Topic: Reviews and ramblings by Gunnar

[Dragonfire]

I don't care for Pretty in Pink either.  Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club were better.

[GSyren]

I guess I pick the wrong movie, then. The strange thing is that I liked the similarly themed Some Kind of Wonderful, also written by Hughes and directed by Deutch. Perhaps because I really like Mary Stuart Masterson, but don't really care for Jon Cryer.

John Hughes was primarily a writer/producer and only directed 8 movies. But I guess I would have been better off going with one of those? Well, looking at the plot summary for Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club neither description really appeals to me. But I guess I can give one of them a go eventually.

[Achim]

Well, I am a little younger than you, so I was actually at the "right" age when those movies (Ferris, Breakfast Club, not quite so much Sixteen Candles) came out, so I watched most of them during original release or just see them through the nostalgia glasses...

He directed 8 movies? I may be missing one or two then... I must complete my collection.
Let's see:
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Breakfast Club
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Uncle Buck
Sixteen Candles
Weird Science
...are the ones I own on Blu-ray so far. Which ones am I missing


EDIT:
Obviously there is IMDb, and they say there is also
She's Having a Baby
Curly Sue

I can see how these don't come to mind immediately. I guess for now I am fine, they are no available on Blu yet.

[Dragonfire]

Planes, Trains and Automobiles  is really good. 

[Kathy]

Planes, Trains and Automobiles  is really good. 

One of my favorite. The scene with the Car Rental Agent, played by Edie McClurg, gets me every time. 

[GSyren]

Planes, Trains and Automobiles  is really good. 

Hm, John Hughes w/o the brat pack? Sounds promising. Goes on my wishlist.

[DSig]

And if you like John Candy, Uncle Buck but he is at his best.  Without going way out there.

But of all the Hughes films, Planes, Trains and Automobile is probably my favorite.  I don't know how many times I have seen it ... at the movies and on vhs then dvd but it just doesn't get old.

[GSyren]

Casting By

I just watched an HBO documentary called ”Casting By” which I found really interesting. It focused mostly on Marion Dougherty, but also on Lynn Stalmaster and some other casting directors. I think that the real role of the casting director has been a bit of a mystery to a lot of people. I know I never really understood the importance of their work. So if you have a chance to catch this documentary, I think you should. It's really very good.

[GSyren]

Title	The Funhouse (5-027035-008813)
Director	Tobe Hooper
Actors	Elizabeth Berridge, Shawn Carson, Jeanne Austin, Jack McDermott, Cooper Huckabee
Produced	1984 in United States
Runtime	95 minutes
Audio	English Dolby Digital 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles	English
Overview	The carnival is a place for fun and laughter, but not for Amy and her friends. When their childish dare to stay all night in the spooky funhouse backfires, it leaves a trail of dismembered teenagers a mile long in Tobe Hooper’s classic video nasty era slasher. Will anyone escape the clutches of the stumbling madman that stalks to sideshow? Is there no end to the carnival barkers chilling sadism? The only way to find out is ascend into the funhouse, where the games have no rules and the only prize on offer is a grisly demise. Join us in The Funhouse. So much fun that you’ll never leave...Alive!
My thoughts	I bought The Funhouse on blu because I remember seeing pictures of the cool “monster”. But I should have known better. I should have remembered that I dislike movies with teenagers that do stupid things and end up in danger. It's a genre that just doesn't appeal to me. I like some of Tobe Hooper's films, like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Poltergeist, Lifeforce and Invaders from Mars (even though I prefer the original). Not only do I dislike the genre, but I'm also so very tired of that old cliché “You think he's dead but he's not”. And they use it twice! Elizabeth Berridge looks so young in the opening sequence that when she goes topless you get the uncomfortable feeling of almost looking at kiddie porn. It wasn't really scary. It wasn't funny. It didn't have very inventive death scenes. The monster mask was nice, but that's about all, and not nearly enough to make this a good movie, as far as I'm converned.
My rating

[GSyren]

Title	The Tingler (043396-077799)
Director	William Castle
Actors	Vincent Price, Judith Evelyn, Darryl Hickman, Patricia Cutts, Pamela Lincoln
Produced	1959 in United States
Runtime	82 minutes
Audio	English Dolby Digital Mono, Spanish Dolby Digital Mono
Subtitles	Chinese, English, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai
Overview	Vincent Price stars as an obsessed doctor who discovers that fear manifests itself as a parasitic creature, which grows on the spinal cords of terrified people. If they scream, the Tingler can be destroyed. If they don't, it will sever the spinal column and kill them. He successfully isolates and removes the Tingler from a deaf mute (Judith Evelyn) who has been scared to death by her devious husband. Once captured, the Tingler escapes and runs amok in a crowded movie theater. Terror is loose, but can it be stopped? THE TINGLER is legendary horror director William Castle's magnum opus. After the success of HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, Castle devised a new gimmick called "Percepto" for THE TINGLER. Participating theaters would wire seats so that random moviegoers would get a tangible electric shock during climactic moments in the film. Another novelty used to maximum effect is the short color sequence depicting blood pouring from a faucet and filling a bathtub. Castle went on to direct more cult classics like HOMICIDAL and 13 GHOSTS and later produced the mainstream hit ROSEMARY'S BABY.
My thoughts	William Castle was a showman, and to properly appreciate films like The Tingler you should have seen it in a theater in the fifties with “Percepto” installed. Seeing it half a century later on a TV screen, it's just silly. It is saved to some degree by a fine performance by Vincent Price. They just don't make movies like this any more. And rightfully so. Ploys like that worked back then, but wouldn't – and couldn't – work today with the way we consumes movies. The Tingler is fun as a piece of fifties nostalgia, or if you're a fan of Vincent Price. But beyond that there is little to recommend it. I had fun watching it, though.
My rating

[DSig]

You are so right about William Castle.  And many of the films really haven't aged well unless you "were there" (like they say about Woodstock).  I don't know if you ever saw Matinee but gives a flavor of the showman ship you mentioned (in an over the top way).  It was a great time for cinema ... smell-o-vision.

[GSyren]

Yes, I have seen Matinee. I have it on DVD. It was quite fun.

As far as I know, none of Castle's elaborate gimmicks were ever used in Sweden. I do remember, though, that they handed out "Ghost Viewers" for 13 Ghosts. I was seriously pissed when I bought the DVD and found that when it had been re-released it was entirely in b&w and without viewers, although it had the same UPC as the original that had colored ghosts and included the viewer. 

[GSyren]

Title	Blow Out (5-027035-009599)
Director	Brian De Palma
Actors	John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow, Dennis Franz, Peter Boyden
Produced	1981 in United States
Runtime	108 minutes
Audio	English PCM 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles	English
Overview	One of Brian De Palma's most acclaimed films, this brilliant fusion of the obsessive sleuthing of Blow-up and The Conversation with themes drawn from real-life political scandals (the JFK assassination, Chappaquiddick, Watergate) starts with sound technician Jack Terry (John Travolta) accidentally recording what might be explosive evidence of a deadly conspiracy. Brilliantly shot by the then recent Oscar-winner Vilmos Zsigmond, this terrifically stylish thriller co-stars Nancy Allen as the eyewitness who becomes the unwitting target of John Lithgow's serial killer as he ruthlessly attempts to bury all the eveidence. It's also a film about the filmmaking process: Terry Is originally hired to work on the low-budget slasher film Coed Frenzy, and later turns his technical skills to much more serious use as he tries to reconstruct a political assassination on film in a way that will stand up in court.
My thoughts	I really liked Blow Out. It's an excellent thriller. Fine direction. Excellent cinematography. John Lithgow is fantastic. Not many people seem to have anything at all to say about Dennis Franz in this movie, but I thought he was really good. Sleezy good. John Travolta and Nancy Allen are OK, but... I get the feeling that Travolta got the role because he was a bankable star, rather than that he was the best actor for the role. He's not bad, mind you, far from it. I just felt that the role called for someone a bit older. Someone who is more or less stuck in the “sound for low budget horror movies” business. And with an older actor in the male lead, Nancy Allen wouldn't be the right for the female lead. So I wasn't 100% satisfied with the casting. While I had no problem with the ending, I didn't care so much for the things leading up to it; the whole thing from where Travolta's phone is tampered with and up to the ending. I'm not going into any more detail to avoid spoilers. So, a very good movie. Not perfect, but definitely good enough.
My rating

[GSyren]

Title	Cat Girl (5-027626-399443)
Director	Alfred Shaughnessy
Actors	Barbara Shelley, Robert Ayres, Kay Callard, Ernest Milton, Lily Kann
Produced	1957 in United Kingdom
Runtime	73 minutes
Audio	English Dolby Digital Mono
Subtitles	None
Overview	Updating Val Newton's classic Cat People, this supernatural chiller stars scream queen Barbara Shelley as Leonora, a beautiful girl obsessed by the idea that she is heir to an ancestral curse causing her to develop the ferocious, predatory instincts of a leopard. Directed by Upstairs, Downstairs' Alfred Shaughnessy and an early showcase for Shelley's smouldering talent, Cat Girl is presented here in a brand-new transfer from the original film elements in its as-exhibited theatrical aspect ratio. As much a drama of human relationships and mental conflict as supernatural horror, Cat Girl tells the story of the battle for Leonora's sanity by her psychiatrist, Dr Brian Marlowe, with whom prior to his present marriage she was in love. Convinced that Leonora's condition is merely a manifestation of anger and jealousy toward her unfaithful husband, he urges her to enter a sanitarium; but can Leonora hope to escape the curse that has afflicted generations of her family?
My thoughts	Although a UK/US co-production, AIP doesn't seem to have had much to do with the actual production, except to provide the scriptwriter Lou Russoff (and presumably some financing). It was produced by Insignia Films, the production arm of Anglo Amalgamated, and the UK print doesn't even mention AIP. The version shown in the US has, of course, the AIP logo, but apparently also some other minor changes from the UK version. See here. The film is kind of a poor man's version of Cat People. It features Barbara Shelley in an early role. She is gorgeous, but I felt that there was something just a little bit unsure about her performance. Maybe just my imagination. The film isn't bad, it's just not all that interesting. It does have some atmosphere, but it pales in comparison with Cat People. OK if you like Barbara Shelley. And who doesn't?
My rating

[GSyren]

Some films are best enjoyed knowing nothing beforehand. Some are not. Trainspotting belongs to the latter category. I think you really need to know what you're getting into, and make sure that you're in the right mood for it. Or maybe it's just me. Anyway, I was not in the right mood. Not at all. I only made it as far as "the worst toilet in Scotland" before I ejected the disc. OMG.

I'm going to make a new attempt some day, but next time certainly not right after dinner...