It's unclear what it means to our society that comic books have gone from a kid's pastime to a nerd's passion, but it is certain that any moviemaker that doesn't understand that is just asking for trouble. The makers of this film, starring Halle Berry, weren't just clueless; they put on miniskirts and f-me shoes and went for a nighttime stroll down Rue Violeur. You see, Catwoman isn't about the Catwoman. Selina Kyle exists, but in the past. This Catwoman is named Patience Phillips. She doesn't prowl the streets of Gotham, either, and Batman is never mentioned. How she becomes Catwoman -- well, that rewrites 60 years of history. No longer a woman with criminal tendencies, she is a supernatural creature with spidey powers. If you invite it, sometimes you get it. This movie got it from critics, audiences, and the box office. Yet for all that it is an enjoyable romp. Add in Halle Berry in a push-up bra and you have a movie made for the originally intended audience of comic books. What is it about? What does it matter? It's about Catwoman. A new Catwoman, one that oddly enough won't appeal to today's comic book fans, but just might appeal to those of an earlier era. With, notably, a terrific and spooky opening credits sequence.
***
It's unclear what it means to our society that comic books have gone from a kid's pastime to a nerd's passion, but it is certain that any moviemaker that doesn't understand that is just asking for trouble. The makers of this film, starring Halle Berry, weren't just clueless; they put on miniskirts and f-me shoes and went for a nighttime stroll down Rue Violeur. You see, Catwoman isn't about the Catwoman. Selina Kyle exists, but in the past. This Catwoman is named Patience Phillips. She doesn't prowl the streets of Gotham, either, and Batman is never mentioned. How she becomes Catwoman -- well, that rewrites 60 years of history. No longer a woman with criminal tendencies, she is a supernatural creature with spidey powers. If you invite it, sometimes you get it. This movie got it from critics, audiences, and the box office. Yet for all that it is an enjoyable romp. Add in Halle Berry in a push-up bra and you have a movie made for the originally intended audience of comic books. What is it about? What does it matter? It's about Catwoman. A new Catwoman, one that oddly enough won't appeal to today's comic book fans, but just might appeal to those of an earlier era. With, notably, a terrific and spooky opening credits sequence.
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**** Delightful film starring Humphrey Bogart as a self-reliant fishing boat captain in Martinique shortly after the fall of France. Ernest Hemingway's novel is used primarily as a springboard to retell Casablanca, as Bogie gets mixed up with the French resistance, Vichy police, and a woman -- Lauren Bacall, in this case, making her screen debut (and shooting sparks all over the place). Fast-paced dramatic script, leavened with considerable humor and fabulous dialogue. Also with Walter Brennan in a terrific performance as Bogart's good-natured alcoholic pal and Hoagy Carmichael as a piano player. Written by Jules Furthman and William Faulkner. *** First serialized in Collier's Magazine in 1954 then published as The Body Snatchers in 1955 and renamed after 1956 to match the film starring Kevin McCarthy. The 1978 "revised and updated" edition includes contemporary (if superfluous) references to President Carter and Watergate. It's the story of a doctor and his friends who discover that the inhabitants of their small California town are being replaced by aliens grown from seed pods that drifted to Earth from outer space. SF/horror hybrid, split roughly down the middle, with most of the really good stuff in the atmospheric first half. That's the half that makes this book a horror classic, with likable characters in chilling, suspenseful circumstances. To date, the book has been adapted to film four times, beginning with Don Siegel's version in 1956. The Serial
"The Body Snatchers," as serialized in Collier's (Nov. 26, Dec. 10, and Dec. 24, 1954), is worth reading in its own right. It's shorter, tighter, and features two significant differences from the novel. The first improves a decision the characters make at the halfway point, which leads directly to the second, an ending that is at once more formulaic than that of the novel yet also more believable. (Neither, however, explains the extra length of the novel, which is a result not of any new plot material really but simply of expansions and asides to existing ideas that are sometimes interesting in their own right, but not always particularly germane.) ** Highly fictionalized account of the case of Robert Hansen, the man who kidnapped, tortured, raped, and then hunted women in the Alaskan wilderness, finally killing them. At any rate that's what one would think the movie is about. Writer-director Walker, however, was perhaps so determined not to glorify Hansen -- he barely shows us anything the man actually did -- that he ultimately made a movie about someone else. With Nicolas Cage as Jack Halcombe, the detective who figures out there's a serial killer on the loose, and Vanessa Hudgens in the egregiously embellished role of intended victim Cindy Paulson who, after escaping Hansen's clutches, remains a target. All the faux excitement generated by Paulson's peril is wrapped up in a script that wanders aimlessly between Halcombe, Hansen, Paulson, and a couple of ancillary characters -- Paulson's pimp and a hired thug -- as if searching for its genre. Is it a police procedural, a thriller, or a redemptive tale of a brooding cop and a tragic hooker? You know it's confusing when the man who murdered at least 17 women isn't even the bad guy of the climax. ** Strange, in a francise that relies so heavily on its history, that this movie should regurgitate a whopping chunk of it -- the first film, Star Wars, from 1977 -- coming across more like the first theatrical Star Trek, a movie that impressed the hell out of itself with its own past glory. In galaxies far, far away, evidently, history does in fact repeat itself. This one has most of the old beloved characters along with several new ones, playing younger versions of the oldsters, running through a story that mirrors that of the original film. Had the Great Capitalist still been in charge, things would have been different; but he sold Lucasfilm to Disney, and Disney figured it knew almost as much about making money as Lucas -- proving it, actually, with this "film for the fans" and record box office returns. Is it any good? No -- maybe -- who knows? The only thing sure is that it is unnecessary and redundant and that there is still only one truly remarkable film in the entire franchise. No, not The Empire Strikes Back and not even A New Hope. Star Wars, a movie that was so fun, so unique, so imaginative, that it didn't need a prefabricated history (nor one back-grafted onto it) to thrill its audiences. ***** George Orwell's dystopian warning about the dangers of a police state, thought-control, and the forced abrogation of individuality is a glorious satire, chock full of details and terminology that can be profitably applied to any number of real-world situations. And as science fiction, it still stands as a thoughtful, mature work that deserves its place on all those lists of the best books in the genre. Well-written, observant, and with a diabolic internal logic it tells the story of Winston Smith, a man trapped in the iron grip of a society that controls every aspect of his dreary existence through indoctrination, surveillance, torture, and fear. His minor rebellions lead him into the arms of Julia, a younger woman with whom he shares a hatred of the system, and eventually into contact with a man representing the rumored underground of resistance fighters. But what the book is really about is the society itself, its principles, how it operates, and what it does to its people. A genuine classic, both funny and frightening. **** The lives of a woman, her best friend, and her fiance are disrupted when an incorrigible child falsely claims that the latter two are having an affair at the women's boarding school. Smartly cinematic adaptation by Lillian Hellman herself of her 1934 play The Children's Hour, and a powerful drama with splendid performances all around, including those of the children. Notably alters the bratty girl's lie (because the Hays Code wouldn't allow any suggestion of lesbianism), but beautifully preserves the essence of the story, proving that the best adaptations aren't always the most literal. Hellman also alters the ending, which should please all but the clinically depressed. Hellman's original story and title were restored in the 1961 remake, also directed by Wyler. *** Rapist (Yaphet Kotto) exacerbates the marital problems of a middle-aged couple (Andrew Duggan, Joyce Van Patten) with bizarre results. Written, produced, and directed by Cohen a couple of years before he served the same roles for his more famous horror film It's Alive. This one is a low-budget absurdist comedy rooted in the cultural upheaval of the late sixties/early seventies, with Cohen taking shots at the middle class, racial equality, and consumerism, among other things. Comes off as almost hypnotically bad until you realize how funny it is. Cohen's first film as director. * Cheapjack survey of many of the outlandish pseudo-theories surrounding the fate of nine Russian skiers who, in 1959, hiked into the Ural Mountains and froze to death under mysterious circumstances. McCloskey strips the internet in search of UFOs, paranormal activity, military testing, and other ridiculous explanations, giving the most time to one man's tale of his alleged encounter with floating lights, which he then hilariously embellishes in order to tie it to the Dyatlov Pass Incident. Readers are advised to save their money and open Wikipedia instead, for though the Dyatlov case is a real campfire story, this book is merely fuel for the blaze. See also Devil's Pass, the Renny Harlin-directed "found footage" film about the same incident. ** Romantic comedy (in name only) starring Robert Downey as a young lothario who is ready to throw away his little black book after meeting museum tour guide Molly Ringwald. Stupid plot has Downey believing 50-year-old lush Dennis Hopper is Ringwald's boyfriend (he's her father) and getting mixed up in their mob troubles. The unfunny dialogue is delivered mostly by Downey who is supposed to be charming, but is merely manic; Ringwald, meanwhile, looks nice but has nothing of interest to say. About as romantic as a backseat quickie between strangers. Spoiler alert. |
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