bymarkclark.com Reviews

Radio Flyer (1992)

A powerful, touching, misunderstood film

[10 December 2002]

This film was directed by Richard Donner, of SUPERMAN and LETHAL WEAPON fame, but it couldn't be more different than those films. It's a quiet, poetic film about two young boys (Elijah Wood and Joseph Mazzallo), one of whom is being brutally abused by their stepfather (whose face is never seen).

The film was a commercial flop, and it received terrible reviews on its initial release, but I think that was because most critics (and audiences) didn't understand the movie. It features an unreliable narrator (played by Tom Hanks) and several Fellini-like breaks from reality. Most critics harped on the film's finale as a weak point, but I think it actually works beautifully, if you approach it with the proper understanding.

SPOILER WARNING!!!

I don't think you can take the finale (wherein the younger brother flies away in his rickety homemade airplane) at face value. This seems to be another break from reality (like the sequences with the buffalo). Either this is a fantasy way for the Tom Hanks character to deal with his brother's death or, more likely, there really weren't two brothers at all. The older brother invented the younger brother, who is contstantly abused, as a coping mechanism for dealing with the fact that he HIMSELF was being abused by "The King." The older brother survives and the younger brother "dies" when the abuse finally stops. Or something. In any case, the ending cannot be taken literally. And it's not really that important that we fully understand exactly what happened. What matters is that we understand the emotional and developmental effect these events had on the Hanks character.

END OF SPOILERS...

Back in the day, I was one of the very few critics who gave this film a positive review, and I'm glad I did. I found it emotionally gripping and, at points, almost too realistic to watch comfortably. It captures the joy of boyhood and -- although I wouldn't know from personal experience, thank God -- seems to capture the terror of abuse just as accurately. A very powerful, rewarding film.

Highly recommended.

Hand of Death (1962)

Not good, but sort of fun

[2 July 2002]

Last night, Fox Movie Channel ran the long-feared-lost sci fi thriller HAND OF DEATH, starring John Agar. I believe this may have been the first-ever TV showing of this film. Here's my verdict....

First off, anyone hoping that Fox was clinging to a pristine print of this film, which had been simply filed away in the vaults, was in for a disappointment. What FMC ran was a clumsily panned and scanned transfer of a dupey, 16 mm print. The sound quality was fuzzy and the picture quality so contrasty that for stretches the monster-Agar was reduced to a silhouette.

Director Gene Nelson and screenwriter Eugene Ling make very little of a fertile idea, unused since The Invisible Ray in 1936. A scientific experiment goes haywire, and scientist Alex Marsh's (John Agar) metabolism is altered so that his mere touch suddenly kills any living creature. The film's first 20 minutes are devoted to bland domestic melodrama and strained comic relief. But the the real problems begin once Agar gains his `hand of death.'

When he gains the death-touch, Alex goes insane. Unfortunately, so does the movie. From that point forward, none of his actions have any coherent motivation, and the picture simply lurches from one ludicrious scene to the next without any apparent logic. When there's no logic, there's also no tension. Puzzled viewers are left to simply watch Agar run amok.

As a result of the accident, Alex also turns black, and eventually morphs into a grotesque, bloated monster that looks like a cross between Uncle Remus and Ben Grimm (The Thing, from the Fantastic Four comic books). Making the scientist turn black gives the film unintented but hilarious additional layers of meaning.

The acting is wooden, but the characters are so poorly sketched that it matters little. Agar has very little to do here except run around in an oversized foam rubber mask and grunt. The film is further weakened by a juvenile score (which, at one point, breaks into `Chopsticks!').

Nelson worked mostly in television, where he shot an episode of the original Star Trek series (`The Gamesters of Triskelion'), among other TV episodes. At just 58 minutes, Hand of Death isn't much longer than `Gamesters of Triskelion.' This appears to have been Ling's final screenwriting credit. Perhaps after this, he was too embarrassed to continue.

The most distinguished member of the Hand of Death crew was cinematoprapher Floyd Crosby. Crosby (father of singer David Crosby) had lensed major Hollywood features including the stunning High Noon (1952), but was blacklisted by the major studios and reduced to shooting B pictures (including Attack of the Crab Monsters and Teenage Cave Man). After Hand of Death, Crosby would shoot most of the Roger Corman Poe adaptations, as well as X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes and The Black Zoo, among other genre favorites. It's impossible to judge his work here, due to the poor quality of the FMC print.

Hand of Death is not a good film, but manages to hold audiences' attention in the same `I-can't-believe-I'm-seeing-this' sort of way that films like The Hideous Sun Demon amuse audiences. It was not a major rediscovery by any means, but it was nice to finally see this little curio.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)

That's more like it.

[17 May 2002]

Here's my quick and spoiler-free take on the new Star Wars movie: It's good. Very good. Far from perfect, and not as good as the first two films, but better than the last 2.

The usual Lucas deficiencies are present: Sometimes awkward dialogue, mediocre to poor acting (Christopher Lee and Frank Oz provide the film's best performances) and the blatant swiping of scenes from other films (THE SEARCHERS again, this time). The romantic sequences between Hayden Christensen (who's awful) and Natalie Portman are the cinematic equivalent of a toothache.

However, this time Lucas drowns out those flaws in a flood of eye-catching, edge-of-your-seat action sequences that dominate the final two-thirds of the film. The tone this time around is darker, more downbeat and less kid-friendly than the last 2 films (a return to the tenor of EMPIRE STRIKES BACK). In a bold choice, Lucas allows Anakin to be portrayed as an arrogant jerk most of the time -- troubled and somewhat sympathetic, but not warm or wholly likeable; clearly, Anakin is on his way to becoming Darth Vader. (If only Lucas had cast an actor in that key role, instead of Christensen.)

Also, Lucas does a masterful job of putting to good use the wealth of characters introduced in the previous film, as well as new ones we meet here. Mace Windu and Yoda are especially prominent. Lucas even uses Jar Jar Binks wisely. He's not in the film much, but he contributes to a pivotal moment. How he's used in this short but key sequence almost redeems his presence in PHANTOM MENACE. There's a lot less comedy in this film than in the last 2, and most of it is actually funny (thanks to our old pal C3PO). And, as you'd expect, the f/x are staggeringly good.

Episode II is also loaded with little tidbids for geek boys like me. We watch situations develop, see for the first time locations, meet characters and glimpse other elements that we recongize will become important later. I don't want to give anything away. Let's just say that if you're a big fan, there's tons of stuff in here for you.

Oh, and one more thing: Yoda kicks ass.

Danger: Diabolik (1968)

Misguided MST3K

[27 April 2001]

MST3K and its followers seem to have completely missed the point on this one. DIABOLIK is SUPPOSED to be funny. And it is. On purpose. Viewing this movie with the snickering, juvenile amused contempt of MST3K is pointless. How can you make fun of a movie that's making fun of itself? It's like watching the old BATMAN TV series and complaining because the action isn't realistic or hard-hitting enough! If MST3K wanted to pick on a Bava movie, they should have done DR GOLDFOOT AND THE GIRL BOMBS! Fortunately, we're now rid of MST3K, hopefully forever and not soon enough to suit me.

As for DIABOLIK itself, it's a rollicking, tongue-in-cheek spy thriller spiced with sumptuous visuals, courteousy of Mario Bava, the master director of Italian horror and fantasy films. Bava paints in vivid primary colors and adds plenty of eye-catching flourishes, such as the long tracking shot when we first enter Diabolik's hideout. If you can find a widescreen version of the film, see it that way -- it's the only way to fully appreciate Bava's artistic, almost mathematically precise compositions. The characters are one-dimensional, but considering the story's comic book origins, that follows naturally. Although it's a far cry, in terms of content, from Bava's bloody giallo chillers, DIABOLIK ranks among the director's most stylish and enjoyable entertainments.

Believe (I) (2000)

Worth scaring up a copy!

[14 June 2000]

It's never easy being 14 years old, but it's especially tough for Ben Stiles. First, he can't seem to communicate with his absentee parents, diplomats who apparently live overseas. Then he gets kicked out of boarding school after pulling an imaginative but childish ghost prank on his classmates. He's forced to move in with an icy-tempered grandfather he barely knows. And finally he discovers his grandfather's estate is haunted by the eerie specter of a young woman in a red coat. Of course after the ghost prank, no one takes his claims seriously.

Ben (Ricky Mabe) is the point-of-view character of BELIEVE, a new horror film aimed at younger audiences and lensed by director Robert Tinnell, whose previous work includes horror fan favorite FRANKENSTEIN AND ME. Unlike FRANKENSTEIN AND ME, which was essentially a coming-of-age story with horror trappings, BELIEVE is designed to generate real chills – and it delivers. Even veteran horror fans should receive at least a few satisfying shivers from the picture.

As BELIEVE's story progresses, Ben quickly realizes his grandfather (Jan Rubes) isn't telling everything he knows about the mysterious figure in the red coat. Granddad goes ape when he discovers that Ben has enlisted the help of a neighbor girl (Elisha Cuthbert), who has also seen the ghost, in his quest for the truth. The girl's uncle (Ben Gazzara ) is equally upset by this development, and forbids her from seeing Ben. The teenagers realize that somehow their families' histories will unlock the secrets of the Stiles house, and maybe help their phantom finally find peace.

Tinnell refers to BELIEVE as `an entry level horror film.' Pressed for an explanation of this term, he explains: `There's a void for young people -- and older people, too -- who would like quality a quality supernatural experience that isn't misogynist or extremely gory. I was trying to make something like I WALK WITH A ZOMBIE that kids and adults can both look at and be scared without being steamrolled.'

Imagine George Romero shooting a movie for The Wonderful World of Disney and you have some idea of the film's tone. To achieve this effect, Tinnell asked production designer Jules Ricard to decorate his sets in the style of the classic Hammer horrors. Then Tinnell shot his movie much in the mode of Mario Bava. Viewers who know Tinnell only through FRANKENSTEIN AND ME will find BELIEVE a revelation. It's far more visually cohesive than his early work and its use of color is striking. Certainly Tinnell was well served by cinematographer Pierre Jodoin, whose work is imaginative and eloquent. Composer Jerry DeVilliers Jr. sets the mood with a truly haunting score.

Tinnell, a formidable horror film scholar in addition to a gifted young filmmaker, built in several nods toward great ghost pictures of the past. Horror aficionados will appreciate the film's visual references to movies like THE UNINVITED and THE INNOCENTS. BELIEVE also quotes from THE HORROR OF DRACULA and (of all things) THE INVISIBLE GHOST. The director confesses to influences as wide-ranging as Romero's MARTIN and THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN, but his capsule description of BELIEVE is `the Hardy Boys meet Wuthering Heights.'

Tinnell had to bring in the picture on a $2 million budget and a 20-day shooting schedule. To his credit, BELIEVE looks like a much more expensive film. For what it's worth: Many horror publications, from stately Midnight Marquee to splatter-happy Fangoria, have given BELIEVE glowing reviews.

The Most Beautiful (1944)

For Kurosawa completists only

[24 May 2000]

Like SANSHIRO SUGATA PART 2, this film was never released in the U.S. for political reasons. There's not any blatantly anti-American content, as in SSP2, but THE MOST BEAUTIFUL, filmed by government request, was a pro-Imperialist propaganda document.

Kurosawa gamely attempts to weave together a story which functions both as propaganda and as a tender coming-of-age story, but isn't entirely successful. This would have been a demanding proposition even for a seasoned pro, let alone a young director like Kurosawa, directing only his second feature.

The story follows a group of young girls working in an armaments factory in the latter days of WWII. The girls must increase production sharply. The girls suffer hardships of all sorts. One, Tao, emerges as the leader of the group. Through the travails of helping her coworkers meet their quotas, Tao learns courage, fortitude and compassion.

If all this sounds a little boring, that's because it is. Kurosawa's visual signatures are seldom seen. At least the performances are good, especially Yoko Yaguchi as Tao. Takashi Shimura has a thankless, do-nothing role as the foreman of the factory.

Sanshiro Sugata, Part Two (1945)

Interesting rarity for Kurosawa buffs

[26 April 2000]

Due to its anti-American content, this film was never released in the US. Released in late 1945, in the early days of the American occupation of Japan, the movie has a strong anti-American slant. One of the two parallel plots of the film involves the young judo hero, Chee, and his battle to preserve the sanctity of the Japanese arts against the encroaching, brutish influence of American boxing. Americans are portrayed as a bunch of creeps. Eventually, Chee vanquishes the American champion to the wild cheers of his countrymen. This is by far the most interesting material in the film.

The judo vs boxing plot runs alongside a more pedestrian story: Chee is challenged by the brother of the karate master he vanquished at the finale of the original film. This story is a virtual carbon copy of the original, but with few of the original's charming nuances. The climactic final battle -- which takes place on a snow-covered moutainside -- is a pale imitation of the original's finale, which took place in a field of high grass.

The film also suffers from some of the same choppiness and fuzziness of narrative line that affected the original film, and a few other of Kurosawa's early works. Still, it's an entertaining effort. And it's remarkable as one of only two sequels Kurosawa ever filmed (the other being SANJURO, his follow-up to YOJIMBO). It appears Kurosawa learned from the experience of making SSP2 -- SANJURO is much more different from YOJIMBO than SSP2 is from its original, and a far more effective film than SSP2.

Frankenstein and Me (1996)

A must-see for monster lovers with kids.

[8/10 · 10 February 2000]

Fun and surprisingly touching account of a troubled by imaginative young boy who plots a fanciful feat straight out of James Whale. Director Bob Tinnell is a student of horror cinema, and a handful of dream sequences invoke the spirit of classic Universal and Hammer monster classics. Set during the early 1970s, Tinnell and his crew evoke the period with the precision of bigger budget films like THE ICE STORM and DAZED AND CONFUSED. One of those rare and wonderful films which, although aimed at younger audiences, which can be enjoyed by all members of the family. A must-see for monster lovers with kids.