McKay turned his attention to animation and things were never the same.

There are two DVDs out of McKays 10 animated films. The oldest is by Lumivision and it's simply the 10 surviving films with a printed insert by John Canemaker, who literally wrote the book on McKay. It's a good collection. However if you really want to see the films and understand them you need to get your hands on the edition put out by Milestone and Image called The Master Edition. While the films are the same as on the Lumivision edition, it has two big bonuses.

The first is a short film by John Canemaker called Remembering Winsor McKay. The short film is an interview with John Fitzsimmons who was one of the very few people to work with McKay on his films. McKay drew all of his films more or less by himself. He employed Fitzsimmons to do the monotonous task of redrawing the backgrounds when each image was all drawn on one sheet of paper,or later, when he started to use cells, he drew things like the waves in The Sinking of the Lusitania.

The other bonus is the commentary by Canemaker that accompanies the films. Though it starts off a little slow Canemaker's commentary is a must. Not only laying out how McKay put his films together, it gives you a brief biography of the man and it puts his films into a historical context. If you want to know why McKay is such a big deal listen to the commentary.

Actually, if you have any sense of the history of animated films you'll quickly realize that that no one was doing what he was doing until Disney made Snow White. If you want proof take a look at Lusitania and try to compare it to any animated film after it until Disney. It really can't be done other than perhaps on a one shot basis. The most amazing thing is that McKay was doing the detailed work pretty much alone. Yes, Fitzsimmons helped him, but all he was doing was copying over the dull bits for McKay. And when you think of it even people like Davinci had assistants.

Without McKay there would never been a Disney, and if no Disney no Miyazaki or Pixar.

These films and the man who made it are responsible for popular culture as we know it.

This is a super DVD and the only way it could have been better would have been if it went into more detail into McKays newspaper and comic work. However since several of the films are based on McKay's comics there is some discussion, just nothing in detail (besides there is a still gallery on the DVD).

I really like this DVD a great deal, and considering that the films spent decades sitting forgotten in a garage, it's a miracle we have them at all.(The fragmentary nature of some films is the result of the film reels deteriorating and the damaged parts being hacked away.)

If you like animation or true pieces of art (McKay was always striving to create art) you need to see this.

Santo contra hombres infernales(1961)

Today a brief write up of one of the many Luchadores (masked wrestler) movies that have been produced in Mexico over the last sixty years. I have a soft spot for many of the films since they are so of another culture that I can only admire that they have been around for so long. I can also enjoy the hell out of them because they are very often just a great deal of fun.

The plot of this one has Santo acting as a police agent helping to track down a drug ring.

Well made, but some what padded and slightly typical, action mystery but with the masked wrestler in the lead. The fact that everyone takes a masked man in stride is somehow refreshing and puts a spin on things a straight forward version of the story wouldn't have had.

The trouble here is that there are several instances where we see nothing but traveling, say driving. This may work during the opening credits where we pace the ambulance racing to the place where a man was shot, but there are a couple other incidence of where we just watch some one driving sown the road. Its good but it made me reach for the remote since nothing really happens.

Still its worth a look since this is one of the better masked wrestler films I've run across. Between 6 and 7 out of 10

This is currently out on DVD.

Tomorrow the Tribeca Film Festival Starts

It's arrived. The Tribeca Film Festival officially starts tomorrow night with the world premiere of The Union, a documentary about the album with Elton John and Leon Russel at the world Financial Center. It's to be followed by a brief performance by Elton John.

I'm not going. I don't like crowds of EPIC proportions.

After that the festival runs from Thursday through to May 1st when the festival will sum up with everything that has gone before with screenings of the various award winners and fan favorites.

I'll be wading into to the festival screenings starting Thursday. As is the norm for me, I'll be posting reports as I go.

As you no doubt know, the festival actually started three weeks ago for me when the press screenings started. I've been going to screenings as they came up and as my schedule allowed. As it stands now I've seen about 19 films, some of them have been winners, some have been losers. Some of them I can talk about now, some I'm still sworn to secrecy (reviews of those will go up as I'm allowed to lift the veil).

Right now, with the festival about to start I'm going to give you a run down of the titles that I've seen and that I can talk about. The reviews here are going to be brief. The idea is to give you a jump on some of the titles so that you can make a decision and try to score some tickets (or avoid some stinkers). For the most part I'm not going to be posting full reviews now, that will come later when I get a chance to really write everything up. I've given you the date of anything that is getting a fuller review down the road.(And keep in mind not everything I've seen is listed since somethings a forbidden until a certain time, so keep checking back)

So with out further adieu I give you a taste of the up coming Tribeca film Festival...

DETECTIVE DEE AND THE PHANTOM FLAME
I reviewed this back in December and to be perfectly honest this just barely missed making my best of 2010 list. Its a huge scale martial arts murder mystery. Its a film that cries out to be seen a a big screen. Most importantly it's Tsui Hark, one of the best directors in the world, getting back to the top of his game. This film is at the top of my must see list (again) for the festival.


LET THE BULLETS FLY
I posted a review of this back in February. I saw it sans subtitles and it still blew me away- the comedy as well as the action. If you want to see a great film get your tickets now.

GNARR
Comedian Jon Gnarr decides that he’s had enough of politics as usual and decides to run for Mayor of Reykjavik. He forms the Best Party. Refusing not to speak to anyone who hasn’t seen all five seasons of the wire, he goes about promising free admission to Disney Land, to get a polar bear for the Zoo and other things. This is a screamingly funny documentary that will restore your faith in democracy. I was laughing so hard I almost fell out of my seat. Despite what you might think this is film about not so much getting rid of the system but getting rid of the morons in power. It’s a wonderful film who’s only flaw is a refusal to explain who is who or what is happening when. While that might have worked for an Icelandic audience I and several other people in the audience were lost as to the details. On the other hand the big picture is so funny and so hopeful that the film is a must see. (As much as I would like to follow this up with a longer review, It’s a movie that needs to be seen, I just can’t find the words beyond go see this it will make you feel good) Jon Gnarr is appearing at the festival and I'm hoping to see him in person.

TROLLHUNTER
Trollhunter is a neat little movie about a crew of student filmmakers investigating bear poaching. They end up stumbling upon the secret that trolls are real and that the government or Norway is keeping the fact hidden. Told from the point of view of their found footage, the film will convince you that trolls are real. Any short coming in the filmmaker daily life footage is made up in the troll sequences. Two of them stood out with the bridge sequence provoking out loud reactions from the audience I saw this with and the final one achieving a visual beauty that is will take your breath away. Definitely worth seeing (A full review will go up May 10).

SAINT
Dick Maas normally a great director missteps with this story of the real St Nicholas. In this tale he's an evil Bishop who comes back from the dead with his band of helpers to slay everyone he can. The film is a mash-up of The Fog and Halloween, but it also borrows from many other films. The plotting is wildly illogical, with huge gaps left open between events. There is almost no character development. There is nothing another half hour of material couldn't fix. While not bad,it's kind of not worth the effort to go go to see in a theater, especially since there is only one sequence that has the right "oh wow" factor, a chase across the roofs of the city. Don't get me wrong in the weeks since I saw this film my opinion of the film has grown, I've begun to realize how good the individual pieces are, they are dynamite. The trouble is that Maas didn't connect them up. Definitely worth seeing, I'd just wait for ticket price that isn't over 10 bucks (unless you're buying the DVD).

THE ASSAULT
A must see French thriller about a 1994 hijacking of an Air France plane in Algiers and the subsequent operation to get the hostages back. Shot in a washed out color palate the film looks amazing. From a stunning pre credit sequence to the literal edge of your seat finale this film grabs you and never lets you go. Its a straight forward film in a just the facts style focusing on just the cops and the hijackers. The final sequence is one of the most amazing things you're likely to see all year. I'm going to do a full review on May 11th, but for now just see this film.

FIRE IN BABYLON
Documentary on the West Indies cricket team and how is struggled from being a bunch of fun loving guys into a power house that fought racism and remained unbeaten for fifteen solid years (seriously they were NEVER beaten for 15 years). It's a breezy film that looks good, sounds good, and has some wonderful interviews. What it doesn't have is a great deal of meat and once it makes it's point it doesn't tell you much more even as it makes you smile. I liked it but ten minutes after it was over I had pretty much forgotten it.Worth a look, but wait for cable.

BOMBAY BEACH
This was one that was on my short list of must see films. It's also pretentious twaddle. Nominally a documentary about various people living by the Salton Sea, the film had me looking for an exit early on. I stayed to the end and the film picked up in the second half, but to be perfectly honest the documentary about the people and the area around the Salton Sea, has no real point. We watch a family with a kid who is "different", an old man and a high school football player, but I still don't know why I'm being shown anything. Even the odd dance numbers don't amount to much. It's everything I hate about the Tribeca Film Festival. It was such a wake up call I chopped off five titles from my dance card.

BANG BANG CLUB
Story of four photographers in South Africa from 1990-1994. With amazing set pieces of violence the film has some of the best moments of the year. The problem is that the film mixes masterful story telling with heavy cliche use for an uneven mix. Still I recommend it, especially since it's on the Tribeca pay per view service. (A longer review may follow, I'm not sure yet)

ROMANTICS ANONYMOUS
Winning Romantic comedy is easily one of the must see films of the festival. The premise is that two painfully shy people crash into each other when she goes to work for his chocolate company. It's a sweet 80 minute movie that kind of short changes the plot, however in it's place we get two of the best characters you'll ever meet in a romantic comedy. Absolutely a joy and almost certain to put a smile on your face and a spring in your step. One of the best films of the festival and the year.(Full review to go up May 12)

JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI
This is the story of a man, his restaurant, his sons and his sushi. It’s a loving portrait of a man who lives for his work and what it takes to be the best. Beautifully shot, with a heavy use of Philip Glass music this is a great little film that makes you want to go out and have some sushi (several people at the end of the screening were going to head across the street to get sushi.) This is a neat portrait of wiley old man who strives to always improve and be the best at making sushi and has been awarded with accolades from around the world as a result. A tough task master Jiro puts his apprentices and sons through rigorous training, and he freely admits that if it wasn’t for their preparation of the staff he wouldn’t look so good at preparing the food for the guests.(There is revelation late in the film about the Michelin award- which reveals how good his training is). I liked this film a great deal. Definitely worth a look.

GIVE UP TOMORROW
I reviewed this Saturday. One of the best and most important films of the year. Its the story of one of the most mind boggling miscarriages of justice you'll ever see. It's needless to say a must see.

CINEMA KOMUNISTO
Documentary on the Yugoslavian film industry from it's creation after the war until the break up of the country. Its a good little film, that is perfect for anyone who loves history or movies about movies. I was so inspired by the film that I'm going to track down a couple of the films that were mentioned. Also I really wish they had covered more stories in the film. I say this because as I was reading the press material on the train home I realized how much they cut out. Definitely wortha look.

WHITE WHITE WORLD
A bad bad film. This poo poo platter of a film is a mess. First off the Tribeca description of the film isn't the film, well kind of but not really. The film guide says:

In this beautiful and brutal drama, King, a handsome boxer-turned-barman falls for Rosa, a fiery and untamable beauty in the decaying Serbian town of Bor. Their love triggers a series of events that drive the many residents of Bor inexorably toward a fateful and moving finale. Reminiscent of classical Greek theater, White, White World is an epic musical tragedy staged against the stark landscape of a small, crumbling mining town

I have no idea what that's all about. The moving finale is a song on the edge of a mine song by the miners who until this point just stood around doing nothing. What it's doing there I don't know. (I haven't figured out what any of the songs are doing in the film).

The plot has Ruzica getting out jail for killing her husband. She moves in with her dad and her daughter. She tries to reconnect with King, a bar owner she once had an affair with, but he isn't really interested. King does take up with her daughter. Tragedy strikes, of the sort the ancient Greeks handled well, but here it's bobbled and laughably awful. Also awful is the twists and turns, like King's blindness and illness, which are more likely to provoke laughter in anyone who hasn't fallen asleep.

The film is painfully slow, with almost nothing explained until towards the end. By that point it seems its more desperation on the part of the director to keep his audience interested, rather than actual plot development. I kept murmuring "you have got to be kidding me" during much of it.(If you want a clue take a look at one characters name and what he's afflicted with and you'll know where this is going.)

Sadly the press material is full of tons of facts, story points and additional material that isn't in the film. Reading it you can't help but wonder what the film was like in the directors head or what the film would have been had the full story as told by the press book had been on screen.

This is a film to avoid unless you've sworn off sleep medication.

(Sadly this turkey of a film has one of the best looking, most loving produced set of press notes I've seen. If you can get you hands on the press notes read that and skip the film).

That's all the films I can talk about for now. There are seven more reviews due to go up once some of the films officially premiere. I also have at least another 23 films I'm planning on seeing so between now and the end of the festival there will me more to read.

Actually do yourself a favor and just pick a few titles and just go.

The Aztec mummy movies (1957)

Today it's more K Gordon Murray madness consists of three films, one of which was was never really shown in the US in it’s full version until recently. The series lists as running well past the third film by IMDB, but that really isn’t true(that's a different series of wrestlers and monsters and isn't connected despite the title of one Wrestling Women vs The Aztec Mummy). The final film was The Robot vs the Aztec Mummy since the characters and the situations of that trilogy are put to bed (the films if taken in order tell one story) Of course the three films, and especially the first one, were cut up and reused in other films, but they aren't connected to the series either.

It’s best to take the films in order since unlike yesterday’s Nostradamus films they were never one film.

First of three Aztec mummy films is called The Aztec Mummy and is the only one that to the best of my knowledge was never completely dubbed into English. The film was chopped up and used in pieces by people like Jerry Warren in other films (he combined it with another Mexican horror comedy with Lon Chaney to make Face of the Screaming Werewolf. And it showed up in Attack of the Mayan Mummy and elsewhere.) The longest of the three films, a good chunk of this film makes up the two later films which use this as flash backs.

The plot of this film has a scientist conducting a past life regression experiment which causes his subject to travel back and discover hidden chambers in an Aztec pyramid. The group, as well as a sinister figure known as the Bat, hope to use the information to discover hidden treasure. Instead they discover a living mummy who has other plans.

Long and long winded this film has way too little action to sustain its 80 minute running time (worse the mummy doesn't even show up until an hour has passed). Probably the least of the three films, its easy to see why this film was cut apart, it's the only way to fashion a non-sleep inducing film. Watching the film late at night I found myself fighting to stay awake. It was a tough haul and I found that I ended up scanning to the point where the mummy showed up. Given the choice I'd take a pass and watch the second two films.

Curse of the Aztec Mummy is the second of the three films and it picks up where the first film left off with The Bat, now exposed as Dr Krupp still going after the hidden Aztec treasure. Again using past life regression he tries to find the hiding spot of the gold and eventually runs up against the mummy.

There is a great deal of flashback material in this film from the first movie with the result that even at an hour the film feels padded. (Actually had I not just seen the first film it wouldn't have been bad). This time out the evil doctor also has to contend with a masked wrestler named the Angel. Why he's involved never really makes sense other than the person who is really Angel wants his identity hidden.

It's not a horrible movie, but it is a slow one. Its also the sort of thing that most people point to as the creakiness of Mexican horror films. Actually its the creakiness of the ones that got a great deal of play on American TV. As with the first film the mummy only really shows up in the final minutes (though there are some brief flashback footage) so the inclusion of the mummy is more a come on than a real statement. And despite the apparent demise of Dr Krupp he's back in the third film Robot vs The Aztec Mummy. Better than the first film, as to whether you see the film is up to you.

Final of three films is Robot vs The Aztec Mummy concerns the evil Dr Krupp who wants the treasure of the Aztec pyramid. He makes a robot with a human brain to fight the mummy and to use an atomic ray to try and kill him. The mummy and the robot only battle in the last two or three minutes of the movie, and the robot only shows up in the last ten. As with the second film this movie has tons of material from the previous films which makes it an action packed little film, except if you've just seen the previous films, in which case this is a long haul.

I have a soft spot for this film because its one of the first movies I ever bought on video tape. That doesn't make it any better than just okay, it just means I have a soft spot.

Its an amusing bad film that ripe for picking on. In some ways its better than the first two films, if only it has all the high points from the previous films, but at the same time its probably not a film I can recommend to anyone with out explaining what they are getting into. Probably the one film of the series to see, its short, action packed, and rather silly.

At this point you’re probably wondering why am I talking about them.

Well simply put they were a staple on TV from the 60’s through the 90’s when they last gasped on the Commander USA TV show. They were the sort of thing my mom would put on because there was a monster in it. Sure they were awful, but there was a monster which made it must watch material. Actually in the 90’s it was on the Commander USA show so it was a must see.

BCI films put the films out in a 3 DVD set which presented the films in the best possible release-including an uncut version of the first film. Sadly or some how appropriately BCI went under and the set has ended up in close out bins or at places like Oldies for a steal.

A must see for bad horror movie lovers.

The Nostradamus Films

Thursday would have been my Mom’s 67th birthday, so in order to pay tribute to her I’m going to do as I did last year and do a week of horror films. Where last year it was simply a solid week of films from everywhere, what I’m going to do this year is take a look at horror flicks, all of which are from Mexico.

Most of the films this week are from the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. These were in constant rotation in the 1980’s and 1990’s as part of the Commander USA's Groovie Movies on the USA Network. The Commander would run movies on weekends and interrupt them for very funny comedy segments. He was a "horror" host who ran more than just horror films. Strangely the movies that everyone remembers are the black and white ones from Mexico. I have no idea why, but those are the ones that stuck.

Most of the films this week came to American TV and movie screens thanks to K. Gordon Murray, a producer who took schlocky films, redubbed them, and set them out on an unsuspecting world. The poor reputation that many of the films have in the US is due in large part to the chopped up versions we saw on TV. Murray wasn’t beyond cutting and altering these films. The result were films that were good for a chuckle but not really a scare. Sadly most of them are better than the English language versions made them out to be. I know this thanks to the now- defunct Casa Negra DVD line which started releasing many of the films in restored versions with commentaries and other extras. Regrettably the line is gone and the DVDs are hard to come by, though Asian Cult Cinema is selling them.

First up I'm going to do four pictures that will be familiar to anyone who watched Commander USA's Groovie Movies with any regularity; the series of Nostradamus The Vampire films.

The four Nostradamus movies were cut together by K. Gordon Murray from a 12 part Mexican serial. As best I can figure, each film consists of three chapters cut together. The four films in the sequence are as follows:

Curse Of Nostradamus
Blood Of Nostradamus
Monster Demolisher
Genii Of Darkness

The films as separate movies kind of work, but it’s clear from watching the second, third, and fourth, there is a great deal of back story missing. The first probably works the best as a stand alone picture. The others just sort of start and stop randomly.

The plot of the group has one of the sons of the seer Nostradamus arriving in Mexico a century or so ago with his father’s body in tow. He is a vampire who is aided by a hunchback. His father, though dead, will occasionally talk to his son. The vampire crosses swords with a family that is made up of men of reason. They deny that such things as vampires exist and our villain does his best to prove them wrong.

The first film is probably the best since it’s the one that doesn’t get off into weird silliness (one of the later films has a psychic battle that’s just dumb). Actually it has one of my favorite exchanges in film where the vampire confronts one of the family who will hunt him after a party. The old man denies that Nostradamus is a vampire, because he knows everything. Then Nostradamus takes him to task, pointing out that he DOESN'T know everything; he doesn't even know how Nostradamus entered the house. There is a logic and reason at work that runs counter to the silliness of the later films.

I’m not going to lie and say these are great; they aren’t. They are ultimately cheesy fun. I’m sure the dubbing by K. Gordon’s band of dubbers kind of under-cuts some of the suspense, but at the same time the odd line readings add a nice sense of charm. The film's shadowy black and white photography are exactly the sort of thing that I used to get up in the middle of the night to watch on the Late Late Show when I was a kid.

Most people I know first ran across these on the Commander USA TV show. They found them SO jaw-droppingly inane and silly that when they found out the films were going to be on they would re-arrange their schedule to be home to watch them, or at the very least make sure they taped the episodes. Yes, these are "good, bad movies".

Me? I went to great lengths to run the four films down. While Sinister Cinema carries three of them, they don’t appear to have the second one, Blood Of Nostradamus. For some reason that one seemed to be difficult to find and even some dealers at nostalgia shows I'm friends with, and who seem to have every obscure movie you can think of, didn’t have it. I was reduced to over-paying for a copy from one of the big retailers that charges full retail prices for everything...even a DVD-R, which this was.

You’re probably wondering why I would do such a thing. Basically the films are so comfortable to me that they put me to sleep. I took the four films and put them all on one DVD so that when I go to bed at night they'll play in sequence all night. If I wake up I just see they’re still running and I fall right back asleep.

Not high art, but a lot of low brow fun.

The Movies of Moebius: The Abyss (1989)

The aliens almost make this movie worth it.

This is probably the most James Cameron-y of all of James Cameron's movies. You have a working class hero in Bud (Ed Harris), a "strong" female lead in Lindsey (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), who everyone refers to as a "bitch" even though we don't see it as audience. You have some hot-shot military guys as antagonists, as well as the elements of nature itself (in this case, the deep sea). You have plenty of special effects and action sequences, clunky dialogue, a bloated running time and some goofy, preachy philosophizing.

But the designs for the aliens -- which were conceived by Moebius -- almost make the movie work. They are both familiar and foreign and their flickering lights and graceful beauty make it easy to understand why the characters feel such awe when they see them. Even though some of the effects look dated now (the computer generated stuff isn't blended very well with the human characters), there is still something affecting about these scenes.

Still, the movie is mostly a slog. There's no reason it needs to be nearly three hours long, and the exciting parts are dragged down by slow, excruciating drama. The underwater scenes are certainly thrilling, but there's never a moment where what's going to happen is ever a question. Everything is telegraphed so far ahead of time it's easy for you to just want Cameron to get to the point.

Only the bizarre shift into preachiness toward the end -- the aliens are upset with us because we don't get along! -- is surprising. The aliens' underwater city is breathtaking and transporting, but those scenes feel like they belong in another movie. Maybe in a movie that's better.

In the end, The Abyss is what it is -- a James Cameron movie with some cool-looking creatures designed by Moebius. There's not much more to it than that.

Give Up Tomorrow (2011) (The first Tribeca Film Festival review)

As you know I've been going to press screenings for the Tribeca Film Festival for the last few weeks. I've got reviews of everything I've seen in the cue for closer to the actual festival. That was the plan until I saw the film Give Up Tomorrow and I had to write it up NOW.

This is one of the best films I've seen this year. It's also the most important film I've seen.

The film is the story of Paco Larranaga. He was arrested and convicted, along with six other people, for the kidnap and murder of the Chong sisters. The body of one of them (possibly, maybe it was her body) was found at the bottom of a ravine. The people in the country were horrified and the persons responsible had to be found.

The trouble was they got the wrong guys.

First off it wasn't clear whose body was found. Next, most of the people arrested never met before and they were supposed to have gang-raped the girls. The real kicker was that Paco, supposed leader of the group, could be proven via photographs, official records and eyewitness testimony to be 350 miles away at the time of the kidnapping and murder. No one ever looked into the fact that the girl's father had broken with his boss, and was going to testify against him. Oh yeah, and the boss was a well known drug dealer with connections to people in the police and government, and once the girls went missing the father changed his mind about testifying.

There's more; a lot more. More than you can ever imagine. The film has revelations from start to finish and it gets so that you almost feel like you're drowning. This film will blow your mind at how wrong things can go and how stupid, blind, and corrupt people will be. And trust me, after 95 minutes your mind will be blown.

I was horrified. I was shaking.

This bullshit has been going on for 17 years...and it's still not over with, because a development that was supposed to free Paco is actually keeping him in prison with a truly mind boggling Kafka-esque twist.

This is a film that lays out clearly why this case is the new definition of miscarriage.

This is a must see film on any number of levels. On one level it's a good, if horrifying story; on another it's a film that will spur you to take action; and lastly this will make you thankful that most of the world's justice systems are not this horribly out of whack.

I don't know what else to say. You need to see this film; yes because it's good, but also because this sort of bullshit can not be allowed to happen to anyone anywhere.

The Movies of Moebius: Alien (1979)

To be clear, the spacesuits in Ridley Scott's Alien are the only thing Moebius designed to make it into the movie. (Although much of the inspiration did come from Heavy Metal magazine, so Moebius probably had more influence that just that.)

Of course, they're cool spacesuits.

At its core, it's a simple horror movie -- a terrible monster is on the loose and kills the crew of a spaceship one by one. There's not much more to it than that. And sure, that might be scary anyway, but in Alien, all the elements of design add up to make it terrifying.

H.R. Giger gets most of the attention here, and probably rightfully so, since he is responsible for most of what viewers remember, but everything from the interiors to the costumes make this world believable and uncomfortably claustrophobic even before the alien shows up.

So while something like the spacesuits may seem like a relatively minor thing in the movie, they do contribute to the overall feel. They are both sinewy and bulky and the bubble helmets with overhanging lights make the characters feel shut in and restrained even when they're out of the ship.

And that feeling of being stuck is what makes the movie work. We've all seen movies where characters who don't know or necessarily like each other are put into a terrible situation and have to learn to work together or trust each other. That's nothing new. And while the script and the acting is impressive, that's not quite what makes it so scary. They are trapped -- that's where the terror comes from.

Alien remains scary because all of the elements add to one mood. Even if one of those elements just seems trivial at first -- they're just spacesuits, for instance -- it would've been a lesser movie without it.

Moebius, New York Asian Film Festival, Tribeca and other things

A few little bits.

First up, as we tweeted a week or so ago Unseen in now being mirrored on Tumblr. However the feed is erratic (we’re having a problems which delay the posting), however it’s there if you want to take a look. We’ll be working on getting that up and running and perhaps doing some alternative posts there. We’re still working that out and once Tribeca is done we’ll figure out where we’re going.

The last of the Korean Cultural Services free animated films is Tuesday. It’s called Audition. Sadly Unseen will not be there, but we are looking to attended the next series of films which will be independent films from Korea and the information can be found via the subway cinema website, specifically here.

Speaking of Subway Cinema, their run up to the New York Asian Film Festival begins on April 28th with a screening of Hell Driver at the Japan Society. It’s a big deal- trust me. First off it’s a benefit. Plus there will be appearances by the director and some of the cast. If that wasn’t good enough there is to be a cash only auction of props from the film. And if things couldn’t get better a party will follow with free food and drink. Plus they are going to announce the films for the film festival. I’m not going (I have a concert) however Mondocurry is locked and loaded and will be giving us the low down. Details can be found here.

Since it’s Friday and we’re going into the weekend and it’s double feature I just wanted to remind you to tune in since Eden will be continuing her series on the film work of the artist known as Moebius.

I need to tell you all that next Friday one of the best films of last year and one of the best horror films you’re ever likely to see, Stake Land will be hitting theaters and pay per view services on cable and satellite. You need to see this. (and if you forget I’ll remind you next week)

I mentioned Tribeca above, and that starts proper Wednesday with the free premiere of the Cameron Crowe film The Union at the World Financial Center. It’s about the making of the Elton John/Leon Russell album of the same name. You need to get a wristband at 4PM at BMCC. (Details can be found here).

For me the festival has already started. As I’ve mentioned I’ve been going to screenings since the end of March and as it stands now I’ve seen about 15 films and I have more films this weekend. I’ve seen some great films, some dogs and some okay films. I’ll begin to tell you about the films on Tuesday night with a summary of the films I’ve seen (which don’t have an embargoed review). Keep reading every day starting the 21st because reviews and check ins will be posted as I go.(And hopefully I won’t screw up things too badly since I am so awash in films I don’t know what day it is or when I can post what). Seriously I’ve seen a few films you’ll want to add to your must see list, and a couple to the avoid at all cost list. Between Mondocurry and myself we may manage to get you reviews of anywhere between 40 to 50 of the 104 features films screening.

That’s it for now, I have to go there are movies to see. Remember until the end of the month it’s going to be a busy time so look for the normal film a day schedule to expand to overload proportions, so check back often..

Zorro (1975)

Alain Delon plays Zorro in a stand alone film that's loved by many and hated by others.

If you want to know if you've ever seen the film all you need to do is think of the ear worm of a theme song which goes in part:

Here's to being free
Here's to you and me
Here's to living free
La la la now that Zorro's back.

The plot of the film has Delon meeting a friend who is to be governor of a far off province of Spain. He is a good, honest man who is going to change things for the better. However the corrupt general and land owners want no part of it so they kill him. Delon promises his dying friend to take his place and he heads off to do right by him. He pretends to be ineffectual all the while riding off as Zorro to right wrongs. (Some of this lifts bits from Delon's earlier The Black Tulip and were then lifted in turn by George Hamilton in Zorro The Gay Blade)

It's a wonderful adventure film that is unjustly hated. Okay, if you don't like the theme song, which drives much of the picture, there is no way you're going to like the movie; but if you can get past that this film is a blast.

There is however a HUGE problem with being able to SEE this, as none of the US versions are the complete film. Sure you can get versions of this film in the bargain bin for a buck, but the trouble is that those versions run anywhere from 25 to 45 minutes shorter than the full version. The full version of this film is over two hours long. None of the copies I have ever picked up in the US has been the full version.

The only way you can get the complete version is to order the Region 2 PAL DVD from France. It has the film in both French and English (both dubbed and subtitled). Outside of that you can't get a copy of the full film. Strangely the edition from France is from MGM. Why they don't release it in the US is beyond me, though I'm guessing the flood of piss-poor copies makes them think they'll be throwing good money after bad.

If you want to see a great adventure film see if you can get a copy of the version from France. (Amazon France does have it)

Count Of Monte Cristo (2002)

"What happened to your mercy?"

"I'm a Count, not a saint."

Before he was Jesus, Jim Caviezel was Edmond Dantes in a film version of the classic tale that has become one of my most favorite films of all time. It's one of those films that I have to stop and watch every time I come across it on cable.

The story is that of a man, Dantes, who is set up to take a fall and sent off never to be seen again. While walled away in prison he is taught by another prisoner about life. His friend also tells him where there is a great treasure. When his friend dies he switches places with the body and manages to gain his freedom. Collecting the treasure he sets about exacting revenge...

It's not a straight forward revenge tale of the sort we're used to, there is more going on, including a strong connection to being a good Christian. Justice is ultimately tinged with mercy.

Probably one of the finest adventure films of the still young 21st century, this is a film that takes the modern way of filmmaking and uses it to fashion an old fashion movie. It's a near perfect updating of the novel, keeping almost all of the major plot points and adding a modern vernacular (I don't think some of Jocapo's dialog is really from late 18th century.)

You'll have to forgive me, but I don't know what to say about the film other than if you've never seen it you really should do so, and if you have seen it why aren't you watching it again.

This is one of my most favorite films ever and I can't recommend it more than that; it kicks ass.

Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist (2007)

I am not a fan of Will Eisner's. I think that while he is very good, I don't think he is as great or as earth shaking as some claim.

However, the documentary Will Eisner Portrait Of A Sequential Artist is very good. It’s a wonderful portrait of a man who influenced generations of artists in both the comic world and other fields.

It is very much an oral history that marries the stories of Eisner and some of his friends and colleagues (Gil Kane, Joe Kubert, Frank Miller, Jules Feiffer and Art Spiegelman, among others) with the art that he and others were producing. The film also uses excerpts from the interviews that Eisner did for his Shop Talk column. Portrait starts Eisner’s story from before he was born, when his father was working as an artist in Europe painting in churches, through to the time this film was made. It’s a wonderful picture of a young man as an artist that nicely shows us the time and the circles that he was moving through.

One of the things that I like is that it celebrates the man and his achievements without over stating and over selling them. As I said at the outset I’m not a particularly big fan of Eisner’s. I like his stuff, but I don’t love it. I find that the love many people have for him is wildly over blown. Here I find that despite the gush of people like Spielgelman and Feiffer, the work of the man is kept in perspective. As Eisner himself says at one point he didn’t do anything new, he just adapted what people were doing before.

If you want to get a general idea of the progression of the comic form over the course of the 20th century this is a really good place to start. In telling Eisner's story you get a starting place from which to see how things progressed.

At the same time the fact that we are so close to Eisner brings up a couple of the film's flaws.

First off the film, while told in chronological order, kind of stays away from specific dates. When does Eisner start his company? When does Eisner do an anti-Hitler story prior to the US entry into the Second World War? It’s not explained, and as a result we’re left adrift without historical context. If Eisner did an anti-Hitler story it's only shocking if he did it early in the 1930’s as opposed to later on. The film also kind of operates in a vacuum as far as things outside of Eisner’s life are concerned.

We know that comic strips like Terry And The Pirates and Flash Gordon influenced him, but the film remains weirdly silent about what was going on in the comic book medium outside of Eisner. We hear talk of “costumed characters” and how that influenced The Spirit (the creation that he is most known for), but there is no real attempt to place The Spirit in any context outside of Eisner. (An aside: this weird vacuum around Eisner’s work is something that always has confused the hell out of me. Anyone I've ever talked about Eisner with always seems to drift into this timeless place. It’s as if he was outside of time even though it’s clear from listening to the man speak he was aware of what was going on around him.) Yes, you can see how he influenced some people, but at the same time without the context Eisner’s “greatness” is lost.

What I'm getting at here is that when you talk about the game changing comics of the late 1980’s like Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, and Dark Knight Returns by the aforementioned Miller, you always talk about what was going on in comics at the time. You speak of how comics were not quite adult and still somewhat aimed at kids. You do get talk of the way that Batman got darker under Denny O’Neil in the early 1970’s as they moved away from the silliness of the 1960’s, and you get talk of how Chris Claremont was shaking things up with X-Men, but things were never the same once Watchman and Dark Knight ushered in the growing up of comics and the new British invasion. Suddenly the dying medium was relevant again.

Little of that is evident when anyone is speaking about Eisner. Where is his context? Where is his place? Yes, you can see how good he is, but the film never fully gives us the surroundings to compare to and understand why he's considered great, or to some god-like.

On the other hand, that's not really necessary since Eisner’s tale is interesting enough. What he did and how he did it is a one great tale. It's also a blast to have his friends tell his story. Say what you will about the man and his place in history, if you watch this film you'll have a great time and learn a few things.

Seriously, reservations aside, this film is very much a great way to spend 100 minutes.

(I should point out that there are about 2 hours of additional audio clips on the DVD from Eisner's Shop Talk interviews which makes this a must for anyone who has any interest in comics)

Warbus (1985)

Fleeing a Christian mission under Viet Cong attack, some soldiers and missionaries make their way into the jungle in a school bus. The bus is stopped and commandeered by some other soldiers in desperate need of transport. They take the bus for their mission, putting all on board in danger.

This solid action film isn't anything special other than it moves along at a good clip, and keeps things moving in such a way that it never has a chance to get dull or boring. The action scenes are suitably explosion-filled and the non-combat stuff is just different enough that you don't feel like you're getting bogged down in cliché. Never aspiring to be more that the action filled exploitation film that it is, the film manages to provide enough entertainment that you don't feel you've wasted your time. It's perfect for curling up on a couch and watching on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

I need to mention that the film has a belated sequel set in Afghanistan. It's not particularly good and not worth bothering with. It would be best to just watch this film a second time.

Flash Gordon (1980)

Mike Hodges directs a big screen version of the classic comic for Dino De Laurentiis. When it came out the campy style was kind of frowned upon and the film was considered a miss...thirty years on it's a surprisingly fun romp that is oh-so-much better than any of us first thought, including me who was an early adopter: I saw it at 10 AM on the first day it was in theaters and then again on the next three days.

The plot of the film is essentially the plot of the early comic strip and first serial. Mongo is coming toward earth and Flash, Dale and Dr. Zarkov head off to see what the story is. There they meet Ming and the various inhabitants of the planet. Flash gets them to join together to fight Ming and save the earth.

It's a simple film, knowingly written by Lorenzo Semple Jr., who was a writer on the equally campy 1960's Batman TV series starring Adam West. This also walks the fine line between homage parody and camp, and makes for something that's damn fun.

No, it's not high art. It's a condensed version of a pulp comic strip but it somehow manages to get the feel right.

Watching it for the first time in five or six years on cable I was shocked at how much better it played now then when it first opened. Part of it I know is the fact that the style can be taken for what it was meant to be, a light touch, as compared to things like Alien which was released the previous year or Blade Runner which was released a few years later. Now it's okay to be light; back then our science fiction had to be serious.

Also surprising to me was how good the visuals and the music held up.

The effects, done way before CGI, is all models and swirling paint. If some of the hawkmen flying is a bit stiff it's more than compensated for by the sense that what we are seeing is all real and not mass produced computer images.

As for the music by Queen, I know many people took exception to a rock band doing the soundtrack. But damn it works. It adds moods and layers to the events that aren't in the images. How can you not get pumped hearing the drums of the hawkmen attack theme?

I love this movie. Actually I love this movie more than I did when it came out, which is saying a great deal.

See this movie. It's old school science fiction and adventure done to perfection.

Capsule Reviews 4/11/11

Lighthouse (1947)
From PRC studios comes a well worn but very well done tale. Girl loves assistant lighthouse keeper. He loves ALL the girls. When she finds out he's married she goes after his boss. When she moves on to the island to be with her new hubby the assistant is now suddenly interested. A triangle is formed until she decides she loves her husband...so the assistant tries to kill his boss.

More potboiler than anything, this is a decidedly B-movie drama that plays out its story in an hour and gets off. Not the greatest thing since sliced bread but a good way to kill an hour. I think this works because the setting keeps it apart from many other similar films. It's three people at a lighthouse and it helps to add to the tension while keeping the deja vu away. Worth seeing if you stumble across it.

Strange Voyage (1946)
Eddie Albert stars in a small scale little film about a treasure hunt. The story begins when a man tries to rent a boat. The old salt refuses to do it and then spins a long tale about what happened a year before when our hero rented his boat. The plan was supposed to be to do some fishing off the coast of Mexico; what was really afoot was the search for buried treasure in the desert. Everything goes swimmingly until greed rears its ugly head and it becomes dog eat dog. Running about an hour this is the sort of film that used to play at about 4 in the morning to fill an oddly timed slot between the regular Late Late Show movie and the morning news. Watching the film I had memories of when I grew up and would get up at odd hours and see strange films like this that I never saw again. A solid enjoyable little picture, it's too slight of its own accord to track down, but if you do like I did and get it as one of Sinister Cinema's Poverty Row collections you can't go wrong.

Golden Goddess Of Rio Beni (1964)
B-movie trash that is the sort of thing I used to watch at about 3am. The plot has a pilot and some friends going into the Amazon to try and find a friend who disappeared. Along the way they pick up some miscreants who become convinced that there is a temple filled with gold at the end of the trek. Running into various tribes one of the band becomes accidentally engaged to the blond haired daughter of one of the chiefs. Going further into the jungle they run across head hunters and treachery as the party turns on each other. It's a German jungle adventure that is very much related to the African films such as Trader Horn. I would describe it as a popcorn movie pure and simple. Worth a look. (Sinister Cinema's print seems to be of a black and white copy of a color film)

Thank you Mr Lumet

I need to take time out to note the passing of Sydney Lumet, one of the greatest directors ever. From his first film 12 Angry Men to his last, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, he made films that shone light an all we are as humans, and managed to entertain us at the same time. While he made some films that weren't very good, he at never made a film that wasn't worth at least seeing once simply because you knew that Lumet was going to put a spin on it that some how made it worth at least visiting once. He will be missed.Greatly.