Baroque

Presented as a dead pan documentary, this film attempts to link the then-current Civil Rights movement in the USA to a supposed Communist-led global conspiracy. The film even hints to the establishment of a "Soviet Negro Republic" within the USA. While the film could today be dismissed as a work of nationalist and racist paranoia, viewers should be warned that the film has copious use of disturbingly graphic photos of murder and torture victims from other countries. I gave it 3 out of 10 stars because it can't be considered a "so bad it's good" camp film. It's simply a footnote from a disturbing era of history.

***Some spoilers may follow***

Yes, I went out and bought the four-disc DVD set several days after it hit the shelves. I love this film on many levels;

The brutal commentary on consumer culture (zombies working on base instinct going to the most important place in their previous lives...a shopping mall!), an independent film made outside the established Hollywood system (and becoming a cult classic), the over-the-top and in-your-face violence and gore (that subsequently made Tom Savini a force in filmdom).

I still remember seeing this at a Midnight Show at the Blue Star Multiplex in Mountainside, NJ. The audience reaction to the "shotgun decapitation" scene was an event I will forever cherish. I have never seen so much popcorn fly through the air in my life! And the sequence where Roger and Steven grab supplies in the gun store had some men in the audience groaning as if it were a porn film.

And now, with the three major versions on DVD, I can see what a great filmmaker George A. Romero is; How he can take such a small budget and little resources and make such a great film. The documentaries that came with the 4-disc set have interviews with people who have worked with Romero, and no one had an ill word to say about him. People I know who have met him echo those sentiments.

There are scenes that stick out in my mind: The one-legged priest who looks as if he has walked through Hell and speaks like a Prophet of Doom; the zombie "storage room"; Roger and Peter running through the mall as if it was their own Christmas present; Francine trying on makeup and posing with a revolver; Steven and Roger posing for the security cameras in the bank ("You never know!"); the looter (only hands are seen) who grabs a button-down shirt and tie, and then throws them back; the marauding biker who smashes the stolen TV set after he realizes that there's nothing to watch on it...I could go on for hours.

The interplay between Roger and Peter just before running the gauntlet of zombies is perhaps the coolest dialogue outside of the Blues Brothers' "106 miles to Chicago" speech.

Roger : Whad'ya think? Bag it or try for it?

Peter : You game?

Roger : I need lighter fluid.

Peter : You got it.

Yes, there are other films that have bigger budgets, more complex plot lines and more sophisticated cinematography, but this works on a gut level...and I love it.

If I ever find a can of Iron City Beer out here in Nevada, I will drink it in George Romero's honor.

Since "The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy" has been spun off from "Grim and Evil", it is a much better show. This deserves to be on its own.

The premise is unusual. Billy (an idiotic little boy) and Mandy (a dark, sarcastic girl) trick Grim (aka Death), who has come for their gerbil, into being their "best friend forever". The show is a series of adventures of the two with their tall, dark and boney "friend".

This is apparently not everyone's cup of tea. The reaction to this show is very strong. Some hate it, some (like me) love it, especially with the rather morbid sense of humor that Mandy has. At the start of every show, Mandy gives a little comment, often relating to the episodes in the show. My favorite is "Evolution takes no prisoners". I'd like that on a bumper sticker!

My only complaint is...Why does Grim/Death have a Jamaican accent?

All in all, if you like "The Addams family", you'll get a kick out of this show.

Close to 70 minutes of footage that is rotting away, accompanied by a discordant symphony. It sounds like slow torture, and to some, it may be. But to me, it was like looking at visions of a lost civilization. Trying to scry the images out of decomposing footage was akin to reconstructing a piece of pottery from shattered fragments.

The "decaying" music was a haunting accompaniment to the film, complete with detuned pianos and an orchestra that played out of phase with itself. But the visuals hit me the hardest.

This is what happens to film if we neglect it. All those visions of the past are being lost forever to time and the elements. The silver nitrate base of those films decomposes at the same rate as human flesh! To me, the film was both a poetic look at decay, something that happens to everyone and everything, as well as how our cinematic history is vanishing as we speak.

It goes without saying that this film is not for everyone, but if you truly want to step outside the boundaries of conventional cinematography, this is it!

Despite having been made back in 1982, this film has not lost any of it's impact...and living in the country where it was filmed, it hits incredibly close to home.

Before you dismiss this as another "Faces of Death" clone, complete with re-enacted scenes, be forewarned. This is real. 100% of the footage came from either TV news departments across the country, or from private collectors! You WILL see newsreel footage of people being shot to death (including one man being shot by police before the opening credits!), and disturbingly graphic descriptions of murders. There is even footage where people leave a courtroom to vomit after hearing a recording made by Lawrence "Pliers" Bittaker during the slow torture death of one of his victims.

Leonard Schrader, the older brother of director Paul Schrader, produced this film for the Japanese film market, where "death films" bring in big money. But instead of an exploitative "shockumentary" as normally expected, this is a detailed examination of how Western Civilization is slowly falling apart.

The assassinations of John and Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, the attempted assassination of George Wallace, and a number of other people (Charles Whitman, David "Son of Sam" Berkowitz, John Wayne Gacey, Jim Jones, Charles Manson, Ed Kemper, Brenda "I Don't Like Mondays" Spencer, etc.) who, in their own twisted logic, saw the need to kill people, and acted upon it; all are reported here in great detail.

The film ends with a report on the murder of John Lennon, and a blunt statement that during the public memorial held in his memory, two people were shot.

No, this isn't a gross-out "video nasty", it's a hard examination of how the USA is in a slow collapse before our very eyes.

Clips taken from an incredibly violent Japanese game show, redubbed into American English with some of the most incredible double-entendres ever mentioned on cable TV, with a dash of low humor for balance.

I can barely bring myself to describe it! It is hysterical! The odd and inspired humor of the dubbing (including the surreal names given to the contestants) adds to the bizarre stunts that these people are going through (Try making this show in the USA and see how far the insurance companies will let you!).

Truly, one of the funniest things ever to be on TV, and one of the reasons I still have cable!

"Right you are, Ken!"

Rating 12/10

Believe it or not, as I watched this show in syndication when I was a tyke, I wanted to be Gomez Addams. Gomez was rich, happily married, dripping with Old World charm, had loving children, kind relatives, a devoted butler, lived in a great house, and the whole family did everything THEIR way, convention be damned!

He made wild, passionate love to his wife (and could turn his libido on and off like a light...yet all Morticia had to do was speak French!), and instead of drinking with the boys, he'd unwind with either yoga, juggling Indian clubs, bouncing on his trampoline, or blowing up his train set. His only vices were smoking cigars and drinking brandy, yet he seemed to do both in moderation.

I loved the little touches the show had. The coffee table with bundles of $100 bills in the drawer ("Petty cash, my good man!"), Lurch's Basso Profundo groan, the Butler's Chime that shook the entire house (with the pull cord a full-sized hangman's noose), the torture chamber turned into a "play room", the quirky decor of the house and the family taking in the moon while others took in the sun.

Gomez and Morticia were the first TV sitcom couple to have an implied sex life (a rather kinky one at that!), and the whole family was healthy and happy...if rather detached from established norms. It was a cleverly subversive program that shows one could be happy without fitting into society's standards. It was so touching to have the family thinking of OTHERS as being troubled and confused, while their own world was so blissful and joyous...even if everything around them was either Gothic or draped in black.

A show like this deserves to be re-issued onto DVD...and if possible, with the laughtrack removed (That would make it even MORE surreal!).

Meeper, the main character of this short film, is a dim-witted janitor at a bar on another world (Ale-E-Inn, not to be confused with the Little A'Le'Inn in Rachel, Nevada). He dreams of being a singer, but after being kicked out of the bar for short-circuiting the sound system with a spilled water bucket, his life makes a dramatic turn. A dying alien (modeled after Jar-Jar Binks) warns him of impending doom. The Chubbchubbs are coming! After failing to warn the bar patrons, someone comes in and gives the gruesome news. All run out in a panic, leaving Meeper and several small chick-like creatures behind. In the distance, amid what look like storm clouds, are menacing-looking creatures...Are these the dreaded Chubbchubbs? Meeper heroicly gathers the chick-like critters in his mop bucket, but before he can run away, he is surrounded by the heavily armed warriors...

This Oscar-winning film (2002 - Best Animated Short) film has many references to other science fiction films, and Meeper's mangling of song lyrics is hysterical. In short...I want a feature film out of this!

A story told in four chapters and in three levels. Flashbacks of Yukio Mishima's life, dramatizations of his written works, and the events of his final day of life.

If Mishima was a fictional character, I doubt if anyone would believe or accept such a creation. But he was a real, flesh and blood, human being, which makes the film all the more incredible. Granted that some of the facts have been dramatized or "enhanced" for the screen, but the story is quite factual.

A man of many contrasts: A devoted family man who kept a gay lover. A writer who saw his words being "not enough". A patriotic man at home in the present who yearned for a return to Imperial Japan's past glory. A man who struggled to unite movement with action, and saw everything he strove for fall apart at the most critical moment.

The film is lovingly made, magnificently acted, painstakingly edited and the musical soundtrack by Philip Glass will stay with you for days. The film's tight budget doesn't show at all.

Now available on DVD, this film is a worthy addition to the collections of true cinemaphiles.

My rating: 10/10

I went to see this film in New York City many years ago. I knew nothing about the film, except that everyone was raving about it. I sat patiently in the darkness amid hauntingly beautiful music, waiting for a character to appear, for a word of dialogue or narration, anything...then I realized what the film-makers were up to...

This film stars the planet Earth and everything in it!

It went from incredible beauty, to the technological insanity that has become our daily lives, to the mournful tones of the end with scenes of self-destruction, which seem to present itself as a warning for us to mend our ways, with music ending the same way it began. The descriptions of the Hopi prophecies sent a chill through me as I read them for the first time, and I heard an audible gasp coming from the theatre's audience.

A film with no characters, no cast, no dialogue, no narration, no storyline, and no plot. It doesn't need any of them. The visuals and music dance hand in hand with indescribable beauty.

Now it is on DVD, and I can only echo the praises others have left for this film.

Magnificent, highly recommended, and worthy of preservation for future generations. If you want to know what is meant by "cinematic art", this is a shining example.

Wild, manic, and very, very clever. Perhaps a bit TOO hip for the kids. Eek is a hopelessly optimistic cat who is head over heels over the neighbor's cat, Wendy Elizabeth, a massively obese feline, who shares a backyard with Sharkey, a (literally) fire-breathing fusion of dog and shark. It's not this combination that made the series so memorable, it was the themes of many of the episodes that were parodies of films.

What other animated series could get away with parodies of "A Clockwork Orange", "Apocalypse Now", "Easy Rider" and "Pulp Fiction"? I was half expecting a parody of "Eraserhead" to show up.

If it ever gets back onto TV, watch it. Especially for the hyperkinetic opening segment from the show's first season.

Not exactly. This is a most unusual film. Shot in widescreen and black and white, with Dolby stereo and only one whispered bit of dialogue. The world is in ruins, and our main character (credited as "The Man"), makes his escape from a band of looters by stealing their prized possession, a fully charged automobile battery, and uses it to power his ultra-light plane out of the ruins of the city.

In his travels, he comes across a doctor, with whom he communicates non-verbally (apparently, the atmosphere is so polluted, the human race is rendered mute), and confronts another man, a clumsy, self-styled "barbarian of the wastelands" who wields a sword as if it were a broom.

One of Luc Besson's early works, it is as original as it is imaginative. I had the fortune of seeing it on a wide motion picture screen in New York City. I still haven't forgotten it. Yes, I know that the end of the world makes for a strange concept for an art film from France, but Besson makes this unlikely premise work to perfection.

Highly recommended.

The premise is so clever. Sherlock Holmes never really existed. It was Dr. Watson (Ben Kingsley) who had been solving these cases all along, and simply hired bumbling actor Reginald Kincaid (Michael Caine) to play the fake Sherlock Holmes.

To those who are hard-core Holmes fans, this film will be cherished. Sadly, the VHS is out of print in the USA (I bought mine used at a flea market), and DVDs are available only in Europe.

(UPDATE: The film has been released on DVD in the USA, but in Pan & Scan.)

Also, the film received hardly any promotion in the USA. But it is lavishly directed, cleverly written, and magnificently cast.

Everything about this film deserves exclamation points!

Track it down any way you can, and prepare to laugh out loud.

Not much of a plot or storyline...or even that much of a documentary. Just a collection of musical numbers that didn't make it into the final cut of the original "Woodstock" documentary. This collection includes unused footage from the "rain chant" sequence, and alternative footage of Janis Joplin's powerful performance of "Work Me, Lord" (parts of which are shown in black and white videotape). Why the editors saw fit to roll the credits over Ritchie Havens singing "Strawberry Fields Forever" and not include the entire song (unless that was all that existed of the performance) goes beyond me.

Still, for those who want to see what didn't make the final cut, this is a must. Note that some of the footage wasn't carefully stored, and there is noticeable wear in some parts.

Monty Python alumni Terry Jones created this witty cartoon series, and his talent shows. The writing is clever and filled with all sorts of puns and comic historical references, often with surreal tweaks. In one episode, the minstrel, who appears at the beginning and end of the shows singing a short song about the story, is referred to by one of the Square Table Knights. Another knight responds, "You mean he's real? I thought he was a continuation device created by the writers!"

The second season's animation quality suffered, but the writing talent remained strong.

In the USA, this is currently shown during the overnight hours (12:30 AM Pacific!) on Toon Disney. Why it isn't on Comedy Central goes beyond me. The humor will even keep even the most jaded adult viewers amused. Highly recommended for your friends in the Society for Creative Anachronism.

A documentary made entirely out of clips from newsreels and propaganda films during the height of the Cold War, punctuated with peppy music of the era (including the gospel song "Jesus Hits Like An Atom Bomb" and the jazz tune "Atomic Cocktail"). What is so disturbing is that you come to the conclusion that the US Government KNEW that nuclear war wasn't survivable, and that much of these propaganda films were made to lull the populace into a false sense of security!

"Duck and Cover" indeed!

This film balances between historical documentary, political commentary and black humor. Worth watching, if just to see what we were led to believe.

Jack Webb takes an average white American male, husband and father of two, into a vision of what America might be like under Soviet control.

Heavy-handed and one-sided, this propaganda one-reeler has Jack Webb's thumbprints all over it. Rumored to have been bankrolled by a US Government agency (you pick one), this film runs almost like a right-wing answer to "The Twilight Zone", as if to confront TV pioneer Rod Serling's liberal-left musings.

It may have shocked people in it's day, and will probably enthuse those who still look for Commies under the bed, but now, it's a camp classic, reminding us of how paranoid we were (and, by the way, how paranoid the Soviets were about the USA!).

A film set in a beautiful French castle, about three people discussing the fate of the world, peppering their topics with politics, altruism and existentialism.

No, not something that would be a box office blockbuster, nor a film that would attract "Rambo" fans, but this film grabs you by the frontal lobes and makes you THINK! Something that many Americans are apparently afraid to do. Those who panned this film are apparently those who would have difficulty sitting through an opera or any film with subtitles.

Listening to people talk and express their innermost beliefs is akin to voyeurism. This film seemingly does WITH words what "Koyaanisqatsi (1983)" and "Powaqqatsi (1988)" did WITHOUT words (Irony: Philip Glass composed music for all three films).

If you prefer putting your brain on hold when watching a film, this isn't for you. But if you want your philosophy to be put through it's paces, watch this!

Okay, we have excellent cinematography, incredible make-up and special effects, Michael Jackson's charisma, even writing input from Stephen King.

Now, where did they put the plot in this thing?

The total effect, to me at least, is that this is little more than another ego-flaunting by Michael Jackson, trying to out-do his earlier works "Thriller" and "Smooth Criminal". I was VERY disappointed by this.

Sorry, Mike. Try again.

I had to hunt through the local video stores before I found one with this film available. I remember seeing the two-part TV version, but this 119 minute video release still bothers me just the same.

Steve Railsback is as close to Charles Manson as one can get. He presents the same manic intensity in his eyes as the news photos of Manson at the time. Maybe a little TOO well...

This film is essentially two films in one. The first half details events leading up to the arrest and crimes of Manson and company, the second half details the trial (and the script is taken mostly from the actual court transcripts).

Anyone who insists that Manson was "crucified" or "framed" should examine his criminal record, and read what he has stated about Jews and blacks. Manson presented the image of a hippie messiah, but preached hatred and bigotry. This film shows him for what he was (and still is); a manipulative, violent, hate-filled man.

Remember that this is the man who once said: "Maybe I should have killed four or five hundred people...then I would have felt better. Then I would have felt I really offered society something."

God bless you, Vincent Bugliosi. You did us all a favor!

Wavy Gravy said it best. Three days of peace, love and music, captured onto film. Everybody has their own opinions about which groups are better than others, but the overall effect is a dizzying one. 500,000 people (with an additional 1 million on the roads who couldn't get any closer) gathered in one spot, for a festival that named a generation. It's hard to believe that the concert was supposed to be a nothing more than a publicity event for a proposed recording studio, financed by a pair of venture capitalists. But the sun, moon and the stars were all in the proper alignment to create an event that we can only stand back and admire. I praise the organizers for having the foresight to document this event on film, for future generations to enjoy and behold. And perhaps, one day, repeat in some form.

Derek Jarman's final work is perhaps his most unusual. The visuals are nothing but a solid screen of bright blue. The soundtrack is a montage of sound effects, voice overs, and music. The dialogue is Derek Jarman's coming to terms with himself, and his terminal illness.

Some will find the whole affair a pretentious bore. Others will find it a moving farewell from a groundbreaking British film-maker who was completely blind by the time the film was completed. He broke the rules, especially with this film, and it's probably how he wanted to be remembered.

A touching look at World War Two through the eyes of a British child (the story is a quasi-autobiography of director John Boorman's childhood). All the characters are completely believable, and the acting and dramatic elements are perfect. You almost want to strike up a conversation with these people. But for me, it is Ian Bannen's performance as Grandfather George ("A _CURSE_ upon you, Volt, Amp and Watt!") that does it for me. The man is so cantankerous that he is lovable. And how he teaches his young grandson how to bowl a "googlie" is priceless. The way he laughs at the end of the film is so wonderful. My mother introduced me to this film, and I am forever thankful.

This student film of Dean Wilson was ambitious, but very unpolished. It has the raw, rough edge that many low-to-no budget "underground" films of the late 1960's and early 1970's have, giving it a period appeal to it's theme and time period.

It is 1969, several months after Richard Nixon has been assassinated. President Spiro Agnew (the very thought of that gives me shivers) proclaims martial law and news blackouts follow. A group of rebels take to the airwaves with a pirate TV station, "Free Amerika Broadcasting", in an attempt of delivering uncensored news. Little do they know that fate will have them becoming news.

The quality of filmwork and acting is amateurish to say the best (the film was the production of a community theater group), but it delivers an intensity that films of much higher budget fail to deliver.

For technical merit, I'd give this 4/10, but for sheer effort, 9/10.

(The video release of this film includes "Director's Copy", a short consisting of still photos and narration detailing the film's production, and a Dean Wilson short, "Boots Macallistar", about a blues musician.)

This is perhaps one of the most masochistic films ever made. You are taken into the personal world of two British families in Sheffield (site of a major NATO installation), who have children that are about to be married. Thousands of miles away, World War 3 slowly starts, and the ultimate horror happens. Thermonuclear war breaks out. The world, literally, grinds to a halt, in one of the most scientifically accurate depictions of nuclear war since "War Game, The" (1965). Unlike the US film "Day After, The" (1983) (TV), the film gives detailed information as to what is happening on a scientific basis. You are shown how a worst-case scenario can happen, and what the effects are, as you follow the surviving members of the two families through the aftermath. The scenes of death, destruction and disease are so realistic, I had to shower after seeing this film for the first time. But what is most disturbing is that the film includes the long-term effects of global thermonuclear war, going into weeks, months, years, even decades. The film ends thirteen years after the nuclear attack, and the final frames of the film will burn into you like no other film ever will. There can be no question that this film MUST be re-released in the USA on DVD, so that it's message will be heard and felt.