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DHarris
Reviews
Beyond the Gates (2016)
Solid Effort on First Feature Film from Jackson Stewart
It was hard not to think about "Stranger Things" as I watched "Beyond the Gates." They came out at about the same time, use similar '80s synth scores, and each harks back to a certain style of the 1980s (despite Gates taking place in '92). That "Stranger Things" succeeds so completely invites a more critical response to anything remotely like it, but I'll resist, as I enjoyed this film on its own merits.
I had no trouble giving myself over to "Beyond the Gates" and was completely entertained, even genuinely spooked at times. The camera work is good, music fantastic, and the story-line well executed. The build is slow and steady, and while others have complained of boredom due to this, I found the pacing very good and enjoyed the slow build. The momentum builds and doesn't stop until the climax. Bored I was not. With moments of over-the-top special effects, wooden acting at times from the male leads, and occasional moments of awkward dialogue, I was reminded specifically of '80s Italo horror films. While these elements might be seen as a negative by some, for me they added to the film in a way that made it even more fun to watch.
A-list actors and screenwriters might have made this a more polished film, but I, for one, am glad that it was done just as it was. Good fun, and I hope for more from these guys.
Nine (2009)
9 1/2, indeed
One of the perks that comes with living in New York City is occasionally being able to see a new film before the rest of the country. Rob Marshall's "Nine" opened in New York yesterday and, since I've been looking forward to seeing this film for years, I toddled over to the Ziegfeld to see it on opening day. I was not disappointed.
Marshall has done a terrific job in reimagining "Nine" for the screen. It is rather a second cousin to the stage show, in that many of the show's songs and situations have been excised, a few new ones added, and a serious nod back to Fellini's "8 1/2" inserted, which the stage show didn't have. So, somewhere between Fellini's masterpiece and the Broadway show lies this film.
Gorgeously art-directed within in inch of its life, "Nine" takes us back to Rome in 1965, and more specifically to Cinecittà, the Italian film studio where so many of the period's masterpieces were filmed. From the days of Italian neorealism in the 1950s through the La Dolce Vita years of the early 1960s, Italy was THE source for glamour and cinema. Federico Fellini, in particular, set the tone for the 1960s, and it is to Fellini that "Nine" pays homage in the character of Guido Contini.
By 1965, the wave of brilliant Italian films had wound down. The great directors had become "great directors" and, arguably, saw their best work behind them. Contini, one of these great directors, whom people address as "il maestro" despite a couple of recent flops, has taken on a new project, one that is meant to be a grand epic, a love letter to Italy, told through his great muse, Claudia, played with appropriate understatement by Nicole Kidman, appearing as a porcelain-skinned goddess who has come to Rome from Sweden, to much fanfare and popping flashbulbs.
After a brief introduction to Guido Contini, we find the director on Cinecittà's famous stage 5, with the skeleton of a set all around him. He is gazing at the set, desperate for an idea. As he focuses, thinking of the muse who has inspired him in the past, the set comes alive, as Kidman, and then all of the women of Contini's life, appear, surrounding him, lifting him up, carrying him toward... nothing.
The trouble is, Contini's got no script, no ideas, and Claudia has grown weary of the pedestal on which she has been placed, finding no substance behind the shimmering facade. She walks off the set when no one can present her with a script.
Haunted by the ghosts of his mother (Sophia Loren), a prostitute from his youth (Fergie), and his own younger self, and joined by his wife (Marion Cotillard), his mistress (Penelope Cruz), his costume designer and confidante (Judi Dench), and an American reporter from Vogue (Kate Hudson), Contini forges ahead with the film's production as his life unravels.
The musical numbers in "Nine" take place primarily in the heads of the characters, rather than having the characters burst into song. This device, which Marshall used in "Chicago," works well with "Nine," and allows them to become larger than life or haunting and quiet. These numbers lift us out of the story and briefly show us what makes the characters feel and make the choices that they do.
Fergie brought the house down at the showing I attended, with the audience bursting into applause as she finished singing "Be Italian." So good is she in this role, that she manages to somewhat outshine Penelope Cruz's sexy "Call From the Vatican," not that Cruz doesn't tear that one up.
There are other numbers, each of the women gets one, and Marion Cotillard, as the wife who has finally had enough, gets two.
With the film's production going into full force, Contini finds that he can no longer control the chaos about him. To watch his colorful life spin out of control is as delightful a spectacle for the viewer as it is a tragedy for the character.
I won't say any more, as I don't want to spoil this for anyone. It's certainly not for everyone. I usually don't like musicals but for some reason could watch this one all day. I have seen that critics are divided over this one; they seem to either loathe it or love it. Of course, critics have to see films in which they have no interest, but we don't.
Nocturna (1979)
From Transylvania to Manhattan...
"She'll get under your skin!" promised the ads. What the ads don't say is that you'll want to go straight to the pharmacy for something to get her off your skin after seeing this cinematic wonder.
"Nocturna" is awful, no doubt about it, but boy howdy, is it fun! The wooden Nai Benet, whose disco dancing is only slightly worse than her acting, stars as thegranddaughter of Dracula, a gal who has no interest in the local werewolf (no, seriously) and falls for a hot gay man from a local disco band (played by the late Antony Hamilton). She runs away from Transylvania to Manhattan with him but chooses to stay with friend of the family, Lily Munster -- I mean Yvonne de Carlo -- because the guy doesn't know she's a vampire. Oh yeah, Lily lives under the Brooklyn Bridge, on the Manhattan side, and leaves her front door unlocked.
Next come several bad jokes and sight gags involving the Manhattan vampire gang.
The young chemistry-free lovers then go to a disco where Nocturna twirls and twirls. and twirls. and twirls, because apparently that's all she knows how to do. After flinging off her shawl to reveal her stripper outfit, Nocturna does a bizarre chicken dance while the crowd watches lovingly.
Full of bad writing, bad acting, bad dancing, terrific 1979 New York City street shots, a wocka-wocka disco/porn soundtrack, special effects that make "Land of the Lost" look like hard-core art, one completely gratuitous nude bathing sequence, and the least erotic sex scene I believe I've ever seen, I can't recommend this film highly enough -- that is, if you can find it.
Dr. Minx (1975)
Edy acts her face off!
Edy Williams in a starring dramatic/sexy role, a miniscule budget, an impossible-to-believe scenario, horrid acting, and bad writing come together to make this one delightful viewing experience.
Our film opens with the telltale copulatory squeals of Ashley St Ives, I mean Dr. Carol Evans, coming from the upstairs bedroom of an ordinary Southern California house with ugly furniture. We quickly discover the guy she's with wants the money she got when her husband, who was heavily insured, died. One thing leads to another and we find Dr Evans mounting some high school kid with a Georgia accent who lives with his parents and shlepping around a corpse, while running away from a Peter Falk-as-Columbo impersonator who may or may not be wearing a hairpiece and we are led to believe is a high school buddy of the aforementioned mountee. Private citizens exercise their right to bear arms, Edy has a shining Oscar moment, and the film ends.
Highly recommended grindhouse/drive-in trash!