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Reviews
The Lord of the Rings (1978)
Saw it in an actual movie theater!
My Mom agreed to accompany me to a local theater about 1978-1979 to see this movie on a wide screen. The theater had originally been a church (!). We were the only people in the entire audience.-- As of now, 2019, I am most interested in seeing how different movie productions interpret the world of Middle Earth (Rankin -Bass, Peter Jackson for the moment). -- Summary: Great works of literature will always inspire new interpretations. Masterpieces like The Lord of The Rings have so much to teach us and inspire within us.
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Edited 40 years of fun edition
Frankly, I was glad to see that the execution of the chicken was gone from the background of the boat trip as shown on the DVD. In earlier videotapes and even seeing the actual film projected on a screen, the killing of the chicken was considered something that should never have been included.
Actually, the removal of the execution of the chicken made the whole film so much more enjoyable. I laughed, I cheered, I thoroughly enjoyed the production from beginning to end.
Knitting: Kudos need to go to the little lady who was sitting up in bed and knitting striped socks, a red scarf, and a hat for Charlie. I knit, and one day I hope to make a replica of the hat, if anything.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012)
Lincoln by Norman Rockwell, and on film
In the documentaries "Lincoln: Trial by Fire" and "Lincoln's Last Night", and the movie "Abraham Lincoln" starring Walter Huston (in the five documentary collection by Mill Creek Entertainment), there is plenty of "tightly corseted" historical accuracy.
Too often in historical films, Lincoln has been portrayed as a stiff-backed academic.
In "Vampire Hunter", it can be said that the historical personages are portrayed in a much more human (pardon the pun) vein.
Enjoy the twist on history. Enjoy "Hunter" as a really "fun", somewhat historically accurate horror movie. Good night. Pleasant dreams! Or, to phrase it classically:
"We are such stuff as dreams are made of, and our little life is rounded with a sleep." -- Shakespeare, "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
Dark Shadows (1991)
Horror Story with Lots of Bite
There are a number of stage and screen schools of thought about exactly how a vampire should approach his/her prey, and when should come the moment when the lunge and the bite should occur. I have been reviewing various bite styles in movies from the silents up to the present day (check out images at Goggle for vampires in general).
As Jonathan Frid himself explained in one of many interviews, the principle is not to go showing off one's fangs, but simply to get in there and get the job done. Of course, in a horror movie, you expect to see lots of "chomp" from a face front view, and the 1991 revival does not stint in that direction.
In the matter of "bite", the 1991 revival indeed explores all the possibilities and nuances having to do with attack style and action. Ben Cross as Barnabas Collins certainly adheres to the principle of "get in there and get the job done". One impression I get is that his Barnabas is aware that he possesses strong powers, but that he really does not want to know just how much power he really possesses.
That being said, view the series and enjoy watching great acting!
Being There (1979)
"We are such stuff as dreams are made of"
Jerzy Kosinski, writer of the novel and the screenplay for "Being There", apparently drew a lot of his inspiration from Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream", including the play within a play, "Pyramus and Thisbe". The story does not follow the plays exactly; it adds some marvelous twists and turns of its own. Note the repeated symbolism of walls and gardens. And, per Maruice Hunt of Baylor U., the loss of individual identity in the Shakespeare play; to this I will say that individual identity is recovered ultimately in "Being There" -- for better or worse.
The story pulls elements from both plays. From "Pyramus and Thisbe", star- crossed lovers are separated by a common wall between the individual houses in which each of them lives. They plan to meet at Ninius' Tomb, to elope and escape the fighting of their parents that has kept them apart.
From "Dream", there is Puck Goodfellow" who erroneously distributes a magic love potion to young lovers, in so doing confounding all the relationships among them. The lovers wander about a forest inhabited by the king and queen of the fairies and their retinue. NOTE: Puck, also known as Robin Goodfellow, is sometimes depicted as a rustic, simplistic, goat-legged faun or satyr, playing a "Pipes of Pan".
Chance, as a childlike Puck (Robin Goodfellow) is freed from the walls of the house and garden in which he has lived since childhood, and wanders into the "magical" world outside, bringing a TV remote with him as a symbolic Pipes of Pan. He seeks an actual garden (forest) in which to fulfill his calling as a gardener in rustic simplicity. Instead, he finds himself in a boundless "fairyland" (symbolized by Washington, D. C., and the Biltmore Estate of Asheville, N.C.).
In effect, he finds equivalents of the King and Queen of fairyland, and their retinue, in the swirling forest of politics and economics. All these remarkable people are confounded by this enchanting world around them, yet they begin to think sensibly as Chance gives them simple ideas about what works and does not.
Instead of confounding all these wonderful people, as with magic, he enthralls them with his simple pronouncements about gardening.
Getting back to "Pyramus and Thisbe": A tomb figures large in the story line. Pyramus and Thisbe are to meet at Ninius' Tomb. Certain business associates meet at a certain tomb in the movie as well. Do they symbolize the "clumsy, rustic folk" of that play who perform their roles so badly that instead of a classic tragedy, they come up with something foolish that is best forgotten?
An excellent range of scholarly reviews of the novel by Jerzy Kosinski, and the movie, can be found in Wikipedia's posting on "Being There". I have drawn some of my comments here from those reviews, and also classic mythology as well.
Yet, let us remember that as Puck says about "Dream", "We are such stuff as dreams are made of, and our little life is rounded with a sleep." Here's hoping you enjoyed the movie. (Read the novel, too!)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)
Bomb
The uncut DVD version, which is what I have, is overloaded with what I would call "boys' locker room" vulgarity. You can tell immediately that this was aimed primarily at the young males in the audience by the appearance of "jokes" about the male anatomy. Female cycles are not funny in any context; yet rude inferences to this were allowed to remain in the finished product.
I personally cannot imagine young people, especially girls, behaving in such a bawdy, slatternly manner. My impression is also that Buffy and her coterie have abundant permission from their well-heeled parents, so that they can go shopping at the drop of a Macy's credit card.
Yes, the original premise of a "cheerleader who fights vampires" has been shown in the follow-up TV series to be entertaining and appreciable. Sadly, this movie "trial run" is a dud (as the original and highly disappointed writer pretty much described it himself). The impression one has is that this was a movie made as an interim filler between more "real"acting jobs for the cast.
Queen of the Damned (2002)
Nice, fun, stand-alone vampire film
In comparing both "Interview" and "Queen", one can say definitely that Tom and Stuart both had an excellent time "chewing up the scenery".
Who was the better actor to portray Lestat? Tom or Stuart? Let us be certain of one thing: Many different actors will play the role, just as in Shakespeare, over the centuries, different actors have portrayed Hamlet and Richard III.
We know that Lestat was only about age 20 when he was turned into a vampire. I'll have to give the gold star to Stuart in that direction.
One is often reminded of the comment by Maharet at the end of the novel "Queen of the Damned" to Lestat about writing his autobiography, "Get it right". Despite all the variances from the established plot line, I would say that both films capture the ambiance and the tension inherent in all of the first three novels of the Vampire Chronicles.
In the movie "Queen", there is that telling scene where Lestat gives Jesse an "op-ed" practical example "of what it is all about", when in the park, he chases away the glasses-wearing vampire and takes the intended victim for himself.
CHOMP!
Good night! Pleasant dreams!