echase Reviews

THX 1138 (1971)

good for a laugh, but not much more

[2/10 · 31 May 2002]

It's hard to believe this movie was even released theatrically -- it's that unwatchable. Only the art direction and overall style are barely interesting enough to keep you going -- though it may be most fun to watch with a friend and snicker at.

"THX 1138" is very much of the '70s dystopian-future sci-fi school ("Logan's Run," "Soylent Green," etc.), and is as predictable and uncreative, plotwise, as it gets. (The "shocking" aspects of the Owellian future in this one are forced drug consumption, shaved heads, etc.) The difference is, "THX 1138" is faux-"arty" -- it's designed so it's very difficult for you to connect with the characters, follow the plot, etc. Mostly, it comes off as a visually admirable but otherwise very corny exercise in self-indulgent cliché -- made all the worse by its unwarrented self-importance. While the film is not without humor, it seems to truly think that it's presenting a grim look at a terrifying future society, when in fact its visual devices and clumsy ideas are just funny in their transparency.

Watch "A Boy and His Dog" for a funny, entertaining '70s post-apocalyptic movie. Or watch any Stanley Kubrick movie to see how a syle of "alienation" needs to be married with good characters, plot, etc., to be a good -- let alone great -- movie. Then again, I'm sure someone could make a very successful "experimental" narrative film in which the visuals carry the story, instead of characters and dialogue -- but Lucas was not that filmmaker.

Preppies (1984)

Pretty funny

[6/10 · 15 May 2002]

A funnier than average entry in the '80s sex-romp genre. As this is a Playboy Channel production, breasts are bared remarkably often, for no reason -- yet there's basically no sex, and the tone of the movie is actually lighthearted and tame (without the boobs, it'd be PG-13 for sure). The movie is concerned with the wacky hi-jinks and jokes that cluster around sex (a main plot point) -- but not the sex itself. (This is interesting, considering that the director and some of the crew and cast -- though none of the main characters -- come from the porn world.) The sex jokes are of the recognizably Playboy variety -- this isn't a feminist film -- but they're actually pretty funny and "knowing," and manage to avoid being cliched. See, for example, the three goofy preppy guys lying in separate beds in the same room, bombastically fantasizing aloud and getting more and more rile up... And the two preppy girlfriends, Margot and Trini, who, after spending most of the movie refusing to "put out," frantically begin "practicing" for sex -- lying in their underwear, gyrating their hips and moaning theatrically, etc. The uptight Margot, played by Katt Shea (later a director as well as an actress), is a high point. "Preppies" is good-natured fun, and the main characters are likeable: more than mere caricatures. (The pervert bad guy Blackwel is pretty funny, too.) It's not a classic, but it's better than many big, well-known teen-sex movies that had much bigger distribution.

Less Than Zero (1987)

Not too bad.

[21 January 2002]

"Less Than Zero" is sort of half a bad movie, in a good way (plenty to make fun of); and half a good movie (engaging characters and plot, some well-done elements). I found it to be pretty entertaining, anyway, for both reasons. The script's a little clunky, and the direction isn't too hot... And while Robert Downey is really good (he's very "all eyes on me" when he acts, but he's undeniably a good actor), the other three leads aren't so great. Andrew McCarthy, especially, seems pretty weak here, as if he's unsure of how to play the role. (Some of his line deliveries and reactions seem weirdly inappropriate.) And I'm no big James Spader fan, but I've definitely seen him play his usual slimy character much better than this; his performance is just kind of half-hearted here. For what it's worth, the sex scenes between McCarthy and Jami Gertz are pretty genuinely steamy and "real"-seeming. (And they're non-clichéd; they don't even need to show any skin). I thought the thud of an ending was kind of a letdown, but whatever.

Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)

Not as "awful" as people are saying...

[17 May 2000]

I have to agree with those who underplay how "shocking" this movie is. First of all, I'm generally squeamish about onscreen violence in lousy movies - for example, I cover my eyes and mutter "never again..." during graceless Jerry Bruckheimer action films, where the goal seems to be a "pornographic" display of bodies being blown apart, with total, close-up visibility.

This is not a lousy movie, and I didn't find it all that disturbing. First of all, the stuff that happens isn't THAT extreme, compared to most average slasher or action flicks.

Secondly, the brutality isn't trivialized like in most movies, nor is it made to serve some "metaphoric" purpose (or so I feel, despite other IMDb reviewers' well-expressed opinions). Also, despite what others here claim, the movie doesn't seem designed merely to "show how horrible" brutality, dehumanization, and torture are. Everyone (functioning normally in society) knows that already - no one needs a graphic, disturbing movie to tell them so.

Instead, this movie is doing something all its own, something I won't attempt to analyze here. I will say that it may help to have read a little Sade and his critical reception (this is one of the few movies with a "reading list" at the beginning). Pierre Klossowski's reading of Sade (in "Sade My Neighbor") is more or less directly paraphrased in the film. Sade himself, by the way, is *truly* disturbing - the book "120 Days of Sodom" describes rape and murder (and countless extreme acts) in a matter-of-fact, clinical way, and I could barely handle even the first section.

Unlike the book - and, again, despite what others on IMDb are mystifyingly saying - this movie *does* portray the libertines' captives as suffering individuals. They're in a state of zombie-like terror most of the time, but they do suffer, cry, scream, and "resist" (though only by "informing" on each other; a nice touch, as the movie illustrates how they have become cogs in the fascist machinery). Although the libertines feel no empathy for the victims they dehumanize, the viewer certainly does (or at least, I did).

Hard as it may be to believe, "Salo" does what it does in a "tasteful" way. It's definitely not for everyone, but unlike movies available at every Blockbuster that seem to *glorify* the rape, murder, and violence they depict, this film is doing something altogether different and very unique.

(I do love action movies and horror flicks, by the way - I'm no prude - as long as they're done *well*, and are clever and self-aware about what they're doing. "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer," yes; "I Spit on Your Grave," noooo.)