marydot52 Reviews

Forbidden Planet (1956)

The Best SciFi Film Ever Made......Period.

[10/10 · 25 December 2005]

I have watched Forbidden Planet at least fifty times. I never get tired of viewing this masterpiece. In my opinion, three elements make a film either good or bad. First and foremost is an intelligent script. Second is a cast that can deliver that script in a convincing way. And third (for the SciFi Genre especially), are special effects. In Forbidden Planet, all three of these elements come together in a truly artful way. Lets start with the script. How many SciFi movies of the early fifties carried such sophisticated lines such as "Ship in approach Skipper, helical vector oriented", or "It's a matter of crude power, how to short circuit the continuum on a five or six parsec level". These lines are delivered excellently by all cast members. If any of the three elements I have mentioned is somewhat lacking in this film, it is the special effects. Disney's involvement shows through in a cartoonish way. The "Monster from the Id" looks like something out of a Tasmanian Devil cartoon and is almost laughable. The alien landscape of Altair-4 is clearly a painted backscreen, albeit very well done. No, this movie is not perfect, but then again which one is? There are some logical contradictions as well. When Jerry the Astrogator messes up and punches out a DC Fix that puts the ship too close to Altair (the star), the ship's computer quickly arranges shielding behind a planet, probably Altair-1 or Altair-2. If the computer was programmed to protect the crew and ship automatically, why did it allow Jerry to punch out the wrong fix in the first place? Also, the ship's cook played by Earl Holliman comes across as irreverent in regards to the ship's rules and regulations, and one of his first lines directed towards the robot indicates that he is a womanizer "Is it male or female". And yet, when Altara is at the ship, he doesn't even look at her. But these faults are minor. I was surprised when I found out that The Day the Earth Stood Still was a bigger box office draw in the 1950's, although this is a very good film as well. All in all, I consider Forbidden Planet the best SciFi movie ever made, bar none.

Barbarella (1968)

Barbarella - Queen of Campiness

[10/10 · 24 December 2005]

I want to start by saying: You either love Barbarella or you hate it. This movie is definitely not for everyone. IT IS PURE 1960s CAMP! I first saw this gem by looking out of my upstairs bedroom window, which was adjacent to a drive-in theater, when I was 12 years old. Although I couldn't hear the sound, the visual impression stayed with me ever since. When this movie was released on DVD, I purchased it right away. Adding sound and dialog to my visual memories of Barbarella propelled me into psychedelic bliss. This movie is the epitome of the 1960s social atmosphere. Unabated guilt free sex, psychedelic imagery (ala lava lamp special effects), and mind altering pill popping. Jane Fonda, prior to becoming a pariah in this country, delivers the essence of Barbarella in perfect fashion. A sex kitten with childlike innocence, questionable intelligence, and a body that won't stop pleasing the eye. The opening track from Bob Crewe and Charles Fox is an amazing piece of silliness, complete with goofy lyrics, and seems to take itself all too serious, although I am sure Crewe was laughing as he penned it. It reminds me of the kiddies Fireball XL-5 theme song. Barbarella's terribly aerodynamic deficient spaceship rivals that of 1930s Flash Gordon in hokeyness (sans sparks), and looks like it is made out of plywood. I can go on and on, but I won't. Bottom line is this movie is great in a very very bad way. In closing, this is must see for anyone who loved the 1960s, and are of the opinion that Ed Wood was a genius.

Jackie Brown (1997)

A Much More Mature Tarantino

[10/10 · 13 October 2005]

Taken out of Tarantino context, this film is, well....excellent. Tarantino has grown up. He has cut back on his espresso and made a much more even paced, mainstream (realistic) movie. Unfortunately this maturity hasn't boded well with some of his hyped up fan base. Since Jackie Brown doesn't reflect his previous frantic, disjointed style, it hasn't done as well as expected, or hyped. And that is too bad! The characters in this movie have much more depth than say a Vincent Vega or a Larry Dimmick. They are portrayed excellently by the cast. I had little regard for Pam Grier or Robert Forster before this movie. I now highly respect both of these individuals as actors, and anticipate watching all of their subsequent films. Quite a few critics have panned this movie as being too slow and or missing the mark. I agree with the slow part, but that is not all bad. Certainly, when you compare a Ferrari (Pulp Fiction) to a Rolls Royce (Jackie Brown) you will have some critical words regarding speed. However, that should not take away from the Rolls.

Jackie Brown is a great movie. Yes, I said great. The soundtrack is right on. Sam Jackson does an excellent job portraying Ordell Robbie, a totally different character from Jules Winnfield. He is very convincing as a dumb, small times arms dealer wannabe. Forster is excellent (his AA nomination was a testament), and what can I say about Pam Grier! I love that lady after this movie.

I highly recommend Jackie Brown to anyone. Just don't expect the usual Tarantino with this movie.

Eraserhead (1977)

How Can You Spoil This Movie

[1/10 · 28 September 2005]

Yes, many people ponder the great significance of Eraserhead. They ask questions like "Is the man pulling the levers God?" "Is the girl in the radiator the Virgin Mary"? Yadda...yadda...yadda. All the while, David Lynch sits back and laughs. This film is about....well...nothing. While Avant Garde may be the correct label to place on a film of this magnitude of nothingness, Masterpiece is a stretch measuring light years across.

DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU DO NOT WANT THE GREAT MYSTERIES OF THIS MOVIE REVEALED TO YOU.

After years of research (not) and study (not)of this most unusual film, I have arrived at the following undeniable answers to it's many puzzling questions.

Q. Who is the man pulling the levers? A. He is a man pulling levers.

Q. Who is the girl in the radiator. A. She is a girl in a radiator.

Q. Why does the baby look like a deformed tadpole? A. Because he looks like a deformed tadpole.

Q. Why do the small chickens (really Cornish hens) spit out globs of coagulated blood between their tiny drumsticks. A. Because, if you don't thoroughly cook your hens, you will get salmonella and possibly brain damage. Afterwards, you will sit around all day with nothing better to do than to try and figure out the profound meaning Lynch was trying to convey in his thoroughly simplistic film - Eraserhead.

LOL

The Blob (1958)

Don't Take This Film Too Seriously

[10/10 · 24 September 2005]

I have read many comments on this site criticizing The Blob for being cheesy and or campy. The movie has been faulted for amateurish acting and weak special effects. What would you expect from a group of folks whose only experience has been in the production of low budget, locally produced (Valley Forge PA) Christian Shorts. Let me tell those overly critical reviewers that this film never took itself all that serious. That fact should be evident from the mismatched theme music complete with silly lyrics played over the opening credits. For what it was meant to be, this film is excellent. I have seen a few of the recent ultra low budget attempts, Blair Witch Project was one of them, that have absolutely no entertainment value or intelligent thought behind their plot. BWP was pure excrement. The Blob, on the other hand, was well thought out, well scripted, and thoroughly entertaining. The scene where the old man comes across the meteorite and pokes the mass contained within with a stick was excellently done and genuinely creepy. The scene in the doctor's office with the Blob slowly moving under the blanket on the gurney while it consumed the old man was a cinematic horror masterpiece. Bottom line is, I love this movie. I challenge anyone out there to take $120,000.00, inflated for today's dollar value, and make a film anywhere near as entertaining and or as successful as the Blob. It just can't be done. PERIOD!

Thank you for taking time to read this review.

War of the Worlds (2005)

Nonstop Action Good Special Effects Make This A Winner

[10/10 · 29 June 2005]

I want to preface this review by saying that I understand everyone has a right to their own opinion. With that said, I cannot understand why anyone would give this movie a poor review. Certainly, the acting could have been better from Tom Cruise, but Dakota Fanning makes up for it. As with most high budget Action/SciFi movies, special effects take precedent over individual cast performances. And in this version of War of the Worlds, the special effects are exceptional. Few movies I have watched made me feel like I was actually there, witness to the events as they unfold (Saving Private Ryan was one). In this movie, I felt like I was standing next to Tom Cruise and his family almost during the entire movie. It is my opinion that this movie is as close to reality as you can get given the subject matter. I believe that if non-benevolent aliens ever were to visit our world, this is exactly how it would go down. This movie has a feel of realism.

DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO SEE SPOILER(S)

One popular film critic has picked this movie apart on technical and logical grounds by asking questions such as: Why do the machines have only three legs? How did they go undiscovered for millions of years buried underneath the ground? Why should the aliens annihilate humans if they came here to harvest us? I personally had answers to all of these questions within my one logical framework. 1). Three legs are better than four for negotiating uneven terrain. 2). How do we know how far down the machines were buried? Maybe they were buried thousands of feet into the ground. 3). The humans were only zapped during the initial attack. It is my opinion that this was done by the aliens to invoke fear. Later in the movie, rather than seeing humans disintegrated, we see them plucked up into the machines. All I would have to say to this critic is - For pity sake, this is a science fiction movie, not a study in physics and or alien psyche. Chill Out Man. This movie is true to the original HG Wells vision of how the machines looked. Who cares whether they have three support legs or four? The one aspect of this movie I was somewhat disappointed in was it's depiction of the aliens themselves. I thought they looked cartoonish. Spielberg would have done much better by leaving the aliens in shadow or fleeting glimpses, playing up more on the fantastically weird machine sound effects that are heard only a few times during the movie. Every time I heard that weird alien sound, chills ran up my spine. In closing, I did not give this movie a full ten points due to the lackluster Cruise performance, but mostly for the mistake of showing us a full view of poorly conceived alien beings.

Devil Girl from Mars (1954)

Marvelous, Simply Marvelous

[8/10 · 29 May 2005]

As a lover of the genre, SciFi that is, I must say that Devil Girl From Mars is an excellent early British example. Of course, you have to get by the silly title, and the boxy robot, and at times over the top acting. But the plot is good, and a few provocative ideas are presented during the course of the movie. I especially like the idea of an organic spacecraft, which was used many years later in the film Alien. This was one of those movies I saw as a very small child, possibly only two or three years old, and never saw again until well into adulthood. Over the years, my juvenile memory of this movie wove a magical mental image of the sputtering and smoking "flying saucer'' making it's decent, of the evil looking "Devil Girl" walking down the spacecraft platform, and of the menacing "indestructibe" robot standing guard. Now, having watched Devil Girl From Mars again as an adult, I have to admit it has lost quite a bit of it's magic, but I still consider it worthwhile as an important contribution to SciFi cinema.

The Thing from Another World (1951)

Sometimes Less is Better

[10/10 · 18 May 2005]

The 1951 adaptation of the short story "Who Goes There" is probably one of, if not the best Science Fiction Movie made in the 1950s. And I say this about a movie that had minimal special effects, and a cast of basically unknown character actors. There were only a couple of SciFi movies made in this decade that come close, and three of them had the advantage of starring well known actors (Forbiddden Planet-Walter Pigeon / Day the Earth Stood Still - Michael Rennie / War of the Worlds - Gene Barry).

Anyway, back to the movie at hand. The THING From Another World stands out for many reasons. First and foremost is Hawk's realistic treatment of human behavior. People in this movie talk over one another. Not a lot, but just enough to match real life. Nervous laughter is heard, even during the most tense situations, from those in peril. Secondly, the camera angles and lighting add to the sense of remote isolation, and of an unknown danger lurking around every corner. The actors are perfectly matched to the varied roles, both in appearance and demeanor. Take for example the journalist, Scotty. This was the way journalist's looked and behaved in the early 1950s. My uncle was a reporter during that time. I went on many assignments with him. Believe me, the actor playing Scotty was a perfect fit. I can go on and on about the merits of this movie, but I won't. Just a couple more points if I may....

SOME OF THE COMMENTARY BELOW MAY BE CONSIDERED A SPOILER.

The dialog, especially from the scientist Doctor Carrington, is thought provoking and rather intelligent. He explains the nature of the creature, from a sample taken from a severed hand. All of the group are huddled around a small table, the background in dark shadows. The good doctor equates the tissue on the table to that of a plant. Just the idea of intelligently evolved plant life is provocative and mentally stimulating. But this is where The THING diverges from the original source material. In the original story, The Thing was a shape shifting entity, that could take the form of any living being. This transformation was attempted in the John Carpenter THING from the early 1980s, and in my opinion, was disappointing. Sometimes less is better. I have always much preferred the "intelligent carrot" adaptation used by Hawks. However, he should have kept the audience from directly viewing James Arness in a jumpsuit. Quick glimpses would have sufficed and been much more effective.

My favorite scene of any movie of this genre, and possibly of any movie of all time, is when the expedition group forms the circle over the frozen saucer under the ice. The music builds to a crescendo, and then stops dead. There is then several minutes of silence as the group suddenly realizes what they are standing over. What impact! It was due to the treatment of scenes such as this that made Howard Hawks a master of his trade.

The Beach Girls and the Monster (1965)

A Masterpiece in Mindless SciFi Schlock

[10/10 · 17 May 2005]

I want to preface this review by stating that I am of the opinion that gawd-awful bad can be....well....good. After all, one of my favorite movies was Plan 9 From Outer Space. You gotta love cardboard tombstones that bend when brushed against. With that said, Monster From the Surf, a.k.a. The Beach Girls and The Monster, is a masterpiece. I go into a science fiction trance every time I hear that exotic, muffled trumpet music whenever the cheating wife of the scientist is shown. I love that little beach ditty, "There's A Monster in the Surf, Yeah, Yeah". And I roll over laughing when the Lion puppet comes out and the beautiful brunette beach bunny talks to it in her cutsie little baby voice.

A SPOILER IS NEXT. DON"T READ ON UNLESS YOU DO NOT CARE ABOUT THIS MOVIE BEING SPOILED FOR YOUR FIRST TIME VIEWING ENJOYMENT.

Man, things don't get any better than this. I was a little disappointed to find out that the zipper that was visible in various scenes poking through the back of the monster was actually legitimized, when it was discovered that the monster in the movie really was a man dressed up in a monster suite. But that faux pas was made up during the final car chase scene, when the backscreen scenery was moving directly opposite the steering wheel movement. Let's face it, you gotta be really good, to be really that bad. I love this movie and recommend it to everyone.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

They Don't Get Any Better Than This - A SciFi Masterpiece

[10/10 · 17 May 2005]

I saw this movie as a child, and loved it. I have watched this movie more than a couple dozen times as an adult, and love it even more every time I watch it. This was the rare occasion in cinema history when everything came together and fit perfectly. The music score matched the mood perfectly. The camera angles and lighting were impeccable. And although there were no leading actors featured in this movie, each performer played his or her respective role perfectly. Kevin McCarthy was magnificent as Dr. Miles Bennel. Dana Wynter WAS Becky Driscol. King Donovan and Carolyn Jones were the icing on this celluloid cake.

The commentary injected periodically throughout the movie, presented as the recollection of Doctor Bennel, adds a realistic psychological edge to this movie. And although the "monster' is not all that menacing (let's face it, seed pods just are not scary), it is the end result of the pods cause and effect that is utterly horrifying.

SPOILERS BELOW - DO NOT READ ON IF YOU PLAN TO WATCH THIS MOVIE FOR THE FIRST TIME Many years after having seen the movie, I read the novel by Jack Finney. Although the novel had a few good twists that were not included in the 1956 movie, the ending of the original story was quite disappointing in my opinion. In the book, after Dr. Bennel starts a fire in a greenhouse where the pods are being grown, they all of a sudden just float off into space. Apparently, the good doctor Bennel singlehandedly thwarted the alien invasion.

Of the two remakes, I find the one starring Gabriel Anwar the better of the two (sorry Donald and Jeff).

The Quatermass Xperiment (1955)

Very Impressive Early SciFi Movie

[10/10 · 17 May 2005]

This movie was one of a few that really impressed me (in a bad way) as a child. It is shot in a very moody, dark and shadowy style, with a music soundtrack that still gives me goosebumps. Despite it scaring the you know what out of me, I have always idolized Brian Donlevy's portrayal of Inspector Quatermass. He acted the part as the quintessential cold hearted scientist perfectly, willing to sacrifice anything to advance mankind's knowledge of the cosmos.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW

Although by today's standards, the slimy alien is rather disappointing, it is the suspense leading up to the point when you actually see the fully transformed alien that provides the most impact in this movie. There was one particular segment in this movie that gave me the most nightmares as a child. It was when the recorded film footage taken during the spaceflight was reviewed by Quatermass, who was trying to determine what had happened to the crew during the flight. It is presented as an implied viewpoint from the invading alien energy, with the hapless and trapped crew looking towards the camera lens in absolute terror.

The old saying holds true for this movie. It's what you don't see that scares you the most.

Fiend Without a Face (1958)

Excellent 50s SciFi Yarn - A Must See For Lovers of the Genre

[10/10 · 17 May 2005]

I first saw this movie in the early sixties on a double bill with The Haunted Strangler. Being a young lad, I was not paying attention to the details of the movie, but rather was impressed with the overall "spookyness" (is that a word)? Anyway, I remember the contrail of the B-52(sometimes a B-47 was used, who would notice)flying high overhead during the radar experiment. For some reason, I always thought of this as being some type of alien craft circling high overhead, ready to rain crawling, slimy,invisible brains down onto an unsuspecting Canadian population. I remember that when I got home from the theater, I boarded up my bedroom windows by jamming Lincoln Logs in between the panes. I WAS FREAKED OUT. I mean, after all, how do you defend yourself against invisible creeping cerebral sucking brains? I'll take Godzilla any day (you can see that big boy coming from miles away). Well, I just watched Fiend Without A Face again for the first times in forty years. Although I better understand the plot now, and know that those nasty flying gobs of brain matter did not come from outer space, it still is a great movie. My wife was upset at me after I boarded up our bedroom windows, this time with 2 x 4s. You gotta watch this 50s masterpiece. Respectable acting, thoughtful plot, and hokey special effects that you just gotta love.

Space Master X-7 (1958)

Pure Camp

[7/10 · 1 May 2005]

SpaceMaster X7 was both one of the best SciFi movies I watched as a kid, and one of the worst. How can I say that you may ask? Well, for the best part it had a profound affect on my psyche (is this a good thing). Whenever I saw something that looked a little odd, like a patch of mold growing along the brick of our house, I immediately thought of BloodRust and went screaming inside! Since this movie was the 2nd half of a double feature, and was never put into syndication, I had only seen it one time(unlike other 1950s SciFi movies that were shown continually on television during the 70s, 80s, 90s, and even now). Therefore, over the years, my imagination added a lot to what I remembered about this movie. When I finally found a copy being sold on the internet, I grabbed it up. Boy, what a disappointment. This movie is pure doo doo. Oh well, chock another one up to childhood imagination.

Angels in America (2003)

Angels in America Was Awful

[1/10 · 13 January 2005]

First of all, I want to say I am not bigoted against people who choose alternative lifestyles. Not at all. Now, let me tell you my experience watching Angels in America. I suffered through six hours of this piece of #^%@& hoping something exciting or entertaining would happen. I got neither. What I watched was an obvious message from a gay writer who is mad at the world for giving his "partners" in chosen lifestyle the AIDS disease. Although I have no problem with people living their chosen lifestyle behind closed doors, what I got with Angels was an in your face "here, how do you like this straight man" graphic depiction of homosexual sex. Thank God DVDs have a fast forward and skip function. Had this movie provided even a fair plot, semi-intelligent screenplay, or anything a little positive, I would at least have something good to say about it. I found no redeeming features in this movie. It was pure manure.

P.S.

A Message For The Gay Community:

Don't be mad at God and or the world for the predicament you find yourself in with the AIDS epidemic. Quit having unprotected and promiscuous sex and begin living a clean lifestyle.